"Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs; we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power."

P. J. O’Rourke

While most of us are already making plans for big family dinners for Thanksgiving, and the stores are already offering sales for Christmas shoppers, two local families are feeling grief, not joy.

Jevon Freeman, a local business owner, by all accounts a giving and caring man and the father of two young children, was gunned down this past week for no other reason than that a non-caring, heartless young man didn’t want to pay for a cellphone that Freeman had for sale.

In another incident, a local Good Samaritan and another person were killed on the highway, and a Conyers man named Kevin Poynter faces drug and driving under the influence charges in connection with the case.

Poynter is the same man who was charged the previous week with allegedly exposing himself to a woman and child in a Walmart restroom. He has a history of arrests on DUI charges, and, in our opinion, he should never have been allowed behind the wheel of a car to begin with.

So, as you begin planning for your family holidays, please find some time to say a few prayers for these local families who have lost loved ones so senselessly.

And, while you’re at it, please say a prayer for our country. Ask the Good Lord to heal the hearts of those who have lost all hope and, because of such despair, feel no remorse when they inflict grievous pain, and even death, on kind and generous people.