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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009
Named the best weekly editorial page in the nation for 2007, 2008
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher ~
Mike Buffington, editor • Email: Mike@mainstreetnews.com
our views
A road by any
other name...
W E DON’T quite
understand the
intense fixation
Jefferson Mayor Jim Joiner has
on naming roads. Surely, city
leaders have other problems to
worry about.
Apparently not.
For several weeks, Joiner has
fussed about the county gov
ernment’s move last October
to rename a county-maintained
road that falls inside the city. He
argues that the county’s move
infringed on the city’s preroga
tive to name roads within the
town’s boundaries.
So intense is the debate on
this issue that it is apparently
the only point left to work out
on the county’s HB489 plan
update, the plan that is sup
posed to prevent a duplication
of service between city and
county governments.
This debate does raise sev
eral interesting legal issues. For
example, if a city annexes prop
erty from the county does the
city automatically get the right
to name roads that are owned
and maintained by the county?
The irony of Jefferson’s posi
tion in this matter cannot be
overlooked. It was just a few
years ago that city leaders
attempted to wash their hands
of the Kroger traffic signal mat
ter by arguing that it was a state
road over which they had no
control. Only after a massive
public outcry and pressure from
the county government did the
city get engaged in the issue.
Funny how the city was slow
to embrace that traffic signal
issue, but has been so quick
to defend its road naming turf.
What’s really going on here?
To most observers, this issue
looks like little more than a polit
ical pique. Does anybody really
care who names the road?
What’s also ironic about this
debate is that Jefferson appar
ently agreed years ago to name
the disputed road the same
name that the county posted
on it last October, making the
entire argument moot.
With apologies to
Shakesphere, we offer this
thought on the Jefferson road
flap: “That which we call a
road by any other name is still
a road by the same name. ”
The Jackson Herald
Founded 1875 • The Official Legal
Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher & Editor
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher &
Advertising Manager
News Department
Angela Gary Associate Editor
Jana Adams Mitcham Features Editor
Brandon Reed Sports Editor
Kerri Testement Reporter
Sharon Hogan Reporter
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letters
Sell or close BJC Thanks GAME for help
Dear Editor:
If the county board of commissioners are looking
to bailout BJC Medical Center, maybe they can also
bailout the almost dozen people recently injured by
BJC and Doctor Keith Ash. Five of this group are suing
Ash and BJC. It is time for a major review of BJC, its
management, its processes and it’s place in the future
of these communities.
BJC management put all its eggs in one basket with
Doctor Ash and today those eggs are all broken.
Biggest example of this mistake was the running of ads
on radio in support of Ash and his surgical prowess,
which is now in question.
It would be interesting to find out what reviews were
made of Ash and the quantity and quality of those
surgeries.
After my episode, many people told me they ques
tioned in their minds the amount of hours surgery
took place at BJC. We limit the hours that truck drivers
can drive; how about surgeons operating and running
their office?
I would suggest a bipartisan committee review this
request. Rest assured I cannot be on such a commit
tee as I am one of those injured by Ash and BJC.
I could surely use a bailout because Ash and BJC
turned my financial house upside down. My medical
and other bills eclipsed $300,000. Even with decent
insurance, in this day and time it was catastrophic. In
my case, Ash and BJC can hide behind the state law.
Please note in other states this would not be the case.
Because of Emory Medical Center, I am alive today to
write this letter.
My vote is do a full review, turn over all the stones
and look in all the closets. Then, sell it or close it.
Sincerely,
Jeff Sheffield
Dear Editor:
I know that in a world where the economy is in
a mess, and it appears that too many are ruled by
greed, sometimes you can be reminded that many,
many people are simply wonderful.
My most recent rock and hard place was after my
lawnmower broke to the point that my friends (who
were very kind to try) could not fix it. The grass
began to grow and I turned my head. There are all
kinds of rodent and other pest problems that come
with not getting grass mowed. Among those pests
are thieves looking for an empty house.
The grass got up knee high and I just thought about
other things. Fortunately, one of those things was a
Rotary program with Erin Roberts as guest speaker
talking about a new program from Galilee Christian
Church. The program is called GAME and stands
for God’s Aid in Mission Experiences. The idea is
to introduce youth from the church to needs in the
community that can be filled by volunteering.
I called GAME and Erin was gracious enough to
find volunteers who came out last week and mowed
the grass. I’m ashamed to say that they did a far bet
ter job than I have done in many years of mowing.
They cleared invasive shrubs and blew off the patio.
I was very, very amazed and grateful.
The program is new and needs more people who
are between the rock and hard place. Call Erin at
706-387-5067 and see if GAME can help. Thank you,
Erin, Tony Harris, Bryan Larue and Max Courtney.
You truly are angels among us.
Sincerely,
Priscilla Daves
Jefferson
Fighting an old war again
tom
crawford
AS HE worked his way through dozens of bill sign
ings last week, Gov. Sonny Perdue put his signature on
SB 27, a measure that designates April as Confederate
Heritage/History Month and sets the stage for the
upcoming observance of the Civil War sesquicenten-
nial.
I wonder if Perdue even
paused to ponder the irony of
his signing a piece of legislation
that compels an official recog
nition of the Confederate States
of America.
Perdue was elected governor
in 2002 with the enthusiastic
support of Confederate-flag-
waving rural voters who were
angry with Roy Barnes for
changing the state flag. As he
nears the end of his administra
tion, Perdue again is bowing to
the wishes of Georgians who long for the good old
days of “the lost cause.”
Of course, there are decent business reasons
for setting up a Confederate history month. The
150th anniversary of the Civil War is expected to
draw tourists who want to look at historic bat
tlefield sites. We might as well prepare for this
influx of visitors and the money they could spend.
