About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 2005)
PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. MARCH 31.2005 Right to vote shouldn’t be subject to government interference in the name of efficiency Three times since 1787 the U.S. Congress has had to amend the Constitution to protect the right of the American people to vote, but still it seems the state of Georgia is trying to limit the number of legitimate voters who may be lurking in the shadows. The 15th and 19th amendments to the U.S. Con stitution ensured that no citizen can be denied this fundamental right on the basis of race or gender. And the 24th amendment abolished the unfairly burdensome poll tax. But recently the state has found new criteria to eliminate the right to vote — past voter disinterest and apathy. Since the late 1990s, Georgia law has allowed both state and local election officials to wipe voters off the registration lists if they haven’t been to the polls in the previous eight years. Sometimes however, such as November 2004, general elections which promise a tight race and involve higher stakes than usual have a way of bringing voters out of the woodwork. Nationwide last year, people who had not voted their whole lives did so for the first time. Plus, some states saw record numbers of new voters in all age groups registering for the first time. Thus, the danger in removing so-called "inac tive" voters is that citizens who had previously been used to just showing up at the precinct and casting their ballot, may not know they have been disenfranchised until it's too late. Consider the January 2003 purge of the Pickens County voter registration lists, which resulted in an official complaint heard before the state board of elections at its last meeting. In a long overdue attempt to update the county’s data on regis tered voters, the local board of elections removed over 1,400 names of inactive voters from the listed electorate. The purge inspired inquisitive disbelief from a member of the state body that is — ironically — responsible for making the laws which allowed the county's board to remove nearly ten percent of voters from the rolls. As reported previously in the Progress, the state board cleared Pickens County officials of any wrongdoing. All those who were purged, includ ing those who reregistered, had apparently not voted since 1996, and state law allows election authorities to delete voters if they have missed the last two general elections. Furthermore, many had bad or incorrect addresses, complicating efforts to determine who votes in which precinct. Some of the consequences of this substantial purge highlight the disturbing nature of the state's voting laws, which make it too easy to deny some one's right to vote, whether intentionally or by accident. For one thing, as the state official pointed out, The danger in removing so-called "inactive " voters is that citizens who had been used to just showing up at the precinct and casting their ballot, may not know they have been disenfranchised until it's too late. over 200 of those who were disenfranchised had to reregister to vote, which is a simple and pain less task — if you know you have been disenfran chised. But what is even more startling is the fact that some of the purged voters actually intended to vote on election day 2004 without knowing they had been withdrawn. Unfortunately after attempting to find out where their "new" precinct was in the days leading up to November 2, about a dozen Pickens County voters were told their names had been taken off the list almost two years earlier. And since voters have to be registered at least 30 days before the election, they did not legally qualify for provision al ballots. This category of voters is admittedly very small, but the incident shows just how easily your rights can be stripped away. Or maybe that you can't take your civil rights for granted anymore. The state board determined that the local board took great pains to ensure that all 1,400 voters knew they were purged. But not everyone reads the newspaper, and if a "you can't vote" notice is sent to your old address you may never see it, and you are simply out of luck if you want to vote. As it has become increasingly easier to keep voter information at official fingertips, with high speed computer databases and software, it has also grown easier to either make mistakes or take advantage of that information. For example, in Florida tens of thousands of legitimate voters were kicked off the lists before the 2000 election, and most of them never knew it until they attempted to vote on election day. The Sun shine State's purges were different from the one in Pickens County because their information was already up-to-date. Pickens County officials used sim ilar databases to determine voter inactivity and bad addresses, and this time it resulted in the unin tended loss of the right to vote for a handful of electors. Sometimes more primitive methods to keep track of voters are the most effective. In the recent Iraqi elections, photos showed voters with a smudge of black ink on a fingertip to indicate they had cast their ballot. Perhaps the county, having never executed such a voter list cleanup before, could have put the 1,400 voters on some kind of probationary status that didn’t fully remove them until after the November 2004 election. Or maybe they could have taken the high rate of reregistration as a cue to reinstate the other purged voters’ rights until they all knew what was going on. Voting is a fundamental right that