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Page 4A The Braselton News Wednesday, December 5, 2007 Opinion “Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth. ” -Thomas Jefferson Braseltoons by John Sheppard "Goodnight Mickey... goodnight Minnie... goodnight Donald... goodnight Pluto." letters Why no parade in Braselton? our views Free speech is important to protect IT’S EASY to defend freedom of speech when the speaker says something you agree with. The real test of free speech is the ability to defend it when you disagree, or find the speech repugnant. Such was the case earlier this week when a Gwin nett County solicitor dismissed charges against a Missouri man over anti-abortion images. Robert D. Roethlisberger had been arrested near the Mall of Georgia on “Black Friday” for having put graphic images of abortion on his truck. Police said the im ages were obscene and vulgar. That case echoes a similar situation in Jeffer son recently when anti-abortion protesters waved graphic placards while standing on the street. Al though city police officials wanted to harass the protestors with some new rules, city leaders de cided such a confrontation would be pointless. Indeed, many of these anti-abortion protesters are just baiting local officials with their graphic posters and images. They want to be arrested be cause then they become martyrs to the anti-abor tion cause and generate a lot of publicity, making the police look heavy-handed in the process. Free speech is no small matter in today’s post 9-11 world where some emails, phone calls, library books and other forms of communication are be ing monitored by government officials. Such moni toring and the specter of “Big Brother” gives one pause. So Gwinnett County prosecutors were right to re lease Roethlisberger this week. His speech may be offensive, repugnant and ill-advised, but it’s not illegal. Over-reacting to the fringe anti-abortion elements only fuels their sense of self-righteousness. The best thing to do is ignore it. The Braselton News A Publication of The Jackson Herald & Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc. Mike Buffington Editor & Co-Publisher mike@mainstreetnews. com 706-367-5233 Scott Buffington Co-Publisher & Advertising Manager scott @ mainstreenews. com 706-367-5233 Angela Gary Managing Editor angie@mainstreetnews. com 706-367-2490 Kerri Testement News Editor kerri@mainstreetnews.com 706-367-5986 Jeremy Ginn Advertising jeremy@mainstreetnews.com 706-367-5990 Web Site: braseltonnews.com Classified Advertising classifieds@mainstreetnews.com PO Box 908, Jefferson, Ga. 30549 General Phone: 706-367-5233 Dear Editor: It appears that the mayor of Braselton only cares about the citizens and merchants of Chateau Elan. Where is the town’s parade and the people that the parade brought to historic downtown Braselton? The people that the parade brings are all potential customers to help the town’s merchants during this tough year. Our family had a tradition to go and watch the Christmas parade as it came through Braselton, but because of Mrs. Grinch, I now have to tell my 7-year-old daughter that there will be no parade this year. Our mayor doesn’t care about the Town of Bra selton, only the neighborhood that she lives in. At least the wealthy children of Chateau Elan got to see a parade. Sincerely, Jeff Rodes Braselton Nothing but blue skies ahead for state’s senior senator GEORGIA’S senior senator has received a little slap on the wrist from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the agency that compiles and monitors campaign disclosure reports filed by candidates for Congress. The FEC recently sent a letter to Saxby Chambliss’ campaign noting that the senator has received several contributions in this election cycle that may have exceeded the maximum allowable dona tion of $2,300. FEC officials who reviewed Chambliss’ latest financial dis closure report flagged the names of 18 contributors who gave money to the senator in amounts “that appear to exceed the limits” in federal campaign laws. The contributors cited by the FEC included the election committee of Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey’s campaign committee, state Sen. Ross Tolleson (R-Perry), and three corporate political action committees. The Chambliss campaign has until Dec. 17 to clarify all of these contributions or face the possibility of an audit by the election commission, but Chambliss spokesman, Justin Tomc- zak, assured a reporter that no wrongdoing has been commit ted and the matter will be explained to everyone’s satisfaction. “The campaign has not taken any excess contributions,” Tomczak said. “There were no contributions taken in by the campaign in excess of FEC limits.” Tomczak said Chambliss received money from different individuals who hap pened to have the same name, and the FEC mistakenly attributed the contribution to one person. Other contributors gave money intended for the primary election and then made a separate legal contribution for the general election, he added. The allegedly excess contributions listed in the FEC letter to Chambliss include $9,500 from the Swisher PAC, a political action committee for a tobacco products company. Federal campaign records show that Chambliss has received more than $85,000 over the past decade from other tobacco-related PACs as well. One of the contentious