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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 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
Of Winder traffic,
the presidential race
and saying farewell
Some final thoughts from my reporter’s
notebook as fall finally arrives:
• It seems every road you take in Winder has
some sort of construction going on.
No one will argue that construction and upkeep
of roads are necessary over time. However, when
your road system can no longer handle the traffic
volume, then any type of construction creates
an even bigger mess than what drivers through
Winder deal with on a daily basis.
And it seems in recent weeks, the number
of times our friend the train comes to a com
plete stop, blocking numerous intersections in
the process, has increased
greatly. This sends drivers
scrambling down any avail
able side road which was
never designed for heavy
traffic. Throw in the red
light system which is not
adequate and you have the
perfect storm for a gridlock
in Winder.
The fact that the problem
has been ignored for years,
decades even, is also a big
part of the problem. It’s
only going to get worse,
folks. Cosmetic improve
ments on certain roads is not going to help. While
sidewalks look nice, they do nothing in terms of
the traffic chaos.
We are nearing a day when it will be impossible
to travel in the Winder area.
Finally, here’s hoping the construction on
McNeal Road will be finished soon. Several busi
nesses continue to try and hang on while access
to their locations is blocked. At times, it certainly
doesn’t pay to be a business owner in Winder.
•It’s been amusing watching the reaction to
many political uptights about the presidential
election this year. There are so many who still
can’t figure out how in the world Donald Trump
became the Republican nominee. The reason is
simple, actually.
Trump, from the moment his campaign began,
tapped into a vein of dissatisfaction among most
honest, hard-working Americans who had been
ignored by the GOP for years. It’s ironic when
you consider Trump’s wealth, that it actually took
a multi-billionnaire to connect with the working
people of this country.
From the beginning of his campaign more than
a year ago, Trump was ignored and said to be
nothing but a joke with no chance of winning a
single primary, let alone the GOP nomination.
Trump went against the usual presidential cam
paign playbook and his supporters remained
loyal despite any so-called scandal his detractors
cooked up or even outright fabricated. It’s gotten
so laughable now that even those who claim to
be conservative are saying the world will end of
Trump is elected president, all the while ignoring
what will happen to the working man’s wallet
should Hillary Clinton take office.
For someone who has been overtaxed and has
been for years, I would much rather have some
one with Trump’s business sense than Hillary
Clinton any day. Maybe Trump has had some
indiscretions in his personal life.
Quite frankly, I don’t care. His detractors don’t
seem to care about what Bill Clinton did as pres
ident all the while having Hillary attack those
whom he victimized. If none of that matters with
the Clintons, then none of Trump’s personal
issues should matter either.
In terms of the outcome, it’s probably still a coin
toss. A handful of states (Ohio, Florida, North
Carolina, etc.) will be the deciding factor. Trump
will win Georgia, although it will probably be by 5-7
percentage points, certainly competitive.
It should be noted (again) that the presidential
debates would have been better had Libertarian
Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein
been allowed to participate.
I’ll admit many Americans don’t like the choice
of Hillary or Trump so why not at least offer them
the opportunity to see alternatives. Johnson will
be on the ballot in all 50 states and Stein will be
on the ballot in more than 40 states, making it
possible for both of them to win the presidency.
Competition is good in all ways and the more can
didates we have a chance to hear from, the better.
•This column marks my farewell as editor to
the Barrow News-Journal. I have sat in the editor’s
chair since our first edition in 2008. This paper has
accomplished a great deal in that time, thanks to
the work of everyone involved.
However, the time has come for me to pursue
a new opportunity which presented itself out of
the blue. I am eager to begin a new chapter in my
professional life, but it will admittedly be a little
strange no longer being in the newspaper busi
ness, as that is all 1 have ever known.
I’ll miss the local people I’ve dealt with, from
mayors to city council members to board of com
missioners to board of education representatives
to all the local coaches.
I expand more on my departure in my sports
column this week. Until we meet again, 1 thank you
for reading and ask you to continue supporting
this publication and those who work here. They
are all quality people whom 1 have been honored
to know. I’ll miss each one of them.
