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PAGE 14A
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS - Sunday, February 29,2004
The Forsyth County News
Opinion
This is a page of opinions - ours, yours and others.
Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the
writers and artists and may not reflect our views.
Time to vote ‘yes’
on courthouse, jail
An old television
commercial noted
that failing to
spend a little money on
motor oil to maintain a
car would result in a
much higher expense with
a blown engine some
where down the line.
“You can pay me now; or
you can pay me later" w as
the catchphrase, w ith the
clear implication being
paying later was a much
more expensive proposi
tion.
Forsyth County voters
face the same decision on
Tuesday. They can vote to
pay now for a new court
house and detention cen
ter. or face the more
expensive certainty of
paying later.
Failure to approve the
$65 million bond issue
will put the county on a
course that requires it to
waste millions of taxpayer
dollars in the years to
come money spent on
the rental of property
needed to house county
offices, storage space and
courtrooms; money spent
to house jail prisoners
elsewhere; money spent
to eventually defend the
county's overcrowded jail
from the inevitable law
suits that will come, as
they have in other coun
ties with similar prob
lems.
And in the end. after
all those millions are
spent, the county still ulti
mately will have to build
new facilities, though per
haps to satisfy a court
order rather than on the
timetable preferred by
local residents.
Opponents of the
bonds for the justice cen
ter and detention facility
would prefer that county
residents waste millions
of tax dollars in the future
rather than approve the
proposal before them
now.
They have raised many
arguments.
Opponents say they
would support building a
new jail if it had been
offered as a separate bal
lot item from the court
house yet when the
two were offered as sepa
rate questions in 2000
both were defeated.
Opponents say they
would support the proj
ects if they were being
moved away from down
town Cumming yet
when a proposal to build
away from the downtown
area was put on the ballot
in 2001 it was defeated.
Opponents say not
enough information has
been made available
yet the informational
meeting hosted by the
group supporting the proj
ect drew virtually no one.
And detailed cost infor
mation on the group's
web site apparently has
not been reviewed, given
the amount of inaccurate
data being circulated.
Opponents say there
are other ways to address
jail overcrowding, prima
rily by releasing certain
prisoners who shouldn't
be there yet that is an
issue that must be dealt
with through the courts
and state laws, and not by
the local sheriff's office.
It also is important to note
that many of those housed
in the jail are there await
ing trial and have not yet
been convicted of any
crime.
What the opponents of
the bond issue haven't
done is offer reasonable
solutions and alternatives.
The closest they have
come is to suggest wait
ing for the next SPLOST
vote for financing of the
courthouse and jail. That
is a viable alternative, but
it requires waiting another
four years before doing
anything. We can't afford
to wait another four years
to get started, though
using future SPLOST rev
enues to retire the pro
posed bonds early and
thus reduce the amount of
interest being paid makes
sense.
Tne opposition have
become obstructionist,
abandoning practicality
and logic in favor of poli
tics. controversy and con
spiracy.
The proposal before
the voters Tuesday is the
end result of more than a
year of conscientious
effort by a panel appoint
ed to study needs and fea
sibility.
Every effort has been
made to address those
issues that have doomed
similar votes in the past,
and to answer the ques
tions which have ham
pered previous efforts at
gaining approval.
This is a realistic,
affordable proposal for
moving the county for
ward.
A hallmark of a good
community is that it
works together to do
those things that need to
be done. The projects to
be financed by this bond
issue need doing. The
alternative is an expensive
waste of tax money pro
longing the inevitable.
To refuse to pay now is
to guarantee paying more
later. Please rise above the
politics and the conspira
cies and vote YES for the
proposed bond package
on Tuesday.
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Gay marriage issue helps the GOP
The Grand Old Party of
Georgia should join the
Republican National Commit
tee in hosting a magnificent
gala to salute homosexuals
seeking to “marry”
Those gay rascals have
achieved more than all the GOP
policy gurus and television
advisers combined. They have
reinvigorated the stumbling re
election campaign of President
George W. Bush and taken the
heat off Gov. Sonny Perdue tor
incompetence. Republicans
should show their appreciation.
