![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/FoGYxhV.jpg?resize=160%2C213\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SouthsideCentral is glad to publish any remarks or opinion pieces submitted by elected officials (or anybody else, for that matter). We do not edit the statements in any way, nor does the writer’s opinion necessarily represent the views of SouthsideCentral in any way.<\/p>\n
Today, we’re giving the stage to Danville’s Vice-Mayor Dr. Gary Miller who talks about his viewpoint on Danville’s Confederate flag issue.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gary Miller:<\/p>\n
I consider myself to be a “Southerner” and I am proud to be called that. I have spent all but 2 years of my life here in Virginia. Last year after my three children had all moved up North, I told them that when I retire in a few years, “I am not moving a foot farther North that Danville Virginia”.<\/p>\n
Naturally, I was shocked recently to see nine of my fellow southerners gunned down, in a church of all places! Here in the South we tend to be deeply religious regardless of our skin color. To kill innocent people while they are worshiping the Lord is abysmal to say the least. These are the sorts of attacks that we read about being carried out by ISIS or the Taliban.<\/p>\n
These Black Americans were Southerners too! They lived in Charleston because they chose to, many of the victims were well off and could live anywhere that they wanted, but they chose Charleston, just as we chose Danville.<\/p>\n
I watched in disbelief as one victim, State Senator Clementa Pickney, was carried by hearse to lay in State at the Capital. The American and the South Carolina flags were lowered at half mass, but the Confederate flag was not!<\/p>\n
Now that the flag in South Carolina has come down it is time for the Confederate flag in Danville, which is on public property, to come down as well. It will complement the rest of the display inside the museum.<\/p>\n
The Confederate flag has been too divisive an issue for way too long. It is too much of a distraction at a time when our city needs to close ranks and focus on what our priorities need to be. I want for us to look forward and not back.\u00a0 I want for us to concentrate our efforts on educating our workforce, attracting new businesses, helping our current businesses expand, lowering our high school drop out rate, ensuring that we have the best schools and teachers. These are the issues that affect every one of us every day and these are the issues that deserve our full attention.<\/p>\n
Our current City Manager is retiring. Selecting the best City Manager is critical to our continued progress and that needs to be a top priority. We also must continue the momentum gained by renovating the River District.\u00a0 We have so many things to concentrate on, we must not lose our focus on the future.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SouthsideCentral is glad to publish any remarks or opinion pieces submitted by elected officials (or anybody else, for that matter). We do not edit the statements in any way, nor does the writer’s opinion necessarily represent the views of SouthsideCentral in any way.<\/p>\n
Today, we’re giving the stage to Danville’s Vice-Mayor Dr. Gary Miller who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-youcentral","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pwqFk-3vC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13601,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/07\/youcentral-virginia-organizings-flag-removal-statement\/","url_meta":{"origin":13492,"position":0},"title":"YouCentral: Virginia Organizing’s Flag Removal Statement","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"August 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here at SouthsideCentral, we invite all people and organizations to send us opinion pieces and statements. We will publish them unedited on a space-available basis. YouCentral articles are solely the opinion of the writer or organization. They do not necessarily represent the views of SouthsideCentral nor of our advertisers. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "YouCentral"","block_context":{"text":"YouCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/youcentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14144,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/10\/01\/youcentral-gary-miller-talks-about-pollution-spills\/","url_meta":{"origin":13492,"position":1},"title":"YouCentral: Gary Miller talks about pollution spills.","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"October 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here at SouthsideCentral, we invite all people and organizations to send us opinion pieces and statements. We will publish them unedited on a space-available basis. YouCentral articles are solely the opinion of the writer or organization. They do not necessarily represent the views of SouthsideCentral nor of our advertisers. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "YouCentral"","block_context":{"text":"YouCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/youcentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/PrGtf1W.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13607,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/08\/youcentral-buddy-rawleys-confederate-flag-speech\/","url_meta":{"origin":13492,"position":2},"title":"YouCentral: Buddy Rawley\u2019s Confederate Flag Speech","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"August 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"SouthsideCentral is pleased to publish opinion pieces from all elected officials as well as from our readers. Use the \"Contact Us!\" link at the top of every SouthsideCentral page to send your submissions in. In this YouCentral article, we're publishing Buddy Rawley's speech from Danville City Council's Thursday night meeting.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/pnciQqF.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13397,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/15\/alonzo-jones-city-council-remarks\/","url_meta":{"origin":13492,"position":3},"title":"Alonzo Jones’ City Council Remarks","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"July 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here at SouthsideCentral, we're glad to publish speeches, remarks or opinion pieces completely unedited. This is Danville City Councilman Alonzo Jones' statement from the last Danville City Council meeting regarding his opinion on the Confederate flag issue. (Editor's Note: Alonzo Jones made these remarks at the July 7, 2015 Danville\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/0MuSX80.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13603,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/07\/youcentral-lee-voglers-confederate-flag-speech\/","url_meta":{"origin":13492,"position":4},"title":"YouCentral: Lee Vogler’s Confederate Flag Speech","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"August 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"As in the previous YouCentral article, SouthsideCentral is pleased to print all types of commentary. Here, we publish Lee Vogler's speech from Danville City Council's Thursday night meeting. From: Lee Vogler My generation likely has a different view of this issue than most of those who came before us. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/UGOjrNJ.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13612,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/09\/photocentral-a-sunday-morning-good-deed\/","url_meta":{"origin":13492,"position":5},"title":"PhotoCentral: A Sunday Morning Good Deed…","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"August 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"...that you probably didn't know about. With all of the recent confederate flag controversy, it's time for everybody to see that people on both sides of the issue can do excellent things for the community. Every Sunday morning, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (Pittsylvania Vindicators Camp #828) meet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/B4V8H59.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/B4V8H59.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/B4V8H59.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/B4V8H59.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13492"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13494,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13492\/revisions\/13494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}