Church mourns the loss of homeless guest
My church, Our Lady of Lourdes, has had an outreach program to unsheltered citizens for many years. Among our guests was Cornelius Taylor, who lived on Old Wheat Street. His tragic death has been painful for those of us who served him. However, it has been heartwarming to see the outpouring of love and generosity that has been extended to him since his death.
My hope is that “not invisible anymore” would be the refrain that is said for homeless people while they yet live.
BEATRICE PERRY SOUBLET, EAST POINT
State Election Board goes from bad to worse
Definitely “not a good look.” Even though this phrase might be British, I think it directly and simply says what “the appearance of impropriety” does. An election denier as an official investigator of election irregularities? Evidently, that block of three votes on the current State Election Board just does not get it.
The Georgia House and Senate look at their representatives to the State Election Board annually. With this latest action on the part of their representatives added to their other actions this past year, I think the House and Senate need to appoint new individuals. This time, choose individuals who are knowledgeable, qualified and temperamentally suited to such a board. Although I cannot find anything in the way of qualifications required of SEB members on the secretary of state office website, I am hoping common sense, and not wishing to be embarrassed or further liable for court costs, will prevail.
ALIDA C. SILVERMAN, ATLANTA
Clean energy mandates needed for data centers
Data centers have spread throughout the nation as businesses owned by “cloud service providers.” There are now more than 3,200 data centers in the U.S., and more than 100 in Georgia. These businesses are lured by Georgia’s tax credits for data centers. Such credits were to be eliminated last year through a bill passed by the General Assembly, but it was vetoed by Gov. Kemp. Data centers consume enormous amounts of energy – the average large data center uses as much power as about 200,000 homes.
A bill now in the General Assembly, SB34, deserves strong public support because it proposes protecting residential and small-business energy consumers against unfair cost increases linked to the power needs of data centers. As important as supporting SB34 is, it doesn’t cover other data-center energy problems. Not included in the bill is any requirement for the owners of these facilities to use clean energy. Georgia Power currently proposes to prolong the heat-trapping combustion of coal and other fossil fuels, claiming to be justified by data-center demands.
After a year when Georgians suffered more than $10 billion in climate-related, extreme weather damages, which are rapidly worsening, it is imperative that clean-energy use is made mandatory for data centers.
DAVID KYLER, SAINT SIMONS ISLAND
CENTER FOR A SUSTAINABLE COAST
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
