Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 16A
, FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Wednesday, June 10,1908
Opinion
Summer: School’s out
and business is booming
chool is out for students and soon will be for teachers, so summer,
though not officially here until later this month, has arrived. The
school system’s annual recognition picnic was held Monday to
salute distinguished contributions to the education of Forsyth
County students.
What summer means is busy times for families, planning for
S
and taking vacations, and finding answers to those expected “I’m bored.
What can I do?” questions.
With the Monday “grand opening” of Safety Town at Daves Creek
Elementary School, registered preschoolers can learn about safety issues
related to electricity, talking to strangers and more. The camp is for children
who will be entering kindergarten in August. Photo coverage of the opening
ceremonies will appear in Friday’s edition.
During the nine-day camp, the children will be visited by representatives
in the community - police officers, firefighters and even an employee of
Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation. The purpose of the session is to
educate young children on everyday dangers and to prevent unnecessary
accidents.
Teen volunteers and donations are still needed for Safety Town. Also, reg
istration is continuing for both sessions at Chattahoochee Elementary and for
slots in Session II at Daves Creek Elementary. The fee is S3O, which includes
snacks, supplies and T-shirts.
For more information, call Forsyth County Parks and Recreation at (770)
781-2215.
• • •
And if you’re looking for activities for your children this summer, check
out some of the other offerings with the county recreation program, the
Cumming Recreation and Parks Department and the Sawnee Center.
Swimming, gymnastics, basketball, tennis, art and drama are some of the
offerings available in Forsyth County.
A number of businesses and child care providers are also offering special
summertime attractions which parents can check out to keep youngsters
active and supervised.
While the summer break is here, don’t think business is slowing down in
Forsyth County. Just a sampling of the buzz with business and industry:
Sun Trust Bank is breaking ground for his new Forsyth County regional
facility Wednesday at 9 a.m. The facility is to be built at the intersection of
Hwy. 20 and Haw Creek Parkway.
KMart in Lakeland Plaza will be officially opened during a June 12 rib
bon-cutting as Big KMart Store after its recent remodeling.
Later this month will bring the opening of the new movie theater and the
festivities at Publix at Midway.
The Cumming/Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce joined with
TrammellCrow Company in announcing that company’s plans to build an
office development, McGinnis Park, adjacent to Windward Park. The official
announcement was made June 4 at the Chamber office. TrammellCrow is
making application to join the Chamber’s growing membership of 900-plus.
Also Chamber-related, the Chamber’s 11th annual golf tournament was to
tee off Tuesday at the Polo Golf and Country Club.
Letter policy
Do you agree? Do you disagree? The Forsyth County News welcomes letters on cur
rent events and issues of public concern. The following is the letter policy of the Forsyth
County News:
Names and hometowns of letter writers will be included for publication, without excep
tion. Telephone numbers will not be published; Neither will this information be avail
able to the public. Letters should be limited to 350 words and may be edited or con
densed. The same writer or group may only submit one letter per month for
consideration. Letters should be submitted by noon Wednesday for Sunday publica
tion. We do not publish poetry or blanket letters, and generally do not publish letters
concerning consumer complaints. Unsigned or incorrectly identified letters will be with
held. The Forsyth County News reserves the right to edit letters according to length
when necessary.
Mail letters to:
Forsyth County News
P.O. Box 210
Cumming, Ga 30130
or hand deliver letters to the business office, 302 Old Buford Road.
CARTOONISTS' VIEWS ON THE NEWS
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Governors reviewed by Governing
Consistency: Common trait of ‘best’
Three Republican candidates for gover
nor say they wish the FBI or at least a good
tracking dog would join the hunt for their
elusive front-running colleague Guy Millner.
They can’t find him anywhere.
They’re looking in the wrong places.
Hey, fellas, you’ll never find him in a debate
hall. Try a country eatery. Guy magically
appeared at Vittles Case in Marietta last
weekend to tell the awed Republican faithful
precisely what he would do for them once
he’s in the Governor’s Mansion.
First, he would abolish “the most hated
tax in Georgia,” the despised ad valorem tax
on automobiles. If Georgians elect Millner,
he promised, we won’t have to pay that tax
any longer; the state will pay it.
Sounds good. Os course, somebody
might want to whisper to Guy: “We - you
and me and everybody else in Vittles - are
the state, which means we’d be paying the
tax under a new name, but maybe one not
quite as dreadful as ‘ad valorem.’”
Anyway, Millner at Vittles was on a roll.
So why spoil a delicious breakfast and fine
presentation? He talked about how much
mileage he had run up on his Chevrolet, and
how wife Ginny would prepare a vegetable
plate so the two of them could eat dinner (or
was it supper?) and watch baseball on TV.
Millner has already spent a pot of gold
and will spend another pot or two to con
vince us that he is a regular guy who would
make a first-rate governor. Perhaps he
would. Despite the malarkey about
Chevrolets and vegetable plates, he is a per
son of substance.
Hardly a businessman in the region can
match his accomplishments in the world of
commerce or his meteoric rise from door-to
door peddler to corporate giant.
Millner’s performance at Vittles set me
to thinking and even doing a little research.
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Shipp
Who are the nation’s best governors? And
how closely does Millner come to fitting
their profile?
Governing magazine, the national bible
of state and local'government wonks, pub
lished in its June edition a piece on the best
and worst governors.
Here is the “best” list compiled “in no
particular order” by Executive Editor Alan
Ehrenhalt:
Ned McWherter of Tennessee, George
Voinovich of Ohio, Roy Romer of Colorado,
Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, John
Engler of Michigan and Zell Miller of
Georgia.
... set out a coherent
policy agenda and
accomplished most of it
or projected an image
of competence— 99
Each of these chief executives, Ehrenhalt
wrote, “set out a coherent policy agenda and
accomplished most of it or projected a con
sistent image of competence and authority.”
He added: “There’s one interesting thing
that all these governors have in common. On
the day they were sworn in, they had served
in government for a very long time.
“McWhorter spent 18 years in the
Tennessee House of Representatives, 14 of
them as its speaker. Romer was a state legis
lator for eight years and state treasurer for
10. Voinovich was a legislator, a county
auditor, a county commissioner, and then a
three-term mayor of Cleveland. Miller spent
four years serving in the Georgia Senate and
16 years presiding over it as lieutenant gov
ernor.” Thompson and Engler have spent
their entire adult lives in public office.
Apparently not wanting to create too
many new enemies, Governing ducked out
making a list of worst governors.
Instead, Ehrenhalt gave us this descrip
tion of “the ideal candidate for gubernatorial
failure in the 1990 s”:
“He’s a successful self-made business
man, disdainful of government and uncom
fortable with politics, accustomed to having
his way in the private entrepreneurial world.
He doesn’t know many legislators or want to
know them. His main interest in the bureau
cracy is in humbling it. He has no desire for
a long career in politics - he just wants to
come in, straighten things out and return to
private life before he’s contaminated. He’s
very smart, and articulate. He’s just not very
smart about the things governors need to
know.”
The Governing editor cited Gary
Johnson, Republican governor of New
Mexico, as an example of the failed busi
nessman-turned-governor. My own mind
went to Guy Millner. But, of course, he has
not been elected - yet.
Bill Shipp is editor of Bill Shipp’s
Georgia, a weekly newsletter on government
and business. He can be reached at P. 0.
Box 440755, Kennesaw, GA 30144 or by
calling (770) 422-2543, e-mail:
bshipp@bellsouth.net, Web address:
http://www. billshipp. com.