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Page 4A The Braselton News Wednesday, December 26, 2007 Opinion “Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth. ” -Thomas Jefferson Braseltoons by John Sheppard "Wait a minute, Ed. It s Neighborhood Watch, not Search and Destroy. 1 ' ‘Medical mystery’ goes from tears to laughter our views Time to set ‘08 goals WHAT ARE the goals in the Braselton and Ho- schton areas for 2008? As we approach the New Year, our local govern ments and other community institutions should take a moment to set some goals for next year. What do these leading community institutions want to accomplish in 2008? Of course, we don’t live our lives just within the calendar. Many of the goals for 2008 would likely be unfinished business from the current year, or even from the past several years. In government, especially, it takes time to accomplish many of the things that need to be done. But just as we set individual New Year’s resolu tions to lose weight or to get out of debt, local gov ernments and their various agencies should also set some specific goals. Here are some categories they should look at: 1. FINANCIAL— What are the sources of in come, is that stable, and where is the money being spent and is it providing services for citizens? 2. LAND USE— Are the zoning rules and other land use tools being used wisely? Are they fair, both to landowners and the surrounding com munity? 3. TRANSPORTATION— How can the move ment of people be done better in the community? What upgrades or new roads need to be built? 4. WATER RESOURCES— Given the severe drought this year, is the area capable of surviving another drought in 2008? 5. PUBLIC SAFETY— Are the local govern ments providing for the overall public safety in the area? Have some local agencies gone too far in becoming sources of revenue rather than being community policing departments? 6. HUMAN RESOURCES— Is the commu nity, through its governments and other civic insti tutions, harnessing all the local talent and human resources in the community? Those are just some of the broad areas that local community, political and civic leaders need to ad dress. Progress starts when a community is willing to ask itself tough questions and seek long-term solutions. The Braselton News A Publication of The Jackson Herald & Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc. Mike Buffington Editor & Co-Publisher mike @ mainstreetnews.com Scott Buffington Co-Publisher & Advertising Manager scott@mainstreenews.com Angela Gary Managing Editor angie @ mainstreetnews.com Kerri Testement News Editor kerri@mainstreetnews. com Jeremy Ginn Advertising jeremy @ mainstreetnews. com Web Site: braseltonnews.com Classified Advertising classifieds @ mainstreetnews.com PO Box 908, Jefferson, Ga. 30549 General Phone: 706-367-5233 BY ANGELA GARY I STARTED a recent Monday writing and editing as usual. I ended up in a wheelchair with a nurse racing me down the hallway, yelling “Code 2 chest pains.” I didn’t think I was having a heart attack but I decided to go to the emergency room because the pain was so bad. Since my blood pressure was high and the pain was so bad, they decided I needed immediate attention. Before I knew it, there I was in the wheelchair being pushed down the hallway. In just a few minutes, I was getting an IV in one arm, blood taken from the other hand and was given oxygen. I kept insisting that it wasn’t my heart, but I soon had an EKG and chest X-ray. While I didn’t go to the hospital thinking I was having a heart attack, I was beginning to wonder. Maybe I was... For several hours, I waited and waited. More time to think maybe I was having a heart attack. I got so tired of waiting I pulled the oxygen out. I tried to talk my mother into taking the IV out but she wasn’t too sure about that. Finally, I got the news. No heart attack. I must have looked disappointed because the doctor told me that it was good news. I didn’t want a heart attack but I didn’t want to return home with the mystery chest pains. When I was waiting for my prescription to be filled, I kept picturing myself being raced down the hallway in first a wheelchair and then a hospital bed. While I still didn’t know what was wrong with me, I couldn’t help but laugh. It was all a little sur real. A few weeks later, after more doctors and more tests, I finally got a diagnosis. I have stomach spasms and severe acid reflux. You would think that would make your stomach hurt instead of your chest. It’s always stressful when you don’t know what is wrong with you. My nephew, Jake, offered the best advice when I told him I was nervous about one of the tests I was going in for. “Angie, don’t be scared. God is right beside you.” I had to wait for my tears to dry up before I thanked him for reminding me of that. From laugh ter to tears, you never know what will come from a medical mystery. Angela Gary is managing editor of The Braselton News. She can be reached at AngieEditor@aol. com. Murphy had a mean streak THE OBITUARIES of longtime House Speaker Tom Murphy, who was buried in Haralson County last Saturday after his death from the lingering effects of a stroke, have all reported (and rightfully so) on the many positive things he accomplished for the state during his 29-year tenure as the most powerful man in the Legislature. These accounts of Murphy’s life have treaded lightly on a very important aspect of his character: he was a mean, tough-minded politician. The speaker never let anyone for get that he was a hot-headed, two-fisted Irishman who would fight at the drop of a hat with anyone who crossed him. It was that toughness - or meanness - that enabled him to hold together a Democratic majority in the House of Repre sentatives for so many years. Some of Murphy’s friends and supporters weren’t shy about mentioning that toughness as they gathered for the memorial service for “Mr. Speaker” at the capital last week. “He had a mean streak,” said lobbyist Mo Thrash, whose father was the