LETTERS
To the Editor:

Some of us who were not paying attention to the details when President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, may have missed the provision that beginning in 2007, the start/stop times for Daylight Saving Time (DST) would change. For the last several years, DST began on the first Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October, but beginning in 2007, DST begins on the second Sunday in March, and ends on the first Sunday in November, giving us a total of 238 days of DST versus 210 days last year.

The new rules will give us an extra four or five weeks of DST each year so if you didn't like the old DST, you now have even more to not like. This group will probably include folks in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Arizona, where DST is not observed (except for the Navajo Indian Reservation in AZ, which does observe DST).

When I was in college in Indiana, the Hoosiers did not observe DST, but they finally came around in 2006, after having resisted DST since its inception in 1918. In fact, there were a lot of resisters in 1918, and the national DST law was repealed in 1919 and DST became a local matter. It stayed a local matter until the beginning of WWII, at which time the national law was revived, and remained in effect until after the war, at which time DST reverted to local control.

About 40 years ago the Uniform Time Act went into effect, nationalizing and standardizing the start/stop dates for DST, but allowing for local exemptions. Since then, the Feds have tinkered with earlier start dates, but this is the first time that both start and stop dates have been changed.

Winding up this trivia, the expression "Daylight Savings Time" (ending with an "s") is popular, and can be found in some dictionaries, but the official spelling is "Daylight Saving Time," not "Daylight Savings Time." And although "Daylight Saving Time" is official, the expression is actually inaccurate, because no daylight is really saved. "Daylight Shifting Time" might be more accurate, and if someone wants to start a petition, I'll sign it!

Cordially, Chuck Esposito, Suches, Ga. To the Editor:

I read the letter to the editor by James L. (Sonny) Boyer in the Union Sentinel regarding the Union County Governmental Finance Corporation (UCGFC). Many of the statements contained therein were incorrect.

The UCGFC was formed publicly. It has held public meeting as required by law. The public meetings are advertised as required by law. It has local citizens as officers of the Corporation. When created it did not circumvent the law nor has it circumvented the law during its existence. It was not formed the first month the Commissioner was in office.

The actions of the Corporation have been the subject of newspaper stories. The actions of the Corporation did not require a referendum and it does not override the laws of the elected legislature.

The elected Commissioner of Union County is authorized to purchase property to provide for the future needs of the county. This decision was made at an open public meeting duly advertised.

The land purchase documents are recorded in the public deed records. An appraisal was performed prior to the purchase of the property by the UCGFC.

Facilities to serve residents of Blairsville and Union County have since been located on the property. The property is centrally located. There is expansion space available. Utilities were available to the property at the time of the purchase.

Was this property a "good buy" as Mr. Boyer questions? The residents of Blairsville and Union County can form their own opinion about that. Was it legal? Yes.

Sincerely, H. Boyd Pettit, III Attorney for Union County To the Editor:

The British saw the death and destruction which followed their Civil War as counterproductive and unpopular so, thereafter, they waged their warfare elsewhere in the world. We followed suit after our Civil War, and brought war's death and destruction outside the borders of the United States. When Germany turned the tables and rained destruction on Britain during World War II, the British were outraged. Nevermind what they had done to other countries in the past. Similarly, what horrors we brought to others was conveniently forgotten in our reaction to September 11. Twas ever thus. War is evil. It is un-Christian. Some of those who most loudly profess to follow Christ's teachings, beat the war drums the loudest.

Our forefathers fought what would now be described as "asymmetrical warfare" against the British soldiers and Americans loyal to the Crown. They and their Indian allies massacred men, women and children in the most horrible manner that no history schoolbook dares to tell. We excuse them because they were fighting for our "freedom" from British "occupiers." But where is this any different than what is taking place in Afghanistan and Iraq? How were American patriots "right " then, and Islamic patriots "wrong" now?

When will National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines or television stations have the courage to show the American people before and after photographs of the destruction we have brought to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan? Don't the American people realize that this can happen to us some day. For the death of every person we have caused in the Middle East, we have made enemies of tens of thousands who will remain so for centuries? No American or British citizen setting foot in the Middle East will ever be truly safe. The hatred of the Irish for the British will be nothing compared to this animosity.

When the pro-Israel neo-conservatives issued their infamous manifesto, taking upon themselves the right to set forth the course of action for the United States to follow in the Middle East in order to secure the safety of the state of Israel, our military has so far followed it to the letter. The war drums we heard before our attack on Iraq are becoming louder. The manifesto now orders us to demolish the Iranian infrastructure, thereby eliminating yet another potential Islamic threat to Israel. Forget what is best for the United States. Then, next on the agenda, is the destruction of Syria. In the October 19 edition of Fannin County's News Observer, a letter writer says: "... not one drop of Israel's blood has been spilled helping our boys fight their war." I might add, not one Israeli shekel has been contributed, either.

Sincerely, Ruth Elizabeth Ramsey