About The Coastal courier. (Hinesville, Ga.) 1980-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 29, 2018)
Opinion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2018 WWW.COASTALCOURIER.COM PAGE 4 Letter to the editor Scott: Voters should demand transparency An advance look at what could be major news stories in 2019 Editor’s note: Let ter from former Liber ty County school board member Marcus Scott IV to the community Greetings Liberty County, It is with great plea sure I leave this board in better shape now than it was over four years ago when I was elected as a 35 year-old school board member for District 5. I learned a lot during my tenure as a board member in LCSS and I do not regret one mo ment. Contrary to what you read in the paper, all board members were not against my vision for Liberty County School System. As I matter of fact, the board member I thought I would have the most problems with end ed up being my favorite board member because of her surprising passion for all students and sim ilar vision for the system. We have accomplished plenty during my tenure from getting rid of in effective leadership and getting a superintendent with proven leadership, increasing test scores, en suring students are learn ing, video recording of board meeting, bi- week ly pay for all LCSS staff, increased the graduation rate, eliminating fur loughs and much more. Most importantly is how during my tenure a sense of accountable and trans parency was established that will survive long af ter I leave the board that was not present before hand. Every man is born into the world to do some thing unique and some thing distinctive and if he does not do it, it will nev er be done. I feel my pur pose for being a school board member was to do what was best for all the students of Liberty County School System. All board members say this, but most are only willing to do what is po litically convenient. I can sleep well knowing that almost 11,000 students and almost 1,600 staff members had someone on the board for the past four years that was going to do what was right no matter the consequences. It was interesting to me that people would come after me for doing what was best for kids. I found that when moral ity comes against profit, profit usually wins when dealing with the school system. However, I al ways stood on the fact Americanisms “Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. TIT.: J 3 Write a good one. —Brad Paisley that you cannot deny the truth. So when it came out that the board chair and former super intendent was retaliating against me, I did not com mit any ethic violations, and Mr. Reese wasn’t ly ing about being retaliated against, it did not make me feel vindicated, but it did help prove that my work to clean up a dirty education system was not in vein. I will continue to fight for all students. As I de part the school board, one area I feel the community should put more focus on is demanding more accountability with the budget and finances. We recently raised the mill- age rate almost a whole mill and no one batted an eye. This is after voters approved ESPLOST. So let me get this straight, we are not managing the money we have, you give us more with ESPLOST, and we still tell you we are raising taxes and that is okay? Only in Liberty County. Not to mention we have over 25 million in reserve (probably one of the largest reserves in the state) and Federal Impact Aid funds. But I guess it is more import ant to know about the ar guments between board members than demand ing the Coastal Courier investigate the finances of Liberty County School System with the same ve racity. I wish Liberty County School System, a school system that my son and I attended, the best in the future. When I think about my time on the school board I will con tinue to be reminded as Frederick Douglas once said, “Power concedes nothing without de mand. It never did and it never will...” So if vot ers don’t demand more, they will get less, which will trickle down to your child’s education. In closing, don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened and if the LCSS is fortunate, it may happen again. You never know what the fu ture holds or God’s plan for me. We will continue our weekly educational show, “The Educational Hotline,” on Facebook on Wednesdays. Continue to do great things, while inspiring others to do the same Liberty County. Mamba out, Marcus Scott IV Liberty County Board Of Education, District 5 I am not very good at prognostications. But I am always full of hope. There are a number of events I would love to see happen in 2019; so much so that I have already written a short release on each should they oc cur. That way, I will look very smart and since I will already have told you about them, I will have more free time to pur sue my dream of playing “Sweet Betsy from Pike” on my ukulele with the New York Philharmonic. (Spoiler alert: There will be no encores because that’s the only song I can play on my ukulele.) So, let’s get right to the I-hope-we-read stories in 2019: Public schoolteacher committee to study de laying start of Georgia General Assembly A committee of public schoolteachers is look ing at when the General Assembly should begin its yearly legislative ses sions. They were inspired by a bunch of state sen ators who think they know best when schools should start without asking teachers for their opinions. “We have made no definite decisions,” a spokesperson declared, but we want to give our intrepid public servants time to go work and play at Six Flags and Stone Mountain Park to make up for the inconvenience they say they will face if Georgia