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PAGE 4A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. MAY 14. 2020
Dear Editor:
Trump never ceases to appall
me...
"These are very good peo
ple, but they are angry."
This is how your president
described the thugs that
showed up at the Michigan
State capitol with automatic
weapons.
Has our country fallen so
low that your president and
you somehow view this as
acceptable behavior?
Protestors can disagree
and peacefully protest about
anything they want; but when
that protest involves bringing
automatic weapons to a state
capitol, a line has clearly
been crossed.
Trump is a short term
aberration. And while he con
cerns me greatly, it pales in
comparison to my concerns
with the millions of Ameri
cans that support him.
Tim Schutter
Dear Editor:
With election season upon
us, I would like to share a
story of Representative Rick
Jasperse in action. Many of
you know Rick, but do you
actually know what he does
down in Atlanta under the
golden dome? Obviously he
fights for issues concerning
our district and state, but re
cently I found myself in quite
a predicament and reached
out to him for some help.
My youngest daughter
married a German 15 months
ago and moved to Germany.
She had a baby in February,
just as this COVID business
started heating up. While I
will spare you the story of
how complicated it is to get
an infant overseas recognized
as an American citizen, she
found herself in dire need of
an emergency passport for
the baby. Unfortunately, all
United States embassies and
consulates worldwide were
emptied and shut down due
to this virus. Phone calls by
both her abroad and myself
stateside all ended empty
handed, with nothing but a
"we will not be open until the
crisis is over." Desperate, I
reached out to Rick.
Even though the Georgia
state congress was shut down
as well, Rick wasted no time
getting in touch with US Sen
ator Kelly Loeffler's office in
Washington D.C. Less than
24 hours later, my daughter
was given an emergency ap
pointment at the consulate in
Frankfurt, Germany for the
following week. I wish the
story ended here, but it does
n't.
Many, many documents
are required to get a newborn
recognized as an American
citizen. One of the requested
documents was a high school
transcript. This document
checks multiple boxes on the
long list, including the "must
show proof of living in the
US for at least five years, two
of which were after the age of
14." My daughter was bom
and raised in Pickens County,
but she attended high school
at Georgia Cyber Academy,
which is an online public
charter school. They "lost"
her records. Another call to
Rick and he was on the case.
It took a few days, but he
managed to get that school to
"find" and send the tran
scripts in time. The baby now
has his passport. Whew.
The point of this letter is
to let all of you know what a
treasure Rick is to this com
munity. I simply could not
have done this without his
help. He made himself avail
able to me literally around
the clock. We emailed, talked
and texted. And he managed
to get all of this done from
his home, during a national
emergency. I have no doubt
that if you have any kind of
problem at all that he will do
everything in his power to
help you. I am very im
pressed with his commitment
and follow up, and will cer
tainly vote for him in the up
coming election.
Jennifer Hostetler
Dear Editor:
In your May 7 article re
garding the 2020 census you
Letters to the Editor
mentioned that the
Pickens/Big Canoe area had
the lowest filing response
within the county. I believe
the reason for this is not com
placency on the part of Big
Canoe residents but rather the
fact that the census forms are
not mailed properly. We re
ceived two in our box ad
dressed to "Resident" with
the 911 emergency address
on both (neither of which
was our number). The won
derful ladies who work here
in our postal facility have no
possible way of knowing
how to distribute these to the
correct residents. In order to
receive our mail it must be
addressed to our Big Canoe
box number - not our lot
number and not our 911
emergency number. While
it's true any and all can go to
the web site to file the form
most are probably waiting for
that form to be mailed. Is
this something that can be
fixed in the future?
Patsy Long
Dear Editor:
‘‘Social Security? Never
heard of it.” That’s what Re
publicans hope Americans
will say in the future. Repub
licans have been trying since
1935 to repeal this “govern
ment” program that provides
a basic income in old age.
You pay for it—during your
working life—with the pay
roll tax paid by you and your
employer.
Now, President Trump de
mands that the payroll tax be
eliminated, and with it, So
cial Security—because the
payroll tax pays for Social
Security checks that you re
ceive today, as well as main
taining the trust fund that will
pay you into the future. (The
trust fund is invested in U.S.
