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BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher -
Chris Bridges, editor • Email: cbridges@barrowjournal.com
our views
Barrow seeks
to weather
financial storm
B ARROW County is fac
ing a financial storm in
its budget for 2009. The
national recession is shredding
local government budgets across
the nation in ways that just a few
months ago seemed impossible.
Barrow County is one of many
governments caught in this finan
cial downturn.
To its credit, Barrow is putting
all options on the table for debate
in an effort to stem the flow of red
ink that appears likely in the com
ing year.
Just one month into its FY09
budget, Barrow is projecting a $1.9
million shortfall in revenues if the
current trends continue. In addi
tion, if the current projections are
accurate, the county will have to
eat $944,000 of its reserves during
the coming fiscal year.
This downturn is hitting with
“perfect-storm” intensity. For one
thing, growth brings additional
costs, but the true depth of those
costs lags the revenue stream. As
new people moved into Barrow
County over the last eight years,
their fees and taxes flowed into
local governments ahead of the
real cost. That created a skewed
financial picture where local gov
ernments were, to an extent, living
off the cash flow before the real
costs hit their budgets.
Now the real long-term costs
from the last few years of growth
are on the upswing at the same
time new revenues and fees are
diving downward.
The real issue, however, isn’t
just how local governments got
into this mess, but how they plan
to get out of it. To a large extent,
that game plan depends on the
attitude of government leaders.
Some government officials think
it’s their duty to “protect” govern
ment employees no matter what
the larger economy is doing and
consequently they hesitate to con
sider any kind of cutbacks.
Barrow County leaders appear to
have a more realistic attitude and
are discussing all possible options,
including staff cuts, shorter work
weeks, furloughs, decreased gov
ernment vehicle use, and other
cuts that just a few months ago
seemed impossible.
It remains to be seen where
and how Barrow County will make
cutbacks as it looks to survive
the economic downturn. No doubt
some tough decisions are loom
ing, decisions that are bound to
be difficult.
But by putting all options for
cutting back on the table, Barrow
County has taken the right first
step in attempting to weather the
financial storm it faces.
Barrow Journal
Winder, Barrow County, Ga.
www.BarrowJoumal.com
Mike Buffington..
Scott Buffington.
Chris Bridges
Susan Norman ..
Susan Treadwell
Susan Mobley....
Jeremy Ginn
Jessica Brown...
Co-Publisher
Co-Publisher
Editor
Reporter & Web Editor
...Advertising Manager
Office Manager
Marketing Manager
Photographer
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
Finding a ‘home’ in the South
NINETEEN years ago, we packed our two, small,
crying children and all of our possessions in a moving
van and set out across the country to our “new life, in
the South.”
1 grew up in Colorado. My hus
band grew up in California. We
spent our early years together
near my family, in Boulder. Our
kids were born there. 1 always
assumed we’d die there. Then,
in the late ‘80s, the Western
economy took a nasty turn and,
in hopes of brighter prospects,
Mr. Clark took a job in Atlanta.
We had no idea what we were
in for. I had seen “Gone With
the Wind” a bunch of times and
been on one Antebellum Trail bus tour with my family
as a child. I knew most beauty pageant queens came
from the South. I knew Southern people talked slower
and were supposed to be more hospitable than the
rest of us.
1 also knew I would be homesick and that my kids
would be mad about being uprooted. What we were
gaining wasn’t as obvious as what we were giving up.
We had our work cut out for us...and, that didn’t even
include the house.
Instead of settling in an Alpharetta Swim-Tennis,
the way “Cookie,” the realtor, wanted, we bought a
“historic restoration property” in Winder.
There had been a fire. It was condemned. The yard
was overgrown. It was rumored to be haunted. But
we felt sure all this 1903-built Greek Revival beauty
needed was some TLC and she’d be restored to her
Tara-like glory once again...
It took us a year to get the house up to livable
snuff. It took us another year or so to actually make
her feel like home. The kids settled into their “awful
new school.” They made friends and got involved in
activities. Mr. Clark’s job went well. The people we
met were generous and hospitable. They did speak
more slowly, but there was a charm to the lilting pace
and drawl of it all. The South had begun to weave us
into her web...
Oxendine’s ready
IF THERE’S one lesson that John Oxendine should
have learned by now, it’s that cars and politics don’t
mix.
