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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2007
Named the best weekly editorial page in the nation for 2007
opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher -
Mike Buffington, editor • Email: Mike@mainstreetnews.com
our views
Tax plan not
so ‘great’
L ET’S DO away with property
taxes. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
But the current debate in
Georgia over abolishing property taxes
and replacing it with higher sales taxes
isn’t exactly what its supporters claim.
First, despite some misinformation to
the contrary, abolishing property taxes
would increase the sales tax rate. In
addition, sales taxes would be put on
goods and services that are currently
exempt from sales taxes.
When you go to the doctor, you’d
pay tax on those services under the
“GREAT” plan. When your lawyer does
any legal work for you, you’d pay tax
on those services. Any service that you
don’t now pay taxes for, you would start
paying under the proposal.
In other words, you’d still pay taxes,
but rather than pay them on property
in a lump sum at the end of the year,
you’d pay them every time you made a
purchase or service transaction.
But the bigger problem with this pro
posal is that if property taxes are abol
ished, the state government would have
total control over every local govern
ment in the state. State politicians would
decide how much money your town or
school received, not your local elected
officials.
That is little more than a financial
castration of every local government in
the state.
The truth is, state funding is the real
crisis in Georgia, not property taxes.
School funding in Georgia is a crazy
mess created over the last 20 years by
state politicians. The state has never
fully funded the school QBE formula
as it promised in 1985 and has shifted
more and more of the cost of education
to property taxes and away from state
funds.
That’s why your local school property
taxes keep going up. State leaders from
both political parties have failed to fund
schools as they said they would do
under QBE. It’s been the opposite; the
state has increased local mandates to
school systems while at the same time it
has underfunded state QBE funds.
Just a few years ago, over 65 percent
of school funding came from the state.
Now it’s less than 50 percent. Local
property taxpayers have had to make
up that state funding shortage and that’s
why school taxes keep climbing.
Now these same politicians want us
to trust them to be fair with a new sales
tax?
No way. Not with their record.
The real story behind this sales tax
pitch is politics. It’s an issue designed
by GOP pollsters to give Georgia House
Speaker Glenn Richardson a vehicle on
which to run for governor.
Abolishing property taxes sounds
good on the surface, but the Richardson
proposal is just a shell game. Frankly,
Georgia citizens cannot trust state lead
ers on this issue.
Just look at how they’ve messed up
school funding and you will see what
kind of mess the Richardson plan would
create.
And it wouldn’t be “GREAT.”
The Jackson Herald
Founded 1875
The Official Legal Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher & Editor
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher &
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letters
Animals should be
treated better
Dear Editor:
On Sunday, November 25, a lady and her mother
came down my drive to tell me one of my dogs might
have been hit and killed. Thankfully my three dogs
were safe in the yard. I grabbed my keys and drove up
to the road to see if it was a dog I knew. Nope, it was
just one of the countless dogs that are dumped in rural
areas. This was at least the third time I have had to
attend to a dead dog in front of my driveway.
The lady saw the van that hit the dog; she saw it hap
pen. She couldn’t recall the name on the van, other
than it was a church van. Both she and the van driver
stopped. She said to the van driver, “You have to do
something with this dog!” He laughed in her face before
he drove off. A church man, a church van driver.
Christian values at their finest?
1 pulled the dog off to the side of the road, rubbed it,
and said a prayer. I am not a Christian, yet I gave that
body some love and prayed over it. The really sad part
is that this dead dog had a buddy who wouldn’t leave
his side. The buddy dog watched me pull his friend to
the side and cry over the poor thing. As I went back
down my driveway 1 saw the buddy dog go to the car
cass and sniff it, nose it, and then he just sat there by
his friend.
1 am an animal lover and I believe that any life is
sacred, be it an animal, an insect or vegetation. If it’s
alive, it is of God and should be treated with respect.
So, to that church van driver who so callously
laughed at the death of a dog, just remember the words
from the hymn, “All creatures great and small, the Lord
God made them all.”
Live your values.
Sincerely
Ramona Barber
Says thanks for Peace
Place support
Dear Editor:
For almost three years, 1 was privileged to be a part
of Peace Place Thrift Store. I worked 60 plus hours per
week to help the shelter for battered women and chil
dren. Recent changes in structure require me to move
to another mission.
It is with sincerest thanks to this wonderful com
munity who helped make the store a success. The
community participation and the generous donations
were the backbone of our operation. I am humbled by
the loyal volunteers and the people God put in my path
to strengthen and encourage me daily. The support
this newspaper gave the store was a vital part of our
growth.
