As someone who could never

afford to travel to Europe in my younger days, my wife

and I are now unable to travel the great distance due to

having to raise our 4- and 2-year-old daughters. One day

when our children are grown, I will finally get my

chance; but for now, I will hold on to Ms.

Satterthwaite's word pictures and keep dreaming.

I have written many letters

to the editor in The Citizen newspaper. Most of my

letters have been over hotly contested issues such as

hazardous chemicals, annexation, poor commercial

development and government dysfunction. My personal

hypothesis on what it takes to get your message both seen

and understood is to have a subject that the people can

identify with, listing your supporting facts and listing

sources to sustain those facts. I have gratefully

received e-mails thanking me for presenting a new idea

and for just providing my sources.

Of course, in the lifestyle

section of the newspaper you will not find a lot of hard

news. The journalist would certainly want to correctly

spell the names of various personalities and make certain

that the dates for various events are accurate. However,

much of what you read in the lifestyle section is really

the journalist's impression or personal expression of a

particular situation. Most of the articles will be upbeat

or humorous and a few will elicit a tinge of sadness.

Please go to your local library and request several

months of past issues and get your own historical

perspective of the lifestyle section just to see if what

I am saying is correct.

After reviewing the

particular writing style relegated to lifestyle section

journalists, it is comprehendible that Ms. Satterthwaite

might have a difficult time writing on a more potent

political subject. She is really not to blame for the

lack of factual content and logic in her column on

Peachtree City Council candidate Dan Tennant. The simple

truth is that she is just not accustomed to writing in

that specific format.

I took the liberty to

research the subject, Dan Tennant, for myself and I also

took a close look at the content of Ms. Satterthwaite's

column. I have written down some of what I found. Please

look up the sited references for yourself to guarantee

what I am reporting is genuine.

The first point to address

is logic. Logic is the science of reasoning, proof,

thinking or inference. We want to determine whether a

statement is the correct or incorrect use of reasoning.

Ms. Satterthwaite's entire column is based on one written

statement by Mr. Tennant, as recorded in the Oct. 7 1999

Atlanta Journal Constitution: "Third, I believe that

this community should have `one of their own' serving on

City Council - namely a married, average income

professional who is raising children in a Christian

environment. I am the only candidate with those

characteristics. I believe the leaders of the city should

be an accurate reflection of the people who live here and

who share the same values - commitment to family,

commitment to church, commitment to living right and

doing right and not answering to anybody except the will

of the people."

Is Mr. Tennant "the

only candidate with those characteristics" today?

Technically, yes, because he is the only one currently

raising children in a Christian environment.

However, I must point out

that another candidate, Mr. Chuck Lehman, informed me

that he attends the same church as Mr. Tennant, that he

is married and that he has raised children (now grown) in

Peachtree City. We can reason that Mr. Lehman's income

falls into the average to high range because he was a top

executive with Hi Brand Foods prior to retiring.

Mr. Tennant offered some

clarification of the preceding quote in the Oct. 14 1999

edition of Fayette Daily News where he stated: "Let

me be absolutely crystal clear on the intent of my

comment. I intended to assert that as a married, average

income professional raising children in a Christian

environment, I most closely approximate the typical

Peachtree City family." Draw your own conclusion.

Ms. Satterthwaite noted the

"present suggestion of elitism, racism and

anti-Semitism" in her column. Racism is definitely

not indicated nor implied. Many African-Americans and

persons of other races residing in Peachtree City easily

meet Mr. Tennant's average criteria in terms of being

married, average income and raising children in a

Christian environment. African-American is not synonymous

with single, poor and non-Christian.

Anti-Semitism is not a

logical conclusion either. Being a Christian is not

tantamount to hating Jews, Muslims or any other religion.

Being an American is not tantamount to hating Canadians.

Ms. Satterthwaite was

probably not aware that Mr. Tennant's late grandparents

were Jewish (I got this information by calling him on the

phone). It is possible to discern how she may have

conceived elitism by Mr. Tennant mentioning income, but

he did go on to say "not answering to anybody except

the will of the people." He compared himself to the

theoretical average citizen, but stated that he will

recognize everyone, and this would rule out elitism.

