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THE JACKSON HERALD
SEPTEMBER 23, 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
Water rates
need review
I T’S somewhat ironic that a
discussion about the City of
Jefferson’s water charges is
taking place in the middle of a
flood.
Yet several residents living in sub
divisions off Old Pendergrass Road
have contacted this newspaper and
the city about what appear to be
very high water bills.
City officials have been check
ing those situations and believe
many involve the use of irrigation
systems. Last year, there was no irri
gation under state restrictions; this
year, those restrictions are gone so
making a month-to-month compari
son is difficult.
Some residents don’t believe,
however, that irrigation explains
their own high bills and that there’s
some other problem in the system.
While the cluster of individual
situations is being examined, there
is a broader question here con
cerning the financing of city water
services. How much should a city
charge customers? Should water
and sewer be a “profit center” for
municipalities?
Over the last dozen years or so,
the pricing of water services has
changed in Georgia. At one time,
water was priced on a downward
sliding scale: The more you used,
the cheaper it was per gallon.
Then the drought hit. At times,
some communities were nearly out
of water. The drought scared every
one into a higher-level conserva
tion mode. That led to the new
conservation rate systems where
the more water you use, the more
you pay per gallon.
Jefferson adopted that system last
December. But Jefferson’s motive
wasn’t entirely for conservation, it
was also for dollars. With the build
ing boom a bust, the city’s new
home tap fees dried up. In addition,
state restrictions and the possibil
ity of another drought pushed all
water sellers into a difficult position
of having to find a way to gener
ate more revenue. Big commercial
users took a hit under the new rate
system.
So what’s been the impact for
Jefferson? While water sales are
running below budget for the first
eight months in the city, the town’s
net dollars are extremely healthy.
Through August, the city has had
income of $2.8 million in water and
sewer income and expenses of $1.8
million.
That’s a $1 million “profit.”
Perhaps it’s legitimate, but it
seems like a windfall born not of
necessity, but rather from rates that
are too high.
Perhaps in addition to checking
individual meters, the city should
also re-evaluate the fairness of its
water and sewer rates structure.
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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guest column
The real story of Bear Creek mess
BY CHARLES RUSSELL
Why all the fuss and infighting about Bear Creek
Reservoir? A brief look at history suggests our local
leaders are to blame for their intellectual dishonesty
in dealing differently with every “class” of constitu
ent they serve in relation to Bear Creek Reservoir.
The Upper Oconee Basin Authority convinced
original property owners of their commitment to
EPD and DNR standards for managing the proposed
reservoir, and they give up huge parts of their farms
and rural property to create the reservoir.
The good ole boy network buys up large tracts
around the lake to make big bucks developing
exclusive neighborhoods with lake access and view.
The lake is even stocked with exotic hybrid bass to
promote the image of a semi-private fishing mecca
and buyers are lured in at the peak of a booming
market.
The horrible events of 9-11 are then foisted on us
by our leaders to prevent public access to the lake,
while new lake residents violate buffer restrictions
and authority and local government leaders look the
other way. (Are the lake lot owners disappointed
wishful thinkers who fell prey to the deceitful con
cept of preferential treatment? Or are they marks?
pigeons? victims of fraud?)
Then, as our leaders realize they can’t maintain
the charade of 9-11 security concerns, they open the
boat ramp for other citizens who have also paid their
equal share of the cost for developing this lake.
But the good ole boys aren’t done. They give adja
cent property owners 7-day access with one permit
per lot, no matter how many boats they put on the
lake. Then they try to limit public lake access to fish
ermen only, (that one failed); and limit public access
to just a few days a week with patently unfair fees for
every boat (these ones did).
Finally, the Basin Authority realizes they can’t legal
ly or practically enforce the bramble bush of unfairly
applied regulations they’ve created and hand off the
whole mess to Jackson County.
So that is how we’ve arrived to where we are
today.
Lake residents are angry they can’t use the 150-foot
protective buffer, even while they enjoy improper
preferential treatment and access not afforded to
others.
