"Breaking the chains of domestic violence"

Last week the type of horrific violence we see on TV happened here in Savannah. A man shooting his ex-wife and her boyfriend and then turning the gun on himself and ending his own life. All of this taking place just as school was letting out. When you here that gun shots were fired outside of the high school a thousand different scenarios run through you head.

After finding out that no kids were shot there was a sense of relief. My kids are 5, 8, and 10 years old and we try to protect them from as much of the dark side of society as we can but when it hit home like this that becomes impossible.

One of my kids asked how could someone do this to their wife? And why does the wife have a boyfriend? If you kill yourself will you still go to heaven?

I am not claiming to be a perfect or even a good Christian, I try to live as close to God as I can but I stumble a lot. I told my son that things like this happen when we fall away from the Lord. I told him thats why it's so important to be a Christian and to strive to live each day like one because when we don't we can do things that aren't a good reflection of our faith and who we strive to be. We tell our kids all the time how much we love them and we spend as much time as possible together along with trying to teach them how to act and behave in the world around them. I am proud to not have come from a broken home, growing up no one in my immediate family had been divorced so its hard for me to relate to the dynamics of a broken marriage. I go out of my way to tell my kids that my wife comes first in our marriage and our home, I love them but she is number one, and I talk and try to show my boy's every day how a man should treat his wife and women in general. I think as fathers we have an obligation to our children to teach and raise them up in a manner that they will respect and cherish the women in their lives. Raising your kids with Christian morals and teachings and leading and showing them by example is the only way to break the chain of violence and broken homes in America.

I am not perfect, but I know my role as a husband and a father. Each day I try to be the best I can be. I stumble a lot but I know that Christ has his hand extended to help me up every time I stumble and fall. Lets raise our kids up in a loving Christian environment and equip them with the tools to deal with life's problems and when they need help that there is always someone there for them.

Make yourselves accessible to your family and Friends and maybe we can prevent something like this from happing again.

The Election is Over What Now

Thank goodness the election is over. The candidate's that I voted for won so I'm happy. There was a lot of mud slinging that went on during the campaign's and know I hope that is over with. Weather the person we voted for won or not doesn't matter know, because we know have got to come together and help our elected officials succeed so the place we live in can improve and become a better place.

I think it is high time also for these civic or political activist or what ever they want to call themselves to put their energy in helping improve our county and city. We have seen and heard a lot of words from these people know lets see something useful come from them. I hope they will help rally people to help improve our community and make positive social change and to see things progress in a way that benefits the people in the county.

For example, instead of complaining about the new jail (which is going to be built whether you like it or not), lets support the sheriff and the police departments. These men and women that serve us everyday risk their lives for us, and how do we repay them? We complain and lose site of the important things. We need to become encourager's not discourages. Buy supporting our police and sheriff departments we make a big impact on improving our community. When is the last time you thanked a police officer or sheriffs deputy? I challenge you, the next time you see one thank them for a job well done.

Or instead of trying to find fault in someone why not try to help come up with solutions to some of the problems that face our community? Its easy to find fault but its a lot harder to come up with or be part of the solution.

Lets come together and help those that have chose to serve others be successful because their success is our success then we will all reap the benefits of a job well done.

"Bring our children home."

As the holidays near and we reflect on all that has transpired during this past year. With Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve parties coming up we will be caching up on how and what everyone and their families are doing. I know a lot of people have kids in college or that have just graduated. When our children do go off to college and hopefully graduate what is their here besides their family and friends to draw them back to work and live?

Do we have a diverse job base? Do we have new industry and companies relocating to Savannah and Hardin County? Are we actively seeking out and pursuing new businesses to come here? And what are we doing to make our community attractive to companies outside Hardin County so they will come here?

These are some tough questions and I don't claim or pretend to know all the answers. But I do know one thing and that is I want us to have thriving and growing new and old businesses . When my children graduate from high school and college I want there to be opportunities for them here to get a job that pay enough to support themselves and their families so they will want to come back home not move to some other community. If they choose to live some where else I don't want it to be because there was not opportunities for them here.

