Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12A
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, March 28,1999
The Forsyth County News
Opinion
This is a page of opinions - ours, yours and others.
u Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the
' “ writers and artists and may not reflect our views.
1 n ~ 1 11
v'* t ,
Making progress is
a community effort
hroughout this edition
of the Forsyth County
News you will find sto
ries about the
“progress” being made
in Forsyth County on
T
many different fronts. The concept
of “progress” is one that defies strict
definition, as that which one person
deems to be progressive may be
thought of as movement in the
wrong direction by another.
' ’ But as a community, there are
cortunon goals and objectives which
are definable, and which serve the
county well as a benchmark against
which future progress may be mea
sured. For a community to determine
if it truly is making progress, it must
determine whether it is moving
toward standards set in various areas
of concern for all of its residents.
To make progress, a community
must revere the importance of edu
cation. A progressive school system
must challenge students intellectual
ly; provide them with facilities that
are conducive to learning; assure
their safety and well being; coordi
nate education efforts with parents;
hire quality instructors and adminis
trators and set high performance
goals.
. To make progress, a community
must protect the environment. A
progressive community understands
(hj importance of air, water and
land resources, and through public
concern and good management
within its governmental entities
develops in a manner which guaran
tees stewardship of those limited
About child advocacy
A name and a mission statement,
as well as a location, is being sought
for the child advocacy center being
proposed for Forsyth County.
A grassroots effort is under way to
plan for a local center, a place for
abused and neglected children to tell
their story in a child-friendly environ
ment, where all agencies involved -
from law enforcement, the Department
of Family and Children Services, the
District Attorney’s office and others -
can gather and listen in another room
yia video while one person interviews
the child.
•’ Organizers are currently looking
for a facility in which to begin an
advocacy center. Other counties typi
cally use houses which have been
remodeled to include offices for nec
essary staff members.
The next community meeting on
* the advocacy center effort will be
’ Wednesday, April 14, from 1-2 p.m. in
. the Grand Jury room of the Forsyth
- County Courthouse.
‘*|For more information, contact
) Miclielle Edwards at (770) 887-5147
j or Kim German at (770) 844-0031.
’ Here’s what you think
n w
I, *
j ... about the proposal for a children’s
* - - .....
*
5, What do you think
J about Forsyth County’s ranking as
!* sjhe fastest-growing county in the
? United States?
I I
I
C Forsyth County News
! 3 P.O. Box 210
Cumming, Ga. 30028
; What do you think... responses do not require a signature.
resources.
To make progress, a community
must have the sort of solid econom
ic base that provides jobs and finan
cial stability for its residents.
To make progress, a community
must value those factors of everyday
living which, when taken as a
whole, contribute to a superior qual
ity of life —a vibrant church com
munity, recreational opportunities,
civic involvement, philanthropy,
charity, social tolerance, safe neigh
borhoods and friendly neighbors.
To mike progress, a community
must have capable leaders willing to
make difficult decisions based on
logic, fact and community need
rather than politics or personal gain.
To make progress, a community
must take care of those who are
least capable of taking care of them
selves.
To make progress, a community
must hold dear the rights and indi
vidual freedoms of those within its
borders.
To make progress, a community
must focus on the future, rather than
looking back to the past.
Change has become the norm for
Forsyth County, and the challenges
of the next two decades will over
shadow any in the county’s history.
As a community, we must set the
standard high if we are to meet
those challenges and see the county
reach its full and virtually unlimited
potential.
Doing that will redefine the con
cept of PROGRESS for Forsyth
County.
advocacy center for Forsyth County?
Is it needed? Will you support the ini
tiative?
Absolutely, yes. It is needed. Yes
we are to respect our elders, and honor
our parents. Someone needs to put a
stop on unhealthy cycle. A children
advocacy center with biblical guide
lines can not hurt but help.
• • •
We support a CAC in Forsyth. It
will provide a warm, safe, child
friendly place for these young victims
to tell their story - only once, not a
half a dozen times - and coordinate
efforts of investigation and prosecu
tions of criminals who have their
young lives damaged.
