Gwinnett Daily Post

Kudos to Sen. John McCain

I would like to thank Republican Sen. John McCain for his rebuke of Republican Congresswomen Michelle Bachmann regarding her request to investigate Huma Abedin, who is a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Rep. Bachmann has accused Ms. Abedin of being connected to the Muslim Brotherhood only because of her remote family associations with the Brotherhood. Bachmann's request for an investigation of Ms. Abedin is specious and raises an unfounded fear based solely on the fact that Ms. Abedin is Muslim. Senator McCain has shown a profile in courage. Bachmann, on the other hand, has again shown her penchant for McCarthyism and self-aggrandizement.

-- Torin Togut

Lawrenceville

Not the right time for mixed-use development

So here we go again ("Mixed-use proposed for Dacula," July 19, 1A). Haven't we been here before?

Plans for 2.5 million square feet of development, including 613 residences, on a 156-acre spread just doesn't seem to make any sense right now. While looking at a satellite view of the area, I couldn't help but notice dozens of brown patches in all directions all over the map. Upon closer inspection, these swaths of clear-cut land are unfinished neighborhoods and shopping centers.

The drive to continually wipe out pristine woodlands for projects that have no future when there's so many that already lay incomplete is simply baffling. It's time to take another breather and reflect on where we've just been, and continue to be.

Clearly, long-term planning is taking a back seat again to short-term gains when ideas like this have begun to surface so soon.

-- Don Hoppe Jr.

Dacula

T-SPLOST takes wrong approach

The T-SPLOST tax is the wrong solution for Georgia's future. Pouring more money into shoving more commuters into central Atlanta each day is the wrong concept.

I would be in favor of this tax if it was to be used to find ways to move business from downtown to outside the Perimeter. Telecommute, fill the vacant office space in the outer counties, build new office space in Gwinnett and other counties. It would enhance revenue in those counties, and shorten commute times far more than what is proposed by T-SPLOST planners.

If just 20 percent of the workers downtown could operate each day beyond the Perimeter, that's like adding another lane on every interstate feeding downtown. Let's kill off T-SPLOST on July 31, and replace it with a plan to convince businesses to move their operations out of downtown.

-- James Griffin,

Lawrenceville