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OpEd
By Grover Johnson
Bond issue becomes
an issue for voters
to seriously debate
Quite a few comments are coming in relating to some of the issues
that are to be voted upon in the upcoming primary election, especially
the issue of passing or not passing a new local school bond issue.
SHEILA A. WARD, of Cumming, had some thoughts on the subject that
sort of runs up the concensus of opinion that we’ve been hearing:
“Although quality in the educational process as well as adequate
facilities are very important, I think that, especially in repressed eco
nomic times like right now, it’s hard and unfair to try to get more money
from property owners who already feel pinched enough economical
ly,” says Sjjiela. “I think that maybe the Board of Education should wait
to ask for more money from people for more expenditures.”
In our opinion, you’re right Sheila. In fact, there’s a Senate Resolu
tion, #159 that is being studied by our state legislators right now in the
current session that if passed and signed into law by the Governor,
would allow a general election for people to decide to change the State
Constitution to give a county the right to decide if it wants to allow
portions of local option sales tax assessments to be used by its Educa
tion Department as a funding adjunct
This seems to be a better way to go about it It would spread the school
bonding taxes more equitably among the populace. What do you think
folks?
• • ••
A recent occurrence lets us reflect upon the spirit and “gumption”
that more than occasionally shows up in individuals. Not long ago,
MRS. LIZZIE MOORE, a spritely lady 84 years young, had an accident
while home alone at her daughter’s house, where she resides. She fell
and couldn’t manage to get up. She called Barbara, her daughter.
Rushing home with help, Barbara got her mother up and back in her
favorite cross-stitching place on the sofa after checking and making
sure everything was intact and all systems go.
“Are you sure you’re all right, mother?” asked a worried Barbara.
“No, I’m not,” replied Lillie. “It’s way past my lunchtime and I’m
hungry. Fix me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” Just goes to show,
folks, we got to keep our priorities straight. First things first
• •••
Upon innocently entering our newsroom the other day, yours truly
was beset upon by a few of the female reporters present concerning a
topic that had been brought up in an earlier column. The gist ofthe item
was the question of whether it is proper or not to introduce oneself to a
person you see and would like to meet just based on outer appearances.
“It is not proper,” said the obvious spokesperson, our own ace report
er, KRISTIN JEFFRIES.
“I wouldn’t do that myself. Normally there is a slim chance you will
have anything in common with a person who is approaching you solely
based on your appearance.” She went on to say that they thought it
would only be proper if a common acquaintance were present to do an
introduction.
Folks, I barely escaped being accused of stating only the male’s point
of view! Now, I ask you! Anyway, we need some help and lots of input
here! How ’bout letting us know how you feel about it, both males and
females.
• •••
A short item here, from JOHN GAUSEPOHL of the Pilgrim Mill
area. “A lot of people think that working crossword puzzles is just a
waste of time,” John says, “but they can actually help enhance and add
to a person’s vocabulary. Maybe they ought to add crossword puzzle
solving classes to the school curriculum. It might actually help make
understanding words and learning better reading habits fun work to
do!” Good idea, John. Hum... it might actually work.
• •••
Again, folks, before we get to the meat of the matter, a reminder to
you to get your entries in for our “unusual nickname” contest Howev
er, since it is a write-in-scenario, instead of ending it this next Wednes
day, in order for you to get them in on time, we’ve extended it a week.
So, instead of announcing winners this next week, the contest will
extend an extra week. Winners will be announced a week from this
coming Wednesday. Send your entries to:
Forsyth County News
P. 0. Box 210
Cumming, Ga. 30130
• •••
A call the other day from SHIRLEY POWELL of the Greenwood
area, might give us some food for thought Shirley’s comment was,
“With the influx of population that our county is experiencing, I won
der if our leaders are planning ahead enough to insure adequate
delivery of services, such as water, electricity, etc. to meet the needs of
an expanding inhabitant growth.
“In the next three to five years, especially with the possibility of the
outer perimeter becoming more and more of a reality, growth and
service demand is certainly going to increase tremendously.”