• • •
No, definitely not - there are agen
cies already in place. This is just
another way for social “enforcers” to
get into taxpayer’s funds, and, their
misactions are notorious.
• • •
Who would be the counselors?
Who in this county knows how to han
dle this? Will the person get fined and
go to jail or just get a slap on the hand?
Who is going to pay for this? Are the
kids going to get help for how long?
“He just ran down to the store
for a packet of seeds...."
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Bare knuckles and velvet gloves
Bipartisanship good. Partisanship bad.
Compromise good. Conflict bad.
A millennium or so from now, explor
ers may find those phrases scrawled in the
ruins of the Gold Dome to describe
Georgia politics, circa 1999.
The just-ended session of the General
Assembly is a case in point. Adversarial
politics were out. Bipartisan backslapping
and, in a few cases, back-scratching were
in.
The media-consensus bad guy of the
1999 Legislature turned out to be dyed-in
the-wool Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark
Taylor.
He was easily the most politically
incorrect Senate presiding officer since
Lester Maddox turned in his governor’s
badge to become lieutenant governor in
1971. (Lt. Gov. Maddox developed the
unsettling habit of repeatedly labeling
Gov. Jimmy Carter a “liar.”)
Taylor rewarded his friends
(Democrats) and punished his enemies
(Republicans). He took away GOP com
mittee chairmanships in the Senate and
made sure several of the Republicans’ pet
bills (Early HOPE scholarships and nearly
all social legislation) died in Democratic
controlled committees.
At the final gavel, Senate Republican
Whip Tom Price moaned: “We’re in liock.
Only days ago, the Democrats, led by
Mark Taylor, cut funding for education
and mental health programs. Now, on the
final day of the session, [the Democrats]
raise their own salaries. First, a
Republican amendment was adopted that
removed legislators from the state pay
raise bill, and not a single Democrat
opposed it. But in the dark of night, the
pay raise was restored by a Democratic
conference committee.”
Welcome to the NFL, Sen. Price.
Ga. 400 brought future to the county
On May 29, 1967, the world
changed forever for those who
call Forsyth County home.
On that fateful day, the state
Department of Transportation
issued the first contract for the
construction of Ga. 400, chang
ing forever the future of what
was then a sleepy little rural
county so far removed from the
suburban area of today as to be
virtually unrecognizable.
In Forsyth County in the
19605, there were a variety of
ways to go to Atlanta, none of
them particularly convenient or
enticing. For our family,
Norcross was the gateway to the
big city, the 1-85 exit at
Norcross-Tucker Road, across
from the drive-in theater, was
usually our on-ramp for a rare
excursion into town.
Atlanta then seemed miles
and miles away, as did any pos
sibility of its growth ever reach
ing Forsyth County.
But times change. Norcross-
Tucker Road is now a congested
Jimmy Carter Boulevard. The
drive-in long gone, replaced by
parking lots and commercial
buildings. And local residents
now would laugh at the idea of
going to 1-85 in order to head
inside the perimeter.
Construction on Ga. 400 first
' Bill
; Shipp
Or “cry me a river,” as Lt. Gov. Taylor
earlier advised unhappy Republicans.
Republican senators were understand
’ ably upset at Taylor’s bare-knuckled,
: openly partisan tactics. At the end of this
> legislative session, they had little to show
i for their 40 days’ work, except to claim
: the Democrats stole most of their 1998
; election platform and bemoan the legisla
tive pay raises for Democrats and
> Republicans.
> On the other side of the Capitol, in the
governor’s office. Republicans were treat-
I ed to a feast of bipartisanship and good
I fellowship laced with hours-long confer
' ences.
If Taylor was a hardheaded fighter,
Gov. Roy Barnes emerged as a good
i natured listener, a fellow willing to play
ball even with his enemies.
i Said House Minority Leader Bob Irvin:
i “I would give [the governor’s office] high
: marks. We had weekly meetings with the
| governor and his staff, and I believe we
i developed a positive working relationship
t built on mutual respect.”
i Maybe so. But if you look carefully at
t the legislative scorecard and forget for a
! moment the governor’s sweet talk, the
: GOP ended up with less from Barnes than
it received from Taylor.
