Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 10A
The Forsyth County News
jThis is a page of opinions - ours, yours and others.
V j Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the
.#.] i ,■ writers and artists and may not reflect our views.
jrfcF; Women’s Center
a welcome addition
ewborn babies are
crying in a Forsyth
County hospital
agaih, and that’s a good
thing. Last week, the birth
of Hudson Bickers at
Cumming’s Northside
HospitaT-Forsyth ushered in
a new era for local medical
care as the hospital’s new
Women’s Center opened for
business.
Prior to last week’s
delivery, it had been more
than ‘25 years since a local
medical facility had rou¬
tinely handled child births.
During that time, local resi¬
dents were forced to go to
out-of-county hospitals to
give birth — hoping as they
did so that traffic was
sparse and delivery would¬
n’t happen in a back seat on
the side of the road.
As is the case with any
major addition or expansion
under Georgia’s Certificate
of ^eed process, the
process for gaining
approval for the addition of
the Women’s Center to the
local hospital was long and
arduous.
? -The Northside facility in
Atlanta has long been the
regional leader in providing
quality care for mothers-to
be and infants, and the
Qimming facility has been
b6ilt on that exceptional
medical foundation.
J You can expect the
delivery rooms and nurs¬
eries at the Cumming hos
j*
■
Letters
County should own
a public golf course
This letter has to do with the lack
of a publically owned and main¬
tained golf course. Many local peo¬
ple who desire to play golf frequent
Bennett Park, Coal Mountain,
Midway, Sharon Springs or Central
Park, but none of these aforemen¬
tioned public parks offer golf. (I am
npt speaking about the Frisbee golf
course at Central Park.)
* And most of the golfers are pay¬
ing the taxes to provide all of these
facilities, and many users of the
parks don’t pay any taxes. Many of
the local golfers must go to the sur¬
rounding area to “pay to play” golf.
s I could be wrong, but I under¬
stand that all three high schools in
the county have golf teams. Where
do the team members practice or
compete? Surely the schools pay for
them to practice somewhere and for
the use of surrounding golf courses
for competitive games. The board of
education should be all over the local
governmental authorities to assist
with the development of a local pub
lid golf course.
> One of the best golf courses,
Lanier Golf Club, is already right
here In Forsyth County. Maybe, just
maybe, the home owners might win
their lawsuit in which case Forsyth
County would be open for the pur¬
chasing of one of the finest and
already established golf courses in
th^area. •’
> Other counties in our state own
g<Jlf courses. Recently it was report¬
ed that Forsyth County is the 13th
richest county in the state and yet we
can’t afford to have a county owned
golf arid course on which the taxpayers
Forsyth citizens can play?
1 1 also understand Forsyth County
. is talking about spending $3.18 mil-
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Sunday, August 10,2008
pital to stay busy, as some
2,000 babies — an average
of more than five a day —
are expected to be born
there annually.
The Women’s Center,
with its wide array of serv¬
ices for expectant mothers
and newborn babies, is but
the latest addition to the
growing medical communi¬
ty in Forsyth County. In
recent years the hospital in
Cumming . , has undergone ,
one expansion after another
as it has grown to meet the
rubric nf oi area arpa mcirtentc residents.
In , addition, the campus
surrounding the hospital
has become a magnet for
medical practices and spe¬
cialists.
Add to that the new
Emory hospital in Johns
r Greek, , , tne ,
ana announce
ment last month that
Children’s Healthcare of
Atlanta has 21 purchased land
adjacent lhe Avenue, tor _
to
some future use, and the
prognosis for top quality
medical care throughout the
county seems good indeed.
While the medical com
munity provides needed
health care options for local
residents, it also generates a
substantial boost to the
local economy with the cre
ation ot c quality jobs. . . x It • > t
isn
hard to look a few years
down the road and imagine
Forsyth as a major regional
player in the health care
arena.
lion on part of the Etowah River for
canoeing. I have put a canoe in on
the Chestatee, Etowah and
Chattahoochee rivers without ever
paying any money. Duh! Where is
the common sense folks? But that is
a topic for another time.
George Marks
Cumming
Taxpayers’ well
is running dry
Does anyone have common sense
anymore?
Presently we have given the OK
for $100 million for green space.
Now our leaders want us to approve
$91 million for a new jail and sher¬
iff’s office.
Don’t they think that the well
runs dry eventually.
During this recession, people are
losing their jobs and homes. Gas is at
$4 per gallon and nobody knows
when this will be over, if ever. Seems
as though common sense has passed
us by Once again. The school system
as well as county has increased our
tax base for more money.