You’re so right, Shirley. Then again, we don’t want haphazard, ran
dom overdevelopment, either. If the expanding business and develop
ment base begins to exceed capability servicing, we just might run into
the same problem as some of our neighboring counties, that is, the
possibility of a state moratorium on expansion until services provided
can meet the needs of development
tion in this column or to offer a suggestion, telephone 889-0782. Or write
him in care of The Forsyth County News, P. O.Box 210, Cumming, GA
30130. Grover Johnson’s column ’Round, the Mountain is a regular
feature of the Forsyth County News.)
SAWNEE SAM SEZ
This one from TOM OLSEN. Over
heard in a hardware store, “Do these
electronic stud finders really work?”
“Sure do,” responded the handsome
clerk, “everytime I go by, they beep.”
(For comment concerning informa-
Olympic movers and shakers needed
If all goes as planned, the 1996
Olympics will leave Atlanta with:
• A state-of-the-art baseball stadi
um for the Braves, better than any oth
er such facility in the country.
• A monorail line between Atlanta
and Stone Mountaia
• A compound of student dormito
ries, businesses and low-rent housing
to replace dilapidated and crime-rid
den Techwood Homes.
Trouble is, nothing seems to be go
ing as planned. Based on what has
been done so far, here is what post-
Olympics Atlanta looks like:
The Braves will be playing in either
Cobb or Gwinnett County. There will
be no new rail line to Stone Mountain.
And Techwood will be just what it is
now, an eyesore to visitors and a
nightmare for residents.
Nothing is getting done. Inertia has
taken charge. That is not the fault of
the Atlanta Committee on the Olym
pic Games (ACOG). My goodness,
those folks are as busy as can be. At
least a dozen of them have just flown
off to France to observe first-hand the
Winter Olympics. That trip is not just
a junket, by the way. It is expected to
produce at least one fat sponsorship
for the Georgia games.
Back home, the agents from ACOG
are arm-twisting more sponsors and
Ethics & Religion
Prayer breakfast is a moving event
Since the days of President Eisen
hower, there has been a “National
Prayer Breakfast” attended by the
President, Vice President and their
wives, the Cabinet, Members of Con
gress and the Senate, ambassadors
and 4,000 friends jammed into sever
al ballrooms at the Washington Hil
ton. The annual tradition has spread
to every state and 150 foreign
countries.
This year, it was a particularly mov
ing event, thanks to the message by
the Russian-born director of the Na
tional Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav
Rostropovich, who was in Paris when
the Soviet coup was attempted Au
gust 19, which happened to be the
Feast of the Transfiguration. “Slava”
(as President Bush called him) went
to the airport, bought a ticket to To
kyo, knowing that the plane stopped
in Moscow. At great personal risk he
got off in Moscow, and went to Rus
sian “White House,” joining Boris
Yeltsin.
In his heavily accented English,
Slava said he saw the junta’s press
conference in his Paris apartment
“Watching and listening, I was horri
fied. I understood that the terror that
had reigned in my country for over 70
years was returning.
“I closed my eyes and felt in my
inner being the music of the Bth Sym
phony of Dimitri Shostakovich. The
music was quiet devastating, and
evocative of the suffering of the com
poser. What I heard was a return of
the lies, deceit, of trampled human
dignity. I understood in that mystic
moment that I was being summoned
by a power that was useless to resist”
The next morning he went to the
Russian White House where he spent
three days. “During those three days,
like never before in my life, I prayed
in the middle of the spirit of Christ
During that first night while I was
waiting for the attack, we were sure
of the nobility of death.
“There were 30,000 unarmed peo
ple defending those of us who volun
tarily locked ourselves in the Parlia
ment Building. But what are those
numbers compared to the combined
forces of the KGB, the Army and mili
tia, united by the presence of the
junta?
“It rained all night. We learned lat
er that the attack had been planned
by helicopter, depositing troops on
the roof of the White House. It was
aborted. The junta could not have
known they planned the overthrow
on the Feast of the Transfiguration,”
said the balding maestro.
“I am so certain that we have been
saved through the intervention of
God ... When I first went out of the
White House at 3 in the morning I had
a constant expectation of attack. I
walked among unarmed men vol
unteers, defenders surrrounding the
building. I saw many, many, MANY
symbols of their faith, being used as
defense,” like 2,000 Bibles given to
the army.
“In the silence of the night, broken
by the sounds of moving tank treds,
they were of faith. It was almost pal
pable. That morning it was the sensa
tion of all of us that the future for the
country came only from God.”