Georgia’s insurance commis
sioner, who is hard at work on
a 2010 campaign for governor,
has had more than his share
of misfortune caused by his
involvement with official state
vehicles.
Shortly after he first took
office as insurance commis
sioner in 1995, Oxendine ran
his state-issued vehicle off the
road and crashed into some
trees in Gwinnett County,
causing damages estimated at
$17,000. He told police that he
had swerved the car to avoid
hitting a deer.
A few years later, when he was at the wheel of a state
car equipped with blue lights and a siren (Oxendine
also serves as the state fire marshal), he had the lights
flashing and was weaving through traffic on Interstate
285 when he crashed into a pickup truck. As a result
of this accident, it cost nearly $7,000 to repair the truck
and the Crown Victoria was totaled at a cost to taxpay
ers of $18,000.
“People go years and years without a situation, and
then have strings of bad luck,” Oxendine was quoted
in media accounts at the time. “Accidents are acci
dents.”
Oxendine claimed that this particular accident hap
pened because he was rushing to get to his capitol
office after a fire alarm had forced an evacuation of
the building. The truthfulness of that statement was
investigated by both the GBI and the attorney gen
eral’s office.
Investigators later concluded that Oxendine had
used his emergency blue light on several occasions to
get around traffic and avoid being late to social func
tions, including one dinner engagement with his son.
These “repeated misuses” of emergency equip
ment prompted Attorney General Thurbert Baker to
recommend that Oxendine’s emergency privileges
be revoked.
“Every time you flip on that blue light, you can
potentially create a situation of danger out there on
the highway,” Baker said, adding that with Oxendine
“there clearly seems to be a pattern of abuse.”
Oxendine subsequently removed the blue lights and
sirens from his cars and requested that his permits be
Five years into “the Southern experiment,” as we
once called it, my kids had definitely taken root. My
daughter had an obvious Southern accent and my son
(initially my hold-out child) had started proclaiming
he “loved this place” and “was never going to leave.”
My secret (and not so secret) dreams of returning
West seemed to be at serious risk...
Ten years into “the Southern experiment,” as it was
no longer called, we were entrenched. The South had
us in her web and she was not letting go. Both kids did
well in high school and were headed off to East Coast
colleges. Mr. Clark’s Atlanta-based work was going
gang-busters. My daughter was deeply in love with
her high school boyfriend. My son was proclaiming
that he was going to “move to Athens” after “getting
through college” and “traveling some.”
Sixteen years into what is now known as “our life
in the South,” my daughter married her high school
boyfriend. They settled in Atlanta. A couple of years
later, her brother married his UGA sweetheart. They
(true to my son’s high school proclamation) live in
Athens.
And, here I sit, still the mistress of a much quieter
“Tara,” half-way between my two grown children’s
lives. Any doubt about what happened to those hopes
of moving back West?
Like it or not, I am firmly woven into the web of what
has turned out to be a wonderful, wild ride of a near
twenty year Southern adventure.
I admit, I do still dream of moving back West; try as
I have, I have never really fit in here the way my kids
do. If I had a $1 for every “Bless her heart,” or “Well,
never mind, she’s not from around here,” that’s been
spoken on my behalf, I’d be a good bit wealthier than
I am...
But, if “home is where the heart is,” I guess my
Western heart has found its home here in the South.
Maybe by the time I have grandchildren, I will have
at least learned how to make a decent pitcher of sweet
tea.
Lorin Sinn-Clark is a columnist for the Barrow
Journal. She can be reached at lorin@barrowjournal.
com.
to take the wheel
“deactivated.” The state Board of Public Safety voted
formally in 2001 to rescind his permits to operate
emergency lights and sirens. Newspaper columnists
also started referring to the insurance commissioner
as “Crash” Oxendine.
You would think that after two high-profile acci
dents Oxendine would go out of his way to avoid any
other incidents with state vehicles. But no. In 2003,
Oxendine spent $25,322 in taxpayer funds on yet
another Crown Victoria, including $6,363 for extras
like leather seats, a CD player and a “pursuit suspen
sion” package. This purchase occurred after he had
been instructed not to buy the vehicle because of the
state’s budget problems.
