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Letters to the Editor

There are 2 sides to this Marine's story

My name is Mrs. Amber Lynn Blanton, Jeffery Blanton's wife. I read your article and need to clarify some things.

1. First off, last time I checked, my legal and married name is Amber Lynn Blanton, not Boyd. There was no "fierce battle" between the family and myself, just his father, stepmother, and aunt Cheryl. Notice that their images and comments were all over the news lately.

2. There were two family plots, one on his mother's side and one on his father's side. I did make the decision to bury him in a national cemetery, so [as] not to slight either side. His mother agreed that that was the best choice because that is what Jeff would want, and that is to be buried with his men.

3. His mother and I made numerous attempts to negotiate with the paternal side and each time the conversation ended up with threats being made against Jeff's mother and me.

4. The Blantons are not a clan and there was no mentioning of Arlington National Cemetery, and when the arrangements were made, Marietta said that they had a plot available. The others in Georgia were not available.

5. Besides all the other garbage that his stepmother said, having a lawyer annul my marriage or override my decisions are absurd. I am a paralegal specialist in the Army and have never seen anything like that ever happen because it's not possible. If you have, let me know.

6. "Sticking him in a cemetery with a bunch of strangers" is not the correct verbiage. It's more like having him laid to rest beside others that fought and died as honorably and courageously as he did. In the words of that side of the family, "He wanted to be with his men." Well, Ms. Williams, that's where he is, with his men.

7. Would you give out your number or tell someone where you are staying if they have told someone else that they were going to "(Expletive) up your whole world", or Haunt that (expletive)," in reference to you? I don't think you would, and that's why I didn't. Don't believe me? It's on tape.

8. Donna Blanton stated, "She said she didn't want to have any conflict. She's going to put him where she thinks he wants to be buried at. How can she say she knows where he wants to be buried when she's lived with him for only two months."

Lived with him for two months, married for 10. It doesn't matter if I was married 30 seconds. What matters is that I love my husband and would move heaven and earth to get him back. Our time together was short, but the time we did have was sweet and the best 10 months of my married life.

9. "Donna Blanton and other family members indicated the family is still grieving over Jeffery's loss and Boyd's decision is compounding their grief. She said she doesn't even know if Jeffery's body has arrived or anything about the funeral arrangements. That responsibility has been stripped from their hands, Donna Blanton added."

They can't be stripped of a responsibility that was never theirs. Donna was told by me via a telephone conversation that I would keep them informed of any new developments. After that conversation, I called her to relay the updated info and was hung up on.

10. "A year from now she'll be re-married. She's from Pennsylvania and she'll probably will never come down to visit him after the funeral," Donna Blanton said. "I don't know why she won't let the family have him buried here. I don't understand how she could be so cold-hearted."

What my status is a year from now is none of her business. Has she ever been a 21-year-old widow, who was informed of her newly-wedded husband's death while she was deployed to a combat zone? I don't think she has, so she has no ground to speak on what my future plans are.

As for being from Pennsylvania, I am a Blanton, whether they like it or not, and will remain one. I now have a wonderful extended family who all live in Georgia and will be back down there sooner than they think to visit my deceased husband and remaining relatives.

Please, if you can, take these corrections into consideration for the next article that they want to write about my husband's family and remember that there are always two sides to every story.

None of this was written out of disrespect, but while I was planning my husband's funeral, I was unable and unwilling to focus my attention to the trash that was being printed about myself.

It wasn't about me, but about making sure that my husband has the best possible burial. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that it paints a bigger picture for you.

Spc. Amber Lynn Blanton

U.S. Army

Conflict more newsy?

After sending [reporter Lee] Williams a small letter "from the other side," I thought for sure that you would take the time out to pay homage to the soldier and not about the "bitter conflict."

But then again, controversy is what good news reading is all about, isn't it?

Come to think about, a story about a fallen hero is a bit boring, isn't it?

Barry Lovett

Fayetteville, Ga

Marine with brothers, not strangers

This story illustrates just how war touches some and misses others.

At some point we all must deal with a loss of a family member. We all grieve in our own way. This story shows how one family is dealing with the unexpected loss of a loved one.

For one to say that they understand how both sides feel is disingenuous. Unless you have lived the pain of such a loss, you can't begin to understand.

On Dec. 17, 2003, my only nephew and godson was killed while on patrol in Baghdad, Iraq. He was 26 years young and left us far too soon.

My wife and I put him on a plane at Hartsfield, not knowing that we would be the last family members to see him alive.

Although of little comfort, he was doing what he wanted to do. Those who serve recognize the danger inherent with the oath we take. A year has passed, but the hurt is as strong as the day we were notified.

I would share this thought with the Blantons. To be interred in a national cemetery or in Arlington National Cemetery is not to be "stuck with a bunch of strangers."

