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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 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
Maysville
should say
‘No’ to pouring
license idea
T HE controversy in
Maysville over whether
or not the city should
create an alcohol pouring license
is reaching a critical point. In
the coming weeks, the Maysville
City Council will be voting on the
proposal.
But before the council votes,
it should be clear about what
it’s really voting on. When this
issue comes up in small towns,
it’s always the same: Some say
vote for it because it will bring in
high-class restaurants; some say
vote against it because alcohol
is morally wrong; and others say
vote against/for it for financial
reasons.
The answer to this issue
depends on the town, its geo
graphic location and the demo
graphic profile of the likely cus
tomer base.
Based on that in Maysville, the
best answer is a “No” vote on
the proposal.
For one thing, any idea that
approving a pouring license in
Maysville would bring in high-
class, national restaurants is
wrong. Just a few miles from
downtown Maysville are dozens
of national chain restaurants
along 1-85. Maysville doesn’t
have the population density to
support such restaurants and
those along the interstate cer
tainly aren’t going to relocate off
that corridor to the town.
Rather than luring “classy” res
taurants, a pouring license in
Maysville is more likely to lure
honky-tonks that attempt to mas
querade as restaurants, but are
really just bars.
In addition, Maysville doesn’t
have the financial strength
to police local juke-joints.
Somebody has to oversee the
food-to-alcohol sales ratio and
such places often require direct
police intervention. Maysville is
simply too small to absorb such
additional costs.
There are places where pour
ing licenses for restaurants are
certainly appropriate. But every
situation is unique and Maysville
simply does not need to imple
ment a pouring license until it
has the ability to adequately deal
with the consequences.
That’s not the case today.
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
Says JCSO had to solve Pendergrass case
Dear Editor:
I am writing this article on behalf of my daddy,
Jack Love.
On Saturday Aug. 1, my daddy’s safe was sto
len from his home in Pendergrass. Three young
adults drove up. One came inside, the other two
did not. The girl who came in was a good family
friend. She easily got daddy on the back porch
talking. As they were outside talking, the two boys
came inside and stole the safe. Fifteen minutes
later, she said she needed to check on her ride
and they left. The time of the theft was around
7:15-7:30 p.m.
Daddy went in his bedroom around 10:30 p.m.
and noticed his safe missing. 911 was called and
Rob Russell came since daddy lives in the city
limits of Pendergrass. Mr. Russell asked some
routine questions. He told daddy since no one
actually saw the boys with the safe, nothing could
be done. He also commented that since time
had passed, they’ve probably already spent your
money and burned your papers by now. Nothing
can be done. He also advised daddy not to go
“over there” and start any trouble. It would be
best if nothing is said to the family.
On Sunday morning, a member of the Love fam
ily notified the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. In
less than an hour, Jackson County Investigator
Kelly LaCount came to daddy’s home. He was
very professional and courteous. He gathered
all the information he needed and left around
11 a.m. Kelly immediately visited the young girl’s
family. By 3 p.m., he had arrested all three of
them in Athens. One of the boys came back
with Kelly and officer Pursley. He took them to
the location of the safe. That same day, daddy’s
paperwork was returned to him wet. Most of it
was ruined because it rained during the night.
They had taken what they wanted then rolled the
safe into a creek.
My deceased mother’s jewelry, one of his rings
and some coins were returned to daddy the next
day. The ring that’s missing is the ring he received
when he retired from Overnite Transportation
after 20 years of service. Our family is fortunate
about the timing of the theft since the follow
ing day was Sunday (all the pawn shops were
closed).
One of the surprising things about this whole
mess is that Rob Russell’s report said an arrest
was made by Pendergrass. How ridiculous.
My daddy has lived in Pendergrass for 73 years.
He deserved to be treated with more respect than
he was. Daddy is a good and honest man. Ask
anyone in Pendergrass.
Our family would like to thank David Cochran,
Kelly LaCount and Johnny Pursley for a job well
done. Kelly is an outstanding investigator that did
a wonderful job for our family. He worked excep
tionally hard that day. David and Kelly kept our
family informed throughout the day.