Treasuries to earn interest—
so the government borrows
from the trust fund).
(Part of the payroll tax
pays for Medicare, so that
also would go away.)
Why should Americans
give up Social Security? The
trade-off the Trump adminis
tration proposes is: We’ll ap
prove short-term help now
for the those who’ve lost in
come because of this virus
disaster, but only if you per
manently give up everyone’s
retirement income.
The financial industry
could make huge profits off
everyone paying into private
retirement accounts, and that,
to Republicans, is more im
portant than the Federal guar
antee that your money will be
there when you retire. Re
member the financial indus
try? They created the 2008
Great Recession that caused
huge losses to individuals
while Congress saved their
industry with public bail
outs.
How would the Republi
cans get away with it? (1)
With this contagious virus
raging in every part of the
country, people aren’t paying
as much attention to “Wash
ington,” so the Republicans
can take advantage of the cri
sis. (2) Eliminating the pay
roll tax would mean that
monthly Social Security
checks could continue for a
while by drawing the money
entirely from the trust fund.
But it would no longer be
maintained by a payroll tax,
so it would soon be gone, but
only after the 2020 election,
so many voters wouldn’t be
aware that the checks would
stop later—permanently.
The Republican-controlled
U.S. Senate is the key to forc
ing through the destruction of
Social Security and
Medicare. Republicans have
been saying for years that
“those programs won’t be
there for you in the future, so
don’t depend on them.” What
they don’t say is “.. .if you let
us have our way.” If we keep
electing Republicans to the
U.S. House and the U.S. Sen
ate, they will “get their
way”—and destroy our re
tirement security.
G. David Robinson
Dear Editor:
We have lived in Pickens
County for nearly 40 years.
We call Jasper our home
town and are always pleased
with the people we meet
here.
There is a weed growing
in our town called “graffiti.”
It is spray painted on the
brick wall at the now closed
Rite Aid store in town. This
is an insult to our clean town.
If you have ever visited New
York City you might be as
disgusted as I am with the
graffiti ...seen everywhere,
they are overrun with the
trashy look and degradation it
represents. It is now starting
in Atlanta.
We cannot allow this to
start here and we must find
the culprits responsible and
make them clean it up. While
we most likely will not find
the ones responsible I will
volunteer to help get this re
moved.
Bob Holfels
Dear Editor:
I have an incident that I’d
like to share with everyone.
As most of you are aware,
I am running against an es
tablished, entrenched politi
cian for the Georgia House of
Representatives, District 11.
I installed a rather large
(4x8 foot) campaign sign on
Camp Road in Jasper, on the
vacant lot behind Wendy’s,
just off Hwy. 515. (I had the
owner’s permission to do so).
The sign was attached to a
thick piece of plywood (4x8)
and nailed onto two 4x4x8
posts. It was heavy, to say the
least. An 18-inch hole was
dug for each of the posts.
I drove by there on Friday,
the 8th, and noticed the sign
was missing. I then walked
out onto the vacant lot and
found the sign lying face
down, about 10 feet from the
post holes, pointing in the op
posite direction. A huge
chunk of derelict cement was
laying on top of it.
Now, I know, it took at
least two people to pull that
sign up and drag it that far
away from its original posi
tion. It wasn’t just toppled.
I like to think of myself as
a benevolent sort of person,
giving others the benefit of
the doubt. There had to be a
reason why someone would
remove my sign, other than
just being mean-spirited. I
like to think so, anyway.
It is rumored that other
candidates have also had
their signs removed. Is there
an undeclared war going on
in Pickens County? Do can
didates have to fear for their
lives or property, just because
they dare to run against the
established “old guard,”
those who have held this
county in their controlling
and domineering (and cor
rupt) grip for decades?
Things have got to change
in Pickens County. We do not
live in the 1950s anymore. If
we are to prosper, the “good
ole boys” who run Pickens
County have to be replaced.
