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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2023
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”-
Henry W a i d Beeche r
Economic revival and the shifting winds across the nation
NYT columnist David Brooks recently penned a piece on
what he sees as a resurrection of American manufacturing.
Is that really the case?
That’s not an idle question. Eco
nomic investments from private busi
nesses tend to be predictive rather
than reactive to broader social/eco-
nomic/political trends.
To a large extent, we all tend to
view the nation, and the world for
that matter, through our own narrow
experiences. Here in fast-growing
Northeast Georgia, we tend to think
that much of the rest of the nation is
similar to us, even though we know
deep down that’s not the case.
That inherent “conformation bias”
is somewhat balanced by what we see, read, or hear about
other places. That’s especially true with the drumbeat of
national news about the decline of some cities, such as San
Francisco or New York.
But economic shifts aren’t a zero-sum game where some
places benefit because other places struggle. The truth is
more nuanced and isn’t as black or white as the soundbites
tend to make us think.
• ••
All of this struck me during a recent trip Alex and I made
to Ohio.
Who wants to go to Ohio, you might ask?
It’s a long story, but in early August, we were in Cleve
land, Ohio, and its southern suburbs for a long weekend.
I’d never been to Cleveland and my limited experience
with Ohio was a short night in a Cincinnati airport hotel
due to a canceled flight.
I guess I envisioned Cleveland as one of those run-down,
rust-belt cities, riddled with urban decay. Being near De
troit, it’s part of the old automotive industrial complex that
long dominated the Great Lakes region.
Maybe Cleveland was rundown in recent decades, but
that’s not what we found.
Along the waterfront (a river flows through downtown
into Lake Erie) is a redeveloped dining district where we
enjoyed a plate of oysters while sitting on a sunny deck.
Not far away is a large urban park along Lake Erie’s shore,
aptly named Edgewater Park. And throughout the city,
there seemed to be a lot of investment in housing, especial
ly in new apartments.
South of Cleveland we found sprawling suburbs that
were similar to what we see around Atlanta. Much of it is
new as the major suburban chains have located stores there.
A national park weaves through old farmland, dotted with
trails and small communities.
The area was a growing community that had few traces
of the kind of “rustbeltism” I had envisioned.
• ••
Brooks also mentioned Ohio in his recent column as a
place of American industrial re-development. Indeed, Ohio
landed a $20 billion Intel chip plant and LG partnered with
Honda there for a $3 billion EV battery plant.
Ohio leaders claim the state is ranked third in the nation
for economic development and that’s probably accurate.
Ohio seemed to be thriving.
But what about other places we’re hearing so much
about?
San Francisco is going through difficult time. The pan
demic sent the area’s high-tech workers to remote locations
and the downtown area has a lot of empty office buildings,
a situation that has rippled through other local businesses.
In addition, the city has seen some high-profile crimes that
is dampening its tourism engine.
We didn’t see any of that two years ago during a trip
there, although there was the ubiquitous presence of a
homeless population that is all too common in many urban
cities.
That homeless problem is a visual blight on another
West Coast city, Portland, Oregon. On a recent trip there,
we saw a massive number of tent camps around the city,
even along the median of interstates. The famously liberal
city has come under withering political fire for its lack of
response to its homeless problem (and drug issues) and it’s
pretty easy to see why.
• ••
Despite the problems in many urban areas, the nation’s
major cities continue to drive economic investments that
are increasingly landing in suburban and exurban commu
nities.
Urban areas provide key transportation links for eco
nomic growth (think Atlanta’s airport) and they tend to be
the homes of major research universities which supply the
industrial sector with brainpower.
So places like San Francisco may have internal problems
at the street level, but that hasn’t lessened their importance
as hubs of innovation and education. Cities still matter.
• ••
But there are multiple, shifting layers taking place across
the nation. Investments are moving South and West more
and more. People, too, are relocating to the Sunbelt.
We hear a lot about population growth in Florida, Texas
and in the Metro Atlanta region. But growth is also hap
pening in other places as well. Washington state, Idaho,
Wyoming, Utah and Tennessee are booming. Perhaps odd
ly, counties in Upper Michigan and lower Maine are also
growing.
So what’s not doing well?
The Appalachian region of West Virginia is dying. So
too is much of the Midwest where rural counties are either
stagnate or losing population.
The Mississippi River region is also in decline, as is
much of the state of Mississippi and Alabama. And Cali
fornia is also losing population, although with 40 million
people, it can afford to lose a lot of people and still be a
massive force on the nation.
