Newspaper Page Text
OpEd
By Grover Johnson
The little man sees
times get tougher
A short time before the end of this year, while discussing businesses,
both small and large, a few comments were forthcoming from MI
CHAEL HUGHES, home builder and businessman from east Forsyth
County, that seem to be worth repeating here.
According to Michael, the small business person in these days and
times finds it harder and harder to respond to and keep up with the
myriad forms of information required by Federal and State watchdog
institutions as to financial affairs. It takes up an inordinate amount of
time to put figures in order and get all required forms filled out and
turned in in a timely fashion, especially those going to banks with who
business is done.
With the whole banking industry being watched closely because of a
few large banks risking too much money on questionable loans, etc., it
is almost impossible to get lines of credit approved and other financial
necessities okayed without extensive background facts researched.
“You can’t call your local bank and get okays on the phone anymore,”
says Michael, “You know, doing business used to be fun. It just isn’t
anymore.”
• ••
This observation and reminder came in recently from KEN LANK
FORD of the Deer Creek area off Pilgrim Mill Road. Ken wants to let
folks know not to forget about the sharp detour on Pilgrim Road in
effect now.
“It’s dangerous to approach it too fast. It’s a sharp curve and must be
negotiated with caution, even be drivers who travel the road everyday.
It’s only recently in place and can be easily forgotten until right on top
of it Care must be exercised, especially by pre-dawn travelers off to
work early and late-night returning. And bad, foggy weather will
heighten the danger. Just remind folks to be especially careful in that
area.”
Thanks for the re-reminder, Ken. You’re right. Be careful there!
• ••
In the pet peeves department, VERA BLANCHARD, of the County
Line Road Area, has some thought on people not thinking before
starting their opinions on things and other people.
“It’s too easy to just say what pops into your mind about people
without realizing the possible consequences of loose talk A person’s
feelings and reputation can be hurt very easily by just a few remarks
that might be overheard and misunderstood when heard out of con
text,” Vera says, “I’d just like to see people stop and think before they
say something that might hurt someone else.”
This happens more often than one might imagine, Vera. It’s always
best to stop and consider consequences before saying critical things.
Right, folks?
• ••
TONY TOSCANO, literally from out ’round the Mountain, called in
the other day with these comments:
“You know,” reminiscences Tony, “it used to be, for those unfortu
nate ones of us who have to drive down 400 all the way to work, traffic
was no problem. Now getting on entrance 12 is just like it used to be
farther down, like on entrances three of four.
“Especially after holidays, you get on a 6 a.m. and expect to see no
one for awhile, but you run into a stream of diamonds and rubies
(headlights and tail lights). I think that over these last holidays at least
8,000 people moved in just north of us and commute eveiy day.”
A lot of us have to do it, Tony, and it does seem that way. Ain’t growth
wonderful?
• ••
A letter just received from LLOYD WAGNON, Executive Director of
the Gadsden-Etowah County Tourism Board in Alabama, has some
nice things to say about another recent column in our paper on “South
ern Colloquialism”.
Lloyd sends an observation made by one of his employees who, upon
the approaching winter darkness, said “Boy, It sure does get late early
these days.” Along with the letters, he also sent a booklet with hundreds
of sayings titled “Alabama Utterings.”
Thanks, neighbor. We appreciate that One question, though. How in
the world did you get a copy of that column? Maybe the Forsyth County
News is world-famous after all.
• ••
In JASON CARR’S opinion, “Today’s kids are just not getting the
quality education needed to prepare them for the workplaces or the
real world. I know High School graduates who can hardly read, and
some whose writing and spelling are atrocious. If you can’t communi
cate today, it’s going to get hard to make it!”
Good point, Jason. Anybody else have any thoughts on the subject?
• ••
In answer to a question on New Year’s resolutions, CHARLENE
MARTIN said, “Yes, I made a bunch of them, but I can’t remember
them. They’re all broken by now, anyway.” Ain’t that the truth!
• ••
1
he thinned what was left and finished the job.
Returning next day to see how it looked, he found that it looked
terrible. “Oh, Lord, I’m so ashamed of this job! But what can I do?” A
shaft of light came in the window and shined on four new gallons of
paint “Thank you, Lord, I’ll redo the job. How can I repay you?”
A deep voice resounded. “Paint, and thin no more!”
(Grover Johnson’s ’Round the Mountain column appears in each issue
of the Forsyth County News. To offer comments on the column or to
share an idea for the column telephone Johnson at 889-0782 or write to
him in care of The Forsyth County News, P. O. Box 210, Cumming, GA
30130.)
SAWNEE SAM borrows one from
•DENNIS BROWN, of Ducktown: A
painter who had contracted to paint
one of the local churches ran very
low on paint before the job’s finish.
