By Staff
Republicans welcome Sen. Videt Carmichael
To the editor:
I read with interest the letter to the editor of Joe Clay Hamilton in your Sunday, May 19, 2002, edition expressing outrage because Sen. Videt Carmichael publicly joined the Republican Party a few days ago. Joe Clay is an old colleague of mine who I came to know and respect when we both were privileged to serve as district attorneys years ago.
I understand Joe Clay's frustration as he tries to cling to the Democratic Party despite the hemorrhaging that is going on within its ranks and the evil forces that have taken over its leadership and philosophy. Joe Clay professes that he cannot understand how an elected official can profess in good faith to be a Democrat when first elected to the Legislature and then gravitate to and later change to the Republican Party three years later.
I know, based on my own personal experience, that the answer is very simple: When you have a public servant such as Senator Carmichael who has deep personal convictions of right and wrong, and who loves his country, it is easy for him to become alarmed and disgusted when he goes to Jackson and observes what forces really control the Democrat Party statewide.
As votes are taken on various issues, it is easy for him to see that the path of the Democrats is the road to socialism and away from the principles that made this nation the greatest on earth. The public servant then ultimately concludes, reluctantly, that he cannot remain true to his principles one minute longer if he continues to associate with those that would lead this state and nation away from its greatness.
He prays about his decision with his family and decides, regardless of the consequences and the criticism that is sure to follow from Democrats such as Joe Clay and others, that he must do what is right for his state, nation and, ultimately, for his children and grandchildren.
Republicans applaud Senator Carmichael's decision to join us based on principle. When decisions are based on what is right, criticism doesn't matter because you are at peace with yourself. Perhaps even my old friend Joe Clay ought to take a good look in the mirror and give some serious thought to changing his philosophical priorities.
James H. Herring
Chairman
Mississippi Republican Party
I.D. checks helpful in reducing underage drinking
To the editor:
As often as we may joke about it, most people in a recent survey (72 percent) said they like the photo on their driver's license, and even more are honest about their weight.
More seriously, however, the survey also found that the vast majority (93 percent) of American adults believe that I.D. checking is a good or excellent way to reduce underage drinking, and that's why we at Mitchell Distributing, the local distributor of Anheuser-Busch products, are committed to helping retailers and servers in our area prevent sales to those under the legal drinking age.
In 2001 alone, we distributed 1,000 I.D. checking materials, including 200 booklets with color photographs of driver's licenses from all 50 states and Canada, to help servers and sellers of alcohol beverages in the Meridian area effectively identify those patrons of legal purchase age and stop sales to minors.
The "Check I.D." nationwide poll, conducted for Anheuser-Busch by the Data Development Corporation, also found that 68 percent of American adults have been carded and 65 percent have seen people get carded. Eighty-six percent would actually enjoy being carded.
Some of these stats may seem humorous, but we take our job of fighting underage drinking seriously. We are committed to a safe community, and we are doing our part to help America's youth learn to respect themselves and the law when it comes to drinking.
Lisa Cowart
Coordinator, Consumer Awareness and Education
Mitchell Distributing
Meridian
Ziemba: Insightful, accurate'
To the editor:
Craig Ziemba is right. His article, "Not enough faith," (The Meridian Star, May 19) was insightful and accurate. It takes not just faith but a blind faith to believe the fairy tale that is evolution.
Can we not see the paradox when school children are taught in room 101 that they are only material and energy evolved by time and chance from primordial slime? Then, everyone is now a state-of-the-art ape. Next hour, in room 102, the children are given lessons to boost their self-esteem.
Ideas have consequences. The Bible calls it the law of the harvest: What is sewn will be reaped. Evolutionists have sewn seeds of human devaluation by cutting mankind's umbilical cord to God. It can be said that this is a pathetic attempt to kill God from our minds.
The consequence, with mathematical certainty, is the killing of God's creations in their mothers' wombs, one every 20 seconds.
Susan Seal
Philadelphia
Ziemba right on target
To the editor:
Craig Ziemba's article of May 19 delineating the illogic of placing one's faith in the claims and theories of evolutionists was, to me, among the best I've read in The Star.
Mr. Roberts' reply of May 21, and defense of Darwin's theory, is distorted. In college while working on my major in biology, I was required to do in-depth study of Darwin's theories. Much to my surprise, I found that modern evolutionists do not accept any of Darwin's analytical and hypothetical conclusions with the data he used, with the exception of natural selection.
Yet, those same evolutionists admire Darwin's attempts and praise him for popularizing the subject in his day. Only Darwin's name has withstood scientific inquiry over the decades. Everything else he postulated has been discounted by modern scientists.
Alas, poor Darwin suffered continuously for 40 years of his life from a mysterious illness. He was most miserable. His faithful Christian wife prayed for him and warned him of his ungodly viewpoints. He died an agnostic.
The only thing Mr. Roberts can rely on concerning modern evolutionists is that annually they will create new theories which they claim disprove former theories. There are hundreds for one to choose from.
It is far more logical to trust in God's word which never changes. "He is the God who formed the earth and made it. He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is none else." Is. 45:18.
Roy Hurst
Meridian
Jimmie Rodgers festival a huge success
To the editor:
We here at B-93 "The Buzz" would like to thank you for your participation in the "Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival 2002" May 9-11.
The festival was a huge success and we are very proud that you were a part of it. It is really on the upswing and we are confident that it will continue to remain so.
Art Matthews
Al Brown
Meridian