Live Oak — What in the world is going on! What kind of world do we live in now where people are making decisions without referring to the Bible? Do people just not care what God hath said? Before you decide on your own about supporting the sale of liquor in suwannee county, lets see what the Bible has to say. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."- Prov.20:1. "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." Prov.23:29-32. "Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!"-Isa.5:22. "But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment."-Isa.28:7. I believe we need to wake up and do what is right and tell the alcoholics and the liquor crowd to go somewhere else to support their bad habits. Alcohol has done nothing but ruined this country. It has ruined many good marriages, fathers and mothers, it has killed many men, it has killed many innocent men,women and children. As a matter of fact, we just lost a good man a couple of months ago due to alcohol. Alcohol brings distress to the family, means disorder for the life, disaster to the character, destruction to the nation, disappointment to the heart, death to the body and soul, it also brings damnation for eternity. God said in 1Cor.6:10 that drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I thank God that we have churches that will stand up and fight for what is right. It is a shame that we have several churches who wont say a word on this matter. Please vote NO and keep suwannee county dry.

A follower of Jesus Christ, Troy Wadford

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Please help me to understand that in the name of job creation and economic development, you folks, as perhaps the most influential forum in the community, have not only pushed the liquor issue all year but went as far as to make it a top priority for the year of 2011.  While at the same time either ignoring or not realizing the economic bonanza that the National Solar Panel Project could afford the Suwannee Valley Area.

I hear you and those in the community like you glee with excitement over the prospect of having an Applebees or perhaps other major chain resturaunts that could provide empoyment to maybe dozens of locals on a permanent basis. I hear about potential tax revenues that could be reaped as a result of passage on the liquor refferendum. But why do I hear silence regarding the NSP and the 400 construction phase jobs, as well as the scores(120) of permanant jobs it could create?



I know you guys are more or less blind(liquor blind, if you will), but surely you can't also be deaf? A $1.5 billion, 400 mega-watt project with the potential to provide power to roughly 32,000 homes, not to mention the hundreds of millions it would likely pump into the local economy. That money would become tax revenue. Yes, NSP is looking at Suwannee County primarily in hopes of tax breaks that I would strongly recommend negotiating with them over, but there would still be millions of dollars flowing into the region.



Silence I understand from the general population, because you as the local media have focused not on something progressive, constructive, and economically enticing but on something socially regressive, physically destructive, and negligible with just mild economic gains, comparatively speaking.



Help me understand, Ms. Reagan, how your reporter Stephanie Livingston can, at once, state that the county coordinator Joe Geirity claims the county first spoke to NSP about the project six months ago while at the same time report commissioner Curuthers claim that there have been no in-depth discussions between the county and NSP that he is aware of?



Now, am I to believe that our county leaders are fumbling this ball by not rallying public support through the same media outlet(your paper) that is fumbling the same ball by not displaying a journalistic outcry for these same leaders to step to the plate on behalf of their constituents? Is this breaking news to you at The Democrat? And if so, do you as the main source of information for the local community not feel an investigative desire/responsibility to report the happenings of our very own public government? Why are you not interacting more appropriately with these public officials on issues of such importance? Have you even set-up an interview with officials to querry the direction of this possibility? Have they contacted you about rallying public support through your own venue? Has anyone considered soliciting Gov. Scott for influence, perhaps?

These are important questions that I believe you and your staff have yet to answer. I ask that you take a moment of your attention away from your wicked sister(Suwannee Yes!) and answer those questions not just for me, but for the entire population of Suwannee County. You, the free press, are the very backbone of our first amendment. Please conduct yourselves as such.



To the citizens of Suwannee County; Are you not aware of the massive drug epidemics already plaguing your community? I say this plurally because there are a number of individual issues that have manifested for decades to the point that it transcends not only every generation currently living, it literally touches every class of society and every faith and/or religious preference.



Where does the line get drawn? How many more abusive and addictive substances are to be made readily available in our community? I venture to say that each one of you reading this knows someone with an addiction to at least one narcotic and if you feel that this doesn't apply to you, you're probably not paying attention. To those of you that feel as though these addictions are not an issue, you almost assuradly will be voting for Suwannee County to make the transition from dry to wet.



On the other hand, those of you that take exception to the crises gripping our society, please consider what I'm saying. Please take a look at your children, your grandchildren, and your friends and neighbors than their children. Ask yourself if you really want these children having access to liquor, as well as a slew of other drugs already available when it's their turn to decide? Don't they have enough temptation on their plate as it is? Must we force something else onto them, something as destructive and degenerative as liquor? For those of you that already engage in the consumption of liquor or wine, you know where to get it. You are set in your ways on this, so please, let's not redifine "the ways" for our future generations. If you want to claim that the way it is currently is an inconvenience, spare me. Life is full of them, persevere.





                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Michael Mosier

Madison, Fla.



Editor’s note: The Suwannee Democrat first became aware of the potential solar farms locating here June 28 and notified county commissioners of the counties being considered that day. We have had updates since, including one on today’s front page.