Newspaper Page Text
The constitutional amendments
are few, hut voters must study
By Dick Pettys
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
ATLANTA
Thelist of constitutional amend
ments on the Georgia ballot is
mercifully short this year, but
voters who haven’t done their
homework may be clueless on Nov.
5 when they read the ballots.
A few are fairly easy to under
stand, such as the ones repealing
the state’stax onstocks and bonds,
andallowing school boards toseek
voter approval for a 1 percent
local option school tax.
But then there’s this nugget:
“Shall the Constitution be
amended so as to allow agricul
tural processing industries, after
approval in a referendum, to im
pose a fee upon members of the
industry based on the amount of
agricultural products processed
and, without placing such mon
eys in the state treasury, to use
such funds to promote those agri
cultural processing industries?”
In plain English, Amendment 4
allows people who run cotton gins
to: assess themselves to pay to
train their workers and to pro
mote theindustry, which is enjoy
ing a resurgence in Georgia after
the successful taming of the boll
weevil.
“The language never seems to
improve in the amendments. I
‘don’t know why it’s so convoluted,
but it is,” said Martha Ann
Debate gets rowdy
“From page three
.+~ <Unfortunately,” Norwood said,
. iwe'll finish this after the TV cam
-1 cenas cut off.”
7 When the cameras were gone,
. INorwood was asked about an ad
in which he pledges to help any
- one, right or wrong. The ad, he
~said, stated “If you're right I'll
< fight to the death for you. If you're
»-wrong I'll still fight for you.”
1:1I'm fighting for what is right
1 landbest about America,” Bell said.
+«nWhen the opponents were asked
_-f0 “say something positive about
each other,” Bell said he thought
it was wonderful Norwood had
- finally decided to release copies of
his tax return to the public, some
thing that Bell himself had been
dging for a while.
‘Norwood said he hadn’t released
- it before because he was embal(
. rassed at how much less money
'hé made than his opponent did.
"' “He makes more money suing
"'people than I do by helping
"'people,” Norwood said. “Let me
just tell you that is my positive
Bond issue studied
Erom page one
Richmond County Property
Owners’ Association, was under
a similar impression. “What did
ithey do with all this money? I
‘thought that was a cure-all when
they got the lottery in.”
_Heisskeptical about what good
the slls million would do in the
first place. “It might fix schools
‘asfarasupkeep,” he said, “but it
‘won't fix the school system.” He
feels that, since the kids’ parents
‘have tolive within their budgets,
the trustees should live within
theirs. Heis also concerned about
)tl'.h'é‘rhetoric involved in discuss
ing the possible raise in property
tax, and that it is leading people
to believe that the SIOO, tax on a
SIOO,OOO home, per year, might
be a total amount. But, he said,
‘ ®
~ Wigham honored as
woman of the year
s Mt. Zion A.M.E.
i : Zion Church
o 4 e 5 r recently cel
/ A ebrated their
) 2 annual Women's
" N : Day Program.
+. As” y e Wigham was
i Ry honor of Woman
V 195 ".;;L‘j £y of the Year.
ke ¥ & ;
Saunders, president of the Geor
gia League of Women Voters.
And there is this little jewel:
“Shall the Constitution be
amended so as to allow the owner
of island property located within
a constitutional industrial area
voluntarily to remove the prop
erty from the industrial area?” -
Amendment 5 is for Chatham
County’s Hutchinson Island,
where the partly state-funded
Maritime International Trade
Center is expected to spur explo
sive development.
Much of the island was desig
nated as an industrial area under
anold state law that severely lim
ited the amountoftaxesthat could
be imposed. The amendment re
moves thatrestriction,and allows
local governments to levy higher
taxes to help pay for the govern
ment services that will be re
quired.
For voters with a cynical bent
andnoknowledge of theissue, the
ballot language might suggest
some sort of nefarious deal.
“We're worried about that, and
appreciate the publicity,”said Sen.
Eric Johnson, R-Savannah. “It was
defeated once before because
people didn’t know what it was ...
We want to make sure the rest of
the state knows it doesn’t affect
them. It affects one area of
Chatham County, and everybody
here wants it.”
“If this is what’s going on the
statement.”
Bell said he wants the partiesto
“look for common ground, quit all
the bickering” and start “putting
the country first and parties sec
ond.”
Norwood was asked if he would
vote for a program he considered
“pork,” but that would provide
many local jobs. He replied, “Pork
barrel spendingis notacceptable.”
Bell then pointed out two slabs
of pork he wants to do away with:
$75 billion per year “corporate
welfare” and a loophole that al
lowsbillionaires to surrender their
American citizenship to get out of
paying taxes.