House messenger for many years during Murphy’s record-breaking service as speaker. “He was a mean one. He kicked Democrats as much as he kicked Republicans.” Wayne Garner, a former state senator and corrections commissioner from Car rollton, remembered how Murphy’s legendary temper flared up during a confron tation with another capital veteran, Sen. Culver Kidd of Milledgeville. “I remember one time Culver came back from lunch and ran into the speaker getting off the elevator,” Garner recounted. “Mr. Murphy had that Stetson hat on and was wearing a red sport coat and was sick or something, because he had a big old red nose.” George Bagby, the diminutive state game and fish commissioner who was just an inch or two taller than five feet in height, was standing beside Murphy as the speaker came off the elevator, Garner recalled. “Culver said, The circus must be in town - here’s the clown and the midget,”’ Garner said. “Murphy got so mad he started cussing him out and they almost got into a fist-fight right there.” Murphy didn’t care very much for Republicans, or members of the state Sen ate, or newspaper reporters, and he didn’t hesitate to let any of them know it. It was ironic that his memorial service at the capital was administered by the Republicans who are now in control of state government and featured eulogies from GOP figures like current House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Gov. Sonny Perdue. “The old man would be spinning in his grave if he knew that Republicans were running his funeral,” said one of Murphy’s longtime friends. One of the amazing things about the capital service, in fact, was the presence of so many Republicans (and Democrats too) who fought against Murphy’s auto cratic style of leadership. Former GOP House member Steve Stancil, for example, who once introduced legislation to have Murphy censured, was in the capital watching the honor guard carry the speaker’s casket to the rotunda. Rep. DuBose Porter (D-Dublin), who launched a futile challenge against Murphy for the speakership in 1992, was there. So was former House member Ken Poston from northwest Georgia, who fought Murphy in the early 1990s on the issue of tougher ethical standards for legislators and lost. “I think you get to know a man better by facing him than by going around behind his back,” Poston said when asked why he was attending the funeral of his old antagonist. Former governor Zell Miller, who would certainly qualify as the bitterest of Murphy’s political enemies, was also at the memorial service. Miller not only opposed Murphy on important issues of government transparency - he was also a former state senator, a life form that Murphy considered to be as low as being a Republican. Miller sat in the first row of the House gallery with Perdue and former governor Carl Sanders to listen to the eulogies for Murphy. Former state senator Ron Fen nell asked Miller afterwards, “How did you like being up in the cheap seats?” Miller replied: “You know, I kind of like looking down on the House.” Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell) surmised that Murphy, even in death, got the last laugh on the state Senate that he insulted so much during his 42 years as a lawmaker. Powell noted that House members were allowed to pay their respects first as Murphy’s body was lying in state in the rotunda, while Senate members were forced to wait their turn in line. “He’s laughing his head off,” Powell said. “To the very end, he made the Sen ate stand in line at the back.” 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. Slow time of the season now upon us THE RUSH is no more. The flur ry of activity has been calmed. The stress has subsided. It’s that time after Christmas — when you can finally take a moment to enjoy the season. Or, at least whatever “season” Mother Nature throws at us this week — hot one day, cold the next and rainy a few days later. And I’m certainly not complaining about the rain. There is so much hype about Christmas that when Dec. 26 arrives we don’t know what to do with ourselves. As a kid, I remember getting so excited in anticipation of Christ mas. In the days leading up to Dec. 25, I usually searched the hiding places in our house for more gifts. My sister and I would get Santa’s milk and cookies ready before we went to bed on Christmas Eve. Heck, my sister and I would even sleep in the same room together waiting for St. Nick. And when 4 a.m. arrived — oh, that was so much fun. That was the hour when we could finally go downstairs to see our gifts. Need less to say, my parents weren’t as excited at that hour. But just a few days after open ing those gifts I remember some thing else — boredom. That feel ing of waiting through the holiday break until school starts again. That’s not to say that I didn't ap preciate the gifts, but the hype of Christmas apparently left me wanting for more. The period between Christmas and New Year’s can be a slow time. Most businesses are closed at least a couple of days during that time. Government services are postponed for the holidays. And, in general, things just seem slower. That’s why it’s a good reason to “declutter” the things in your house now, too. This is the one time of the year that I will actually clean our bonus room — or storage room — in our house. Throughout the year, the bonus room becomes the dumping ground of general stuff. I don’t care how clean your house is — every house has a “dumping ground” in it. Whether it’s the closet in the hallway, the guest bedroom or that space by the kitchen door — every house has a dumping ground. And when you start having kids, the dumping ground just seems to keep getting bigger — and hopeless for you to tackle. But, a new year is approaching and I may finally have some time to enjoy the “slowness” of the season. So. I’ll stay busy with this project. Kerri Testement is news editor of The Braselton News. Her e- mail address is kerri@mainstreet- news.com. Kerri Testement kerri@mainstreet- news.com