Until gays decided to start
acting up. Bush appeared to be
in deep trouble. Even the presi
dent's most conservative allies
began to lose faith. His admin
istration had allowed the deficit
to spin out of control, the
bloody war in Iraq to flounder,
millions of good-paying jobs to
vanish, illegal aliens to swamp
our land and health care to
become more expensive and
less inclusive. The Bush presi
dency was becoming a bad
joke, and Democrats had a full
platter of real issues with which
to batter the president,
In Georgia. Gov. Perdue
stepped on one political banana
peel after another. He failed to
keep track of state budget num
bers (how can a bunch of state
employed ex-bankers lose near
ly S2OO million in taxpayers'
money?); he couldn't stop
joyriding in state helicopters; he
seemed obsessed with crippling
the HOPE scholarship; he
insisted on being photographed
wearing football helmets and
biker hats that didn't fit; and he
couldn't wait to tell National
Public Radio that he didn't
know exactly what was wrong
with Georgia's budget or econ
omy. The Perdue administration
was on its way to becoming an
Letters
Chamber encourages
‘yes’ vote on bonds
The Cumming-Forsyth County
Chamber of Commerce has drafted a reso
lution to support the March 2nd bond refer
endum to finance a new law
enforcement/judicial complex in downtown
Cumming. The Chamber of Commerce
secs this complex as a component of infra
structure. New facilities will be more effi
cient and much more economical than the
current state of operation of the Justice
System and Detention Departments in
Forsyth County. This component of infra
structure will pave the way for quality jobs
and business development that our commu
nity should continue to recruit and attract.
Please take the time to become educated
on this important issue. There is no question
that there is a need for the proper facilities
which house our court system, detention
center, real estate records and other impor
tant departments for which the county is
responsible to manage. The Let's Build It!
Committee has a compelling case which
clearly shows that each year this complex is
delayed the real cost to the taxpayers con
tinue to escalate as do the inherent liabili
ties.
There has been extensive coverage of
the proposed improvements throughout the
last year and you may already have enough
information, but to obtain more information
and leant details about the proposed com
plex, please visit the Web site www.lets
buildit.net. Ensure you are an informed
voter and exercise your right to vote on
March 2. Let me encourage you to do your
Bill
Shipp
even worse joke.
Then some associates of
Queer Nation and similar
homosexual organizations came
down with the wedding bell
blues. They wanted to be treat
ed just like everybody else.
They dreamed the impossible
dream to join in official
wedlock, despite semantic,
legal and physiological obsta
cles that make such arrange
ments in the traditional sense
unattainable.
Among the first indications
of new trouble on the homosex
ual horizon: At least two gay
couples at Atlanta's Druid Hills
Golf Club demanded that
spousal “privileges" be extend
ed to nonmember partners of
homosexual club members.
Such a demand created a
legal stir, apparently putting
Atlanta's anti-discrimination
ordinance at odds w ith state law
against the recognition of same
sex unions. The club execs
decided to work out a compro
mise.
Just as that fuss faded, a big
ger bomb exploded.
Massachusetts courts started to
recognize gay marriages.
In California, hundreds of
gays suddenly popped up at
San Francisco City Hall
demanding marriage licenses.
The San Francisco mayor in
the ultimate fairy godparent
role granted their wishes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,
ordinarily an ally to the gay
community, stepped in. Hey.
ve kan't let dis happen!" the
Terminator thundered.
homework and due diligence. Please vote
“yes" to ensure the citizens of Forsyth
County, you and I. have adequate facilities
that service our needs. Today we. the citi
zens. are being shortchanged because the
current facilities are grossly inadequate.
Please know the issues, know the facts, ask
questions and make a sound decision before
you vote on March 2. Thank you for taking
time to leant and become informed.
Mark I). Hamilton
2004 Chairman of the Board
The Cumming-Forsyth County
Chamber of Commerce
Look at real numbers
on upcoming bond vote
On March 2 we are being asked to vote
on a $65 million bond referendum to build
a Justice Center.