has defined what America is since the country’s inception. Probably unwittingly, the government’s attempts to streamline and simplify the process have shown a strong potential to deny that right. Agree or Disagree? Tell us your thoughts on this week’s editorial either online at the mes sage board on the Progress Online (www.pickensprogress.com) or with a letter to the editor that will be published next week. Letters may be e-mailed to news@pickensprogress.com. All letters must have a valid e-mail address, full name and a telephone number for verification. Phone numbers are not published. Letters may also be sent regular mail to Pickens Progress - P.O. Box 67 - Jasper, GA 30143. All names are published. The Deadline for letters is each Monday at noon. Parenting Classes Parenting classes will be held at Foothills Community Church in Marble Hill using the Active Par enting Now Curriculum. Interested parents can contact Charlotte Boren at 770-886-5487 for class schedule and other information. All South Copiers to hold raffle All South will be raffling off a themed Scrapbook Gift Basket every month. Tickets will be $1 each or six for $5. All proceeds each month will be donated to a dif ferent charity or service offered to Pickens County residents. AA Ellijay Eye Openers Group AA meets Monday through Fri day at 8 a.m. at Hope Lutheran Church. Contact Bob H. 692-7004; Al-Anon Ellijay AFG meets on Tuesday at 7 p.m. also at the church. Helen F., 692-7004. Hope Lutheran Church is approximately 6 miles S of the square in Ellijay, right where 5, 382 and 515 virtually come together, 3 miles S of Wal-Mart, 5 miles N of Pickens/Gilmer line. Need a high school diploma? Did you leave school before graduating? Do you need to work and attend school? The Mountain Education Center High School offers you the oppor tunity to obtain your high school diploma with evening classes in an adult environment, self-paced cur riculum, accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools with flexible attendance and no age limit, grades 9-12. Call 706-276-5002 from 2-10 p.m. Chamber looking for Hometown Heroes The Pickens Chamber of Com merce is looking for contact infor mation for active duty servicemen from Pickens County so that they can be recognized and honored. Scott Evans of the chamber said while all the details haven't been worked out, the chamber is plan ning to publicly recognize local servicemen and wants to send something to show Pickens Coun ty's appreciation. If you know of an active duty servicemen from Pickens County and want to provide the contact information for this recognition program call 706-692-1000. iPtcfeens Count? progress (USPS 431-820) Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc. 94 North Main St. P.O. Box 67 Jasper, GA 30143 (706) 253-2457 FAX (706) 253-9738 JOHN R. POOL DAN POOL Publisher Editor WILLIAM E. POOL Managing Editor Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia. Entered at the Post Office at Jasper, Georgia 30143 as Mail Matter of Second Class. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS, P. O. Box 67, Jasper, GA 30143. One Year's Subscription: $16.05 in Pickens County and in Gilmer, Cherokee, Dawson and Gordon Counties. $23.54 in all other Georgia counties; $28.89 out of state. ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION “Maybe we ought to privatize their Social Security system. ...That'd bring 'em to their knees!" An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month On Friday April 1, to kick off April’s National Child Abuse Pre vention Month, Prevent Child Abuse PICKENS (PCAP) will be displaying pinwheels on the court house lawn. Each pinwheel will represent a report of abuse or neglect to the Department of Family and Children Services in Pickens County last year, in 2003 there were 383 reports in our county and last year the num ber jumped to 543 reports. “The average citizen isn’t aware of how serious a problem child abuse and neglect are in this com munity,” says Margy Lohman, Executive Director of PCAP. “The purpose of this Pinwheels for Pre vention public awareness event is to demonstrate how widespread the problem is and to focus on the need to prevent these incidents.” A single pinwheel can spin many times in seven minutes. Seven min utes is the length of time that passed before another child in Georgia is abused or neglected. A recent study by the U.S. Advi sory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect found that some 2,000 chil dren in the United States die each year as a result of abuse or neglect — five children every day. For children under age four, child abuse and neglect in the home are the leading causes of death, more than the combined deaths caused by drowning, car accidents, fires, and accidental injuries. “Prevention is hard to measure but we exercise it everyday”, explains Val Jacobson, President, PCAP Board of Directors. “How many kids have said NO to drugs because of the Just Say No cam paign? How many people have avoided cancer or heart disease because of preventive diet? We know that prevention works on many levels in our lives, we need to focus on prevention to save our children. For every Federal dollar spent on treating child abuse and neglect, less than one penny is spent on preventing it in the first place. Something is very wrong with this approach. It is only by making child abuse PREVENTION a priority of all concerned citizens, civic groups, and businesses that the serious problem of child abuse and neglect can be solved.” You have the opportunity to help! Throughout