Their time is past. Pickens
can’t keep going in the direc
tion that we are heading. The
county is already in a down
ward spiral, and if it contin
ues, Pickens County will die.
Charlotte “Lee”
Williamson
Dear Editor:
(Editor s Note: The questions
from last week’s paper ap
pear in italics.)
Response to questions
posed by a citizen in last
week’s paper:
I appreciate anytime a cit
izen takes the initiative to be
engaged and educated on the
issues. I hope to provide
some insight into the ques
tions even though a few were
not exactly accurate.
1) Recently it has been ad
dressed that we have spent
over $16K taxpayer dollars
on breakfast and lunches at
various restaurants over the
past two years.
I’ve addressed this ques
tion in the past. It is impor
tant to know that the food
line expenditures in the gen
eral admin budget are for var
ious expenses. Yes, some
have been for working meals
as is typical in any profes
sion. This is particularly the
case in my position as I serve
on multiple regional boards
and commissions that are
scheduled around those
times. However, these ex
penses are also reflective of
other costs the county takes
on. A few examples would be
special appreciation meals,
retirement meals, staff holi
day celebrations, and more.
Another prime example of an
expense in the food line for
the general admin budget is
the county pays the senior
center $540 a quarter for
“Pizza Fridays” that feed the
local seniors. Many expenses
are represented in those total
costs, but all are legitimate. I
always strive to be a good
steward of taxpayer dollars
and will continue to do so in
the future.
2) The chairman s fiscally
responsible departments
have seen the highest in
crease of all county elected
officials in the past 10 years.
Candidates, what is your
opinion on this? How do we
proceed?
In 2009, the budget to op
erate the commissioner’s of
fice was $150,278.
In 2020, the budget to op
erate the Office for the Board
of Commissioners is
$176,883. During the period
2009 to 2020, the total Gen
eral Fund budget increased
$8,155,556. Elected officials
budgets increased
$3,444,763 from 2009 to
2020. Budgets controlled by
the Board of Commissioners
increased $4,710,793. The
budgets in the Board of Com
missioners’ control include
General Government Build
ings, Administration, Public
Works - Roads and Landfill,
Public Safety - Fire, EMS,
and E-911, EMA, Animal
Shelter, Parks and Recre
ation, Planning and Develop
ment, Library, Health
Department, Senior Center
and MATS Program. In the
last 10 years, the budgets
have increased with in
creased services. The Board
of Commissioners now over
sees the Animal Shelter, ex
panded Parks and Recreation
that came with the new Com
munity Center, fulltime Fire
and EMS with additional sta
tions. These services and oth
ers were not provided in the
previous decade, but now
they are offered for the citi
zens. Those services do come
at a cost. I believe we’ve
done a good job of expanding
services at a minimal cost to
taxpayers.
3) In recent months, the
Magistrate Judge of Pickens
County was arrested for
misuing county funds. Candi
dates, what is your opinion
on these? If elected, what
steps would you take to en
sure that this activity does not
happen again? Do you see
any opportunities that could
have kept this from initially
happening?
As many of you know,
Chief Magistrate Judge Allen
Wigington has been charged
with financial crimes. Unfor
tunately, some have at
tempted to associate the
Board of Commissioners and
our finance department with
these allegations. Judge Wig
ington served like any other
elected official as his own in
dependent constitutional offi
cer. The Board of
Commissioners maintains a
budgetary level control of de
partments but does not han
dle the day-to-day finances of
any other elected official’s
office. The county’s finance
department is one of the best
in the state and I’m proud of
their hard work and dedica
tion. If they would have seen
any sign of misconduct, it
would have been reported.
However, that was never the
case. During routine audits
performed by an independent
firm, nothing of the sort was
ever flagged and all activities
from the county perspective
appeared routine. The Magis
trate Judge’s office had an in
ternal control policy, it was
not followed.
The county will continue
to institute strong internal
controls, however, there must
be accountability for each
elected official as they are re
sponsible for their office.
4) As it appears right now,
we have done nothing to get
away from the TANS. There
fore, we don’t have enough in
fund balance and have be
come so reliant on SPLOST
money that we have become
a slave to our debt. Candi
dates, what is your opinion
on this? What is your plan for
the future in regards to this
topic?
