Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2008
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 5A
Always has been, always will be
The election is over.
It’s day one. The econ
omy is still a mess. I
thought those guys were
going to fix it. What’s
the holdup? Broken
promises! So what else
is new? It’s still the
economy. Always has
been, always will be.
❖ ❖ ❖
I WAS 7 years old
in 1930. For those of
you too old to remem
ber or too young to know or
care, that was during the first
Great Depression. Today we are
involved in what is akin to that
debacle.
In our current situation,
nobody seems to know exactly
what we are involved in. It has
been called a slow down, melt
down, mild recession, full-blown
recession, mild depression, weak
depression, depression and a few
things we can’t print in a family
newspaper.
Although I was just 7 years
old, I was in the know. Not that
I was all that smart. And not
that I was destitute, hungry, job
less, homeless or anything like
that. A huge vegetable garden,
four fat hogs, 50 or so rabbit
traps, a big brother who was a
good squirrel and quail hunter, a
productive fishing hole. Mama’s
sewing prowess and hand-me-
down overalls and shoes kept me
fed and clothed.
But my cash income disap
peared. At the time I didn’t know
what income was. And I had
never heard of allowance. But
I knew that, whereas Daddy
used to give me a nickel every
Saturday morning, now he told
me most Saturdays, “Son, I’m
sorry I don’t have your nickel
this week.’’
At the time, that was a bad
experience. Now I see it as a
good experience, and I am thank
ful for it. I believe that what I
didn’t have then helps me appre
ciate what I do have now.
I don’t wish hardship on any
one, but a little discomfort early
on may make us healthy, wealthy
and wise later on.
On the surface, what I’m about
to say doesn’t make a bit of sense.
However, I know some people
who believe that, if you look
beneath the surface, it makes a lot
of sense. They say they’ve won
far more victories out of their
weaknesses than they have out
of their strengths. They hasten to
explain that it has nothing to do
with soldiers in war or Bulldogs
battling Alligators.
We are tempted to call these
people “weirdoes.’’ That may be
a mistake. It could be that they
are leading us into a deeper mys
tery than we choose to explore.
They see clearly; the rest of us
see through a glass darkly.
History is replete with deep
thinkers. Baron Bulwer-Lytton
(1803-1873), a historical novel
ist and playwright in Victorian
England, expressed a similar
“weird” opinion a century and
a half ago. “Man must be disap
pointed with the lesser things of
life before he can comprehend
the full value of the greater.”
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), a
Greek philosopher, educator and
scientist, was one of
the greatest and most
influential thinkers
in Western culture.
A long time ago he
offered some “weird”
advice that just might
help us in our pres
ent hard times. “We
should aim rather at
leveling down our
desires than leveling
up our means.”
“Solvency is
entirely of temperament and
not income.” - Logan Pearsall
Smith.
“The difficulty in life is
the choice.” - George Moore
(1852-1933) an Irish author.
“Decide not rashly. The deci
sion made can never be recalled.”
- Longfellow.
“Think first. Then decide.
Then act.” - Virgil.
“Defeat isn’t bitter if you
don’t swallow it.” - Unknown.
As you can see, the epigrams,
satire and stuff that fell out of
the shoebox two weeks ago
didn’t begin to exhaust the sup
ply. There are others that may
speak to our present situation.
For example:
“When we are flat on our
backs, there is no way to look
but up.” - Roger Babson.
“It always rains after a dry
spell, and the sun always shines
after a storm.”
“Have more than thou
showeth; speak less than thou
knoweth.” - Shakespeare.
“I have never been hurt by
anything I didn’t say.” - Calvin
Coolidge.
“He has half the deed done
who has made a beginning.” -
Horace (65-8 B.C.), one of the
greatest poets of ancient Rome.
“The best way to get a job
done is to get it started.” -
Virgil.
“He who desires but acts not
breeds pestilence.” - William
Blake (1757-1827), brilliant but
unconventional English poet
and painter. (Pestilence: “a con
tagious and infectious epidemic
disease that is virulent and dev
astating.” That’s not good.)
“Youth is in danger until it
learns to look upon debts as
furies.” - Bulwer-Lytton.
“I have discovered the philos
opher’s stone that turns every
thing into gold; it is ‘pay as you
go’.” - Unknown.
“Debt is the worst poverty.” -
Unknown.
