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Send a letter to the editor to P.O. Box 1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534; fax (706) 265-3276; or email to editor@dawsonnews.com.
DawsonOpinion
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 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.
2 great minds
assess impact of
bad parenting
Great minds run
in pairs. I read an
interesting opinion
piece in the
Atlanta newspa
pers recently about
parenting. The
author, Beth
Collums, has a
master’s degree in clinical psychology and
experience as a child and family therapist.
She is also a parent.
Collums states something we all know but
tend to forget: Children are impressionable.
They mimic their parent’s behavior. If they
see momma or daddy screaming at a school
board meeting, how are the kids going to act
when something doesn’t go their way?
Boorish behavior begats boorish behavior.
Which brings me to the second great mind
on this particular subject — Carla, who runs
the Yarbrough household and all within it.
Carla, too, is a parent. Her youngest is turn
ing 16 and is both academically and athleti
cally gifted. At this young age, she has
already decided to become a lawyer and
later a judge. Big dreams at 16, but why not?
Carla is not quite as introspective on the
subject of bad parenting as is Collums. Her
bottom line is to hold the adults personally
accountable for the bad behavior of the
child. If some kid disrupts school for what
ever reason, find the adult responsible and
toss their deniere in jail. They are the cause
of that behavior.
No question she feels strongly about this.
Carla is a Mama Bear about her daughter’s
education and is the reason the young lady is
excelling. She has witnessed apathetic and
absentee adults who don’t give a rip about
their child’s behavior impacting her own
child’s efforts to team and then want to
blame everybody but themselves.
My son-in-law, who was once named
Georgia’s Teacher of the Year, retired after
31 years in the public school system. He said
it was easy to identify the students most like
ly to succeed in the classroom. Their parents
were involved in their child’s education and
trusted the teacher to do his or her job.
My brother and I were raised by parents
who grew up in rural Georgia when educa
tion was not valued. Neither made it past the
7th grade. That was not going to happen to
their boys, both of whom they saw graduate
from college.
Most important, they backed my teachers
even when I tried eloquently to rationalize
one of my dumb-as-a-rock decisions to
them. To my parents, the teacher was usually
right, I was usually wrong and as much as I
hate to admit it, that was usually the case.
Collums rightly points out that teachers
are on the front line, trying to make a posi
tive difference. She says they need our
respect and support and that teachers don’t
go into the profession to get rich but
“because they want to sow good into the
world.” As the father, grandfather and father-
in-law of dedicated public schoolteachers, I
say “amen.”
Fast forward to today’s cacophonous
world. Many children reside in an atmo
sphere where parents loudly denigrate those
who have a different point of view from their
own. They show disrespect to educators, yell
at schoolboard meetings and blithely ignore
the fact they are turning their impressionable
offspring into clones of their own worse
side.
Collums cites a survey by the America
Psychological Association that says 42% of
bullying, threats, online harassment and slurs
directed at school administrators come from
parents. And they expect their children to
behave?
She says if civil discourse and calm asser
tion aren’t exhibited at home, it is no sur
prise that those kinds of tensions will carry
over into the schoolhouse. That manifests
itself into an environment where teachers,
who already have a boatload of problems not
of their own making, have an even more dif
ficult time teaching and trying to get stu
dents to learn.
In short, Collums, the child and family
therapist, says parents need to behave them
selves, become positive role models for their
children and support the educators who are
trying their best to educate the next genera
tion. To which Carla, who runs the
Yarbrough household and all within it, says
if they refuse to do that, when their kids
threaten, bully or harass at school, park their
fannies in the pokey until they decide to take
responsibility. One complex subject. Two
great minds.
While we are on the subject of education,
in my paean to the Vidalia onion last week I
stated that Vidalia was the county seat of
Toombs County. Actually, it is Lyons. Give
me a “D” for attention to detail and an “A”
for humbly admitting my mistake. Just don’t
tell Carla.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dick-
yarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,
GA 31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb.
DR. ANDERSON
We should continue staying as safe as
we can even as COVID numbers fall
Dr. Larry Anderson
Anderson Family Medicine
In medicine, the only time flat lin
ing is good is when you look at a
graph charting infection rates. We
seem to be doing that with COVID-19
in our county. All our surrounding
counties are still having little hick-ups
but are getting there. We should con
tinue staying as safe as we can. Not
the time to be taking chances.
Avian Influenza is alive and well.
Already 28 million chickens and tur
keys have been culled. This virus is
found in over 30 migratory birds and
the number is rising. The problem
with migratory birds is they can
spread the virus over many states as
they migrate. The virus has been
found in crows, pelicans and bald
eagles. Still a potential threat to our
agribusiness.
Ukraine is not getting better. What
better way to instill terror in a popula
tion that is trying to evacuate then to
bomb/explode/fire upon on the gather
ing point: like a train station, bus
depot, etc. When will enough be
enough?
Keep calling your senator and repre
sentative and the President. Whenever
we have people doing a mass exodus,
health problems (TB) always show in
our offices. When Hong Kong reverted
to Chinese rule, those immigrants
brought some TB with them. I diag
nosed several cases in Snellville dur
ing that time. Those from the Ukraine
are screened for HIV and TB.
Europe and other areas use a vac
cine called Bacilli Calmetta-Guerin
(BCG) to help prevent TB. It works,
but like all vaccines, is not 100%. The
TB in that area of the world is usually
multi-drug resistant.
