Stronger water systems needed for drought, flooding
As a longtime Atlantan, I was saddened by the fish kill in the Chattahoochee. (“Atlanta sewer spill, rainstorms killed fish,” June 27).
It was more than an environmental accident; it was a warning that our aging sewer and stormwater systems are not keeping up with the weather we now live with.
When drought leaves the river low and a heavy downpour hits all at once, the result can be devastating. Nearly 45,000 fish died because polluted overflow reached the river. That should concern everyone who cares about clean water, public health and the future of our city.
We cannot keep waiting for the next disaster to remind us that resilience matters. Atlanta should invest now in stronger infrastructure that can handle both drought and intense rain. That is basic stewardship, plain and simple.
The river deserves better, and so do the people who depend on it.
JEFF JOSLIN, ATLANTA
Governmental powers belong to the people
As we approach July Fourth, celebrating 250 years since signing the Declaration of Independence, it’s important to remember the purpose behind this most remarkable document. It was to give the governmental powers to the people — the citizens — not a king.
The Constitution starts with “We the People,” and Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, stated, “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Time to honor our Founding Fathers and remember “the people.”
STUART TASMAN, MARIETTA
GOP not bothered by Trump’s enemies list
Vice President JD Vance accurately described the depths to which the Republican Party has sunk when he admitted that Watergate would be “like a 12-hour news story” if it happened today.
Recall that President Nixon directed the burglary of the Democratic Party’s national committee headquarters located in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Over two dozen people went to prison as a result of the Watergate scandal. Nixon resigned as president and was pardoned for his crimes by President Ford.
Vance is suggesting that today Republicans would overlook similar felonies and conspiracies, unlike Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Arizona, Sen. Hugh Scott, R-Pennsylvania, Sen. Robert Griffin, R-Michigan, Sen. James Buckley, R-New York, Sen. Edward Brooke, R-Massachusetts, and Sen. Marlow Cook, R-Kentucky, who implored Nixon to resign in the face of criminal charges and impeachment.
Trump, like Nixon, has an “enemies list” and explicitly directed the Department of Justice to prosecute his enemies — former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Mark Kelly, R-Arizona, and E. Jean Carroll. Republicans in the Senate and House are not troubled by this similarity to Nixon.
Vance’s admission reveals that Republicans have no respect for the rule of law, and that Republican senators lack the principles of their predecessors, such as Goldwater.
ANTHONY “TONY” COCHRAN, ATLANTA
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