dares to put the education of our young people ahead of their Senior news line More seniors are raising grandchildren BY MATILDA CHARLES Syndicated columnist A show of hands, please -- how many of us are sud denly raising our grand children just when we were about to retire? Or maybe after we’ve already retired and have fewer resources and income? There are 2 1/2 million of us doing just that. It wasn’t that long ago that we were on our own if a family situation fell apart and it became necessary for us to take in our grand ¬ What do you think? Say it in a letter to the editor or as a local columnist. The Coast al Courier encourages readers to express their opinions on our opinion page, either through a letter to the editor or as a local political columnist. Send letters or questions to editor@coast- alcourier.com or call 912- 8767-0156. ext. 1023. bottom line.” At this point, the schoolteach er committee is leaning toward recommending a half-day session, which would give legislators enough time for a free meal from lizard-loafered lobbyists but not enough time to dump more tax payer money into private school scholarships. Former knee-jerk Colin Kaepernick prom ises to concentrate on domestic violence and birds Colin Kaepernick says he is through kneeling because of his lumbago and the fact that Ameri cans have found out they can live without watch ing his fellow multi-mil lionaire knee-jerks dis respect their country on Sundays. He will, instead, join the #MeToo move ment and concentrate on his colleagues who slap around their girlfriends. He has also announced that he is growing a nest of robins in his hair. The University of Georgia apologizes for being the oldest state-chartered uni versity in the nation, having more rhodes scholars than all other institutions in the state combined and a load of five-star athletes In a rare move, the administration at the University of Georgia has apologized for be ing excellent at so many things. “While it is not our fault that we were the first state-chartered children and raise them. Now we might be able to get some help. A new law was enacted this summer -- The Supporting Grand parents Raising Grand children Act -- after being supported by 40 different advocacy organizations. The new law will create an advisory council working under the Department of Health and Human Ser vices to figure out what’s needed to help the children when it comes to health, nutrition and education, as a a00 M ) I600 an" 6*4 university in the nation and that we keep having all these Rhodes schol ars selected and five- star athletes wanting to come to school here,” a spokesperson said, “we are aware that not every institution is as bless ed as we are.” He blames much of the controversy on a certain modest and much-beloved columnist who won’t quit talking about the place. Gun advocates score major victory with guns under the gold dome With guns current ly allowed in churches, bars, public buildings, college campuses and the like, gun proponents are hailing the efforts of Rep. Mandi “Annie Oakley” Ballinger, R-Cherokee, and Rick “Shoot low, boys. They’re ridin’ Shetlands” Jasperse, R-Jasper, to pro mote legislation allowing Georgians to pack heat under the Gold Dome. “It occurred to us that if we allowed guns everywhere else but the state Capi tol,” they said, “it would make us look like a cou ple of hypocrites.” Politi cal observers say the term “shooting down legisla tion” will now take on a whole new meaning. Trump to announce on Twitter the with drawal of U.S. from the League of Nations after he fires federal reserve chairman President Donald Trump surprised Con gress today by tweeting that the U.S. will no lon- well as help with our own mental and physical health. The council is supposed to research how to raise chil dren, locate resources and so on, with an emphasis on children affected by drug addiction. The coun cil was given six months to get their ducks in a row. That six months is now up. If you’re hooked up with Social Services, give them a call and ask what help you can now get from this new law. We’re supposed to get a one-stop source for Dick Yarbrough Syndicated columnist ger be a member of the League of Nations as soon as he fires Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve. Staff members will draw straws to de termine who will have to go tell the president that there is no League of Na tions anymore and that by law he can’t fire the chair man of the Federal Re serve. The president will go on Twitter and criticize his staff as lazy, incompe tent and stupid and won der who hired them. Staff will then draw straws to determine who will have to go tell him he did. New York Philhar monic to feature special ukelele performance in 2019 The prestigious New York Philharmonic is proud to announce a special appearance by C. Richard Yarbrough, not ed ukeleleist, who will perform “Sweet Betsy from Pike” in the key of C. However, due to cir cumstances beyond his control, we regret Mr. Yarbrough will not be performing encores. You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dick- yarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or on Face- book at www.facebook. com/dickyarb contacts and information. Meanwhile, there are oth er places to seek help. Start with Grandfamilies.org [www.grandfamilies.org], which has information and support for those who are raising their grandchil dren. Look for the state fact sheets to see what is avail able in your state. Look at the Search Laws section to make sure you know the local laws. Also go to aarp.org and do a search for “grandparents raising grandchildren.” © 2018 King Features Syndicate, Inc.
