Newspaper Page Text
OPINION
THURSDAY, MAY 24 - 30, 2018 • Page 7
In celebration of the village and the villagers
At a May graduation celebration
for my daughter I looked around
my house at the guests and realized
that many hadn’t seen or been in
contact with her for years.
In addition to close family
and friends, there were people
who had touched on this child’s
life at various points and been
instrumental in helping to
guide her on her educational
path, personal development and
maturity into adulthood.
I was reminded of the
expression “It takes a village to
raise a child” and how true it is.
We often underestimate the
impact of conversations we have
with children and teens and how
the words we share and the actions
we take can have lasting effects on
them. Sometimes it’s just a brief
conversation, something said in
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passing that can really root into the
heart and spirit of a child without
our even knowing it.
When my daughter was in
elementary school, one of my
neighbors with seven children
of her own kept watch over my
child too after school. Another
neighbor who earned a Ph.D. and
was a principal at a local school
talked to my little girl often about
taking her education seriously and
would “ooh” and “ahh” over her
every accomplishment. Two of
my co-workers also attended the
celebratory event. They constantly
asked me what was new in my
daughter’s life and shared the joys
and heartbreaks along the way.
They were always encouraging and
made me feel like I was doing my
best, even when I had my doubts.
The pastor of a church I used to
attend who baptized my daughter
when she was old enough to make
that decision also stopped by to
congratulate her. And I’ve been
friends with another neighbor
for 25 years, and we’ve watched
children in both households grow
up with all the usual dreams,
achievements, setbacks, discoveries
and struggles. After my family
went through the trauma of a
home invasion almost two decades
ago, she bought my daughter a
new gaming system when hers was
stolen.
Each person who came
to celebrate our 26-year-old
earning her MBA has a personal
connection to her and to my
husband and me and in some
way has made a positive impact
on our family’s life. Words of
encouragement, words of advice,
sharing how to overcome and
sharing personal situations often
make a difference for those who
take the time to listen and reflect.
I wish more people would
appreciate the value of getting to
know and cultivating relationships
with their neighbors, coworkers,
church members and others whose
paths they cross in everyday life.
You never know when you or they
may share something that could
have a deep impact on your lives.
“It’s not over yet. We will
continue to fight on. We want to
keep the city complete, and do
great things for the city and all its
citizens,” said Anthony Ford, mayor
of Stockbridge, Georgia.
The battle cries you may be soon
hearing will be coming from hotly
contested borders much closer
than the demilitarized zone of the
Korean peninsula or the Mexican/
American border. Chances are the
lawyers are already jostling to joust
with their legal briefs in city halls
and county courthouses across
Georgia.
Gov. Nathan Deal, a typically
conservative, consensus-building
statesman, signed a doozy of a bill
on the last day possible before it
would have automatically passed
into law without his signature, or
being stroked with his veto pen.
There may be no blood
immediately spilled, but I can
assure you that this one will divide
communities, turn neighbors into
screaming enemies and cause you
to want to hide your children from
anything resembling a community
town hall.
Deal signed a bill allowing for a
local referendum in Henry County
by the potential citizens of the
community of Eagle’s Landing. But
to get to cityhood, backers of the
city of Eagle’s Landing have a map
and plan to carve out roughly
one-third of the households and
residents of the existing city of
Stockbridge, and roughly one-half
Border wars
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‘One Man's
Opinion 9
Bill Crane
its tax digest.
And as the law is drafted, though
the balloting will directly impact
both municipalities, only residents
within the proposed city limits of
Eagle’s Landing will have a vote-
not if the mayor and city council of
Stockbridge and their lawyers arrive
first to enjoin that election. But they
may soon not be anywhere close to
alone in burning the midnight oil
on billable border disputes.
Since the Georgia GOP came
into power, beginning with the
election of Gov. Sonny Perdue
in 2002, more than a dozen new
cities have been created, primarily
in Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett
counties, starting with the city of
Sandy Springs in 2005. And along
with the new municipalities there
have been dozens more annexations
by existing cities trying to both
protect territory and broaden their
tax bases.
And now, Georgia’s General
Assembly has in effect green
lighted’ land grabs aplenty with
cities gobbling up each of the
others’ most fruitful and plumb
parcels. Not waiting for that ink
even to dry, the city of Decatur
is considering annexation of a
light industrial parcel at its eastern
border along Ponce de Leon
Avenue. Developers are seeking to
build a 40-foot retaining wall and
lesser elevations surrounding up
to 450 units of new apartments, to
welcome newcomers to the once-
charming burb best known for its
city schools, quaint homes and
diverse places of worship.
Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett
has suggested that DeKalb County
complete its Comprehensive
Development Plan and that DeKalb’s
13 existing municipalities await
those results before carving up the
vast unincorporated remaining areas
of DeKalb County, as another push
is on to create a new city of 300,000,
called Greenhaven, swallowing the
southern half of the county, has
all other DeKalb municipalities
considering defensive, if ill-advised,
land grabs.
City Schools of Decatur, among
the state’s top performers, has been
growing enrollment at nearly 10
percent per year, reaching near
capacity in 2014. New school
buildings are already needed, as
the new apartment unit inventory
ringing the city borders is bringing
2,000 new homes, occupied or
under construction. The new walled
9-acre complex under most recent
consideration is expected to add 50
to 100 new students to an attendance
district with the smallest elementary
school whose current enrollment is
250.
Temperatures may be higher
daily along the Rio Grande, and the
border wall likely to never reach
from Texas to California, but don’t
forget closer peak flames can sear
and scorch all kinds of incumbents.
Deal has been perhaps the most
successful governor of Georgia
since Zell Miller. His legacy not yet
complete, he crafted a compromise
that kept the HOPE scholarship
financially afloat, expanded Georgia
pre-K, delivered on the largest
tax cut in state history, practically
rewrote the prosecution system for
lower level crime and non violent
offenses and fully funded the Quality
Basic Education Act for the first time
since it was passed into law in 1985.
And not yet ready for lame-duck
status in his final term with the
Georgia General Assembly, Deal is
going out with a record 21 vetoes for
the 2018 session. Given his batting
average, I’m just going to guess and
hope that he just missed on this one.
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, DeKalb
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.