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PAGE 4A BARROW JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2008 Opinions “Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ” - Henry Ward Beecher - Chris Bridges, editor • Email: cbridges@barrowjournal.com our views Big 3 begging a low point in capitalism T HE SCENE last week of the leaders of the Big Three U.S. auto firms begging Congress for a financial handout has to be a low point in America’s economic history. There sat the titans of American capitalism—the quint essential silk-stocking CEOs, the essence of American industrial power — shaking a tin cup on Capital Hill. The public may not under stand all the complex debt “instruments” that led to the recent failures of Wall Street financial firms — it’s doubtful if Wall Street even understood those toxic mortgages packages — but everyone identifies with cars and the symbolism they carry of American industrial might. Perhaps no other indus try is so closely identified with Corporate America as are the Big Three American auto firms of GM, Ford and Chrysler. Yet there they sat, the Big Three from Detroit, groveling before Congress for taxpayer dollars to “rescue” their jobs. It was a humiliating moment in American corporate history. Whatever these firms’ impor tance to the economy it’s dif ficult for other business lead ers to feel sorry for them. For decades, Detroit has been cap tive to union labor where work ers made far more than many other Americans. Now, the high cost of those union jobs has virtually bank rupted the Big Three automak ers. The bailout being begged for is not a rescue of the automotive industry — there are plenty of other automakers around who are manufacturing better cars — it is for the unions to maintain their stranglehold on the indus try in Detroit. Congress’ answer should be a resounding “No.” Let the Big Three swim in their own inflated pension funds. Isn’t that what capitalism is all about, the survival of the stron gest and best prepared? Or has this nation moved so far away from its economic roots that Congress would willingly slip tax dollars into the pockets of those begging Captains of Capitalism? The Barrow Journal Winder, Barrow County, Ga. www.BarrowJoumal.com Mike Buffington Co-Publisher Scott Buffington Co-Publisher Chris Bridges Editor Susan Norman Reporter & Web Editor Susan Treadwell Advertising Manager Susan Mobley Office Manager Jeremy Ginn Marketing Manager Jessica Brown Photographer The Barrow Journal 77 East May Street Winder, Georgia 30680 Web Site: www.BarrowJournal.com Email: news@barrowjournal.com Phone: 770-867-NEWS (6397) Fax: 678-425-1435 SUBSCRIPTIONS: Inside Barrow County $15.00/yr Senior Citizens in Barrow $13.00/yr. Surrounding Counties $19.75/yr. Other In-State $38.85/yr. Out of State $44.50/yr. Military/APO $42.50/yr. Out of county Senior Citizens Deduct $2 Believe in the small miracles I BELIEVE in miracles, both big and small. Thankfully, I’ve been blessed thus far with a life that has not needed or requested any major miracles. My miracles have all been of the minor variety but oh, so many there have been! Car trouble that didn’t happen until it was safe... Animals healed or, when lost, found... Loving homes found for all the cats, kit tens, puppies and dogs that have ended up on my doorstep... Work showing up when it was most needed... Trouble or trauma that seemed inevitable, faded away... God is good, and He has been very very good to me and mine over the years. The most recent miracle that happened involved my elderly neighbors, the Petermans, and a sweet kitty named Sarah Elisabeth. A well-placed phone call and, yes, yet another cat rescue by me. A month or so ago, my neighbor, John Peterman, left a message on our answering machine. He said a little yellow and white cat had “taken up” at their house. He wondered if it was mine. I didn’t return the call because it wasn’t mine and I’m a believer that every home should have a cat. I figured that cat had just found hers and I wanted the Petermans to give her a shot. Then one afternoon last week, there was a flurry of dog activity on our back porch. I ran to see what it was and caught a glimpse of a white tail, then watched as a yellow and white cat ran from my dogs to scale a tall, thin, tree not far from the house. I ran after the dogs and called to Mr. Clark to put the dogs inside. He did and I went to check on the cat, who by then had climbed very high in the tree. She was a little half-grown female, yellow and white, very scared and very friendly. She had no clue how to get down from the small limb where she was perilously perched. I tried the time-tested trick of opening a can of cat food and banging a little on the plate right below the tree. She was clearly motivated, but couldn’t figure out how to get down. She managed to swing — and nearly fall — to the limb below, which was still quite high. She cried and cried, but wouldn’t, or couldn’t, come down. Mr. Clark got the tall ladder and propped it against the tree trunk. I held the ladder while he grabbed the cat. Boy, was she glad to be safe again! I took her into Mr. Clark’s