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PAGE 8A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. DECEMBER 29. 2016
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor:
As a practicing cardiolo
gist in the Piedmont Hospital
System in Jasper, I took no
tice of an article in the No
vember 2nd edition of the
Pickens Progress regarding
the financial support being
given to the PMH Cardiac
Rehab Unit by the Volunteer
Auxiliary through their an
nual Love Lights Program.
The article stated that the
Auxiliary has committed, for
the third year in a row, to di
rect their Love Lights pro
gram donations to the
Cardiac Rehab Unit at Pied
mont Mountainside Hospital.
These donations will be used
for the purchase of new car
diac exercise equipment.
This new equipment will be
used by recovering patients
who are in a cardiac rehabil
itation program.
The Piedmont Mountain
side Hospital Cardiac Rehab
Unit serves a large commu
nity from Pickens, Cherokee,
Gilmer, Fannin, and Dawson
counties. Consequently, this
new exercise equipment will
have a positive impact on
many of our patients as they
work to complete their car
diac rehabilitation programs.
I want to express my
thanks to the volunteer Aux
iliary for all the work they do
on behalf of the citizens of
our community. Having a
cardiac rehab unit right here
in our community is a bless
ing to all of us. The volunteer
Auxiliary is to be com
mended for their commit
ment to the wellness of the
citizens of our community
through their support of the
Cardiac Rehab Unit at PMH.
Dale Cannon, MD
Cardiology
Piedmont Mountainside
Hospital
Dear Editor:
Kill Baby - Rob Grandma
We are well familiar with
people on alcohol and mari
juana who are driven by the
vices that control them to
take grandma's social secu
rity check and deprive a baby
of food causing it harm or
death. When these type ad
dicts get into government be
cause of wealth, skill, and
talent, government will take
on their nature that comes
from love for self and not
love for others.
We see this today in the
aborting of children and the
recent withholding of cost of
living raises for the elderly.
This year there was a small
raise but it was immediately
taken away by government to
raise the premium. This year
we saw the legalizing of mar
ijuana that kills and robs the
families of the addicts. We
saw the legalizing of homo
sexuality and its deadly
AIDS. The government
poured these evils out to kill
and rob as it took from the
elderly and killed the baby in
the abortion clinics. Govern
ment by addicts that exists to
increase government's wealth
while deserting government's
duty to defend the baby and
grandma.
We see this in the gas
stores along the highways
that sell alcohol and send
men and women out to kill
on the roads. The alcoholic
drinks should be removed
from these murderous stores
that help to kill over 10,000
people on the road with DUI.
This is because addicts to al
cohol flood our governments
and the nature of the addict is
a love for self. The love for
the people under their control
is absent.
A woman in the govern
ment of Waleska, Georgia
was pushing alcohol and
drawing people into voting
for it while unknown to offi
cials she was stealing from
the city. She had talked the
government and voters into
legalizing alcohol for the
money while alcohol was
killing, injuring, and leading
the children into addiction
and crime. The woman was
caught and indicted but her
criminal act-legalizing alco
hol-remained. The govern
ment chose to destroy lives to
collect money. All over Geor
gia and the nation you will
see the girls turned into bar
keepers as they sell beer and
wine across the counter. This
is because of the flood of
drunks in our government
and their love for self,
money, and alcohol. They
rob grandma and kill baby.
The American people
stand by and let the bad peo
ple coming into government
parade evils in front of their
children and mistreat their
elderly.
Billy Joe Parker
Georgia Prohibition
Dear Editor:
Trade and the Balance of
Payments
The USA is running a
negative current account bal
ance of about $500 billion
dollars per year. Almost 3%
of GDP. This is a big OOPS.
This does not mean much
to most people but it is really
important. Before your eyes
glaze over, I promise to
make this clearer. Mr. Trump
has put his finger on this real
problem that has been wreck
ing parts of our country and
sending lots of Americans
into the poor house.
The theory starts out
pretty simple. Your country
should make the products
that it is good at. It should
then trade those products
with other countries which
are good at what they do.
That way everyone is better
off. But if trade does not bal
ance over time, then one part
ner ends up with the short
end of the stick of money and
the other country is enriched.
Trade which is not balance
over time is not fair. It is cer
tainly not “free.”
Tariffs are the tools that
have been used to address
this imbalance and the “free
traders” of the liberal left just
hate tariffs. That is why when
Mr. Trump speaks of tariffs
going up, the liberal estab
lishment has to go breathe in
and out of a brown paper
sack.
It is also true that if you
quickly ramp up tariff rates,
other countries will do the
same and trade then is very
rapidly diminished and
everyone loses. So the solu
tion to negative trade bal
ances should be “Creeping
Tariffs” to allow for orderly
adjustments over time.
Take China for instance.
For each year our current ac
count balance with China is
negative we should add 1%
additional tariff on their
goods and services imported
to the US. This would be ad
ditive over time. With the
passage of a few years, the
trade balance will seek an
equilibrium and we will im
prove the well being of our
citizens and still maintain
trade with other countries if
they in turn figure out what
to buy from us.
Trade is only “fair” if it is
balanced over time. Big tar
iff moves are destructive.
Little steps will allow adjust
ments to be made without
wrecking the world or us.
Tariffs are like good
whiskey. A small shot makes
the day a little better but a
whole lot all at once will
wreck your day and for sure
the next morning.
Gary Pichon
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Nelson’s personnel woes continue
By Ralph O. Dennis
Contributing writer
When will the story end in
Nelson? The revolving door
of police chiefs and city man
agers and clerks continues.
When Miranda McDowell
resigned as city manager she
consented to stay on in a
part-time capacity to help
with the budget, checks and
other accounting functions.
