Newspaper Page Text
Opinion
Sunday, October 14,1984
More help for tax office
may alleviate problems
There was much concern among
some residents of the community
when the first of a series of delin
quent tax lists ran in last week’s
issue of the Forsyth County News.
The unfortunate part of pub
lishing the list was there were some
folks who were more than sur
prised their name was among the
delinquent taxpayers.
An example is that of a county
resident who said he had always
paid his property taxes, had not
received any delinquent tax bill
and had no idea he would be listed.
Upon checking the records, the
county tax commissioner’s office
found that tax notices had been
returned to them because of an
incorrect address. True, he had not
received his tax notice.
In addition to that, it was not
taxes owed on property, it was
taxes owed on personal property, in
this case farm equipment, specif
ically, a tractor.
The man wanted to pay due
taxes, but was embarrassed his
name appeared on the list.
The solution to the problem?
Updating the tax list, purging
names that should not be on there,
getting notices to people so they are
aware they owe taxes, correcting
addresses, etc.
And how is this to be done?
It’s no secret to the county that
More recreation area
If the Chattahoochee National
Recreation Area is ever to be ex
panded, it must be now that is
why legislation passed by Congress
recently to add 500 acres to the
area is so vital to the future of the
recreation area.
Land along the Chattahoochee is
rapidly becoming a developer’s
paradise. Already some areas
once considered for inclusion in
the park have been developed for
residential purposes. The rate of
growth in and around Atlanta has
made the development of prime
properties a highly profitable ven
ture, and the future availability of
additional land for the park is
certainly not assured.
For two years Georgia’s con
gressional delegation has worked
Support for education
The chairman of the governor’s
Education Review Commission
said recently he anticipates Gov.
Joe Frank Harris to align himself
behind the wide-ranging recom
mendations made by the blue rib
bon panel and to work toward
making them a reality.
Frankly, we would be surprised
if Gov. Harris did anything else.
The governor, both during his
campaign for the office and in the
first two years of his administra
tion, has consistantly and convinc
ing argued the need for education
reform and school improvement.
There is little doubt that he will
Forsvth Count vNews
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Forsyth County News
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Telephone BB7-3126
EDDIE STOWE
PUBLISHER t EDITOR
HARRIET HOUSTON
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Published Sundays and Wednesdays by Forsyth County News
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the tax commission office is under
staffed. With proper equipment
and the right number of personnel,
tax officials say a lot of confusion
and unfortunate circumstances
would not have happened.
Of course, if a person is con
cerned his name might be on an
upcoming list, one way to avoid the
publication and be surprised, is to
find out ahead of time if a name is
listed on any list from 1976-1982.
The list for 1982 will appear in
Wednesday’s issue of the Forsyth
County News.
Undoubtedly some more county
residents will be surprised to see
their name.
The county commissioners in
tended for the list to be published to
get those who deliberately have
refused to pay their taxes to come
forth. The intent was not to embar
rass innocent people, who have
been caught up in the middle of all
this.
With proper personnel and equip
ment, maybe the tax assessors
office and the tax commissioner’s
office can do what is necessary to
collect the taxes owed the county
whether it be by foreclosure or
other legal methods.
Maybe the amount of taxes col
lected by the publication of the lists
can go toward adding personnel
and upgrading tax office proce
dures.
to secure additional properties for
the Chattahoochee Recreation
Area. Originally, the hope was to
add more than 1,000 acres to the
park, but administration and con
gressional opposition saw that pro
posal reduced by half.
Passage of the bill allowing the
additional 500 acres will prove
even more important in the com
ing years, as undeveloped prop
erties along the Chatahoochee
become even more scarce.
The state’s congressional dele
gation worked long and hard to
secure new funds for additional
park land, and even though the
final measure allows less than half
of what was originally sought, it’s
passage is still praiseworthy.
support heartily those recommen
dations of his review committee
which are financially feasible and
which stand a chance of winning
approval in the state’s General
Assembly.
Which is not to say Harris will
automatically fall in step with
every recommendation of his
study committee, or offer all of the
committee’s findings for immedi
ate legislative approval.
That is not going to happen, nor
should it.
Instead, the governor is likely to
establish priorities among the rec
ommendations, and to work for
those most immediately practical.
JOHNNY SOLESBEE
MANAGING EDITOR
Forsyth CountyNevvs
/ WHY DO VOU THINK THE \ f WDEVIL \
/ DEMOCRATS CHARGE THAT \
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The poor a campaign issue
America’s poor have become (me of the
major issues in this year’s presidential
campaign.
If you watched the presidential debate
Sunday night you heard a lot of talk from
Walter Mondale and President Reagan
about social programs.
And, the poor are such a major issue that
it appears both men were determined to get
the upper hand, even if it meant making
mistakes.
According to The New York Times, Sun
day night’s debate included mistakes re
garding Medicare and Social Security cuts,
the poverty rate, food stamp recipients, the
plight of the elderly, interest rates and
housing subsidies.
For example, Reagan said more people
than ever before are receiving food stamps,
when; in fact, there were 400,000 less people
receiving food stamps in July, 1984 than in
January, 1961, when the president took
office.
Mondale goofed when he charged that
“right after the (1980) election," Reagan
“went out and tried to cut S2O billion out of
Medicare."
In the first place, Reagan proposed a cut
of $37 billion. Secondly, the cut was to take
place over a five-year period and not right
away, as Mondale seemed to imply. And,
Reagan's proposal did not come right after
the election, but two years after he took
office.
Mistakes like these seem to indicate the
importance of the poor in this year’s elec
'Dear Abby’ probably best read
Chances are this column isn’t read as
much as another we run in each issue that
being Dear Abby.
