By Staff
Little: A sore winner?
To the editor:
The aftermath of the election of David Little as Lauderdale County Superintendent of Education has revealed a problem. His vindictive attack on the integrity of Joey and Denise Knight, both employees of the Lauderdale County School System, has revealed his own lack of integrity.
He declared after the election that he would not be vindictive toward them, but how are we the voters to take a post-election attack such as this? Little has said he has had knowledge since February of Denise Knight's "offense" which he now so openly reveals.
What kind of supervisor would have approved questionable expenditures and then deliberately withhold knowledge of the kind of things he has accused the Knights of. If a misdeed is done by an employee, the supervisor or manager is ultimately responsible, and it is their responsibility to know what is going on. Why has it just now become important enough to him to raise questions?
He carefully has said they "may have" committed these offenses. Very sadly, human nature being what it is, some people, he had to know, would never stop thinking that there was justification for his accusations. Frankly, I do not believe they have violated the provisions of anything based on the designation of the funds.
The Barksdale Reading Institute provided in its donation for well-deserved incentives for teachers. Claiborne Barksdale said so. The Title I federal funds were "to be used for professional development and "to help teachers become highly qualified." Denise Knight has as much right to do so as do her peers. Her would-be disqualifier appears to be that she is the wife of the principal who had the courage to run against David Little.
This post-election attack has the appearance of being Mr. Little's attempt to get rid of the Knights. Joey Knight made a very good showing in the race against David Little. He can feel very good about that. I'm now more regretful than ever that he didn't win.
This is a twist instead of a sore loser, could it be that we have a sore winner? I sincerely hope there will be front page coverage when it is confirmed that the Knights are innocent of any wrongdoing.
Carolyn Starnes
Meridian
Clarkdale's tribute to veterans was great
To the editor:
I would like to express my thanks to the teachers and administration at Clarkdale Attendance Center for putting on such a good tribute to honor the veterans on Veterans Day. You could certainly tell that lots of work, time and energy was spent, not only by the staff involved but also by the students.
The second and fifth grade students deserve a pat on the back. They performed well. The teachers and other staff involved need to be recognized for the success of the program.
I sat there and listened with tears in my eyes, not because I was a vet, but because I saw those youngsters learning that others sacrificed for them to be able to do what they were doing. It is also nice to know that we still can teach our youngsters that God plays a part in the founding of this Great Nation. So many times and so many youngsters are left out when it comes to learning what Veterans Day and this country's freedom really means, but I think those youngsters that participated will have a new view and
respect for veterans.
Thank you for a job well done.
Tal Robinson
Meridian
Happy to be part of Veterans Day program
To the editor:
I was on vacation last week when I heard about the high school putting on Veterans Day program. Being a vet, I went to see what this was all about. I was very surprised and happy to see all the kids honoring the veterans. I think that all the states should have a program like this. I was very happy to be a part of this program and would like to thank all the kids who put this on. Also, I would like to thank Algie Davis for letting me be able to attend this program.
Thank you.
James Embrey
Granite City, Ill.
Key to eliminating terrorism
To the editor:
Nearly every time I pick up and read the daily newspaper, my heart is saddened by news of acts of terrorism and or the deaths of our youth in far off places, such as iraq and Afghanistan in America's "war against terrorism." Terrorism is certainly one of mankind's biggest problems in our 21st century world.
Sadly, some of our leaders have been heard saying that the war against terrorism will never end. Why not?
Terrorism is a problem. The only way to solve a problem is to eliminate through correction the cause of the problem. Observing America's actions, it seems as if our shortsighted leaders have identified the terrorist as the cause of terrorism. Such a belief is very much untrue.
During the first week of November 2003, a news commentator hit the nail on the head when he stated, "Islam's clerics and mosques are churning out terrorists quicker than America's military can kill them." Radical Islamic Fundamentalism (Extremism) is the primary cause of terrorism in today's world. Extremism is the by-product of perverted reasoning. Perverted reasoning cannot be killed with bayonets, bullets and bombs. Religious perversion is of the spiritual world.
The only way to correct spiritual perversion is with spiritual truth: truthful education.
When it comes to spiritual perversion, every world religion is guilty and falls short of God's glory. How are we to remove the splinter in Islam's eye, while a mote is within our own eye? The key to solving terrorism is therefore the dissolution of all worldly religions. To enjoy the benefits of peace, we must strip these religions of all their poppycock and return to the basics and start from there in the rebuilding of our world.
Christianity, Islam and Judaism all have The Ten Commandments as a basis for their faith. Any doctrine that comes into conflict with these divinely inspired laws for human government should be stripped from "the books," and exposed as religious perversion.
But alas, America's highest courts have ruled God's Ten Commandments should be excluded from public life. I ask you, what is the definition of a fool?
Bobby W. Bryan
Meridian