Submitted Photo
LCPS Kindergarten December Model Students
Front row: Hudson Flournoy, Skyler Gilbert, Sayler Page, David
Edmondson. Middle row: Than Lam, Autumn Smothers, Amarie Clark,
Bentley Hall. Back 1: Grade Tabb, Kathryn Thaggard, TJ Bowser. Back
2: Timothy Lovern, Kaitlyn Bradshaw. Not pictured are Samuel Floyd
and Gemma Daniels.
Submitted Photo
LCPS First Grade December Model Students
Front row: Keaton Moss, Russ Dowdy, Nyla Fluellen, Parker Minett.
Middle row: Livie Grace Kelley, Cohen Kinnett, Arnov Paudel, Grayson
Getek. Back row: Walker Evans, Carla Malone, Ava Mays, Joseph
Edwards.
Submitted Photo
LCPS Second Grade December Model Students
Front row: Levi Kelley, Yash Patel, Haley Williams, Faith Wilson.
Middle: Kalli Lindsey, Kaden Cox, Lexi McCrary, Harlee Sheffield.
Back row: Levi Lynam, Pedro Utrero. Not pictured: Londyn Williams.
The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, January 9, 2019, Page 7A
Make Civility and Civics
a Winning Combo in 2019
Special to the Ledger
By Benita M. Dodd
A good man passed
away on January 2nd.
Bob Hanner, 73, had
served 38 years in the
Georgia General As
sembly, transitioning
from South Georgia
Democrat to South
Georgia Republican be
fore leaving the Legisla
ture in 2013.
Most people have
forgotten why he left. A
census-based reappor
tionment, coupled with
a declining Southwest
Georgia population,
meant Hanner, repre
sentative from the 148th
District (Parrott), and
Gerald Greene, who had
served the 149th District
(Cuthbert) for 30 years,
would have to face
each other in the newly
drawn 151st House
District.
“We talked about
it - knew it was com
ing - and I told Bob
I wouldn’t run if he
decided to,” Greene told
The Albany Herald in
2012. “Of course, Bob
being the person he is,
he said he wouldn’t run
if I decided to. That’s
kind of the secret we’ve
kept between us for a
while now.”
“Everyone in this posi
tion comes to that time
in their life, when they
know the time is right
(to step down),” Greene
said. “Bob came to me
and said, ‘It’s time to
enjoy my grandchildren,
time to enjoy my life.’”
In the same article,
Georgia State Rep. Ed
Rynders called Hanner
“a master of old-school
politics,” telling the
newspaper, “He never
offended anyone; he had
an even-tempered ap
proach to difficult situa
tions and difficult votes.
Simply put, Rep. Hanner
was always a gentleman.
The respect he got was
genuine; everyone likes
Bob.”
In the early 2000s,
Georgia was working
on a statewide compre
hensive water plan. By
2002, Georgia’s farmers
and metro Atlanta were
dealing with three years
of drought; ironically, in
the week Hanner died,
Atlanta’s annual rainfall
was reported at 70-plus
inches, the second wet
test since record-keep
ing began in 1878.
Hanner, chairman
of the House Natural
Resources Committee,
was appointed by Gov.
Roy Barnes as co-chair
of the Joint Compre
hensive Water Study
Committee. Then a
Democrat, he discussed
the proposals with the
Georgia Public Policy
Foundation.
“He was the epitome
of a Southern political
person,” recalls Rogers
Wade, then president
of the Foundation. “He
understood the need
to represent his rural
constituents while
safeguarding the entire
state.”
It was the proverbial
splitting of the baby
when the committee
unveiled the plan to al
locate water for agri
culture, environment,
industry and residential
use.
“Some folks like some
things; some folks
don’t. You don’t get ev
erything you want,” was
Hanner’s sage response.
Hanner embraced a
standard of statesman
ship for Georgia. He
was honorable in his ef
forts to collaborate with
allies and opponents.
He understood compro
mise. He was always
courteous and civil. He
graciously accepted
change as he humbly,
quietly stepped down
for the sake of progress.
He was a public servant
to the end, and a gentle
man at all times.
Hanner’s style of
bipartisan collegiality
has all but disappeared
in Washington and is
growing rare under the
Gold Dome. Times and
temperaments have
changed in Georgia, as
was demonstrated in the
hard-fought, massively
funded, nationalized,
drawn-out elections of
2018.
Bruised pride and
battered egos will
take a while to heal in
Georgia. The question
is, do Georgia’s elected
officials have the ability
and willingness to cease
hostilities and embrace
civility, collegiality and
a united sense of pur
pose in the new session?
Georgia’s population
is growing and demo
graphics are changing;
the state can’t wait any
longer for Washing
ton’s vitriol to dissipate.
Enhancing Georgians’
academic achievement,
transportation, eco
nomic opportunity and
health and well-being
across the state must
originate in the state.
It can happen only if
elected officials and
policymakers on both
sides of the aisle under
stand, like Bob Hanner
did, that they have to
set aside grandstanding
and play on the state
team.
Benita M. Dodd is
vice president of the
Georgia Public Policy
Foundation, an in
dependent, nonprofit
think tank that pro
poses market-oriented
approaches to public
policy to improve the
lives of Georgians.
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