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PAGE 4A BARROW JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016 Opinions “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. ~ Thomas Jefferson ~ Georgia Press Association, first place, Best Editorial Page; first place, Best Serious Column There outta be a law News has to be reported It seems the reaction by many Barrow County residents to the events involving Ron Saunders can be summed up with one word: shock. The popular former superintendent of the Barrow County School System is fac ing serious charges as outlined in a story on page 1A of our print edition this week. The news broke last week after our June 20 paper had already been print ed so we posted the story and added several updates on our paper’s web site. Certainly I was as surprised as anyone about the news surrounding Saunders’ eventual arrest. He faces a long legal road ahead. It should be noted that Saunders, like anyone accused of any crime, is enti tled to his day in court, whether that leads to some type of plea bargain or a full-scale trial, he has that right under our system of justice. We all do. We should never lose sight of that fact. One thing as editor of the publication that I did want to touch on was a few com ments about our coverage of the story. The comments were almost as predictable as the sun coming up once again the follow ing morning, but they were frustrating the same. First, when we linked the story from our website to our paper’s Facebook page, the first few comments had people ask ing if the story was actually real. “Is this a joke?” one person asked. Let me be clear about one thing right here. This paper has never, and will never, post any type of pretend story, especially involving someone’s real name and photo involving an actual crime. We have never done that and why anyone would think we would have in this case is beyond me. Yes, the accusations on the surface were surprising. I will be the first to admit that. Saunders has been a leader in Barrow County for years and has been as respect ed as anyone. However, for some readers, however few in number, to assume that we would fabri cate a story goes beyond any reasonable comprehension. Second, there were a couple of com ments posted to our website attacking us for even reporting the story. One comment read: “Once again the local fish wrap is digging into the private affairs of people. Ruining a man’s name before he has a chance to give his side in a court of law. Whatever it takes to sell a few papers.” Mike Buffington, co-publisher of this paper responded to those comments: “Allegations that someone stole public and private funds from a public agency is not ‘digging into the private affairs of people.’ As with all arrests, the person charged will have their day in court to give their side of the story. In the meantime, we will cover this issue regardless of who it is and we will report the outcome when the issue has been adjudicated.” Despite the thinking of some, newspa pers don’t actually throw a party when a community figure like Saunders faces trouble with the law. In terms of our work ing relationship with him, it had always been very positive. Even after his retirement as superinten dent, Saunders was often very complimen tary of this paper and of myself. Therefore, we would have no reason to fabricate a story about him or to rejoice now that he faces serious legal issues. However, it is the job of a newspa per, even local, home-based community ones, to print the news as it is. Reporting the news “without fear or favor” should be the motto of every print publication. Admittedly, there are some publications who back off the tough stories if the person involved is a family member, classmate, friend or respected community leader. That has never been the case with the Barrow Journal. As mentioned previously, it’s not that we relish in reporting bad news. Despite what some think, bad news does not automati cally sell newspapers. People get tired of bad news. For us, we’ve always had a good balance of good and the not-so-good although certainly the bad will often stay with you longer than the good. It’s human nature. Saunders will have his day in court. If he’s cleared, we’ll report that. If he ends up with punishment for his alleged deeds, we’ll report that as well. It’s the way it must be, regardless of our personal feelings toward him or anyone else. Winder resident Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.com. July is a special time in Georgia because it’s the month when most of the laws passed during the previous legislative ses sion go into effect. This July was no exception with new laws that allow students to use tasers and stun guns (but not firearms) on college campuses and require state licenses for “lactation consultants,” those specialists who assist mothers with problems in breastfeeding. The General Assembly has oper ated continuously since 1777, so you might think that in the course of 239 years we would have enact ed enough laws to cover every conceivable aspect of daily life — there couldn’t possibly be any new laws to pass. But you would be wrong. It turns out there is always some problem out there that requires urgent pas sage of a new law. An Atlanta TV station sounded the alert recently on a public men ace that is endangering the innocent citi zens of our great state. That would be the practice of surrepti tiously positioning a camera in some pub lic locale so that photos are taken up the skirt of an unsuspecting female. The Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled that because of a glitch in the state’s pri vacy law, such photos are legal outside the confines of a dressing room or bathroom stall. Naturally, legislators are already jumping in to declare that we must pass yet another new statute to take care of that particular flaw in the state code. A new legislative session won’t start until January, however, which means that “we’re going to have six months or so where these creeps can run around doing this stuff,” said state Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta). I don’t know if we need to pass a pro hibition against upskirt photography but there are some areas where there really ought to be a law. Over the last four or five years, it seems that every time you turn around some body is quitting their elected office to run for Congress or take a new job working for the state. An increasing number of legisla tors fail to finish the term to which they’ve been elected, which means that a special election must be called to replace them. These special elections are expensive for the taxpayers — they can cost as much as $100,000 to hold. They also take so long to conduct that citizens can go for months without representation in state government. There ought to be a law that any politi cian who resigns before their term has ended will be required to pay the entire costs of conducting the resulting special election. The law should also require them to pay for these special elections out of their own personal funds — they can’t use leftover campaign contri butions. Once people find out that they’re going to pay a hefty price for resigning early I think you’ll see an amazingly large per centage of them decide to serve the entire term to which they’re elected. Which is sort of the idea behind running for office in the first place. There ought to be a law that any expenditure of more than $1 mil lion in public money on a project for a pri vate business entity should first go before the voters in a referendum for approval. This would have applied to those situa tions where Cobb County Commissioner Tim Lee and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed arranged to funnel hundreds of millions in tax funds to build stadiums for the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Falcons. In neither of those cases were the voters allowed to have a say on the proposed projects, which was grossly unfair. There ought to be a law that lobbyists who appear before legislative committees to support or oppose a bill should be put under oath, just like witnesses in a court trial. