Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 14A
FORSYTH COUNTY news - Sunday, April 25, 2004
The Forsyth County News
Opinion
This is a page of opinions - ours, yours ami others.
Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the
writers and artists and may not reflect our views.
A good path
to the future
Forsyth County was
on the receiving end
of some good news
last week with the
announcement that $1 mil
lion in federal funds are
headed this way for the
development of a multi-use
trail amid greenspace in the
southern portion of the
county.
The $1 million grant
will allow an extension of
the Big Creek Greenway
from Alpharetta into
Forsyth County. The trail
meanders through six miles
of the Alpharetta and North
Fulton area. Much of the
current trail's route is
through wooded areas and
greenspace.
With its grant. Forsyth
County hopes to add five
additional miles to the
Greenway, creating a trail
that runs from the Polo
Fields almost to Roswell.
The Forsyth County portion
will parallel the Big Creek
waterway in south Forsyth.
Connecting to the
Greenway will benefit the
county in several ways. It
will help to preserve unde-
End of an era for
local business
One of the county's old
est and most respected
business families announc
ed the end of an era last
week.
Since 1928. the Ingram
family has been involved
in the operation of a funer
al home in Cumming.
Elsewhere in today’s paper
you can read that the
Ingrams have sold their
business to Jack W. Allen,
whose own family also has
a decades-long history in
the funeral industry.
With Forsyth County's
phenomenal growth in
recent years and the
change it has brought,
there are few longstanding
businesses left that can
trace their local lineage
through multiple genera
tions.
The Ingrams have
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veioped greenspace, which
is becoming more of a pri
ority in Forsyth than has
been the case in the past,
and it also will be a step
toward meeting the goal of
having a series of intercon
nected pathways for bicy
clists and pedestrians in the
county.
The development of
bicycle trails and green
ways is one of the goals set
by a task force w hich has
drafted a long-range
“Bicycle Transportation
and Walk-ways" plan for
the county.
The concept of intercon
necting pathways criss
crossing county lines is one
that is gaining in popularity
and shows what can be
done when various govern
mental jurisdictions are
able to work together to
accomplish regional goals.
It isn't hard to envision a
point in the future when
walkways and bikepaths
are prevalent throughout
the north Atlanta area,
interconnecting different
towns, counties and com
munities.
exemplified what is meant
by the term “pillars of the
community." They have set
a high standard for integri
ty and community involve
ment.
While the funeral home
will retain its historic name
and members of the
Ingram family will contin
ue to be involved in its
operation, there is no deny
ing the reality that a firm
for which thousands of
local families have respect
and admiration is changing
hands.
The Ingram family has
meant much to this com
munity. as has their busi
ness.
While we welcome its
new owner to town, we
also must pause and say
goodbye to a significant
link in the county's history.
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Put up or shut up time for politicians
Will U.S. Rep. Denise
Majette abandon her seat in the
House to mount a no-chance
Democratic bid for the U.S.
Senate? Will outrageous ex-
Rep. Cynthia McKinney try to
make a comeback? Can Gov.
Sonny Perdue recruit a viable
candidate to challenge state
Supreme Court Justice Leah
Sears? Will the greatest Irish
baritone in the history of
Georgia government return to
the state Legislature to make us
weep one more time with
"Danny Boy”?
We shall soon know. Put
up-or-shut-up time begins
Monday at 9 a m. and ends
Friday at nron. Those dates and
times signify the start and finish
of candidate-qualifying season
in Georgia. They also likely
mark the beginning and end of
numerous political careers
across the state.
All the guessing games
come to an abrupt halt this
week. “Announced" candidates
for the U.S. Senate. Congress,
the Legislature, judgeships,
etc., will either have to pony up
qualification fees for ballot
access, or be quiet while braver
souls test their political skills
with the electorate.
Some of the prospective
races fascinate. For example:
• Can a rich African-
American owner of a chain of
pizza parlors influence the out
come of the GOP primary for
the U.S. Senate? The pizza guy
is Republican senatorial candi
date Herman Cain. The two
mainstream candidates are U.S.
Reps. Johnny Isakson and Mac
Collins. Conventional wisdom
holds that either Isakson or
Collins will win the nomination
Letters
Fire was an accident,
forgiveness is needed
In response to the letter from Ruth
Breisinger concerning the person respon
sible for the Manchester Court fire:
I am sure it was stressful have to load
your cats in your car. I bet you lost sleep
for a week over it. Let me just say that I
live in Manchester Court and it was a
very traumatic event, especially for the
homeowner where the fire started.
1 happen to know this person who is a
single mother with two wonderful chil
dren. She would do anything for anyone,
and never intentionally do anything to
hurt anyone, not even an animal. She
adopts pets to keep them from being
killed.
Yes. she may have used poor judg
ment. but nevertheless, the events that fol
lowed were the result of an accident. So
let the persons who has never erred throw
the first stone! As for the rest of us who
are simply human, let us reach out to this
lady with love and forgiveness, because I
can assure you that nothing anyone could
do could possibly make her suffer more
or feel worse than she already does.
She is barely making it through each
day and that is for the love of her chil
dren. Jesus would tell us to forgive her
and reach out to her to help as well as to
all those who lost their homes along with
everything they had. It affected our whole
neighborhrxxl, but thankfully, brought us
closer together. It made us value the
important things in life more.
Bill
Shipp
and ultimately the seat now
held by the Bush administra
tion's pet Democrat, Zell
Miller. Don't bet on it. The
fight between Isakson and
Collins is expected to turn into
a mudslinging match. Even
before qualifying starts. Collins
already is warning Georgia vot
ers against choosing a "moder
ate" (meaning Isakson) in such
perilous times. Cain could
become the "neither of the
above” candidate and walk
away as the nominee.
