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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 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
Things I’d like to
see the new
president do
Many times by September every four years, we
have a pretty good idea who will win the next
presidential election.
Presidential races have swings to them where
one candidate surges and then cools off fol
lowed by the same swing by the other leading
candidate. Such has been the case in 2016 since
the parties officially selected their candidates.
However, this year is different in that it is real
ly hard to determine who is going to win. We
realize it will be either Hillary Clinton or Donald
Trump. As a Libertarian, I don’t mean to dis
count Gary Johnson, but a
third party or independent
candidate in this country
faces such an uphill bat
tle that we would likely
learn the moon is made of
cheese before someone
outside the Democrats
or Republicans is elected
president.
It’s really a coin toss
at this point and time
between Clinton and
Trump. It’s hard to predict
the outcome because both
are so vilified in many circles. Clinton represents
the devil to those in the conservative movement
while Trump is genuinely hated by those on the
left and even many in the Republican Party.
Regardless of who ultimately wins — and in
some ways it’s still hard to believe that one of
them is going to be the next president — there
are many issues facing our country that need
to be addressed. If I had the power to influence
either one of them, here is a “Wish List” I would
present to either President Hillary or President
Donald J.:
•Eliminate the income tax: Hard-working
Americans are grossly overtaxed. It happens
at the local, state and national level. By ending
the income tax, it will give more Americans the
chance to take home more of the money they
rightfully earn. Go to a national sales tax where
consumers pay taxes only on the goods they
buy. This will help keep the economy healthy
since people will actually have more money to
spend. By keeping more of one’s paycheck, it
will also make it easier for people to get out of or
stay out of debt. Common sense.
•Quit being the policeman of the world: It
is not the United States’ responsibility to solve
every problem around the world. Some coun
tries have been at war for decades or centuries.
Our intervention is not going to help or stop that.
We cannot afford to continue giving billions in
foreign aid either. Keep that money at home.
• Do something about the care for veterans: As
stated before in this space, all veterans should
receive free health care for life. Personally it’s
the one thing I would not mind paying taxes
for. Veterans are grossly neglected in terms of
mental and physical care and it continues to
show up in the number of suicides among these
brave men and women. Fix the issues dealing
with our veterans. Quit talking about it. Fix the
problem. Fix it now.
• Make a push to bring back manufacturing:
The loss of these jobs, mostly to overseas sweat
shops, has been a major disaster for our econ
omy. In many states, manufacturing jobs were
the livelihood for families for generations. Most
of those jobs are gone. Give tax breaks for new
manufacturing plants to open. This will allow
them to pay their workers a good salary where
they are able to support their families.
• Quit putting people in jail who commit vic
timless crimes: It amazes me when I read how
many people in Barrow County are arrested
each week. While some are certainly serious
crimes, there are some where arrests really
aren’t necessary. It’s time to legalize all use of
marijuana and eliminate the crime element to
it. It should not be a crime to decide what one
does with his or her body. As long as you are
willing to accept the consequence, it should be
no concern of the government or law enforce
ment. It may not be wise to do a lot of things,
but that does not mean the government needs
to step in using the power of arrest and loss of
private property.
• Be honest with the American people: Don’t
always be in cover-up mode. You would be sur
prised at how far honesty can go with people. If
something doesn’t go as planned, say so. When
was the last time any level-headed American
really believed what our government was tell
ing us, regardless of which party the official
belonged to? Honest has become a long, lost
policy it seems.
• Represent all Americans: Don’t simply think
you are there to represent those who voted for
us. We are one country. The president should
do what’s in the best interest of everyone, not
the Republican or Democratic parties. Wouldn’t
it be great to have a president elected without a
party affiliation one day?
Winder resident Chris Bridges is editor of the
Barrow News-Journal. You can reach him at
cbridges@barrowjournal. com.
At least we’re not
in North Carolina
If you want to see how badly politi
cians can mess up a state, look no far
ther than our neighbor North Carolina.
