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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JULY 12. 2007
Pickens is a great place to live,but
how many people want to visit?
Events like last week’s July 4th celebra
tion show that Pickens County is a very nice
community.
We saw an entertaining parade full of peo
ple we knew, and later, some grand fire
works. Other events, such as the fair, along
with regular attractions like tours of the Old
Jail made for a decent outing.
Daily, a handful of scenic points of interest
here, such as the Oglethorpe Monument and
water/sculpture park, give a touch of atmos
phere to downtown. The city is to be com
mended for sprucing up our streets and side
walks; they look nice.
The recent renovation of the Fitzsimmons
cemetery in Marble Hill adds
an element of interest there.
The single best attraction,
outside of golf courses at Bent
Tree and Big Canoe, is Talking
Rock with its small town ambi
ence and antique stores.
You can’t say there is noth
ing to see here, but ask your
self, would you really drive
very far to look at our “tourist
attractions?”
Except for those who con
sider paint-drying or grass
growing to be bona fide entertainment,
answer is probably “no.”
This is not an unfortunate “no,” or a pes-
simistic“no.” It’s a realistic, take scope of
what we have, “no.”
This realization is presented in response to
a growing perception Pickling down from the
state level, that multitudes of tourists are out
there just searching for somewhere to go.
Too often at meetings here, someone will
opine that what we need is promotion of
tourism or more to be done here by tourists.
It’s easy to see where this enthusiasm orig
inates. The state is spending millions this
year on its “bass trail,” where communities
around prime fishing holes will see Georgia
tax dollars dangled as bait to haul in green
back trophies. That’s according to the state’s
economic development arm.
Closer to home, counties north of Pickens
do a solid job of attracting tourist dollars.
There are cabins, lakes, plenty of National
Forest Land, hiking trails and established
destinations. With the right natural assets,
tourism can be a boon.
It’s almost a given now that in planning
groups or public hearings someone will
throw out the “T” word: Tourism. “Tourism
is a clean industry; tourism benefits the local
economy; we need to apply for grants to
develop some destination spots here.
Everybody will benefit from more tourism
here.”
All those statements are true, but we’d do
well to remember, that just because there are
bass attractions elsewhere and features like
Lake Blue Ridge to our north, it doesn’t
mean Pickens can capitalize on
the tourism industry.
For reasons less clear than
mud, apples pull metro resi
dents in swarms. Marble has
really drive very yet to be exploited similarly.
And unfortunately, you can’t
create a destination. That was
tried in Dawson County, where
the $12 million Thunder Road
racing museum was expected to
attract tourist dollars to nearby
merchants faster than a
NASCAR finish.
That venture never made it out of the pits.
The expected 250,000 annual visitors didn’t
show up, and the whole thing went bust. As
with a former upscale restaurant in Pickens
(since resold), the government eventually
became owner of that sprawling Thunder
Road building over in Dawson County.
Let’s not have a Thunder Road here.
If we find a good idea for something the
people of this area want or need, let’s pro
ceed. If there is a way to commemorate our
heritage or history, such as Jasper’s 150th
anniversary, then by all means let’s go for it.
This Saturday is a great example of a solid
event: a music festival featuring local per
formers and vendors catering to local resi
dents. If a few out-of-towners show up, great.
And if they don’t, they won’t be missed.
Let’s be proud of our community, but let’s
be realistic.
Pickens County is a very nice place to live,
but not that swell of a spot to visit.
Would you
far to look at
our “tourist
attractions ? ”
the
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to Pickens Progress - P.O. Box 67 - Jasper, GA 30143. All names are published. The
Deadline for letters is each Monday at noon.
Piedmont Mountainside presents
Dessert and Discussion July 19
"Treatment Strategies and Services for Cancer Needs"
Cancer treatment varies
depending upon your type
of cancer, stage of cancer,
and overall condition.
Additionally, your treat
ment may vary depending
whether or not the treat
ment course you and your
physician have decided on
is to cure your cancer, keep
your cancer from spreading, or
to relieve the symptoms caused
by cancer.
Increasingly, it is common to
use several treatment modalities
concurrently or in sequence
every case is
different," Dr. Sanal says.
with the goal of preventing
recurrence. This is referred to
as multi-modality treatment of
the cancer.
Piedmont Mountainside
Hospital will host a presentation
highlighting cancer treatment as
part of its monthly
"It's important for cancer S?™” sen“ d
_ patients to understand that M.a, win leadthcdi 1 '-
cussion "Treatment
Strategies and
Services for Cancer
Needs" on Thursday,
July 19, at 7 p.m. in
the hospital's Education Room.
Dr. Sanal, an oncologist
with Piedmont Mountainside
Hospital, will discuss a variety
of treatment options and the
reasons some options are more
appropriate for certain situa
tions than others. Dessert will
be served at 6:30 p.m. Please
call toll-free 1-866-900-4321
for reservations.
"It's important for cancer
patients to understand that
every case is different," Dr.
Sanal said. “In order for treat
ment to be successful, patients
must have an open dialogue
with their doctors so the most
comprehensive treatment plans
are achieved.”
According to the American
Cancer Society, Cancer Facts
& Figures 2007, in the United
States nearly 1.5 million new
cancer cases will be diagnosed
in 2007, and there will be an
estimated 500,000 deaths as a
result of cancer.
In Georgia alone, an esti
mated 35,000 new cases will
be diagnosed.
Dr. Sanal completed his
medical degree and internship
at the University of Ankara,
School of Medicine in Turkey.
