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A4 Lake Oconee News Friday, April 28,2017 Start the conversation Send us your opinions by Monday at 1 p.m. news@lakeoconeenews.us ‘Farther along we’ll know more about it’ “The midnight will he glassy black Behind the panes, with wind about To set his mouth against a crack And blow the candle out.” Elinor Wylie, Prophecy I’ve been looking for some nugget of wisdom ever since Sunday night, some morsel of comfort in a world of chaos and pain. But I haven’t found anything much to say that I can guarantee as wise. In lieu of wisdom, let us explore some simple things. Let’s look atthe sky, atthe curve of blue that stretches toward tomorrow in one direction and yesterday in the other. Clouds waltz in from the west headed toward the future, some hot white and others dappled with gray; they are always on the move, seeming to drift ever eastward like a herd of charolais shambling toward Paris. So beautiful. But then you might imagine they are running from something just over the horizon, some fearful thunderbird with bloody talons rising over the Rockies that will turn these dollops of argent mist into lightning and rain. Easy now, that’s just your imagination, corrupt T. Michael Stone Associate Editor and disagreeable tool that it has become, ruining the day with gloom and uncer tainty. Clouds are imperma nence personified, always waxing or waning as they strafe the firmament with dreams of heaven. It’s almost as if you could climb up an oak and leap from a limb onto a cotton tuft as soft as swan feathers and be on your way to the pearly gates. Sometimes that’s an at tractive notion, to leave this place behind and ascend to something better. All in due time, I suppose. “Take a number and wait your turn,” old Grim might say. “I won’t forget about you.” The Earth rotates and revolves and and drifts along with the galaxy to which it belongs, wander ing unhurried through the cosmological vision of a SEE STONE » A6 In praise of the lonesome road Few things in modern American life seem as uni versally deplored, yet as frustratingly necessary, as air travel. The social media Vesuvius that erupted over United Airlines’ rough treat ment of a passenger a few weeks ago was, to my mind, less based in wrath over one man’s manhandling and more a collective scream of primal rage directed at the realities of flying as they exist today. To ride on airplanes as anyone poorer than a Saudi prince is to be subjected to a depressingly quotidian parade of small indignities, from the over priced coffee to having to slip off your shoes and pad Katherine Klimt Staff Writer across a security threshold in mismatched socks. Then the obligatory police detain- ee-cum-exotic dancer pose all must assume before the Transportation Security Administration douses you in enough radiation to ascertain whether you are planning on lighting your underpants on fire. It’s a cruel process, and I say this as an extremely fair-skinned member of the fairer sex who is on no aviatory mall cop’s radar. Others have it far worse. But still, what are you going to do? America is a big country, and Americans are a deeply impatient people. To board a plane in Atlanta and rush into my parents’ loving embrace at Dallas Love- Field takes an impressive two and a half hours or so. To drive there, an odyssey I completed for at least the dozenth time over Easter weekend, is a grueling haul across five states that takes at least 13 hours, in which for hundreds of miles a driver is presented with naught but the glories of the scrubby flora and strip malls that pepper the sides of the 1-20 interstate. A beautiful drive it is not: Alabama is all verdant rolling hills until you slide into the Mississippi delta, whose dominant charac teristics appear to be un pleasant smells of uncertain provenance sharpened by positively coruscant heat and bugs. There is a quiver of excitement upon passing over the Mississippi River in all its muddy majesty, but then you’re confront ed with the unremitting mediocrity of northern Louisiana, a swathe of sop orific swampland at last mercifully perforated by the garish lights and absolutely atrocious public infrastruc- SEE KLIMT » A8 "So, which do you want to hear f irst...how state revenues are up, or how the state plans to spend it?" Legislature turns adoption efforts into political sausage There is a saying that the two things you don’t want to see made are law and sausage. Sometimes, they are hard to tell apart. State Rep. Bert Reeves, R-Mar- ietta, can speak first-hand about how the political process can stink worse than ground-up hog parts. Georgia’s adoption laws are antiquated and in serious need