Two years before that date arrives, however, we
seem to be caught up in another refighting of the War
Between the States.
In recent weeks, political leaders in several southern
states have been talking openly about the positive
aspects of such concepts as “secession” and “sover
eignty” and “states’ rights” and “nullification.”
Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was one of the
first to mention secession, which he thought might
be a good way for his state to throw off the burdens
of an “intrusive” federal government. Insurance
Commissioner John Oxendine, a Republican candi
date for governor in Georgia, has expressed sympathy
for the secessionist crowd as well.
The Georgia Senate passed a resolution in the
waning days of the legislative session, SR 632, that
declares the state can ignore federal laws if the state’s
leaders think Congress doesn’t have the authority to
enact such measures.
“All acts of Congress which assume to create,
define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumer
ated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no
force; and that the power to create, define, and punish
such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, apper
tains solely and exclusively to the respective States,
each within its own territory,” says the quaint language
of the resolution, which was copied from a document
written by Thomas Jefferson in 1798.
Let’s call this what it is: crazy talk. The question of
who prevails in a dispute between the federal govern
ment and the states was settled about 150 years ago
in that struggle called the Civil War. These arguments
about the supposed authority of states to do whatever
they want to do - such as ignore Civil Rights laws - are
the sort of thing we heard from John Birchers, white
supremacists, and other extremists in the 1950s and
1960s.
It is a point of view that does have its supporters
here. A recent poll of the state’s voters showed that
among Republicans, one-third of them favored the
idea of Georgia leaving the U.S. The overall support
for secession among all poll respondents was 18
percent.
One of the major complaints you hear from critics
of the federal government is the enormous amount of
money being spent to address the problems caused
by the current economic crisis. Sen. Chip Pearson,
Sen. Chip Rogers and Rep. Tom Graves are among
the most outspoken of Georgia’s lawmakers on this
particular topic.
And yet, Pearson, Rogers and Graves voted to
approve the supplemental state budget as well as the
budget for fiscal year 2010 - and both budgets were
only balanced after legislators agreed to accept hun
dreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus funds.
If federal spending is so bad that we should be
thinking about secession, then you need to put your
money where your mouth is and send back all the
stimulus funds.
But there you have it. The members of the political
party whose greatest president fought a bloody war to
prevent southern states from seceding are now in the
forefront of dissidents who want those same states to
secede. As we near the 150th anniversary of the Civil
War, a large part of our population is ready to fight the
war all over again.
If it sounds weird, it’s just Georgia politics in action.
Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact's
Georgia Report. He can be reached at tcrawford@
caDitolimDact.net.
Who will pay when
businesses go?
A S MUCH as I’m disgusted by
the self-serving attitude of
many politicians, I’m more
appalled by the craven greed of some of
our nation’s largest businesses.
The economic meltdown didn’t have
to happen. Although government had
a hand in the debacle — encouraging
banks to loan money to people who
should never have gotten a loan — the
real responsi
bility rests
with greedy
Wall Street
businesses
that were
driven
more by an
obscene
bonus cul
ture than
by serving
customers or
sharehold
ers.
As an
article in
the Wall Street
Journal pointed out last week, when a
company creates an incentive culture,
that culture can become distorted.
“What they have ‘incentivized’ execu
tives to do, in countless cases, is not
to perform, but to game the system,
to smooth the numbers, to take insane
risks with other people’s money, to do
whatever had to be done to ring the
bell and send the dollars coursing their
way into the designated bank account, ”
wrote Thomas Frank in the WSJ.
That was certainly true at some of the
nation’s largest financial firms. In fact,
that culture is so ingrained that some
large banks want to repay the TARP
loans not because they don’t need the
money to bolster their bottom line, but
rather so they can go back to the free
wheeling bonus system that is now on
ice.
These overpaid crybabies have
learned nothing from the economic col
lapse that they largely created. If govern
ment now seeks to more heavily regulate
the financial system, those who work
inside that system have nobody to blame
but themselves.
Perhaps most troubling of all is that
these Wall Street narcissists are destroy
ing the nation’s capitalistic economic
system. Their greed is bringing more
government intervention, a “cure” that
may prove to be worse in the long run
than the “disease.”
This struggle between big govern
ment and big business is like watching
Godzilla wrestle King Kong on the streets
of New York. The two beasts seek to
hold each other at bay, but in the pro
cess, step on thousands of innocent
people below.
That’s what’s happening in this coun
try today; the giants of government and
finance are so focused on defending
their own turf that they are killing every
thing underneath.
Nowhere will that be felt more than
by entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Small businesses are the backbone of
the nation, both in creating jobs and pay
ing taxes. Unlike the nation’s large busi
nesses, small firms don’t have a sea of
lawyers and accountants to hide, move
and shield money from taxes.
And government is going to demand
more taxes to pay for a larger social
system that seeks to support everyone
in every way. But government does not
create the money it spends. Those are
taxpayer dollars created by a capitalistic
system which takes money out of the
pockets of some citizens to pay for ser
vices to other citizens.
Where will those tax dollars come
from if government kills entrepreneur-
ship? At some point, heavy taxation on
small businesses will depress new job
creation.
Even worse, the depression of
entrepreneurship will stifle innova
tion. Technology will begin to lag and
America will lose its place as the leader
of economic productivity.
That is the real long-term danger of the
current economic downturn. As bad as
things seem today, the payoff of today’s
mistakes could sink the very core of
America’s entrepreneurship culture.
And when small businesses fade, who
will be left to pay the bills?
Mike Buffington is editor of The
Jackson Herald. He can be reached at
mike@mainstreetnews. com.
mike
buffington