Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, July 12,2023
FAYETTE VIEWS
A4 Fayette County News
The Dual Plagues of
Antisemitism and Guns
"There is absolutely no place for this hate and antisemi
tism in our state. I share in the outrage over this shameful
act and stand with Georgians everywhere in condemning it.
We remain vigilant in the face of these disgusting acts of
bigotry," -Gov. Brian Kemp.
Recently, we experienced neo-Nazi agitators demon
strating outside of a Cobb County synagogue. For a change,
Kemp and I agree, at least about the
bigots trying to upset worshippers.
There was no violence - this time. But
what about the next wave?
The 2018 Pittsburg shooting at
the Tree of Life synagogue resulted in
over a dozen worshippers slaugh
tered or seriously injured. Plus, four
police officers were hurt. Almost all
the 11 congregants murdered were
very elderly, with one being 97 years
old.
After an unreasonable (and inexcusable) five-year delay,
Robert Gregory Bowers has finally been brought to trial.
But that is just the worst of the many recent antisemitic
crimes, some with guns.
Per the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there were
3,697 antisemitic incidents in 2022, a record high. And
double what it was just a few years before. These incidents
included vandalism (half), plus harassment and physical
assaults.
Jews are one of the more prosperous minority groups
in the USA. Many of our most respected Americans have
been Jewish. Being Jewish has generally not been a point
of contention in 21st Century America, at least until re
cently.
However, in the last few years, we, as a nation, have
clearly gone downhill regarding tolerance of minority
groups... including our own. Antisemitism is once again on
the rise, stoked by the nationalistic rhetoric spouted by our
former President.
The 2022 Colleyville, Texas synagogue standoff out
come was miraculous in that no one was killed. I once lived
a few miles away from Colleyville. If I had gone to a syn
agogue service, it would have been there.
The aggressor was a recent immigrant, with a criminal
record. Why he was admitted into the U.S. is perplexing.
But he then easily bought his semi-automatic gun for
$150... from another convicted felon.
In Texas, all adults (except felons) can buy firearms. But
there are no background checks, restrictions, or monitoring
of gun sales.
Guns are everywhere, hard to track, and relatively
See Bernard, A6
JACK BERNARD
Raised on Radio
I started elementary school in 1961, when my family
lived in Holland. I can’t remember what it is I did for fun
during those first three grades, but I do know that whatever
it was, it didn’t involve a television. That’s because we didn’t
own one.
Even if we did, we wouldn’t have
understood what anyone was saying
because the shows were in Dutch,
which none of us knew. And there
were no subtitles back then (Besides,
who wants to read when they’re
watching TV? Doesn’t that sort of
defeat the purpose?).
We did, however, have a rather
large stereo system. You might have
seen one like it if you’ve ever seen
Don Draper’s living room in Mad
Men. It had a turntable and a radio, and that’s it. Cassette
tapes and CDs were something you only read about in Jules
Verne novels in the early 60s.
On the rare occasions mom and dad didn’t have Elvis
Presley and Dean Martin albums spinning on the turntable,
I had the radio playing. AM stations only, of course (FM was
still a few years away).
I won’t bother mentioning which musical artists were
popular at the time, because I don’t want you to feel sorry
for me - or think that I made them up. Seriously: Chubby
Checker? Freddie and the Dreamers? Teddy and the Pan
das?
(Let me put the music on pause for a moment. When I
first started listening to the radio, it never occurred to me
that there was such a thing as “disc jockeys” and that they
were playing records. I thought that all the musicians
were cooped up in the same room, waiting for their turn
to perform their song. I was always amazed at how their
songs sounded exactly the same - every single time.)
Just before we packed up to move to Rhode Island, we
learned that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated - by
hearing about it on the radio. Seventeen years later, I would
hear about the assassination of John Lennon the exact same
way: on the radio.
It’s funny how you remember every last detail of certain
moments in time. I still vividly remember where I was, who
I was with, and how I felt. Always will, I imagine.