We are proud to have such fine people work
ing for Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. People
who actually do their jobs. Our family would like
to thank everyone who works with the Jackson
County Sheriff’s Office.
Sincerely,
Jackie Love Martin
Pendergrass not
needed on Hwy. 129
Dear Editor:
I want to commend the Jackson County
Sheriff’s Office for the outstanding job it is doing
in monitoring the traffic along Hwy. 129 in the
Pendergrass area. My observations as a frequent
traveler on this highway is that their operations
are efficient, appropriate and well managed.
Their regular vigilance is effective in minimizing
speeding and keeping this highway safe.
Therefore, in my opinion, no additional assis
tance is needed in the Pendergrass area by any
local entities. Any local entities (I intention
ally refrain from using the term “law enforce
ment”) can feel comfortable focusing their
limited resources on patrolling local roads in
Pendergrass.
Keep up the great work, Sheriff!
Sincerely,
Dave Rosselle
Talmo
Observations on the political landscape
NOW THAT we are turning the corner on sum
mer and moving into the fall season, let’s try
to answer some of the questions hanging over
Georgia’s political land
scape.
Question: Do media scan
dals harm a politician?
In the case of some politi
cians, maybe not. Several
months ago, the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution pub
lished hard-hitting articles
detailing how more than
$100,000 in political con
tributions were funneled to
Insurance Commissioner
John Oxendine, a
Republican candidate for
governor, through political
action committees set up in Alabama.
The story hinted that Oxendine, who has
regulatory authority over insurance companies
operating in Georgia, was shaking down the com
panies for campaign contributions - an allegation
that has followed him throughout his tenure as
insurance commissioner. The AJC’s reporting
was solid enough that Oxendine agreed to return
$120,000 in questionable donations.
The resulting publicity, however, does not
appear to have hurt Oxendine’s standing in the
Republican primary for governor. Recent polls
have consistently showed him well ahead of the
other GOP candidates with 38 or 39 percent sup
port among his party’s voters.
Another Republican candidate for governor,
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal of Gainesville, was the
subject of another front-page article in the AJC
that described how he had tried to influence
state officials to continue with a profitable busi
ness arrangement involving Deal’s auto salvage
business.
Deal even was able to have his close friend and
political ally, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, haul revenue
commissioner Bart Graham into a meeting with
Deal in Cagle’s capitol office to discuss the mat
ter.
The article did not reflect well on Deal, but it’s
too early to tell if he will emerge unscathed in the
polls, as Oxendine did.
Question: Does money deliver the votes?
There does seem to be a very strong correla
tion between lobbyist money and congressional
opposition to the health insurance reform bill
that is coming up for debate this fall.
The healthcare industry and its lobbyists,
according to some estimates, are spending an
average of $1.4 million every day to try to defeat
several aspects of the proposed healthcare plan,
including a “public option” that would provide
government-funded health insurance coverage
for people who don’t have it.
The biggest recipients of healthcare indus
try dollars among Georgia’s congressmen are
Republican Rep. Tom Price (who has received
nearly $2.4 million in campaign contributions
from the healthcare sector) and Rep. Phil Gingrey
(who’s received $1.87 million from the same
source). Price and Gingrey have been the most
outspoken opponents of the healthcare reform
bill, along with Deal (who has received more
than $1.5 million in healthcare industry contribu
tions).
Reps. John Barrow and Jim Marshall are
Blue Dog Democrats who have opposed the
Democratic version of the healthcare plan. They
have also received a lot of money from the
healthcare sector ($462,000 for Marshall and
$360,000 for Barrow).
The Georgia congressman who most strongly
supports a health insurance bill with a pub
lic option is Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson.
Johnson has also received less campaign money
(only $51,752) from healthcare lobbyists than
anyone else in the delegation.
Look at the numbers and draw your own con
clusions.
Question: We’ve heard a lot of bad news about
the state budget. Is there any good news?
Over the past week there have been some posi
tive developments here.
The seven justices of the Georgia Supreme
Court have agreed to take three furlough days
without pay between now and Dec. 31, as regular
state employees are already required to do.
