Published: October 14, 2009 06:57 pm      

In Your View — 10/15/09

City should keep cemetery workers

As a lifelong resident and former employee of Ashland, I’m proud our city has chosen to take over the operation of Ashland Cemetery. This will allow the continuation of a location that holds many of our founding fathers.

Selling the cemetery to a private party would have made many Ashland residents heartsick to know that the cherished landmark would have been in the hands of people that have no emotional ties to the property. We all have loved ones or friends who call the cemetery their final resting place.

We find comfort in the care the three current employees have provided over the years. These men do more than cut the grass. They also provide an excellent source of interaction with the citizens with their caring attitude and hard work forming comforting bonds that let us know our loved ones are provided with the utmost respect and care to maintain their memory.

I personally thank these individuals for their continued service and commitment to excellence. I also encourage the city to continue to provide employment for them, as I see the work they perform each day.

The cemetery’s Website proclaims: “Ashland Cemetery staff strive to maintain the picturesque beauty and history of the Cemetery ... Today's generations have inherited the responsibility of Ashland Cemetery; to maintain its community role of preserving the memories that all of us cherish.”

With the key words are “inherited responsibility” and “preserving the memories.“ I encourage anyone who has childhood memories, loved ones interned, or an historical interest, to contact the city of Ashland, Park Maintenance Division of Public Services at (606) 327-2042, 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, to let them know you want to keep the current employees.

Charles Richard Lehman, Ashland



Give the generals what they need,/b>

This is in response to the Oct. 10 editorial page cartoon that tells President Obama not to send more troops to Afghanistan in spite of the commanding general’s desperate pleas for more troops. The cartoon had a caricature of a Vietnam veteran saying, “Don’t do it!”

Let me inform you of some facts. In 1968, U.S. forces in Vietnam had the communists whipped. I know. I was there. I saw the NVA and Viet Cong run and saw the mountains of equipment they left behind in their flight back to North Vietnam.

At this point, General Westmoreland (commanding general of our military in Vietnam) asked President Johnson for 200,000 more troops to invade North Vietnam and end the Vietnam War once and for all. President Johnson refused and replaced General Westmoreland with a general who tried a strategy of “win the hearts and minds of the people.” As we all know, this strategy was a joke and a disaster. The result was that in Vietnam we lost the only war the United States has ever lost.

Remember, the Vietnam veterans did not lose the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was lost by the bureaucrats and politicians at home trying to run a war that they knew nothing about and ignoring the generals and fighting men who were actually on the battlefield.

So, I say if you’re going to fight, give the generals what they need. If it’s more troops, give them more troops. If it’s better equipment, give them better equipment. If the draft is necessary, then forget politics and institute the draft.

But don't send our young men and women again to fight and die with one hand tied behind their backs and no way of winning. Let’s learn from experience.

Randall McGlone, Grayson



1965 Russell High graduates sought.

The 1965 graduating class of Russell High School is trying to locate these classmates:

Laurie Bates, Nancy Billups, Danny Blanton, Clyde Bolton, Beverly Criso, Brenda Diamond, Sally Dudley Beth Houck, Nancy Jarvis, Doris Keaton, Jim Preston and Sue Smith.

Those with current information about any of these classmates are asked to reunion committee members Carla Mourer Miller at (606) 922-6012; Sharon Cogan Whitt at (606) 836-7997; or Sandra Adams Moore at (606) 836-9979.

Carla Miller, Reunion committee, RHS class of 1965



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