office (which serves as the rescued animal holding room), fed her and assessed the situation. She was clearly someone’s cat. She was well-fed, affectionate, healthy and she had a great big purr. Since we couldn’t keep her, I began forming the adop tion plan. Then it hit me, this was the Petermans’ cat! I called them, but no one was home. I left a message. Later, I took the cat over to their house. All the lights were out — only the porch light on — no one was home. The cat spent the night in Mr. Clark’s office. The next day I left another message on Lou and John’s answering machine and I walked her over to their house again, but it still appeared that no one was home. We had appointments in Athens all day so the cat spent the day in Mr. Clark’s office. If the Petermans didn’t return or respond soon, I’d have to come up with an adoption plan. Then John called my cell. He said he’d not been able to understand much in my messages, but he had heard we had a cat and he wanted to “take a look at it.” I told him I’d bring her right over. The look on Lou and John’s faces when they opened the door and saw their beloved Sarah Elisabeth again would make the coldest heart believe in miracles. It turned out Sarah Elisabeth had been gone for two nights and they’d been looking for her. But with limited mobility, their search had been unsuccessful. Lou had been praying and John had been hoping and calling out the back door. But as the third night approached, they had almost given up hope. “We’ve never had a cat before,” Lou said. “I’ve never even liked cats, but Sarah Elisabeth is different. When she came to us she was so small and skinny and pitiful and now look at her! I had no idea I would come to love her so much in such a short time.” And Sarah Elisabeth was clearly right back where she belonged. She rolled around on the carpet, ate a little, roamed the house, then settled happily in Lou’s lap. We had a nice visit. I gave them some cat care tips and then I went home, so glad that Sarah Elisabeth and the Petermans were reunited once more. These are the little miracles that mean so much. A tiny cat finds a loving home... an elderly couple discovering what an excellent companion a cat can be... I find the cat when she wanders off... and thanks to John’s message, return Sarah Elisabeth to the people who now so dearly love her. God is good! Lorin Sinn-Clark is a columnist for the Barrow Journal. She can be reached at lorin@barrowjournal.com. HE SAYS 386 YEARS FROM NOW, HIS POSITION WILL MAKE PERFECT SENSE TO US. CLOSED TO ILLEGAL immigrants , i)/)>) THE FIRST D.M.V Don’t mess with the teachers IF YOU want to accomplish anything in Georgia politics, you had better remember one thing: don’t mess around with public school teachers, par ticularly with their pensions. Teachers are one of the state’s best educated groups of work ers and they are also among the most politically active. The politician who does anything that makes teachers mad will surely pay the price at the ballot box. Roy Barnes could attest to that. Eight years ago, when he was Georgia’s governor, he persuad ed the Legislature to adopt an education reform measure that he promptly signed into law. Barnes wanted to improve stu dent performance by reducing class sizes and providing more resources for local school systems. Teachers were fine with that, but they were very unhappy over a provision that eliminated their right to a fair dismissal hearing. To add insult to injury, Barnes commented on several occa sions that one of the problems with public schools was that “it’s too difficult to get rid of bad teachers.” That was the match that touched off the explosion. Angered at the lack of respect shown by the governor, educators decided to teach Barnes a lesson when he ran for reelection in 2002. Teachers around the state denounced the incumbent and supported his Republican challenger, Sonny Perdue. With the teachers’ help, Perdue defeated Barnes in one of the most astounding political upsets in the state’s history. The lesson that Barnes learned at such a high price does not seem to have hit home with Perdue, however. Two months ago, Perdue tried to reduce pension benefits for teachers by proposing that the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) eliminate their annual three percent increase in cost-of-living adjustments to pension benefits. This increase has been granted automatically to retired teachers for nearly 40 years, but Perdue suggested giving the TRS board of trustees the flexibility to grant smaller increases because he said he wanted to protect the fiscal soundness of the $41 billion pension fund. Just as they did six years ago with Barnes, teachers went ballistic over the Perdue proposal. They flooded the governor’s office and the office of the TRS board with an estimated 20,000 letters and emails protesting the policy change. Teachers felt, not unreasonably that they and their local school boards have been making hefty contributions to the pension fund for decades to make sure there would be enough money to pay for those of cost-of-living adjust ments. If the governor would not listen to them, they