Newspaper Page Text
Page 4A — Wednesday, October 28, 2020, The True Citizen
OPINIONS
"fr "it ★
The Pledge U1 Allegiance
R allegjax c to tha flag
of sha l .VuTiSci &HH£- rif Afrianra
i"sd lei iFui! RiTnafir for ■u+ur.h
sLnjxli;, esw Nation under
CVrl t irift«i yhli?. r with Mwrly .“id
indite for jE.
ird Dog
"clitics
LONG LIVE THE GOOD OL' BOY SYSTEM
BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
While I cannot tell you where
or when I first heard the phrase
the good ol’ boy system, I can
tell you it is a description I have
heard more times than I can
count in the 20 years I’ve lived
in Burke County.
The expression is used to
describe a group of connected
individuals that holds some sort
of power or influence. They are
the kind of people it’s helps to
know.
There are those who would
suggest the good ol’ boy sys
tem has fallen to the wayside
in today’s world but that belief
would be naive, especially in
Burke County where so often
it’s not what you know but who.
If you doubt that, one need
only look as far as the recent
saga of finding a new Director
of the Burke County Emer
gency Management Agency
(EM A).
One would assume that
would be a fairly simple pro
cess: advertise the position,
collect some resumes and then
Burke County Manager, Merv
Waldrop - per his list of duties
- chooses the most qualified
candidate for the job.
But this is Burke County,
so before the ink could dry on
retiring Chief Rusty Sanders’
resignation letter, the rumor
mill started churning. The word
on the street was that recently
retired BCSO Chief Deputy,
Lewis Blanchard, wanted the
job - and the five members
of the Burke County Board of
Commissioners were going to
give it to him.
This might have seemed
far-fetched but then the Com
missioners’ own actions gave
it credence. At a special called
meeting on Oct. 7 - that drew
what you would call an above-
average crowd for 4 pm on a
Wednesday - the Commission
ers voted unanimously to go
into a closed session to discuss
a “personnel matter.” They
emerged about 20 minutes later
and voted, unanimously and
with zero discussion, to autho
rize Mr. Waldrop to advertise
the newly vacant position.
Two days later, however,
Commission Chairman, Terri
Lodge Kelly, emailed Waldrop
with changes to the job post
ing’s description. Specifically
changing the words “required”
and “must” to “preferred” when
listing certifications necessary
to be considered. Mrs. Kelly’s
email explained that this change
would ensure their search for
a new Director would not be
“limited to Georgia applicants.”
Prior to the close of their
regular meeting the following
Tuesday, the Commission got
an earful from several members
of the audience who didn’t care
for the behind-closed-doors
way the process was being
handled.
That public calling out might
explain why another special
meeting scheduled for Nov. 9
to discuss the “EMA Hiring
Process” has now been removed
from the Commission’s public
calendar.
According to an open records
request, as of Monday, Oct. 26,
there were 11 applicants for the
EMA Director’s position. Lewis
Blanchard was not among them
although the deadline to apply
is this Friday. Some might con
sider this odd since Waldrop has
received more than one letter of
recommendation making the
case for Blanchard’s hiring, in
cluding a glowing endorsement
from Sheriff Alfonzo Williams.
There is a list too long for
this space about what is wrong
with the way this hiring has
unfolded so far, but one of the
biggest issues is that policy and
procedures matter - or at least
they should matter.
They certainly matter to the
men and women of the Burke
County EMA, where a failure
to follow procedure can get
someone killed.
I assume it would matter to
the Sheriff and to Blanchard,
both of whom can speak to the
importance of proper procedure
given their roles in law enforce
ment.
In Blanchard’s case it also
begs the question, what kind
of leadership have you shown
if you cut comers and called in
favors to get the position.
Then, of course, there’s the
Board of Commissioners them
selves. In a county with several
hundred employees and an op
erating budget north of $86
million, you would think policy
and procedure would be close to
continued on page 8A
P.O. Box 948 • 629 Shadrack Street
Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Telephone: (706) 554-2111 • Fax: (706) 526-4779
Published every Wednesday by The True Citizen, Inc.
Periodical Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Georgia (USPS
642-300)
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The True
Citizen, P.O. Box 948, Waynesboro, GA 30830.
Roy F. Chalker Roy F. Chalker Jr.
Publisher Publisher
1945-1970 1970-
Lavonna Johnson, Managing Editor; Jill DuMars,
Advertising Manager/Printing Assistant; Diana Royal,
Feature Writer/Reporter/Copy Editor; Marianne Smith,
Office Manager; Martha Chalker, Advertising Sales; Roy
F. Chalker, Jr., Printing Manager.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
$1 per single copy at locations all over Burke County. By
mail: In Burke County, 6 months, $18.90,1 year, $29.10,2
years, $49.20; outside Burke County, 6 months, $25.30,
1 year, $44.30; outside of Georgia, 6 months, $31.30,1
year, $55. Student rate: 9 months in state: $25., outside
of Georgia, $30; One-year online subscription, $20. All
prices include state and local tax.
Don Lively
THE ROAD, FINALE
Now, where were we?
Oh yes, Miles City, Montana.
Montana.
Just saying the name of the
Land of the Big Sky makes me
want to be there. If ever there
was a more fitting description
for a place, I’ve never heard it.
After being denied entry into
South Dakota via an Indian
reservation, I bid them adios
and made my way directly to
Miles City.
Now I know that I make
reference to my favorite liter
ary character, Texas Ranger
Captain Augustus McCrae,
from the novel and the TV
mini-series Lonesome Dove,
quite often. It’s purposeful.