This means we will have to careful
ly screen those immigrants for these
diseases and then treat what we find.
That will not be a problem, so we
should welcome those who want to
come here.
Be Safe. It is still a biological jungle
out there. Thanks for reading.
LETTERTOTHE EDITOR
Celebrate our Earth
The month of April is Earth Month.
Cities, states, businesses, non-profits,
and individuals are planning elabo
rate and sometimes simple celebra
tions around the world!! We live in a
beautiful world filled with beautiful
oceans and rivers, mountains and val
ley, beaches and lakes, and deserts
and jungles. The earth is inhabited by
billions of living organisms. Over 6.5
Billion people call it home, billions
of animal, fish and insects thrive
here, and an amazing array of plants
from flowers and forests, to ocean
kelp and tidal marshes grace our
planet.
But humans must take care of the
planet to make sure all these living
things continue to grow and thrive.
Unfortunately, humans have not been
paying close attention to what is hap
pening to our world. We have been
warming slowly over the past 200
years since the beginning of the
industrial revolution. This warming
has caused our climate to begin to
change. In some areas, like here in
North Georgia it has been very grad
ual and almost unnoticeable. But in
some areas severe drought has caused
places that used to be producers of
fruits and vegetables to turn to des
erts. Other areas have had so much
rain it is constantly flooded and so
farms have had to close. Some coast
al areas have begun to flood so badly
whole islands are being destroyed
and the inhabitants are having to find
new places to live. Stronger and more
frequent storms are causing cities,
states, and countries to spend much
more money rebuilding what has
been destroyed by more tornadoes,
stronger hurricanes, more frequent
floods, and higher winds.
It is happening, it is bad, it is
humans’ fault, but we can do some
thing about it if we act now! It is esti
mated by the International Panel on
Climate Change that we only have 8
years to stop the rise in the earths
temperature from going above 1.5
degrees centigrade. This much heat
ing of the planet will make it difficult
to stop the changes. Already, our ice
packs to the north and south, the
Arctic and Antarctic are melting and
depositing large chunks of ice in our
rising oceans. We need these conti
nents to keep our planet cool.
Come to the North Georgia
Conservation Coalitions Earth Day
Program on April 23 at the Bowen
Art Center on Hwy. 9 in Dawsonville
to learn what YOU can do to help
save our planet. See our school chil
dren’s posters which tell why they are
concerned. See our Electric Vehicle
Car show to learn how cutting pollu
tion through changing to now afford
able electric powered cars can help.
Talk to
businesses, government officials
and non-profit organizations to learn
what you can do at home and in your
personal life to help stave off this cri
sis. Bring the children for crafts and
face painting, bid of auction items,
and buy Earth Friendly fun items to
help the cause!
A great day can be had by all to
help save the planet!
Virginia Matteson, NGCC
Dawsonville
Stop Dekalbifying
Dawson County
Since when does a restaurant, bou
tique, or high-density complex charg
ing astronomical rent do anything for
residents’ standard of living? Central
planners lay urban jungle, but can’t
attract, let alone create living wage
jobs. Property values might trend up,
but wait until decay and blight take
hold. Who benefits? Short term,
developers flocking here like vultures
from across the country but leave us
footing long-term bills. Long term,
government benefits. Not over-loaded
people working it. Just its leaders.
We pay SPLOST. Consumption
taxes hit the working poor hardest —
those least likely to vote. You’d think
after 35 years the “special purpose”
might have been met. We bought the
lie that this 7th extension wasn’t a
“new tax” but its defeat would have
left $60Million in our pockets. We
believed without proof we’re soaking
out-of-towners, forgetting we pay the
full load. Governments used to float
bonds which minimized improve
ments. Politicians hate bonds; they
cost votes and force them to pay
investors interest. Better for them to
saddle everyone with a mandatory
encumbrance while taking money to
spend as they please. Then remind us
we voted for it!
SPLOSTs don’t replace property
taxes, they guarantee them. SPLOST
covers capital projects — one’s we’re
told are essential — based on some
body’s guesstimate. Who knows the
final tally. Property tax must cover
what SPLOST can’t: operations like
salaries, equipment and training, and
inevitable maintenance. When the
government defocused protecting
individual citizen rights it became a
business. Their tax-and-spend spiral
only accelerates, becoming too big to
fail. As landlords, they set what ten
ants pay. Turning timber into tinder-
boxes can net them $2 Million on 500
acres every year. It’s a wealth tax: the
more you have on paper, the more
you pay. Until you can’t. Then you
sell or get evicted.
Residents demand more services
than taxes pay. Law, fire, EMS, and
teachers can’t keep up. We’re adding
roads from now on. Officials have
refused to stop approving every
developer proposal in isolation before
addressing cumulative impacts of
those already approved. Will they
stop before the Etowah, water treat
ment, electric power and landfill run
out?
Why do you live in Dawson?
Convenience of another doctor’s
office, hotel or theater? People don’t
herd up SR-400 to see buildings.
They, like us, come to escape metro
Atlanta! If you’re happy with the sta
tus quo, do nothing. If you value your
money and your lifestyle, if not your
freedom, stop the Dekalbification of
Dawson!
Bruce Duncil
Dawsonville