Hunched over the microphone, Ro
stropovich read his conclusion,
“There are not words enough to cover
the spectrum of emotions I felt during
those three days. If you in the states
asked of those events, almost literally
I am aware of His power and of days
of humanity and of pain with my
■Vy.
* JH
Bill
Shipp
working on TV rights to pay the $1.2
billion tab (or is it $1.5 billion?) for the
Mother of All Olympics, the Centenni
al of the Games, to be held right here
in River City.
Never mind that Olympics czar Bil
ly Payne has dropped a veil of secrecy
over planning for the games that
makes the CIA seem a fish bowl by
comparison.
The real problem here is not the
lack of dedication or the work ethic of
ACOG. It is the inability of Atlanta’s
leaders to agree to get going
Take the Olympic stadium, for in
stance. It will be the centerpiece for
the games. It is to be built near the
present Atlanta-Fulton County stadi
um. After the Olympic athletes de
part, it will be refitted as a U-shaped
baseball stadium with Atlanta’s sky
line as a spectacular backdrop for the
outfield bleachers.
people.”
Everyone jumped to their feet ap
plauding the brave musician of God.
Gen. Colin Power, Chairman ofthe
Joint Chiefs of Staff, thanked God for
the bravery of those in Operation De
sert Storm who “went to war, as Abra
ham Lincoln went to war with the
faith that right makes might Without
Your sure presence among them, we
know that victory would never have
come.
“We now pray for peace as the air
craft that were built to carry our
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That is the plan. But get this, the
plan and agreements for the stadium
were supposed to be finished by
March 1. That is barely three weeks
away. Last week, Atlanta Mayor May
nard Jackson and Fulton Commission
Chairman Michael Lomax couldn’t
even agree on a negotiator to work out
plans for the stadium.
Even if a negotiator is chosen next
week, the likelihood of completing
the agreement by the March I dead
line is nil. That throws the whole pro
ject behind schedule.
Details of the stadium design have
to be worked out An agreement with
the Braves to play there must be
reached. That is not even close. The
Braves want to manage the stadium in
the same way the Hawks run the
Omni. Local officials maintain that
the Atlanta-Fulton County Recrea
tion Authority should administer the
new ball park, just as it runs the pre
sent one-on the buddy and brother
in-law system.
Team President Stan Kasten has
said the Braves won’t play on the new
grounds if the club doesn’t get a con
tract to its liking Such an agreement
would put the Braves in charge and
leave the payroll-bloated Recreation
Authority out in the cold. It also would
take the taxpayers off the hook for
paying any deficit for the stadium.
troops to war now carry food and
medicine to our former enemies... As
seen in Desert Storm, Your presence
among them surpassed 10,000
batallions.”
Billy Graham, who spoke at Ike’s
first Prayer Breakfast, concluded:
“The theme seems to have been
peace. The great peace was bought
for us 2000 years ago at the cross
where Jesus Christ reached out with
one hand and took the hand of man
and with the other, took the hand of
the Father, and brought us together 1 ’
'Atlanta, \ Original Sp&it S6oe SfucialiAt".
If the stadium is to be ready for the
Olympics by 1996 and for the Braves
by 1997, detailed plans should be fin
ished this year so construction can be
gin in 1993.
If no agreement is reached, then
what? Plan B for throwing up a
makeshift stadium, not necessarily in
the inner city of Atlanta, to host the
games, then tearing it down after
ward. As for the Braves, welcome to
Smyrna or Snellville.
The grand plans for Techwood re
main in the table-pounding stage. No
one can decide what to do about Tech
wood or even how to begin. The air
is filled with argument and grandiose
schemes. Insiders say the Upturned
Palm casts a long shadow over that
project
The monorail to Stone Mountain is
still in the dream phase where it is
likely to remain far into the next
century.
No sweat, say some optimistic souls
on ACOG. The Olympics of Atlanta are
still more than four years away. All
that needs to be done is raise a thou
sand-million dollars, build a stadium,
a set of dormitories and a railroad.
There’s plenty of time left, right?
(Shipp is editor of BUI Shipp’s Geor
gia, a weekly newsletter on govern
ment and business.)
Mike
McManus
(Mike McManus is a nationally syndi
cated columnist. To respond to com
ments in this column write McManus
in care of The Forsyth County News,
P. 0.80x210, Cumming , Ga. 30130.)
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