I am not trying to insult or make anyone mad. But what we are doing now isn't working. Maybe we need a new approach to the way we try to attract new businesses to our city and county? Maybe we need to look at some other growing and booming communities and see what they are doing that is being so successful. We need to do everything we can to build a better future for our children and help our business community to thrive and grow is essential to making this happen.

If anyone agrees or disagrees please leave a comment I would love to know what other people think about this issue.

Savannah Youth Football

This year my son Austin played tackle football for the first year. It was a great way for him to get exposed to this great sport. There is one person who needs to be recognized for his incredible dedication to our children, and making sure our kids are learning the fundamentals to help them be more successfull football players. The person I am talking about is Paul Alexander he selflessly dedicates his time and puts together a excellent program for the youth of our community. I hope people will let Paul know what a great job he did and I hope his example will encourage others to get involved in our youth sports programs.

My pick for comic of the week.

A couple of weeks ago WBBJ aired a segment on community and business leaders in Selmer. The segment told about a new effort to beatify the downtown area and the area around the four-way stop at the corner of highways 64 and 45.

I thought of this when I was coming over the bridge into Savannah this morning. I thought what a shame we don’t have community activist, business people and concerned citizens coming together to beatify Savannah and our county. Right when you cross over the bridge the first thing you see is that ruined down shell station. The out of business gas station is not the only thing that could be improved on, there are several properties that need mowed and then there is that eye sore that suppose to look like a paddle wheel boat that should be know where near public view. The area where the welcome to savannah sign is, needs spruced up and some up dating of the landscaping. The appearance as you enter our fare city and county is a direct reflection of the citizens that live here and I don’t know about everyone else but I want people to have the best impression as possible.

Another impression that could use some help is the unsightly mess along the crump side if the river bank. The trailers, lean-tos, tee-pees and who knows what else is down there should never have been allowed to be put there. We need zoning to protect the good tax payers of this city and county. I feel sorry for those people who have to look out their window everyday and look out at the eye sore across the river.

The community activist, politicians and business owners need to come together and with the involvement of the community do something to improve the appearance of the way our town and county looks. First impressions mean a lot to people and when people come to our town and our county we should do everything possible for their impression to be a great one.

As for these so-called community leaders they need to quite patronizing us and quite being a stumbling block and really do something to benefit the community. They need to realize they don’t need to impress us, they need to find ways to encourage people to get involved and make a real difference. The citizens of our community are not impressed with some of these people who always boast about all they have done, all the important people they know and all the places they have been. One of these so called activists would have to be 400 years old to have done all the things he has said he's done. So don’t impress us with your words, impress us with your actions how you can get people involved in bettering our community. That is what a community activist is suppose to do.

I went to pick my daughter up today at Paris South Elementary School and I noticed how run down and over crowded it is. While I was there I started to talk to a employee of the school and I mentioned something about the condition of the school and the large number of students in the class rooms. This person said the ratty carpet was original from when the school was built. and some of the missing, broken & stained ceiling tile have been that way for years. I thought to myself what a shame that our children have to go to school with it looking like this. With the amount of taxes we pay you would think that our schools would be better taken care of. The sad thing is this problem is not exclusive to Paris South. In this country there should be no school that is as run down as North, Paris South and Walker whose principle Mrs. White does an excellent job with what little she has to work with. White elementary is another issue, it appears that the school district has done nothing at this school in years except try to close it. If it was not for the principle Mrs. Holt and the PTO the school would have probely caved in. I must say the two schools that we have been involved in, there PTO's have been the life saver of the schools. The condition of these schools should be and is unacceptable! As parents and taxpayers we should not stand for this and we need to hold the School board and the school officials responsible. I know we have a new superintendent and he should be given a chance to make a plan of action on how to fix the situations and communicate it to the public. With all the political and community activist we have in this town they should be jumping on the band wagon so to speak and get the public aware of the irresponsible and inexcusable behavior of the school administration.

Secondly, There needs to be new schools being built. On top of that there needs to be a growth plan in place so that there is a clear plan to have schools replaced and new schools built so our children have the best environment to learn in that we can give them. There does not seem to be a growth plan in effect. If there is it needs to be communicated to the public so they can get behind the plan and support it. After all it is the tax payers that pay for the schools and if they know what is going on they will be more supportive when it comes to funding them.

In my opinion we as a community need to come together and make and build a better educational system for our children.