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PAGE 18A
—FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, April 11, 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 retied our views.
Numbers reflect
amazing growth
for county
For those who live and
work in Forsyth
County, news of its
growth is not surprising.
That said, however, sta
tistics released last week by
the U.S. Census Bureau are
still overwhelming.
The Census Bureau esti
mates that the county grew
by more than 25 percent
from April, 2000 to July.
2003, with actual popula
tion increasing from 98.407
to 123,811. That staggering
rate of growth made the
county the fifth fastest
growing in the nation based
on percentage of increase.
A 25 percent growth
rate over a period of three
years shows that the phe
nomenal population grow th
that marked Forsyth during
the 1990 s has not abated by
much. Incredibly, the coun
ty’s population now is
roughly triple what it was
in the 1990 census.
That people continue to
find Forsyth to their liking
is indicative of the quality
of life offered here, the
draw of Lake Lanier, the
proximity to Atlanta, and a
generally healthy economy
and job market.
Such an influx of new
comers brings with it chal
lenges for county officials
who must be ever vigilant
in planning for infrastruc
ture in order to stay ahead
of the growth curve.
Already traffic is clogging
many roads, demand for
water and sewer threatens
to outpace the ability to
provide service, and new
schools are needed at an
Letters
New tree ordinance
weaker than old,
doesn’t help county
I was disappointed to see last
Friday’s [April 2] article about the
new tree ordinance. The ordinance
defines a tree unit as an existing
tree with a diameter of 5-7 inches,
not 13.5 inches as the article stated.
Only one newly planted tree with a
6-inch diameter is needed for a tree
unit, not two as the article stated.
The article states that if a devel
oper needed to remove all the trees
from a 100 acre parcel then they
would have to pay SBOO,OOO into
the county’s tree fund. In fact, the
tree fund was set up to discourage
clearcutting and does not reflect the
cost of planting trees on a site.
If a developer decides to clear a
site it is because that is cheaper for
them. They would not choose to
clear trees and pay into the tree
bank. That does not make sense,
and in fact not a single dime has
ever been deposited into the tree
bank. It is misleading to take the
potential cost of utilizing the tree
bank and use that figure as though
that is what it costs developers.
The tree bank is even less likely
to be utilized now as developers can
more easily meet the new ordi
nance.
This ordinance was weakened in
several ways, the most significant
alarming rate.
The growth creates a
different sort of problem as
well, one that is more sub
tle but nonetheless obvious
that of existing residents
resenting the continuing
tide of newcomers.
On several fronts an “us
vs. them" mentality is evi
dent in the county, as many
residents, most of whom
have moved to Forsyth
themselves within the past
decade, advocate a “close
the gate," philosophy
toward continuing popula
tion gains.
That populist mentality
is sure to be endorsed by
some candidates in the
upcoming elections, but the
issues are complex and
deserve serious and
thoughftul debate, not just
the lightweight rhetoric
typical of the campaign
trail.
Decisions affecting the
manner in which the coun
ty continues to grow also
affect the rate at which
local taxes will increase,
the rights of property own
ers to develop their person
al properties, and the over
all health of the county's
business economy.
Forsyth is not the only
Georgia county trying to
handle population growth.
The same census data
shows Georgia as the
fastest growing state in the
nation in terms of rate of
growth, and five of the
state's counties were in the
Top 10 in percentage of
population increase for the
three-year period.
was changing the calculation of
how' many trees are required for a
parcel. Whereas the old ordinance
required 15 basal units per acre cal
culated on the entire acreage of the
parcel, the new ordinance requires
15 basal units per acre for commer
cial and 20 basal units per acre for
residential, only for the disturbed
portion of the parcel. Since a frac
tion of any parcel of land is dis
turbed. only that fraction of the
land is used to calculate density.
Hence, far fewer tree units per
parcel will now be required. If
Forsyth wanted to be a leader, we
have done it with this new ordi
nance: we are leading a much lower
standard of tree replanting and pro
tection than any other county.
