BE OPEN ON ST. JOE

RE: Terry Stewart's letter ("Sell St. Joseph's, Oct. 8): What are the realities of the physical plant? Unfortunately, we don't quite know, as a feasibility study of our current location or the proposed one was never considered before the decision to place the property on the market was made. There are no substantial numbers supporting any claim to the amount of money it would take to repair, or move, or the debt we'd incur - or if there is such a source, it remains hidden.

Yes, our Hispanic community is indeed growing. Why, then, was no effort made to communicate with them? Perhaps letters and meetings in Spanish could reinforce the credibility of a statement inferring that this process has been open.

It is not wise to state that we have no obligation to our community. What does stewardship mean to you? Are we an insular community, only concerned with the stewardship (here, lack thereof) of our finances and building? Do we forget that Catholics do not live in a vacuum, and are meant to interact with the rest of the world? Do we care what will happen to our property if we sell, or to our neighbors whom we serve, or environmental effects of moving the church to a location that would only encourage sprawl? (The current proposed site, off of Jefferson Road, is located far from most of the parishioners.) Is such a declaration of having no community obligations a strategic way of winning more people to the church?

This "tiny group of people" opposed to the move are not forgetting the future in favor of vain sentimentality. Unless, of course, you count wanting to know the truth and wanting to be included on decisions made in the church we pay for as a sentimental pastime. This is an issue of investigating secrecy (i.e.: the oath that Parish Council members made not to reveal any information regarding the potential sale; the fact that Father Larry's letter suggesting that the church may possibly be for sale was sent after the church was already put on the market) and making sure that information is available to all.

May I remind you that the National Council of Catholic Bishops created a set of guidelines for just such a circumstance, and that our priest has completely disregarded them with no explanation?

I should hope that the desire to voice concerns and make sure that all are heard is the least you would expect from "such good friends."

Mary Jessica Hammes

Athens

THANKS! THANKS!

Dear Flagpole: we would just like to communicate our appreciation to you, to the 40 Watt Club, and to our Athens "family" and fans for so much support over the years. Thanks to all of you, we feel like we have a place to come home to - even though it isn't a house! We know the really fun letters are the argumentative ones, so we'll keep the gushy mush short... but the best way we could think of to thank everyone at once was here. We are touched by the love we feel from Athens and hope we're even halfway worthy. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Take care of each other and don't let that two-person housing bullshit stand! Love,

Amber & Edgar (AKA Jucifer)

On The Road

STAND UP

How much do we understand each other. How much do we really try, really care? And that's truly what we all want, right? To be really understood. To be able to transport, in a sudden instant, a feeling within us into someone else. Direct deposit from one heart to another. And yet amidst all these communications, we do a lot to block each other. Learning how to turn each other on and off and into assholes and into confidants. Trying all the while to be sages, supermodels, CEOs, strong, and somewhere between social and silent. Either too intelligent to act well, or too dumb to think before acting, pretending, all the time. Isn't it odd. Isn't it odd. Isn't it odd how we work against each other? We compete with each other (for jobs, grocery lines, girls, attention, parking spaces, grades, love...) when we could make each other so much happier working together. "Girls, what have we done to ourselves?" There is no longer a competition. We are all losing the race. Ours is human. When our schools and communities are divided by the amount of pigmentation in our skin, we are working against each other. When our entire judicial and medical systems are "state-of-the-art" but only work for an elite upper-class in this materialistic, quick-fix American caste system, while the poor die in hospital parking lots and are publicly executed on death row, we are working against each other. If we worked together to fight against the oppressive elements in our society, state and community that tyrannize us and dictate us; the possibilities are infinite, but the accomplishments would be life changing. Stand up to the allowed continuation of racism, sexism and ass-holeism. We are adults, it's about time we started acting more like friends. This isn't about singing "Kum Ba Yah" and "why can't we all just get along," but more like, "let's kick some-ass" and refusing to allow the screwing over of our fellow citizens; our siblings.

