Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, February 22,2023
FAYETTE VIEWS
A4 Fayette County News
Well-being of Children is
Priority for Fayette County
I t is easier to build strong children than to repair
broken men.” -Frederick Douglass, abolitionist and
statesman
Many people move to our county because it has great
schools. It’s a wonderful place to raise a family. But we can
not take that situation for granted. As a community, we
must work to make it even better.
I have recently become much more involved with Fay
ette FACTOR (Fayette Alliance Connecting Together Our
Resources, Inc.), a locally based non-profit group ded
icated to improving the lives of county residents. The exact
mission reads, “FACTOR convenes community stake
holders to assess and strategically
improve the health and well-being of
local residents,” (http://www.fay-
ettefactor.org/initiatives.html).
Fayette FACTOR networks and
coordinates with Georgia Family
Connection Partnership
(https://gafcp.org), a statewide or
ganization which “empower(s) our
communities to craft local solutions
based on local decisions.” In other
words, both groups bring together
social, civic, and political leaders to discuss problems and
derive optimum solutions.”
On Jan. 23, Georgia Family Connection Partnership
made a presentation to our Fayette County community at
a luncheon event sponsored by Fayette Factor. It was di
rected towards issues surrounding our youth. Among the
laudable goals detailed are to decrease substance abuse by
our youth.
As many of you know, Fayette is not a typical Georgia
county. Our income level is significantly higher, over 50
percent more than the average Georgia county. And whites
make up a larger proportion of our population (61 percent)
versus other counties (52 percent). And our five percent
poverty rate is about one-third of the state rate of 14 per
cent.
On most measures of health and education we do very
well, with a few surprising exceptions. We have a higher
low birth rate than Georgia. Plus, we have more of our
youth dropping out of school before completing high
school. Also, the percent of babies born to mothers who
never completed high school is dropping statewide... but
escalating in Fayette County.
Another very surprising exception is that for the most
recent year available (2018), we had more non-violent
crime (33/1,000 residents) than the Georgia average
(28/1,000 residents). Not only that, but our county’s non
violent crime increased by about a third between 2014 and
2018.
Fayette FACTOR is heavily involved with our com
munity. Among their initiatives are actions to lessen drug
and alcohol abuse and to encourage limiting tobacco use
to outside areas.
The bottom line is that we must all get more involved
in local community action agencies such as Fayette FAC
TOR, which is trying to build a better community for all of
us.
JACK BERNARD
A Walk to Remember
olf,” according to Mark Twain, “is a good walk
spoiled.”
Then again, Mark Twain never had the chance
to play golf on Pebble Beach Golf Links. Twain passed
away in 1910, almost a decade before the course had its
grand opening in 1919.
Playing Pebble Beach, carved into the landscape
along the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, is on the
bucket list of almost every golfer I have ever known, in
cluding me. I’ve been fascinated with the course ever
since I saw Jack Nicklaus’ ball hit the flagstick on the par
three 17th hole in the final round of
the 1972 U.S. Open on his way to
winning the tournament.
Incidentally, that shot left him
with a tap-in birdie after hitting a
one-iron directly into a gale-force
wind blowing off the Pacific Ocean.
How good was the shot? Well, ask
any golfer and they’ll tell you: Even
God can’t hit a one-iron.
However, my personal dream
of playing golf at Pebble Beach died
when I gave up the game several years ago. For all in
tents and purposes, I put it entirely out of my mind.
However, that was never the case for Marshall, a
good friend of mine. On the day after the final round of
the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - incidentally, Justin
Rose won - Marshall had the opportunity to play the
same course that Nicklaus himself once said was the one
he would play if he had “just one round of golf left to
play.”
Make no mistake: playing golf at Pebble Beach is
going to cost you a pretty penny. Technically, it takes al
most 60,000 of them, but that’s not the point. The point
is that if Pebble Beach is on your bucket list, then ex
pense should not be an issue. If you don’t believe me, ask
any golfer and they’ll back me up on that (just don’t ask
my Uncle Mike; he’s been known to pinch a penny or
two).
Here’s where the story gets better, at least from my
point of view: Marshall invited me to walk the course
with him while he played (to make the story even better,
it didn’t cost me a single penny; Uncle Mike would have
been so proud of me). To show my appreciation, I of
fered to caddy for him. Fortunately, he accepted.
