Newspaper Page Text
The Champion, Thursday, Feb. 19 - 25, 2015
OPINION
Page 5A
Medgar, Malcolm, Martin, and now, Markel
I had the opportu
nity to talk with Rev. Markel
Hutchins recently When I
caught up with him, he was
in the nursing home where
his father lives. Hutchins had
been visiting residents and
was looking over notes for a
short message he was about to
deliver at the facility.
“The problem with
too many of our children,”
Hutchins later said to the
elderly residents, many of
whom were in wheelchairs,
“is we bring children into this
world, and we try to work so
hard to give them the things
that we did not have, that we
inadvertently neglect to give
them the things we did have.”
These include a sense
of decency and dignity; “a
respect for where you came
from;” honor for your el
ders; and a good work ethic,
Hutchins said.
“So oftentimes we work to
give our kids the best sneakers
they can put on their feet but
don’t give them the direction
Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
Managing Editor
@AndrewChampNews
in which to walk,” he said,
speaking in a voice reminis
cent of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., to whom Hutchins
often refers.
Hutchins, a 37-year-
old civil and human rights
activist and DeKalb native,
is no stranger to news. He
criticized the Atlanta Police
Department for the Novem
ber 2006 shooting death of
a 92-year-old woman dur
ing a “no-knock” police raid.
In 2008, Hutchins made an
unsuccessful bid to unseat
Congressman John Lewis. He
spearheaded a large, “I Am
Trayvon Martin” prayer vigil
and rally that attracted thou
sands in Atlanta in July 2013.
Locally, Hutchins has been
working with members of
Travelers Rest Baptist Church
in Scottdale who are protest
ing the poor, construction
zone conditions surrounding
their church.
But when I met him, there
were no rallies, marches, pro
tests or police.
Hutchins said a common
mistake about his work in
ministry “is that only what I
do that’s captured in the me
dia is what I actually do.”
Much of his time is spent
“just talking people through
crises,” preparing sermons
and speeches, caring for his
parents and “being responsive
to the needs of people.”
He is also working on a
book titled Fit to Lead, Called
to Serve.
The book “that chronicles
my journey of having lost
over 100 pounds and kind of
parablistically [makes] the
connection between being fit
to lead in terms of losing that
much weight but also how
the mentorship that I have
been fortunate to have from
the civil and human rights
icons.. .as well as some of the
challenges that I faced in my
own life and how those things
have equipped me....”
Part of what equipped
Hutchins “to serve God and
serve humanity” was some
traumatic family experiences.
His father, a small business
man who provided well for
the family, struggled with
drug addiction for approxi
mately 15 years.
“When the drug addiction
came we lost.. .all the things
that he had worked so hard to
acquire,” Hutchins said. “I call
that the period of trial and
challenge for me. That was
a foundational period in my
life. I thank God for that pe
riod because had it not been
for what we went through as
a family, I don’t know how I
ever could have the kind of
heart for people, the desire to
serve, and a good basic un
derstanding of how you can
go from being on top to being
on the bottom [rungs] of life
in a very short time period.”
Just as Martin Luther
King Jr. did 58 years ago,
Hutchins recently assembled
a group a ministers “to begin
the process of propelling new
civil and human rights lead-
ers.
Hutchins, according to
a quote from former Atlanta
Mayor Shirley Franklin on
Hutchins’ website, is “one of
the brightest and most prom
ising civil rights leaders to
emerge in recent history.”
Another quote on
Hutchins’ website, the late
Dr. C. DeLores Tucker, a
political, civil and women’s
rights icon, states “We
had Medgar. We had Mal
colm. We had Martin. And
now, we have another M. We
have Markel.”
= ONE MAN'S OPINION
Exercise the excise tax
“Before the income tax
was imposed on us just 80
years ago, government had
no claim to our income.
Only sales, excise and tariff
taxes were allowed. ” —peren
nial candidate and conserva
tive Alan Keyes (1993), who
would later run for president
three times and lose his race
for U.S. Senator of Illinois
to then State Senator Barack
Obama in 2004.