For the last three years of the decade, we lived in Ha
waii. Since they speak English in the 50th state, we owned
a television, a color television. It had a 19” screen that, in
those days, was rather large (And yes, I know that now they
make iPads with screens almost that size. But remember,
this was 1967).
But having a television didn’t mean I stopped listening
to my take-it-with-me-everywhere-I-went transistor radio.
•I listened to all the wonderful music of the Summer of
Love on that radio.
•I digested every intricate detail of the “Is Paul McCart
ney dead” rumor, hoping against hope that it wasn’t true on
that radio (Note: it turned out to be just a rumor, but I guess
you already knew that).
•I followed every pitch of the World Series on that radio.
I had to, you see, because back then sporting events weren’t
See Ludwig, A6
SCOTT LUDWIG
Summer Certainties: Hot Weather
and Property Tax Increases
My calendar says we’re now
squarely into July, and it’s time for a
seasonal adjustment. In Georgia, this
means complaints should now focus
on two distinct areas: the oppressive
heat or property tax increases.
Tis the season, or something.
The truth is,
there’s not
much any of us
can do about
either. It’s also
somewhat futile
to try and ex
plain the
weather other
than to say, “It’s
summer, it does
this every year,
and why are you acting surprised by
this?” Property taxes, however, have a
bit more background and nuance, at
least as far as understanding why
things are the way they are.
Property taxes are solely a function
of local tax revenues. The state quit
taking a cut of your property tax bills
decades ago. Note to those of you who
want our tax structure to be more like
Texas: their legislature is in a special
session trying to figure out how to
lower Texans’ property tax burden,
which is roughly double what the aver
age Georgian pays.
Back here in Georgia, property
taxes are set by multiple authorities
that will differ slightly depending on
where in the state you live. In all loca
tions you will have a county govern
ment and a local school board, each
wanting their take.
If you live within a city, that’s
another level of taxing authority added
to your bill, though you’ll also get a
credit from the county for the services
that the city provides to avoid dupli
cate charges.
Each county has a tax assessor who
is responsible for setting the value of
each property. The total value of all
properties is known as the “tax digest.”
The board of education, county, and
city, if applicable, each decide on their
budget for the year, then divide that
among all the property owners to de
termine their share of the total tax bill
for each property.
This is all relatively mundane and
boring until the values of properties
start to increase rapidly, and/or the
amount of the actual tax bills increase.
When these notices begin to flow from
the assessors, or the follow up bills
come from the tax commissioners,
then we’re in full complaint season.
While it varies from jurisdiction to
jurisdiction, and property owner to
property owner, it seems property tax
bills are going up across the board.
Rapidly increasing home values have
equaled rising assessments, but city,
county, and school board budgets are
increasing too.
Roughly a quarter century ago,
Georgia’s legislature passed the “Prop
erty Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights” which
included a provision that taxing au
thorities must either roll back the mil-
lage rate to adjust for increases in
assessments or must notify the public
that they are increasing taxes.
Commissions, councils, and school
boards are often reluctant to vote for
tax increases, especially in Republican
controlled areas. Yet, inflation doesn’t
just impact the properties being taxed,
but the cost of delivering government
services like police, fire, and educa
tion.
While it’s easy to complain about
the ever-increasing cost of govern
ment, and the burden that places on
homeowners, there should be some
empathy for those elected to fund the
delivery of local services. They must
determine how much of a pay raise to
give police and firemen who are also
trying to put food on their families’
tables with ever-increasing costs.
It’s not only more difficult to re
cruit new hires for all positions, but
employee retention is a real problem
as well. With today’s strong job mar
ket, workers are increasingly willing to
change jobs or even careers to ensure
their paychecks keep up with the cost
of living.
This, of course, puts local govern
ments in a bind. They can either tax to
keep up with the cost of doing business
or let the quantity and/or quality of
services offered decline in an effort to
keep the budget low.
The taxpayer solution is always
See Harper, A6
The First
Big Case
Every trial lawyer can tell you
about their first “big” case. Whether it
is a criminal or civil case, it has the fol
lowing characteristics.