You would think that fhe leaders
of our school system and county
would think about this and back off
wanting these millions of dollars for
unrealistic wants.
After you have built all these
parks and recreation centers, etc,,
along with the jail and sheriff’s
office, all of these will have to be
maintained and this will be more
money.
All of this is purchased with bond
money for a period of 25 to 30 years.
Wow, isn’t that great to tag our
families, our children and their chil¬
dren with all this debt for all of these
years.
Leaders, please use your cqmmon
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, Martin must be tough to fight Chambliss
Tuesday, Georgia Dem
ocrats did what many thought
not possible. They rejected the
Senate candidacy £ of controver
sia , DeKaIb ounty CEO
Vernon Jones, and chose instead
to nominate Jim Martin to take
on Republican Sen. Saxby
Chambliss this fall. Martin, a
Vietnam veteran and former
state Department of Human
Resources commissioner under
Gov. Sonny Perdue and former
Gov. Roy Barnes, also repre
sented part of Atlanta in the
General Assembly for 18 years,
When Jones announced his
candidacy in early 2007, he was
j^ged the immediate frontrun
ner. He was an African
American running in an increas
in ^ bl f k Democratic pri
mary, and his u electoral base was
j n DeKalb, which now casts
more Votes in Democratic
statewide contests than any
other Georgia county.
What many (including
Jones) failed to realize was how
deeply alienating his- tenure as
DeKalb CEO had been, in both
the predominately white north
era end of the county and the
predominately black southern
end. An endless string of con
troversies followed him around,
most entirely self-inflicted,
j b ey are too numerous to
recount here, but they run the
gamut from accusations of rape
to repeated allegations of physi
cal confrontations with elected
officials and constituents.
To his credit, Martin con-
sense and tell us what this will final¬
ly cost us in the long ran.
Sid Barfield
Cumming
County credit cards
must be managed
Management of the county’s
credit card program is the problem,
not the credit cards.
When I left in 2002, the purchas¬
ing policy contained a credit card
procedure with checks and balances
and an abundance of built-in con¬
trols. From what I see now, with the
number of cards, the increase in lim¬
its per card, and per day, and opening
up of the type commodities that can
be purchased with a credit card, it is
no longer used as originally intend
ed.
In a recent article, about the cred¬
it card abuse in the county, the
finance department said that they had
no problem with the program as is
because it increases the amount of
our rebate from the state. When you
have spending that is not controlled
and public trust at stake, the amount
of a rebate seems irrelevant.
On a monthly basis, the bank pro
vides detailed reports of spending
trends and exception reports for iden
tifying any possible misuse and over
use, and identifies items that are pur
chased repeatedly. Possibly controls
have become less stringent for con
venience of the departments, or the
ones responsible for auditing are not
doing their jobs.
I have spoken to commissioners
about the potential for abuse of many
county policies and suggested they
consider an internal audit department
similar to Gwinnett and Cobb coun
ties to insure compliance. Usually
the answer was, we don’t have, ( the
Bill .
Shipp
COLUMNIST
centrated on entering into a
runoff with Jones, and then
tread carefully during the head¬
to-head contest. He focused on
Jones’ open flirtation with the
Republican Party, including his
boasting that he supported
George W. Bush in the 2000
and 2004 presidential elections.
Martin understood that
Democratic primary voters,
especially in the Atlanta media
market, knew about Jones’ tra
vails, and that there was no need
to throw gasolme on the fire by
highlighting them, instead he
reminded Democrats that Jones
has strong Republican leanings
and is pro-Bush, a toxic charge
in a Democratic primary in
2008.
Martin received a major
assist from Democratic presi
dential nominee Barack Obama,
While visiting the state in July,
Obama clearly let Georgians
know that he disapproved of
Jones’ unauthorized use of
Obama’s image on Jones’ cam
paign mail, and that he didn’t
think much of Jones’ support
for Bush. It’s hard to imagine a
more devastating attacker for
Jones than the first black presi
dential nominee and current
national frontrunner for the
White House.
money for an internal audit staff.
So instead, we have hired an
auditor to perform a one-time audit. »
We may get a better picture of how
widespread non-compliance to coun¬
ty policies is, or is not, but the jury is
still out. Based on the qualifications
of the firm given at the work session,
by the finance department and the
audit firm, I have reservations. One
other observation watching that work
session was that this audit firm was
the only one presented by the finance
department for consideration for a
contract. Why? Why didn’t the board
ask about other firms with experi¬
ence with a county our size? Again,
are our commissioners taking this
issue seriously? Only time will tell.