In Bell’s parting punch, he said
that, having solicited environmen
tal protection groups like the Si
erra Club for contributions to his
campaign,and havingbeen turned
down, Dr. Norwood said those type
organizations were filled with
“kooks.” However, Mr. Bell said,
holding up a stack of papers, Dr.
Norwood’s name is on the rosters
of the Sierra Club, Greenpeace,
and another such group.
that would be in addition to what
the homeowner is already pay
ing.
He wouldn’t be “too opposed’ to
an additional 1-cent sales tax, he
said, because it would fall equally
on everyone, not just one seg
ment of the population. But only
if it were designated for a spe
cific purpose, he said, “not just
for travel.”
Mr. Davis said he and his fel
low homeowners are going to “do
everything [they] can to defeat it
(bond referendum).”
“We realize we're fighting an
uphill battle,” he said, because
there are too many school sys
tem employees who “want to keep
their jobs.”
“But we do feel like we will
prevail, because the people are
taxed to death.”
ballot, then we need to have it in
clear language so the average
voter will have no difficulty,” said
Rep. Bob Holmes, D-Atlanta,
chairman of the House Govern
mental Affairs Committee.
He said he will convene meet
ingsonimprovingballotlanguage
whenthe Legislature meets again
in January.
Amendment 3 is wordy, but at
least it alerts voters that it in
volves tax breaks for enterprise
zones.
It will authorize the Legisla
ture to enact laws allowing local
governments to give tax breaks to
businesses that create jobs in de
pressed areas.
School officials across Georgia
areawaiting the voters’verdicton
Amendment 2, which would al
low local school boards to impose
a penny sales tax to build new
schools or pay off debt on new
ones.
Many legislators view it asatax
reliefplan for overburdened prop
erty owners, whose taxes now are
the mainstay of public education.
“People are up to their eyeballs
in ad valorem property taxes,”
said Rep. Richard Royal, D-
Camilla, who sponsored the
amendment. “Given the choice of
a property or sales tax, they’ll go
for the sales tax. Nothingis forced
on anybody. They make the deci
sion.”
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Estabrook may not be that bad
From page one
was sensitive to the African-
American experience. He ap
pointed many African-American
men and women. I was very com
fortable with much of his deal
ings. If his attitude hasn’t
changed, then the African-
American community in Augusta
should be at ease.”
Mr. Estabrook apparently had
no problem with the diversity
issue. He may have done more in
Dayton on that score in one year
than has been done in Augusta
over the past several decades. *
Thatis the feeling of Don Black,
owner of the Dayton Weekly
News, a minority-owned news
paper.
“Mr. Estabrook was a positive
force,” Mr. Black said. “If you
talk to most people they will tell
you that. He promoted minori
ties. We have a black police chief
and a black assistant city man
ager.”
News media sources seem to
bear out Mr. Black’s contention.
According to a staffer at theDay
ton Daily News, Mr. Estabrook
surrounded himself with quali
fied women and minorities.
According to the source, among
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AUGUSTA FOCUS
Mr. Estabrook’s top appointees
were a black male for assistant
city manager, a white male for
deputy city manager, a black
male for police chief, a black fe
male for finance director, a white
female for planning director, a
white male for fire chief, and a
black male for the department of
management and administrative
services.
The Reverend David Fox is a
grassroots activist who works
along with the Rev. Trammell.
He feels the bad rap Mr.
Estabrook got with the black com
munity stemmed from his ac
tions when he first assumed of
fice, but he doesn’t blame
Estabrook.
“He came in when the city was
going through a process of
change. His job was to follow
through with the policy. A lot of
people lost jobs,” the Rev. Fox
said. Many of those people who
were laid off or terminated were
black workers.
“He was carrying out the man
date of the city commission. Many
of us felt that he got a raw deal
and were pretty upset. I found
him to be very community ori
ented.”
Mike Ecton is a popular talk
show host on WZAO which serves
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October 3, 1996
the African-American commu
nity. He recalls a lot of discus
sion in the wake of Mr.
Estabrook’s firing by the Dayton
City Commission.
“The talk was that he was
wrongly fired. He was his own
person and the commission
wantedtheir person. I don’t know
of anything negative about him.
Estabrook will earn $115,000
a year, receive a SSOO per month
vehicle allowance, along with a
pension and moving expenses.
Hisendorsement by the city com
mission on Tuesday was not
unanimous. Earlier in the year
the commission voted down the
recommendation by Consolida
tion Project Manager Bill
Carstaphen that the city admin
istrator position be endowed with
broad sweeping administrative
powers.
The position that Mr.
Estabrook will assume will be
quite a bit less powerful than the
one he was booted from in Day
ton and the teeth of the political
sharks on this city commission
will be somewhat sharper and
more plentiful.
NEXT WEEK: Can William J.
Estabrook survive Augusta
style political infighting?
There are plenty of doubts.
15