Peace and solitude

We are blessed in many ways to be fortunate enough to live in Conyers-Rockdale: our community has a special commitment to giving and helping our neighbors, its tax base is fairly stable even in these tough times and our school system compared to the rest of the state is superb. The majority of our people are warm and still say "yes ma'am" and "no sir" as a matter of common curtsey.

That is why it is appropriate that we are the home of one of the most peaceful and prayerful spots in the country.

The Monastery of the Holy Spirit is nestled in on Ga. Highway 212 and provides a sanctuary for those who seek prayer and guidance and peace.

We often stop by ourselves when we need that special guidance from above.

The brothers and priests of the monastery recently opened up a brand new 17,000-foot, $6.5 million visitors center.

In all of our praise, we neglected to mention that the Monastery is one of the top tourist attractions in the county, which equates to tax dollars that affect all of us.

We salute the prayerful courage of men who serve at the monastery for having this visitor center built, and we are grateful that we have such a haven of tranquility in our community.

Hospital

Today, we are ending the celebration of National Hospital Week.

For the past week, the good folks at the Rockdale Medical Center have been honoring their associates who have gone above and beyond to serve, not only the hospital, but our community as well.

We are fortunate in a community of our size to have a hospital to begin with.

To have one that is constantly striving to stay in the forefront of every new technology advancement that is available is remarkable and a testament to the folks who work and operate our hospital.

We salute today the employees, staff and management of the Rockdale Medical Center. We are proud you are in our community and we thank you for the many lives you have touched in such a positive way.