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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 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
Jackson scores
big win in
water fight
Y OU can forgive
former Jackson
County Board of
Commissioner’s Chairman
Pat Bell if she’s smiling this
week. Although no longer
involved in the public fray of
government, it was Bell who
before leaving office instigat
ed a lawsuit against the Upper
Oconee Basin Authority on
behalf
of the
county
over the
amount
of water
in the
Bear
Creek
reservoir.
This week, the Georgia Court
of Appeals upheld the lawsuit,
allowing it to go forward in a
tone that, essentially, kicked
the authority in the teeth.
Jackson County argues that
the original calculations of the
amount of water in the reser
voir was way off. Data seems
to support Jackson County’s
position.
But the authority, of which
the county is a member,
refused to reconsider the
matter. Led by Athens-Clarke
County, the authority attempt
ed to marginalize Jackson’s
concerns.
Why?
Because if Jackson County is
correct, it will cut the amount
of water that Athens-Clarke
can withdraw, or that coun
ty will have to compensate
Jackson for taking its share.
Why Oconee and Barrow
counties decided to cast their
lot with Athens-Clarke in this
dispute is unclear. Perhaps
they were intimidated by their
larger neighbor.
But intimidation isn’t some
thing Jackson Countians tol
erate. If you don’t believe it,
go ask Pat Bell — her tough
actions before leaving office
was the right thing to do
to protect the taxpayers of
Jackson County.
The Georgia
Court of
Appeals,
essentially,
kicked the
authority in
the teeth.
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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"I admit there is one thing the GOP does
better than us... and that's fight Republicans!"
Georgia’s water prospects are trickling away
ONE year ago, a federal judge from Minnesota
named Paul Magnuson signed his name to a 97-page
court order that was part of the ongoing water wars
involving Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
The ink that flowed from
the judge’s pen to the final
page of the ruling could have
a profound effect on the water
that flows through Georgia,
and how it is used, for years
to come.
Magnuson declared that
most of Metro Atlanta had no
legal authority to withdraw
drinking water from Lake
Lanier. Unless Congress
approved reauthorization, the
judge said, access to the fed
eral reservoir would be cut off
in 2012.
The judge’s ruling was a devastating blow to Metro
Atlanta politicians and developers, who for years had
acted on the assumption that they would always be
able to tap Lanier to supply the region’s water.
If the cutoff of Lanier water is actually implemented,
the impact would be felt all over Georgia as Metro
Atlanta legislators battle with their counterparts out
side the region over the transfer of water from such
sources as the Savannah, Coosa, and Flint river
basins.
One year after Magnuson’s landmark ruling, with
only two years to go before the cutoff deadline, the
governors of the three states appear to be no closer
to reaching a negotiated agreement on the allocation
of water from Lanier.
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s primary response to the rul
ing has been to fight it every step of the way through
protracted litigation and court appeals.
That’s an expensive approach, because Attorney
General Thurbert Baker has farmed out the legal work
involved to high-priced private attorneys rather than
have it handled by in-house lawyers. The most recent
available figure is that the state has spent at least $6.91
million on outside legal fees associated with the water
litigation.
“A year has passed since the Magnuson decision
and Georgia, which is to say the Metro Atlanta growth
industry, which controls the state, still cannot accept
the fact that they are losing in court,” environmental
lobbyist Neill Herring said.
Perdue argues that there is “reason for optimism”
about the state’s future supply of water, despite the
lack of success in negotiations over the past 12
months.
“Beginning long before the ruling last year, Georgia
has worked hard to develop and implement effective
water planning efforts,” Perdue wrote in an op-ed
column last week. “We have focused on encouraging
a culture of conservation in Georgia and our citizens
have responded to that call.”
There has been some progress in the area of
more efficient use of our current resources. Perdue
proposed and the General Assembly passed SB
370, which requires the installation of water-efficient
plumbing fixtures in newly constructed buildings
beginning in 2012 and puts restrictions on outdoor
watering.
Environmentalists have called the bill a good first
step in the drive to conserve water, although they
estimate it will only achieve 10 percent of the savings
that will be needed by 2020.
