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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 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
Thankful for
special grandparents
Columnist’s Note: This was a column I origi
nally wrote for another MainStreet Newspaper
publication in December 2005 that I wanted
to share with readers of The Barrow News-
Journal. Only a few slight edits have been
made.
While we are still almost two months away
from Thanksgiving, my mind has been looking
ahead to that date in recent days.
For me, I’ve always associated that day on
the calendar with my grandparents. I know
Thanksgiving is not officially known as
“Grandparents’ Appreciation Day,” but, for me,
the connect will always be there.
Through the years, I’ve
written several “Thankful”
columns and many times
I have stated the fact I was
blessed to grow up with
all four grandparents as
part of my life. Every child
should be as fortunate.
Some of my earliest
childhood memories go
back to my grandparents
and the positive influence
each had on me. I didn’t
lose a grandparent until
1 was 18. It’s something
many of my friends weren’t as fortunate to have.
My maternal grandparents — always known
to me as Pop and Nanny — lived just a couple
of miles away. Being such a short distance
between us, it wasn’t uncommon for over
night stays at their house. I still vividly remem
ber watching that 80s classic “The Dukes of
Hazzard” at their house on Friday nights. When
8 o’clock on Friday night rolled around, it was
time to venture to Hazzard County.
I also remember Thanksgiving and Christmas
dinners at Pop and Nanny’s house. It was some
thing I treasured then and still remember fondly.
Pop and Nanny never met a stranger. They
welcomed anyone into their home. Pop was
long involved in Boy Scouts and he helped
inspire many by his hard-working, honest exam
ple.
They raised more children than their own
and there was always a place for you under
their roof.
My paternal grandparents — known as Papa
Lee and Mama Bridges — lived a little further
away, but they didn’t live so far far off that fre
quent visits were out of the question. Holiday
memories are tied to them as well.
1 also remember the times spending a week
during the summer at their farm. It was a time of
a 100 percent carefree life for a child who even
at such a young age realized how special those
moments and times were.
Papa Lee was a farmer by trade. He could
work magic with anything you might grow from
the land. I’ve never known anyone to grow
watermelons and sweet potatoes better than
he did.
Mama Bridges was the definition of being
dedicated to one’s family. I remember one day
she started talking about birthdays for family
members. She was able to rattle off birthdays
of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren,
brothers, sisters and anyone even closely relat
ed to the family. There’s no denying what family
meant to her.
We said goodbye to my last living grandpar
ent in 2003. The loss came after an extended
decline in health for my maternal grandmother
and it was sad in more ways than you can
imagine. Knowing a part of my life — the part
in which my grandparents were a part of — was
over, was, and is, hard to accept.
1 know life goes on. I know death is a part
of life. Yet, I can’t help but think back to those
times when Pop, Nanny, Papa Lee and Mama
Bridges were part of mine. Many times after a
long, tiring day at work 1 collapse in my recliner
or on my couch and think about those times. I
hope my work habits and life make them proud.
They set such a high standard with their lives,
that many times I find it hard to follow what they
accomplished.
Down deep though, 1 realize each would be
proud of what I have accomplished. I do my
best to honor them each day, each week and
each year. And I trust they all know how much
they meant to me, then and now.
• • •
What a great turnout from the community and
what a great football game (and great weather)
we enjoyed last Friday as Winder-Barrow High
School and Apalachee High School went toe-
to-toe in region play. From the pre-game events,
which saw WBHS principal A1 Darby kiss a goat,
to the bands to the cheerleaders to the fans, it
was a great night for our local schools and local
teams, who both gave their all in an attempt for
victory.
See this week’s sports section for complete
coverage of the contest and a look ahead for
both the Wildcats and Bulldoggs as they contin
ue in their quest to qualify for the postseason.
Winder resident Chris Bridges is editor of the
Barrow News-Journal. You can reach him at
cbridges@barrowjournal. com.
chris
bridges
Taking a closer look at
constitutional amendments
In recent columns, we have discussed
two of the four constitutional amend
ments that voters will see on their ballots
Nov. 8.
Amendment 1, as it is numbered on
the ballot, would authorize the cre
ation of an “Opportunity School
District,” Gov. Nathan Deal’s pro
posal for the state to take over
the operation of under-perform
ing schools.
Nearly three dozen local school
boards have passed resolutions
opposing this amendment. The
state Board of Education, whose
members are all appointed by
the governor, supports passage.
Amendment 3 would dis
solve the Judicial Qualifications
Commission, the agency that
investigates misconduct by judg
es, and replace it with a commis
sion controlled by the legislature.
Misbehaving judges would love to see
this amendment approved, because it
would enable them to use their influence
with lawmakers to escape punishment.
Those who believe bad judges should
be weeded out oppose the amendment.
Two other constitutional amendments
are also on the ballot, so let’s take a look
at them.
Amendment 2, authored by state Sen.
Renee Unterman (R-Buford), would cre
ate a “Safe Harbor for Exploited Children
Fund” that would collect state funds and
use them to pay for housing, counseling,
and medical treatment of young people
who are exploited by sexual traffickers.
The money would come from two
sources: a $2,500 fine levied upon those
convicted of sexual exploitation crimes
and an annual fee from topless night
clubs and other adult businesses that
amounts to $5,000 or 1 percent of their
yearly revenues, whichever is greater.
“Our children need to be harbored
and sheltered,” said Unterman, who
introduced the legislation last year.
“People aren’t selling drugs anymore,
they’re selling people, they’re selling
humanity. We’ve got a war on human
ity.”
“The fact that Georgia and particu
larly Atlanta is recognized throughout
the country as a region where a child
is likely to be exploited is a shame
and a disgrace,” said Sen. Butch Miller
(R-Gainesville) during debate on the
measure.
