Live Oak — Congrats to Suwannee Intermediate School for rising from a C to a B school. Also for only being 5 points from an A. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to our kids education.



Life, Liberty, & the pursuit of Happiness... Some folks might find it in a gin mill full of strippers, some in fat bank accounts, & some in faith. For some, it might be all 3!!! So be it, to each his own. If taxpayer dimes are footin' your bills & you use the position to promote your own spiritual agenda, you reckon your serving 2 masters?



So what IS the name of the N-S 'main drag' in Live Oak anyway? Is it Howard St., MLK Drive, Hwy #129 ---or what? Lets start with the basics, folks. Forget for now, the more complicated ones, like: putting trees in a lazy town who will not manage its ugly, worn out public business signs, enforce its eateries' food safety/hygiene, and where good people can't enjoy an adult beverage in an uplifting establishment? --Or find work.



In response to your guest commentary I would like to ask if the writer is not naive enough to believe that we are a dry county and alcohol is readily available then why does it make a difference to him one way or the other? Those that want to purchase alcohol will still purchase it.

Those underage drinkers who get someone of age to purchase it for them will still get it. Making it available closer to home will not change any of the statistics he stated in his article, perhaps with the exception of lowering the traffic accidents because people are not driving 30+ miles home from another county where they imbibed in said alcohol. Citing the death of Officer Edwards as a statistic is irrelevant. If you're going to use that you might as well say he might have made it had he been wearing a seatbelt. I am by no means saying anyone should drive under the influence, but it seems to me those that want to drink would be less of a hazard with fewer miles on the road.



I lost my job last year because of the economy so if I do the math correctly, 1 lost 100% of my income. Because I worked for a small business I did not have health care, retirement, etc. So I lost a bundle.

Where do you think I will get the money to pay for your health care and retirement benefits? Why do you think I want to pay for yours? You don’t contribute to mine.

If you lucky folks that have lost a job that pays for everything, don’t you think in times like these you could give up just a little? Or is it only the ones that pay your salaries and benefits that must give up everything?



People in the private sector pay into their retirement and so should government employees. I want them to stop calling it a pay cut. They will get the money when they retire. Besides if they don't want to take retirement they don't have to and they can keep the so called pay cut. Good job Governor Scott.



Lots of counties sell liquor with no strip clubs. If you want to raise the level of temptation, forbid something, anything, it works on kids every time, for sure! You could achieve world peace & free energy quicker & easier than change teen age behavior and since the quoted stats are pretty much in line with the rest of the country, what's the point? Not that kids would stretch the truth a bit to impress their friends & project an image. I buy a newspaper for news, if I want morality lectures and select scripture quotes, I can attend services anywhere I want, so why can't I eat & drink where I live?



Perhaps if our youth here had jobs & opportunities like the rest of the state, underage drinking could be reduced. They could gain experience and work ethics for when they leave here, as most do. The ultra conservative Mennonites encourage their teenagers to foray into the real world prior to making a lifelong commitment to the church. Then, of course they keep to their own ways and never attempt to control others existence. It's called " American Freedom" & our youth are dying to preserve it in countries ruled by religion. This is rather ironic, wouldn't you say?



Mr. Prins sure got it right. We are closing a health dep't. in a co. with already poor health care, now we'll fire some school custodians in a school district with dropping performance & financial investigations while we buy the Crapps mansion & the catalyst park taking 180 ac. off the tax roll, neither of which will ever make any money. We rehab 2 historic buildings to be used by the TDC & Chamber which really benefit the population here a lot, while the commission is building yet another gov't. building. We will not cut 6 figure salaries or the multi million $ water district budget, which has obviously failed miserably. It seems our gov't's. sole interest is in self perpetuation. I could care less about liquor, but we better generate some growth & revenue and quickly.



The site for garbage on Highway 51 in Live Oak needs some attention. Personnel there turn people away before it is time for it to be closed. Another thing the attendant does is mark many of the dumpsters as "DO NOT DUMP." The schedule is a puzzle in the first place and to go and be turned away while someone else is inside unloading is certainly NOT customer friendly! Look into this please.



Is there really any need to continue to have a former principal paid to work with the leadership teams of the three schools-SPS, SES, and SIS promoting single school culture? Have we given any thought to making each of the three schools Pre-K through Fifth? Comments from those on the leadership teams indicate the same topics discussed over and over.



I would like to compliment the person who put in the Democrat about how  corrupt Suwannee County is. They don’t have to worry about it, they are under investigation. Suwannee County has been under investigation for quite a while. Thank you.



Thank you Eric Musgrove for your guest commentary about alcohol, you have stated it well and concisely. I particularly like that, as I believe, Jesus would never have made an alcoholic wine for the wedding. Thank you.



Thank you Eric Musgrove, for your “thoughts on alcohol” article in the July 8 Suwannee Democrat, hopefully many people will read and try to understand what you were talking about the excess use of alcoholic drinks causing so many serious problems. The recent loss of Gary Edwards should certainly make Live Oak stop and think how alcohol can make people and communities suffer. When I was younger and found myself tempted, the question always entered my mind “would my mother like me doing this?” Now I realize that is a very old fashioned thought and I am not sure it is still valid. In the statistics and facts in the article about problems caused by the use of alcohol, was overwhelming, and the reference in the Bible about the dangers of alcohol was very enlightening. Also thank you Suwannee Democrat, for publishing this article. Thank you very much.



Well, county commissioners want to take some poor people’s job away from them to save money. Well, I have an idea, why don’t you county commissioners cut your pay in half, that would save a lot of money, and cut all the overtime, that would save money too. Thank you.



I am reading the June 29th edition of the Democrat, where “Teachers Unions Cry Foul Over 3 Percent Pay Cut,” one paragraph states in there that “state workers view the new legislation as government gone back on its word” said Suwannee School Board member, Jerry Taylor. Well, my question is, so what has changed, the government has been doing that to taxpayers for years.