“Beware of little expenses;
a small leak will sink a great
ship.” - Franklin.
Whoa! Enough gloom and
doom!
Take heart America! Come
January, our new President and
Congress will get us out of this
economic mess. They will put
their plans on the table.
“It isn’t so much what’s on
the table that matters, as what’s
on the chairs.” - W.S. Gilbert.
“For of all sad words of the
tongue and pen, the saddest are
these: ‘It might have been’.” -
Whittier.
Always has been, always will
be.
Virgil Adams is a former
owner/editor of The Jackson
Herald.
virgil
adams
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An Open Letter to Our Fellow
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(706)654-1234
Commissioners mull school road project
BYANGELA GARY
JACKSON COUNTY lead
ers are considering a proposal to
make $15,669 in road improve
ments to address safety issues
at Gum Springs Elementary
School.
The Jackson County Board
of Commissioners discussed the
project Monday night, but post
poned taking action until the
Nov. 17 meeting.
County and school leaders
have been concerned about safe
ty issues with students walking
and riding bicycles to the West
Jackson school. The proposal
calls for putting up signs, add
ing a crosswalk and installing
sidewalks from Magnolia Point
Subdivision to the school. The
proposal also calls for the school
system to pay $5,600 to make
improvements to sidewalks on
the school property.
District 3 commissioner Bruce
Yates, who represents the West
Jackson area, has been adamant
in his support of the county
making these improvements.
But some of the other BOC
members have been concerned
that it would set an expensive
precedent for similar projects
near other county schools.
Commissioner Tom Crow
said the subdivision residents
or owners should be responsible
for making the improvements.
He said the only children using
the sidewalk would be those
from the subdivision.
“This sidewalk is strictly for
them,” he said. “I don’t think we
should start a precedent that we
can’t do at other subdivisions.”
Finance director John Hulsey
said the county’s portion could
be paid with special purpose
local option sales tax funds.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the BOC
meeting:
•chairman Pat Bell asked
finance director John Hulsey
whether departments have been
able to reduce the budget by five
percent. Hulsey reported that
$432,159 has been cut from the
budget. He added that sales tax
revenue is $474,000 lower than
had been projected.
•an update was given on the
county’s effort to purchase the
I.W. Davis Detention Center.
County manager Darrell
Hampton said this is still being
worked on.
•Hampton reported on a ques
tion he had been asked to look
into - whether property can
be rezoned back to its original
classification if no activity has
taken place for a specific period
of time. The county manager
said that can’t be done. Crow
pointed out that Athens-Clarke
government does this. Hampton
agreed to look into the matter
further and report back to the
board.
•Hampton also reported on
the effort to use a multi-county
fuel system. He is continuing to
work toward this and will report
back next month.
•Yates asked the status of
applying for a grant to purchase
two weather warning systems
for the West Jackson area. Staff
is looking a location for the
units.
•Yates asked when the com
prehensive plan will be ready.
Planner Frank Etheridge said
the existing land use maps have
been completed.
•the board approved a procla
mation supporting Prematurity
Awareness Day on Nov. 12
to recognize the efforts of the
March of Dimes.
•a proclamation recognizing
Retired Educators Day on Nov.
2 was approved.
•the board agreed to begin the
process to close a portion of Old
Lebanon Church Road near the
intersection of Hwy. 129 and
Lebanon Church Road. A pub
lic hearing will be held before
final action is taken.
•Bell gave a report on open
ing Bear Creek Reservoir up
for recreation purposes such as
fishing. She said it will cost
$341,000 to get a ramp in place
and open the reservoir up for
fishing. This cost will be divided
among the four counties using
the reservoir.
•a closed session was held to
discuss litigation and personnel.
No action was taken.
Parks Creek Reservoir topic for Jefferson, JCWSA
By Mark Beardsley
THE CONSTRUCTION of
Jefferson’s proposed Parks Creek
Reservoir would be a boon for
the Jackson County Water and
Sewerage Authority — but also
a huge cost.
Jefferson is on the verge of
receiving the necessary state per
mits — a process that has taken
a decade — for a new reservoir
that could provide the city up to
5 million gallons of water per
day (gpd).