I do not feel worthy of the awesome encourage
ment from the group of volunteers and customers
who showed up at last Tuesday’s board meeting in
my support. I am reduced to tears over the monetary
gifts to ensure my son has a Christmas from this group
of angels. On Thanksgiving eve, a gift basket from
Living Word Church and a box of food showed up
from Jefferson High School. How can I ever thank
these people who took care of our needs when I felt
so abandoned?
Jefferson is a town that embraces its own and wel
comes all. I look forward to our future in this place.
Sincerely
Kathy Nowell, Peace Place Thrift Store
Saving candidate Cardwell
THE WHEELS are falling off Dale Cardwell’s cam
paign bandwagon, and the senatorial election is still
nearly a year away.
Too bad. Democrat Dale has the makings of an inter
esting candidate. His main problem: His idealism is
torpedoing his pragmatism as he
sets out to bring down Republican
incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
Before he was bitten by the
campaign bug, Dale was a first-
rate investigative reporter for Cox
Television in Atlanta. However,
he is so naive about the ways of
Georgia politics that I fear the
party wolves and pundits will
devour him if he wanders south
of the Farmer’s Market.
Dale is trying to make do with a
meager Internet campaign fueled
by a nickels-and-dimes budget.
He has dismissed his professional Democratic con
sultants — Jeff DiSantis and Emil Runge — because
they disagreed with the candidate about strategy. More
important, Dale ran out of dough.
Now Dale has no hired generals to tell him how to
survive the Senate wars.
Even so, no Democratic consultant can outline a pos
sible victory plan for him, for good reason.
Dale needs to run as a Republican. I can’t think of an
active Georgia Democrat, even one with wads of cash,
who would come close to defeating Saxby.
Moreover, Dale is blocked from winning the
Democratic nomination by several other Democratic
primary candidates, not the least of whom is DeKalb
CEO Vernon Jordan.
And the state Democratic Party looks like it’s about
to flatline.
So, Dale, the first move in your new game plan is
this:
•Say adios to the Democrats. Join up with the
Republicans. Some Georgia Republicans have genuine
problems with Saxby’s performance in Washington,
particularly on the immigration front. You may even find
some campaign money among those irked elephants. If
you could win the Georgia GOP primary you’re a cinch
to win the general election.
•Stop saying you will accept no campaign money
from corporate or union PACs. That is plain nuts.
Turning your back on dirty PAC money sounds great
and moral and ethical except... how else can you find
enough money to run on? The game is stacked on the
side of the PACs.
•Quit telling people that your folks were dirt poor
and you came from nowhere. That works in some
places, but Georgia Republicans don’t like that kind
of talk. It makes them feel insecure, especially when
dark economic clouds gather. Instead of saying you
were poor, tell Georgia Republicans about the charity
activities at your country club or the new wing they’re
building on your church in Dunwoody. Take a look
at the national scene and learn a lesson: The best
conservative presidential candidate is probably former
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. However, much of the
Georgia Republican hierarchy can not abide Huckabee.
He’s too blue collar and too redneck. He wouldn’t fit in
at a Piedmont Driving Club reception. He doesn’t look
like big money or even new money. Associating with
newly rich hicks is OK, Dale, but avoid at all costs hang
ing around with genuine populists. People will begin
to think you really were dirt poor and perhaps even a
donkey after all.
• Remember this golden rule of politics: Voters care
most about casting ballots against candidates they
don’t like. So you need to spend more time telling audi
ences what’s wrong with Saxby than saying what’s right
with Dale.
• When you finally get a little money hire three or four
men with gruff voices to telephone voters and demand
they support Saxby. That sounds like a dirty trick, but
everybody does it.
If you should win the election, do not fret too
much about keeping overblown campaign promises.
Republicans from Georgia have found repeatedly that
they always come out better when they don’t do much.
Besides, you don’t want to be overexposed in The New
York Times or Washington Post. First thing you know,
somebody will be trying to investigate you. It’s best
to keep your head down, and just do as you’re told.
President Giuliani knows the ropes and he’ll never steer
you wrong.
Good luck. Follow my game plan and you can’t lose.
Or at least you may be able to reclaim your TV job.
WSB-TV misses you.
You can reach Bill Shipp at P. O. Box 2520, Kennesaw,
GA 30156, or e-mail: shippl@bellsouth.net.
Grand jury should
unravel Glenn mess
WILL THE DARREN GLENN legal saga ever end? For over two
years, the former Jefferson Police Chief has been dogged by allega
tions and litigation and prosecution unlike anything I’ve ever cov
ered in many years of newspaper reporting. Watergate didn’t last
this long and wasn’t this complicated.
