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Page 14 APRIL 3, 2011
Commentary
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“Not just what happenedbut what matters’
Susan m. horn
EDITOR/PUBLISHER
Sam gentry Susan l.j. duncan
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EDITOR/
PUBLISHER
Carroll County Tea Party talks
out of both sides of its
collective mouth
What’s that expression - makes you
want to either laugh or cry?
The Carroll County Tea Party made
some excellent points in their argument
against passing the recent E-SPLOST. Copied directly from their mass
email they circulated prior to the vote is the following: “This vote [NO] is
about letting the Carroll County Board of Education know that we want
them to stop borrowing money we don’t have to pay off debts we shouldn’t
have.... ”
The Carroll County Tea Party took the Carroll County Board of
Education to task for mismanaging the penny tax income and putting
county taxpayers deep in debt by going ahead on buildings and more with
no money in the bank to pay for it. It’s irresponsible to buy stuff you can’t
afford and then expect others to pay for it. Excellent philosophy, Carroll
County Tea Party - too bad you don’t follow your own belief.
Another email was sent out March 15th after the election in which
EPLOST was (strongly) approved. This email was circulated March 24th
by past district commission candidate Jim Watters representing the Carroll
County Tea Party. Copied directly from his email is the following: “On the
finance side, we [Carroll County Tea Party] spent $4,200 and raised only
$550 which was kinda disappointing. The "Friends of Education ” had
much better financial support than we had. . . If you could help us recover
some of our costs, I’d personally appreciate it... ”
On March 6th the following email was sent out by the local tea party:
“Regarding the VOTE NO campaign, you may have noticed our half page
ad in last Thursday’s Times Georgian. These are not cheap! We
have purchased more ads that will run over the next week as well as an
online ad at www.carrolltongeorgia.com and radio spots. In doing so, we
have iincurred (sic) significant costs with the marketing firm that
produced our ads, email blast and brochure... ”
So, they bought $4,200 worth of stuff with only $550 in the bank to pay
for it. This is the “Do as we say not as we do” policy. You have to either
laugh or cry. 1 strongly urge Carroll County voters to think twice about
voting for any candidate who is tied to the Carroll County Tea Party. We
have enough politicians who talk out of both sides of their mouth.
CHAPPELL from upper right
on the Chattahoochee. Part of the
state bureaucracy requires us to
spend a whole lot of money doing
engineering work before we can
shovel one bit of dirt. Folks who
have to deal with this bureaucracy
quickly come to realize that we
have way too much government.
Bureaucrats are self perpetuating
and seem to multiply faster than
rabbits. Their mles multiply even
faster than their population growth.
We’ve been working to improve
the convenience centers. The latest
is a new building at the Temple
convenience center, getting rid of
the porta-potty and the ratty shelter
that was there. So far, we’ve fixed
Lowell, Tyus, Efighway 16,
Bowdon, Bowdon Junction, and,
now, Temple. The next is Dyer
Road which will begin shortly.
Charles Pope and his crews at pub
lic works have a project to deal
with and then work begins on Dyer
Road.
For the citizens who use the Dyer
Road facility, I will forewarn you
that, for a short time, it will be an
“inconvenient” convenience center.
We are going to have to move the
recycling bins out to do the con
struction. We are trying to find a
nearby location for the recycling
bins. I do realize that there is a
chance that the citizens who recycle
may be inconvenienced by have to
take the recyclables to another cen
ter. We are trying to avoid that,
however.
Three-fourths of the justice center steel is up
There is a lot going on in
county government in Carroll
County. I’ll give you an update
on a lot of it. First, I want to tell
you about a state mandated
event that will happen before
long.
Last year, the state legislature
passed legislation that requires
all counties in the state of
Georgia to send out tax assess
ment notices on every single
parcel of land in each county.
The state didn’t differentiate
between parcels that had been
reassessed downward, upward,
or not reassessed at all. They
clumsily passed a bill that
requires extra expense on every
county in Georgia. The legisla
tors parade around under the
mantle of being conservative,
but that action, and many
actions like it, only raises the
cost of government. That means
the taxpayers have to cover the
cost.
I’m all in favor of notifying'
property owners whose assess
ments have been increased, and
I don’t have any problem noti
fying property owners whose
property assessments have
declined. But I do draw the line
at notifying the vast majority of
property owners that their
assessments are the same. I’m
one of those. I will not like it
when I get my notice that my
assessment has not changed,
because I will think of the state
legislature wasting mine and
your tax dollars requiring every
county in the state of Georgia to
go through such a futile exer
cise and waste of money.