On March 23, the North Carolina
legislature met in special session to
pass the now-infamous HB 2, a bill
that restricted transgender peo
ple to using only government
and school bathrooms that cor
responded to the sex listed on
their birth certificate. The bill
also killed an anti-discrimination
ordinance passed by Charlotte
to protect the civil rights of gays.
Gov. Pat McCrory signed the
“bathroom bill” into law a little
more than 11 hours after the
special session had convened.
A week earlier on March 16,
Georgia legislators had passed a
similar law, HB 757, that was not
quite as far-reaching as North Carolina’s
new law but could have legalized dis
crimination against gays in the cause of
“religious freedom.”
Unlike his counterpart in North
Carolina, Gov. Nathan Deal waited
until a few days after the Legislature
adjourned and then, much to every
one’s surprise, vetoed HB 757.
“As I have examined the protections
this bill seeks to provide to religious
organizations and people of faith I can
find no examples that any of the things
this bill seeks to protect us against have
ever occurred in Georgia,” Deal noted
in his veto message.
Deal was crucified by religious con
servatives for not signing the bill, with
one of his critics decrying that the
governor “chose Mammon over God.”
Several months later, however, it
appears that the Georgia governor took
much the wiser course than the North
Carolina governor on this issue.
Since Deal vetoed the bill, no major
movie productions have been can
celled in Georgia, and such corpo
rations as Honeywell, Voestalpine,
Global Payments, Adidas, Voxpro, and
Keysight Technologies have announced
they will either move here or expand
existing operations in the state.
Things haven’t gone quite so well in
the Tarheel State, which has been pay
ing a steep price for passing a law that
is seen as discriminatory to the LGBT
community.
Music acts like Bruce Springsteen
and Pearl Jam cancelled concerts
scheduled for North Carolina. The
German financial giant Deutsche Bank
said it was halting an expansion of
its North Carolina offices that would
have employed 250 people, and PayPal
abandoned plans for a 400-employee
operation center in Charlotte.
The NBA cancelled plans to hold its
2017 all-star game in Charlotte and will
move the game elsewhere.
The NCAA struck the biggest blow
last week by saying it will withdraw
seven athletic championship events
scheduled for North Carolina, including
men’s basketball tournament games,
because of HB 2. That’s the ultimate
heresy for a state where college basket-
Write a Letter to the Editor:
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ball is worshipped.
Georgia Tech President G. P. “Bud”
Peterson, who is the chairman of the
NCAA’s board of governors, explained
that the organization will not endorse
a state that discriminates against a por
tion of its citizenry.
“This decision is con
sistent with the NCAA’s
long-standing core val
ues of inclusion, stu
dent-athlete well-being,
and creating a culture of
fairness,” Peterson said.
One day after the
NCAA bombshell,
the Atlantic Coast
Conference (ACC) said
it was also moving its
championship com
petitions out of North
Carolina for the 2016-17 season in
response to the passage of HB 2.
North Carolina politicians who were
so eager to pass HB 2 last March are
now reeling from the financial and polit
ical impact of their actions. McCrory, a
Republican who is running for another
term as governor, has been trailing his
Democratic opponent, Roy Cooper, in
the polls.
“I did not realize the consequences
of this bill, that it would have worldwide
consequences, and they just keep piling
up,” said state Sen. Tamara Barringer, !
one of the lawmakers who voted for HB
2. She’s now calling for the “substantial
and immediate” repeal of the law.
While North Carolina legislators try to
cope with the results of the actions they
took so hastily, Georgia lawmakers who
introduced the religious freedom bill
say they will try to pass another version
of the measure next year.
Our neighbors to the north have
shown that ideological purity comes
with a high price tag. Are Georgia’s pol
iticians really willing to wreck the state’s
economy to please some religious con
servatives?
It could all come down to Deal again
and his willingness to use his veto pen.