Next week, the final act could take
place when Glenn goes before a
Jackson County grand jury to tell his
side of the story. It will be the third time
a group of seemingly inept prosecutors
from the state Prosecuting Attorney’s
Council will attempt to indict Glenn;
but it will be the first time Glenn has
ever been allowed to tell his version of
events.
Nobody involved — not the GBI and
not the prosecutors — has ever inter
viewed Glenn during this investigation.
In fact, Glenn’s version of events has
never been told, period.
There’s a lot riding on the outcome
of next week’s hearing. If Glenn is
indicted, he faces many more months
of legal wrangling, hearings and perhaps even a jury trial.
If he isn’t indicted, those embattled Atlanta prosecutors may well
lose their jobs; and their state agency the Prosecuting Attorney’s
Council, might also get much stricter state oversight. In addition,
Glenn might have a case against PAC for malicious prosecution if
he prevails. It’s a high-stakes game.
A little background: This is the third time prosecutors have tried
to indict Glenn. Last December, they failed when Glenn’s lawyer
pointed out that the proposed indictments cited a non-existing state
law — PAC just made up a legal code in what some believe was an
intentional attempt to mislead the grand jury by using a bogus law.
In September, prosecutors rewrote the allegations and did get
indictments against Glenn, mostly for having run car tag data for
his private security firm. But those indictments were thrown out in
October because prosecutors had refused to allow Glenn to appear
before the grand jury to tell his side of the story.
So PAC prosecutors have messed-up twice on Glenn’s indict
ments. No doubt, they believe that going back to the same grand
jury next Tuesday is a move worth making. After all, this grand jury
indicted Glenn in September; wouldn’t it be willing to indict him
again?
But that prosecution strategy is a gamble. Grand jury members
will obviously want to know why they’re hearing the same case all
over again. And they may want to know why Glenn wasn’t allowed
to appear before them in September. Did prosecutors mislead
members of this grand jury in September about Glenn’s right to
appear? If so, that would call into question the honesty of these
Atlanta prosecutors.
In September, PAC prosecutors took an entire day to make
their case against Glenn by using a parade of witnesses. It was an
extraordinary grand jury hearing, both in its length and in the num
ber of witnesses called.
Next week, however, Glenn will be in the room for the entire
hearing. He will get to face prosecution witnesses. He will get to
hear all the testimony against him. And at the end of the hearing,
he will get to make a statement and answer questions.
So the dynamics have changed. Prosecutors no longer hold all
the cards before the grand jury as they did in September when
they told only their side of the story. This time, there will be a rebut
tal.
And here’s an intriguing possibility: What if Glenn reveals infor
mation to the grand jury that prosecutors had been withholding, or
maybe didn’t even know about? After all, no prosecutor or investi
gator has ever interviewed Glenn during the two-and-one-half-years
the case has been going on. They don’t really know what he will
say, or what refutable evidence he might throw on the table. What
if he drops a bombshell?
Most of the time, prosecutors have the upper hand in grand jury
indictments. There’s even a joke in law enforcement circles that if
a prosecutor is a good talker, a grand jury will indict a ham sand
wich. In other words, many grand juries are just mbber-stamps for
the prosecution.
But in this case, prosecutors would be foolish to underestimate
Glenn or the grand jury. Over the last two years, Glenn has won
every legal battle he’s faced:
He won an unemployment fight against the city after former city
manager David Clabo fired him.
He won against proposed indictments last December.
He won for a second time against proposed indictments in
October.
And last week, he won a major court ruling in a federal civil law
suit filed by a JPD officer that is entangled with this ongoing saga.
Every step of the way, Glenn has won his legal battles over the
last two years. Each time, he has been in the right.
What if next week, Glenn has a reasonable explanation for his
actions that mitigates any criminal intent? And what if he convinces
the grand jury that the investigation was political and that prosecu
tors are on a witch-hunt? And what if this grand jury isn’t the lap
dog prosecutors seem to think it is?
Next week, there are three possible outcomes to Glenn’s hear
ing:
1. Glenn gets indicted; 2. Glenn doesn’t get indicted; or 3. The
grand jury decides to do its own investigation into the issue by
looking at both Glenn’s actions and the actions of state prosecu
tors. They could do that by calling other witnesses to testify before
them.
A lot of people’s lives will be on the table at next week’s hear
ing. But beyond those personal aspects, the Glenn case raises
important ethical issues of how prosecutors conduct investigations
and about how politics and ego can sometimes taint the judicial
process.
It’s time to cut through the fog and get to the tmth surrounding
this lengthy Darren Glenn case.
This grand jury has the power — and the duty — to do that next
week.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson Herald. He can be
reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
mike
buffington