Thanks Ben for posting this letter here, even if the News Observer chose not to place it in their publication. I once sought to have a letter to the News Observer published on the issue of murdering of animals and animal cruelty in this county and it was not. The reason given being length, which I can understand, but for some issues it does take a large number of words to make the point for some folk.

Having taken myself away from this forum for a few weeks, I, like Amos & Andy, feel the need to put a final post regarding this Alcohol issue. I have waited to do so, hoping to find just the right words. Since the religious zealots and churches of this county seem to have been the driving force for it's defeat, this too is an "Open Letter to the Local Church."

I do appreciate and understand the attitude that this letter puts forth to the local church. Unfortunately for Fannin County, and ultimately for this world, there are not enough folk like Ben. Most churches and the people that inhabit their pews are more interested in their own lives, the size of their bank accounts, and the size of their church buildings (and parking lots). They take the Bible, pull out passages and twist them to suit their personal beliefs and interests.

I have said this before and I will again...if Jesus were here in Fannin County he would not attend any of the churches that put forth money to defeat this alcohol referendum. Honestly folk ~ Could you see Jesus sitting in on a Church Meeting or Finance Committee Meeting to vote on money that was spent for this??????? Come on ~ THINK ABOUT IT!!! He would look at that money and say to them....did not I tell you in my word to not be concerned with what other people eat or drink??.....!!! What part of that did you not understand. He would look at their billboards, electrical marquis and large buildings and ask WHY are you wasting your money on things of this world. Could you have not fed the hungry, clothed the poor, provided shelter for the homeless with this money? With his humble clothing, long hair, and homeless look, he would be shunned in most, if not all, of the church services by those with this controlling and pious attitudes. He would more than likely look at these people and call them Pharisees and Sadducee's. People would avoid the pew that he sat on and whisper amongst themselves that he was an alcoholic or a drug addict...if he was let in the doors at all... He would walk, not drive, away from the building weeping at what people who claim to be his followers were doing in "His Name".

This alcohol referendum that did not pass was not a defeat against alcohol, it was a defeat against "personal freedom". Did not Christ come to "set the captive free?" I found it ironic that once the final vote was passed the marquis of one local church was changed to display a familiar Bible Verse, John 3:16... the hallmark passage of "freedom".

With that said....enough is enough....and to borrow the words of someone else regarding this issue... "I'm Over It".