Newspaper Page Text
Page 19 JANUARY 9, 2010
Commentary
StarNews www.starnewsga.com
StarNews / StarNews Online
www.starnewsga.com
“Not just what happened, but what matters’
Susan m. horn
EDITOR/PUBLISHER
Sam gentry Susan l. j. duncan
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Looking at last year’s
contributions/negatives that
SUE will affect 2011
HORN
EDITOR/
PUBLISHER
When you get a chance, go to
www.stamewsga.com and read “2010 in
Review: Carroll County’s Top Stories.”
CliffsNotes (used to be called Cliff’s
Notes years past) like that help us see the big picture better. Thanks to
online editor Sam Gentry for that heavy workload of a story.
Money or lack of has been and will continue to be “the story.” Carroll
County taxpayers can sleep easier in some ways: the municipalities of the
county, county government, and the Carrollton City Schools system all
seem to have followed the simple mle of spend less, and our taxes will
reflect that wonderful frugality.
The county goverment became more modem in 2010 by streaming
meetings online on the comity’s website: www.carrollcountyga.com
The county school board, on the other hand, is in trouble - as will be the
taxpayers - because a majority of board members decided to spend money
that wasn’t there. Good luck to new superintendent Scott Cowart. His
work is cut out for him.
West Georgia Technical College had good news in 2010: it acquired a
building on Adamson Square for offices - and people who will spend
money - and it expected to move there by spring. Also, it entered into a
partnership with Southwire (one of Carroll County’s best community
supporters) to establish a center for manufacturing that will create an
educated and experienced future employees. Thank you, Southwire, for
your $1 million gift towards improving our future quality of living.
Carroll County Sheriff’s Office partnered with ICE (Immigration and
Customs Enforcement) to deal with illegal immigrants. Well, good luck
with that. At any time, the federal government could sweepingly change
the law and illegals may become legal voting citizens. Our crime rate
would drop, of course, if illegals were sent back. Not because that ethnic
group commits more crimes, of course not, but because it would simply be
less people.
Speaking of crime, a shooting and subsequent death occurred at the
home of District Commissioner Kevin Jackson, early Saturday morning,
Dec. 11, 2010. He was not home at the time of the shooting. One guest
shot another guest and then dumped the victim, who was still alive.
Michael Cullie Denney died a few days later. Zachary Sibley is charged
with involuntary manslaughter, possession of a firearm during the
commission of a crime and tampering with the evidence in the death of the
victim. I would like someone knowledgable to explain the “involuntary
part.”
Keep Carroll Beautiful, established five years ago, also improved
quality of life for Carroll County citizens by setting up a way to dispose of
flourescent bulbs in a safe way. The bulbs contain mercury. The toxic
effects of mercury include damage to the brain, kidney, and lungs. So, not
having that in trashcans, convenience centers and landfills is a big plus.
KCB is now located at 105 Folds Drive, Suite 3, Carrollton, 678-890-
2361, www.keepcarrollbeautiful.org
This will be an election year for four of Carroll’s seven mayors. The
cities of Bowdon, Villa Rica, Carrollton, Roopville and Mt. Zion will aU
hold elections on that issue, along with many council members.
And finally, 2010 was a good year for this newspaper. We revamped our
business strategy increasing to two local news product. We have the
traditional print newspaper StarNews, a monthly publication, and our daily
updated StarNews Online at www.stamewsga.com To subscribe, send $20
to RO. Box 680, Carrollton, Georgia 30112. ($30 for out of county
subscription, $10 for senior citizens.)
I ask for your vote once again
Quite a number of people
have asked me if I was going to,
run for another term as chair
man of the board of commis
sioners. To answer that ques
tion, yes, I am going to run for
another term, but that is two
years away. We have corrected
a lot of problems in Carroll
County and in the government
itself, but we haven’t, corrected
all of them. There are more
problems to solve
before I would feel
good about walking
away.
As I’ve told many of
you, this job as chair
man is not the best job
I’ve ever had. But, it is the most
important job that I’ve ever
held when I look at the prob
lems that we have faced and
Bill
CHAPPELL
CARROLL COUNTY
COMMISSION
CHAIRMAN
that we have confronted and
succeeded in overcoming.
