Honor them
This letter is meant to serve as a heads up reminder regarding the significance of this year’s Independence Day.
Beginning with and including July 4, 2022, there are exactly 1,000 days until March 29, 2025, the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Our nation’s Department of Defense has named each March 2 as Vietnam Veterans’ Day.
Over the last 47 years, there has never been a significant national welcome home/thank you celebration for the steadfast, gallant men and women who served during the Vietnam War, especially those who served in-country. The 50th Anniversary would also be an appropriate time to thank the mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles for the sacrifices of their loved ones during that war.
During the ensuing days up to the 50th anniversary, our nation should prepare for a genuine welcome home/thank you celebration — our nation needs to give them a significant thank you and welcome home. It is about time!
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Charles Hendrix
Auburn
Little things matter
Lost in all the uproar of Roe and Wade are three words: “Rape and Incest.” How in the world could my Republican brothers and sister governor leave these words included in the ban on abortions?
Rape is a horrendous crime and totally different from the regular abortions which were results of consensual sex. It is totally unreasonable to lump them together. The victim’s rights are violated in ways that remain forever which is different from voluntary abortions.
I have multiple daughters and granddaughters and their exposure to rape in these violent days and times is unfortunately very high.
I’m baffled as to whether this is an oversight or deliberate.
Jim Dozier
Auburn
Safe science
In the Jun 10 article on Cox Road widening, the project engineer is quoted to the effect that leveling in curves is done to slow down traffic. Is it the aim of roadway engineers to slow down traffic? I would rather hope it is to enhance safety and flow.
The penalty for going too fast on s flat curve is running off road or head on to oncoming traffic. I would rather pay a speeding fine.
What about safe drivers who get surprised when the speed in the curve they normally use results in sliding off when there is a slight or heavy rain? A banked turn could prevent this. A banked curve saves lives and enhances flow. Research shows 80% or more of drivers drive at safe speeds, in spite of legal limits. Let’s get more scientific about road safety.
Daniel Hatcher
Auburn
Protest, players
There is a group of about 1,500 men who could turn this country around and turn it on a dime. I’m talking about Southeast Conference football players. If they refused to take the field until their respective state legislatures repealed all the recently enacted voter suppression and anti-abortion laws and focused on gun control instead, these problems would be solved in a fortnight.
Minorities make up the vast majority of this group. Their people are being shot, their women’s health put in danger, and their grandmothers are being blocked from voting. There should be many sympathetic ears in the crowd.
This has been done before. I refer you to the events at the University of Missouri in 2015. Minority students there were feeling uncomfortable because of nooses, swastikas, and other threats that were prevalent on campus. Their appeals to the dean fell on deaf ears.
On a Saturday night, after the game, the football team announces that they would not participate in football activities – practice or games – until the dean met with the students. On Monday the students were informed that the old dean could not meet with them, but the new dean would be happy to meet at their convenience.
It took the football players less than 36 hours to resolve the problems. As I recall, the U of Missouri team was 1-6 in conference play at the time. Can you imagine what college teams like Alabama or Georgia could accomplish?
The Colleges that are being boycotted would have no means of punishing the players. With the transfer portal – not the Star Trek one – being what it is, the best players would just move on to USC, Oregon or Syracuse. The SEC wouldn’t have a team in the top 20 for years to come and every politician who allowed this to happen would be put out of office.
David M. Rose
Hot Springs, Arkansas