You are the attorney with primary
responsibility for presenting the case -
we call this sit
ting “first
chair.” It is the
first case where
the outcome
bears extraordi
nary signifi
cance to the
people involved
- think life in
prison or a
multi-million-
dollar verdict. And you are scared to
death.
For prosecutors who try felony
cases, their first big case is most often
a murder. Victims have lost a cher
ished loved one. The defendant is fac
ing the prospect of spending a life
incarcerated. The stakes are life and
death.
Every time one of my prosecutors
steps up for their first big case, I share
in their anxiety and nervousness. On
the one hand, I can empathize with
them as it has not been so long ago that
I cannot remember the pit in your
stomach when you begin an opening
argument in such a case. On the other
hand, as a boss, you are cautiously op
timistic that they will perform well and
do their best to bring about a good re
sult.
But you are still nervous.
Needless to say, any nervousness I
might have had regarding a case re
cently tried in Upson County was cast
aside after the excellent performance
of two assistant district attorneys.
Two of my AD As, Audrey Holliday
and Jonathan P. Richardson, tried
their first big case last month in Upson
County. While I knew they were scared
to death, they never showed it and
fought hard for Mohammed “Seth”
Mohiuddin.
Mr. Mohiuddin was stabbed by
Shekhard Rao Suryavamsham in the
early morning hours of Nov. 1, 2020.
See Broder, A6
CHARLIE HARPER
MARIE BRODER
Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em
There is a little convenience store
near my house that sells gas. I noticed
on the back wall, out of customer reach,
were rows upon endless rows of little ci
gars (tiparillos), of every flavor imagina
ble. I was
encouraged by
the display,
thinking that my
neighbors were
morphing into
discriminating
cosmopolitans.
The Mart
proprietor also
noticed the in
terest in verbena
products, and
jacked the price a bit, commensurate
with the law of supply and demand. At
each visit to the local quickie mart, I re
alized that it was not a cultivation in
taste for verbena per se that drove up
sales, but it was, in any event, all about
a green leafy plant.
And all the time, I had visions of
grandeur that my property value located
a block or two away from the Mart
would increase exponentially and con
comitantly with the sophisticate’s inter
est in the trendy tiparillos.
My interest in the sudden uptick of
cigarillo sales piqued and I began a sort
of non-scientific study of the phenom
ena. I was standing in line at the quick
Mart behind a young gentleman,
around, say 21-ish, who was in the line
behind a lottery-holic type who was on
the phone with his wife confirming his
wife’s lottery request.
I only concluded that it was his wife,
as he was speaking in an impatient,
rather curt, stiletto fashion, “Flo, what
is it, a, quick pick or straight box? Flo,
dammit, hurry up, I got a line behind
me.” (as the line grew longer).
Finally, after the lottery purchase
was complete (about a 10-minute call to
his wife), the young gentleman afore
said, stepped up to the counter and said
(and I paraphrase), “Yo, let me have one
Mango, and two Swisher Sweets, and
uh, that’s it, I’m down.”
I figured this might be a good time
to approach him about his purchase, so
I followed him out of the Mart and as
politely as possible, asked him about his
interest in flavored cigarillos. He was
suspect, kept walking, and ignored my
question.
I persisted.
As he approached his bicycle, he be
came patently irritated and said, “Yo,
dude, you need to stop trippin’ on me.
What you need? You wanna know about
these blunts?” (argot for cigarillos).
After he was satisfied that I was not
the police, he opined, “Here’s the way it
goes down. I use it to smoke dope, dig,
marijuana. Check this, you slice the
shell, and you break it down. You’ve got
a straight split down the middle, and
you take all the tobacco out. You fill it
with weed and then you roll it, and you
lick it back together then you light it up
and then you smoke it.”
I pressed him, further searching for
his reason for the cigarillos, and sug
gested that rolling papers would be less
expensive. Abruptly, without further
comment, but with a distinct eye roll, he
mounted his bicycle and pedaled away
in the general direction of my house.
JAMES
STUDDARD