Newspaper Page Text
Page 4A
The Braselton News
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Opinion
“Difference of opinion leads
to enquiry, and enquiry to
truth. ” -Thomas Jefferson
Braseltoons by John Sheppard
11 Joseph, you said they were wise men?"
letter
Says JCCHS being ignored by board
our views
Hindsight: Murphy
wasn’t so bad, after all
THE DEATH this week of former Georgia Speaker
of the House Tom Murphy closes the door on one
of the most remarkable, and controversial, men to
hold power in the state.
For over a quarter century, Murphy held sway
over the state like grumpy grandpa. Chomping on
his cigar, “Mr. Speaker” would growl like a bear,
sometimes even when he agreed to a proposal.
Murphy was an “old school” Democrat politician,
a scion of rural Georgia at a time when rural poli
tics dominated the state. He didn’t always adapt
to change, but he did do more for the booming At
lanta area than many recognized at the time.
Politically, Murphy could be tough. But few would
call him unfair. Even if he disagreed with a propos
al, he would generally listen to both sides of the
idea. And if he was sometimes petty in his politics
— what politician isn’t — he mostly kept those per
sonal feuds from overshadowing the larger issues
in the state.
In hindsight, “Mr. Speaker” may not have been
as bad as many thought at the time. Compared to
his successor, Republican Rep. Glenn Richardson,
Murphy would even be considered something of a
saint.
Two weeks ago, Richardson gave a talk in nearby
Commerce about his proposal to abolish property
taxes in the state in favor of higher and broader
sales taxes. But Richardson’s ideas were lost be
hind his (posterior) in an arrogant display of vanity
and his rude comments toward a room full of local
business leaders.
Perhaps Speaker Richardson believes he’s be
ing “tough” just like his predecessor. But he’s not
tough; he’s just an insecure bully who doesn’t listen
to opposing views and whose political agenda is
driven by polls and political aspirations.
Mr. Murphy never lowered himself to that level.
He wasn’t vain and didn’t give much attention to
polls. And he didn’t use his position as speaker as
a political springboard to seek higher office.
Tough, but fair. That will be Mr. Murphy’s legacy.
But unless he changes, it won’t be the kind of
legacy left by the vain and arrogant Rep. Richard
son.
The Braselton News
A Publication of The Jackson Herald &
Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc.
Mike Buffington
Editor & Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington
Co-Publisher &
Advertising Manager
Angela Gary
Managing Editor
Kerri Testement
News Editor
Jeremy Ginn
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PO Box 908, Jefferson, Ga. 30549
General Phone: 706-367-5233
letter
Please help look for dog
Dear Editor:
On Dec. 16, our neighbor and good friends were
presented with a tragedy of life-changing proportions!
They were in a car accident on Hwy. 332 near the
Hwy. 124 intersection.
The mother of our good friend, Tonya, was killed
in the accident and their pet bulldog, “Penny,” was
ejected from the vehicle.
Tonya is eight months pregnant with their next little
girl and has a three-year-old daughter. Her husband
has been looking for Penny for two days to no avail.
Please keep a look out for this poor dog, who may
be injured, lost and confused. She has no identifying
tags and is very shy.
She’s a bulldog, kind of a puppy and is light in color.
Several of our neighbors have been out looking for her
to give this family some solace in this difficult time.
We all love this family in our close neighborhood
of 60 people. Contact any of the people listed below
for any information you may have, or think might be
relevant.
Tina or Skip Heaslip 678-469-4253 or 706-654-
4661; Liz or John Elegret 678-462-2303; Terri or Eric
Johnson 770-823-7566; Sandy or John Baker 706-
654-5959; Tami or Mark Mancini 706-654-5493.
Sincerely,
Tina Heaslip
Hoschton
Dear Editor:
I felt compelled to write after attending
the Panthers versus Eagles basketball
games a few weeks ago at East Jackson
Comprehensive High School and then
again this past Saturday night at Jackson
County Comprehensive High School.
I do not have children in the school sys
tem, but I have friends who have children
that attend both schools due to the ridicu
lous attendance zones created by the
board of education.