He had contracted so low on the job,
that to go out and buy more paint
would wipe out his small profits, so
Bits & Pieces
Savoring the simple things is soothing
Remember good old Sugar
Daddy®?
Man, that was heaven. If you’re over
40, likely you can remember skipping
to the comer store as a kid, tightly
clutching that precious nickel or dime
Grandma gave you.
For some reason, any bit of change
that came your way always sent you
running to the penny candy counter at
the old store. But today was special,
you had a whole nickel to play with
and you were going for the gold!
If marketing experts had only
known.
Forget the fancy wrappings, the ra
dio or TV jingles prompting you to buy
a tiny piece of Willy Wonka®
paradise.
You knew what you wanted: a nick
el’s worth of the biggest candy bar or
LETTERScontinued from Page 12A
Plain facts
about SR 159
Numerous misconceptions are cir
culating throughout the state about
the provisions of Senate Resolution
(SR) 159 which if approved, would al
low local school systems to receive
and use the proceeds of a special pur
pose county one percent sales and
use tax for capital outlay projects
(new schools, additional school
buildings, classrooms, and renova
tions to existing school buildings) for
educational purposes.
There is no room for emotionally
clouding the issue of educating our
children. I have therefore, chosen to
present Just The Facts about SR 159:
•This is NOT a new tax! It is a shar
ing of funds currently being generat
ed through county special purpose
sales and use tax.
Currently eight county and two city
local school systems already have the
authority to use the proceeds from a
one sales tax for education.
During the time when the state al
lowed local constitutional amend
ments, the representatives of these
communities had the foresight to try
to balance the responsibility of edu
cating the children of their systems
by ALL of the local people and not by
just property owners.
Current law now requires that any
amendment to the constitution must
be on a statewide basis. Shouldn’t all
Georgians have to pay for what is nec
essary to educate our children? No
precedent is being set here! Let’s just
make it uniformed for all.
•The proceeds from the tax could
ONLY be used to fund capital outlay
projects (new schools, building reno
vations, classrooms). Funds could not
be used for educational instructional
programs such as for the purchase of
textbooks or personnel salaries. In
structional programs would continue
to be funded under the provisions of
the Quality Basic Education (QBE)
Act
•A local school system would not be
able to authorize itselfto levy the spe
cial purpose sales and use tax or
force the local government to give
them revenue generated by the tax.
The local board of education would
in fact have to ask the county commis
sioner(s) to call for a referendum.
Once the issue of a special purpose
sales and use tax for capital outlay
projects is placed on the ballot, local
citizens still would have the opportu
nity to vote it up or down as well as
decided the period of time the tax
would be in place.
•The implementation of a special
purpose sales and use tax for educa
tional capital outlay projects would
help relieve the ad valorem tax bur
den for property owners.
•As it is currently written, SR 159
could provide for a corresponding re
duction in the ad valorem tax proper
ty owners pay.
•It is predicted that 30 percent of
the revenues generated by SR 159
would come from taxpayers who are
NOT residents of a given county or
even the state of Georgia, but rather
shop there or are just passing
through while traveling.
•SR 159 would allow local school
systems an additional option for
funding a portion of the needs (capi
tal outlay projects) for education.
Just as local governments now use
both property tax and education. Just
as local governments now use both
property tax and sales and use tax to
fund the building of facilities and to
provide services, local school sys
tems would be able to likewise.
As representatives of the educa
tion community, we are simply asking
that local school governance leaders
be allowed the option of another
funding source for education that
would equalize the burden of educat
ing its children.
■
Wilma
Martin
the longest lasting candy for the mon
ey. For me, a choice of the longest
lasting Summertime candy treat was
without question the all-time favorite:
the “Sugar Daddy®!”
Sugar Daddy®, a thick rectangular
shaped block of buttery-sweet cara
mel hard tafly-on-a-stick could turn
an otherwise dull and boring hot sum
mer day into a real adventure.
The Senate voted favorably to al
low this amendment to the state con
stitution to be placed on the ballot
The members of the House of Repre
sentatives should also be willing to
let the people decide if they want
their local school system to have this
option. Every Georgian should ask
their House member to vote favor
ably for SR 159. Their yes vote simply
allows the citizens to decide what
they want!
Gary Ashley
Executive Vice President
Georgia School Boards Association
Protection
is needed
In response to the letter regarding
the Animal Protection Division: I to
tally agree it should not be abolished.
Please call or write the people below
and tell them you do not want the
animal protection Act repealed and
SUBJECT: PRIVATE
LANDFILL
A permit is wanted for a privately
owned landfill that would take the
majority of its garbage from Cobb,
Fulton and Gwinnett.
