We have written so many articles (partial list at bottom) about the need for change in Georgia; we would like to be able to write about something going right...FOR A CHANGE.

Unfortunately, the news of events taking place in Atlanta gives us no relief.

Now we get the news of the new A T & T acquiring Bell South and it's vamoose to San Antonio.

One by one the corporations that were developed during the fifties, sixties and seventies are disappearing from the Atlanta and Georgia scene.

This personally saddens me. I was very much involved in attracting new industry to both Atlanta and Georgia during those years of the greatest progress Georgia ever knew.

We sold Georgia based on our rich Southern history and heritage, our available skilled labor, our business friendly atmosphere, great educational facilities and a peaceful race environment.

People loved to come to Georgia to visit and to relocate. Our tourism business was centered around our rich history and wonderful sites from the mountains to the sea. Historic battle sites were highlighted. We never had to apologize to anyone for our Confederate history and ancestors.

Back then there was no industry of professional South bashers. There was no hint of trumped up Southern guilt or so-called Southerners who traded their birthright for pandering to hatred and divisiveness for personal gain.

During the terrible era of Reconstruction folks of this demeanor were called Scalawags. Their current reincarnation deserves no less.

The late fifties and sixties were Georgia's greatest hours. Population exploded, industries came by the thousands, schools and universities were peacefully integrated. The Jim Crow laws were repealed [ See Tribute to Ernest Vandiver ]. All our citizens began enjoying equal opportunities. There was peace, harmony and prosperity while the rest of the nation was in turmoil.

This all took place under the 1956 Georgia flag with the St. Andrews cross. There were no complaints. We were all, white, black and hispanic, too busy doing good to hate.

How things have changed. Now we see those who took control in Atlanta in the eighties and nineties, the ones who promoted and financed the extortionists from the Southern-guilt industry, one by one either biting the dust or being absorbed and moved.

Atlanta has become a disgrace to Georgia and to all the South. Think about it. Who in their right mind wants to move a company there, or worse, live there?

I wouldn't waste my time lamenting the woes of Atlanta if I didn't hold out hope that one day a resurrection of the great leadership that once prevailed will emerge.

To do this there is going to have to be a major change in state government. The time has come for honest leadership that does what it promises. Elected officials who continue to finance Atlanta follies with state tax payer funds need to be replaced forthwith. Their secret deals need to be exposed. Why do they and their Atlanta elites refuse to reveal the truth?