Bettina Hammond
Cumming
{Hammond' is a former purchasing
director for the county government.)
r wocio/l
1-/CCI Dcllci W2S10O
county tax money
I read the July 20,2008 Forsyth
County NeWs (FCN) story regarding
[Tax Commissioner Matthew]
Ledbetter and his post-election deci
sion to reel in spending.
The article mentions that several
taxpayers expressed outrage over die
department’s spending. You can add
me to those folks who are disap
pointed with the tax commissioner’s
spending habits,
Since Mr. Ledbetter is in the
process of reeling in his spending, as
a taxpayer I have a few suggestions
for him; You, state auditors and
salespersons should pay for your
own lunches and not be charging
your lunch back to the county tax
payers. Schedule your management
meetings at the beginning/close of
the business day. If you mi|s tmeet
The net result of Jones’
problems is that he failed to
break 40 percent in all-impor¬
tant DeKalb County, his home
turf. He actually ran worse there
than he did statewide, and as a
result, he went down in flames.
Martin deserves credit for
running a smartly low-key pri¬
mary race that ensured he
secured the Democratic nomi¬
nation without alienating the
African-Americans he will need
in November.
That said, Martin must shift
gears quickly to take advantage
of the openings Chambliss has
given him. So far, that shift does
not appear to have happened.
When Chambliss called a press
conference to attack Martin the
day after the runoff, Martin took
hours to respond and then did
so with a quick appearance
before reporters, reading a
bland statement and taking no
questions. While “low key”
may have been a savvy way to
slip past Jones, it is not what
Martin needs to make a ran at
knocking off Chambliss.
The well-funded Chambliss
is clearly the favorite, but he has
made some missteps that give
Martin a real shot, if the
Democrat uses them.
A recent example is an inci¬
dent that can only be described
as insensitive and strange.
Chambliss showed up at a hear
ing held by a Senate subcom
mittee of which he is not a
member to aggressively attack a
whistleblower testifying about
during the lunch hour, have everyone
bring a bag lunch.
If you are to have either a
Thanksgiving or Christmas function,
a potluck meal should suffice.
Your staff should insure that any
county vehicle they use is brought
back/driven out .with a full tank of
gas. Trips should be planned in such
a way you can get to and use a coun
ty pump. Why not vacuum or wash
your own county car? That would
show me that you appreciate what
we are doing for you.
Use the county purchasing sys¬
tem, as the finance department told
me they had an office supply contract
with a next day delivery.
You are an elected official and it
saddens me the way you used tax
payer money for so many question
able expenditures. You may have the
best customer service in the state and
have had 42 tax commissioners
review your operation; I commend
you for your success. However, I am
sure you did not brief them on your
questionable spending habits.
I voted for Mr. Ledbetter both
times he ran for tax commissioner.
Would I vote for him if I knew what I
know now? No! The article closes
with the following comment from
Mr. Ledbetter “But I want (residents)
to know I make the best decisions I
feel will benefit taxpayers the most.”
I am sure that Mr. Ledbetter has
,
many supporters who will disagree
with my comments. I only ask that
they read the FCN article and think
long and hard about Mr. Ledbetter’s
use of your money. Mr. Ledbetter
stating that he was taking steps to
reel in his questionable spending
habits — after three years -- makes
me wonder if we re-elected the best
person for this job.
Joseph Litton
f Alpharetta
\ , t
the safety problems at the
Imperial Sugar plant in
Savannah, where a dust explo¬
sion killed 13 people on Feb. 7.
When you add Chambliss’
willingness to carry the water
for the sugar industry against
his own constituents to his sup¬
port for a wildly unpopular bill
that would have provided a way
for illegal immigrants to
become citizens, you get the
picture of a guy more interested
in protecting the agribusinesses
that fund his political career
than the people who sent him to
Washington.
Maybe that’s because the
senator’s world seems filled
with lobbyists, ffom Chief of
Staff Charlie Harman, who
came through the revolving
door straight from his lobbying
job for the insurance industry, to
Saxby’s son Bo, who just hap¬
pened to find himself a lobby¬
ing gig when Dad went to
Congress.
Martin has a chance to
define Chambliss as the arche¬
type of what Americans don’t
like about our nation’s capital,
and in a year of change, that
might give him the chance to
pull off an upset. That will only
happen, however, if nice guy
Martin decides he’ll take the
fight to Saxby.
Bill Shipp’s column is pub
lished each Sunday and
Wednesday. You may write to
him at P.O. Box 2520,
Kennesaw, GA 30156, or via e
mail: shipp 1 @bellsouth.net.