Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 — Wednesday, March 16, 2011, The True Citizen
inions
★ ★★ * ★ ★
The Pledge Of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which
jit stands, one Nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
★ -A'’*’*- Ir* ★ ★ ★ ★
Rep. Jon Bums
(R-Newington-District 157)
In the column this week, I want to bring you up to
date on the recent recommendations for the Geor
gia Department of Early Care And Learning” (DE
CAL) and their program “Bright From the Start”,
more commonly referred to as Pre-K. There has been
a great deal of talk about this proposal, and I wanted
to let you know what information we have received
since last week, and also, how carefully Governor
Deal is weighing these policy decisions.
At his press conference this week, the Governor
expressed that “It is so important that we keep Geor
gia Pre-K a priority in order to ensure that students
are school ready and on pace to read on grade level
by third grade. I appreciate the cooperative, can-do
spirit of the Georgia Pre-K community. They have
provided invaluable feedback over the last few
weeks to help us improve our original proposal.
Most important, this plan will serve our 4-year-olds
well.”
The original proposal would have shortened Pre-
K days to four hours per day, creating transporta
tion problems for school systems. Also, that sched
uling would have made it difficult for working par
ents.
Fortunately, Governor Deal heard concerns about
the old proposal: “Teachers, providers and parents
understand the importance of reforms to maintain
our excellent prekindergarten program for the next
generation, but they emphasized a desire to keep
the program full day. These discussions have yielded
an improved product.”
Under the new proposal, Pre-K programs will re
main full day, or 6 Vi hours. Although the school
year will be shortened from 180 days to 160 days,
this proposal is much more palatable for working
parents.
In addition, two more children will be added per
class, bringing the number of children per class from
20 to 22. Keeping the teacher/paraprofessional for
mat, the teacher-student ratio would be 11:1. This
change alone will save the program $22 million, and
will allow for 2,000 more children to participate in
Pre-K programs than is currently allowed. With
about 10,000 children waiting to be enrolled in pro
grams, this will shorten waiting lists in key areas.
This increase allows Pre-K student enrollment to
reach up to 86,000 students, more than any other
state.
Despite these cuts, operational costs also needed
to be reduced. Originally, a 30 percent reduction in
teacher salaries was proposed. The new proposal
would reduce teacher salaries by 10 percent, allow
ing the state to provide Pre-K teachers with 90 per
cent of their current salaries.
Operational costs for Pre-K program providers are
being cut by 6.8 percent, but there will still be fund
ing to help program centers operate. This includes
money for extra supplies and materials needed for
the two extra children being added to many class
rooms.
These are difficult decisions that we as legislators
are forced to make for the future of great programs
like Pre-K and HOPE. Even with these cuts, Geor
gia will still lead the nation in early education, and
we continue to work to keep improving our pro
grams for Georgia’s children.
Please know that I am still concerned about the
proposed cuts to the Pre-K program and teachers’
salaries.
I welcome your comments, concerns and sugges
tions about Pre-K and other issues of importance to
you. You may reach me at (404) 656-5099 or e-mail
me at jon.burns@house.ga.gov.
(Drc (True Citizen
P.O. Box 948 • 601 E. 6th Street
Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Telephone: (706) 554-2111 • Fax: (706) 554-2437
Published every Wednesday by The True Citizen, Inc. Peri
odical Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Georgia (USPS 642-
300)
POSTMASTER: Send address changes toTheTrue Citi
zen, P.O. Box 948, Waynesboro, GA 30830.
Roy F. Chalker
1915-1994
Roy F. Chalker Jr. Bonnie K.Taylor
Editor & Publisher General Manager
Elizabeth Billips
Associate Editor
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"Deal sure seems like someone willing to listen on issues.
...Obviously he doesn't know anything about politics!"
RFD
By Bonnie K. Taylor
General Manager The True Citizen
I had the honor of attending the wedding of Alicen Minyard
and Stephen Sabo Tuesday morning at 11. This is first ever wed
ding I attended on a Tuesday and the first morning wedding I
have been to, as well!
This was the first wedding ceremony offici
ated by the Rev. Deacon Terri Degenhardt.
It was a inspirational service with family
members, the bride's grandmother and uncle
reading selected scriptures from the Bible,
Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians and the books
of Matthew and Mark.
The bride was radiant and the groom was
1 handsome and much in love.
! It was a ceremony attended by family mem
bers and close friends who by their presence
showed support for the wedded couple and
witnessed the promises of the couple to each other.
In today’s world nearly everything is disposable. Many tend to
treat relationships the same way ... cast them aside when the
going gets tough or when you tire of them.
Marriage is not disposable in my book. Those attending prom
ised to do all in their power to uphold the this couple in their
marriage.
It was also a time to reminisce. I did not want to leave. Bill
Hawkins and Billie Macken were among the guests and we had a
lot of catching up.
The seated reception was just the time to visit.
I had the pleasure of meeting Carolyn and Bill Boyce's ex-
Don Lively
tended family. I had forgotten Bill had a sister. Jennie.