The book and the show are
both classics in my opinion
and if you are familiar with the
story, you know that Ol’ Gus,
after a long and eventful cattle
drive from South Texas, ended
up dying in Miles City from
infection caused by being shot
in the leg with an arrow while
chasing buffalo. His death is
described slightly differently
in the book as opposed to the
movie, but basically, Gus’s last
words to his lifelong friend,
Captain Woodrow F. Call, are,
"Well, Woodrow, it’s been quite
a party, ain’t it."
I still tear up every time I
read the book version or see the
death on him.
But, there are worse places
than Montana to die.
My first stop was at a nice
little place called the Yellow
stone Tavern where I had a buf
falo burger that was made from
purportedly locally raised stock.
It was so good that I wouldn't
have cared if it was raised in
Hephzibah. I visited the little
downtown in Miles City and
popped into the historic but
simply named Montana Bar.
The refreshments that I en
joyed there were also locally
distilled.. .umm.. .1 mean loc ally
made. The atmosphere trans
ported me back to the days of
cowboys and trail drive, caus
ing me to want to linger in Miles
City for a while.
But, Yellowstone beaconed.
Driving across the heart of
Montana it's easy to understand
why it's called Big Sky Country.
The term "wide open spaces" is
appropriate and every mile of it
is scenic and spectacular.
My second night in Montana
was spent in Cooke City at a
rustic old motel near the east
ern gate to Yellowstone. The
next morning I got up before
daylight and made my way into
Yellowstone in time to watch
the sun come up over some of
the most splendorous views that
can be seen anywhere in the
world. I truly wish that every
American currently fighting
continued on page 10A
Michael N. Searles
A CONSERVATIVE COURT
The idea of having the federal
courts filled with conservative
judges has been a long-held
dream of many Republicans.
There seems to be something
magical with that notion. The
notion is that conservative
judges and justices will inter
pret the Constitution as it was
originally written. Judges will
no longer “re-write” the Con
stitution but will be guided by
the founding fathers’ words
and meanings. This philoso
phy, while attractive in the
abstract, has its pitfalls. There
are reasons that balance serves
an important role in family life,
community life, and political
life.
Most Americans would agree
that a Congress completely
composed of millionaires might
not serve the interest of the
nation. A baseball team com
posed of all pitchers, all catch
ers , or all outfielders would not
produce the best results. There
was a time when entire major
college basketball and football
teams were composed of white
players. Diversity rose to front
and center when Texas Western
(Texas-El Paso) basketball team
defeated the all-white (27-2)
Kentucky Wildcats. The sig
nificance of the 1966 NCAA
championship game was that
all five starters for Texas West
ern were black. Their victory
was a siren call to every major
college sports team that the
denial of talent based on race
was not only wrong but a losing
formula.
Most Americans view the
U.S. Supreme Court as a trusted
institution, according to the
latest Annenberg Civics Knowl
edge Survey. Two-thirds (68%)
of those surveyed trust the Su
preme Court to operate in the
best interests of the American
people, while 7 in 10 (70%) say
that that court has “about the
right amount of power.” Many
publicly supported achieve
ments of the Supreme Court
have occurred when there was
a evenly divided ideological
stance among the justices:
Brown v. the Board of Educa
tion, the Affordable Care Act,
Americans with Disabilities
Act, Roe v. Wade, Obergefell
v. Hodges (same sex marriage),
and the Deferred Action on
Childhood Arrival. Although
these cases did not meet with
everyone’s approval, they ad
vanced the American ideal of
equality under law.
There is a balance that should
be jealously guarded to main
tain the 68% trust the American
people have in our court system
and by extension our society. It
is also important that those ap
pointed to the federal bench be
highly qualified to carry out the
continued on page 6A
Diana Royal
(Reprinted from Oct. 11,
2017. Another birthday has
come and gone, and now Aman
da 's sweet daddy, Jimmy Row
ell, has been reunited with her
in heaven. My granny also made
the trip “up” in March, and I
know Manda is singing her all
the best rap songs.)
Have you ever been driv
ing when all of a sudden, out
of nowhere, comes this huge
“thing” heading right for the
center of your windshield? In
the split second before contact,
reaction and thought come in
abundance. Maybe you flinch,
pump the brakes, shout out an
obscenity or two, start mentally
preparing the story about the
biggest, unidentifiable bird/
Big Foot-like creature you’ve
ever seen or you turn straight to
numbers, working out the total
cost of damages you’ll see on
the body shop invoice. Perhaps
you’ve done all of the above.
We really are capable of conjur
ing up quite crafty scenarios in
the miniscule fragment of time
between the sudden awareness
of impending doom to its cul
mination.
Finally, after the rush, fol
lowing the impact that caused
SPECIAL SOMEHOW
no damage, once your heart
rate has slowed back to nearly
normal and you’ve stopped
holding your breath, you laugh
at yourself for letting that giant,
drifting leaf cause your life to
flash before your eyes.
I know I’m not the only one
who has had this happen now
because I recently stumbled
upon a poem that describes this
very moment. The speaker of
the poem also tosses a full cup
of hot coffee into the passenger
seat. (I hope that never happens
to you.)
This past Saturday, I attended
a birthday party/life celebration
in which the honoree could not
attend. While she was physi
cally missing from the crowd
of family and close friends,
she was most definitely pres
ent among us. We laughed and
hugged, watched football, ate
good food and rainbow birthday
cake and shared stories about
a sweet soul we have all been
missing terribly since she left
us in June.
Saturday also solidified a
feeling many of us have had
over the last four months - it
just does not seem real. Now, I
myself have buried three grand
parents, two children and more
family members and friends
than I could ever count. I’ve
dealt with the grief of unexpect
ed loss in the best ways I could
continued on page 5A