Winder resident Chris Bridges is editor of the
Barrow News-Journal. You can reach him at
cbridges@barrowjournal. com.
chris
bridges
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Christmas may come
early this year
Christmas traditionally is celebrated
on Dec. 25 for most Georgians.
This year, one of our wealthiest cor
porate citizens may be celebrating that
holiday a little earlier.
That’s because the executives and
shareholders of the Georgia
Power Co. are in line to receive
a Christmas gift worth more
than a billion dollars when the
members of the Public Service
Commission convene their reg
ular meeting on Oct. 19.
Here’s how:
Georgia Power is currently
building two nuclear reactors
to go with the two units already
in operation at Plant Vogtle near
Waynesboro.
When the PSC approved the
nuclear project in 2009, Georgia
Power said it would cost $6.1
billion to pay for its share of the con
struction and projected that the first
unit would be generating electricity by
2016 - in other words, right now.
Over the intervening seven years,
however, Georgia Power has run up
more than $1.7 billion in cost overruns
while building the units. The nuclear
plant that was supposed to be provid
ing power by now isn’t even close - the
project is currently 39 months behind
schedule and could slip even farther
behind.
Normally, when a business screws up
this badly on a major project, it suffers
some financial consequences. That’s
as it should be - no one should be
rewarded for fouling up like this.
In fact, that’s what happened when
Georgia Power built the first two nucle
ar units at Plant Vogtle in the 1980s and
ran up even bigger cost overruns.
After holding numerous hearings, the
PSC disallowed $1.1 billion in proj
ect spending and prohibited Georgia
Power from passing along the costs to
its customers.
That probably won’t happen now.
The current members of the PSC
ordered their staff to work up a settle
ment with Georgia Power’s attorneys in
which the utility would likely pay only a
token fee — perhaps $40 million or $50
million — for the Vogtle overruns.
Georgia Power in turn would be
allowed to pass along the entire $1.7
billion in cost overruns to its customers
in the form of higher electricity bills.
The company would get off virtually
scot-free for its horrendously bungled
project. The PSC scheduled a vote on
this settlement to take place on Oct. 19,
at a time when people would be paying
more attention to a presidential race
than to an obscure regulatory proceed
ing. The commissioners are expected
to vote for the settlement drafted by
their staff with little or no public input.
“The Vogtle project is so bad that it
cannot be defended in public, and the
commission and the company must
resort to secret negotiations to work
out how the commissioners can max
imize recovery for Georgia Power and
yet not look so bad themselves,” said
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
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the Editor” in the subject line. Please
include the city of the writer.
Jim Clarkson, an energy consultant
who’s been observing commission
activities for many years.
The driving force behind this gener
ous Christmas gift for Georgia Power
is Commissioner Stan Wise. That’s
not surprising — back
in 2012, Wise provided
the key vote to allow
Georgia Power to
charge off $3.2 million
in disputed expens
es just two days after
receiving $10,000 in
campaign contributions
from the law firm that
represents the utility in
rate cases.
Georgia consumers
should be very con
cerned about this PSC
generosity, even those
who are not Georgia Power customers.
The utility giant owns 45.7 percent of
the Vogtle project, but the rest is owned
by Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power,
and the City of Dalton. Their customers
are also going to suffer from the cost
overruns.
In an ideal world, the PSC would at
least hold some public hearings and
submit Georgia Power’s executives to
cross-examination before approving a
sweetheart deal like this one.
PSC Chairman Chuck Eaton says that
will happen.
“It could go in a number of different
directions, but I don’t see any scenario
where there aren’t hearings,” Eaton
said.
Eaton is only one vote among five
commissioners, however. It wouldn’t
be difficult for Wise to cobble together
a majority who would approve the
giveaway to Georgia Power without
hearings — a Christmas gift that would
come right out of your pocket every
time you pay your power bill.
The PSC members are Eaton, Wise,
Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, Doug
Everett, and Tim Echols. If you want
to protect yourself from skyrocketing
power bills, you might want to contact
them soon.