Critics of Unterman’s proposal argue
that it’s not equal treatment to force
nightclub owners who haven’t broken
any laws to pay for crimes committed
by other people. The legislation does
not impose fines on other venues that
are used by sex traffickers, such as mas
sage parlors, internet websites, hotels,
or truck stops.
“This bill is wrong and, quite honest
ly, it is dishonest,” Rep. David Stover
(R-Newnan) said before joining other
Libertarian-minded legislators to vote
against the measure.
Amendment 4 would require that the
excise taxes collected on the sale of
fireworks be spent only for trauma care,
fire services, and local public safety pur
poses in Georgia.
Write a Letter to the Editor:
Let us know your thoughts: Send
Letters to Editor, The Barrow
News-Journal, 77 E. May Street,
Winder, Ga. 30680. Letters can also
be emailed to cbridges@barrowjour-
nal.com. Please put “Letter to the Edi
tor” in the subject line. Please include
the city of the writer.
The tax revenues would be dedicated
strictly to these uses and could not be
diverted to other programs when legisla
tors are writing the budget.
If Amendment 4 is approved by the
voters in November, the excise tax
revenues would be
divided this way: 55
percent to the Georgia
Trauma Care Network
Commission, 40 percent
to the Georgia Firefighter
Standards and Training
Council for the training
of firefighters, and 5 per
cent to local govern
ments for public safety
purposes.
“There are no new
taxes in this bill,”
said Sen. Jeff Mullis
(R-Chickamauga), who
sponsored the legislation. “It’s simply
an allocation of where the existing taxes
go.”
Of all the amendments on the ballot,
Amendment 4 may be the one that’s the
most worthy of passage.
One of Georgia’s biggest healthcare
shortcomings is the lack of medical
facilities that can provide trauma care
for seriously injured people.
South Georgia especially is lacking in
trauma care centers that could provide
urgently needed treatment for people
who are mangled in car crashes or shot
in hunting accidents. The Interstate 75
corridor from Macon to the Florida
border has been called the “Corridor
of Death” because there aren’t enough
conveniently located trauma care facili
ties to serve the population.
There was a similar constitution
al amendment on the 2010 ballot that
would have generated about $80 million
a year for the state’s trauma care net
work through the addition of a $10 fee
on license tag renewals.
Although there was support for this
badly needed amendment, it wasn’t
quite enough — the ballot question lost
by a 53-47 percent margin.
Voters have another chance with
Amendment 4 to raise some badly need
ed funds for trauma care if they should
vote to pass it.
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.
The Barrow News-Journal
Winder. Barrow County. Ga.
www.BarrowJoumal.com
Mike Buffington
Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington
Co-Publisher
Chris Bridges
Editor
Jessica Brown
Photographer
Susan Treadwell
Advertising
Sharon Hoaan
Office & Recorder
Also covering beats are Alex Pace and Scott Thompson
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mike
buffington
OSD proposal
should be rejected
There are four proposed Georgia
Constitutional Amendments on the
upcoming November ballot. All four
deserve to be defeated, but only one is
getting a lot of attention.
The proposal to create Opportunity
School Districts has
been hugely contro
versial across the
state. Many local
school boards have
adopted resolutions
opposing the amend
ment, including
boards in Barrow
and Jackson coun
ties.
That has irked
Gov. Nathan Deal
who is the godfather
of the proposed OSD plan.
On the surface, the idea behind this
looks reasonable. Nobody wants failing
schools in the state. We all want our
children to have access to a decent edu
cation.
The problem with the proposal is in
the details.
The proposal would allow the gover
nor to take over a “failing” school and
appoint a school czar to run it. That
person would only report to the gover
nor and would have total power over the
school, including the physical building,
the employees and finances. The local
school board would have no say in the
school once the state has taken it over.
There are some problems with that
plan:
•The state gets to define what a “fail
ing school” is. That could change over
time in a way that would allow the state
to take over any local school it wants to.
•There is no transparency or account
ability in the proposal. The governor’s
appointee would have total control with
no checks-and-balances from any local
board or state board. In effect, the state
would appoint a school dictator who
only answers to one person, the gover
nor.
•Most of the schools that would be
subject to a state takeover are in poor,
urban areas. Most are predominantly
in minority communities. A state take
over of a school won’t change the bro
ken nature of those communities. Many
of those communities suffer from drug
abuse, high crime, poverty and broken
homes. Those are the real problems.
Taking over a local school won’t change
the shattered community environment
that surrounds them.
•This is the same state that has for
over a decade underfunded local school
districts and shifted the cost of education
more and more away from the state and
onto the backs of local property taxpay
ers. If the state can’t fully fund local
schools based on its own funding formu
la, then what gives it the moral authority
to take over any local school?
All of those are problems, but there’s
more going on here than meets the eye.
The real game behind this is to crack the
door open for the state to begin privatiz
ing public schools.
Under this proposal, the state could
take over a school, then pay a private
company to come in and run it. The local
school czar would have total authority to
hire that company without any oversight
(can you say “conflict of interest?”)
This is a backdoor way the state is
attempting to create private charter schools
without actually saying it.
That’s the real idea behind this proposed
legislation.
By targeting only “failing” schools, the
state hopes to get this amendment adopted.
But once adopted, the state could expand
its definition of “failing” to include more
schools and therefore, expand its vision
of more private charter schools in the state
funded by tax dollars.
If privatizing the state’s worst schools
would improve education, most people
would support the idea.
But private companies would confront
the same problem that exists today — bro
ken communities where education isn’t a
priority.
Georgia does have some bad schools, but
those schools only reflect the communities
that surround them.
Nobody can fix that problem except the
people who live in those communities.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of the
Barrow News-Journal and Mainstreet
Newspapers, Inc. He can be reached at
mike @ mainstreetnews. com.