To the Editor:
Barak Obama faces serious challenges as he takes office as our next president, and he surely needs our prayers. There is good news in this, that our nation has shown that race should not be a hindrance in being elected to office. This is good, for God is not prejudiced, and neither should we be. It should make no difference if a man is white, black, or half white and half black, as President Obama is. Character and policies promoted by the individual should be the criteria for office, not race. However, as we also know, the news is not all good. We face very real security threats from abroad and the economy is not in good shape. People worry about terrorist threats, their jobs, and making ends meet.
We should pray for our president, that God would give him wisdom, good judgment, and, most importantly, the desire to do what is right in God's sight. For all of the motivational speeches and all of the economic policies in the world will not help us if our nation sanctions moral perversion and the murder of its children. Supporting homosexuality and abortion, as President Obama has done in the past, will not bring this nation blessings, but rather a curse from God.
In the Bible God says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." (Psalm 33:12) He also says, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil." (Isaiah 5:20) We pray that God would give President Obama a repentant heart, the will and the courage to support the good rather than the evil, and that God would watch over him and his family and keep them from harm.
Rev. Leslie R. Lanier,
Wayfarer's Chapel Lutheran Church

To the Editor:
What a display of bizarre and disruptive conduct was exhibited by Councilperson Hernandez at the 1/13/09 meeting. While the new City Clerk was presenting his agenda item, Ms. Hernandez shook her head in a "No No No" side-to-side gesture while mouthing the word "No No No" repeatedly during the presentation and, for added effect, she slapped her desktop with papers and grimaced and smiled in disgust intermittently. It was obvious that she was not in accord with Mr. Westling's requests and/or recommendations. However, her uncontrolled body gestures and silent mouthings along with loud and disruptive outbursts are the last thing the public expects from an elected official. The only saving grace to this performance fiasco is that the video cameras never took a close-up of Ms. Hernandez. You had to be in the audience to see it to believe it. Sad!
Gloria Hansen,
Fillmore