In a called meeting on
Tuesday, Oct. 28, the author
ity approved an amendment
to its contract with Jefferson
and Jackson County under
which Jefferson agreed to buy
300,000 gpd from the author
ity and the authority buys 25
percent of the water from the
Parks Creek Reservoir.
What Jefferson has learned,
said authority manager Eric
Klerk, is that the Environmental
Protection Division will require
Jefferson to use its 300,000 gpd
from the authority before it taps
the Parks Creek Reservoir.
“I didn’t know we were going
to be tied to the hip like that,”
Klerk commented.
The result is that Jefferson
must buy 300,000 gpd of treated
water each day from the author
ity, while the authority has com
mitted to paying for 250,000 gpd
of raw water from Parks Creek
— but only if Jefferson’s use of
Parks Creek water is less than 1
million gpd.
The authority will pay
Jefferson at a rate of 50 cents
per 1,000 gallons — $125 a
day — for raw water, while
Jefferson will pay whatever the
going wholesale rate is for treat
ed water — currently $3.01 per
1,000 gallons. That would work
out to just over $750 a day at
current rates.
The original contract appears
to leave Jackson County’s
responsibility for funding the
reservoir unclear. It commits the
authority/county to paying 25
percent of the cost of obtaining
the state permits and states that
“the county will have the option
to pay its 25 percent share of
the cost of a part or all of the
infrastructure required to be built
to withdraw its 25 percent share
of the water from the North
Oconee River either at the time
of the initial construction of the
infrastructure or at a later date.
whichever the county determines
to be financially feasible.”
That paragraph could be inter
preted to limit Jackson County’s
cost to a quarter of the permit
ting cost and a quarter of the
cost of a pump station and line
from the North Oconee River
to the reservoir — or it could
be interpreted as mandating that
Jackson County pay for a quarter
of the cost of the whole project,
said Klerk.
“I’m going ahead with the
assumption that we’ll have to
pay 20 percent of the cost of that
reservoir and the authority and
the county had better be ready
to pay for it,” said Klerk, who
acknowledged that the authority,
Jackson County and Jefferson
need to discuss the contract to
clarify the language and intent.
Water authority continued from page lA
anticipated expansions.
Members of the authority
viewed slides showing where its
$1.6 million is being spent. As
of Oct. 28, the generator had
been installed, a debris screener
completed, the headworks are
being installed and the electri
cal building is finished and the
motor control installed.
The project is running ahead
of a schedule that would have it
completed by Feb. 1, said Mark
Dudziak, chief wastewater man
ager. That will increase the capac
ity of the plant to 300,000 gal
lons per day (gpd). The next step
would be to grow it to 500,000
gpd, then 1 million gpd.
BEAR CREEK LAWSUIT
Also following the closed ses
sion, the authority voted to ratify
its contract with C.H. Guernsey
& Company as the authority pur
sues its lawsuit against the Upper
Oconee Basin Water Authority.
Guernsey is the engineering
firm that concluded that the Bear
Creek Reservoir’s yield during a
time of drought is less than half
of what the basin authority has
assumed for years. Those num-
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Read, then recycle,
this newapaper!
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bers are the basis for the lawsuit
pitting Jackson County against
its three partners in the regional
reservoir, Athens-Clarke, Barrow
and Oconee counties.
In other business, the author
ity approved its amended sewer
use policy, including its amend
ed industrial pre-treatment pro
gram.
Holiday Market
A One Stop Holiday Shoppe
At the Jefferson Civic Center
Preview Sale &
Dessert Reception
Friday, November 7, 7-9 p.m.
Friday Night admission $5.00
Holiday Market
Saturday, November 8, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Saturday admission - $1.00
arts & crafts, custom jewelry, purses and totes, baked
goods and holiday items, floral designs, ladies &
men’s gifts, embroidery, pottery, fused glass,
collectibles & antiques, wood working, children’s
gifts, activities and stocking sniffers, Tastefully
Simple, Pampered Chef, Southern Living, Premier
Jewelry, Cookie Lee Jewelry and much more!
Admission to benefit:
Humane Society of
Jackson County
f *
Sponsored by: Better Hometown Jefferson
and Jefferson Civic Center
For information:
Michele Head, 706-367-5754
mhead@cityoQefferson.com
Jefferson Civic Center
. ..where every event is special.
65 Kissam St. • Jefferson, GA 30549
706-367-5754
www. cityojjeffersonga. com