About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2023)
PAGE 7 A 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, FEBRUARY 15, 2023 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. We the unwashed get hosed again I am struggling to come up with just the right word to describe the trip two lame-duck politicians and their posse took to Europe this past November on your and my dime (aka, taxpayers.) Boondoggle, which is defined as “an activity that is waste ful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value,” is about the best I can do at the moment. But “arrogant” and “insensitive” wouldn’t be far behind. It seems that before leaving office, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who chose not to run for reelection, and Sen. Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, president pro tern of the state senate, who ran to replace Duncan and lost, decided they needed to go on a weeklong economic development trip to Germany and the United Kingdom as part of a special Senate Committee on Economic Development and International Relations. The committee, by the way, was created at the end of the 2022 legislative session under the watchful eye of—guess who? — outgo ing Sen. Miller. Knock me over with a feath er. The entourage included 14 people: Duncan, Miller and state Senators Sheikh Rahman, D-Lawrenceville; Emanuel Jones, D-Ellenwood; Sonya Halpem, D-Atlanta; and Clint Dixon, R-Buford, as well as the state senate’s PR guy and two members of Duncan’s security detail. (Why does Duncan need a security detail when most people in Georgia couldn’t tell you who the Lt. Governor is and likely nobody in Germany or Great Britain would know or care?) I am sure all the Brits and Germans they met were polite and accommodating but were no doubt aware that these two guys have zero power now. They couldn’t pass gas. Some of you may recall the Thanksgiving turkey of a trip the late Speaker David Ralston made in 2010 to Germany and the Netherlands with his family and his chief of staff and spouse, courtesy of a Washington- based lobbying firm to look at highspeed rail service between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Why you had to go to Europe over the Thanksgiving holiday to talk about running a train from Chattanooga to Atlanta was never explained to me satisfactorily. What I did understand was that boondoggle cost We the Unwashed $17,000. The more things change, the more they remain the same. A boondoggle is still a boondoggle. Only, in the case of this particu lar boondoogle, we don’t know what it cost us. That is because our intrepid public ser vants and their bureaucratic minions under the Gold Dome won’t tell us. The Atlanta newspaper found out about the trip and asked how much it had cost. Although the paper estimates the cost to tax payers to underwrite the boondoggle as being in the “tens of thousands of dollars,” the General Assembly’s legislative counsel, Rick Ruskell, told the paper to go suck an egg. “The Georgia General Assembly and its members, staffs, committees and offices are not subject to Georgia’s open records laws,” he wrote. So there. It seems that the people who pass our laws feel no need to abide by them. Legislators will tell you that conversations with constitu ents should remain private. I have no prob lem with that. But when a gaggle of politi cians and their PR flack and security detail bop off to Europe on a meaningless sightsee ing trip, you and I have every right to know how much it cost us. It is, after all, our tax dollars. There may be a light at the end of the tun nel. The Atlanta newspaper reports that in a rare moment of bipartisanship, current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Senate President Pro Tern John Kennedy, R-Macon, and Senate Minority Caucus Chairwoman Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, are wondering aloud themselves about the trip and say they plan to look into the matter as to why and how much. Lt. Gov. Jones and Sen. Kennedy issued a joint statement, saying, “We are taking this issue very seriously and our offices will investigate this process and ensure more transparency for hardworking Georgians.” Sen. Parent said, “There should be a level of transparency and accountability to the pub lic.” Talk is cheap (certainly cheaper than the boondoggle.) Let’s see what if anything comes of this. I’m sure former Lt. Gov. Duncan and former state Sen. Miller are los ing no sleep over it. They got their free trip in, thanks to us, and feel no obligation to tell us what their excursion cost taxpayers. The only thing we know for sure from this unwar ranted boondoggle is that once again We the Unwashed got hosed by our intrepid public servants. So, what’s new? 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 Cats, I am quite sure I will more than likely meet my demise by trying to pet something I shouldn’t. Dogs, cats, squirrels, birds, goats, ele phants. You name it, I want to make it my pet. Doesn’t matter what it is, they all are adorable to me. Some folks are more particular about what kind of animal company they pre fer to keep however. “I’m more of a dog person,” Mama has said repeatedly. Which is kind of shocking because Mama was crazy about her little cat. Bennie. Benetton, or Bennie as we called her, was the little five pound, fluffy black and white that Mama adored. I think the Crazy Redhead would have given that kittie her only working kidney if she had needed it. When I returned from my honeymoon with the Ex and went to see Mama at work, she turned to introduce me to a coworker, saying. “I want you to meet my precious baby.” The coworker looked stunned. “I thought Bennie was a cat? She’s human?” I promptly told Mama to get her arm off of me since she talked more about the cat then she did me. “Well.” she began. “Bennie didn’t get