This is further demonstrated in
that the tree committee was
changed to make room for a mem
ber of the land clearing or building
industry on the committee by
removing a lay citizen interested in
the environment. Now the county
will officially appoint a fox to
guard the henhouse.
As a result of the adoption of
this ordinance I am resigning my
position on the tree committee. I
watched the county adopt a much
weaker ordinance than what we pre
viously had and feel bad that I let
the citizens down. What a shame
for Forsyth County,
Patty Durand
Cumming
Is the stone in your life rolled aw<iy?
Freedom to object why we fight, senator
Gov. Sonny Perdue and
leaders of the Georgia
Legislature are a lucky lot.
No one is paying much
attention to them. Otherwise,
they would be in deep trouble
with most Georgians. Neither
the governor nor the General
Assembly acquitted itself
well in recent days.
Getting excited or even
angry about Perdue calling
an expensive and avoidable
special legislative session in
Atlanta is difficult when most
of us are fixated on an
expanding war in Iraq.
Admonishing lawmakers
in Georgia for failing to
address tort reform and ethics
in state government seems
trivial compared to the tribu
lations of a disturbingly
divided nation.
At another time, railing
against Perdue for leadership
failures or assailing the state
House and Senate for budget
ary blunders would seem per
fectly in order.
Not now. Such talk sounds
oddly out of place. The coun
try is in serious trouble in
Iraq. Our national leaders do
not seem to realize this. The
light at the end of the tunnel
(to borrow a phrase from the
Vietnam era) is not yet even a
flicker. We have embarked on
a depressingly dangerous
course.
Some officials complain
that critics of our foreign pol
icy are seditious. Such asser
tions echo of the bad old
days of the 1960 s and 19705.
Georgia's U.S. senators.
Republican Saxby Chambliss
and apostate Democrat Zell
Miller, have declared that
public examination of our
Commission
help justified
At first I thought that your April
1, 2004 front page article
“Commission aid job questioned?”
was an April Fool’s joke. 1 find it
hard to believe that any commission
er, especially one as astute as Post 2’s
A.J. Pritchett could doubt the need
for additional administrative assis
tance for the chairman of one of the
fastest growing counties in the nation.
I have personally seen the person
al effort and dedication of Jack
Conway. Not only does he face the
many constituent issues that Mr.
Pritchett faces, but as the chairman,
he must work more complex and
potentially costly regional issues that
require a great deal of research and
business savvy.
We are fortunate to have a former
businessman with Jack Conway’s
business acumen; however, as the
county grows and the workload con
tinues to increase, finding qualified
candidates to be the chairman will
become difficult.
Hiring an administrative aide
reporting directly to the chairman
will increase productivity, improve
constituent communications, and
improve communications and coor
dination between the commissions.
This is a win-win situation at a
nominal cost!
C.D. (Chuck) Bumfleld
Cumming
Bill
Shipp
intelligence failures and our
conduct of the Iraq war pro
vides aid and comfort to our
enemies.
As expected. Sen.
Chambliss is defending the
policies of President George
W. Bush and the GOP, with
out whose help Chambliss
might be practicing law back
in Moultrie. Sen. Miller is
another story.
Miller’s valiant service as
a Marine recruit instructor at
Parris Island is beyond ques
tion. But some of his rhetoric
as a U.S. senator is disap
pointing. to say the least.
"We’re playing directly
into the hands of our enemy
by allowing these [9/11 com
mission] hearings to become
the great divider. It’s obvious
to me that this country is rap
idly dividing itself into two
camps: the wimps and the
warriors," Miller recently
thundered. By "wimps," Sen.
Miller apparently means any
one who believes the Bush
administration erred when it
invaded Iraq or perhaps any
one who thinks war is gener
ally a bad idea.
Hey, Zell, call me a wimp.
I've been one for a long time.
The senator’s words brought
back memories from 50 years
ago While the senator was
serving his country in South
Carolina, your humble com
mentator was stationed on a
windy bluff in still-occupied
Germany, staring at a
Russian tank about 300
meters away and wondering
if and when the Russians
would blow me to
smithereens. About that time
I decided I was a wimp.