The current bond rate for Forsyth
County is 4.25 percent. I believe when you
figure this over a 2()-year payout the
amount that this is going to cost the county
taxpayers is $99,821,560. The furniture for
all these buildings are not included in the
$65 million bond. They are estimating this
to be $1,900,000. Add this to the cost and it
is now $101,721,560.
With all these larger building you know
they will have to hire more people and this
will cost the taxpayers additional money.
And what about the land to build the two
precincts. I don’t see that anywhere in the
information. This cost would also have to
be added to the slOl + million.
As the curtain was rising on
these real-life dramas, the tele
vision industry celebrated the
successes of their shows with
positive gay themes.
Embattled Republican
incumbent office holders in
Washington and across the
Bible Belt could not have been
happier. Gays had come to their
rescue.
The politicians could ignore,
at least temporarily, complaints
about high taxes, poor services,
rotten schools, government cor
ruption and American kids
dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The freshly inspired pooh-bahs
had a more pressing battle to
wage. They had to stop at all
costs the scourge of homosexu
al marriages. Polls show that
nearly 70 percent of Americans
the figure in Georgia proba
bly hovers around 80 percent
oppose gay weddings. For
Republicans, fighting homosex
ual wedlock is a win-win-win
war.
Even before the White
House could act. the Georgia
Senate heard opportunity
knock. Amidst a roar of pas
sionate oratory' on the “sanctity
of marriage." the GOP-run
Senate adopted by an over
whelming margin a state consti
tutional amendment prohibiting
same-sex weddings. After more
than three hours of debate, the
Democratic-controlled Georgia
House narrowly voted it down,
thus establishing the gay-mar
riage amendment as a make-or
break issue in the state’s
November election. The House
will reconsider the measure
next week.
Technically, the Georgia
action didn't much matter.
President Bush had already ini
tiated a proposal to amend the
federal constitution to ban
homosexual marriages an
action that might not come to
fruition for years, if ever.
Georgia’s own infallible
political weather vane. Sen.
Zell Miller, was the first
Democratic senator in line to
become a co-sponsor of Bush's
“Federal Marriage Amend
ment.” Just six months ago.
Miller had said, “I'm not much
on constitutional amendments.
We have to be very careful and
go slow when we talk about
changing that sacred docu
ment."
State Sen. Mike Crotts. R-
Conyers, a congressional candi
date once best known for his
near-death visions of the great
beyond, became a generalissi
mo in the war against gay wed
lock and against Democrats
who seemed allied w ith the gay
side.
The winds against Dubya
and Sonny have changed direc
tions. The same-sex marriage
issue has knocked national
Democrats off balance. In
Georgia, state Democrats were
left confused and divided along
rural-urban lines. Republicans
have a tailor-made wedge for
the coming campaigns.
Just about anyone who
believes in conspiracy theories
could make a compelling case
that gay activists and
Republican leaders secretly col
laborated to produce a crisis to
throw the donkeys into disarray.
Otherwise, the Democrats
might now be successfully
focusing on meaningful prob
lems instead of trying to dodge
moral finger-pointing regarding
homosexuals seeking marriage
licenses.
Bill Shipp's column appears
each Sunday and Wednesday.
His e-mail address is bshipp@-
hell.south.net.
On the “letsbuildit" Web site they state
desks are being placed in passageways,
halls and even store rooms and closets. I
have been to the courthouse and cannot find
a single desk in the hallways. If something
like this is not true how can we trust the
other information put out to be true?
Do you really think that $65 million is
all that the Justice Center will cost? I think
the truer figure is $101,721,560.
Vote “yes" and your taxes will be raised
for the next 20 years to pay for the Justice
Center.
Vote “no" and maybe the three com
missioners on the left will get the message
and split the ballot next time and voters can
choose one or the other or even both.
Read all the information, do the figuring
for yourself and separate the fads from the
fiction and then be sure and vote.
Jewel Palmer
Cumming
Other alternatives
should be examined
March 2 voters will be asked to approve
$65 million in bonds to tear down the entire
block with Wachovia bank and Goodson
drugs on the square and build a new jail and
justice center with a connecting tunnel for
prisoner transport. Forsyth libertarians
denounce the justice center proposal as an
unjustified liability for our children to pay.
See Lt I It RS, PagelsA