About Tribune & Georgian (Athens, Ga) 2002-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2018)
Tribune & Georgian Opinion Thursday, January 4, 2018 Citizen oversight is a critical part of the process T he effort to diversify Camden Coun ty’s economy will continue in 2018 as our local governments seek ways to add jobs and generate more sales tax for our com munity. A story in today’s edition examines five major projects that our leaders hope will have a pos itive effect on the economic development of Camden County. If successful, a few could even bring positive impacts to the region. Unfortunately, projects that are not well con ceived or well executed can have the opposite effect and become a drain on taxpayers instead of a boon. Communities who wanted a shot in the arm can sometimes end up shooting them selves in the foot. The devil is always in the de tails, so we need as many eyes on those details as we can. Government projects like these are the most successful when citizens are engaged partici pants in the process. Any project has its detrac tors and its cheerleaders, but weighing those opinions on both sides an important part of the vetting process. If our elected officials cannot answer the diffi cult questions, we may want to consider whether they can deliver what they promise. The Tribune & Georgian will continue to make room on these pages for all of those voices — the negative, the positive and the ones in be tween. Our role is to provide a forum for that exchange of ideas and opinions. Our role is also to report the news and keep our readers updated on these projects and other issues that affect their lives. However, elected officials also need to know their constituents are paying attention. Our challenge to citizens is to become in volved in the process: attend public meetings about these projects, ask questions about how it will affect your neighborhood or your property taxes and express yourself to elected officials if you feel strongly about something. There are no guarantees that 2018 will bring more economic prosperity to Camden County, but more citizen involvement would do a lot to increase those odds. WE WANT YOUR OPINION Which project do you think will be most beneficial to Camden? LAST WEEK’S RESULTS Are you making a New Year’s resolution? 67% No 17% Yes 16% Not sure HS>/7 "Don't worry about the cold. There will be plenty of hot air once the General Assembly convenes." What is a saint and who is not? I happened to see a maga zine with the title “Angels & Saints,” and I couldn’t resist. I paid $13.01 for it, I believe, in one of our superstores. I’m attracted to books and mag azines about saints, though I’m certainly not one accord ing to the definitions. What are some of those definitions? Well, Webster’s dictionary provides this: “one eminent for piety or virtue.” Also “one of God’s chosen....” In “Angels & Saints” one finds this comment: “A saint is a model of holiness all should strive to emulate....” Saints are recognized in many religions. They appear in and out of Christianity, but one of the best known is Saint Augustine who said, “There’s no saint without a past, no sinner without a fu ture.” Are we all then potential saints? Augustine thought so. Three Christmas seasons ago I read through Augustine’s “Confessions.” He was a committed sin ner in his early life, but he believed his life was trans- Fred Hill Opinion formed by grace. In The “Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Cathol icism” we find that those called saints are “officially recognized by the Church” but “there are countless more saints than those who have been formally offered for public veneration. Any one who may reasonably be believed to have lived a good life and who, therefore, may be presumed to be enjoying eternal life with God can be considered a saint.” A person’s behavior is the most important consider ation for sainthood. “Holi ness of life and heroic virtue mark a saint; miracles and wonders worked are not nec essarily signs of saintliness” (“Encyclopedia of Catholi cism”). I have read a number a number of books—both non-fiction and fiction—that depict and describe the lives of saintly people (or charac ters). Among them are the journals (seven thick vol umes) of the monk Thomas Merton. These were pre ceded in publication by Mer ton’s early autobiography “The Seven Storey Moun tain (“Storey is the British spelling of our “story” or height). I thinkMerton was a truly humble person, though very much a human being with a few inevitable flaws. Merton renounced the world, a world in which as a highly educated young man (Columbia University) he might have been a very suc cessful person. Instead he chose (or as he might have said was “chosen”) to leave the world for a monastery in Kentucky and live a life of contemplation and prayer. But also a life of rigorous physical labor as the Trappist monks were required to cut wood and toil in the fields to