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DawsonOpinion
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021
This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and
others. Signed columns and cartoons are the
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views.
Butlers good
deed is hard
to swallow
It is said that no
good deed goes unpun
ished. If you don’t
believe that, ask Mark
Butler, commissioner
of the beleaguered
Georgia Department of
Labor.
These have not been
easy times for Georgia DOL. Like most every
thing and everybody these days, the department
has been hammered by the pandemic, as have
those it is pledged to serve.
In the days before COVID-19, the Georgia
Department of Labor was processing some
5,000 new unemployment claims each week.
With the pandemic’s arrival came an unprece
dented spike in unemployment claims. More
than 624,000 people reported losing their jobs
in April 2020 alone — according to my abacus,
that is a bit more than a 1,200% increase —
putting major stress on the state’s unemploy
ment system and on those that administer it.
According to reports, the Georgia
Department of Labor has paid out over $22
billion in benefits and has processed nearly 4.9
million unemployment insurance claims, more
than in the previous nine years combined
before the pandemic. What’s more, it has had
to deal with thousands of frustrated citizens
who have been unable to get workers on the
phone or their emails answered. Many face
eviction or their cars repossessed. Some have
taken to pinning notes on the doors of local
Department of Labor offices begging for call
backs.
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute
published a report saying the DOL has only
half the staff it had in 2010 (2,219 to 1,066 in
2020). Despite an effort to hire staff and
induce the return of retirees, the department
has grown to only 1,087 currently. Several
hundred temporary workers were hired but
many left saying they couldn’t handle the
workload and the stress that goes with it.
This is where a good deed comes in that
proceeds to blow up like a cheap balloon. To
show his hard-working employees he appreci
ated their efforts, beginning in March 2020
Butler provided them free lunches daily for
more than a year and at a cost of over $1.1
million. The problem is that this good deed
was paid for by taxpayer-funded state and fed
eral money, much of which was earmarked for
unemployment benefits. Chew on that for a
moment.
A state audit obtained by The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution called Butler’s actions “a
violation of state purchasing rules.” In other
words, there is no such thing as a free lunch —
at least not on the taxpayer’s dime, no matter
how worthy the cause might seem to be.
Commissioner Butler defended his decision,
telling the AJC he received permission to pro
vide the free meals from Commissioner Alex
Atwood, head of the Department of
Administrative Services, which oversees state
spending. DOL says they were given permis
sion to treat the meals as “urgent” and free
from the state’s normal requisition process.
DOAS said the meals became “routine
planned events” exceeding what they thought
was a limited request.
“This isn’t something we did on our own
without asking,” Butler said. “I fully explained
to him the reasons why we were doing it — to
keep our people safe, to minimize bringing the
COVID-19 virus into our buildings and to
require all the individuals who work here to
work all through the day.”
Georgia Inspector General Scott McAfee, a
former federal prosecutor, clearly wasn’t swal
lowing that explanation. He classified the pro
gram as a waste of taxpayer money.
In a report to Gov. Brian Kemp, McAfee, a
former federal prosecutor, said the meals pur
chased at each of the department’s 41 state
wide offices showed “no distinction based on
the location of an office, or the role, age or
health condition of any particular employee.
“Notably, DOL never supported these
expenditures by claiming that they resulted in
increased productivity,” McAfee said. “By
offering to purchase meals, DOL removed any
incentive for individual employees to prepare
and pack their own meal, a practice that is
generally more cost-effective and efficient
when compared to retail purchases.”
Butler said, “I’ll stand up for our folks here.
I’m going to take care of them because they
were taking care of Georgia.” Well-meaning,
but likely falling on deaf ears of those
Georgians seeking help from his department
and feeling like they have not been taken
care of.
What Commissioner Mark Butler did not do
was ask himself what kind of message he was
sending to a pandemic-stressed public by giv
ing his staff free meals for a year with a mil
lion dollars of taxpayer money. This is one
good deed that could get him eaten alive in
next year’s elections. Just some food for
thought.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dickyar-
brough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA
31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb.
DICKYARBROUGH
Columnist
WWW.TOMSTIGLICH.COM
GABBY PETITO
and the estimated 1.3 million women
each year who are victims of
physical assault by an intimate partner.
Need help? Please call the
National Domestic Violence Hotline
at 1-800-799-7233
The not-so itsy bitsy spider
I don’t think anyone
could ever accuse me of
being a huge outdoor per
son. I love seeing nature
when I walk from the
cabin to the Jeep to go
somewhere, or even when
looking out the window.
Possums are one of my
favorite critters, deer are amazing,
and we even have a little spoiled
squirrel, Baby, that knows to tap on
the kitchen window to get some pea
nuts.
But I draw the line with spiders.
Not so much the orb weavers; those
are cool. Well, with the exception of
those new Joro spiders that seem to
be everywhere.
I typically leave spiders alone if
they are outside unless they are big
enough to catch a bird in their web,
and trust me, we have had a few; spi
ders that come in are usually caught
and released outside.
Lamar is usually the one who does
the catching or assassinating, depend
ing on the spider, so of course any
time there’s a nasty one, it seems to
always happen when he’s not home,
as was the case this recent Friday
night.
