Category Archives: Opinions
Letters to the Editor 8-25-21
Employees talking with councilmen
Dear Editor,
The county council, like the U.S. Congress and state legislature, has a set of rules that govern the way it conducts business. One of those rules and the focus of this letter is Section 3.5c. That rule stated county councilmen were forbidden to communicate in any way or even talk with county employees.
The rule was written years ago and likely was the by-product of a
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Common sense and COVID-19
Well, it’s been a quiet summer here at the Barnett Property. I have eradicated the poison oak in the backyard, choked out the English ivy in the trees and battled back the briars in the azaleas.
We have continued to stave off the coronavirus, although I wish people would quit celebrating the end of the pandemic, because it ain’t nearly over yet. More about that later.
We did finally make it down to Stone Mountain to visit my mom, who just turned 96. Except for having to use a walker to get around, she hasn’t changed a bit in the past 40 years.
She’s doing well a year and a half after losing her husband of nearly 72 years, my dad, Bobby D. Barnett. But even
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Thee, thy and thou
Our language is constantly changing. New words are added, other words deleted. The gender issue has made us aware of how language can change our perceptions. The primary purpose of any language is to communicate. Does it really matter if you dangle a participle? Will anyone care if you split an infinitive?
Star Trek hurled us into space in 1966 when Capt. James T. Kirk began each episode with the famous opening that ended with the words “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Grammarians, appalled at the split infinitive, said the line should read “to go boldly where no man has gone before.”
However, in 1966, the women’s liberation movement was in full swing, and more people took offense at the word
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Knowing when to stand and when to be silent
Each week I spend a portion of my days writing and preparing messages. I pray and seek the Lord’s voice as I strain my spiritual ear to hear the direction he is leading me.
We know that thousands of men and women write and speak for audiences regularly and they enjoy it. However, when it comes to the ministry and 
representing God, relaying what we believe is his truth is one of the most serious assignments I can think of and is rarely comfortable.
Some have been serving as a watchman on the wall for many years and sense the reverence and responsibility that
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Courier Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Thank you for the excellent article by Ron Barnett in the Pickens County Courier of Aug. 11.
Ron researched the Medicaid funding and covered the issue
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COVID safeguards still needed
We’ve been fighting COVID-19 together for nearly a year and a half. And it hasn’t been easy.
Within a week of our first confirmed positive test on March 10, 2020, we set up a drive-through test collection site at our North Campus. We spent hours in 
full protective gear and in all sorts of weather, collecting samples from long lines of people who were anxious for answers. Our nursing team developed a capacity expansion plan to ensure we were prepared for the growing numbers of patients who needed inpatient care, never dreaming that at our peak we would stretch to accommodate 141 patients at one time.
We found joy and relief in the many patients who recovered and were reunited with loved ones — and we held the hands of others in their final moments, and we held iPads so grieving families could say goodbye. And, when a vaccine became available, we were one of the first to open a mass vaccination clinic to get
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The best summertime treat
There is nothing better on a hot summer day than watermelon. My father would place it on the picnic table in the backyard and begin cutting it with the precision of a Samurai warrior. Its name says it all. The watermelon is 92 percent water. It is big, it is green, it is messy — and it is the absolute best summertime treat.
My sisters and I would have a seed-spitting contest to see who could spit the black seed over the backyard fence. We were careful not to swallow the seeds, because Uncle Matt told us that if we swallowed a seed, it would grow a watermelon in our belly. We believed it to be true, because Aunt April had swallowed one and we could see the
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The devil’s on a leash
For those who are followers of Jesus, I want to encourage you today. There is nothing to fear, because God loves you and has promised that He will be with you forever.
Have you ever seen those retractable dog leashes that extend several feet? Picture in your mind that God is taking His dog Satan out for a walk, and this allows us to understand the spirit realm. The Lord has a tight collar on the devil, and He allows him to run around roaring like a lion, causing all this chaos and confusion.
A key point in this analogy is that we must realize that God is in total control and Satan must obey God’s
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Courier Letters to the Editor 8-11-21
Ripping the nation to shreds
Dear Editor:
Back in the 1950s and 1960s there were the protests, demonstrations and riots over civil rights and the Vietnam war. Some became violent and deadly. Watts burned, Freedom Riders killed, ROTC and Selective Service offices bombed, protest marchers water bombed and beaten. And then there were the killings at Kent State in 1970. During the 1970s, we had Watergate, the Nixon tapes and the Pentagon Papers. The 1990s had the Rodney King incident, Watts and L.A. burned again. The 2000s brought us 9/11, the Afghan and Iraq wars, non-existent weapons of mass destruction, school shootings, mass shootings, police killing black men and with
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Changes coming for Olympic women
I’ve always been uncomfortable with the extremely skimpy type of leotards required as wear for the American women’s gymnastic team to perform in. Especially since the notorious Olympic team doctor was convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of very young female gymnasts over a period of years. He’s 
now serving a life sentence in prison, and I hope he never gets out.
But this year it seems a change is coming. The women’s Norwegian beach volleyball team refused to wear the revealing bikini bottoms preferred by the Olympic powers that be, who are largely male, and instead competed in thigh-length shorts.
The German women’s gymnastic team also appeared in unitards instead of the high-cut, revealing leotards
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