the month of April local businesses in Jasper will be selling paper pinwheels for a $ 1. Each pinwheel sold will be dis played in the business windows, proudly proclaiming that the donor helped to prevent child abuse in Pickens County! For more information on how you can help our kids in Pickens County contact Prevent Child Abuse PICKENS at (770) 737- 6484. More information is also available at www.preventchild- abusega.org. Together, we can make a differ ence. Reflections By Elaine Jordan Guns - What’s different now? Once again our nation is mourn ing the senseless killings of stu dents and adults at a high school — this time in Minnesota — by another student with a gun ... and we are left to wonder, “Why?” And to question too, what are we doing wrong in raising responsible, non- murderous children? As learned men search for answers as to why this can happen in our society today, some political leaders jump to conclusions and blame shootings like this on “the availability of guns to children.” Apparently, in their eyes anyway, kids who handle weapons are sud denly overcome with the crazy urge to go out and kill someone. So, their thinking goes -- let’s blame that inanimate object used -- the gun! Well, as a logical person, I have a real problem with this way of thinking. For one thing, guns can’t think and don’t suddenly jump to life and go running around looking for someone to kill ... No siree ... they need a living, breathing human being to pick them up, load bullets into them, point at someone and then pull their trigger ... to get them to become killing objects. So let’s put the blame where it belongs -- on the person, and not the gun itself. When I was growing up in the 1950s, guns were everywhere, but no one took them to school to shoot someone. We had been taught from young on what guns were for and we respected that teaching. It never even crossed our minds to take one and kill someone with it. That would have been as alien to us as using illegal drugs, talking back to our parents or being disobedient in school ... we just knew better. But today’s children live in a dif ferent world. They see violence constantly — on television, in video games and on the evening news where cop chases and shoot-outs are a regular thing. How can young, impressionable minds not think that this is how the world really is? And yes, let’s blame the parents for the way their kids act today too. Too many parents are too busy with their own selfish pursuits to be more involved in their children’s lives. So children are left to raise themselves and form their own moral values — which often comes from their peers — other kids who are just as unrooted, misguided and as clueless as they are themselves. I don’t have all the answers to this problem, and you can call me old-fashion if you want, but I think it’s high time that parents get back on the ball and teach their children what the responsibilities and rules of living a decent life are before it is too late. Besides, every school shoot ing is just one more reason for some politi cians to try and take away our Second Amendment Rights. Only when all children, and adults too, learn to respect all life and only use guns for their intended purposes, then maybe these crazy and senseless school shootings will stop. I sure hope so, before we hang our heads in sorrow again and maybe have to ask, “Why did it happen here?” EASTTOWNE TWIN CINEMA 24 Hour Movie Info 706-635-5700 BEAUTY SHOP Rated PG-13 Friday 7 & 9 PM, Sat. 3 only, Sunday 3 PM only Mon.-Thurs. 7 PM Only Held Over I MISS CONGENIALITY II Rated PG-13 Starring Sandra Bullock Friday 7 & 9 PM, Sat. 3,7 & 9 PM, Sunday 3 PM only Mon.-Thurs. 7 PM Only Adults $5.00 - Children $3.50 DD DD PIEDMONT I MOUNTAINSIDE HOSPITAL **A JLAHU Accredited Healthcare Facility 77 1266 Highway 515 South Jasper, GA 30143 TAX PROBLEMS? - IRS & GA settlement offers - Stop wage garnishments - Stop bank account seizures - Reduce penalties & interest - Unfiled tax returns - Income, payroll or sales taxes - Tax payment plans - Never talk with IRS or GA - Bankrupt against taxes Want your peace of mind back? Jeffrey I. Fouts, Tax Attorney Member: - U.S. Tax Court - U.S. Supreme Court Clients all across Georgia FREE Consultation Call 1-800-509-2770 Web: www.taxhelpattorney.com 706-692-2441 Job opportunities are available for qualified, experienced personnel willing to work in a caring environment. Applications are currently being accepted for: Nursing Positions* Staff Nurse (RN) Labor & Delivery — FT 7p-7a and PRN 7p-7a Staff Nurse (RN) Post Partum/Mother- Baby— FT 7p-7a Staff Nurse (RN) Nursery— PRN 7p-7a Staff Nurse (RN) Emergency Room - FT 7p-7a and PRN night shift Staff Nurse - Med/Surg - PRN all shifts Licensed Practical Nurse - Med/Surg - 7p-7a FT or PT and PRN any shift OR Circulator -Surgical Services- FT days plus call and PRN day shift *A// nursing positions require previous experience in acute care environment. Ancillary Services Position Radiology Tech - FT Weekends 8a - 4:30p ARRT certified Cardiac Sonographer - FT days 1 year exp in cardiac and vascular ultrasound testing Respiratory Therapist (RRT)— FT 7p-7a Every Other Weekend, FT 9a-9p wkdays; exp in L&D/Nursery desired and PRN all shifts (RRT or CRT) Support Services Positions ER Tech - Emergency Dept -- FT 3-1 lp previous experience required To apply for a position, please contact: Human Resources at 706-301-5369 Fax Resumes to 706-692-0939 or Apply on line at www.piedmontmountainsidehospital.org Applications are accepted Monday through Friday 9:00 am-4:00 pm