made sure that the legislative leadership got the message about the perils of reducing pension benefits. That message was received. By the time the TRS board met last week to vote on Perdue’s pension proposal, teachers had such key officials as Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, House Speaker Pro Tern Mark Burkhalter and House Minority Leader DuBose Porter on their side. Perdue may have been tone-deaf to the feelings of teachers, but lawmakers were not going to make that same mistake. Realizing too late that he did not have the votes on the TRS board, Perdue attempted to have the proposal with drawn. The board refused to allow the withdrawal and every member voted to reject Perdue’s proposal - even though more than half of the trustees are appointed by the governor. Perdue’s political mistake probably won’t cost him the way it cost Barnes in 2002. He can’t run for gover nor again because he’s term-limited and he can’t step up to run for higher office because Johnny Isakson isn’t going to vacate his U.S. Senate seat in 2010. One politician who does plan to run for something in 2010, Cagle, made sure that the teachers knew who had been in their corner. He issued a state ment soon after the TRS vote saying he supported the decision and followed that up with a letter to each teacher who had written to him about the issue. “I know many of you have waited weeks for this decision, and I want you to know that I reached out to the TRS Board to express my concern in taking the proposed actions to change this rule,” Cagle wrote. “I am happy that they listened to my advice, as well as the voice of many teachers across our state.” Any politicians who want to keep getting elected to pub lic office will make very sure that they listen to the voice of Georgia’s teachers. The events of last week made that crystal clear. Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report, an Internet news service._ He can be reached at tcrawford@caDitolimDact. net. Political junkie gets to share the spotlight AS I entered the Winder Women’s Club building last week, I had no idea what was in store. I was there to cover the Barrow County Republican Party meeting since state Rep. Terry England was to preview the upcom ing 2009 legislative session. As I make it a habit of doing, I arrived at the meeting early and as I walked in the building, only a handful of people were there. One of those already inside was Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, Republican candidate for a seat on the state Public Service Commission. County Republican Party chairman Ken Young introduced McDonald to me and while I admittedly have a few dif ferences of opinion with him on issues, I will say it was an honor for a Georgia political junkie like myself to be talking with him one- on-one. It was 18-years-ago, a generation now, that McDonald was stump ing for the highest elected office in the Peach State. McDonald campaigned for the governor’s office that year although the race eventually went to Zell Miller. During my conversation with McDonald (he doesn’t use the “Bubba” part in his campaigns these days), my mind drifted back to that time when I voted for the first time in the primary during the summer of 1990. McDonald was campaigning as a Democrat then, although he has changed camps now to the Republican side. (Miller never officially changed parties, but since he hasn’t backed a Democrat for office in years, he might as well have gone ahead and made it official). In 1990, Georgia still voted Democratic as Miller’s general election opponent, Republican Johnny Isakson had little, if any, chance against him, although years later he would be elected to the U.S. Senate. I still have a copy of a Democratic primary debate from the 1990 governor’s race which featured McDonald, Miller, Roy Barnes (the first time he ran for governor), Andrew Young and the Lester Maddox. I admit to still watching the old VHS tape from time to time, although I need to have it converted to a DVD before I wear the tape too thin. So there I was last Monday night in Winder, a place I had never visited back in 1990, talking with Lauren McDonald, former candidate for governor and cur rent candidate for a seat on the PSC. I guess I should have felt for tunate the candidate would even say two words to any newspaper reporter, considering he had been raked over the coals that day by our state’s largest news paper. McDonald’s opponent in the Dec. 2 runoff was endorsed by that paper in question and no doubt was trying to explain some of the allegations hurled at him by what had been written. I wasn’t at the local Republican Party meeting to cover McDonald. In fact, I didn’t know he was even going to be there. However, to someone who has always had a passion for Georgia politics it was a moment to remember. When you get to have a one-on-one conversation with someone who has run for governor in your state, you seize the moment. To some, it would have not been a big deal. To me, it was special, if only for a few minutes. Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal. He can be reached at: cbridges@barrow- journal.com.