A regular weekday rush
hour commute across metro
Atlanta can be pretty chal
lenging, but when you have
three horrific pedestrian
fatalities on 1-285, and an
art project mistaken for a po
tential bomb threat shutting
down the downtown con
nector as well as a series of
multi-vehicle pile-ups over
a period of three weeks, the
real frailties of our existing
transportation network are
beginning to show.
Most parties knowledge
able of Georgia’s transporta
tion woes put the price tag of
replacing existing and dete
riorating infrastructure and
making the improvements
and expansions to improve
congestion and traffic flow at
roughly $1 billion per year
in new spending. Though we
are all enjoying these lower
jw
Sg
Bill Crane
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
Columnist
gas prices, our motor fuel tax
is a conglomeration of sales
and excise taxes. Sales taxes
are tied to each dollar within
the gallon price, meaning
lower gas prices mean lower
tax revenues. And in Geor
gia, currently only three of
every four cents collected
in gas sales taxes are being
budgeted back toward trans
portation expenses.
The Georgia Constitu
tion obligates all state excise
taxes collected on motor
fuels to be spent solely on
transportation and related
expenses. Excise taxes are
fixed fees or duties charged
on the sale of specific mer
chandise, such as a gallon of
gasoline, diesel fuel or ciga
rettes and alcohol (the latter
often being referred to as sin
taxes). Yet finding or creat
ing an unspent billion is no
easy task.
So, though it may in
some respects seem like a
shell game to some, the GOP
House leadership has pro
posed a healthy bump in the
gasoline excise tax, closer
to the amounts charged in
our neighboring states of
Florida and North Carolina,
while eliminating the state
sales tax on gas. Existing
SPLOSTs will be allowed
to continue through their
respective sunsets, and the
MARTA penny collected
in DeKalb, Fulton and now
Clayton counties will remain
untouched.
Before the ink dried on
this House proposal, many
cities and counties were cry
ing foul on what they per
ceive as a tax shift. Though
both local government enti
ties would be allowed to re
place lost sales tax proceeds
with local excise taxes on
fuel, they are arguing both
the requirements to make
those hikes and the distribu
tion mechanisms for divvy
ing up the dollars collected
from the excise fees.
Governor Nathan Deal
is weighing in, favoring a
greater exercise of the excise
tax but also holding up a yel
low caution light on House
calls for $100 million in ad
ditional bond funds for mass
transit expense and another
bond package for bridges
and major one-time infra
structure needs. Deal does
not want to leave Georgia
strapped with massive new
bonded debt as well as the
reserve cupboards bare, as he
found things upon his arrival
in the governor’s mansion.
And though Lieutenant
Governor Casey Cagle and
the State Senate have yet to
weigh in on their version
of a transportation funding
plan, they have already made
clear that doing nothing is
not an option and that Geor
gia now has a responsibility
to begin partial funding and
a series of longer conversa
tions on its proper role in
mass transit planning and
construction.
So, not unlike heading
into rush hour traffic know
ing that some teeth grinding,
horn blaring and general
frustration are heading your
way...we can expect several
weeks of similar back and
forth under our Gold Dome,
while we also have great
hope that before things end
in “sine die,” this General
Assembly wifi bite the bul
let, take the lead and lay
out a plan to fund and build
for Georgia’s future trans
portation needs, not just the
Band-Aid-type solutions
driven by the challenged
financial resources of our
Great Recession. And ex
panding an already dedicated
revenue source is a practi
cal and achievable common
sense solution, without the
long odds of a constitutional
amendment. Exercise and
expand the gasoline excise
tax. If we can give $3.50 a
gallon to BP after that mas
sive oil spill, I don’t mind
handing $2.50 again to the
state of Georgia, if it can
help improve traffic flow
and get me home in time for
prime time.
Bill Crane also serves
as a political analyst and
commentator for Channel
2’s Action News, WSB-AM
News/Talk 750 and now 95.5
FM, as well as a columnist
for The Champion, Cham
pion Free Press and Georgia
Trend. Crane is a DeKalb
native and business owner,
living in Scottdale. You can
reach him or comment on
a column at bill.csicrane@
gmail.com.