Lucky for me and my buds
on the European front of the
Cold War, the Soviets were a
bit wimpy too. No one started
shooting.
Dwight Eisenhower was
in the White House, and Gen.
Anthony "Nuts" McAuliffe, a
hero of the Battle of the
Bulge, was the Army com
mander in Europe at the time.
Eisenhower and McAuliffe
were real warriors, who
understood what would hap
pen if either we or the Red
Army opened fire.
Even at that tender age. I
sort of recognized that
Eisenhower and his subordi
nates epitomized American
security and sensibility. They
weren’t much interested in
new military adventures.
They had already experi
enced their share in WW 11.
(Today’s leaders ought to
consider Ike's example and
not forget that beloved Ike
was the first warn us of "the
military-industrial com
plex.")
That a crazy general,
either a Russian or one of
ours, did not precipitate
another world war and a
nuclear one at that in that
years-long standoff between
the two great powers is one
of the miracles of history. It
makes one truly believe that
God blessed America.
In any event, shortly after
returning from my Army
financed grand tour and
swapping my Garand for an
Our homes deserve
protection from fires
Five adjoining houses on
Manchester Court in Forsyth
County just burned to the ground
with 17 more damaged. An onsite
fireman on TV stated houses were
jammed in like apartments, feared
all would go, and the two closest
fire hydrants were "dry."
Our fire department has been
slighted and remains mostly volun
teers. Even yet, few firefighters are
on the county payroll. Fire Station
No. 5, closed months ago. has yet
to be rebuilt and it came up during a
commission meeting funds were
instead used to reposition
Chattahoochee Road. The small
water line to Bald Ridge Park was
put in by the Corps of Engineers
and is no longer sufficient to handle
Letter policy
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Send letters to the Forsyth County News, P.O. Box 210, Cumming, GA 30028, hand
deliver to 302 Veterans Memorial Blvd., fax to (770) 889-6017 or email to
editor@forsythnews.com.
Underwood, I learned that a
former Marine sergeant. Zell
Miller, was on his way to
becoming mayor of Young
Harris.
For the next forty-some
thing years, I tracked Miller’s
political ups and downs. On
most days, he was my hero,
and what I hoped for in a
Georgia politician —a prime
example of integrity, ingenu
ity and progressiveness.
Sure, he lived up to his
nickname, "Zigzag." He ran
to the political left of the late
Congressman Phil Landrum
and was beaten. Two years
later, he ran to Landrum’s
right and was defeated again.
So what? Later in life, Miller
became one of Georgia’s
most accomplished gover
nors.
Now, in the last days of
his career as an elected offi
cial, Sen. Miller is trading his
fine legacy for a mess of
political expediency.
When Miller says public
criticism of our govern
ment’s failure to grab the
bad guys and prevent 9/1 1
constitutes helping our foes,
the old sharpshooter misses
the target. In fact, refusing
to review and comment
would amount to surrender
ing to our enemies and
admitting that our system of
democracy does not work.
Freedom to bark at our gov
ernment without fear of ret
ribution is part of why we
fight. Sergeant Miller ought
to know that.
Bill Shipp's column
appears each Sunday and
Wednesday. His e-mail
address is bshipp@bell
south, net.
already built houses. On Bald Ridge
Park Road an average tract has now
been cleared, dirt piled 20 feet high,
to build, change the contour of the
land.
On Pilgrim Mill Road at the city
limits near the creek, with rezoning
sign still standing, land is complete
ly cleared. This adjoins a PUD
development that had several burn
before completion.
Builders and developers come
mostly from out of the county, build
out and move on, therefore fire pro
tection must be placed before
rezoning, even recreation and parks.
Our homes deserve protection. One
commissioner rant to stop a four
lane highway through his area. He
should feel the same for you.
Let’s protect our homes.
Jewel Palmer
Cumming