DAILY NUMBER OF TRUCKS:
37 From Gwinnett & Fulton
21 From Cobb
Planning & Zoning Board Meeting:
Tuesday, January 28
6:30 p.m. (Jury Assembly Room 235)
IF YOU DON’T WANT FORSYTH
COUNTY TO BECOME THE DUMP
FOR METRO ATLANTA, PLEASE
ATTEND THE ABOVE MEETING.
Public Notice
FSL CORPORATION has submitted a request to proper authorities seeking approval of a request
for permissive use for the operation of a sanitary landfill.
This property is located approx. 10 miles northwest of Cumming on Old Federal Road approx. 1.5 miles from the int of Matt
Hwy (SR 369) in Land Lots 3,4,5,71,70,69,68,78,77,76,75,74,142,141,140,139,150,149,148,213,212,211,3 rd
District, First Section, Forsyth County, Georgia. The subject property is all or a part of that tract shown on Tax Map #024,
Parcel #OOI and Tax Map #OOI, Parcel #OO4. A total of 640.270 acres is involved. ’
The Forsyth County Planning Commission will conduct a Public Hearing on this request at its regular meeting to be held on
Jan. 28,1992 at 6:30 p.m. in the Jury Assembly Room (235) of the Forsyth County Courthouse, Cumming, Georgia.
Information regarding this request, including a plat of the property prepared by a registered land surveyor, may be
examined in the office of the Department of Planning & Development, Ground Floor,
Forsyth County Courthouse, during regular business hours.
Tfte Planning Commission will determine their recommendations to the Board of Commissioners of Forsyth County based
upon the information presented at the Public Hearing and all interested persons should be in attendance.
The above is a reprint of a public notice that appeared in the Forsyth County News.
CONCERNED CITIZENS OF FORSYTH COUNTY
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS-WEDNESDAY, JANUARY M, IW2-
Why, if you patiently perfected a
slow slurp, and make sure you kept
close count of your playmate’s bor
rowed licks, you could enjoy the fla
vor of your Sugar Daddy® all day long
if you wanted to.
A real treat for a hot summer after
noon was to put Sugar Daddy® in the
freezer in between slurping sessions.
Bazooka Bubblegum® was another
all-time long-lasting favorite.
Why, you could make Bazooka® or
Double-Bubble® last all week just by
placing the well-chewed wad in a
place of safe-keeping like behind your
ear, stuck on the bedpost, or more
preferably, in the freezer.
Once the flavor was all gone, you
could spice it up a bit by eating a few
peanut-butter and jelly-filled soda
the Animal Protection Division
abolished.
•Honorable Thomas Irvin-Comm.
Ga. Dept of Agriculture
19 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Atlanta, Ga. 30334
404-656-3600
•Honorable Zell Miller-Gov.
State Capitol
Atlanta, Ga. 30334
404-656-1776
•Honorable Pierre Howard-Lt. Gov.
State Capitol
Atlanta, Ga. 30334
404-656-1776
•Rep. Henry Reeves
Chairman-House of Agriculture
Rt 2 Box 83
Quitman, Ga. 31643
912-2634051
•Rep. Bill Barnett
P.O. Box 755
Cumming, 30130
•Sen. Nathan Deal
P.O. Box 20522
Gainesville, Ga. 30503
crackers just before placing the used
wad in your mouth.
Today’s overindulged kids may find
these treat-stretchers a bit hard to
swallow because they get too much
too often, as Granny would say.
But it’s the simple things that
bring real joy.
• Like a hug from someone that
loves you,
• a smile when you’re down or a
• red-hot fireball jawbreaker.
... Or memories of a slow-slurp on a
Sugar Daddy® treat.
(Wilma Martin is a columnist and
staff writer for the Dawson Communi
ty News. Her column is a regular fea
ture of The Forsyth County News.)
Against
I am very much opposed to a rock
quarry in the planned location.
As a Forsyth County new-comer
(one year). I moved from Riverdale,
Ga. My home there was approximate
ly seven miles from a quarry. The
blasts were deafening, coming at the
most unexpected times.
The whole house shook Pictures
had to be straightened on the walls.
Dishes in cabinets rattled. Decorator
items would bounce around on ta
bles. Foundations of homes were
cracked.
Cumming'Forsyth County is a very
pleasant, tranquil place to live. We do
not need a quarry here. The trucks
that haul the rock also make terrible
noises, especially when a caravan of
them are delivering to a job site at 5
a.m. in the morning. (It has happened
to me.)
All citizens should strongly oppose
this plan.
Sincerely,
Mary Braselton
PAGE 13A