The first games that I watched were at
East Jackson. I must agree that the school
is beautiful, as it should be, with the mil
lions of dollars that went to fund that school
and the tax dollars that the entire (no mat
ter which side you live on) county will be
paying for many years to come.
As I looked around the new gym with
ample seating, heated and cooled, and the
obnoxious presence of four sheriff’s depu
ties, their principal, all of her staff, and the
board chairman hovering over the visi
tor’s side only, I realized how unwelcome
JCCHS parents, faculty and students were
that night. It was very oppressive. Ironical
ly, the only serious trouble that night was
caused by East Jackson students. One
was hauled away by police and then there
was an angry display by two East Jackson
female students that had to be broken up
by their faculty.
This past Saturday night, I sat in the
familiar old gym at JCCHS. For the record,
there is no a/c or heat and during the hard
rain that we finally got that night, there
were leaks all over the gym from the roof.
The puddles were first noticed when a JV
basketball player slid into the water and
the young man could have been injured.
The rest of the night, JCCHS staff had
to keep placing towels over the leaks on
the sidelines and those on the court had
to be wiped up every couple of minutes.
I also saw the new JCCHS principal walk
a majority of the student section out to
change shirts as apparently both schools
had told students not to wear any shirts
that were derogatory or inappropriate to
the game.
However, East Jackson students, par
ents and some of their faculty were allowed
to wear shirts that were meant to be nega
tive and directed at the head varsity boys’
basketball coach. Why? He stood up for
his players and his school, just like the
head football coach has done.
As a causal observer, the support is
long, long overdue. Rumor has it, these
fine men and true Panther supporters
were scolded for their devotion to JCCHS.
(Shame on you, Dr. MacGhee and Mr.
Lancaster.) Need I remind you that the
Panthers were treated badly the moment
Coach Caputo announced he was moving
to East Jackson? After his announcement
to the football players, he dismissed the
Panthers and held a team meeting for his
“new Eagles” and chanted Blue Pride that
day and many, many more times while
recruiting in the hallways until the end of
school. Faculty that was moving at the end
of the year already wore Eagle pride cloth
ing and name badges and posted Eagle
pride items on their bulletin boards (school
counselor’s office) and in the Panther hall
ways. Panthers had no football coach, a
man that was new to the role of athletic
director and no principal.
For the record, JCCHS and its long list
of needs has been ignored by the super
intendent and the school board. How long
are they going to make the students and
faculty do without much-needed class
rooms, equipment, and improvements on
the existing structure? How much more
money and classroom time will be lost
transporting students to the even older
Gordon Street facility when there is ample
space to add on to JCCHS?
So I asked around between games that
night, what was going to be done? Who
was going to stand up for the Panthers?
It apparently isn’t the principal, and the
faculty have been stifled by him, and the
lone newly-appointed board member from
the West side has a wife who teaches in
the school system, so he won’t be rocking
the boat.
Well, when I heard that the exceptional
Friday night “Voice of the Panthers,” Mr.
Steve Crawford, is on the board agenda
to speak in January on behalf of the West
side of the county, a smile came to my
face.
It should be the voice of a devoted
parent, one who has made long Friday
nights a more exciting place to be, one
who has spent countless hours at various
sporting events, working the clock, score-
board, concessions, one who has donated
money, equipment, and supplies to vari
ous Jackson County school needs for I’m
told over 14 years.
It should be the man that upset parents
call at night to voice their concerns when
they were without Panther leadership this
past spring.
It should be the man that provides stu
dents with a kind, encouraging word when
they need it.
It should be the man that has stood up
for the Panthers time and time again.
It should be the man that Mr. Lancaster
called a “Lightening rod” when he told him
he didn’t want him announcing the players
as he has done for several basketball sea
sons Saturday night to not upset the East
Jackson crowd. My advice to the West side
of the county: YOU ALL NEED A LIGHTEN
ING ROD because your superintendent,
your school board, your new principal, and
your athletic director continue to ignore
and not listen to your concerns.
Oh and by the way, for all of you read
ers, the Panther varsity girls and boys won
both at home and away.