First, SPLOST has noth
ing to do with TANS.
SPLOST is sales tax revenue
for designated capital outlay
projects. The county cannot
and does not use SPLOST
funds to operate. The purpose
of TANS is to act as cash
flow. The county does main
tain a nice fund balance. A
fund balance consists of cash,
inventory, receivables, and
other intangible items. How
ever, at the end of the year
while we await the collection
of taxes our cash on hand be
comes too low to operate
fully. A budget our size
would require roughly $10
million in cash to start the
year. We utilize TANS for
cashflow purposes to begin
the year and pay it all back as
tax revenues are collected.
I hope these answers pro
vide some clarity for anyone
interested.
Yours in service,
Rob Jones
Dear Editor:
These responses are related
to questions found in the
May 7th newspaper posed by
Steve Griffin.
What is your opinion on
the use of county funds to
purchase breakfast and
lunches?
This is a practice that I do
not plan to continue. When
any individual is working to
reduce spending and get out
of debt, the first thing to do is
stop eating out. I believe this
practice should be the same
for our County Government
as well. This is an opportuni-
tyto lead by example. It is
difficult to encourage depart
ment heads and other elected
officials to closely monitor
their expenses when they can
see that this principle does
not apply to everyone.
2) What is your opinion
on the chairman s fiscally re
sponsible departments seeing
the highest increase of all
county elected officials in the
past 10 years?
I believe that now, more
important than ever, is the
time to stop the endless in
crease of spending. When
you look at an increase of
spending from 2009 to 2020
of more than $8 million, we
need to gain control of this.
With more than 50% of this
increase coming from the
areas directly under the
Board of Commissioners
control, we should be work
ing diligently to find ways to
stop these increases. Working
within the current budget
model, the “reward” for a de
partment that is very con
scious of spending and
coming in under budget is to
have their future budget re
duced. By utilizing principles
applied in private businesses,
I believe the Board of Com
missioners can find ways to
tndy reward departments that
are able to come in under
budget and apply those sav
ings to the fund balance each
year, reducing the need to
continue to go into debt.
3) What is your opinion of
the recent arrest of the Mag
istrate Judge for misusing
county funds and what steps
would you take to keep this
from happening again? Also,
do you see any opportunities
that could have kept this from
initially happening?
My opinion as it relates to
the arrest of our Magistrate
Judge is that of shock and
frustration. I have considered
him to be a friend and was in
credibly surprised when
news of this came out.
Throughout my career, one of
my responsibilities has been
to review, write and imple
ment policies and proce
dures. These policies are
designed to protect both the
County and the individuals
that they apply to. I believe
the county policies relating to
spending and documentation
of expenses need to be im
proved and applied consis
tently to all individuals,
regardless of title and posi
tion. I also believe that all fi
nance employees should be
empowered to question all
expenditures and ensure that
receipts are provided along
with documentation to ex
plain the purpose for the ex
pense.
This money belongs to
taxpayers, and they deserve
to know that it is being used
appropriately.
4) What is your opinion of
the use of TANS and reliance
on SPLOST money? What
are your plans regarding
this?
I believe that we should be
very strategic in working to
reduce our dependence on
tax anticipation notes (TAN).
By setting goals to reduce our
dependency by a set percent
age each year, I believe over
the course of the next 4 years,
we can remove the depend
ence of borrowing our way to
pay our bills annually. I do
believe that it is fair to point
out that in 2020, Community
Bank of Pickens County pro
vided a way that does not re
quire the County to pay
interest on the full amount
designated, but only on the
amount that is drawn out.
This is a great first step in re
ducing the amount of interest
paid each year for day to day
operations. If we continue to
follow steps discussed in
Question 2, along with other
creative steps that we can
take to stop the increased
spending, we can finally
make this a reality.
I hope that these answers
have helped you understand
my stance on these issues.
Please do not hesitate to
reach out by email or phone
if you have any further ques
tions.
Sincerely,
Kris Stancil
kris@krisstancil.com
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