Military service is a brotherhood. When my nephew was interred in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 30, 2003, he was interred with, at the time, 43 other "brothers" who died in Iraq. There have been many more since.

This family and others like them are in our prayers. We are thankful for sons and daughters such as Jeffrey. I am confident that they will do what is right for Jeffrey!

Reggie Abbott, Jr.

U.S. Army (Ret.)

[email protected]

Services take good care of their own

I hope the marine's family will reconsider and honor their son's burial at Arlington.

My son is buried there along with all his fellow comrades. It is comforting to know my son's burial site will always be taken care of, especially after we are long gone.

The military takes great care of their own. He will be among many heroes, as he himself is a hero.

Jim Holland

Father of Spc. Christopher James Holland

[email protected]

[Editor's note: Spc. Blanton was buried last week in the national cemetery at Marietta, Ga.]

Seniors should count up costs

Re: plans for super-sized senior center. It looks like Linda Wells is the only responsible commissioner who is really looking out for us seniors.

As a senior citizen, I do not want my taxes raised in order to build a super-sized, under-utilized building.

Our county may need an appropriate space for seniors to gather but a 22,000 square-foot building with a price tag of $3.1 million is not wise use of tax dollars.

I have questions about the effective use of this expensive building. How many hours a day will it be utilized? For $3.1 million, it seems one would be able to live there. Who pays the bills when the building is empty?

It sounds like political cronyism, whereby the four male commissioners want to appear senior-citizen-friendly [to] get the senior vote.

Mr. Dunn, you are not doing me any favors here. How does the county legally get involved in funding a non-profit? Did the county fund the building of the Friday home or the Johnson Home for children? Did the county step in and build the safe-house for battered women (and their children)?

I think the majority of the seniors in Fayette County will utilize the Recreation Department, church activities, and assisted living centers for their entertainment.

The seniors who need meals on wheels are getting their needs met at the present time. I believe that the meals are like the airline meals which are prepared by a food vendor and heated up in ovens before volunteers deliver them.

It does not take 22,000 square feet to do this. Senior citizens, put on your thinking cap.

Julia Strickland

Fayetteville, Ga.

Fed funds for senior center?

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Fayette County Commissioners finally taking some action in establishing a senior center.

It has been reported that Fayette County has the highest per capita income of any county in Georgia, yet they cannot afford a senior center.

Fulton County has many such centers all over the county. Clayton County has two senior centers.

Those of us that wish to participate in the various classes and other activities offered have to drive some 15 to 30 miles outside Fayette County to these centers. God knows, we need to keep these "old folks" off the streets and from behind the steering wheel of a car.

It was interesting to read the argument between commissioners Greg Dunn and Linda Wells concerning funding of a senior center.

It is my understanding that H.U.D. provided over $2 million for the senior center on Riverdale Road in Clayton County. I'm wondering if anyone has checked to see if any federal funds are available for a senior center in Fayetteville County.

Jim B. Richards

Fayetteville, Ga.

Kmarters help local families

The employees and staff of Kmart in Peachtree City became aware of certain families at this time of year who were in extreme and dire circumstances.

These families totaled 20 children in all and all which would not have had any Christmas celebration whatsoever.

Kmart staff was able to find information about each family as to their needs, such as sizes of clothes and certain toys and items that each family needed.

One of the three families with nine children wanted only shoes for the kids so that they would be able to go to school.

A "Giving Tree" was put up in the Kmart Peachtree City store with ornaments on it that gave sizes of clothes and shoe sizes and needed items for the household in general as well as children's toys that they wanted when they wrote out their letters and sent them off to the North Pole to Santa.

The employees and staff of Kmart Peachtree City would like to publicly thank all of their Kmart shoppers who participated in providing the items on the "Giving Tree" and to let them know that every ornament on that tree was redeemed so that you were able to make all of these children's (and parents') Christmas complete in their joy and happiness.

Thanks to our Kmart shoppers three families with 20 children among them were blessed with the love and compassion of the Christmas spirit.

Joseph A. Cola, Jr.

Peachtree City, Ga.

Cloak your creche, keep carols clandestine:

Anti-Christmasers are coming

"They" are at it again. But then, "they" are at it every year about this time. Seems that at the end of each year, the last 45 days or so, are rife with news teasers, headlines, editorials, and "film-at-11" keeping us mindful that this may be the last Christmas ever with Christ in it.

Granted, this may be the last Christmas ever. And if we make it through Christmas, it may be our last January ever. And if I reach my next birthday it could be the last September ever.

Some kind of ultimate "end" is ONE thing all the agnostics, atheists, Christians, just about everybody, agrees on. At some point the proverbial fat lady will have sung and it'll all be over.

Whatever your faith tradition (or lack-of-faith tradition) you believe something about "an end."

