Dear Editor,

  Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021, was certainly a day to remember! The entire day was filled with pleasant people, marked not only with the swearing in of our new President, Joe Biden, and our new Vice President, Kamala Harris, but also with the recitation of a remarkably uplifting poem by a lovely young woman, Amanda Gorman. It was a day full of smiles, courtesy, good manners, acts which have mostly been forgotten in the last four years, but which we have begun again now that we have a new leader who believes in respect for our fellow man. This we can be sure of, because President Biden emphatically promised that “anyone showing disrespect for his colleague will be fired on the spot!” What a relief!

  So much happened during this day, much will be written about it, but President Biden’s speech for all the people, whether a person voted for him  or not, was beautiful in its simplicity and honesty. We now have a man who will do his very best to bring this country back to its senses. No more vicious acts such as what we witnessed with the attack on our Capital instigated by the rhetoric of our past president. Hopefully the half of our Nation who voted for Trump will listen to President Biden, as well as to the God we believe in as a Christian Nation, “treat our neighbor as we would like our neighbor to treat us.”

  Yesterday’s smiles were smiles of relief. Good to be rid of a man who always put himself above the needs of the people, had little respect for our Constitution which is the basis of our Democratic way of life, and antagonized our much needed Allies.

  Let us send him forth, wishing him good luck, but with some realization of the havoc he has created, what he carries responsibility for; lost children with grieving parents, thousands of deaths caused by COVID-19, promises unfulfilled, and the final atrocity that occurred recently, setting US citizens against each other in an act which could easily have caused civil war in our country.

  So let’s just say “May the wind be at your back.” Goodbye.

Hannah Evans,

McDonough

Dear Editor,

Herman Miller, 83 years old, passed away Monday, January 25. He had a store that was his grandfather’s on 155 North. In the day the Mill ground corn for the locals and there was also a cotton gin and a saw mill. Years back Herman started the Breakfast Club. He and his wife, Dorothy, would get up early and make 40 to 50 biscuits to sell to a lot of construction men going to work. At Christmas Herman would have a covered dish dinner at a church where 140 to 150 of his close friends would share a meal. Another Christmas tradition of Herman’s was he would start collecting new bicycles, warm clothing and canned goods. This past year he had 80-plus bikes and 200 coats. He and some of his buddies would take them to Kentucky and give them to the Mountain families. He also loved to sing, in fact he sang at my wedding. He attended Hemphill Presbyterian Church until it got too liberal for him. He and I over the years had several disagreements over politics, but that did not interfere with our brotherly love for each other. He said to me one time, “Smitty, I know you are Democrat, but I still love you anyway.” Herman loved his Family, loved his friends and loved his God. He will be missed by all.

Smitty Phillips,

Union City