of updating. The last time the state code was updated was in 1990, due mainly to the efforts of a state senator by the name of Nathan Deal. Dick Yarbrough Guest Columnist There are currently 12,000 foster children in Georgia. The average time for foster care adoption in our state is a bit more than two-and-a-half years. Na tionally, the figure is just over a year. Many Georgia families go out-of-state to adopt because it is easier. Rep. Reeves began an effort two years ago to mod ernize the code, working with the Georgia Council of Adoption Lawyers, the Department of Family and Children Services, the Council of Superior Court Judges and adoption agencies among others in crafting appropriate legis lation. Reeves says the bill was simply a rewrite and mod ernization of the current code to make the adoption process more efficient, (since the last rewrite, some thing called the internet has appeared on the scene), to give judges more leeway in determining custody issues and to streamline interna tional adoption procedures. In late February, Reeves’ bill passed out of the House of Representatives unani mously and then was sent to the state Senate. At the request of a subcommit tee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, changes to the bill were made and agreed upon and everything seemed in order to pass the bill out of the full commit tee, through the Senate and then onto the governor’s desk for his signature. That is when the stink of petty politics began to permeate the place. As the Senate Judiciary Com mittee was getting set to consider Reeves’ bill, Sen. William Ligon, R-Bruns- wick, informed Reeves he had tacked on an amend ment to the bill that would allow mission-based adoption agencies not to have to place children with same-sex parents. Suddenly, bipartisanship became po litically toxic. Let me stop at this point to say that if this matter was that important to Ligon and his colleagues, they had had all session to introduce a separate bill to deal with that issue. He didn’t. He chose to hijack Bert Reeves’ SEE YARBROUGH » A8 , L - Lake Oconee News General Excellence Award Winner 2015-2016 GEORGIA PRESS ASSOCIATION President / Publisher A. Mark Smith Vice President Jo Ann Smith Vice President, General Manager Mark Smith Jr. Vice President, Circulation Matt Smith Vice President Michael Smith Associate Editor T. Michael Stone Sports Editor Justin Hubbard Staff Writer Dave Brown Staff Writer Shannon Sneed Staff Writer Katherine Klimt Display Advertising Manager Vicki Parker Advertising Representative Mary de Guiseppi Advertising Representative Michael Payne Advertising Representative Tricia Wall Eatonton Messenger Associate Editor Lynn Hobbs Lakelife Editor Beverly Harvey Lakelife Associate Editor Hank Segars National Advertising Manager Amy Hood Legal Advertising/Circulation Becky Meyer Production and Technology Manager Josh Lurie Graphic Artist Ali Henderson Graphic Artist Mark Brill Business Manager Cassandra Fowler DEDICATION Battle B. Smith EDITOR AND PUBLISHER 1956-1988 Micky Smith EDITOR AND PUBLISHER 1989-2003 ADVERTISING, NEWS AND INFORMATION Lake Oconee 1106 MARKET ST. • GREENSBORO 706-454-1290 Fax 706-454-1292 Madison 195 W. JEFFERSON ST. 706-342-9833 Fax 706-342-9839 Call 706-485-3501 for subscription information Subscription Rates One Year Two Years Putnam, Morgan, Greene counties $35 $65 Other Georgia counties $45 $80 Out of Georgia $55 $95 Postmaster: Send address changes to the ,1106 Market St., Greensboro, GA 30642. Periodicals postage paid at Greensboro, GA 30642. The (USPS 024-046) is published every Friday by Smith Communications Inc., 1106 Market St., Greensboro, GA 30642. All rights reserved. Reprints by permission of the and individual writers only. State and Federal Elected Officials Gov. Nathan Deal (R) 203 State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334 (404) 656-1776 Web/e-mail: gagovernor.org Sen. David Perdue (R) B40D Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: 202-224-3521 Sen. Burt Jones (R) 407 East Second St., Jackson, GA 30233 Phone: (770) 775-4880 Fax: (770) 234-6752 Sen. Johnny Isakson (R) United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 (202) 224-3643 Rep. Dave Belton (R) 401-B Coverdell Legislative Office Bldg. Atlanta, GA 30334 404.656.0152-Office dc.belton@house.ga.gov Rep. Jody Hice (R) 1516 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-4101 Fax: (202) 226-0776 Rep. Trey Rhodes (R) Room 612-B Coverdell Legislative Office Building Atlanta, GA 30334 404-656-0325 trey.rhodes@house.ga.gov The deadline to submit letters to the editor each week is Monday at 1 p.m. Send letters and other news to news@lakeoconeenews.us