issues pending before Congress right now is legislation that would continue federal funding for the children’s health insurance program that is known as PeachCare in Georgia. Congressional Democrats and a fair number of Republicans want to expand this funding by $35 billion over the next five years so that an additional 10 million children can get health insurance cover age. That extra money for children’s health insurance would come from an increase in the federal tax on cigarettes, a proposal that, not surprisingly, is opposed by Big Tobacco. This legislation passed the Senate with only 29 Republicans voting against it. One of the Republicans who heeded the tobacco industry and voted against the bill was Chambliss. The PeachCare funding bill was ultimately vetoed by Chambliss’ good friend, President George W. Bush. Normally, a senator who was up for reelection would have quite a bit to worry about if the FEC was questioning whether he had received excess contributions and he had voted against a politically popular program like PeachCare to help out a special interest group like Big Tobacco. Those are the kinds of actions that can come back to haunt you in an opponent’s attack ads. For Chambliss, all of this is merely a bump in the road as he gears up to run for his second term in 2008. Most major newspapers in Georgia haven’t bothered to write about - much less make an issue of - the FEC letter or the contributions from tobacco interests. Chambliss has no Republican primary opposition and the candidates fighting for the Democratic nomination are woefully underfinanced. In his most recent campaign disclosure report, Chambliss had more than $3.9 million cash he could spend on his reelection race. Here are the cash-on-hand totals reported by the Democratic candidates: DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones - $265,988; former TV newsman Dale Cardwell - $35,277; environmental scientist Rand Knight- $20,245. (Two other Democratic candidates, Josh Lanier and Maggie Martinez, have yet to file a report of their campaign contributions.) Chambliss thus is sitting on a pile of campaign cash that is more than 10 times as large as the combined amount reported so far by all the Democrats. Even more important for Chambliss, none of his prospective Democratic oppo nents would really be considered a political heavyweight. The major Democratic prospects like Max Cleland, Roy Barnes, Wyc Orr, Jim Butler, and David Poythress are all taking a pass on the Senate race. Small wonder that when Chambliss looks to the next election year, he sees noth ing but blue skies ahead. At this point in time, there’s no real hurdle to his easy reelection. Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report, an Internet news site at www.gareport.com that covers government and politics in Georgia Video tapes provide look into family life FOR MOST of the year, the video camera sits tucked away in our house — its battery charged and tape ready to record. But it’s that time of the season when the little red light starts coming on again after its months- long slumber. This is the time of year to record plenty of fam ily and holiday events. Despite being a still-photog raphy fan, I’ve never caught on to using video cameras. There are prob ably thousands of photos of my 13-month-old daughter, but few videotaped moments of her. Katie is now in that stage where videotaping her is fun — she’s crawling everywhere, acting silly while eating peas and becoming that sassy little toddler that makes great video footage. When I was a child, the video camera was becoming the latest fad in the 1980s. My family was probably one of the first house holds in the neighborhood to have a video camera — despite its bulky size. My dad recently sent me several of those early videotapes from my childhood. It’s amazing that I could remember so many de tails about our former living room — such as the pictures on the walls and the decorative items on the fireplace. My parents looked young and skinny, too. But there’s one thing I didn’t remember: How annoying I was. Maybe it was just an act for the camera, but c’mon, I was pretty annoying as a child. My husband enjoyed seeing me as a child and listening to my conversations with the camera. I’ve seen some silent film of him as a child, but it’s not as much fun without the sound. Our home videos from the 1980s and 1990s included the good and the bad of family life. The bad included all of those hours of mindless “landscape” shots, such as empty battle fields on family trips, guided tours at several tourist attractions and a 30-minute feature of various gingerbread houses at one event. That’s when you use the fast-for ward button. But the good included those Christmas mornings when we were opening presents. Some of that footage included my grand mother, who passed away from cancer 15 years ago. The video tape reminded me of her voice and mannerisms again. As for Katie, the video camera has only been rolling every few months. Last week, we watched some footage of her when she was a newborn just last year. I can’t believe that she has grown so quickly. Katie already poses for the digital camera — I’m certain she’ll be acting up for the video camera soon. Kerri Testement is news editor for The Braselton News. Her e- mail address is kerri@mainstreet- news.com. Kerri Testement kerri@mainstreet- news.com