Ms. Satterthwaite stated

Mr. Tennant's admission of being a Republican

"annoyed me enough to plan this column." Ms.

Satterthwaite also referred to herself as a

"semiretired female with grown children and liberal

inclinations." Let the readers draw their own

conclusions.

As for me, it appears that

Ms. Satterthwaite became annoyed with Mr. Tennant because

he is on the opposite end of the political spectrum from

her, but I refuse to dub this elitism on Ms.

Satterthwaite's part. If her statement is reasonable,

then we have a right to be annoyed with her for being

liberal. Of course, at this point, everyone would be

annoyed because we can always find someone with a

different point of view.

Ms. Satterthwaite took the

quote, "one of our own," and stated that the

phase was a code of some sort. She went on to say:

"I hear white. I hear male. I hear conservative

Christian. I hear middle-aged. I hear exclusion." We

need to seriously reason this out.

It is an absolute fact that

if the mother is white and the father is white there is a

100 percent chance that their child will also be white.

Mr. Tennant's sex was determined in his mother's womb and

he is middle-aged because he was born 40-something years

ago. Mr. Tennant had no control over these factors, and

yet he is being indicted because of them. There are

moderate Christians, so to say he is a conservative is

speculation. This would have been a good opportunity for

Ms. Satterthwaite to actually speak to Mr. Tennant (an

interview perhaps) and find out where he actually stands

on various issues.

I did in fact research Mr.

Tennant and found out he volunteers with Habit for

Humanity and Meals on Wheels. He is active in his church

and is a member of Promise Keepers, which demands that

its members "reach beyond racial and denominational

barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical

unity." He has coached local youth sports and has

involvement with the YMCA Indian Guides and the Boy

Scouts.

I found out that Mr.

Tennant's son, Joe, died in his arms at the age of 14

from a severe asthma attack. I learned that after

grieving with the loss of his son (if it is possible to

cease grieving), he founded a local charity in the boy's

honor. The Joe Tennant Memorial Classic golf tournament

has raised money for the Peachtree City Police

Department, the Boy Scouts, the Christian City Children's

Home, the Methodist Children's Home, Peachtree City

United Methodist Church youth fund, Booth Middle School

Science Olympiad Team, and will be handing out $5,000 in

college scholarships in the year 2000.

References include Chief J.

Murray, Peachtree City Police Department; Robey Hartley,

Cubmaster, Boy Scout Troop 175 and Cub Scout Pack 75; Bob

Crutchfield, President and CEO, Christian City; Kim

Taylor, Fund-raising Chairman, Booth Middle School

Science Olympiad Team; David Stewart, Peachtree City UMC.

Several of the donations specifically help

underprivileged children while his volunteer efforts have

aided low-income persons and shut-ins.

This same Dan Tennant

decided to run as a write-in candidate for the city

council four years ago when he discovered that the lone

candidate in the race was a commercial developer named

Jim Pace. Noting that a conflict of interest would exist

with a developer voting on zoning, variances and the

like, Mr. Tennant decided to stick with his decision to

campaign.

He was chided severely in

letters to the local newspapers for becoming a write-in

candidate just weeks before the election and making the

city have to pay to open the polls on Election Day.

Determined, he spent the three weeks prior to the

election walking around town, shaking hands and

delivering his message on having an average person with

no conflicts of interest representing the people.

Remarkably, Mr. Tennant managed to obtain a record 42

percent write-in vote (The Citizen, Nov. 9, 1995). Anyone

who enjoys Peachtree City and has seen Jim Pace's voting

record over the past four years would cringe.

For certain, some people

will read Ms. Satterthwaite's article and think it pure

lunacy or perhaps a smear campaign. Our society has

gotten to where we do not appreciate such gross displays

of circumstantial trial by innuendo. Perhaps we need to

follow Mr. Tennant's example and simply forgive and keep

on moving forward.

Unfortunately, the voter

turnout is expected to be only between 3,000 and 4,000

voters out of a population of 30,000-plus. Hopefully,

committed voters will contact the candidates and find out

where they specifically stand on the issues. An

uninformed vote is as bad as no vote at all.

Do not agree with overly

broad "city's best interest" type statements;

ask for specifics. Please get the facts.

Steve Brown

Peachtree City

[email protected]

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