On Resolution 2026-41.

To the editor:

Commissioner Henneman's pegging of the Helen Downtown Glockenspiel's chime schedule to the Federal Open Market Committee meeting calendar is, as a piece of civic legislation, a response without a question. The Glockenspiel did not ask for this. The Federal Reserve did not ask for this. The people of Helen did not ask for this. Mr. Henneman, I understand, asked for this. I respect the right of any commissioner to introduce the resolution he believes most expressive of his own civic imagination. I ask only that the commissioner consider whether the next one could be, in its scope, somewhat smaller.

— Willa H. Pruitt, Cleveland.

On the question of the returning goose.

To the editor:

I have lived in Helen since 1971. I have observed the 200-block goose on a weekly basis since approximately 1974. I am writing to confirm that the returning male Canada goose referenced in your January 9 police-blotter item is, per my observation of his left- wing plumage (three visible feather tips of an unusual buff coloration), the same goose your predecessors at the old Helen Weekly reported on from 1993 through the Weekly's 2008 closure. This is not several generations of similar geese. This is one goose.

— T.S. Boggs, Helen.

Editor's note: this claim exceeds the known life expectancy of a wild Canada goose by approximately a factor of two. We nevertheless print Mr. Boggs's letter in the spirit in which it was submitted.

On the Cleveland Food Lion incident.

To the editor:

Herschel Pike is a member of my Sunday School class. I have known him 31 years. He is not, and has never been, the President of Venezuela. The gentleman who attempted to restrain him has, per discreet inquiries I have made through the White County coffee circuit, since apologized in person. The matter is, from the Sautee-Presbyterian-adjacent point of view, closed. I wish your publication had not led its Saturday edition with it.

— Mrs. Imogene Trask, Sautee.

On Commissioner Henneman's second resolution.

To the editor:

Commissioner Henneman's January 14 introduction of a resolution modeled on the Belcastro no-sickness ordinance is, as a matter of jurisprudence, not actually binding on any private individual. A hortatory resolution of a county board of commissioners cannot compel a private citizen to remain well. I, a White County resident, caught a head cold January 18. I have not received a summons. I have not been fined. I mention this only for the reassurance of any reader whose anxiety on this point may have, per my own observation of the post-resolution discourse, been elevated.

— Dr. Ephraim Lamb, Edelweiss Strasse (retired physicist).

On the Robertstown Road Bridge.

To the editor:

I drive the Robertstown Road bridge twice daily, as I have since 1986. The 2025 re-surfacing is, I am obligated to acknowledge, the smoothest surface I have personally operated a vehicle across in the forty years of my driving lifetime. I did not, reading Mr. Crowe's January 9 editorial, agree with its framing that this bridge should be considered the single most important Helen event of 2025. I did agree that it was good. I submit this letter as a partial endorsement.

— Gunter Maier, proprietor, Hofer's of Helen.

A recipe (unsolicited).

To the editor:

I read your January 26 report on Mrs. Katrin Mueller's cherry strudel with great interest, as I am Mrs. Mueller's Monday-Wednesday- Friday assistant pastry chef at Hofer's of Helen. Mrs. Mueller's cherry strudel recipe is a closely guarded family matter. I am, in this letter, not revealing it. I am, however, revealing my own cherry strudel recipe, which I developed independently, and which I submit for the amateur benefit of your readers who wish to attempt the interstellar-organosulfur-compound production at home. Ingredients and method follow. Space constraints prevent inclusion here; the recipe is available at the Helen Public Library reference desk.

— Harold Kettering, assistant pastry chef, Hofer's of Helen.

On the Taylor Swift / Travis Kelce hold.

To the editor:

Mrs. Mackey's soft hold on Saturdays in June 2026 at the Festhalle is excellent civic instinct. I support it. I have placed my own soft hold on my front yard for a possible spontaneous Saturday picnic the same weekend, on the reasoning that if the wedding goes forward, my house is about 400 yards from the Festhalle, and overflow attendance may, in principle, wish to sit on my lawn. I have ordered additional folding chairs.

— Rhea Blumfeld, Helen City Council (Ward 2).

Retraction request (noted, declined).

The White County BOC Resolution 2026-02 was the subject of this publication's January 16 report. Commissioner Dale Henneman wrote us on January 21 requesting, in a two-page letter, that the report be retracted on the grounds that it "misrepresented my motivation." We have reviewed the request. We decline it. The report accurately reflects the resolution's content and the commissioner's statements at the Wednesday public meeting, all of which are in the public record.

— Edmund Crowe, Editorial Page Editor.