Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2010
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
Cronic makes
bad move
T HE dramatic hiring reversal
this week by a member of
the Jackson County Board of
Education was wrong on so many levels
that it’s difficult to know where to begin.
Although the intentions of BOE mem
ber Michael Cronic in reversing his vote
may have been good, his inexperience
as a board member in the action sets a
terrible precedent for the future.
Here’s the background. On May 10,
the BOE voted 3-2, with Cronic in the
majority, not to hire three teachers who
had retired and wanted to work part-
time for the school system. The action,
led by chairperson Kathy Wilbanks,
was a strong move by the board to rein
in the system’s administration, which
has created a cozy culture of protecting
each other and looking after the inter
est of fellow administrators and favored
employees over the larger interests of
the system and students.
One of those turned down in the vote
was John Hawley, a retired basketball
coach from Gwinnett County whose
wife is the curriculum director for the
school system. Hawley was on the list
to be part-time for the system and the
girls’ basketball coach.
After that vote, Cronic says he was
contacted by a number of parents of
the girls’ basketball team who know
Hawley; some threatened to move their
daughters to another school if Hawley
wasn’t hired.
Cronic subsequently bowed to the
pressure and had school leaders put
the matter on the agenda at a called
meeting Tuesday, where he reversed
his earlier vote and Hawley was hired.
The problem?
Let’s count the ways:
-Cronic’s change of vote makes him
look wishy-washy. He just sent a mes
sage to school patrons that he will bend
over to their demands if they badger
him enough.
-Cronic’s change makes the entire
BOE look weak and wimpy; the earlier
vote was meant to reassert the BOE’s
authority over a lackluster administra
tion. Now the vote change will embold
ened administrators to play board
members against each other by stirring
up dissension with parents behind the
scenes.
-Cronic’s change sent a clear mes
sage that athletics in the school system
are more important than academics.
How should those teachers being laid
off read the action except in that light?
Would Cronic have fought as strongly to
hire a part-time chemistry teacher? We
all know the answer to that.
-Cronic’s change sends the signal —
correct or not — that system “insiders”
will get favors. Hawley’s hiring may not
be due to his wife’s employment in
the system, but to many people it will
certainly appear that way. Bad signal
to send.
-Cronic’s change was apparently
rooted in the idea that Mr. Hawley
will reverse years of lackluster athletic
performance by the school. But this
administration has had a long time to
bring in talented coaches and reverse
the school’s fortunes. It hasn’t. One
coach’s hiring won’t change that impo
tent culture at the top.
What’s really amazing about this is
that Mr. Cronic admitted the move
probably wasn’t in the best interest of
the school system, but he supported it
anyway because of the girls involved.
What he really should have said was:
“I’m your punching bag; hit me enough
times and I’ll rollover and do whatever
you want.”
Some leadership.
The Jackson Herald
Founded 1875 • The Official Legal
Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Postmaster: Send Address Changes To:
MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
PO Box 908
Jefferson, Georgia 30549-0908
Web Site: www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
Email: mike@mainstreetnews.com
Voice: 706.367.5233
Fax: 706.367.9355 (news)
Periodical Postage paid at Jefferson,
GA 30549 (SCED 271980)
Yearly Subscriptions: $19.75 in-county; $38.85
in state; $44.50 out-of-state; Sr. Citizens’ and
college students $2 off; Military $42.50
letters
Concerned with condition of Maysville buildings
Dear Editor:
Over four years ago, my wife and I found and moved
to a very unique little town of Maysville. We fell in love
with an old Victorian home and decided to make
Maysville our home. We still see great potential in this
little town and its rich history and friendly people.
I have wondered ever since we moved here why the
old town area had been allowed to deteriorate to the
hazardous state that it had. We saw trees growing in
dilapidated buildings that were a danger to the public.
We saw one of the buildings crumble and fall into the
road and only then was there an effort to remove this
hazard. Thank God that no one was hurt or killed.
Now another old building has had 3/4 of the roof
removed and to my amazement the old tin roofing that
was removed was replaced with blue tarps and other
parts of the roof are left with nothing at all to keep out
the rain and animals. I can’t help but wonder how long
it will take for the tarps to rot and the floors to rot and for
trees to grow inside of this old building and for the walls
to come crumbling down as they did in the downtown
area. I can only hope that someone will see this project
through and not allow yet another building to fall to the
ground in Maysville.
I urge our town leaders to consider some type of
building code enforcement to prevent the destruction
of this special little town and for the protection of the
public.
Sincerely,
Bob Richardson
Georgia doesn’t need term limits
tom
crawford
IF I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard someone
propose term limits as the solution for every political
problem that faces us, I could have retired long ago to
that cabin in the North Georgia mountains.
The argument for term limits is that they prevent politi
cians from becoming entrenched
in office for so long that they act
corruptly and enrich themselves
at the taxpayers’ expense. After
observing the activities in the
Georgia General Assembly over
the years, I have to admit that’s a
compelling argument.
Because they enforce a regular
turnover of the people serving in
elected office, it is said that term
limits serve the useful purpose
of bringing new blood and new
ideas into political bodies.
In the real world, term limits
have not been quite the magical
cure people thought they would be. California enacted
term limits two decades ago and wound up with a
dysfunctional legislature that could do little more than
argue and bicker as the state slid towards bankruptcy
with a budget deficit of more than $20 billion.
