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O UR POLICIES;
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The Leader-Tribune,a periodical,USPS (307740) mailed at Fort
Valley, Ga. is published weekly for $21.60 per year by Evans
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‘It may not be the perfect vacation spot,
but it's as far as we could afford to drivel*
The Meeting
Place
Peach County
Commission -every second
Tuesday «f month, 1st floor
annex, Public Meeting Room,
Peach County Courthouse, 6
p.m.
Fort Valley City Council
- every third Thursday
month, courtroom at City
Hall, 6:30 p.m.
Board of Education
- every first Thursday
month in board office,
Vineville, 5:30 p.m.
Byron City Council -
every second Monday
month at old school,
p.m.
Utility Commission
every second Monday
month, courtroom at
Hall, 6:00 p.m.
Hospital Authority
every fourth Thursday
month in hospital
ence room, 9 a.m.
PC Water &
Authority - third
of month at 6 p.m.
meeting room,
annex, Fort Valley.
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‘Airport Security?,..No, just a cautious passenger."
JUNE 6, 2007
PC Tax Assessors
first Thursday of month,
6 p.m., 1st floor annex,
Courthouse, Public
Meeting Rm.
Development Authority
of PC - third Thursday
month, 8 a.m., Troutman
House, 201 Oakland
Heights Pkwy. Fort
Valley.
Byron
& Zoning Commision,
p.m., fourth Thursday
each month.
Peach County Board
Registrars 4 p.m.,
second Wednesday
month.
Peach County
and Zoning Board
Appeals, 6 p.m., P&Z
p.m., third Thursday
momth.
Peach County
of Commerce Board
Directors meet each
Wed. of the minth at
Meeting place is
between Byron and
Call 825-3733.
Community Forum
Opinions expressed by writers on this page are their own and not necessarily those of The Leader Tribune.
Saving the Hospital
move is for Peach
The lead headline for The
Leader-Tribune this week will
likely be titled “Hospital CON
Approved” or “Peach Regional
Medical Hospital Gets Approval
to Relocate New Hospital".
There will be lots of people who
are excited and rejoicing that the
CON was approved and a new
hospital will be built in a new
location. Others will be upset
that they are losing their hospital
that has been so convenient to
them.
The headline should read
“Saving the Hospital.”
A recent editorial headline in
The Leader-Tribune and the
Macon Telegraph stated that the
“Peach Regional Medical Center
is meeting expenses." The article
went on to say that the hospital
is doing just fine where it is and
there is no need to relocate the
hospital. In my opinion, nothing
could be further from the truth.
The Peach County Board
Commissioners has financial¬
ly supported Peach Regional
Medical Center for a number
of years. Below are the actu¬
al contributions to the hospi¬
tal for Indigent Care for the
last 14 years and the actual
Profit and Loss figures for the
hospital for the last 11 years.
It is evident that the hospital
could not survive on it’s own
because for the 11 year peri¬
od with the county’s
the net profit is only $99,000.
Without the annual subsidy from
the Board of Commissioners,
hospital would have lost
$5.7 million. Another view
that without the county’s
ing, the hospital would
lost money in nine out of 11
years. That is hardly
Is it lair and balanced?
In a recent court ruling in the
peach County Superior Court, a
Superior Court Judge ruled to
set aside the language and terms
of a Tax Referendum adopted
by the majority of the voters in
Peach County, as prescribed to
by Georgia Election Laws. By
doing this, he rendered power¬
less one of our most sacred civil
right to chose for ourselves, what
is best in an open Democratic
process.
While I admit that the Judge
had a wide range of options from
which to chose, it is my opinion
that contrary to the anticipated
outcome and subsequent actions
taken since, the decision may
have struck a severe blow to
one of our most precious pursuit
of fair and balanced and the
Judicial System itself.
The law suit was designed
for the courts to determine if
the impacted community had the
right to receive services from
what has become more than $13
million dollars. The ruling stated
that there was “no advantage to
advance this way.’ This state¬
ment was made by on of the
litigants that I recently spoke
to. My first question is where is
the feasibility study, community
survey, opinion poll results or
documentation from any offi¬
cially approved and accepted
public or private data collec¬
tion, assessment and evaluation
method to support this position?