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard some lobbyist tell lawmakers some thing that everyone in the committee room knows is not true. The lawmakers will then pass the bill out on the basis of this outrageous fib. If you put lobbyists under oath, with the real possibility of being prosecuted for perjury if they are untruthful, you’ll have a much more honest legislative process. It may not be as titillating as an upskirt photo, but at least it will be honest. Tom Crawford is editor of The Georgia Report, an internet news service at gare- port.com that reports on state govern ment and politics. He can be reached at tcrawford@gareport. com. Tired of an angry world To be frank, I am sick and tired of 2016. Every day it gets harder and harder to remain posi tive and disillusioned to the world that’s falling apart. It’s hard to ignore the terrorist attack in Nice, France. It’s hard to ignore the dead police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge. It’s hard to ignore the hatred and violence in the world. It’s difficult to focus on just one of the plethora of issues we have across the globe because there are just too many to count. Sometimes I feel this world is too far gone. Some days I see glimmers of good like the release of Pokemon Go, a game that has been praised for help ing children and adults with learning disabilities to interact with the world. Then some days, I feel humanity is hanging by a thread when a mother and her daughters are stabbed because they were dressed “provoca tively” while wearing summer attire while on vacation in France. Sometimes it’s just too much to take. We see Hillary Clinton continuously lying and the FBI acknowledging and admitting she was at fault, yet she gets away with it. The FBI exiled Snowden for similar acts, but Hillary doesn’t even get a slap on the wrist. She gets a bump in the polls. We see rules of law mean absolutely nothing anymore. We see this disregard for the law in the recent deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile where protesters have already condemned the police officers to hang before the official findings have been released. Protesters waving signs and chanting they want all cops dead demonstrate the disrespect for the law. The dead officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge and the various outbreaks of violence towards offi cers in this nation further prove it. Taking out the anger on those not even involved in the incidents at hand must stop. We are constantly told we shouldn’t judge all Muslims based on the actions of the few extremists, so why, then, are all police officers judged for the actions of the few at fault? All we see in the media are the cops doing wrong, and in many of these scenarios they should be prosecuted in the court of law. That doesn’t mean all cops need to be crucified in the court of public opinion. We saw the potential candidate Bernie Sanders say he stood against the establishment then cower and endorse Hillary. Though I am not a Sanders supporter by any means, a lot of Sanders supporters liked his appeal because he supposedly stood against the establish ment. Then these people see him bowing down to Hillary and wonder what happened to someone who talked so big against her. It’s all just a ploy to stop Trump. This elec tion truly is that lesser of two evils mentality for many. You’ll have people running to the polls in droves voting for Trump simply because he’s not Hillary. You’ll have people voting for Hillary because she’s not Trump. It’s truly sad that this is the best that America can produce to be our next leader. Libertarian Gary Johnson doesn’t stand much of a chance because this election is going to end up being two very angry sides trying to derail one another. What we have is a very angry nation at this point. I’d like to hope that it can be salvaged, but there is just an incredible amount of hate. We can’t compromise. We might hear but we don’t listen. We have anger in every faction of this country. We have angry people who are fed up and want answers and accountability. I think every one of us is rightfully angry. We have a right to be angry at the FBI and Hillary Clinton. We have a right to be angry that police officers have stepped beyond their authority and are not always held accountable. We have a right to be angry that Trump is the best the GOP could find. We have a right to be angry with the politicians who sit in D.C. not speak ing for their constituents. We have a right to be angry that extremists are killing Americans. No one will say that these angers coming from both sides of this spectrum aren’t justi fied. What’s not justified is the violence. We all have very real anger, and I can’t blame anyone for feeling angry even if I don’t agree with your stance. The anger proves you are probably fed up with the same things that I am, but we differ on the solution. I wish there was something hopeful and uplifting to say, but I can’t find the words. We are living in an angry time and neither side wants to budge. We have to find a way to work out our issues calm and rationally, but I don’t see that being an option at this point. I don’t have the answers. I don’t pretend to. All I know is that I’m tired. May we all find peace and a glimmer of hope because we desperately need it. Winder resident Jessica Brown is the staff photographer for the Barrow Journal. You can reach her at picsbyjessical@gmail.com. Barrow Journal Winder, Barrow County, Ga. Barrow’s only award-winning GPA publication Mike Buffington Co-Publisher/Co-Owner Scott Buffington Co-Publisher/Co-Owner Chris Bridges Editor/Sports Editor Jessica Brown Staff Photographer Susan Treadwell Reporter Alex Pace Education Reporter Sharon Hogan Reporter Vickie West Ad Design Wesleigh Sagon Photographer Jessica Payne Advertising Tyler Rollason Columnist Cathy Watkins Bennett Columnist Joyce Jacks Columnist Legal Organ of Barrow County Published 52 times per year by SUBSCRIPTIONS: Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc. $25.00/yr. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Periodicals postage paid at Winder, Georgia 30680 (USPS 025-132) Barrow Journal 77 East May Street Winder, Georgia 30680 Email: news@barrowjournal.com Phone: 770-867-NEWS (6397) Fax: 706-621-4115