• Will Democrats find a
competitive candidate for the
U.S. Senate? Or will the party's
leaders watch helplessly as
Majette, millionaire Cliff
Oxford, political activist Ixigh
Baer and several other faceless
souls try to w in the Democratic
Senate nomination —a prize
that may turn out to be worth
less in the November election?
• Who will replace Isakson
and Collins in the Congress?
Can Democrats unearth a
potential champ to pick off
ultraconservative freshman
Rep. Max Bums (R-Sylvania)?
The Democrats' bid to “Burn
Bums" will become a national
ly watched contest.
• Will Cynthia McKinney,
best known for her outlandish
rhetoric and her obsessive habit
of voting against all defense
spending (even in her own dis
trict). qualify to run for the
Congress again in DeKalb
County's 4th District? A better
Harboring bitterness and anger will
only eat you up inside. Be thankful no
one was hurt and no lives were lost, and
pray for those who lost everything! Let
go of your bitterness and county your
blessings.
Sarah H. Bacon
Cumming
Poor zoning decisions
increased fire’s impact
1 think we should visit the recent con
flagration on Manchester Court one more
time before the incident becomes old
news.
It was admirable of Fire Chief Danny
Bowman to step up to the plate and
assume full responsibility for the loss of
the five homes on April 4. But, I don’t
feel this was necessary. To my way of
thinking, he is the "sacrificial goat.”
It was magnanimous of Pulte Homes
to rush in and inform the homeowners,
county officials and the press that they
were going to re-build all the homes "at
their costs." Now why would they do
that? I have been directly and indirectly
involved in homeowners fire insurance
claims for a number of years; I have
never known of a builder who would
agree to re-build a burned out home at
cost. Why would they agree to do that?
Then the Fire Chief proposes a “sym
posium" to consider "construction materi
als used in high density areas." And
therein lies the key to this entire problem.
question: Who. if anyone,
stands a chance of beating her?
• Will so many Democrats
renounce their present party
affiliation that Republicans will
capture a majority in the
Georgia House? No matter
what else happens, the good old
boys many of them the best
and the brightest in the Capitol
are vanishing in droves from
the political scene. House
Appropriations Chairman Tom
Buck of Columbus, who has
served 38 years, is among 17
House members who won't
seek re-election. State Sen.
Hugh Gillis, with 56 legislative
years behind him. is retiring
along with 11 other state sena
tors.
• Can Gov. Sonny Perdue
fulfill his pledge to recruit a
challenger for Supreme Court
Justice Leah Sears, whom
Perdue deems too liberal for
Georgia? For the first time, can
didates for judgeships can
legally debate the decisions and
past records of their opponents.
Look for campaigns for the
bench to become high-profile
and mean.
Even with all these marquee
contests, the burning question
on the minds of pundits from
Brasstown to Tyhee is this: Can
“Bubba" do it again?
Lauren "Bubba" McDonald,
once a power in Democratic
circles and the possessor of
possibly the greatest singing
voice in Georgia politics, has
announced he will challenge
state Senate Majority Leader
Bill Stephens of Canton.
Stephens is Gov. Perdue's for
mer Senate floor leader, a for
mer aide to Gov. Zell Miller
and one of the most influential
members of the state Senate,
even if he can’t carry a tune.
McDonald, now a Forsyth
County funeral director and a
former Democrat, served for
years as House Appropriations
chairman. As a protege of for
mer House Speaker Tom
Murphy, he ran unsuccessfully
for governor in 1990. Gov.
Miller appointed McDonald to
the Public Senice Commission
in 1998.
A little known Republican
named Angela Speirs defeated
Democrat McDonald for re
election to the PSC in 2002.
She spent $20,000 on her cam
paign. compared to Mc-
Donald's $189,000. McDonald
later became a transportation
industry lobbyist and a
Republican.
Most of the voters in
Stephens' and McDonald's sen
atorial district live in Forsyth
County, which should give
Bubba an advantage, given his
long political resume, except
for one thing: Many of Forsyth
County's newcomer residents
are. as UGA political science
Professor Chuck Bullock has
noted, “clueless” about
McDonald's past feats.
One side note of political
interest: Voters also will decide
this year on who gets to be
leader of the free world. With
President Bush's apparent lock
on Georgia, however, the state
and local races appear much
more interesting as candidates
line up with checkbook in hand
to put their money where their
mouths are.
Bill Shipp's column appears
each Sunday and Wednesday.
His e-mail address bshipp
@ bellsouth.net.
The only material I can think of in an area
where the houses are 10 feet apart is con
crete. or steel! Brick would work until the
temperature became very high, and even
then brick would fail. As a matter of fact,
even without the “high winds" that fateful
day, the house on either side of the one
where the fire started would have burned
simply because of density, proximity and
siding materials.
So. while everyone is pointing fingers,
even at the city of Cumming, every finger
on Manchester Court, and in Forsyth
County, should be pointed at our illustri
ous Board of Commissioners. Planning
Commission and Zoning Board. For
when such density is approved - 10 feet
between dwellings - trouble can only be
waiting in the wings.
James D. Broome
Cumming
Letter policy
The Forsyth County News welcomes your
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must be signed and include full address and a
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and may be edited or condensed. The same
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sumer complaints
Mail letters to the Forsyth County News.
P.O. Box 210. Cumming. GA 30028. hand
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