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OPINIONS
Sorry, Bill and
Hillary — I just
didn't understand • • •
You know, when Bill and Hillary Clinton
went to Washington nearly three years ago, I
had my doubts. But one thing that I felt good
about was one of the promises of their
campaign — that all Americans would have
access to health and medical care.
I believed then and I believe now that every
man, woman and child in this country should
have access to the best medical care available
no matter how rich or poor. They've done it in
other countries, why not here in the land of the
free and the home of the brave?
Ever so slowly, the lights dimmed on the
Clinton's promise and we're about to be worse
off before the Clinton's took over.
Why, I asked myself, did this lofty promise
fall through? I listened to all the political
rhetoric and prophets of doom and none of it
made sense.
I’ve talked to people and read. I've argued,
researched and toiled over the matter.
You may not like what I've come up with.
The biggest reason I can find why affordable
medical care won't be available to many and
why the cost will continue to rise dramatically
is US.
That's right US — you and I.
For instance, stupid, careless personal
behavior will cost us about $110 billion this
year in medical costs and is a major cause of
death among children and young men and
women.
One insurance company told me that
accidents alone will add $176 billion a year to
our our medical and insurance bills.
A little research will show you that no other
developed country in the world tolerates such a
financial burden for foolish behavior.
Another thing: Our homicide rate is five
times the rate of Canada and 12 times the rate
in Germany. Emergency hospital care for the
nation's walking wounded costs us
astronomical sums of money.
And look at unsafe sex. The estimates are
$5.8 billion a year. The incidence of AIDS in
this country is three times that of Canada and
eight times that of Germany. Here in Fort
Valley we have one of the highest incidences of
AIDs in the state.
So with these few statistics alone I’ve come
to realize, as I’m sure the Clinton's did, that we
can’t afford a national health plan as long as we
condone and subsidize such anti-social and
anti-human behavior. Any national health plan
depends on individual responsibility, on self
care and prevention.
I've realized that our social problems need
reforming first. The way I figure it, we must
reduce health and medical care costs by
reducing the need for health and medical care.
No matter how extensive or inclusive a health
plan may be, no plan can protect a population
from its own idiotic behavior.
The use of illegal drugs, teen sex, AIDS, the
birth of premature babies, murder and problems. mayhem
are behavior problems, not medical
And we seem hell-bent on keeping this type
behavior by subsidizing all the social and
behavior problems through a vast social
welfare service system that has no limits, at
least in the minds of liberal legislators.
If we don't get control of our foolish
behavior, if we fail to change our destructive
social habits, we will not -- in any
circumstances — ever be able to have a useful
national health plan.
It was a good try Bill and Hillary. I wished
could of worked.
But it's our own fault...
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The Meeting Place
Peach County Commission -- meets every
second Tuesday of month in jury room of court
house at 6 p.m.
Fort Valley City Council *• meets every third
Thursday of month in courtroom at city hall at 7:30
pm.
Board of Education - meets every first Tues¬
day of month in board office on Vineville at 7:30
p.m.
Byron City Council - meets every first Mon¬
day of month at the old school at 7 p.m.
Utility Commission -• meets every second
Monday of month in courtroom at city hall at 7:30
p.m.
Hospital Authority - meets every fourth Thurs¬
day of month in hospital conference room at 9 a.m.
Leader-Tribune Wednesday, November 8,1995
Chuck
Morley
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After sticking Americans with the largest tax increase
in history two years ago, President Clinton finally
admitted last week it was a mistake. “I know a lot of
people think I raised their taxes too much,” the
president told a group of Houston contributors, “It
might surprise you to know that I think I raised them
too much, too.”
Fixing Clinton’s mistake and restoring fiscal sanity to
a bloated, runaway federal government is what the
Congressional Majority is hard at work accomplishing
these next few weeks. By refusing to spend more than
we take in — a common sense notion for every family
— the Senate’s Budget Reconciliation proposal will
balance our federal budget by 2002 while providing
$245 billion in tax relief for our middle class.