So, for 18 holes, I toted Marshall’s clubs (OK, so they
See Ludwig, A7
SCOTT LUDWIG
Gangs in Our Backyard
O ne of the more disturbing
trends that has worsened dur
ing my time as a prosecutor is
gang member recruitment of young
children. Gangs now target children
as young as 10 years old. We often
see this begin in juvenile court.
As the focus of juvenile court is
on rehabilita-
tion and redi-
r e c t i o n ,
^ incarceration is
. A the exception,
" ' M rather than the
rule. Con-
F ’ JBjpl sequently,
young children
DA Marie Broder seeking ap
proval from
gang members
are encouraged to commit crimes
(entering unlocked automobiles,
etc.), because they face less serious
consequences than an adult commit
ting the same crime.
The proceeds from these crimes
either go towards enriching older
gang members or improving the
status of the child with the gang. As
you might imagine, the severity of
the crimes only escalate - and they
often culminate in violence.
A common violent crime com
mitted by gangs is armed robbery. As
its name implies, armed robbery is a
crime where a person intends to
commit theft and takes someone’s
property by using a weapon (or
something that appears to be a
weapon).
Our offices tend to take a harsh
stand against armed robberies, as
the difference between the loss of
someone’s possessions and the loss
of their life is a trigger pull away. Our
office saw that awful result, yet
again, in the murder of a young
father and devoted fiance, Jeffery
Ryan Deluca.
On July 24, 2020, Mr. Deluca
was attacked in his home while his
fiancee and children were present.
His attackers, members and associ
ates of the Rollings 20s Neighbor
hood Bloods, shot him in the back of
the head. Mr. Deluca was targeted as
part of a plot to commit an armed
robbery.
A Spalding County jury convicted
two of Mr. Deluca’s murderers, Rob
ert Freeman III and Xavier Carter,
with felony murder, conspiracy to
commit armed robbery, three counts
of aggravated assault, and violation
of the Criminal Street Gang Act. The
Honorable Scott Ballard sentenced
these defendants to life in prison
without the possibility of parole, plus
20 years for the Street Gang Act vio
lation.
An additional conspirator and at
tacker, Damarion Sinkfield, pre
viously pleaded guilty to felony
murder and was sentenced to life in
prison with the possibility of parole.
Senior Assistant District Attorney
Ashton Jordan and Assistant District
Attorney Holly MacDonald tried this
case for the state. Evidence at trial
indicated that the armed robbery
plot was tied to initiating one of the
defendants into the Rolling 20s
Neighborhood Bloods.
So, what can be done to stop
gangs from poisoning the children in
our community and dooming them
to a life of violence, death, or incar
ceration? The district attorneys’ of
fice is, by its nature, a reactive body.
We can only prosecute those who
have already committed crimes and
try to bring peace to a victim who
has already been wounded.
However, recent proposed
changes to our laws regarding crim
inal gang activity could make re
cruitment of new gang members a
See Broder, A7
To Grow or Not to Grow?
That is Not the Question
I grew up in rural Fayette County,
Georgia. Or, perhaps I should
say, I grew up with rural Fayette
County.
When the 1970 census was taken
shortly after I was born, the county
due south of Atlanta’s airport, nes
tled between interstates 75 and 85,
had under 12,000 residents - and
only about 150 more than it had con
tained in 1900. We added 17,000
people during
that next dec
ade, when new-
comers
suddenly out
numbered the
“locals.”
Things
were just get
ting started for
growth, as the
next two dec
ades brought about 30,000 res
idents each. Now, a bit more than a
half century later, Fayette County
has more than 10 times the number
of citizens as we had when I arrived
on the scene.
You can still find traces of the
rural county where I grew up, but
you have to look well outside the in
corporated areas of Fayetteville or
Peachtree City. Fayette has seen the
wave of suburban growth come, ex
plode, pause, and... morph.
When I graduated college, my
first job was as a banker in Cobb
County. I quickly learned that a
banker’s job had expectations to
work closely with the local chamber.
Cobb had about 450,000 residents,
whereas Fayette had just eclipsed
the 60,000-resident mark. Neither
county showed signs of slowing
down, as growth itself was a major
industry in the metro Atlanta area.