The answer to this question may
have to be answered by a greater
power than I.
Shortly after that ruling, the
newly reconstructed Peach
County Water Authority voted
to recommend that the Peach
County Commission redistrib¬
ute the funds. Soon thereaf¬
ter, the County Commission, I
understand, voted to distribute
the entire $13 million dollars to
projects in the city of Fort Valley,
Byron and other Peach County
locations. No funds were to
finance projects in the two South
Peach County Commission dis¬
tricts. The cost of those projects
totaled $2.5 million dollars or
roughly 8% of the total funds.
My second question, therefore,
expenses.
For years, the Peach County
Board of Commissioners have
felt that they have a moral if
not a legal obligation to con¬
tribute to the cost of provid¬
ing medical services to those
who cannot afford it. This
money used for Indigent Care
is derived from property taxes.
In past years the requests for
indigent care funding from the
hospital and the amount that
was appropriated by the Board
of Commissioners was about
equal. The past year’s (2007)
budget request for indigent care
to cover the cost of services that
were actually provided by the
hospital had soared to over $1.2
million. The $450,000 alloca¬
tion that was actually funded
doesn’t even cover half the cost
of services the hospital provided.
It’s obvious that the hospital is
losing a great deal of money
in its current location and can¬
not continue to operate in the
same way that it has for years.
Citizens of Peach County are
not supporting the hospital as
evidenced by occupancy rates of
less than 25 percent. Not enough
doctors are referring patients to
this 53-year-old facility because
it is too old and outdated.
The Hospital Authority’s prima¬
ry objective has never been to
move the hospital to make it less
convenient for any segment of
the population. Our main objec¬
tive is and always has been to
save the hospital from closing
because it cannot continue to
survive in its current location
even if there was a new facility
on or near the current site. If
Pedch’Regional’Were to close
then the aBsehce of a hospital
is whether this was a fair and
balanced county governmental
decision or one of race because
the two County Commission
districts not receiving funding
are represented by Blacks?
Be mindful as I continue,
that I had no vote, influence
or participation in any phase
of the decision making process
relative to this matter and am
only stating an opinion on the
potential message delivered by
this action. Let me stop here to
commend Dr. Melvin Walker for
his commitment to negotiate a
reasonable solution to this mat¬
ter over a long drawn out period.
Instead of making any attempt
to reach such reasonable solu¬
tion, the County Commission
stood firm in its unwillingness
to consider any of Dr. Walker’s
attempts.
A key trait of a politician is
his or her ability to act like they
understand and make you feel
good in the process. The County
Commission did nothing but wait
until the next scheduled County
Water Board Appointment and
placed a person who supported
their positions and rendered Dr.
Walker’s efforts null and void.
To me this seems like a deliber¬
ate calculated act. Hats off to
you Dr. Walker.
My final question is what does
this mean? During the 80’s, a
good man, Mr. George Luce,
saw the need for a meetings of
the minds in Peach County. He
stepped down from his corpo¬
rate office at his company and
pulled together a group of local
Black and White Citizens to dis¬
cuss ways and means to come
together as a peaceful commu¬
nity. There were absolutely no
benefits to his company of him¬
self for this action. I believe
that his involvement was out of
a true love and adoration for the
community that had. given him
and his family so much. In fact,
he took on many unnecessary
headaches during this undertak
ing.
Out of those efforts came
the current system of electing
City and County officials. And,
although I have participated in
THE LEADER TRIBUNE
would make it less convenient for
all of the Citizens of the County.
One last point: There will be
no financial burden to the tax¬
payers of Peach County for the
$25,000,000 loan for the hospi¬
tal should the Hospital fail. The
loan will be backed by HUD. not
local governments. It is in the best
interest for all Peach Countians
to work together to support our
new hospital. Without every¬
one’s support, we can guarantee
failure. With everyone’s sup¬
port we can guarantee success.
