Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2009
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 5A
Time to start screaming?
Dear Editor:
Reading this week’s editorial
page, I was a little surprised to
find you upbraiding your readers
for their vehement response to the
$225 tax increase we will all be
hit with this year. Did you expect
something else when you put the
article above the fold on the front
page? It’s only $225 right? We
can all easily adjust our escrow
accounts, the banks will all wel
come the extra cash flow. That
extra $225 is a month’s grocer
ies, a health check up, 1/2 year’s
home insurance, five months’
phone bills or five months’ water
bills. I’d have a care about berat
ing your clientele for giving voice
to yet another increase in hom
eowner costs.
Is “don’t shoot the messenger’’
really your best advice? I’ll bet
you Mr. Elrod wasn’t surprised
in the least by the response to
your article. More to the point,
why don’t you berate our coun
ty fathers who seem too busy
to adjust the assessed value of all
the homes in Jackson County to
reflect the 20-25 percent decline
in our property values?
I think it’s time for every one
to realize that reports of the Wall
Street turnaround, a rise in home
starts and the seeming improve
ment in health of our economy
don’t mean a thing to the mil
lion people who lose their jobs
every month since late 2007 (only
675,000 last month) and whose
families can’t stand much more.
Maybe it is time we all started
screaming.
I suggest a little less hoopla
about the uber-rich idiots and a
lot more about John Doe. If we
don’t learn from history we tend
to repeat it. Remember rickets
and pellagra?
Talk about material for a real
ity show... How about we cram
five wage earners and families
in a mill house somewhere in
Appalachia and threaten them
with job loss, thugs, scab work
ers, baseball bats and bullets if
they dare complain about their
financial plight?
Oh, wait , nobody likes sum
mer re-runs.
Sincerely,
Buz Ward
Jefferson
(Editor's Note: The editorial
you refer to was to point out that
the tax commissioner does not set
the tax rate nor does he have con
trol over property> assessments.
Those functions are from other
county officials. Perhaps you
haven 't been reading this news
paper, but we have often called
on county officials to lower taxes
and assessments.)
Reservoir coat’d from 1A
agreed to let the fieldwork take
place.
“We are moving along and all of
the obstacles are out of the way,’’
MacPherson told the authority last
Thursday night.
The ultimate decision on siting
the reservoir will likely be made
by the board of commissioners
in conjunction with the authority.
Identifying the site, in spite of the
time it will have taken, is just the
beginning of a process that could
take a decade or longer, particu
larly since a depressed economy
leaves both Jackson County and
its authority ill-equipped to begin
a hugely expensive project.
Fire driving coat’d from ia
original design with the driving
course.
Don Elrod said: “Driving is just
as important as trying to get in and
outside of the house. It will take
away our multi-training facility. I
hate to see the driving pad go.”
Elrod said the sheriff’s office
and other county staff could also
train on the course and it could be
leased to other agencies.
Doug Waters, a retired Jefferson
chief who also worked 37 years
in emergency service, pointed out
the importance of driver safety
training.
“If we build an inadequate facil
ity to save a dollar, it will come
back to bite us down the road,” he
said. “.. .1 would urge you to con
sider the voters approved it, we’ve
spent nine years planning and that
was not done casually.”
Waters said it would be a “gross
error in judgment” to change the
plan so that multiple training can’t
be done.
“The voters voted for it,” he said.
“We’ve got the money. We can do
it and keep it in the budget.. .It is a
good design. It will meet our needs
and we have the money to do it.
We should do it now and do it right
the first time.”
Smith said he is concerned about
the location of the concrete pad in
the new design being too near the
bum building. He said that if train
ing is offered at both the driving
and bum building he is concerned
that they are too close together.
Bicknell said scheduling could
address these issues.
“I would think it unlikely you
would bring your department over
and do four or five types of train
ing at a time,” he said.
Bicknell added that “only time
will tell” if there is adequate time
to do all training out there.
Hardy, who is a 16-year veteran
of the Commerce Fire Department,
said the option approved was the
best “compromise” on the issue.
“I believe the proposal before
you is a compromise to provide
driver training at a minimal cost,”
he said. “It is not what we want,
but it is what it is... It is not an
ideal driving course, but it is a fair
compromise to be able to have
driver training at the complex.”
He said the cost involved with
the project is one of the main
things he has heard about from
taxpayers.
“It is a bare minimum,” he said
of the new plan. “Yes, it is. But it
will work.. .1 feel like this here is a
fair compromise.”
Smith, who is retired after work
ing 30 years in public service,
said: “I don’t want to compromise
training and compromise safety
for the few dollars we are talking
about now.”
' Nj
Town of Braselton
PUBLIC NOTICE
The Town of Braselton has applied for a 25
foot vegetative buffer encroachment variance
on Indian Creek, a tributary to the Mulberry
River, and on an unnamed stream that is a
tributary to Indian Creek. The application is
for three encroachment locations impacting a
total of 151 linear feet of buffer. The
encroachment will result from installation of
an underground 8 inch sewer force main
pipeline that is associated with a project to
replace an existing Town of Braselton sewer
lift station.
The buffer impact will occur in utility
easements located on private property in
Jackson County. The properties are located on
the south side of State Route 124,
approximately 0.36 miles east of the State
Route 124 and State Route 53 intersection.
Site plans can be viewed at:
Braselton Department of Public Works
Town of Braselton
4975 Hwy. 53
Braselton, GA 30517
Written comments should be submitted to the
Program Manager, Non-Point Source
Program, Erosion and Sedimentation Control
Unit, 4220 International Parkway, Suite 101,
Atlanta, GA 30354. The project control
number is BV-078-09-04.
Town of Braselton
Jennifer Dees, Town Manager
Upset over reservoir regulations
Dear Editor:
I totally agree about the stu
pid bureaucracy with the Jackson
County Board of Commissioners
about Bear Creek Reservoir.
The boat ramp cost is outra
geous and the Jackson residents
will end up paying for this outra
geous cost with higher property
taxes as other things the BOC has
authorized and passed the cost on
to the residents (Jackson County
courthouse for one). Also the
rules for property owners - can’t
fish from their own property. How
stupid. Charging people to put a
boat in the water even if they do
not want to fish.
Our county commissioners
know how to spend our money
without asking.
This fire training center, driv
ing course should all be funded
under that $5.3 million that we are
going to have a special sales tax. I
believe things can be worked out
without having to put out more
money for the driving course.
Surely it can be worked in with
the training center.
Sincerely,
C.W. Hilhs
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