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PAGE 5A
FORSYTH OPINION
Friday, February 23, 2018
ELECTED OFFICIALS
CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Troy Brumbalow, 100
Main St., Cumming, GA 30040;
(770) 781-2010
Christopher Light, 100 Main St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 480-
1396
Jason Evans, 100 Main St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 781-
2010
Lewis Ledbetter, 100 Main St., -
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 781-
2010
Linda Ledbetter, 100 Main St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 781-
2010 ;
Chad Crane, 100 Main St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 781-
2010 ' :
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
R.J. (Pete) Amos, Post 1, 110 E.
Main St., Cumming, GA 30040;
(678) 513-5881; rjamos @forsyth
co.com
Secretary Dennis Brown, Post
2, 110 E. Main Street, Cimming,
GA 30040; (678) 513-5882;
dtbrown@forsythco.com -
Chairman Todd Levent, Post 3,
110 E, Main St., Cumming, GA
30040; (678) 513-5883; tlevent@
forsythco.com : :
Cindy Mills, Post 4, 110 E. Main
St., Cumming, GA 30040; (678)
513-5884; cjmills @forsythco.com °
Vice Chairwoman Laura
Semanson, Post 5, 110 E. Main
St., Cumming, GA 30040; (678)
513-56885; losemanson @forsyth
co.com
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Chairwoman Ann Crow, District
1, 320 Dahlonega St., Cumming,
GA 30040; (770) 490-6316;
acrow@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
. .Kristin Mormissey, District 2,
3310 Cany Creek Lane, Cumming,
-GA 30041; (678) 250-4047; kmor
rissey @forsyth.kl2.ga.us :
Tom Cleveland, District 3, 5225
Millsford Court, Cumming, GA
30040; (770) 844-9901; tcleve
land @forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Darla Sexton Light, District 4,
50080 Hopewell Road, ’
Cumming, GA 30028; (770) 887-
0678; dlight@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Vice Chairwoman Nancy
Roche, District 5, 7840 Chestnut
Hill Road, Cumming, GA 30041;
(770) 889-0229; nroche @forsyth.
kl2.ga.us -
NATIONAL LEGISLATORS
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, 120
Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510; (202)
224-3643 or (770) 661-0999
U.S. Sen. David Perdue, B4OD
Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510; (202)
224-3521
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, 9th
District; 513 Cannon House Office
Building, Washington, D.C.,
20515; (202) 225-9893; fax, (770)
297-3390
" U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, 7th
District; 1725 Longworth House
Office Building, Washington, D.C.,
20515; (770) 232-3005; (202) 225-
4272; fax, (202) 225-4696
STATE LEGISLATORS
Sen. Steve Gooch, 51st District,
Suite 421-C, State Capitol, Atlanta,
GA 30334; (404) 656-9221
Sen. Michael Williams, 27th
District, Coverdell Legislative
Office Building, Room 323-B, 18
Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-7127
Rep. Kevin Tanner, 9th District,
Coverdell Legislative Office
Building, Room 401-E, Atlanta, GA
30334??404) 656-0152
Rep. Wes Cantrell, 22nd District,
Coverdell Legislative Office
Building, Room 507-E, 18 Capitol
Square, Atlanta, GA 30334; (404)
656-0202 :
Rep. Sheri S. Gilligan, 24th
District, Coverdell Legislative
Office Building, Suite 612 F, 18
Capitol Square, SW, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-0325 ;
Rep. Todd Jones, 26th District,
Coverdell Legislative Office
Building, Room 608-C, 18 Capitol
Square, Atlanta, GA 30334; (404)
6656-0298
601-D Coverdell Legislative Office
Bidg., Atlanta, GA 30334; (404)
656-0254 :
Mm%& to l‘-@.mm Wm& fax it to (770) 889-6017; or email it to editor@forsythnews.com.
UGA salute to Billy Payne
brings back fond memories
There are few people I
admire more than William -
Porter Payne. In a fit of
pique during my days at the
Atlanta Committee for the
Olympic Games, I told an
associate that I was ready to
whip somebody’s butt the
next time anybody criticized
Payne, the organization’s
founder and CEO.
My associate found that
commendable but reminded
me that Billy Payne was ten
years younger, a hard-nosed
football player at the
University of Georgia and
someone who, no doubt,
could take care of himself.