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.BarrowJoumal.com
Mike Buffington
Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington
Co-Publisher
Chris Bridges
Editor
Jessica Brown
Photographer
Susan Treadwell
Advertising
Sharon Hoaan
Office & Reoorter
Also covering beats are Alex Pace and Scott Thompson
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tom
crawford
jessica
brown
23 things I’ve
learned in
23 years
Jenna Marbles, a wildly popular YouTuber,
has made several videos where she talks
about lessons she’s learned in her life. The
number of lessons corresponds with her
age, and 1 couldn’t help but think that looked
really fun. We’ve all learned valuable life
lessons as we grow older, so I thought I’d try
my hand at giving solid
advice I’ve picked up
along the way.
1. Making a swing out
of a bungee cord is a
very bad idea. Nothing
good can come of it,
unless immense pain
and failure are your ulti
mate goals.
2. Buying air fresh
eners is a good invest
ment. In one of my col
lege classes, the room
gets overwhelming
odorous and 1 saved
the day by picking up a couple of Glade plug
ins. You never know when you might need
an emergency air freshener to dissipate the
stench of marijuana.
3. Don’t mention the fact that you’ve never
read any of the “Harry Potter” books to a
room full of English majors. They will look at
you like you ate their first born son. The look
of absolute horror and disgust I received still
haunts me.
4. Never date someone who reminds you of
any role played by Jack Nicholson. Seriously,
none of his roles seem like the husband
material you want...unless being chased
through a hedge maze by an axe-wielding
madman is your type.
5. If you have a car accident where you fly
off of the road into a cow pasture, police will
ask you if it was because you were texting and
driving. Though that wasn’t the case at all,
don’t hysterically throw your phone toward
the officer.
6. School officials don’t like it when you
come to school with your throat slit open.
It doesn’t matter that it’s Halloween. Don’t
dress up like a dead person with a slit throat
and scare ninth graders in the hall. It’s hysteri
cal, but the makeup will fade and look terrible
by the end of the day. Also, the whole angry
school officials thing.
7. In third grade, this boy and 1 really liked
each other until we got in the worst argument
I’ve ever had. We went our separate ways after
our horrible falling out. I learned a valuable
lesson in standing my ground though. The
original Spiderman film is better than Star
Wars Episode II: The Clone Wars. No amount
of love could change my mind. Anyone who
disagrees on this point has no purpose in
my life.
8. I use Gremlins as the basis for my
Walmart rules because 1 refuse to go after
midnight. Like the Gremlins, you won’t like
Walmart after midnight.
9. The formula to find the slope of a line
is y = mx + b. I have no idea when I will ever
use this valuable piece of information again,
but I am so glad I learned this instead of how
to do taxes.
10. By your mid-twenties when a woman
announces she’s pregnant, “on purpose?!” is
not the right response.
11. Being an adult means eating a family
size of Doritos with a bottle of wine is dinner.
Is it the wisest idea? You can be the judge of
that.
12. Dolphins will bite your fingers.
13. So will geese.
14. Always drink your vitamin C so you
don’t get scurvy and die a slow and agonizing
death.
15. There is never a wrong time to listen to
Billy Idol.
16. If you go to a convention and meet a
celebrity you’ve never seen before, don’t tell
them you don’t know them but you like their
glasses. Just tell them you like their glasses.
17. It doesn’t count as running away if you
run from your bedroom and hide behind a
chair in the living room for 30 minutes.
18. Jason Voorhees was doing us all a great
public service by killing off the dumbest of
society. Of course, this can be applied to
almost any horror film icon of your choosing.
19. When your fifth grade teacher at a pri
vate Christian elementary school tells you to
write about your hero, you probably shouldn’t
say the Terminator. While other kids were
saying Jesus or their dad, there’s little ole me
writing about Arnold blowing up half of L.A.
20. Tomato is a fruit so pizza is essentially
a fruit salad.
21. A puppy is practically a baby except
cuter and they don’t cry as much.
22. Invest in a good concealer to cover up
life’s exhaustion because let’s face it, you’ll
never get enough sleep no matter how hard
you try.
23. The mitochondria is the powerhouse
of the cell.
Winder resident Jessica Brown is the staff
photographer for the Barrow News-Journal.
You can reach her at picsbyjessical@gmail.
com.