He fulfilled his second
internship at Edgewater
Hospital and his residency at
Cook County Hospital, both in
Chicago. His fellowship was
completed at the University of
Utah, College of Medicine, and
Michigan State University. Dr.
Sanal is certified by the
American Board of Internal
Medicine with a sub-specialty
in Medical Oncology.
To learn more about
Piedmont Mountainside
Hospital, please call 706-301-
5300.
IJicfeensi 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
www.pickensprogress.com
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.
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NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
ASSOCIATION
Rethinking the Property Tax
By Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson
Property taxes in
Pennsylvania appear locked
into a long-term uptrend.
In recent years, there have
been huge increases in the por
tion of the property tax that
finances county government.
County officials have levied
these increases to pay for the
unfunded mandates imposed by
the state government in
Harrisburg.
The largest share of the prop
erty tax funds the public school
districts, and virtually nobody
foresees a time when the expen
ditures of those districts will
stop rising.
These ongoing pressures for
additional tax revenues raise the
question: Is it politically and
economically feasible to contin
ue raising property taxes in the
coming years?
Some might look at the
results of a recent ballot propos
al in Lawrence County and con
clude that Pennsylvanians pre
fer a property tax over others
types of taxes, but this conclu
sion is unwarranted.
When offered the opportuni
ty to receive a modest reduction
in the public-school portion of
their property tax in exchange
for a one-percent increase in
their earned income tax, voters
in every school district in the
county overwhelmingly voted
against it.
The context here is crucial.
Voters were not opposed to
property tax relief, but to a
package deal that represented
an overall tax increase.
We have a political stalemate
in Pennsylvania, because
Harrisburg has mandated that
the only permissible reform to
public-school funding must be
structured like the Lawrence
County proposals.
The psychology is all wrong.
It's hard for voters to get excited
about a proposal that makes an
obnoxious, already-high tax just
a little less high (i.e., the prop
erty tax) at the price of ratchet
ing up another obnoxious tax—
the income tax—when the fed
eral/state/local taking of income
is already at an uncomfortable
level.
If Harrisburg really wants
reform, it needs to emulate the
boldness of the Michigan gov
ernment in the 1990s, when it
totally scrapped the property tax
for school funding, and replaced
it with a two-percent hike in the
state sales tax. I suspect that
Pennsylvania voters would be
far more comfortable with an
increase in one type of taxation
if it were offset by the complete
removal of another type of taxa
tion.
If you give Pennsylvania
voters the chance to eliminate
one part of their tax bill com
pletely, then tax reform has a
fighting chance for approval.
The larger, more fundamen
tal problem here is the property
tax itself. This form of taxation
is totally antiquated, appropriate
in America's 19th-century
agrarian society, but out of
place today.
In the 1800s, when there was
no income tax and it was con
sidered none of the govern
ment's business how much
money anybody made, the prop
erty tax served as a proxy for
one's income.
This made a lot of sense
then, because it was logical to
assume that the citizen farming
80 acres had a higher income
than one farming only 40 acres.
Today, though, the homesteads
of most Americans are not their
source of income, but merely
where they live.
Why, then, take more money
from a citizen with a house of
1500 square feet than one with
900? One of the elementary
principles of prudent taxation is
that, in order to avoid harming
citizens, taxes should take into
consideration the individual's
ability to pay.
Today, one's ability to pay
depends far more on one's
income than on the size of one's
house. To continue taxing peo
ple as if their house were gener
ating their income is absurd.
An additional fault of the
property tax is that it can jeop
ardize home ownership. On the
surface, it appears that once a
person has paid off the mort
gage on his house, then he owns
it free and clear, but this is not
so.
If the homeowner falls on
hard times and can't pay his
property taxes, the sheriff
comes and confiscates the
house.
Under the present system, a
person doesn't really "own" his
home completely, but in effect
rents it from the local govern
ment which permits him to keep
it only so long as the "owner"
continues to pay taxes on it.
We have heard of senior citi
zens—wonderful, law-abiding
citizens who worked hard for
decades to buy their own
home—having to sell their
home because they couldn't
afford the taxes. This is abom
inable.
And how many of America's
homeless persons became so
because they fell on hard times
and were evicted from their
homes because they couldn't
pay their property tax?
In an era when it has been
the federal government's policy
to facilitate home ownership as
a central feature of "the
American dream," it is anom
alous for local governments to
make it difficult for some citi
zens to keep their homes.
The property tax is outmod
ed, unfair, irrational, and
destructive. It's time to abolish
it.
[Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson is
a faculty member, economist,
and contributing scholar with
the Center for Vision and Values
at Grove City College.]
Pickens County
School Board Agenda
July 12, 2007 Thursday, 5 p.m.
Board Conference Center
91 D.B. Carroll Street Jasper, GA 30143
I. Call to Order
II. Invocation
III. Pledge of Allegiance
IV. Approval of Agenda
V. Public Participation
Pending-1. Anneda Fountain
Pending-2. Patricia and Richard Boutwell
Pending-3. Greg Owens
VI. Superintendent Reports
Pending-1. Maintenance Update
Pending-2. Financial Reports (A. Burgess)
VII. Action Items
Pending-1. Approval of Minutes
Pending-2. Approval of Policy BBFA Local
School Councils
Pending-3. Approval to Abolish Policy IKDB Graduation
Ceremonies
Pending-4. Approval of Surplus Property
Pending-5. Approval of Spending Resolution for August
Pending-6. Approval of Policy JCDA Student
Code of Conduct
Pending-7. Approval to Pursue SACS CASI
VIII. Executive Session
IX. Personnel Recommendations
X. Board Comments
XI. Adjourn
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