The Forsyth County News Wednesday
issue and the Sunday News began running
Dear Abby columns in the spring of this past
year and from the response, it’s become one
of the best read columns in the papers
Everybody reads Dear Abby, one of the
staffers said.
I saw one of our employees turn first to
Dear Abby and then to the front page. First
things first, she said.
Those that read her in Forsyth County,
join an estimated 70 million others. At 65
years of age, and after more than 28 years of
Dear Abby, Abigail Van Buren keeps a
pretty hectic pace.
She speaks all around the country, flying
from one city to the other, and still has time
to answer some 15,000 letters a week. She’s
about the only woman I know that can tell a
reader to “mind your own business” or
“You need to see a psychiatrist" or make
some other brash statement, and still get
more readership.
Abby has a score of advisors and assures
everyone that her experts are reliable. She
rarely backs up on any of her statements
Earlier this year, I had an opportunity to
Home asks cooperation
To the Editor:
To our friends and neighbors in Forsyth
County:
We appreciate the thoughtfulness and
generosity you have shown to our residents
during the holiday season over the past
years.
Once again, we would like to ask your
cooperation during the up-coming holiday
season. If you, or a group of which you are a
member plan to provide a service or gift to
our residents, please call in advance and
discuss the project or gift you plan to bring
with our activity director/sodal worker.
Owns Pahnnur on any weekday Monday
chwck n
Thompson 1
tion.
Who are the poor? An article in the Au
tumn issue of The Wilson Quarterly, pub
lished by the Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars, says some 29 million
people in 11.7 million households lived below
the official poverty line in 1980
One sixth of these individuals were el
derly, compared to one third in 1959.
More than 48 percent of the poor in 1980
were adults of working age, accounting for
8.5 million households and 5.3 million fami
lies.
One so-called ‘“solution” to poverty has
been throwing money at the problem, but;
as experience has taught us, this never
seems to work.
The Wilson Quarterly says 13 percent of
Americans in 1968 were poor, according to
the official definition.
In an attempt to alleviate the problem,
federal spending on poverty quadrupled
during the next 12 years, the publication
says, noting that 13 percent of Americans
were still classified as poor in 1980,
"Worse yet, despite the best of govern
mental intentions and the expenditure of
Eddie
Stowe
meet and talk with Abigail Van Buren about
her column and about her travels.
She appeared to be a light-hearted individ
ual who is concerned about the things that
are going on around her in this world today.
But at the same time, she has a keen sense
of humor that has come out of some of the
sadness she is confronted with in her letters
and columns.
I remember her talking about some of the
funniest letters, who she says, are from
inadvertently funny people.
A Savannah man wrote: “I hear there's a
sexual revolution going on. Could you tell
me where it is and how I can get there?”
An Atlanta woman asked: “Is it proper
for the bride’s mother to give her a shower?
She could sure use one.”
Another woman complained about her
husband’s strange habit. “He bums the hair
Letters
thru Friday, from 8 a.m. until 4 pan.; thus,
the needs and welfare of our residents are
best met
Dianna Palm our
Cumming Convalescent Home
111 W. Main St., Camming
887-2308
Letters welcome
The Forsyth County News wel
comes letters to the editor about
items on this page or of local or
general interest.
All letters must be signed and
vast amounts of public money, the quality of
life for poor people in America deteriorated
sharply between 1965 and 1980," the publica
tion says. “In terms of crime, welfare
dependency, family disintegration, educa
tion quality and chronic unemployment, the
poor became worse off.”
It's likely there will always be poor people
needing money from the government.
At the same time, however, efforts must
be made to protect the tax dollars others
contribute to help poor people.
We must ensure that only qualified people
receive government benefits, and that those
able to work are given an opportunity to do
so.
At The Place, in Gumming, needy people
in the community are given financial assis
tance, and; if they’re not able to pay back
the money they receive, they’re given an
opportunity to work at The Place instead.
In the same way, persons receiving gov
ernment aid could— if they’re able be
given an opportunity to do jobs which gov
ernment would otherwise pay someone else
to do.
I’m confident some people would rather
work to pay back the money they receive
anyway.
But, there are others who would probably
like to do nothing and bleed the government
for everything they can get. That means
bleeding the taxpayers, as well.
It’s these people who must be removed
from the list of government aid recipients to
ensure our tax money is well spent
out of his nostrils."
By far, most of Dear Abby’s problems
deal with love and marriage. The next
biggest problem, she said, is the mother-in
law.
More often than not, Abby’s response i$
better than the question.
"When my readers ask a loaded question;
they get a double-barrelled answer,” she
said.
A 25-year-old woman wrote about her
boyfriend, a 45-year old bachelor who owned
a savings and loan association and 222
parking lots and planned to retire at 50.
"Do you think he’s too old to be considered
eligible?" The woman asked.
“I replied, My dear, I think he’s too
eligible to be considered old!
“Believe me,” she said, “I can’t make up
things as good as the letters I received. ” She
said the best ones are too juicy to be printed.
Her motivation in giving advice is know
ing that she helps people who have recog
nized they have a problem.
“It makes me feel so worthwhile to know I
have made a difference in someone's life,”
she added.
Look elsewhere in today’s edition of the
News for Ms. Van Buren’s “Dear Abby”
column.
carry the author’s signature.
Letters that are not signed will
not be used.
Letters should be no longer than 2
typed written pages.
Letters for the Wednesday issue
of The News should be in the News
office by 5 p.m. Fridays and letters
for the Sunday News should be in
the office by noon Wednesdays.
Send your letters to The Forsyth
County News, P.O. Box 210, Cum
ming, Ga., 30130. Or, bring your
letters by the News’ office at 107
Dahlonega Street in Cumming.
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