The public is angry they can’t enjoy equal access
and they object to giving a single class of citizens
special status as stewards of the lake, as those same
folks violate their own rules for the buffer.
The original property owners are the biggest vic
tims of all. The good ole boys sold them out and cre
ated a mess that pits new lakeside residents against
long-time residents and other citizens alike...for no
good reason at all.
Who are the good ole boys who caused this mess?
Are any members of the Upper Oconee Water
Authority in conflict by ownership or association with
developers of the neighborhoods around the lake?
Are members of the Jackson County Commission
in conflict by ownership or association with those
same developers? Are there other conflicts of inter
est? Or are these all just good ole boys who want
to control everything within their perceived field of
dominion and control...the public be damned? Our
inquiring press should keep digging.
These are questions for which all citizens must
demand answers; from the leaders who created this
mess and perpetuated it by pitting citizen against citi
zen instead of truly leading by creating and enforcing
regulations that are fairly applied to all of us.
Charles Russell lives in South Jackson.
Lawmakers should be careful how they vote
WHEN Republicans gained control of the Georgia
House after the 2004 elections, the party leadership
saw a political issue they were sure would be a win
ner: sex offenders.
At the time, there was not any particular problem
with sex crimes. Georgia already had laws that
imposed lengthy prison sentences on persons who
molested children, and district attorneys were eager
to prosecute them. There had not been any great
scandals where sexual predators were set free to
prey on the innocent.
But in the spring of 2005, there had been a brutal
slaying in Florida where a nine-year-old girl was
senselessly raped and murdered by a sex offender.
Legislative leaders seized upon that tragic crime to
proclaim that Georgia really
needed to get tough with sex
offenders.
“We need to review our own
laws and make sure they are
the toughest in the nation,”
House Majority Leader Jerry
Keen said. “My intent person
ally is to make it so onerous
on those that are convicted
of these offenses . . . they
will want to move to another
state.”
House Speaker Glenn
Richardson agreed: “These
are sick people and I think the
public has a right to know where they are.”
The Legislature overwhelmingly passed a sex
crimes bill in the 2006 session that probably is
the toughest law in the nation, it made prisons
sentences even longer, required lifetime electronic
monitoring of registered sex offenders, and prohib
ited offenders from living anywhere near schools,
churches or other places where children might
gather.
As with any law passed under such political pres
sure, this one had some unforeseen consequences.
A teenager in Douglas County who had consensual
sex with a younger classmate was given a 20-year
prison sentence (the state Supreme Court ruled that
was cruel and unusual punishment and ordered
his release). The residency prohibitions were also
struck down by judges who noted that in most
counties, it would be physically impossible to find a
place to live that wasn’t within 1,000 feet of a church,
school or bus stop.
Rep. Howard Maxwell (R-Dallas) is one of the
many legislators who voted to pass these measures
to get tough on sexual offenders, but his vote came
back to haunt him this summer.
One of Maxwell’s friends and constituents, an
86-year-old veteran of World War II, was caught up
in a case involving an 11-year-old girl he had met
at church and was convicted of child molestation.
The man’s attorney called Maxwell and asked if the
legislator would testify as a character witness before
the judge imposed sentence.
Maxwell quickly agreed and testified during the
sentencing hearing that his friend was “nothing but a
man of character... I’ve never heard any problems,
any word, any type of discussion, nothing come out
against him.”
After Maxwell testified for him, the convicted child
molester avoided going to prison. The judge instead
ruled he could remain at home, under house arrest,
so that he could continue to take care of his elderly,
ailing wife.
The judge who allowed the child molester to avoid
a prison sentence that normally would have been
required under the “get tough on sex offenders” law
was Paulding Superior Court Judge James Osborne
- a former law partner of Glenn Richardson.
Maxwell’s testimony could cause political prob
lems for him because at least one local TV station
reported on it. He acknowledged that he voted for
that sex crimes bill, but now contends that it’s one of
several state laws that are perhaps too tough.