Christ will return, or an H-bomb will explode, the sun might implode, global warming will defrost us to the point of no return, or maybe that errant asteroid will finally find us. Whatever.

This may be the last Christmas ever. But it won't be the last Christmas with Christ. That's been tried. And it has always failed. Why? Because HE IS, and always WILL BE.

A school forbids the display of a Christmas tree. A shopping mall decides to no longer allow choirs to carol on its premises.

Some looney middle-school chorus teacher out in California instructs students to sing "Joy to the world, the Hmmmm is come, Let earth receive her Hmmmmm."

Every year the stories are there. Some new, some repeats, some pretty sad, some downright laughable, and some just don't matter at all.

Consider the Target Store uproar. No Salvation Army kettles? Everybody BOYCOTT! But still, somewhere, at some store, this year it happened again.

Somebody managed to slip past our collective myopic lenses of doom and drop, completely unnoticed (as giving should be according to the biblical standard), a solid gold Krugerand into one of those little kettles.

Just as sure as the gloom-and-doom-no-more-Christmas crowd shows up on an annual basis, so just as surely do the quiet, unassuming, headline-shunning folks who drop Krugerands (or nickels, or dimes) into the kettles.

The Fayetteville policemen who offer to take little kids shopping through a "Shop-with-a-Cop" program. The brave United States Marine who accepts donations for Toys-for-Tots. The ordinary family who doesn't have a lot, but manages anyway to adopt another family who has even less.

Isn't it amazing what goes on and on and on even though this is, ostensibly, perhaps the last Christmas?

Attempts to "take Christ out of Christmas" are not new things. Some may be surprised to learn that the first one is actually a matter of Biblical record.

In the second chapter of Matthew we read that Herod (a terrorist if there ever was one) tried to take Christ out of Christmas by taking out the Christ. Literally. He had every male child aged 2 and under in the region killed.

God has given me the privilege of meeting and staying in the homes of some East German people who lived through the Soviet era and the attempts to destroy not just Christmas, but rather Christianity in general.

So keen and extreme were the government efforts that a KGB agent was personally assigned to each "former" congregation.

To be sure, it was all right for the congregation to meet; they were just forbidden to worship, pray, preach, take communion, or do anything else that might be "interpreted" as religious in nature.

But the Spirit of Christ lived on anyway. Christ Himself was there EVERY year at Christmastime whether the KGB liked it, or not, and He could not be removed.

There are places in the world where governments still actively pursue the removal of the Christ. And it's far more deadly serious than making a few kids sing, "Joy to the world, the Hmmmm is come."

Visit www.persecution.com for a glimpse into what it's really like for Christians in places where martyrdom is, if not commonplace, a very real possibility.

The relative few among the population of the U.S.A. who can find nothing better to do than to show up on an annual basis with an anti-Christmas bias just don't pose much of a threat at all. Why?

Because for those many among us who neither want nor need a government-sanctioned, -sponsored, -protected, -prevented, -prohibited, or -politically-correct all-inclusive holiday observance - well, it may sound cliche, but Christmas is in our hearts. Right where it should be.

The Christ of Christmas Himself hasn't even told us to celebrate His birthday. The Gospel of John skips the event altogether. In fact the only commemorative sort of event the Christ of Christmas asks of His followers relates to the special meaning He assigned to the bread and wine the night before His death.

The Gospel of John may not record details of Christ's birth but it does record the most important truth right at the outset: (John 1:1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was pre-Christmas, He was at Christmas, and He is post-Christmas. He is Christmas.

So this is just a reminder, a word of encouragement. Don't let the headlines get to you. Celebrate His birth this year, next year, and always. He's always gonna be here. Have a Merry Christmas!

Steve Hester

Fayetteville, Ga.

Santa is part of warm holiday tradition

One can only hope that Mr. Tim Wallace of Newnan was being facetious in his letter to the editor outlining why Santa Claus is bad for children. But alas, I fear he was serious (in the off-chance that you were joking, Mr. Wallace, you got me; I took the bait!).

Santa Claus is bad for children? I can think of, oh, about a million and one things in this world that are harmful to children, but allowing them the opportunity to relish in the myth of Santa Claus is not one of them.

Mr. Wallace purports we harm our children by perpetuating "the lie we are guilty of." Please tell me again what is wrong with letting children "have this innocent and magical childhood"?

Mr. Wallace is correct that once we grow into adulthood, we have warm, wonderful "memories of that special feeling" of Christmas.

Mr. Wallace states we "create a false perception of reality" with the story of Santa Claus, and we should somehow better prepare our children to the realities of life.

Yes, I suppose the fantasy of Santa Claus does create a false reality. I know for me the time I stopped believing in Santa Claus was about the same time I started realizing it was a cold, hard world out there.

What I wouldn't give sometimes to be able to go