The state constitution prohibits judges’ sala
ries from being lowered, but it does not prevent
judges from voluntarily returning a portion of
their pay. That gesture will save the state a few
thousand dollars, at least.
Attorney General Thurbert Baker also
announced a settlement of fraud allegations
against the drug manufacturer Pfizer that will
result in Georgia receiving $21.7 million that pre
sumably can be used to pay Medicaid expenses.
Baker said the $21.7 million would be enough
money to pay for Medicaid coverage for more
than 8,900 non-disabled children or take care of
all treatment costs related to treating Medicaid
cancer patients between the ages of 18-44.
In the overall context of an $18 billion state bud
get, neither sum represents a lot of money, but at
least it’s a start. Sometimes, small victories are
the best you can hope for.
Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s
Georgia Report. He can be reached at tcraw-
ford@capitolimpact. net.
Open government
vital to community
I T WASN’T too surprising last week
when we found the Pendergrass City
Council having an illegal meeting.
Unannounced, illegal council meetings
appear to be common in the town where
Mayor Monk Tolbert and “the family” mle as
though city hall is the headquarters of their
private plantation.
It’s got to stop. Mayors can’t just do “what
ever the hell” they want to do, as Tolbert
bragged last week.
That’s why
this newspaper
was forced
to file suit in
Superior Court
this week seek
ing an injunction
that would man
date Tolbert and
the Pendergrass
City Council fol
low the Georgia
Open Meetings
Law and
Georgia Open
Records Law.
Just follow the
law, that’s all we asked.
Open government is the foundation of
our political system. Without access to an
open government, citizens have no way to
know what is happening in their own back
yard with their tax dollars.
Just think of what would have happened
in the early 1990s if there had been no open
government in Arcade — the town would be
one large landfill today. That didn’t happen
because citizens read in the paper about the
landfill efforts and fought that project until
it died.
Or in Pendergrass in 1999 when the town
became a pawn in a complex scheme for
a private individual to control a county
sewer system. If that had happened the way
Pendergrass officials wanted, Pendergrass
would today be in business with a convicted
felon and in control of the county’s sewer.
But coverage of that issue helped unmask
the players and what they were trying to do.
The result was that the scheme was stopped
before damage was done.
And think of all the controversies with our
local school boards and county commis
sion. What if those groups were as closed as
the City of Pendergrass and did the majority
of their business illegally in secret? There’d
be an uprising in the county.
It’s not difficult for governments to follow
the law. The rules on open government are
clear: A meeting is a quorum of any govern
ment or any committee of government. All
meetings must be announced in advance.
Meetings can only be closed for very limited
reasons. The public has the right to attend
all meetings unless it meets one of those
limited exceptions. And all votes taken must
be made in the open — secret votes are
always wrong.
Sometimes, governments inadvertently
run afoul of the law. They close a meeting
when it should be open because of igno
rance, or because they got bad advice. It
happens, although it shouldn’t.
But last week, Mayor Tolbert didn’t inad
vertently violate the law on open govern
ment; he did it on purpose. In his mind, the
law doesn’t apply to him.
And the mayor sees no problem spend
ing your tax money in secret. He did that in
July by getting a blank check from city hall
and then writing it out for $20,000 to settle a
lawsuit against the city. There was no public
vote by the city council to do that, although
the mayor apparently met illegally in secret
to discuss it with them. But there is no
record of any council meeting or minutes
approving the expenditure — all of that is a
violation of state law.
This newspaper has had a lot of deal
ings with open government issues over the
years, both locally and at the state level.
There have been times when we’ve refused
to leave a meeting that was being illegally
closed. We’ve walked into meetings where
government officials were illegally gathered.
Most of the time, these kinds of issues get
worked out in a reasonable manner.
But after last week’s blatantly illegal
Pendergrass meeting and Mayor Tolbert’s
comment that he would continue to “do
what the hell I want to do,” it’s obvious nei
ther he nor his council intend to follow the
law on open government unless forced to
do so by the courts.
Litigation was not what we wanted to do,
but such disregard for the law by public offi
cials cannot go unchallenged.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson
Herald. He can be reached at mike@main-
streetnews.com.
mike
buffington