Besides, my associate con
fided, I probably couldn’t
whip a bowl of cream on a
good day, let alone defend
someone in combat. Okay,
maybe that was so, but it’s
the thought that counts.
I remembered that story
when I read that the
University of Georgia will
name its new S3O million
indoor football facility for
Billy Payne and his late
father, Porter Payne, who
himself was an outstanding
all-SEC player at UGA and
team captain in 1949. That
is an outstanding decision
on the part of my -alma
mater.
I backed into my relation
ship with Billy. I had an
established career as a vice
president at Bell South
Corporation and a reputation
for successfully dealing with
tricky external issues.
The absurdity is practically
overwhelming. They obvi
ously think, or at least hope,
that you are stupid. They
hope that either you do not
have the brain God gave a
grasshopper, or that you -
deliberately choose to be stu
pid and ignore the obvious.
Now if you read the Good
Book, it tells us that there
really are folks among us
who choose to be stupid,
choose not to see what is per
fectly obvious. It tells us that
if people don’t want to see
the truth, God will not allow
them to see it, kind of a “spir
itual” thing.
But the Bible also tells us
that to see the truth, all we
have to do is ask. That’s fair.
Remember? Knock and the
door shall be opened? Seek
and we shall find?
But if we don’t knock with
an open heart, if we truly do
not want to know the truth,
God, who knows our hearts,
will allow us to live in igno
rance, and out of our own
free will. And to people who
see the obvious truth all
around us, we just appear stu
pid; althoughitmightgo
deeper than that, but of
course it might not.
Now, I don’t mean to insult
those who are stupid by
choice. I’m just preaching the
unvarnished Word of God
here. And of course, those
who choose to be stupid
never know how stupid they
are anyway. They just think
others are stupid. So there is
little chance that any words
of mine might offend anyone
here. I’m talking about some
body else, right?
Now I have a little cottage
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Mail letters to the Forsyth County News, PO. Box 210, Cumming, GA 30028, hand deliver to 302 Veterans
Memorial Bivd., fax to (770) 889-6017 or e-mail to editor @forsythnews.com.
"
DICK YARBROUGH
Columnist
Nowhere do they get trickier
than in Olympic Games
planning.
Billy Payne had talked the
poohbabhs in the
International Olympic
Committee to include golf
as an Olympic sport in 1996,
with the competition to be
held at the Augusta .
National, home of the vener
able Masters Tournament.
An Atlanta city council
man named Bill Campbell,
‘who I later told the
Washington Post could
‘make a racial issue out of a
lima bean (still one of my
favorite quotes), was raising
a furor over holding an
Olympic event at such a
privileged facility. Billy, as
is the wont of defensive
ends, wasn’t about to budge.
An international incident
was brewing, much to the
consternation of the IOC -
and to the delight of the
media.
‘I was asked to join the
committee and get involved
in the issue. After much
debate and hand-wringing, I
decided to take the plunge. .
After all, how many people
ever get to participate in
something as exciting as the
They think you are ignorant
HANK SULLIVAN
Columnist
industry going for me here. I
don’t get paid for it, and 1
don’t seek payment. The
Good Lord instructs me,
“Freely you received, so free
ly give,” and that’s what I do.
Whether people see any value
in what I say, is up to them.
If they have questions, I try
my best to answer them.
But if an individual falls
into the category of stupid by
choice, as in “Biblically stu
pid,” just know that I will see
that soon enough, at which
time, unless I see some prac
tical entertainment in con
tinuing, I will consider my -
time as sunk cost and stop
investing it. Because when
you get right down to it, time
is all we have. It is up to us to
use it wisely.
The Holy Writ instructs us
there too. When we enter a
home that does not accept our
‘truth, it tells us to shake the
dust from our feet and go to
the next. I take that as God’s
permission to leave people
wondering.
So, let’s get to the point
here, the Mueller investiga
tion and what they think, or
at least hope you are stupid
enough to believe.
Considering the following:
George W. Bush launched
an all-out invasion of Iraq, on
false pretenses, destroyed an
entire country and its govern
ment, and executed its leader.
Barack Obama launched
This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and
others. Signed columns and cartoons are the
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views. :
Olympic Games? :
My recommendation upon
arriving at ACOG was to
drop Olympic golf in 1996.