APPROPRIATION PROUT/LOSS
BUDGET FOR HOSPTIAL W/OCOUNTY
YEAR INDIGENT CARE PROFIT/LOSS APPROPRIATION
FY93 $ 400.000 data not available unknown
FY94 $ 400.000 data not available unknown
FY95 $ 541,137 data not available unknown
3YR
Total $ 1,341,137 data not available unknown
APPROPRIATION PROFIT/LOSS
BUDGET FOR HOSPITAL W/OCOUNTY
YEAR LNDIGENT CARE PROFIT/LOSS APPROPRIATION
FY96 $ (69,152) $ (549,152)
FY97 $ 500.000 $ 273,454 $ (226346)
FY98 $ 443.000 $ (631,337) $ (1,074337)
FY99 $ 450.000 $ (996,013) $ (1,446,013)
FYOO $ 450.000 $ (1,343,556) $ (1,793356)
FY01 $ 450.000 $ 768,257 $ 318357
FY02 $ 507.000 $ 1,347,254 $ 840354
FY03 $ 450.000 $ 332,778 $ (117322)
FY04 $ 450.000 $ 116394 $ (333,606)
FY05 $ 450.000 $ 301,000 $ (149.000)
FY06 $ 450.000 Estimated $(800,000) $ ( 1360 . 000 )
11YR
TOTAL $ 99,079 $ (5,780321)
the process created by the sys¬
tem and lost; supported other
candidates who lost; I believe
that it still is a fair and balanced
system. Current trends how¬
ever have reduced this initiative
to two the current North Peach
and South Peach districts. The
demographics of these two dis¬
tricts have not been officially
defined but for some reason,
South peach has been gener¬
ally characterized by the com¬
plexion of County Commission
posts 2 and 3. Because these two
districts are majority Black, it
seems as if South Peach is Black
and North Peach White.
This characterization is far
from reality or reason. Even
though County Commission
posts 2 an3 are in South Peach
County, these two districts lay
in the southern most part of
South Peach County whose line
of demarcation starts at Mule
Creek. This means that all of
the Peach County Citizens who
live in the area which starts at
the Mule Creek boundary which
includes the entire city of Fort
Valley are parts of South Peach
County. And, the last time I
looked, not only is that area
not majority Black, because of
recent development along the
Hwy. 96 corridor in that area,
the numbers may show that it is
may be equally divided between
the two groups ( with a few
migrants mixed in).
With this misunderstanding,
it is understandable why those
in the North are so violently
opposed to South Peach and rec
ognizably threatened by mis
guided inadequately informed
leadership. Or, maybe this is
another strategically calculated
tactic designed to create turmoil,
mistrust, and incite the defensive
consciences of a proud Southern
white citizen who has the right
to protect and defend his or her
rich heritage.
At any rate, it is our South
Peach responsibility to correct
this misconception and design
ways and means to remove these
kinds of destructive and devices
cancers from our mist and allow
a productive healing process to
■
James Khoury -T
LT Columnist
H
Marvin Crofter
Let's Talk About ft
begin. How, you may ask? I
never would have thought that
I would ever make a statement
like this. We have to look to our
neighbors, one state removed to
the west for what can be our first
step. That neighbor is the state if
Mississippi. It is my understand
ing that under Mississippi law,
all tax revenues are equally dis
tributed equally to each county
district. The district represen
tative with input from district
members then chose how best to
use these funds.
Could this simple solution
work in Peach County? Can
the four County Commission
districts do this? Can the five
Fort Valley city wards do this?
Can the districts in North Peach
County do this? It seems simple
enough. At any rate, I believe,
at best, that this is a fair and bal
anced approach to solving our
differences. Now before you
attack this concept and continue
to do nothing, I challenge you
to come up with an alternative
approach before you take this
idea from consideration while
allowing the general Peach
County population to partici
pate and have legitimate input in
whatever you decide to do.
Now, this may be radical,
only because it will inherently
involve change. Is it militant?
Is it divisive? Is it whatever you
have perceived this writer to be
or is it plain common sense?
If you think so or don’t know,
keep reading and lets start and
continue to talk about it.