Sometimes, I get more than a
Bill
CHAPPELL
CARROLL COUNTY
COMMISSION
CHAIRMAN
little frustrated with the boys
and girls we (the entire state)
send to the legislature. I do
exclude our representatives,
Tim Bearden and Kevin Cooke.
Tim is very open and receptive
to communicating with me and
other county officials. Kevin is
brand new on the job, but I do
expect him to follow Tim’s lead
in future years.
But there is no shortage of
posturing, preening, pontificat
ing public officials in the state
legislature. They dream up stuff
that is of no value and ram it
down on folks like us. They
refuse to look hard at the state’s
problems and numbly accept
bureaucracies that exist and
grow with no benefit to citizens.
Okay, that’s enough ranting.
I’ll move on to more positive
things (which is at the county
government level where the
mbber meets the road!).
The new judicial center has
three-fourths of the steel super
structure up. The final fourth of
the steel was delivered this past
week. The superstructure will
be completed within a few
weeks. Lynn Joyner, of J&R
Construction, told me that 850
tons of steel are going in the
building. Lynn told me that he
would head straight for this
building if and when a tornado
or hurricane showed up. I asked
him about earthquakes - he
laughed and said he would head
there for that, too.
The judicial center is a big
building, comparable in size to
the Douglas County courthouse
and Coweta County courthouse.
Our building is going to be a
very substantial building, one
that will last a long time. As an
aside, the hard cost of our court
house is $16.9 million (or less).
Coweta and Douglas spent
about $50 million each on then-
buildings. Needless to say, I like
what we’re doing!
The roundabout on Highway
16 at Olympic Drive is finally
close to starting. We had a lot of
trouble and delay with getting
utilities moved. As of April 1
(weather permitting), the last
lines (cable TV) will be
rerouted and allow construction
to proceed. Once construction
on the roundabout starts, the
intersection at Highway 16 and
Olympic Drive will be much
slower to negotiate. If you rou
tinely travel that route, I would
start thinking about alternative
routes. There are several, Think
ahead on this one.
We have made a lot of pro
gress at developing the Little
Tallapoosa passive park over
the last few months. The board
of commissioners awarded a
grading contract at our last
meeting which should speed up
development. Our goal is to
have this park open to the pub
lic by this fall or early winter.
We’ve got the necessary
engineering work underway for
starting on Moore’s Bridge Park
See CHAPPELL lower left
A plus for Obama and is Congress relevant?
Let’s give the anointed one
credit for his “on the job” per
formance. He is making Jimmy
Carter, arguably the worst presi
dent in my lifetime, look like
George Washington and Abe
Lincoln wrapped up in one
package.
President Obama cannot be
this inept. It seem to me that
either he is deliberately trying
to degrade this country as he
does not believe in our “capita
list system” and really wants to
“redistribute your wealth” or he
is so lacking in decisive leader
ship skills as compared to other
world leaders as to be a danger
to our society.
The Socialist-Democrats had
both houses of Congress AND
the Executive branch for TWO
YEARS and the country does
not have an approved operating
budget, but we do have
“Obamacare”.
The current cry-baby Speaker
has sent TWO short-term “co
ntinuing Resolutions” forward
* C. ED
Thoughts
While Shaving
An Angry
Old Guy
to authorize funding for the
Federal Government. Where is
the Political Leadership?
IMPOSE DISCIPLINE!
The president appointed VP
Joe Biden to interact with
Congress to complete the cur
rent budget negotiations and
then immediately sent the VP
out of the county for five days.
Is this ineptness or contempt?
The president dithered, “what
to do”, for two weeks while the
French and British took the lead
in Libya. News reports indicate
that Obama acted ONLY after
the French president told him to
lead, follow or stay out of the
way - the French led while
Obama devoted his time to bas
ketball picks, golf and a busi
ness (sightseeing?) trip, accom
panied by spouse and both chil
dren, to South America. Leader
or hustling community organ
izer? And while he imposed a
drilling moratorium in the Gulf,
he tells Brazil to “drill baby
drill” we will buy your oil.
By the end of June, monies
for “QE2” will be pretty much
spent buying our short term
treasuries (to fund our deficit
spending with fiat money, the
Fed has essentially become the
“buyer of last resort”). So how
do we pay our bills then? China
and India are replacing dollar
reserves with gold. Why else is
gold over $1400 per ounce?
Japan must convert existing
dollar and treasury holdings to
repair the damage done in their
country. We are broke and just
printing money that must inflate
the cost of all goods and serv
ices and devalue the savings of
all pmdent people. This is obvi
ously deliberate policy.
See WILSON page 29