• ••
What all of this portends for the future of the nation has
yet to be seen. But there are some patterns to what we’re
seeing:
1. States and communities that are willing to invest in
education and infrastructure seem to be doing better than
those that don’t. That’s difficult to pinpoint since the cost
of living varies so much and the per pupil spending data
is skewed because of that. Ditto for infrastructure costs
where Northern states have different climate conditions to
deal with than the Sunbelt. But generally speaking, certain
kinds of key investments do bring long-term dividends for
communities. And those long-term investments may help
turn around some places that are struggling today.
2. The pandemic made a huge and lasting impact on
housing trends. Remote working is here to stay and those
high-tech jobs that lend themselves to remote work are in
flux as industries and employees sort out those changes.
California and New York with their tech and finance hubs
are seeing the biggest impacts of that trend.
3. The urban vs. rural divide is getting deeper as many
rural communities struggle despite overall national eco
nomic growth. To an extent, the divide also includes sub
urban communities which are increasingly different than
their urban cores, but also not culturally linked to rural
communities. That trend has been going on for decades but
has seemingly reached a tipping point.
4. The one common issue facing all communities is
mental health problems. Those show up on the streets in
urban cities and in the police logs and school classrooms
of rural and suburban communities. Changes need to be
made to both mental health laws and to mental health fund
ing. Increasingly, jails are becoming mental health wards
and schools are struggling to deal with all kinds of social/
emotional problems children bring into the classroom from
home and the “outside” society.
5. There is an emerging trend of on-shoring manufactur
ing given the international problems with China and the
supply chain issue that happened during the pandemic. That
on-shoring may have a big impact on former rust-belt areas
like Ohio. And it could have a big impact in the South, too,
as industrial development looks for untapped workforces.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspa
pers. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
Braselton Mayor says charter school initiative is about school choice
Dear Editor,
With Four Points Preparatory
Academy receiving its charter
from the State Charter School
Commission of Georgia on Aug.
30, Braselton will benefit from
another excellent opportunity for
school choice.
Some ask: Why are you en
dorsing a charter school initia
tive after becoming Braselton’s
Mayor? Others ask: Why would
Lt. Gov. Jones, Sen. Clint Dixon,
Rep. Chuck Efstration and Rep.
Derrick McCollum offer strong
support for this charter school op
portunity? The reason — school
choice.
Having coached hundreds of
youth in activities for over 20 years
(including: mock trial, football,
baseball, basketball, soccer, tri
athlon and chinch youth groups),
I have repeatedly taught our next
generation a life lesson that I did
not learn until law school: With
academic achievement, you learn
the subject matter at hand and you
prove to yourself and others that
you know how to get the best out
of yourself.
If you are in that next genera
tion, your civic leaders want you
to learn how to best educate your
self. Leam to get the most out of
your potential. Teach yourself
how to teach yourself. Once you
adopt this approach, no one can
stop you from achieving what you
are determined to achieve. And
upon this principle, school choice
offers new paths for students to
leam how to leam.
Looking at rankings in the State
of Georgia, larger school districts
and smaller school districts both
have the capacity to perform at a
high level. In the top 10 Georgia
school districts rated by Niche
(2023), five are county-wide
school districts and five are city-
based or charter-based school dis
tricts. The top 10 in Georgia Sun’s
2023 rankings include five coun
ty-based districts and five city-
based districts.
Not every child is best educated
in a large-school environment, and
not every child is best educated in
a small-school environment. So,
school choice should be an option.
The board members of Four
Points Preparatory Academy will
offer a charter school option in
Braselton — opening with K-5
and progressing to K-8. The
school will accept applications
from students in five counties:
Banks, Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall
and Jackson. Acceptance into
the school is lottery based in ac
cordance with Georgia’s charter
school laws. Each grade level will
range from approximately 50-80
students under the current plan.
The Board for Four Points Prep,
partnered with National Heritage
Academies (NHA) to become its
operator. NHA’s primary founding
principle is to “Take Ownership
for the Success of Our Students.”
The US News national rankings
for charter schools memorializ
es the success of NHA students:
Cross Creek (No. 1), Plymouth
Scholars (No. 2), South Arbor
(No. 3), Chandler Woods (No.
4), South Canton (No. 5) (the top
5 charter elementary schools in
Michigan; all within the top 100
elementary schools in Michigan);
Greensboro Academy (No. 8),
Summerfield Academy (No. 12)
(both within the top 100 elemen
tary schools in North Carolina).
