ASHLAND — Today is birthday of crash victim

I have often wanted to respond to certain articles or comments in “In Your View” letters, but I never did. There is such a tremendous divide in this country about religion, morality, financial status, war and politics it is truly sad to see. The Bible tella us in the book of Revelation these things will happen, so we need to be prepared.

This past year something happened in our family’s life you can’t be prepared for. Easter Sunday, April 8, our son, my stepson, disappeared. He was missing for four days before he was found. He was the victim of a tragic motorcycle accident.

He was on his way home on Sunday evening when a deer jumped into him, causing him to wreck. It is as painful today as the day he was found. It is very difficult to see the pain and sadness in the eyes of my wife and daughter and other family members. There is such an emptiness or void that will never be filled.

 Every day he is thought of with love and many happy memories. I write this letter because today, Dec. 11, Buck would have been 40 years old. Today he is celebrating his birthday in a better place with his Lord and Savior and his grandparents who had passed away before him. He had a multitude of friends and some very loyal friends I might say, who have helped us out tremendously throughout the year. We are all very thankful and lucky to have had him in our lives for the time we did.  

So today, we say happy birthday, James Buckley Davis. We love and miss him.

Mark Rice, Ashland

 

Couponers can help our soldiers

We hope you have had a terrific year and wish you all a wonderful Christmas and  New Year. We thank those who helped us help our soldiers overseas with coupons and also those who contributed monetarily. There are some who have not put return addresses on their envelopes, so we do not know who to thank.

At the close of this year, we will have mailed out more than $200,000 worth of coupons! We thank Independent Lifestyles Editor Lee Ward for getting us started!

Here is a helpful reminder of how to help us out. We thank those who are already doing this. If you need more address labels from us, please let me know.

(1) Do not send restaurant coupons!  

(2) Please total all your coupons. Giving us the total dollar amount of your coupons makes it easier and faster for us to mail.

(3) Please make sure your coupons are no more than two months’ expired.  

(4) Manufacturers’ coupons from the dispensers in grocery stores, your local newspaper inserts and dozens of other places are good as long as those magic words “manufacturer’s coupon” are on them. Please do not send Target coupons.

(5) Please, no rebates. By the time they reach overseas and are sorted, most of them have expired.

Clifford and

Maria Hutchison, Argillite



No need to say pledge to flag

Since this is the opinion page, here is mine: We should forget the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States, and just say, “To whom it may concern.” The real hard-working American people don’t seem to count anymore.

We should continue to re-elect the senators who have stood by and watched them kill the burley tobacco crop here in Kentucky. After all, we only use it for paying our taxes, and maybe have a little left over to buy some meat and taters.

We should have a sign on the Mexican border welcoming all pregnant women to America, so they can get on welfare and their boyfriends can join them later. We should continue to help the teenage girl who got pregnant so she can leave home, get on welfare, have an apartment, food stamps, free medical care and have a taxi come and take her to the doctor, while the father of that child is on a secret mission of out making more. I don’t mind all this, but my boss on my second job is looking down my shirt collar and it makes me feel like an economic slave to the advancement of motherhood.

Cliff Barker, Morehead



How can U.S. help Israel today?

To bless and comfort Israel in a meaningful way, we need to have an attitude of spiritual connection to practical programs to care for them and lend a helping hand where the most urgent needs exist.

 Caring is the process of looking after and giving attention to someone in need. Caring for Israel can take on a variety of forms. Awareness programs can be organized to inform people about the situation in Israel and to suggest practical ways in which to alleviate the situation there.

Assistance in the diplomatic sphere to support Israel should be done on the national level. Efforts can be made to refute the diabolical ideology of anti-Semitism. The spiritual needs of this people should be met in a very sensitive way for many Israelis have not accepted Christ and still follow the old ways. Financial support can include clothing and other material goods.

Israel is a highly populated country with many needs. Apart from preaching to his fellow-Jews and introducing them to Jesus, Paul organized practical programs to care for them in various ways. Look for ways to get involved in the care for those in Jerusalem who are going through such dangerous times. If you can do nothing else then pray for them pray and for the peace of Jerusalem. The heart of any support program for Israel, is prayer (Psalms. 122:6-7).

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: (Isaiah. 62:6-7 says, “O Jerusalem, I have set intercessors on your walls who shall cry to God all day and all night for the fulfillment of his promises. Take no rest, all you who pray, and give God no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her respected and admired throughout the world.”

Charles W. Holbrook, Flatwoods



Christmas today celebrates greed

Sometimes I wonder if Jesus is pleased with the way we Christians celebrate his birthday. Is capitalism the economic system Jesus wills for his followers? I find it hard to believe Jesus would praise an economic system where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

It seems Wall Street’s idea of a “successful Christmas” is determined by the exorbitant amount of money consumers spend during the Christmas shopping season. An economy’s health so dependent on each year’s year-end shopping splurge in honor of Christ’s birth might cause Jesus to go to Wall Street the day after Thanksgiving to deliver this message: “You are again turning my house on this street into a den of thieves! You don’t care anything about me. Stop pretending you know me. It’s all about padding your bank accounts. Feed the poor, then come and follow me.”

Those are bold words that would probably get Jesus crucified again. One has to wonder if Christmas in America is more a celebration of our greed than a celebration of our creator-savior’s birth.

Paul L. Whiteley Sr., Louisville