Michelle Monroe

Athens

BACK TO BAK

To call Mr. Bak's comic "inflammatory" [Letters, 10/8] would seem to be a compliment to someone who imagines himself to be a "thorn in the side" of Athens. The comic is as inflammatory as a pack of wet matches. It is, on the other hand, dull and shamelessly self-aggrandizing. If Flagpole wishes not to diffuse the credibility of the writers (Mr. Rall, Mr. McCommons, etc.; above all, the mighty Tom Tomorrow) who have some insight and intelligence, it might do well to ask Bak to print his own comic and pass it around to his friends in the hopes that he can find someone that gives a shit that his bike got stolen or about the tragedies of washing dishes. I've experienced both, but I don't need a public forum to whine about it. But that's just one reader's opinion, and we all know opinions are like assholes. They're starved for attention and run for mayor's office in the name of obnoxious and pointless "ironic sociological experiments." Er, I mean everybody's got 'em.

Eric Simmons

Athens

NEVER GIVE UP

A few months ago I wrote a letter thanking the Salvation Army for helping me get things going again in life. Sept., 2002 until March, 2003 I was having a hard time finding employment, as many Americans are doing.

But in Sept. 2002 I came into the Salvation Army not knowing what to expect. Well, today I'm happy to say I'm working again. I have a place to live and am working on getting back on my feet. And I'm back home in Athens, where I grew up most of my life.

It's all because of the Salvation army. If there is anyone reading this article who is down on their luck, I'm here to tell you that there is help out there. the Salvation army on Hawthorne Ave. is one of those places.

There were times I wanted to give up during the last two years of searching for employment. Thanks to all of the staff of the Salvation Army and the fact that I never gave up. In closing, I'm happy to say I'm employed as a security officer with Georgia Security Agency here in Athens.

Ray Studdard

Athens

LIBERALS AMAZING

I thought your readers would like to know I gave UGA's School of Law Professor Donald E. Wilkes more than two weeks to respond to my rather nice email seeking his reasoning on his exceedingly vicious personal attack article against Larry [McDonald] on the 20th anniversary of Larry's murder on KAL 007. It was published in the Flagpole in early September [Sept. 3].

So, I called him at his office on Sept. 26.

I told him who I was but before I could proceed further, he asked:

"You were affiliated with Larry McDonald, were you not?"

"Yes, I was," I responded.

"I do not want to have anything to do with anyone who was associated with Larry McDonald," he said.

"Why not? Just curious?" I asked him.

He hung up on me.

So much for "liberal tolerance" of other people and their views.

Aren't many "liberals" strange pieces of work? They tolerate anything except views that are not in absolute lockstep with their own. Yet, they have the gall to claim the "far right," (presumably anyone to the right of Stalin) is radical, intolerant, extremist and wants to impose his/her views on others!

Amazing!

Tommy Toles

Jefferson

FACE REALITY

My response to responses [Sept. 17] "Offensive And Trashy" and "Don't Be So Naive." In regards to "A Crack Dealer Tells His Side Of The Story" [Sept. 10]:

Let me first state John Doe seems intelligent enough to realize his line of work, and the downside of it. And I am quite sure none of you have ever dealt with an addiction, and the risk of walking into a dealer's home. Personally I am proud to see a dealer who isn't so cracked out himself enough to shoot the first addict (or person) that catches him on a bad day.

It sickens people like myself to witness everyone in this town turn into a mindless bulldog slut. Isn't idolism worse than addiction? And who has a right to judge?

As for tax money, that is a pathetic excuse for not understanding. Why don't we all share our tax money with Mrs. UGA Dept. Of Genetics? Hell knows UGA needs it, funding for the rape crisis centers, with that pack of rapist dawgs on the loose.

Maybe you wouldn't speak against things you do not understand if you could see dealing crack isn't half as bad as a mindless education.

Jay

Athens