Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 16A
L FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, Fabruary 1,1898
The Forsyth County News
Opinion
c
This is a page of opinions - ours, yours and others.
Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the
/iS writers and artists and may not reflect our views.
. t
United Way campaign ends
with smiles, warm hearts
Strong leadership in the community, together with the
leadership of United Way of Forsyth County president
Dennis Stockton, campaign chairman Joni Booker and
others “resulted in a very strong and successful cam
paign,” according to United Way executive director Terry
Borges.
And it has. Consider that the 1998 campaign received $512,433 -
over the $500,000 goal. The amount represents an increase in
United Way giving from last year of nearly SIOO,OOO.
And Borges praised the job well done by the volunteers. “We can
leave with smiles on our faces and warmth in our heart for a job
well done.”
On the heels of campaign success comes the changing of the
guard, with new 1998 officers for the United Way taking office
Jan. 28. Providing strong leadership
for the next United Way year will be:
President, Joni Booker; Vice
President/Campaign, Ann Crow; Vice
President/Allocations, Janice Linton;
Secretary, Zuma Banks; and
Treasurer, Tim Perry.
The efforts of all the volunteers are
noteworthy and, on behalf of the
Forsyth Countians who will be served
by the 14 United Way agencies, we
say thanks for opening your heart and
helping ... the United Way.
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What About Levi?
«*» •-.
This is another plea to ANY- there. If anybody has remembered
BODY that might know some- anything since then, even if you
'. thing about the disappearance or don’t think it might be important,
death of our little Levi Frady. I please call. If you don’t want to
don’t know if anybody realizes get involved or you feel bad
how hard this is to write, but this because you didn’t come forward
is the only thing we can do for before now, you don’t have to give
him now. Our hearts go out to any- your name, I’m sure everything
one that has lost a child, for what- will be kept confidential. If you
ever reason, because missing them know something don’t let it keep
never stops. We just have to keep eating at you, because you can’t
remembering that they are with forget it. It happened on Little
God and they will never hurt any- Mill Road probably between 6:30
r more. This is for the people that and 7 p.m. It was on a Wednesday,
don’t know or think it can’t hap- Somebody killed a wonderful
pen to them. It has been over three defenseless innocent little eleven
’ months now and it still seems like year old boy, and we loved him so
.it was yesterday. I guess part of much. Please help us because you
the reason is we need closure, but might be helping yourself or some
the biggest reason for our pain is other precious child.
■ all the children that are left. The Janice Hamby and
onjy thing we know is the person the rest of Levi’s
or persons responsible is still out brokenhearted family
Letters
Urbanized customs costing
the taxpayers of the county
Dear Editor:
Taxpayers have plenty of money! Sheriff
Hendrix’s and the Board of Commissioners’
removal of the $5 fee for animal complaints
is now going to give the county taxpayers
ap. opportunity build and maintain a dog
kennel. According to Sheriff Hendrix, it’s
the ■taxpayers’ responsibility.
’ Tb quote from your article on Sunday,
Jan. 25, 1998, “Complaints to the animal
control department increased by 383 percent
fiom 1996 to 1997. The department
received 14,273 phone calls in 1997. . .
Hn’t it amazing what the removal of a $5
fee can cost the taxpayers?
Urbanized elected officials spend money
according to urbanized customs. Watch out
Horsy (h County!
r . K Sincerely,
Michael P. Bennett
■ Cumming
' (Editor’s note: Michael P. Bennett is a
former Forsyth County commissioner.)
Sign ordinance should
he enforced by Sheriff
• Dear Editor,
1 Sheriff Hendrix ran a full page ad in the
Fdfsyth County News giving his 1997
Annual Report. In it he listed the revenues
to the General Fund. He stated the
Control Department played a large
4$ the amount collected. The amount
$8,260 more than in 1996.
t„ iferisgreat BUT a lot more could have
'ImR
been returned had the Sign Ordinance been
enforced. Any isolation of this ordinance
has a SSO-$ 1,000 fine.
A new ordinance was adopted and
became effective January 1997. It was not
being enforced and I called Sheriff
Hendrix’s office numerous times. His secre
tary said he was out or in meetings and
would return my call. When it appeared he
wasn’t going to call me, I called back and
asked to speak to someone that could help
in getting this ordinance enforced. I spoke
with Lt. Jim Poe. He said he was assigning
an officer full time to handle this ordinance.
There has been some improvement, but it is
very evident this is not being actively
enforced.