I was home alone, something I
never enjoy. Sexy Frank was demand
ing his dinner and I had walked in the
mudroom to get his food. As I started
out the door, I paused, seeing some
thing in front of the trashcan in the
kitchen.
Was it a fur tumbleweed? Having
three dogs and a cat can mean a con
stant battle with fur that we never win
no matter how many times we sweep
and vacuum. It’s easy to mistake them
for an arachnid as I’ve done dozens of
times.
It took a second for my eyes to
adjust to determine it was a spider,
and one that was not only big
but looked pretty aggressive.
I panicked. It was right
where it could maybe charge
at me if I tried to leave the
mudroom, and if I went to
the right, I’d have my back
to it, leaving me vulnerable.
I found the dustpan and
somehow thought I could throw it on
top of it. Unfortunately, I am not the
best thrower of anything, regardless
of distance. The dustpan bounced
beside it and instead of being scared,
the thing puffed itself up, making it
twice its size and it was already the
size of a lemon.
Sexy Frank sat to the left, looking
perturbed. I was late with his dinner.
I grabbed the broom and slapped
the head of it on the spider. With a
grimace, I lifted it, thinking there
would be a squash stain but instead,
the spider ran towards the comer of
the cabinets.
I ran out, looking for the Raid. I
couldn’t look under the sink because I
wasn’t sure how close the spider was.
I was too nervous to go to another
room for hairspray and a lighter to
torch it.
I also didn’t want to give it the
opportunity to get away and not be
able to find it. We have had a history
of revenge seeking rats and this spider
looked capable of inflicting some
serious harm.
Thankfully, I had left my phone on
the kitchen island so I could use the
flashlight to peer under the cabinets. I
feared it had gone into the cabinets to
hide in wait for me one unsuspecting
morning when I may be reaching for
a pan or bowl.
But there it was, crouched up in the
back comer in a defensive position. I
swiped the corner with the broom,
and it darted out, looking even bigger
SUDIE CROUCH
Columnist
than it was before.
It was so large and menacing,
Doodle screamed.
When a pitbull-mix is scared of a
spider, you know it’s bad. Not like
Doodle is ferocious; she’s scared of
her shadow, but she never screams at
it.
The spider squared off and turned
towards me, as if it was preparing to
charge - and it did.
Doodle screamed louder. Sexy
Frank, only a couple of feet away,
could have interceded and pounced
on it, but he refused. He seems to for
get I’m the one who feeds him when
I’m in peril.
Punk wasn’t interested in rounding
up a spider; maybe it’s because they
have eight eyes and she doesn’t know
which pair to make eye contact with.
I was essentially on my own. And I
was not going to be taken out by
some nasty spider the size of my
hand.
I grabbed the broom in a panic even
though it had not been an effective
weapon before.
As it charged towards me, I
screamed a blood curdling scream,
and brought the broom down on it
swiftly and hard.
Doodle let out another scream.
I whacked it again. And again.
Slowly, I lifted the broom to find it
cmmpled. Placing a paper towel on
top of it, I jumped on it again, making
sure it was done for.
I was shaking. Doodle was shak
ing.
The feline wanted his food. Punk
was just glad the drama was over so
she could sleep.
From now on, those fur tumble
weeds are gonna get the same treat
ment, just in case.
Sudie Crouch is an award winning humor
columnist and author of the recently
e-published novel, "The Dahlman Files: A
Tony Dahlman Paranormal Mystery."
Don't fall for diversion tactics, get the vaccine so COVID doesn't win
Dr. Larry Anderson
Anderson Family Medicine
Mom always said if you
cannot say anything nice
then do not say anything at
all. I will start by saying
something nice and then
presume I can say anything
at all. The nice thing is we
have started the reporting
season for the 2021-22
Influenza season and after
the first week we have no
cases, which also means
no hospitalizations and,
thank God, no deaths.
What a great way to get
into the Fall season.
Now for the rest of the
story. Covid cases are still
dropping but we are still
not at the fourth wave bot
tom yet. Those in the
20-60 year old age groups
need to step up the pace
and get vaccinated.
Remember: it is always a
dangerous time when the
enemy is retreating
because it could be a feint.
I saw a page out of the
OSS manual (ask Gary if
you need more info) about
how to sabotage a compa
ny, a goal or just about
anything. This is how it
applies to Covid-19 vacci
nation. The reason for tak
ing the vaccine is twofold:
one, you do not get the
virus, do not get sick, do
not get hospitalized, do not
get the ICU and do not die.
Two, you do not give the
virus to a loved one, a par
ent, a child, a relative, a
friend a girl/boyfriend or
anyone else so they do not
go through the above lita
ny. Here is where the OSS
comes in: Diversion. Let’s
talk about our constitution
al right to not wear a mask,
this vaccine did not have
years and years of testing
and trials, you cannot
make me take the vaccine,
my body and my choice,
and the chants go on and
on. I dislike it when people
feel righteous about doing
the wrong thing. None of
this addresses preventing
you from getting the virus
or giving it to someone
else. Diversion. Covid
wins.
I need to keep a prom
ise. If you must have a
t-shirt with a Covid 19
bullseye on the back to
make it easier for the
Covid 19 to find you, then
call my office. No, I am
not selling them, but will
put you in contact with
the designer. Get the vac
cine. Wear your mask.
Thanks for reading.