Editor, The Times
I’m writing in response to Rob Lanier’s letter to the editor in the September 21, 2022 edition of The Blackshear Times. I find it ironic that Mr. Lanier didn’t take a few moments to do his research before seeking his five minutes of fame by writing his said letter.
When I spoke to the Pierce County Board of Commissioners about the election machines, I was only given five minutes to make my presentation but thankfully Chairman Bennett allowed me to go over by a couple of minutes. In that limited time, it’s impossible to lay out a slew of facts but I did cite the Halderman report. I said that the federal Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Administration released their own report, as well as not one, but two different Official Code of Georgia statutes.
See, that’s what’s wrong in America today. If someone doesn’t agree with someone else, they resort to pettiness and when they can’t shoot the message, they try and shoot the messenger. All Mr. Lanier had to do was pick up the phone and call me, I’m not that hard to find. Heck, Jason Deal from The Times himself messaged me for clarification. I’m not hiding under a rock or behind an ink pen like Mr. Lanier is.
I do agree with Mr. Lanier and his statements about potholes, dirt roads that are disasters, freight trains that cut off neighborhoods, poverty, supporting our first class educational system and seeking solutions to keep property taxes from being raised during a time when everyone is struggling to make ends meet. In time, we will pick up those issues, but right now we have a tax hike and an election that we are focused on. There is only so much we can do at one time but again, if Mr. Lanier had spent just a few moments of time doing some research, he would have found out that several members of the local GOP were joined by numerous other Pierce County citizens at the first tax hike public hearing protesting that proposed hike.
Our local GOP meetings are usually held on the third Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. and they are open to the public, Mr. Lanier is more than welcome to join us at any one of those meetings. I’ll even be more than happy to sit down and break bread most any afternoon to discuss any topic that he wants so that we can find common ground and move forward to the betterment of our community.
If anyone in Pierce County wants to meet, please feel free to email me at [email protected].
Tony Walsh, Chairman
Pierce County
Republican Party
Blackshear