Chapter 20 of the Ordinance covers
placement etc. of Weekend Directional
Signs (subdivision signs). Portions of this
ordinance are (a) Signs allowed Friday 3
p.m. until sundown Sunday, (b) Signs are to
be permanently attached to stakes and both
signs and stakes shall be removed, (c)
Minimum of one sign every half mile unless
a change of direction. (D) Shall have the
name, address and phone number of the
developer. Chapter 9 covers other signs. A
portion of this chapter says signs shall not
be attached to poles, trees etc.
Just ride down any road and it is clearly
seen this ordinance is being violated daily.
Chapter 32 of the Official Code of
Georgia also covers placement of signs etc.
32-1-9 states it SHALL be the duty of state
and local law enforcement officers to
enforce this law. Would if not appear the
Sheriff's office is in violation by not enforc
ing these ordinances?
If you would like to? see these illegal
W2® / V X. «/ Ks
"If plying the legislature with free gifts
didn't work, then who'd need lobbyists?"
Show time at the State Legislature
These are scary times. * Eliminate the
The state treasury is over- state property tax.
flowing. The Legislature is * Cut taxes for
in session. And the election ? Rill everybody by 1 per
is just around the corner. ou." cent.
If you worry that some IHHKAIJh Oilipp * Let taxpayers
legislators will only posture deduct their ad val-
during an election-year ses- orem taxes on cars
sion, fret no more. Because from their income-tax
you’re exactly right. Posing bill.
for political reasons is the order of the day
until these devious souls in the House and
Senate decide it’s time to go home and
restart their campaign & cash engines.
Last week’s lawmaking activities gave
us at least two shining examples of the
Legislature at its show-boating worst.
First there was the tax cut. Just about
everybody wants taxes reduced. The first
rule of Georgia politics in an election year
is: Cut taxes! It pleases the voters more
than anything else, except perhaps passing
a law to make it easier to purchase a pis
tol.
So the Democrats carried out their
Christmastide promise. Both the House
and Senate passed a bill to increase our
income tax exemptions and reduce rev
enues from the state income tax by $205
million.
That was the good news. The bad news
might have been what the Republicans
tried to do with the Democrats’ tax cut.
GOP legislators sensed they were about to
be flattened by the majority party’s tax
cutting juggernaut.
If Republicans have been gaining
strength and influence, you would not
have known it from last week’s legislative
session.
As the Democrats’ modest tax reduc
tion bill flew through the Legislature,
leaders of the fiscally responsible
Republican Party attempted to:
signs cleared from our roadsides, call the
Sheriff and let him know you want this ordi
nance enforced.
Ruby Cook
Cumming
Bowen’s comments on
smoking - Outlandish
Dear Editor,
I was shocked by Commissioner Julian
Bowen’s outlandish remarks on Jan. 27 at
the public hearing on creating designated
smoking areas in the new administration
building, instead of keeping the building
smoke free. I watched in disbelief, as
Bowen bragged about coming from a long
line of lucky smokers, and implied that you
would be doing yourself a favor to smoke,
because it was a lot better to die of lung
cancer than Alzheimer’s Disease. I hope I
misunderstood when I heard him say that
maybe it shouldn’t be against the law for
minors to smoke. I found his performance
arrogant, ignorant, insensitive and tremen
dously insulting.
I also hope I misunderstood Mr. Bowen
when he admitted to smoking in the new
building himself on at least four occasions,
and that he knows of at least six county
employees who smoke in the building on a
daily basis. Surely, Mr. Bowen with his past
legal experience knows that breaking a
county ordinance is a misdemeanor punish
able by a fine of SSO-SI,OOO. In addition,
does the term “aiding and abetting” mean
anything to Mr. Bowen? Technically this is
what he is doing each time he allows this
behavior to go on without reporting it to the
* Phase out the income tax entirely.
* Double the tax breaks Democrats
offered.
* Index exemptions to make the tax
cuts inflation-proof.
Os course, the Republicans had no
hope that any of their amendments would
pass. They simply wanted to make the
Democrats’ tax bill look paltry. If, by
some miracle, the Legislature had adopted
the GOP package, at least a third of the
state’s budget would have vanished. Wall
Street would have trashed the state’s top
notch credit rating. Georgia government
would have found itself on the brink of
financial chaos.
Senate Minority Whip Eric Johnson of
Savannah, who introduced the amend
ments, said not to worry; he was assured
all his measures would fail. Why did he
waste time proffering them? It’s show
time, remember?
