Newspaper Page Text
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.
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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?”
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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