It would require too many
resources for too long to*
defend, and perhaps taint,
everything else we would be
trying to do in showcasing °
the South to the world.
(Irony of ironies, Payne
later became chairman of
Augusta National and is
credited with helping open
ing the club to women and
promoting an international
appeal for the game of golf.
Campbell later became
mayor of Atlanta and ended
_up in the federal pokey for
tax evasion. God is good.)
It also became obvious to
me that Billy was being
underestimated and under
mined at every turn by a
bunch of incompetent buf
foons in city government, a
nervous-nelly business com
munity and a provincial
media that enjoyed taking
ungracious digs at him, rath
er than hold the city’s feet to
the fire.
What Billy Payne got with
me was not only somebody
with a little walking-around
‘knowledge of dealing with
external issues but also a
guy who was more than
willing to take on this small
minded bunch; one at a time
or all at once, and keep him
above the fray. This I did
with great relish. He had
made a believer out of this
‘old corporate cynic that
cruise missiles into Libya, -
‘used our tax dollars to hire Al
Qaeda mercenaries to over
throw its government and
murder its leader.
Obama covertly overthrew
the government of Egypt,
imprisoned its leader and
engineered the election of the
Muslim Brotherhood to take
over that country by Sharia
Law.
And if that’s not enough,
both Obama and Hillary
trained and supplied an army
if Islamic radicals to over
throw the Syrian and Iraqi
governments, simultaneously
dispatching State Department
operatives to overthrow the
elected government of
Ukraine, shooting innocent
people from rooftops ... and
all that seems just fine, if of
course, you choose to be stu
pid.
But if some ineffectual
ensemble of rag-tag Russians
takes out a few Facebook ads
supporting this candidate or
that during the 2016 U.S.
elections, then somehow we
are going to lose all control
of the democratic processes
believe that?
Now, I’'m all for preserving
the integrity of the vote. But 1
expect that I, along with five
of my least politically-mind
ed friends, were more effec
tive in steering the outcome
of the 2016 election than any
passel of Russians you might
consider.
So, maybe we can bring
some good out of this obvi
ous attempt to blindfold the
already blind. 1 know, we
could pass out free, “stupidity
tests,” that anyone might use
there was an inherent good
ness in the Olympic move
-ment. He deserved to enjoy
the fruits of his labors. I
~would take the heat. - .
One of my prouder
moments was walking
behind him one day as he
was briefing the chairman of
the upcoming 2000 Games
in Sydney. “One of the first
things you need,” he said,
“is to get you a mean SOB.”
Pointing over his shoulder,
he said, “That’s mine.”
After the Games, our
paths diverged: His to
Augusta National where he
-served as chairman until his
recent retirement and mine
to these pages some 2,000
columns ago. We did cross
paths briefly at the 20th
anniversary of the
- Olympic Games
a couple of years ago.
Even in the long absence,
I still consider Billy Payne
my friend. I am honored to
have known him and to have
worked with him. And I
hope he still considers me
his favorite SOB. On the
credenza in my office sits a
photograph of the two of us
with the inscription:.“The
Bulldog Brothers.”
Amen to that. ol
You can reach Dick Yarbrough
at dick@dickyarbrough.com;
at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,
Georgia 31139 or on Facebook
at www.facebook.com/dick
yarb. ~
in the privacy of home to dis
cover whether he or she
might be, or might have cho
sen to be, stupid.
This could even be part of
the U.S. census, a short ques
tionnaire to regularly record
the incidence of stupidity
across the entire American
population, which by all esti
mates of mine has reached
epidemic proportions.
Here’s the test: If you actu
ally believe the Mueller
investigation was carried out
for the justifiable purpose of
protecting the democratic
processes in our country, and
had nothing to do as a last
ditch fishing expedition to in
some way discover or manu
facture evidence that might
remove President Trump
from office, then as the test
will affirm, you are, or have
chosen to be, stupid.
In the kit you will find a
sign to wear so that normal,
intelligent people will under
stand not to waste time with
you.
The silver lining wouiu be
the offer of a path for your
recovery, if you choose to
do is realize the following:
The only danger to the demo
cratic processes in America
are forces from within, not
forces from without.
And just know; those forc
es from within depend on
only one thing, people being
stupid enough to believe
them.
Hank Sullivan is a Forsyth
County resident, businessman,
author and speaker on
American history, economics
and geopolitics.