Then there was the abolish-parole bill.
If Republicans looked childish in trying to
counter the tax cuts, Democrats seemed
befuddled by the parole issue.
The initial abolish-parole bill in the
Senate created a curious coalition of oppo
sition. Republicans thought the bill was
too lenient. Blacks thought it too tough. So
white Republicans and black Democrats
joined forces to shoot down the initial res
olution.
But the Democratic leadership was
proper authorities. Am I mistaken in believ
ing these ordinances are meant for every
one, or are Mr. Bowen and these county
employees allowed to obey only the ordi
nances they find agreeable?
Even though a petition was signed by
the majority of county employees saying
they wanted the building to remain smoke
free, Mr. Bowen chose to ignore their voice
and overwhelming public opinion to push
his own self serving agenda.
Mr. Bowen also stated he believed it was
not good policy for county employees to
smoke on the front steps of the administra
tion building. I couldn’t agree more. I alsc
can’t believe there is not a county official
with the courage to relegate smokers to ths
back of the building. This is only commcn
sense and courtesy.
I hope the people of Forsyth County vill
not forget these embarrassing antics wlen
Bowen’s term expires in three years.
Tammy Cummings
Cumning
Commission should
manage its own affairs
Dear Editor:
As a taxpayer residing in Forsyth
County, I write this letter to venttny total
dissatisfaction with our county Board of
Commissioners. It is evident to me that the
majority of the Board enjoys exercising
authority towards trivial maters in the
County. The recent attack on the Sheriff for
parking his car in a public area indicates to
me that the board needs to take (are of those
things of importance rather that wasting the
determined to pass something, almost any
thing, to let the folks back home know that
they were tough on crime. The Senate
finally approved a hodge-podge resolution
to abolish paroles that, according to leg
islative analysts, would accomplish the
following:
Erase appeals for executive clemen
cy in death-penalty cases, thus jeopardiz
ing the constitutionality of Georgia’s
death-penalty law.
Strip the Boird of Pardons and
Paroles of the power to pardon anyone,
including persons wrongly convicted, and
eliminate any appeal for restoration of
civil rights.
Require voters to approve a second
constitutional amendment to correct the
defects in the Senate version.
The state Horse will try this week to
undo the Senate’/ shoddy work on the no
parole bill. What is likely to emerge is a
weak proposed constitutional amendment
calling for specific sentences for certain
violent crimes, however, no constitutional
amendment isiequired, our legal experts
tell us.
As it done in the past, the
Legislature ciuld simply pass a law classi
fying certain offenses as parole-proof, and
go on to other business.
Ah, but that would be too simple and
straightforward and would get too little
public notice in this year of the ballot box,
when shovmanship outweighs substance
and prudeice on every issue.
I
Bill Jhipp is editor of Bill Shipp’s
Georgia a weekly newsletter on govern
ment ard business. He can be reached at
P. 0. Boc 440755, Kennesaw, Ga. 30144 or
by coiling (770) 422-2543, e-mail:
bshipf@bellsouth.net, Web address:
http://vww. billshipp. com.
taxpayers’ money on where a law enforce
ment officer parks his car. Again and again
th/ Board of Commissioners continues to
enbarrass the citizens of Forsyth County
vith their actions, which results in adverse
publicity in the various newspapers and
jews media throughout the state of Georgia.
Recently, the Board of Commissioners
again attacked/ the Sheriff’s Department for
granting a five percent (5%) salary increase.
To me, since our last major election in the
County, the only bright spot that has result
ed from that election is the Sheriff’s
Department. No doubt he has greatly
improved the image of the department,
which I am sure, has resulted in a boost in
morale for each officer and employee.
Again, the Board of Commissioners
have over-stepped their boundaries and
wasted the texpayers’ money by even ques
tioning the Sheriff’s actions. It is my under
standing that the money is budgeted and
available for the salary increases. Because
of Board intervention, the taxpayers must
absorb the cost of the lawsuit filed by the
Sheriff’s Department. If I had been in the
same position as the Sheriff I would have
taken the same action.
Please understand that I do not know,
nor have I ever met Sheriff Hendrix. I did
not write this letter to praise the Sheriff, but
to criticize the actions of the Forsyth
County Commissioners. The Board has big
ger responsibilities, which I am not sure
they understand, than to attack, a law
enforcement officer for parking his car in-a
public parking place. I believe that they
should let the department heads manage
See LETTERS. Page 17A