Tom Crawford is editor of The
Georgia Report, an internet news ser
vice at gareport.com that reports on
state government and politics. He can
be reached at tcrawford@gareport.
com.
The Barrow News-Journal
Winder, Barrow County, Ga.
www. Barrow Journal. com
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher
Chris Bridges Editor
Jessica Brown Photographer
Susan Treadwell Advertising
Sharon Hogan Office & Reporter
Also covering beats are Alex Pace and Scott Thompson
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Strong little dog
Everyone pretty much knows by now
that I love dogs. I’m much more inclined
to go talk to a dog than I am a person.
Dogs are just better than people a lot of
times. They don’t act with malice. Plus
they can be more understanding than a
human ever could.
As I’ve mentioned before, my parents’
seven month old puppy Ruger makes
me smile every day.
His sweet little face
and his stubby little
tail wag so hard it
would make anyone
smile. He’s a happy
go-lucky pup who
loves to cuddle on
the sofa and go for
walks.
He is also going
blind.
Ruger’s had a
rough start in life. He
spent two weeks with a family before my
parents adopted him. It turned out they
were allergic to him. He spent most of
his time in a kennel so they decided to
find him a loving home.
At the time we couldn’t fathom what
issues Ruger had because everything
appeared normal. The first vet visit went
well, and nothing out of the ordinary was
spotted. The next time, the vet noticed
some issues with his eyes. A couple vis
its to UGA later and Ruger had a laundry
list of congenital eye issues. From holes
in his lenses to growing cataracts, we
were told that it wasn’t a matter of “if” he
goes blind but “when.”
From that visit, he’s now developed a
skin condition we are still trying to solve.
He scratches himself raw and is still
recovering from his hair loss. His eye
sight has gotten worse, and we fear for
the news we’ll receive later this month
at UGA.
Besides his health concerns, he’s a
happy little guy who doesn’t let his
health get in the way of his fun. He likes
going for Jeep rides to Sonic or Dairy
Queen for ice cream or sitting in the cart
while shopping in Bass Pro Shops. He
plays fetch in the living room and practi
cally drags us around the neighborhood
during our walks.
The only thing that really affects his
spirits is the lack of animal friends he
has. Our two cats want nothing to do
with him. He tries to get them to play, but
they just swat and hiss. You can see the
hurt in his eyes. My boyfriend’s elderly
dog came to play with him twice and
that didn’t go over well. She, too, wanted
nothing to do with him. Then two or
three more dogs came to the house to
play and they wouldn’t play with him.
This feels so much like Rudolph, the red-
nose reindeer to me.
He’s got so many health issues and
medicines to take, and that doesn’t faze
him. All he wants is a nonhuman friend
who will accept him.
And then he met Nugget.
Our neighbor across the street told us
his daughter and her dog were moving
back to Georgia and that they should get
together with Ruger. Last week we made
the play date happen, and Nugget proved
to be the friend Ruger needed.
He grinned from ear to ear as he
chased her around the yard. They shared
slices of watermelon and wrestled each
other to the ground. You could see in his
face that he was so over the moon with
excitement that he made a new friend.
Of course, his bad eyesight caused
some problems. Nugget ran too fast
for Ruger and he lost sight of her. He
looked around everywhere trying to find
her, but she was gone. Suddenly Nugget
went running back to him and nudged
him, letting him know she was there. He
smiled and chased after her.
What was so amazing in that moment
was that Nugget seemed to sense her
new companion was having trouble, and
she came back for him. It’s almost like
she knew that he has limitations. Instead
of wandering off, she came back to help
him. He felt included which is something
he was lacking with other dogs.
We are all so thankful for Nugget for
bonding with Ruger and becoming his
friend. It taught us all a lesson in uncon
ditional love and friendship.
Winder resident Jessica Brown is
the staff photographer for the Barrow
News-Journal. You can reach her at
picsbyjessica 1 @gmail. com.