In addition to Michigan and North
Carolina, NHA has top producing
charter schools in several other
states: Indiana — two elementary
schools in the top 20, two middle
schools in the top 14; Ohio —
five elementary schools in the top
50, six middle schools in the top
50; Colorado — two elementary
schools in the top 75, two middle
schools in the top 75.
The Board at Four Points Prep,
remains excited and ready to bring
this educational opportunity to
Braselton. As a member of the
Braselton Town Council, I share
in their excitement, and I hope you
do as well.
Kurt Ward
Mayor, Town of Braselton
The magic of the Waltons
BYRONDARICH
This story comes on good
authority which assures us
that this good story is true.
One day, Tink and I were
visiting his father, former
television Executive, Grant
Tinker, when the conversa
tion turned to Merv Adel-
son, a legend of 1970s’
iconic television shows.
Under the banner of Lori-
mar, a production partner
ship between Adelson, Lee
Rich, and Irwin Molasky,
hits were created including
Dallas, Knots Landing, and
Eight Is Enough.”
Adelson, who had once
been worth hundreds of
millions of dollars (and
married to Barbara Walters
a couple of times), had fall
en on hard times and gone
from private jets and man
sions to a tiny apartment.
Grant’s eyes drifted off to
a comer of the room as he
thought about it. “That’s too
bad. He was a force behind
some great shows.”
From that conversation
came this story:
A writer, who grew up
in Virginia, had landed in
Hollywood. In 1963, he
turned a novel of his Great
Depression upbringing into
a theatrical movie called
Spencer’s Mountain. Earl
Hamner, Jr. had a flair for
heartwarming, uplifting
stories. So much so that, in
1971, he wrote a television
movie called The Home
coming: A Christmas Story
which was a hit for CBS.
I was a little girl, wear
ing homemade clothes and
white go-go boots, who was
caught up in the mod era yet
even I was captivated by a
straggling family during
a historic time of which I
knew nothing.
Lorimar had produced the
movie so, with gumption
and good reasoning, Adel
son and Hamner asked for
a meeting with Fred Silver-
man, the head of program
ming for the network. They
pitched the idea of turning
the movie into a weekly
series on the family called
The Waltons.
Silverman, normally a
genius programmer, turned
down the show. Silverman
was best known for having
saved a poorly-received
comedy pilot during “sam
ple testing” by scheduling
it into a prized timeslot and,
thus, making the Mary Ty
ler Moore Show legendary.
He is also known as the
man who cancelled The
Beverly Hillbillies, Green
Acres, and Petticoat Junc
tion while all were still in
the Top 10 ratings.
William Paley, the ea
gle-eyed Chairman of CBS,
was walking past the board-
room during the meeting
and, always intent on know
ing what was going on with
the network he built, barged
in. When he learned that
Silverman had just turned
down the show, he used his
power to override the deci
sion.
“Do it. We’ve taken a lot
out of this business so let’s
give something back.” An
other version of the story
claims that Paley also add
ed, “It won’t last long but
we will have tried.”
The series lasted for nine
seasons and was still in the
Top 10 when CBS, Paley
having retired, canceled th
e season and left for hi
atus, believing they’d be
reunited as a group, three
months later. The cast and
crew were never all togeth
er again.
Once, years ago, I wrote
a story about The Waltons
and, in short order, received
an email from Kami Cotier,
who had played the utter
ly adorable Elizabeth, the
baby of the seven children.
“Do you know,” she
wrote, “that you and I were
almost sisters-in-law?”
My brother-in-law, Mark,
worked on the show en
route to becoming an Em
my-awarded television di
rector. Six year-old Kami
was smitten with such a
crash on Mark that she
begged her mother to give
her a bit of her acting mon
ey to buy him a gift. She
chose a locket with her first-
grade picture in it.
He still has it.
In the years that have
passed, Kami has become
a well-respected teacher
who fights passionately for
the educational rights of her
students.
Fred Silverman had a tre
mendous television career
with one exception: he got
fired as President at NBC,
after leaving CBW. His re
placement was Grant Tin
ker who took the third-place
network to number one.
The threads of life are
certainly woven tightly.
Ronda Rich is the author
of the best-selling author of
St. Simons Island: A Stella
Bankwell Mystery.
The Jackson Herald
Jefferson, Ga. 30549
Founded 1875
Merged with The Commerce News 2017
The Official Legal Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher
Alex Buffington News Editor
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MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
PO Box 908
Jefferson, Georgia 30549-0908
Web Site: www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
Email: mike@mainstreetnews.com
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