I enjoyed meeting family members of the bride and spending
time with Alicen's mother, Nancy Minyard, a dear lady to our
community. Just recently she was named Citizen of the Year at
the annual Burke County Chamber of Commerce banquet.
I am sure this was a bittersweet occasion for the Minyards.
Jacky Minyard. father of the bride, died a few days before Christ
mas in a car accident. He was missed greatly by his family for
this joyous occasion ... but life goes on.
We have had a great number of deaths throughout our commu
nity this past week.
We had so many obituary notices in The True Citizen this week
that it took nearly two pages to print them.
Burke County Commissioner Alphonso Andrews died from
complications awaiting surgery.
Alphonso was a great community man. He was a devoted hus
band and father, leader in his church and a servant to his commu
nity.
He will be missed by his family and community.
Mrs. Vic Daniel, owner of Daniel's Cleaners, whom I believe
is at least 100 years old. died this week. Vic was an outstanding
business woman and a great golfer ... terrific mother and grand
mother.
There are not enough kind words in the dictionary to describe
Mrs. Lillian Fagile, who also recently died. She was one of those
great Southern ladies you will never forget.
Mrs. Edna Thomas, mother, grandmother, great grandmother
and great-great grandmother will be sorely missed, too.
To each of these families I offer my heartfelt condolences.
RIVER ROAD
The River.
The phrase evokes thoughts of Mark Twain’s fictional Huck
and Tom and their adventures along the Mis
sissippi.
Of the historic journeys of Lewis and Clark
along the Missouri as they mapped America’s
Northwest Passage.
And of the exploits of river rat Mike Fink
immortalized somewhere between truth and
legend.
In my wanderings around the fruited plain
I’ve crossed many rivers in all fifty states.
The Rogue River in southern Oregon.
The Penobscot River that runs through scenic Bangor, Maine.
The Mississippi where it begins in Minnesota as not much more
than a springhead and where it ends it’s mile wide, muddy course
into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Rio Grande that, despite it’s regal sounding name, has
never been much of a barrier to anybody determined to get into
or out of the USA.
Between those far-flung rivers I’ve been over hundreds of others
everywhere in between.
Rivers are my favorite part of His natural creation.
To a young boy watching from the banks as the boats and
barges navigated them, rivers became symbols of faraway places
that I would most certainly one day visit.
The river around our neck of the woods is the Savannah.
My favorite place on Earth as a kid was River Road that gen
erally followed the path of the river.
According to legend. River Road was the first trail cut through
what would become our state by James Oglethorpe. I’ve been
rambling around down there since I was old enough to pronounce
the General’s name.
Back then it was all dirt road for over thirty miles with several
accessible landings, very few houses and only an occasional coun
try store. There were thousands of acres where country boys
and girls could hunt and fish and swim and explore.
But. as always, things change.
Much of the land was bought up by out of the area folks whose
first order of business was to slap up No Trespassing signs every
hundred feet.
One of the best landing roads washed out and the county never
bothered to fix it. Other landings became privately owned.
Nowadays there’s a self contained “ city “ that is the nuclear
power plant. The sun comes up behind the massive concrete
towers, or so I’ve been told since these days I’m rarely, well,
I’m never up early enough to see 01’ Sol make his appearance.
I’m not one of those who complains and frets about nuclear power.
The place has been a boon to our little corner of the world in
spite of the fact that it’s appearance brought with it the replace
ment of long stretches of our beloved dirt roads with paved and
painted highways complete with a few automated traffic sig
nals.
Despite all the changes on the river that some would call
progress, there is still plenty to enjoy about River Road and the
surrounding areas.
There are still a few places where the roads remain muddy and
rutty, perfect for Saturday night country cruising.
My favorite tree canopied landing remains much as it was when
Daddy and his buddies had a hunting club there. I can still re
member the wall that displayed all the shirttails cut from the
shirts of the men who shot but missed and seeing the deer blood
smeared faces of the ones whose double aught buckshot found
venison for the first time.
There are still spots where you can park the pickup, listen to
the crickets and watch the river mosey by in no particular hurry
to get to the coast.
These days, on many Friday nights, not wanting to go into
town, I do my own moseying down toward the river to a place
that’s remote enough that the name could mean Bum’s Foot Egypt,
but, according to the original owner, that’s not how it got it’s
name. I’m not sure I believed him since it seemed a perfect
moniker for a place that’s not near anywhere, but. what I do
know is that the food is as good as any place within thirty miles.
The crowd is a mix of country locals, town-folk, and people on
temporary assignment at the power plant. The menu is fine and
so is the company and the music is not too loud and just rowdy
enough.
The new owners are a young couple not nearly old enough to
remember when the road in front of their place was dirt and the
spot where it sits was nothing but pines and scrub oaks. But in
their own way they are like the river folks of years ago trying to
make a go of it.
Something tells me they‘11 do just fine.
Down on the river.
Don Lively is a freelance writer and author of Howlin’ At The
Dixie Moon. He lives in Shell Bluff. Email Don at
Livelvcolo @ aol.com.