Why is a tax reduction crucial for our families? As
noted by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., of the Ludwig von
Mises Institute in Auburn, Ala., “Even as family income
has declined since 1970, the federal government’s tax
hike in real terms has increased more than 600 percent”
An average family with two children making $40,000
a year is now seeing half their total income taken away
by government In 1950,a family sent just 2 cents out of
every dollar to Washington in federal taxes. Today, that
same family pays Uncle Sam 25 cents of each dollar.
We have marginalized middle-class families by taking
away so much of their resources they are unable to
fulfill their obligations to their children — housing,
clothing, education, and health.
Under our budget proposal, over 70 percent of tax cuts
will to families less than $75,000 a We
Why school needs more authority
One of the issues I will ask the Georgia General
Assembly to address in its 1996 session is the statutory
authority of the state superintendent of schools and the
state board of education. Wait, don’t turn the page!
Before you decide that the classified ads and legal
notices must be of far greater interest than a diatribe
about some esoteric mumbo that doesn’t
affect you or
anyone you know,
let me assure you
that it does—or at
least, could—affect
you. Since local
school systems
spend more than $7
billion (state,
federal and local
funds) each year in
Georgia, decisions the superintendent and the board
most assuredly affect you, or at least your pocketbook,
whether you have children in school or not. So, let me
give you a little background about why changes are
needed in our current structure.
At present, Georgia has an elected state superintendent
of schools and an appointed state board of education.
The superintendent is elected state-wide by all
registered voters who choose to vote. The 11 members
of the stale board are appointed to seven year staggered
terms by the Governor, with one member coming from
each of Georgia’s congressional districts. Given the fact
that the superintendent is elected by the people and the
board appointed by the Governor, you would probably
assume that the superintendent had constitutional and
statutory powers superior to those of the board. If so,
you are wrong. Actually, the only real “power” of the
superintendent is to be the “executive secretary” to the
board during its monthly meetings. And, of course, the
superintendent can travel the state, visit schools, give
speeches to civic clubs and make recommendations to
the board on policy issues. But—and this is important—
the superintendent has virtually no power independent
of that which the board grants her (or him).
In order to be an effective administrator, the
superintendent should have the power to hire and fire
staff, the power to promulgate rules and regulations (or
get rid of them) and the power to approve contracts.
Yes, under present laws, the board can grant the
superintendent some of these powers, e.g. to hire and
fire merit personnel and to approve certain contracts.
But, the ultimate power belongs to the appointed board,
and the elected superintendent has few powers inherent
in her (his) office.
The central issue of this debate is whether the elected
chief school officer of the state or a part-time appointed
board should have the legal authority to administer the
department of education and establish the direction of
education policy. And, I believe that it would be more
valuable for all concerned if board members, most of
whom have responsible positions in the business world,
would spend their time discussing major policy issues
instead of ratifying department administrative decisions
involving contracts for vendors and personnel actions.
If the people disagree with the way the department is
managed, or with the policies established, they can vote
the superintndent out of office in the next election.
There is no other department or agency head in
Georgia government with so little constitutional and
statutory power as the state superintendent of schools. It
is lime that the person elected to oversee the direction
of one of state government's most important functions
has the legal powers necessary to do the job he or she
was elected to do.
{6
The Leader-Tribune Stuff
Chuck Morley General Manager
Cindy Morley News/Sports Editor
Stacey Shy Office Manager
Maria Kitchens Advertising/Consultant Dir.
