Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 10A
, FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Wtln—<toy, J«nu»ry 13,1898
Opinion
North Forsyth High band
represents community,
school well at Outback
mong 29 bands com
peting at the Outback
Bowl Festival, the
North Forsyth High
School Raiders
Marching Band was a
A
standout in Tampa, Fla.
The band, which was under the
direction of new band director Tim
Keyser, placed in all of its categories,
taking first place trophies for jazz per
formance and parade marching in
Class 11. The band also won second
place for the concert performance and
third place for the marching/field
show category.
Considering that some of the band
members no doubt went through
emotional upheavals with the
November resignation of director
David Carnes, the students, their par
ents, volunteers and other chaperones
who stepped up to the plate and
devoted additional time to see the
bowl invitation through saw those
efforts pay off in the smiles and
shouts of success.
The school received the invitation
last spring to participate in the half
time show at the Outback Bowl, and
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Forsyth County News
I ; P.O. Box 210
Cumming, Ga. 30028
What do you think? responses do not require a signature.
L J
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CARTOONISTS' VIEWS ON THE NEWS
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the band had been preparing for the
big event all school year. However,
with Carnes no longer directing the
band, there were initial concerns
voiced by some parents. What would
be the future of the band? The trip?
The future of the band hinged on the
student leaders who stepped forward
- and there were leaders among the
musicians.
There were also members of the
community who stepped up to offer
their assistance with musical expertise
and others who worked behind the
scenes to make sure the show went
on.
School officials were perhaps a bit
reluctant to seek publicity for the
approaching trip - between the holi
days’ fast arrival, concluding the
1998 year and addressing the fallout
of a band director and the school sys
tem’s search for a replacement.
The Outback Bowl trip was a learn
ing experience for the band members
and a shining example of commit
ment and devotion which paid off in
perhaps a once-in-a-life-time journey
to showcase their talents. They repre
sented this community well.
xml A W//i M
“No doubt about it...the whole state's got Falcon Fever!"
Will Roy appreciate the challenges, too?
Os course, Gov. Roy Barnes thanks Gov.
Zell Miller. What else would you expect him
to do?
The new governor owes the old gover
nor. Barnes might not be in the Mansion if it
weren’t for Miller. At the beginning of the
primary campaign, Miller was not too high
on Barnes. Then he saw Roy was The Boy,
the only hope for the Democrats if they
wanted to hang onto the governor’s office
and the Legislature.
So Miller went to work for Barnes. He
not only assisted him in winning the elec
tion, he also helped him capture a victory of
nearly landslide proportions.
When Barnes says he appreciates what
Miller has done, he means it.
But Miller has done more than boost
Barnes on the campaign trail. Governor Zell
leaves him a state in fairly good shape.
66
Barnes will inherit an
unprecedented surplus
in the state treasury.
Barnes will inherit an unprecedented sur
plus in the state treasury. That is a big favor.
In 1991, Miller received from his predeces
sor a bare cupboard and a recession, both of
which gave the Miller administration a slow
and rocky start.
Miller also leaves behind some talented
and competent state administrators. Rebecca
Paul, a Republican and one-time beauty
queen from Illinois, has to be ranked among
the best lottery managers on the globe.
Though he is not universally adored, the
English refugee, Stephen Portch, is general
ly regarded as a first-rate university system
chancellor who has given Georgia higher
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IMO Bill
Shipp
education a fresh outlook and a dream of
greatness.
Miller also has made certain Barnes will
not get bored or lazy in his first few weeks
in office. Roy will have a few challenges,
just to keep him on his toes.
For instance:
• What is Barnes going to do about the
air pollution problem, a.k.a. traffic conges
tion, a.k.a. suburban sprawl? Will Barnes
have the will to tell developers “No”? Or to
instruct county commissioners not to over
burden their infrastructures? Or to tell
bankers to stop lending developers money to
overbuild more malls and subdivisions? Did
Miller have the will to do those things?
We’ll never know. He didn’t even try. He left
those questions for a successor to answer.
• How will Barnes treat State School
Superintendent Linda Schrenko and her
Department of Education? Miller treated her
swell. When her state board of education
balked at some of her unusual proposals,
Miller re-staffed it for her. When an upstart
Democrat tried to beat her for re-election,
Miller dispatched his former adviser, Rick
Dent, to show her how to save her job. Now,
her department is caught up in a multi-mil
lion-dollar computer scandal. Barnes has
asked the state to give $44 million back to
local school systems to cover unexpected
year 2000 computer updates after DOE
failed to provide promised software.
Schrenko and DOE also have been involved
in costly computer contracts that were let on
the basis of a single bid and never com
pleted. More important, Miller turned over
to Schrenko improvement of the public
schools, grades K-12. Some professional
education groups, who are among her sever
est critics, say the schools aren’t much better
than they were when Schrenko took office.
Can that be true, Governor Roy?
• How will Barnes deal with severe per
sonnel problems and possible lapses of
responsibility in the State Building
Authority, the Department of Administrative
Services and perhaps the GBI? A former
employee of the Building Authority is
accused of stealing up to $1.5 million from
state cafeterias over a three-year period.
Though the employee had served time for
forgery and theft, she was put in charge of
the cafeterias’ money. How did that happen?
Barnes may want to know. Over at DOAS,
the state’s computer consultant became
romantically involved with a female soft
ware vendor. DOAS spent millions on soft
ware that it cannot use. Love is not always
wonderful. The GBI is investigating. Then
there’s the GBI itself. Why was a report sup
pressed last year that appeared to show the
city of Atlanta cooked the books to make its
crime stats look less appalling? Why was the
report rewritten and rewritten until the fig
ures looked mostly OK?
Those are just a few Gordian knots Gov.
Miller left for Gov. Barnes to untangle dur
ing the cold winter days and nights ahead.
Don’t forget to say thanks for those too,
Roy.
Bill Shipp is editor of Bill Shipp’s
Georgia, a weekly newsletter on government
and business. He can be reached at P. O.
Box 440755, Kennesaw, Ga. 30144 or by
calling (770) 422-2543, e-mail:
bshipp@bellsouth.net, Web address:
http://www. hillshipp. com.