For starters, Barnes and his velvet-
reached into the county in 1972,
and slowly and methodically
crews paved the road connecting
the heart of Forsyth to the city at
the hub of the area’s metropoli
tan growth.
To really understand how
much the area has changed, you
need look no farther than the
numbers. In 1970, the county’s
population was roughly 17,000.
That number reflected an
increase of only 6,000 people in
40 years.
Now the county grows that
much in a single year.
to jobs. Lake
Lanier, quality
schools, southern
hospitality-
99
The north side of Atlanta
became a boom town in the
1980 s, its powerful economic
engine producing jobs and the
foundation of an exceptional
economy when much of the rest
of the country was going in the
opposite direction. Like kudzu
in spring, people moved to the
area, a wave of growth washing
across Gwinnett, Cobb, North
Fulton, and ultimately into
Forsyth.
Linked forever to metro
Atlanta by Ga. 400, Forsyth
went from being on the outer
edge of suburban growth to
being inside its parameters.
Chicken houses gave way to
subdivisions of $200,000 homes.
Small farms became strip shop
ping centers. Seemingly
overnight, residential communi
ties popped up like dandelions in
a cow pasture.
In addition to residential
growth, by the mid-1980s
Forsyth was beginning to
reflect the sort of non-residen
tial development being experi
enced by other counties on the
north side of Atlanta.
Distribution centers, office
parks, mixed-use developments
began to dot the business land
' scape.
And new communities. For
years the county’s communities
were defined by its schools
Big Creek, Midway, Chestatee,
Friendship but with the
growth came entire new neigh
borhoods, sometimes seemingly
dropped from the sky onto
vacant land overnight.
Between 1980 and 1990, the
county grew by more than
16,000 people, which was
gloved aides left Insurance Commissioner
John Oxendine, the highest-ranking
Republican in state government, battered
and bleeding. The administration’s insur
ance reform package stripped Oxendine’s
office of much of its influence. (At the
moment, Oxendine appears to be the
Republicans’ best bet as a candidate for
governor in 2002.) Barnes’ boys also
bypassed the other ranking Republican,
State School Superintendent Linda
Schrenko, with much of their education
legislation. They hinted broadly that next
year they will try to make her presently
elective post into an appointive one.
Barnes’ walk-softly approach is obvi
ously the new way in Georgia politics.
Though he made several compromises,
Barnes won his way in the Legislature pn
all of his initiatives.
Come to think of it, despite the bad
press and Republican bruised feelings,
Taylor also won everything he wanted,
including sl2 million in new funds for
rural roads and money for hiring a drug
prosecutor in every judicial circuit. In
addition, he made certain the governor's
legislative train rolled on time in the
Senate.
The big difference between Taylor and
some other Democrats is that the lieu
tenant governor insisted on playing by the
“old rule”: “You dance with the one what
brung you.” And Republicans certainly did
not bring Taylor to the office of lieutenant
governor. *
Bill Shipp is editor of Bill Shipp's
Georgia, a weekly newsletter on govern
ment 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. billshipp. com.
I
AjA Norman
JL Baggs
roughly its total population in
1970.
And that was just the begin
ning. If the growth of the 19801
was a wave, the 1990 s havt
become a tsunami, with the pop
ulation doubling during <h<
decade.
There are many reasons foi
Forsyth’s popularity for new ires
idents an availability of land
proximity to jobs, Lake Lanier
quality schools, the southen
hospitality extended to newcorn
ers by those living here.
Rural no more, Fbrsyth no*
is forever part of the suburbar
experience, and Ga. 400 th<
umbilical cord attaching it to the
rest of the metro area.
Thirty years ago we had t(
plan a trip to see suburbat
Atlanta. Now we only have t<
step outside and look around.
Ga. 400 brought the future U
a county built on the dirt roadi
of its past. Only time will tell i
the pavement was an improve
ment.