Trisha Davis Typesetting/Graphic Art
Frederick Moore Press Manager
Shcddrick Scott Pressman
Denise Jackson Circulation
will encourage savings,
create more jobs for
Americans, and provide
greater economic security
for our families and
stability in our
communities. By balancing
our budget for the first time
in more than a quarter
century, we will create
significant economic
dividends for the families
of
Combined with tax reduction, balancing the federal
budget will put on the kitchen table of every family
home between $2,000 and $3,000 in new dollars — an
increase of at least 10 percent in the average family’s
disposable income. A balanced budget will lower
interest payments on a $50,000 mortgage by $1,081. It
will lower interest on a $15,000 car loan by $180 a year;
on a $11,000 student loan by $220 a year. Credit card
interest rates will fall 2 percent. Add in a $500 per child
tax credit and a family of four will save at least $2,500 a
year.
Given the fact Washington is taking half the average
family’s income now, isn’t it about time we stop
undermining our most valuable institution and let them
manage their own affairs? This tax relief does not
disappear. It goes to real working families having a hard
time making ends meet.
Not does our families and our
Linda
Schrenko
State School
Superintendent
lUatev-tEtibutu
The official legal organ of Peach County, the City of Byron and the City of Fort Valley
PO Box 1060, Fort Valley, GA 31030 • 825-2432
Member of the Georgia Pr ess Association and the National Newspaper Association
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the
people peacefully to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Paul
COVERDELL
U.S. Senator
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You should be consemed over 1995 Farm Bill
If you eat food, wear clothes, and are concerned about
the environment, you should be concerned about the
proposed 1995 Farm Bill, according to Buck Johnson,
State Director of the Consolidated Farm Service
Agency. The leadership of Congress wants to cut 13.4
billion dollars from the 1995 Farm Bill over a period of
seven years, while President Clinton has recommended
4.4 billion dollars. According to Johnson, food in
America is a bargain. It costs $.11 of every dollar,
compared to approximately $.30 of every dollar in
other countries. This leaves a difference of $.19 of each
dollar to buy whatever else we need or want to buy.
Our economy is stimulated by savings in our basic food
costs; thus, all our consumers benefit. We have always
had a safe, adequate, and inexpensive food supply. Our
fanners, who furnish our basic crops, cannot continue a
#1 Sf
“You know what this
marriage needs?
A new song!"
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economy a shot in the arm, it also preserves Medicare
for our nation’s elderly. In protecting and strengthening
Medicare, the proposal still allows the program's
spending to increase for every senior, every year. In
contrast, President Clinton still doesn’t have a plan to
save Medicare from bankruptcy, even though his own
Medicare trustees reported last April the program will
be broke in seven years. The president ignored the
problem and refused to work with Congress on a plan to
save it
In fulfilling the mandate given to Congress by the
American people last November, we’re not only
balancing the budget and reducing taxes, we’re also
providing in our Reconciliation proposal genuine
welfare reform that emphasizes work, families, and
hope for the future.
Welfare reform took a back seat to President Clinton’s
government-run health care scheme during the first two
years of his administration. This year, Clinton didn’t
bother to submit a welfare reform bill. Clinton coined
the phrase “end welfare as we know it,” but it’s the
Majority in Congress which has done the hard work to
get the job done.
We now have an historic opportunity to balance the
budget for our children, save Medicare for this
generation of seniors and the next, transform welfare
from a hand-out to a hand-up, and give back to the
American family more of its hard-earned dollars. It’s
time to do the right thing for America’s future.
profitable production with these deep cuts. Retiring
fanners will not be replaced. The drastic cuts by the
leadership of Congress, according to many farm
leaders, will not let the success story that is working
now continue to woik. Our farmers and USDA have a
proven success story. The United States Department of
Agriculture has already put into place a savings to 3.6
billion dollars by closing 1.Z00 USDA offices nation
wide, including 100 in Georgia. Remember, no matter
where you are, the 1995 Farm Bill affects you.
Dept, of Agriculture
Oflupai
“When are they gonna
decriminalize dirt?”
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Bob Tribble, President
Frances Tribble, Secretary
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5
“As soon as I unload
everything at the lampsite
I’ll come back for you
and the kids."