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Pickens County
Editorial
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Opinions • Community Views • Good ‘01 Common Sense
2
Oct. 17,2013
Government shutdown is
hijacking of America
Last week some members of the Progress
staff were on vacation, camping at Vogel State
Park. While there they rode over to Brasstown
Bald as the middle schoolers among the group
had learned about it being the highest point in
Georgia.
But rather than a geography lesson, the kids
got a lesson in politics. Vogel is a state park
and was open and crowded, while Brasstown
is operated by the United States Forest Service
and was padlocked at the front gate.
It is enraging that petulant government
leaders in Washington have led us to a point
where our natural attractions are locked -
“Sorry kids, some people feel it is really im
portant to defund ObamaCare, so they have
locked up all the parks.”
Carter’s Lake has closed campsites, and
boat ramps were closed for nearly a week - as
if the childish attitudes of people in Washing
ton should mean we can’t go fishing in Geor
gia.
Another member of the Progress staff was
similarly affected by the shutdown as a
planned trip to the West Coast with a highlight
tour of Alcatraz became a trip without a high
light - the historical prison is shuttered.
In the greater scope of things, ruined vaca
tions are small issues in terms of the govern
ment shutdown.
Some of the more serious consequences
were 800,000 federal employee paychecks.
Services related to everything - from pregnant
women nutrition through the WIC program to
the yearly flu shots from the CDC - are at risk.
The worse case scenarios have a global fi
nancial meltdown if the federal debt ceiling
isn’t raised later this week. Even though the
debt ceiling is a different topic, it is lumped in
with the previous sequester and current shut
down. But the real issue isn’t parks or federal
services, the real issue is ObamaCare - other
wise known as the Affordable Care ACT
(ACA).
Some conservatives have made it plain that
they want (at the least) portions of the ACA
defunded/repealed in exchange for them doing
jobs they were elected to do - operate the na
tion.
Congressman Doug Collins expressed on
his website, “Until we can bolster enough
votes to repeal ObamaCare in its entirety, the
House of Representatives must do what it can
to defund smaller portions of this destructive
bill.”
Pickens’ other congressman has been simi
larly steadfast in maintaining that the shut
down is necessary because ObamaCare is
vastly not to his liking. On ABC’s This Week,
Congressman Tom Graves would never
clearly answer the question about how far he
was willing to push it with the shutdown for a
chance to repeal ObamaCare, but it was plain
he wasn’t going to give in any time soon.
Graves kept referring to the American fam
ily facing “horrible impacts” from ObamaCare
as though that justified delays and defunding
other parts of government that have nothing to
do with healthcare.
Not all of the GOP are as committed to the
cut-off-the-nose-to-spite-face plan. Paul Ryan,
a popular Republican leader and vice presi
dential nominee last go round, published an
opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, offer
ing many common sense measures involving
general budgets and short terms fixes but did
not tie his plan to the repeal of the ACA.
It should be noted that the Affordable Care
Act was duly passed by both houses of Con
gress and signed by the President - exactly the
way students learn that government enacts
laws. The Affordable Care Act was then sent
to the Supreme Court and they upheld it.
Like it or not, the ACA has been passed,
signed, ratified and is taking effect. Around
2.8 million Americans went on the federal
government websites to find out about en
rolling in the plans the first week they were
available - obviously there are plenty of peo
ple out there who want at least an opportunity
to see if it will work.
If ObamaCare is the flop some predict, it
will be obvious soon enough, but to declare it
a disaster before it even starts and then take it
out on other departments is a shirking of the
duty we entrusted in the people we elected.
AGREE OR DISAGREE? Tell us your thoughts on this week’s editorial either with a letter to the editor
that will be published next week. Letters may be e-mailed to news@pickensprogressonline.com. All let
ters must have a valid e-mail address, full name and telephone number for verification. We still take
them by regular mail at Pickens Progress, P.O. Box 67, Jasper, GA 30143
The Essential Bad Attitude
By Alan Gibson
J.D. Salinger is dead but his question endures
The question is this? What’s
phony and what’s real? It was
posed through Salinger’s iconic
character, protagonist of The
Catcher in the Rye! This kid,
Holden Caulfield, examined his
life almost compulsively, wanting
to understand what’s phony and
what’s real.
It’s a necessary question for any
sentient being. You and I already
have a sense of what’s phony.
When some machine answers your
phone call with ‘We value your
call. Please hold,’ that’s phony.
Celebrities are phony by fame’s
own Faustian bargain. Their accel
erated right to happiness will det
onate.
Wild animals are real. Zoos are
phony. (How extraordinary that
many of us don’t have to go to a
zoo to see a bear.)
Passenger air travel is phony. In
a cylindrical tube hurtling through
the sky, a distinction is made be
tween first and tourist class. Train
travel is real - gritty and earth-
bound.
Tom Sawyer is real. Jay Gatsby
is phony. Automobile ads are
phony. A car should take you
where you want to go, not demand
maintenance.
Fancy clothes are phony. Nu
dity is real!
Scripted apologies are phony.
You’ve heard it: ‘I sincerely apol
ogize if I offended anyone.’ And
what if you didn’t offend anyone?
Is your wrongdoing then excised
and your apology invalidated?
Martin Luther King’s dream
was real. Hugh Hefner’s dream,
while satisfying in a hedonistic
sort of way, was essentially phony.
Hyphenated names are phony
(Patricia Smith-Cavenaugh, for ex
ample, it being a name I made up
in the hope that it would sound af
fected).
Baloney, ironically enough, is
not phony except when you spell it
bologna.
Lassie was phony! They had
several collies playing the role. Rin
Tin Tin was real except for having
a dumb name.
The Declaration of Independ
ence is real and fraught with ur
gency. The Constitution is an
ambiguous mess needing constant
attention.