“This is the whole problem with half the laws we
pass, like the two strikes law and zero tolerance
in the schools,” Maxwell said, referring to a Cobb
County school policy that caused a sixth-grader to
be suspended because the ten-inch key chain on
her Tweety Bird wallet was considered a weapon.
“I don’t particularly like the laws, no,” he said. “I
think they’re too stringent. I don’t like it that we’ve
taken the power to sentence away from the judges,
basically. You’ve got to use common sense.”
Common sense often goes out the window when
our legislators are stampeded into voting for some
thing that seems to be a political winner. They need
to be careful how they vote - as this incident shows,
actions have consequences.
Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s
Georgia Report. He can be reached at tcrawford@
capitolimpact.net.
The problem of
health care reform
T HE Great Health Care Debate is
consuming so much oxygen, it’s
getting difficult to breath. Every
hour, 24/7, talking heads discuss, debate
and dissect the issue. The president has
gone back into campaign mode and magi
cally appears on five networks at once to
promote his agenda on the matter.
The problem is that “health care” is so
big, so multi-layered, so complex that it
defies any rea
sonable analy
sis. Health care
reform? What
part of “health
care” are we
talking about?
It’s like a
car that sput
ters and the
mechanic tears
the entire car
apart to fix it
rather than
focusing on
what’s the
immediate
problem first.
Because of this all-embracing approach,
the president has several problems in this
debate:
1. Every effort historically to massively
“overhaul” health care in this nation has
failed. HillaryCare was the last one, but
there were others in the 1960s and earlier.
2. The essential element of ObamaCare
is a giant movement of health care toward
socialized medicine. While the admin
istration denies that, the push toward
mandated health care will only lead to a
government-run health care system down
the road.
3. The public doesn’t trust Obama. His
lofty words are being undermined by his
administration’s actions. All the left-leaning
nuts in his administration and the ACORN
scandal paint him differently than the
moderate face he wears in public. You’re
known by the friends you keep and most
Americans don’t like many of Obama’s
“friends.”
4. Most people are happy with their doc
tors and health care. They may not like
the insurance hassles, or the cost, or the
abuse of emergency rooms by illegals, but
they do like the kind of care they’re getting.
Asking them to trade the security of “the
known” for the “greater good” of others is
a no-sell.
5. The cost. Obama says it won’t add to
the deficit. I’d quote Rep. Joe Wilson here,
but it’s not necessary. Nothing is free and
even Obama can’t sell his no-cost rhetoric
with a straight face.
The main problem most people have
with the current health care system is cost.
It’s expensive and going higher. And if
you’re a small business, it’s almost back
breaking.
On the other hand, some of the rising
cost in the health system is due to better
care from new equipment, medicines
and facilities. As one who has a family
member with a chronic health condition
that requires a lot of medical oversight, I’ve
become familiar with a number of hospi
tals and doctors over the last few years.
Some of the treatments that are available
today weren’t around 10 years ago. The
quality of care for a wide variety of medical
conditions has continually improved over
the years. None of that is cheap; but we
wouldn’t want to go back 10 years, either.
Nobody really knows how to contain
health care costs. Tort reform would help,
but the Obama administration isn’t going to
take on trial lawyers. Allowing all insurance
firms to sell nationwide might help, but the
states aren’t going to give up that power.
What’s really frightening about this
plan are the unknowns, the unintended
consequences. No matter how noble the
cause — making sure everyone has access
to health care — the outcome of this effort
could be devastating both for individuals in
the system and for the nation as a whole.
Just think of a massive federal infusion
into the health care system as being similar
to the massive federal injection into public
schools under President Bush with the “No
Child Left Behind” act. Is public educa
tion better today under NCLB than it was
before?
Take a look at recent SAT scores, then
decide if you really want the federal govern
ment standing at the table when doctors
cut your chest open to fix a problem.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson
Herald. He can be reached at mike@main-
streetnews.com.
mike
buffington