After reviewing the circumstances surrounding the
vehicle purchase, the state inspector general’s office
reported: “Commissioner Oxendine’s actions were
in blatant disregard for established authority. When
informed that he would not be allowed to purchase
his automobile, his response was, in general, Try and
stop me.’ "
Oxendine eventually reimbursed the state for the
vehicle but also issued this defiant statement: “I have
stated publicly my disagreement with the report’s
findings of fact and conclusions. Although this office
is not bound by the opinion of the Office of Inspector
General, I have decided to purchase this vehicle
personally and donate it to the Georgia Department
of Insurance to finally resolve this matter and demon
strate this office’s commitment to fiscal responsibil
ity.”
As he gets deeper into the 2010 governor’s race, it
appears that Oxendine has retained his taste for high-
priced transportation. His initial disclosure report
shows that Oxendine spent $36,933 from his cam
paign account on June 30 to buy what was described
as a “campaign auto.” The vehicle was identified as a
2007 GMC Denali, a luxury SUV that can cost as much
as $58,785 when new.
Oxendine’s aides say the purchase and use of
the SUV will be in accord with all the applicable
campaign finance laws, but you can bet that one of
Oxendine’s critics will, at some point, try to file an eth
ics complaint and stir up a controversy about it.
Since the insurance commissioner obviously likes
those expensive cars, my advice to the other can
didates in the governor’s race is this: buckle your
seatbelts and check your rear-view mirror. You could
be in for a bumpy ride.
Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s
Georgia Report. He can be reached at tcrawford@
caDitolimDact.net.
Part of our past
gone in minutes
IT STOOD strong for decades but
was gone in a matter of minutes, all
in the name of progress.
Patrick’s Service Station, situated
as one fourth of the intersection
at Broad and
May Streets,
served count
less customers
through the
years. It no
doubt had
regulars and
those who
were just pass
ing through on
their way to
Athens or into
Gwinnett.
Times
change, however, and with it less of
a need for full-service gas stations.
Oh, there are still a few of them
around if you look hard enough
and there is still one in operation in
Winder not far from where Patrick’s
stood. John Partee is still going and
will soon reach five decades in busi
ness. Truly some kind of special
honor is needed for that.
However, Patrick’s is no longer
with us and I wonder how many
people truly noticed when the
equipment moved in and tore it
down in little time and with little
effort.
I admit I have a special place in
my heart for full-service gas sta
tions even though by the time I was
old enough to know what one was
they were already disappearing fast.
Back in my hometown a family
friend operated one and I believe
that gas station is as much a part
of my childhood as anything I can
remember.
For it was Walker Thornton,
known to many as “Doc,” who
taught me much about life. In many
ways he was like a third grandfa
ther and anyone would have been
fortunate to have had him as one.
A traditional, Southern gentleman
who was extremely hard-working,
my memory of “Doc” is so tied with
his gas station that I instantly think
of him when I still see a full-service
one in operation, even though they
are truly rare as we close out 2008.
It was so different going to “Doc’s”
to have your vehicle filled up with
gas in those days. The gas was
pumped for you, your windshield
was cleaned and your tire pressure
and oil level was checked. If you
needed an oil change, that could
be handled. The same thing went
for a new battery. If you need a tire
repaired, “Doc” could take care of
it.
Going to “Doc’s” meant getting
out of your vehicle while these
things were being taken care of and
walking inside, even if only briefly,
to talk with the owner and see how
things were going. In short, visiting
“Doc’s” was an experience you
looked forward to. Today, stopping
for gas is something that we con
sider a burden and wish we didn’t
have to do.
So that’s why I hated to see
Patrick’s fall under the weight of
a backhoe or the weight of “prog
ress.” I suppose a new chain drug
store will be nice, even though there
is already one just across the way
which more than suits the need for
citizens along with the numerous
others already in business locally.
I guess most people are in too big
of a hurry these days to enjoy what
a full-service gas station has to offer.
For me, it has always been about
the people who run them, the atmo
sphere and a little taste of yesterday.
Fortunately, we haven’t lost that
completely in Winder. The signs of
“progress” haven’t completely driv
en all of them away yet. Hopefully, it
will be some time before that hap
pens.
Still, it was sad to see what hap
pened to Patrick’s recently. It is sad
to see old full-service gas stations
around Barrow County that have
been empty for decades crumbling
due to lack of use.
But hey, we’re going to have a new
chain drugstore within walking dis
tance of another one. Don’t you just
love progress?
Chris Bridges is editor of the
Barrow Journal. He can be reached
at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.