married and move four hours away, did she?” I don’t know if I am a dog person or an original Crazy Cat Lady — I tend to love them both, although depending on the circumstances, I will declare one is superior to the other. Like when Mia ate the remote. “Sexy Frank wouldn’t do that,” I state matter of factly. True. He wouldn’t. The mini-panther doesn’t seem to eat large chunks of plastic. “No,” Mama agreed. “But he will give you a black eye though.” Perhaps. Each species has their positives. Dogs are considered man’s best friend. They’re loyal. They live in the moment and they don’t hold grudges. They also bark at the most inoppor tune times. The house can be relatively quiet until I’m on a call or in a video meeting, and then you’d think the nefarious squirrel army was breaking in by the cacophony of barking that erupts. Cats, however, don’t bark. They judge. They definitely hold grudges. But they don’t bark. My grandfather loved dogs. In fact, when he had a milk delivery route, he was bitten by a dog and feared the owner would hurt the dog in retaliation. To make sure the dog wasn’t harmed, when the owner asked Pop how he could make up for the bite, my grandfather said, “Give me the dog.” So he got the dog. However, at 2 a.m. in the morning, when he was awakened by one of our dog’s barking at a leaf falling, he’d mut ter that our cat didn’t do that. “Is a cat going to protect us if some one’s breaking in?” Granny would mut ter back. “It could,” my grandfather would reply. “That’s the beauty of a cat. You don’t know what they’re capable of.” Granny didn’t really like cats. I’m not sure if she liked dogs. Heck, sometimes I wondered if she liked people. When it comes down to it, I think I’m just an animal person, like my uncle. When Bobby noticed Rhiannon. Bennie’s mother, was acting like she was still hungry after he fed them, he discovered a possum was eating her food. He followed the possum and found she had at least a dozen babies, so he started taking some leftovers and dry cat food to the edge of the woods for her. “I’d kill it.” Granny said, a statement that horrified me then and even now. Bobby shook his head slowly, the only time he’d defy his mother was if it con cerned an animal or me. “No, Mama. That’s one of God’s creatures too, and it’s hungry. I’m going to feed it. If I can’t help it, I’m surely not going to hurt it.” He fed the possum until she eventual ly didn’t show up any longer. We aren’t sure what happened, but Bobby decided as long as she came around with her babies, he was feeding them. I’ve done the same, feeding the little possums that show up at our barn. We have one or two — we’re not really sure how many — feral cats that hang out under there as well. “You don’t need to put food out there,” Lamar cautions me as I walk out the door with a bag of dry cat food. “You don’t know what you’re feeding.” No, I don’t. But whatever it is, I’m sure it’s hungry. “It might be a possum,” I tell him. “They are our friends. We should feed them.” “You’re probably feeding the rac coons and squirrels.” I don’t see the harm in that. “And those cats out there are probably keeping the rats and mice away. If you feed them, they may not do that.” Seeing as we had a mouse in the house recently, playing right under Sexy Frank’s nose, I wasn’t so sure the barn kitties were necessarily doing rodent patrol. Maybe I’m feeding the cats. Maybe it’s the possums, or even a few raucous raccoons. Whatever it is, it’s hungry and I have every intention of being kind to it and just maybe getting the opportunity to pet it. Sudie Crouch is an award winning humor columnist. dogs and critters SUDIE CROUCH Columnist DR. ANDERSON Stay mindful of world events, war in Ukraine By Dr. Larry Anderson Anderson Family Medicine At times, we seem to think that things go away if they are not front and center in the news. We need to be mindful of all things bad that are going on in our world. Turkey and Syria are having a horrible time with the earthquake and massive deaths, injuries and displaced persons. They desire our prayers and assistance. US Representative Rick McCormick met with some of us folks last Friday. My main concern is discussions with him was Ukraine. What are we doing and how are things going. He is on the Armed Forces Committee and will also be in Europe with a NATO conference and Ukraine is on the agenda. Not sure what will happen there. Ukraine has been at war with Russia for a year now. No one wants this to turn into a long drawn out war. We, US and other countries, need to give them whatever they need to bring this to closure and send the Russians home and stop doing stop gap measures. Here is a homework assignment for you. Google Michail Vershnin and Mariupol. He was the chief of police there when the Russians invaded the city. He was taken prisoner. Lost over 80 pounds. I have written about him before. He will be here Wednesday for a 3 week visit. If you get a chance to meet him, it will be worth your while. When in the steel mill fighting the Russians, he made a bracelet that I wear. The resolve of the Ukrainian people is very strong. They will sur vive and they will achieve their free dom. All that evil needs to succeed is for good people to do nothing. Do something. Be safe. Thanks for reading. Letter policy Letters should be limited to 350 words and may be edited or con densed.The same writer or group may only submit one letter per month for consideration. Letters must be submitted by noon Friday for midweek publication. We do not publish poetry or blanket letters and generally do not publish letters concerning consumer complaints. Unsigned or incorrectly identified letters will be withheld. Mail letters to the Dawson County News, RO. Box 1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534, hand deliv er to 30 Shoal Creek Road or email to editor@dawsonnews.com.