Women’s shoes costing hun
dreds of dollars are phony tributes
to snob appeal.
Pat Sajak is phony; he taunts
his guests (You’re life’s a cliche,
right?). Vanna White is real. She
wears clothes in a forthright way.
I’m phony. I allege that I want
the culture to be civilized and yet I
repeatedly behave in an uncivi
lized way. So did J.D. Salinger,
who wasn’t as kind to people as he
might have been.
[For more of the same, visit
Alan’s blog, essentialba.com]
Weather
By William Dilbeck
Oct. 8 - Oct. 14
HI
LOW
RAIN
Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
74
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Sunday
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Monday
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Are We
Getting It
Straight?
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Let our staff
hear about it.
706-253-2457
(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 A. 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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2°p
"But, Mom, all I said was ‘incumbent'!"
Other Voices from the Community
Pickens County Budget Meetings, October 21-23.
By Joe Kelly
When the housing industry
collapsed in 2008, the adverse ef
fects were felt in Pickens by
spring 2009. Gone were waves
of construction workers. Trucks
no longer delivered building ma
terials. Out of town home buyers
vanished. Empty chairs greeted
worried restaurant owners.
Concrete plants, building sup
ply houses and other local busi
nesses saw precipitous declines
in store traffic and sales. Banking
was paralyzed. Two local banks
have since closed their doors.
Before 2009 ended property val
ues plunged 30 percent and
haven’t recovered. Layoffs en
gulfed the private sector. The
downturn was steep, abrupt and
widespread.
In the intervening five years
it’s gotten worse. One-third of
the buildings in Jasper’s down
town district are vacant. Newer
commercial developments along
515 and elsewhere in the county
are similarly distressed. Busi
nesses familiar to the community
for years have evaporated. Many
of those that remain have down
sized. Some are barely holding
on.
New startups seem to close
before the paint dries on the sig
nage announcing their arrival.
Many private sector workers
have seen incomes disappear.
Careers have ended. Part time
work at 20 percent of previous
take home is the new normal.
Personal and business credit
has been destroyed. Foreclosures
have been pouring through the
Pickens Progress unabated for
five years.
Whether starter homes, tiny
subdivisions or some of our
wealthiest land owners, no seg
ment has been spared. Fortunes
have been ruined, lives and mar
riages tom apart under the strain,
families displaced. Everyone
knows of a foreclosed property
Be There.
in their neighborhood. Land is
offered at 1980s pricing. No one
is buying. This isn’t a recession.
It’s a depression. No one in the
private sector has escaped unaf
fected.
Government, however, hasn’t
participated. Since the 1960s
Officials need to
prepare plans to reduce
property taxes by 30
percent for the next five
years in order to
return monies wrongly
confiscated under
false pretenses.
government has raised two gen
erations of its own members to
feel that their careers are entitle
ments. Private sector pay levels
can decline (median private sec
tor income is down $2000 na
tionally since 2010) and its jobs
can evaporate but government
positions and pay levels are
unassailable.
Tax producers (private sector)
can suffer but tax consumers
(government) cannot. That view
is going to change. There is noth
ing sacred about government.
Elected officials need to come
to these meetings prepared to cut
spending systemwide by 20 per
cent. Government will partici
pate in this downturn. Any
successful business owner who
has survived at least one eco
nomic down cycle can reduce
government expenditures by 20
percent without breaking a
sweat. There’s at least that much
inefficiency in government.
Nowhere is governmental ar
rogance more tangibly evident
than in our property tax system.
Despite all the hardships enu
merated in this piece, assessed
values in the county remain at
2008 levels, and net millage rates
have increased three times since
that year. This can’t pass a reality
check. To paraphrase Disraeli,
“there are lies, damned lies and
government statistics.”
The result has been that gov
ernment quietly pocketed an un
conscionable 30 percent
property tax increase in each of
the past five years. That is prop
erty theft. Nothing in govern
ment’s judgement supported
lowering assessments during this
timeframe. In the real world we
know that this isn’t true.
Anyone who has refinanced
since 2008 has written proof of
the sharp decline in values. It’s as
if government is posing the ques
tion raised by the late sage,
Groucho Marx. “Who are you
gonna believe, me or your lying
eyes?” Officials need to prepare
plans to reduce property taxes by
30 percent for the next five years
in order to return monies
wrongly confiscated under false
pretenses.
Absent resistance, govern
ment will always put its own best
interests ahead of the taxpayers’.
The past five years are proof of
that. Taxpayers need to attend
these sessions if we are to make
government live within our
means. We will have less govern
ment and we will have less cost
of government but only if we
make our voices and concerns
known at these budget meetings.
We own government. Depart
ment by department, we need to
decide how much of our govern
ment we want to employ.
[Following a corporate ca
reer, Joe Kelly started his own
company, designing and building
homes for more than 20 years. A
six term past president of the
Pickens County Builders Associ
ation he has lived in Pickens
County, which he considers the
center of the universe, for 12
years. He is now enjoying retire
ment.]
Bent Tree Stables
RAILOWEEIK GRIMBIQ
Friday, October 25 th
Haunting l>ef L S at 6PM (Rain date: Oct. 27)
Arena pony/horse rides for all ages
Haunted Hay rides • Huge bonfire for roasting marshmallows
Ghouls • Goblins • Witches • Night Rider and lots of
Treats and Tricks
Best Costume (First, Second & Third prizes)
Hotdogs • Candy Apples • Homemade Halloween cookies
and loads of goodies
ADVANCE TICKETS: $10 00
includes rides, 2 hotdogs, drink and halloween candy
(Tickets at the door: $15 00 )
706-692-6322 or 706-669-0692 to purchase advance tickets
Trail/Arena Rides
Lessons • Special Events • Weekend Kid’s Camp