The Georgia DOT is mired hopelessly in the muck of partisan politics and the stupid antics of its top players. The "couple" maintain their affair began quite recently, after Mike Evans had retained chairmanship of the board in February, while Rep. Carl Rogers received information that it began as early as November.

The couple apparently told Vice Chairman Garland Pinholster (recent receiver of a sexual harassment complaint) about their affair, but waited two weeks to advise the board.

Commissioner Gena Abraham recently issued a memo to her employees demanding they adhere to the highest ethical standards, a classic example of "do as I say not as I do."

The failure of the board to take punitive action toward Abraham other than a mild reprimand seems to indicate that there are problems all through the top echelons of DOT. The board apparently went along with Gov. Sonny Perdue and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle in maintaining that Abraham is still the right person for the job. But who can take this woman seriously after such conduct and her delaying of its revelation and possible lying about its timing?

Gov. Perdue would be well advised to have a wholesale replacement of much of the hierarchy of DOT ASAP. Ethics, by the way, is a quality completely lacking in the actions of most of the DOT leadership.

Jim Scharnagael
Gainesville

US government spirals into total socialism
I strongly agree with the letter writer regarding government handouts (Saturday's Community Forum). While he referred to Alexander Tyler and democracy, it should also be noted that Tyler said democracies progress through the following sequences:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From the great courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to selfishness;
6. From selfishness to complacency;
7. From complacency to apathy;
8. From apathy to dependence;
9. From dependence back again to bondage.

If you study the history of our government, you will see that we are now at sequence 7 and bordering rather closely to sequence 8. Our government was originally capitalistic, but it has become more and more socialist and, to my way of thinking, is headed toward total socialism.

While I don't consider myself a pessimist, I am truly concerned over the direction of our government and what the future holds not only for us to more importantly, for our descendants.

Jim Mewborne
Gainesville

Beloved Dr. Hosford helped ease kids' pain
Dr. Hosford will be truly missed by this community. I remember seeing him as a child almost 30 years ago when he first opened his practice and was so glad he was still there when I needed a doctor for my children.

Dr. Hosford has seen us through runny noses, coughs, checkups, immunizations and every bump and bruise for three decades. I will always remember how he could soothe my boys' pain and fears when it was shot time, and comforted my wife when he came to the hospital for that first check up the day they were born.

I hope his family knows how important he was to everyone he saw and how much his warm face and ever-present smile will be missed. I only regret that I got a little too old to keep seeing him as a patient. He was and forever will be "Doc" to me and I know he is watching over us still.

Jonathan Williams
Gainesville