In a state like Georgia, you could argue that term limits
are really not necessary. Over the past decade, in fact,
the voters have done a very effective job of clearing out
the General Assembly and bringing new people into
office.
If you look at the list of those who were serving in
the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives
back in 2000, you’ll be amazed to see the names of so
many lawmakers who are no longer there. During the
10 years since that session, the membership of both
chambers has turned over by more than 75 percent.
Of the 56 people who served in the Georgia Senate dur
ing the 2000 legislative session, 44 of them have left or
are leaving because of retirement, electoral defeat, or
resignation to run for another office.
Over in the House, only 43 of the 180 members who
were serving in 2000 have stayed continuously in office
and will still be House members next January.
This turnover can also be seen in the leadership that
runs the House and Senate. Over the past 10 years, we
have seen two generations of leadership replaced in
both chambers.
The Democrats who ran things in 2000 were swept out
of leadership roles when Republicans gained majority
control of the Senate in 2003 and the House in 2005.
House Speaker Tom Murphy, Speaker Pro Tern Jack
Connell, Senate President Pro Tern Terrell Starr, Senate
Majority Leader Charles Walker - most of them have
passed away or are in prison.
That first wave of Republican leaders has also been
replaced or is on the way out.
When the GOP took over the Senate in 2003, Eric
Johnson was the president pro tern, Tom Price was
the majority leader, Don Balfour was the caucus chair
man, Mitch Seabaugh was the majority whip, and Bill
Stephens and Dan Lee were the governor’s floor lead
ers. Johnson, Price, Stephens and Lee are no longer
in the Senate, Balfour has long since been replaced as
caucus chairman, and Seabaugh quit as majority whip
during this year’s session.
The House leaders who took over in 2005 when
Republicans gained control of the lower chamber
included Glenn Richardson as speaker, Mark Burkhalter
as speaker pro tern, Jerry Keen as majority leader, Barry
Fleming as majority whip, and Earl Ehrhart as the rules
committee chairman.
Most of that original House leadership team has dis
integrated over the past six months. Richardson was
forced to resign as speaker because of a scandal involv
ing a lobbyist. Burkhalter briefly replaced Richardson
as speaker before he also stepped down and decided
to retire from the legislature.
Ehrhart was bounced from the rules committee chair
manship by the new speaker, David Ralston. Fleming
left the House to run unsuccessfully for congress. Keen
hung on for one more session as majority leader but is
also leaving the General Assembly.
That is a lot of change for 10 years and Georgia did it
without a term limits requirement. That’s why I would
argue we don’t need to implement term limits here. If
politicians won’t leave office voluntarily, we’ve got voters
who are willing move them out.
Tom Crawford is the editor of The Georgia Report. He
can be reached at tcrawford@caDitoIimDact.net.
Developer’s
games won’t
stop coverage
P EOPLE often attempt to
intimidate this newspaper
to color its reporting to
suit their own personal agendas.
It happens when people call and
threaten to sue because they got
arrested
and
their
name
was
in the
paper.
“I’m
going to
call my
lawyer,”
they say,
as if that
kind of
“threat”
will
cower us.
It doesn’t.
It’s the same thing sometimes
with other kinds of news as well.
But a recent situation we’ve faced
has got to be the oddest example
of someone attempting to intimi
date our news coverage that I’ve
seen.
Earlier this month, we filed a civil
suit against a Braselton developer
to collect a $1,400 debt he refuses
to pay.
Why doesn’t he pay?
Well, developer Tom Kitchin
got angry last year that Mainstreet
Newspapers dared do a story
about the conditions of our local
banks during the depths of the
recession. He was upset because
he sits on the bank board of
Hometown Community Bank in
Braselton, which has, like a lot of
local banks, been stmggling.
At first, Kitchin the developer
responded to that story by trying to
organize a boycott against us. And
he made public comments about
how terrible the media was to
report on the recession, as if to say
that the crisis was manufactured by
the media and not really a crisis.
(Note: The media didn’t make
those bad loans that torpedoed the
financial community, nor did the
media overbuild in the market.)
The issue eventually died down.
Then last winter, Kitchin pur
chased some advertising in one of
our newspapers in a joint project
with another media firm. Although
Kitchin said he would pay, after
the advertising was published, he
refused to pay us, saying we owed
him money for “rent” of newsstand
space at his shopping centers (We
don’t owe him a dime.)
The advertising he did was a
setup — Kitchin apparently never
intended to pay us, but rather
just wanted to advance his ven
detta because we had continued
to report about our local banks,
including his, and their financial
problems.
The banking crisis is real. It has
affected thousands of people in this
community. It’s part of a world-wide
crisis, one that has historic implica
tions for many years to come. To
ignore that would be to neglect our
core mission to report the news
that affects our community.
Normally, a collection wrangling
between the newspaper and a
debtor wouldn’t be worth writing
about.
But when that debtor is a devel
oper and banker who purports
to be a leader in his community,
and who attempts to intimidate
the news coverage of his personal
business interests, then it becomes
more than just another debt.
If Mr. Kitchin thinks this kind of
double-dealing will intimidate us
into withholding coverage of local
banks, he should reconsider. We
don’t rollover for such games.
We report the news that this
community needs to know about,
good, bad or indifferent.
And Mr. Kitchin can take that to
the bank.
Mike Buffington is editor of The
Jackson Herald. He can be reached at
mike@mainstreetnews. com.