But, like everything the small
town has tried to bring stabil
ity, this also failed.
At their work session De
cember 15, they adjourned
into an executive session.
The goal of this session was
to review the applications
they had received to fill the
vacant city manager slot.
When they returned to the
council chambers, Mayor
Larry Ray announced that
they had hired council mem
ber Tina Monaghan as the
city clerk. She was hired as
the clerk, not the manager.
Some residents have ex
pressed dissatisfaction in this
and the process leading to it.
The position of city clerk was
not advertised. The applica
tions that had come in were
for city manager. Why did
the council make a sudden
change? They say it is to
allow time for Monaghan to
receive the training for the
job of city manager.
Bill McNiff said, “I un
derstand that the city has ap
pointed Tina Monaghan as
“interim city clerk.” Please
advise if this is a paid posi
tion and if so that she has re
signed from the city council,
as that is my understanding
of what is required according
to the charter, etc... In addi
tion I would like an explana
tion of who is running the
daily business of the city in
the absence of a city man
ager. Do not tell me that the
council is running the city. In
the absence of a city manager
the council needs to specify
who is performing these
functions.”
A former council member,
Edith Portillo applied for the
city manager’s position by
placing her resume in the
payment drop box on the out
side of city hall since no one
was in the office. It was not
in the box. There is suppos
edly only one key to the box.
She questioned the council at
the December 15th meeting
as to what could have hap
pened. She received no re
sponse.
In an email dialog with
city attorney Jeff Rusbridge,
another former council mem
ber, Duane Cronic, asked
him to “Please address the
following: under sec 2.2 of
the Nelson City Charter it
states:
Powers and duties of the
city manager. The city man
ager shall be the chief admin
istrative officer of the city,
and shall be responsible to
council for proper adminis
tration of all affairs of the
city. All department heads
and employees will report to
the city manager. To that end
the council hereby delegates
to and provides for the city
manager to have the follow
ing powers and duties: (he
goes on to finish quoting the
duties).”
He continued, “There is no
city manager in place to per
form the duties required under
this section. The city council
had determined a clerk is to be
hired, but not a manager. What
have you done to remedy this
current and on-going violation
of the city charter and the vio
lation of the council’s oath of
office to uphold all city laws?
It would be appropriate to con
tact the council members IM
MEDIATELY so that they
could have a meeting and rem
edy this situation as soon as
possible.”
Mr. Rusbridge replied,
“The charter for the city of
Nelson does not mandate or re
quire the appointment or em
ployment of a city manager.
Instead, Sec. 4.15 of the char
ter states: “The council may
appoint a city manager” (em
phasis added). If the council
chooses to appoint a city man
ager, then the powers and du
ties of that person are gov
erned by Sec. 2.2 of the City
Code, as you cited.”
Mr. Cronic’s response to
this was, “I think you're
missing my point. It was to
ask "who" is legally in
charge of these requirements
with no one in this position?
I understand the "council as
a whole" however, that is not
a workable solution. Should
n’t you suggest there be a
meeting to discuss how this
authority is going to be put
into a model for the workable
daily operation of the city? If
not, then people will be con
cerned of "behind door"
rolling meetings by council
members to make daily deci
sions, or certain council
members making decisions
for everyone, etc. It appears
the idea of a city manager is
not coming soon. The coun
cil should be made aware that
there should be temporary
plans put into place to make
sure things run smoothly
until such time as a person
could be named.”
Now, former city manager
and part-time consultant, Mrs.
McDowell has submitted her
resignation. In it she says,
“Dear Nelson City Council:
Please accept this letter as
official notice of my resigna
tion. As you know, over the
past few weeks I have been as
sisting with the city financials
once a week after hours and
actively assisting Mrs. Mon
aghan during her interim city
manager role. During the last
week I have been contacted by
citizens and acquaintances of
Nelson in regards to concerns
over proper protocols, proce
dures and my role at Nelson.
These conflicts could poten
tially have a negative effect on
my relationship with my cur
rent employer. I agreed to con
tinue to offer my services to
the city in hopes to make the
transition from one city man
ager to another smooth, as to
not cause the city to deviate on
progressing forward with re
pairing the financial status,
positive image and overall
well-being of the city. By
doing this I am placing my
reputation on the line by being
ultimately responsible for the
overall finances and ensuring
that the policy and procedures
of the city are being followed.
I cannot allow myself to be in
volved in any negative public
ity as I have only done
everything to the best of my
ability to improve the city of
Nelson; therefore, my uncer
tainty of where the city is
headed leaves me feeling that
resigning immediately is the
best option for me.
Again, I really appreciate
been given the opportunity to
act in such an important role
for Nelson. I hope going for
ward the council can learn to
work as a team, listen to each
other and learn to value what
each member brings to the
table. That is the only way the
city will see progress. You
were elected by the people for
a reason and that reason is not
because they want to see neg
ative newspapers articles. The
voters want to see leadership
and sound choices that give
back to them and their fami
lies, not just today but in the
future.”
When the council offered
the clerk position to Mon
aghan, it was with the under
standing that she have her
resume, background check and
other documentation in to the
city attorney no later than De
cember 19, 2016. And, should
she accept the position, she
will have to resign from the
council. Mrs. Monaghan holds
a Master’s degree but not in a
field related to running a city.
This has been expressed as a
concern to several residents. It
is not known at this time
whether or not she has com
pleted the requirements and
what her current status is.
The Nelson Council has its
regular monthly meeting on
January 2, 2017, at 7 p.m. One
of the items on the agenda is
what to do about the police de
partment. A public hearing has
already been held on this and a
final vote is supposed to take
place at this meeting. The
topic of the city manager or
city clerk’s position is sure to
be on the agenda.
- Pekitis Garbert
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