furnish their necessities. Among works of fiction about a character who is regarded by many readers as a saint or a near-saint is the British writer Graham Greene’s novel “Monsignor Quixote.” Quixote, based partly on Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” as described in a blurb on the cover of the pa perback edition, is “the local priest of the Spanish village of El Toboso” who “is ele vated to the rank of monsi gnor through a clerical error” and “sets out on a journey to Madrid to purchase purple socks appropriate to his new station.” But as depicted by Greene this simple but ded icated priest does not even want to be a monsignor. It is consistent with his saintly refusal of worldly things that he remain an humble servant of God. (Fred Hill is a regular col umnist for the Tribune & Georgian.) Letters to the Editor Tribune & Qeorgian P.O. Box 6960 — 206 Osborne Street St. Marys, Georgia 31558 (912) 882-4927 — Fax (912) 882-6519 Publication Number (086-640) ISSN Number (1551-8353) Our Mission The Tribune & Georgian is published with pride weekly for the people of Camden County by Community Newspapers Inc, Athens, Ga. We believe that strong newspapers build strong communities - “Newspapers get things done!” Our primary goal is to publish distinguished and profitable community-ori ented newspapers. This mission will be accomplished through the teamwork of professionals dedicated to truth, integrity, loy alty, quality and hard work. Jill Helton, Editor and Publisher Denise Carver, Marketing Director Foy R. Maloy, Regional Publisher Tom Wood Dink NeSmith Chairman/CNI President/CNI Printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Writer complains about money down the drain Dear Editor, Please investigate why our Commissioners rented VIP portable toilets from Flor ida for the amateur rocket test last August. Camden officials paid $1,750 to rent air-conditioned toilets in Jacksonville when the same number of privy-seats were available from Brunswick for half the price. The fancy toi lets were rented for County politicians and their guests since the test was not open to the public or to the press. A simple study of space port expenses shows that Camden officials have spent money on the spaceport like drunken sailors on shore leave (my apologies to our sober submariners). The $1,750 spent on porta-johns is a mere sliver of the total $4,600,000 spent through November. But it represents how taxes slip away that could have been used to benefit all Camden citizens by preventing flooding, rais ing deserving county work ers’ salaries, or building the road to the future technical college. Tens of thousands of dollars go every month to spaceport consultants, law yers, “conference” travel expenses, promotion, and toilets. Since the FAA Draft EIS is already about a year late, isn’t it fair to ask if we’re getting our money’s worth? Politicians, even Chamber of Commerce types, must surely notice that we’re risk ing too much for meager, speculative reward. The toilets are a no- brainer. We were told the rocket launch was a private event conducted on private property. An auditor should ask why Camden taxpayers, instead of the rocket guys, paid the bill for luxury toi lets at the “spaceport.” But the toilet rental does demonstrate how hard it will be for Camden to get the promised benefits from our “investment” in the spaceport. Whether Cam den officials rent pricy johns in Florida or cheaper ones in Brunswick, how will we benefit with jobs here? Camden doesn’t sell rocket fuel, radar equipment, steel or porta-johns. Vector’s rockets ride into Camden on a trailer from Tucson. Surely, our officials know that Brunswick’s Develop ment Authority has a web page dedicated to poaching jobs, shopping, visitors and housing brought here by the spaceport? Steve How ard even gets his spaceport business cards in Glynn County. The feel good spaceport is actually a poorly-conceived, unfunded idea that’s unsupportable by the facts. Rather than allo cating funds based on sound economics, our politicians secretly move forward pro pelled by political consid erations. They ignore fair questions about their plans and pay attention only to information that supports their agenda. The FAA En vironmental Impact Study merely speculates about eco nomic matters and is uncon cerned about the financial burdens to taxpayers. That’s why every FAA spaceport would be bankrupt if not taxpayer subsidized. None of the millions spent so far has produced a business plan showing us how the space port will pay for itself. The Tribune & Georgian could best serve readers if it explained the truth that spaceport jobs never match the politicians’ promises and that taxpayers are always left on the hook for the perpet ual shortfalls. Meanwhile, politicians crow from their golden thrones. The plain truth is that they are terrible at rent ing portable toilets and op erating spaceports. Steve Weinkle Harrietts Bluff