There do not appear to have been any meetings
of the three governors to discuss the water issue in
recent months, although that’s difficult to know for
sure because the negotiations have been conducted
secretly.
The governors involved are all lame ducks whose
terms end in December. For all practical purposes,
time is running out on the possibility that they might
reach a workable agreement before they leave office.
I once thought that the issue of water, which may be
the most crucial question facing Georgia in the next
five to 10 years, would be one of the dominant topics
in the race for governor.
I was wrong, in the closing days of the primary
campaigns, all the fussing and fighting has been about
the candidates’ reputed positions on gay adoption,
benefits for gay couples, and an organization of gay
political activists known as Log Cabin Republicans.
What does all this argument about gay issues have
to do with ensuring that Georgians continue to have
enough water to drink? Not a thing.
“Unless we change course soon, we will be left
high and dry in 2012,” said Sally Bethea, director of
the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper organization.
“We do have the tools to end this war... if only the
political resolve to end it will emerge.”
Tom Crawford is the editor of The Georgia Report.
He can be reached at tcrawford@sareDort. com.
Weak schools
the result of
weak principals
U NBELIEVABLE. That’s about
the kindest word I can use in a
family newspaper to describe
a letter sent to parents recently from a
local middle school principal.
Principals are probably the most
important
position in
any school.
Strong princi
pals usually
create strong
schools
through their
leadership
and their
demands of
creating an
environment
of excel
lence.
Weak
principals lead
to weak schools. For a local example of
that, take a look at Kings Bridge Middle
School in South Jackson.
With school about to start, the princi
pal of KBMS, Debra Morris, recently sent
a letter to incoming sixth grade students
and parents that was so filled with spell
ing and grammatical errors, so infantile
in content, so ridden with punctuation
errors that it’s an embarrassment to the
entire Jackson County School System.
Consider the first paragraph:
“Congratulations! You made it pass ele
mentary school and into middle school.
I want to welcome you to Kings Bridge
Middle School and I am your principal,
Dr. Debra Morris.”
Further into the letter, Morris wrote
this: “1 actually worked all summer to
eagerly prepare for your arrival into the
6th grade at KBMS, with an except of a
few days I took off to be with my family.”
And run-on sentences: “You will have
an opportunity to meet your classmates
and get your schedule, your parents will
have an opportunity to speak with your
teachers for answers to any questions
they may have.”
And this gem of missing commas and
illogical clauses stmng together: “When
the first day of school arrives you will
know where your classrooms are and
who’s in your class and all the first day
jitters will not even exist.”
This was written by a school principal
with a Doctorate degree? Such a letter
wouldn’t even pass 8th grade English in
Morris’ own school.
So what, you ask?
Well, KBMS is the worst middle school
in Jackson County. Over the last three
years, its CRCT test results have overall
lagged just about every other middle
school in the county.
This year, for example, only 74.2
percent of KBMS students passed the
Science part of CRCT sixth grade test
ing compared to 85.7 percent at West
Jackson Middle School and 92.5 percent
at Commerce Middle School. In 6th
grade Math, KBMS lagged nine points
behind the next lowest school.
In the 7th grade, it lagged behind
every other local school in every content
area over the last three years.
In the 8th grade, KBMS did a little bet
ter on the CRCT in 2010, but still lagged
most other schools in the county. Its 8th
grade writing test failure rate was not
only the worst in the county, but among
the bottom one-third of all middle
schools in the state.
The connection between a principal
who can’t write a coherent letter and her
school’s test results is undeniable. Why
should we expect KBMS to have solid
student test results when the school’s
principal can’t spell, use correct punc
tuation or write readable sentences?
I’m sure Ms. Morris is a nice person.
But school principals should be able to
communicate clearly with their students,
parents and employees. That’s difficult
to do when a principal writes on what
appears to be a third-grade level. KBMS
is weak because it has weak leadership.
In 2009, Morris made over $104,000
in salary as principal of KBMS. Don’t
students deserve better for that kind of
money?
And the bigger question is, why have
school system administrators allowed
such mediocrity to go unquestioned?
Mike Buffington is editor of The
Jackson Herald. He can be reached at
mike@mainstreetnews. com.