EDITOR'S NOTE: Below is a selection of responses shared by readers of MDJOnline.com in reaction to recent MDJ stories ...

Austell flood victims pursue council for answers ...

Anonymous wrote - The city of Austell and the county of Cobb should be held responsible for issuing building permits and passing zoning ordinances allowing builders to construct homes in flood plains. At last they must be accountable for the overbuilding and removal of forest that held the rain and runoff in check. Get a good legal team and sue them.

Heckuva engineer wrote - The size of the floodplain is not static; it continues to expand as development occurs due to additional runoff. If you check the FEMA website, you'll notice that they recently updated their floodplain maps. But that doesn't matter much to some of these areas. That's because statistically this was a 500-year event, and the magic for FEMA, banks, insurance companies, etc., is the 100-year event.

Wake Up Call wrote - The comment by "anonymous" just steams me. Why is it always someone else's fault? Furthermore, why is it government's job to build roads so we can get to work, pay us if we can't find work, educate us (to at least a minimal level), feed us if we don't have enough money, give us inexpensive (sometimes free) healthcare if we are sick, and make available so many other elements of our day-to-day living, paid for by the collection of taxes, generally from much wealthier folks - and when they don't do all this to protect us from our own stupidity - then they (the government) should be sued?

Folks - I hope you see what this entitlement mentality is doing to our society and our liberty. Taken in the aggregate, this will be the death knell of the American experience. Grow up! Be responsible for yourselves. It is not always someone else's fault.

Justin O'Dell letter: 'Humbled by humankind' helping flood victims ...

Andy wrote - On my way to help at my father-in-law's home, my 10-year-old son and I also saw the outreach of people coming together to help those who had lost all their homes. I was truly moved by this mass movement of support. In fact, there was not enough room in some of the neighborhoods to allow more volunteer cars and church vans to park. In the words of Alexis De Tocqueville, 'America is a great nation because it is a good nation, It will fail to be great when it fails to be good' ... Based on what my son and I saw on Saturday we still are a Great Nation.

More parking needed ...

Mad-one wrote - Clearly Councilman Philip Goldstein thinks he has more to gain from the future concept of the DMDA deck than the imminent Cobb County deck. If this opportunity passes he thinks he will have more leverage in the future with the DMDA plan to ruin the western view of the Square with an ugly deck. Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees. Anyone that thinks Goldstein should be leading the negotiation on this deck proposal is a fool of the greatest magnitude. One of the greatest faults of our political system, which is dependent upon public servants, is the prevailing thought that lawyers can "do a better job" than others.

Marietta voter wrote - It is obvious that Mayor Bill Dunaway, Goldstein and City Manager Bill Bruton are running Marietta in the ground. We need new leadership right away that can turn things around.

Letter: Spill details on Eastvalley cell tower ...

Doesn't pass wrote - There is no question in my mind that money changed hands. Usually when there is something that doesn't pass the "smell test," it has to do with money. Thanks for pointing that out.

Grammar Nerd wrote - Just a picky little correction: "Agenda" already is plural. The singular is "Agendum."

Fed Up in West Cobb wrote - They are building cell towers on school property because the school and the county get money for them. We have a cell tower at Cheatham Hill E.S. and the parents were never notified about it and there was no discussion about it. It appeared over the summer. Were any of the surrounding neighborhoods polled and asked how they felt about it? I don't think so. If we are asked, we might say no because of health concerns for our children, so it's easier to just do it over the summer when no one really notices. Shame on them! When will the deception stop? I am glad that Eastvalley is fighting this. Maybe the board will realize you can't just steamroll the community like you have with other issues like the report cards!

Chancellor Erroll Davis Jr. discusses budget, tuition, costs ...

Obviously wrote - I have a rather simple and obvious suggestion. If Chancellor Davis is serious about KSU being more "productive and efficient," it begins next semester with every full-time salaried professor teaching classes or labs with students at least 20 hours a week and then 25 the next semester and then 30 the next semester. That should address the student growth problem with no impact to costs and student learning opportunities. Davis, with his business and financial background, this suggestion is simple and easy to implement and cost free. Save the taxpayers and the graduate adjuncts!