I usually support both, not really caring
who wins since I know kids who attend
both schools. But today and for many
days to come, I’m praying for many more
wins for the Panther faithful, on and off the
court. They truly deserve it!
Sincerely,
Becky Desilvestro
Lawrenceville
Fixing some holes
in the road
As chairman of the State Transportation Board,
Mike Evans knew he would be having a lot of
conversations with the person that he and other
board members recently appointed as the new
commissioner of the Department of Transporta
tion.
But he may not have expected the communica
tions with DOT Commissioner
Gena Abraham to be this
extensive.
“Gena and I talk at least
once a day for 45 minutes,”
Evans said. “Over the past
couple of weeks, it’s been a
daily diet of bad news.”
Abraham, a civil engineer
who was formerly the director
of the Georgia Building Au
thority, officially became the
DOT commissioner on Dec. 1.
In her first weeks on the job,
she says she quickly discov
ered a government bureau
cracy that was in need of a drastic overhaul.
When Abraham tried to determine how many
construction projects DOT had pending, she
received answers that ranged from about 1,000
to more than 9,000. She learned that the depart
ment has five separate accounting systems and
not all of them can exchange data with each
other. There was apparently no one at DOT re
sponsible for managing the hundreds of lawsuits
involving the agency.
“Gena has been up to her eyeballs in alligators
since she got there,” a transportation board mem
ber confided. “It’s probably going to be 60 to 90
days before she can even come up for air.”
Abraham did come up for air last week, holding
several meetings at the capitol to brief legislators,
state officials, and the media on the administra
tive problems confronting the agency that has a
$2 billion annual budget for building highways
and bridges.
“The only surprise to most of us was the depth
of some of the problems,” Evans said. “It’s some
thing that’s been a long time coming.”
Evans and fellow board members like David
Doss had been agitating for several years for
wholesale changes in the way DOT has been op
erated. This often resulted in conflicts with former
commissioner Harold Linnenkohl, a lifetime DOT
employee.
“It’s difficult to make headway when you’ve
got a commissioner who’s working against the
board,” Doss said.
When Linnenkohl decided to retire a couple of
months ago, the Transportation Board had the
opportunity to appoint a new commissioner who
might be more agreeable to making the kinds of
changes envisioned by the board’s “revolutionar
ies.”
“We’d been waiting for someone who could
come along and fix these problems,” Evans said.
“We’ve got the right leader at the helm.”
So far, officials say, there’s been no indica
tion that the DOT situation resulted from ethical
malfeasance or financial misdeeds. The problem
is rooted in a bureaucratic process that has long
been in need of an overhaul, they contend.
“It’s a 50-year-old system that’s worn out and
antiquated,” Evans said. “The folks at DOT are
the most dedicated people in state government.
It’s not been the people, it’s been the process.
It’s organizational breakdown and we’ve got to
bring the organizational processes into the 21st
century.”
There’s no question that an agency as large
and tradition-bound as DOT could benefit from
an organizational shakeup. If it saves some of
our taxpayer dollars, so much the better. But it
may be that the departmental problems are being
exaggerated a little for the benefit of people who
have their own agendas.
By emphasizing the need to fix administrative
problems at DOT, Abraham is giving political
cover to a governor and legislators who don’t
want to face up to the fact that a tax increase
may be needed to upgrade Georgia’s inadequate
transportation infrastructure.
For the next couple of years, any requests from
outside groups for funds to build new highways
or get a commuter rail system underway can be
shunted aside with the excuse that DOT has to be
fixed before we can even consider such things as
a new transportation tax.
That would enable Gov. Sonny Perdue to avoid
having to make any big transportation decisions
before 2010, when he will be stepping down as
governor and can hand the problem off to whoev
er is elected to succeed him. Likewise, Lt. Gov.
Casey Cagle, who would like to be the person
succeeding Perdue as governor, won’t have to do
something messy like preside over a Senate that
votes on a major tax increase for highways.
If that means you’re the one who’s stuck in yet
another traffic jam on I-285 or Georgia 316 in the
meantime - well, you’re just going to have to wait
a while longer.
Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s
Georgia Report, an Internet news site at www.
gareport.com that covers government and poli
tics in Georgia.