Veteran's Day Events In Athen's

Today is Veterans day. This is a day where Americans celebrate the men and women who have served or are currently serving in our military. It is a day to celebrate and thank them for their bravery.

Many places in Athens are holding Veterans Day events.

1. Oconee Hill Cemetery had a Veterans Day event this morning from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The OCH Cemetery is located right next to Sanford Stadium on East Campus Road. This event included a self-guided tour from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The tour allowed guests to view the graves of past veterans from many of our histories wars including the Spanish-American War, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Mexican War, and both WWI and WWII. There are also soldiers who died in the most recent Iraq War buried in this cemetery. After the self-guided tour, there was a flag and statue dedication. The flag was dedicated by the Friends of the Cemetery to veterans, as well as firefighters, police officers, and first responders. The statue was commissioned by Mrs. Bridges in memory of her son-in-law, Sergeant Sean Gressler, who lost his life in Iraq.
If you were not able to attend this event, you can visit the cemetery daily during their business hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cemetery is full of history and everyone should take the time to visit the remarkable people buried here.



2. Also this morning, Bel Air Elementary School hosted their annual parade that local veterans are able to participate in. The parade started at 8:30 a.m. Both Malakoff Elementary School and Brownsboro High School also planned Veterans Day events that began at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.

3. An event that is going on all day is at Chickfila on the East Side. Children can decorate bags for soldiers and Veterans can show their military ID and get discounts on items from their menu.

4. And finally at 2 o'clock, Oconee County Middle school is hosting a Veterans appreciation event. The middle school's symphonic band will perform and retired Army Capt. Joshua Darnell will speak.

I love that so many people take the time out of their day to have ceremonies to celebrate such an important day and important people. If you were not able to attend events this year, then make sure to keep an eye out for next year.
UPDATE: Your Pie's Athens/Watkinsville stores are offering 50% discount to all veterans today. Be sure to visit and get a delicious pizza.

State of Georgia Governor Canidates

Tuesday, November 2nd will be the state of Georgia's Governor elections. I decided it'd be good to do a post on the two candidates and easily lay out what they want to get done if elected.

Nathan Deal

Nathan Deal is the Republican candidate for Governor. Here are his ideas:

• Economy: 1) Has a specific plan to bring new jobs to GA - fundamental to this goal is a pro-growth, business-friendly economic environment. He plans to do this with comprehensive regulatory and tax relief. 2) "Real Prosperity" will give tax relief for families and small businesses which will put steps into place to fuel growth and development.
• Education: "Real Results" - Plans to strengthen public schools and improve student achievement - will prioritize funding for education, protect teachers jobs to keep small class sizes and focus on enhancing science, technology, engineering and math education - Deal's idea includes making separate schools that focus more on these topics than others. Just like the difference between research colleges and technological colleges.
• Illegal Immigration: Implement a statewide program that will give law enforcement the power to work with federal authorities to enforce the laws. He authored legislation that would end birthright citizenship to babies born in US to illegal parents. He will continue working to fight illegal immigration. According to Nathan Deal's website, "New immigrants have forever been an important part of our American culture, but our system must be orderly, sustainable, and in accordance with the rule of law."
• Right to Life: Pro-life. Will end funding for abortion in Georgia
• Healthcare: Will continue fighting the recently passed Healthcare Bill. Deal will also fight the number of lawsuits and 'jackpot jury' trials that drives up the cost of healthcare.
• Budget and Taxes: 1) Work to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used effectively by enacting a zero-based budgeting (expenditures in departments must be approved, both increases and decreases, instead of traditional budgeting where managers justify increases). Hopes this will eliminate wasteful funding while also creating additional funding for education, transportation, public safety and healthcare. 2) Will eliminate marriage penalty tax and reduce corporate income tax by 1/3. This will help create jobs and ensure Georgia taxpayers are the beneficiaries of improved efficiency in government.

Roy Barnes

Roy Barnes is the Democrat candidate for Governor. Here are his ideas:

• Jobs: 1) Immediate Solution - Believes that making businesses more energy efficient will lower costs and will help create more room for job growth. 2) Training - Believe if we reinvest in higher education then it will help create job opportunities. 3) Focus - If we focus on create incentives for medical research, then the increased research could help raise the number of jobs. 4) Incentive - Reinstate the property tax relief so families can afford to buy houses, raise a family and start businesses. 5) Value-added Agriculture - produce and process our agriculture in state and the production will increase job opportunities. 7) Green Jobs - Take advantage out of our abundance of greenery. This could stimulate trade, reduce pollution, and create jobs. 8) Tourism - Take advantage of all our fantastic scenery and landscape throughout the state of Georgia
• Education: 1) Public Education - Do not have furloughs for teachers and cuts from education budgets. Cannot have a great education if you cut its budget. 2) Raise teachers salaries to show how important teachers are to the operation and success of our schools. 3) Focus on emphasizing math and reading, reducing class sizes, and make the number of days given to standardized testing so that Georgia children every opportunity to succeed in their classes and on their tests. 4) Work to guarantee that both active and retired public education employees receive their pension and health benefits and not lose anything that was apart of that agreement.
• Transportation: 1) Have an elevated, light-rail system that will help workers who live in the suburbs of Atlanta get home quicker and make our Atlanta highways less clogged with cars. 2) Improve and expand our states highway system. Also have a railway connect all major cities in Georgia to help improve access for businesses, workers and visitors.
• Water: 1) Need to focus on repairing leaky pipes and updating inefficient municipal water infrastructure. Offer incentives for owners and consumers to use more green technology that lowers use of water. 2) Need to create new reservoirs in North Georgia so that we can increase our capacity for water storage and/or find new alternatives to store water effectively. 3) We should not wait for the courts to make a decision on this topic, we need to start working immediately to make all these ideas become a statewide priority.
  
• Restore Georgians trust in their Government

After reading both sides, I hope you have a clearer idea on who you would like to vote for. Everyone of us should go out and vote before or on November 2nd. It's important to have our voices heard and for us to have some control of our future.

What are your opinions on these two candidates and who will you be voting for?

Georgia's ban on Pit Bulls

My next topic of discussion is concerning the state of Georgia. I came across this link on Facebook and it caught my attention.

"I just signed the Petition Against Pit Bull Ban in petition (signature #2796) at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/georgiapitbull"

This link is a petition against the ban of Pit Bulls in Georgia, specifically in Douglas County. On Monday, Douglas County had a Council meeting about the ban where those opposing it outnumbered those who supported it. Here is a link to the article. http://bit.ly/btH2P4

The main argument for the supporters was that they want to feel safe in their own neighborhoods. They also thought owners lack responsibility when owning this particular breed. Those opposing also agreed that the main problem for pit bulls are their owners not being held responsible. However, they felt that the bill should focus more on "targeting dangerous dogs instead of singling out pit bulls."

This petition caught my attention because I can honestly say my first love in life were animals. Especially dogs and not just certain breeds, EVERY breed! Even this one.. :) (which if you were wondering is a Chinese Crested. They are so ugly, that they're cute.)


First, I think I should talk a little bit about Pit Bulls. Pit Bull is not an AKC registered breed, but it's a generic name for American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier (which are both AKC registered) and American Pit Bull Terrier (which is not AKC registered). All of these are part of the terrier group. According to the American Kennel Club terriers have little tolerance for other animals. This is because their ancestors were bred to kill vermin and this part of their personality may still come through in some instances. In my opinion, these particular breeds need experienced owners that can properly train their dogs to act correctly to other humans and animals. It is possible for dogs to act politely. All you have to do is look at Cesar Millan, popularly known as the "Dog Whisperer" and an advocate for Pit Bulls. Cesar has had many pit bulls, with the most well known being Daddy, who recently passed away, and now his main pit, Junior. Cesar used Daddy and now Junior as ambassadors for pit bulls and they both also help rehabilitate dogs in need, usually either very shy, scared or aggressive dogs. Neither of Cesar's pits showed aggression and it just goes to show that owners can train their dog to remain calm and submissive.

(To learn more about Cesar and his "pack" visit Cesar's website http://www.cesarsway.com/ or watch his TV series Dog Whisperer.)
I am completely against banning Pit Bulls from the state of GA because I honestly believe an aggressive dog is solely due to its owners. The owners either purposefully make their dogs aggressive through abuse (i.e. fighting) or they are just completely incompetent in training their animals correctly so they will stay calm in particular situations. However, I will say I know this is a delicate topic and understand that their are dogs out there that act aggressive completely on their own. If this is the case, then the dog does need to be put down. As stated earlier, Pit Bulls should not be the only dogs singled-out for aggression because every dog has the ability to be aggressive and attack humans or other dogs, even a Chihuahuas. If a bill should be passed against any dogs, it should be like the opposing suggested, targeting all aggressive dogs.

I truly believe pit bulls can be great dogs if treated and trained correctly and not stereotyped as being dangerous. I mean look at German Shepard's. People during and after WWII were terrified of German Shepard's because they were trained to be very aggressive at concentration camps. Now, they are the second best family dog according to AKC Registration Stats and are loved by all. If pit bulls were given the opportunity to prove they can be a safe and loving breed and, I guess you could say, given good PR, then maybe it would be possible to change societies view like with the German Shepard.

I was looking for a picture of a pit bull to put in the blog and came across this article. Just want to show you how even pit bulls can be loving, loyal pets. :)
http://dogsinthenews.com/stories/070301a.php


Please leave comments. I know there are different opinions about this topic and want to get your input.