When I was elected in 2007,
the county was $5.4 million in
When I was elected in
2007, the county was
$5.4 million in debt. We now
have a reserve of $9+ million.
debt. We now have a reserve of
$9+ million (almost up to what
is was when Horrie Duncan left
office). This year, we’ll increase
From the state house
The StarNews sent Senator
Hamrick a list of questions on
upcoming issues and the new
legislative year. He returned to
us this column:
The most important issue this
year as in other years is the state
budget, the one thing the legis
lature must do every year is
pass a balanced budget for the
state. The state budget affects
many other areas such as local
school systems and medicaid,
which both receive most of their
money from other sources. The
legislature has been committed'
to reducing the state budget for
the last several years and we are
now three billion dollars below
the budget of three years ago.
Projections are that we may
Bill
HAMRICK
STATE SENATOR
DISTRICT 30
need to reduce the budget by
another one billion this session.
There have been several bills
introduced, some of which
made it into law, to address the
downturn in the real estate mar
ket. The most important of
which may be Senate Bill 346
to reform the property tax sys
tem in Georgia. SB 346 requires
counties to provide more infor
mation to property owners
about their property taxes.
Change is still the terrorist
“From all that terror teaches,
from lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches that
comfort cruel men,
From sale and profanation of
honor and the sword,
From sleep and from
damnation, deliver us, Lord. ”
- A Hymn circa 1915
Change is the terrorist; not
Bin Laden, not Rand or Sarah
or the lunatic in Nevada, not
even Obama. We’ve been deal
ing with folks like them for
about 225 years. But if you
want to see someone pale, start
to stutter, look confused? - Tell
them you are going to rearrange
their clothes closet or the con
tents of the medicine cabinet in
their bathroom. Tell them there
is construction on the freeway
and they have to find a different
way to work every day - for the
next year.
The medical community has
been telling people they should
never again smoke tobacco or
eat anything fried. Ha! Change
Stuart
:
baffles people. They know what
you are proposing is in their
best interest, but they have been
doing it a certain way for so
long it’s just too much trouble
to do it differently, and no mat
ter how hard you try to explain
the benefits of the change....
“Well, maybe I’ll think about
it after the holidays - any holi
days.” Tell them they can’t text
while driving. Double ha! It’s
like trying to change The
Varsity or its peach pie.
“What’ll ya have! What’ll ya
have!” Not going to happen,
Kiddies.
Remember “New Coke?”
New what? Fuggedaboudit.
That change threatened to bring
down the entire Coca Cola
that reserve and will be close to
the 25% reserve (of the annual
budget) that the county needs to
have for continued stability.
The challenges that are ahead
of us are even tougher that what
we’ve been through. In the past
months, Tax Assessor Sandi
Ferguson and her very compe
tent employees have been reas
sessing property, and almost all
of it downward. The county is
facing a substantial
decrease in the tax digest,
meaning that county reve
nues from property taxes
will also decrease
substantially.
My grandfather, Hamp
Chappell, was the sole commis
sioner during part of the Great
Depression. He had the “priv-
See CHAPPELL page 21
Hopefully, property owners will
be better able to challenge the
value of their property if they
disagree with the county’s
assessment. In addition, coun
ties-must consider the current
real estate environment, which
will obviously result in lower
assessments. '
The Special Council on Tax
Reform will recommend a shift
from an income tax to
a consumption tax as a gradual
process. If legislation results
from this recommendation, it
will be a important issue this
session.
Spending cuts will continue
to be across the board, all agen
cies are affected. Education will
See HAMRICK page 21
Company. “Don’t you go
messin’ with my Coke!”
“Excuse me, sir, but that’s Root
Beer you’re drinking”. “Still
Coke!”
It’s so uncomfortable to
change anything. That new
bathrobe you got for Christmas
somehow just doesn’t feel as
comfy or smell as good as the
one you’ve been wearing since
high school. I’m sure you all
know how hard it is to move.
New neighbors, a new grocery .
store that just doesn’t stock its
shelves or arrange its aisles the
way your old warm and fuzzy
one did, and it takes a month
before you can find the Jell-O.
The school? Are you serious?
One day you dropped the kids
off at the post office; yours and
the neighbors.
See, the president promised
change. Move forward, he said.
We are tired of getting ripped
off by insurance companies,
Wall Street, oil companies, K &
See YAHMpage 21