The approach, however, was dif
ferent within each county. My home
county decided that the best way to
“control” growth was to pretend it
wasn’t happening.
Plans to add a limited access
highway through the heart of Fayette
County to ease access to and from
Atlanta, where most residents work,
were killed almost as soon as they
were floated. Sewer access was de
nied outside of the larger municipal
ities, with one-acre lots established
as the minimum for homes in the
county on septic tanks. Minimum
home sizes were established, and
mobile homes were no longer per
mitted to be added on lots or land.
I can recall as these issues were
being debated in my home county, a
specific presentation given in Cobb
with some of the chamber folks.
They put a population on the county
for 2020, noting that we would be
adding 200,000 people to the
county over that timeframe.
They didn’t question IF we would
grow, nor fret about how to stop it.
The plans were for HOW to grow,
and to do their best to get ahead and
stay ahead of it.
A new divided, four-lane road
was proposed through the southern
end of the county that circled up to
link with Town Center Mall. It’s now
known as the East West Connector.
A system of grid roads was built
and/or aligned around the Cumber
land/Galleria area.
This road system is what made it
possible, three decades later, to drop
an entire baseball stadium and en
tertainment district into the area
with little disruption to traffic flows.
Cobb hit their growth target
within a decade, and now has more
than three quarters of a million res
idents. Fayette, while resisting pop
ulation growth, has still seen its
population double in the last three
See Haper, A7
CHARLIE HARPER
Jesus Gets it; Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Does Not
S ome years after law school, I at
tended a seminary. My concen
trated course of study was the
New Testament, generally, and par
ticularly the juxtaposition of the
Jesus of the scriptures with the Jesus
of verifiably recorded history. I di
gress.
As a preludial, let me quote the
above pol
itician, A.K.A.
AOC: She blo
viated, “I do
not believe
Jesus would
support Super
Bowl commer
cials that make
fascism look
benign.”
Joy Reid, a
liberal, pro
gressive hack and an AOC syco
phant, echoed the same vitriol about
the Jesus commercial, demonstrat
ing her folie a deux route step with
the Puerto Rican big mouth (AOC’s
mama, Blanca Ocasio-Cortez, A.K.A
BOC, was born in Puerto Rica).
Fascist: Webster’s 9th
Edition, n. (1) apolitical theory ad
vocating an authoritarian hierar
chical government; opposed to de
mocracy and liberalism. 2. an au
thoritarian system of government
under absolute control of a single
dictator, allowing no political oppo
sition, forcibly suppressing dissent,
and rigidly controlling most indus
trial and economic activities.
Jesus: Pacifist and Egalitarian
Fascist: No.
Most modern-day seminars have
adopted a teaching discipline known
as “historical criticism.” Simply, this
method contrasts the dyad of Jesus
of History and Jesus of Scripture. I
purposefully pretermit, and make no
personal judgment as to the birth,
death, and/or resurrection of Jesus,
as this approach is to
historical/scriptural considerations.
Did Jesus advocate a political
theory advocating an authoritarian,
hierarchical government? No. Was
Jesus opposed to democracy and lib
eralism? No.
Did Jesus advocate an authori
tarian system of government under
absolute control of a singular dicta
tor, allowing no political opposition,
or forcibly suppress dissent, and
control most of Palestine’s industrial
and economic activities? No.
During the time Jesus minis
tered, until his death in 33 AD (give
or take), the only government was
ruled by Tiberius, Emperor of Rome,
and his client kings, e.g. Herod and
his enforcers, e.g. Pontius Pilate, et
al.
Josephus, a writer, philosopher,
and contemporary of Jesus, noted in
his writings that Jesus was a good
and righteous man who preached
forgiveness and succor for the needy.
He was rumored to have healed the
sick and raised the dead. Jesus, ac
cording to Josephus, was apolitical
and was heard to say to his disciples,
“Render unto Caesar that which is
Caesar’s and to God that which is
God’s.”
That doesn’t have a fascist ring to
it, ya think? Maybe AOC should fa
miliarize herself with Benito Musso
lini.
AOC’s comments smack of either,
A) bog ignorance, or B) late stages of
aphasia that is commonly extant
among liberals who, when lacking a
legitimate concern of which to
whinge, simply resort to pointless
flummery.
JAMES
STUDDARD
