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Page 4— Wednesday, March 16, 2022, The True Citizen
OPINIONS
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LOOKING BACK
{this week in Burke County history}
10 YEARS AGO -MARCH 21,2012
Byne Blueberry Farms chocolate covered blueberries won
a first place finish in the Flavor of Georgia contest sponsored
by the University of Georgia.
A Sylvania man was arrested for stealing more than 1,000
pounds of copper from Alstom Grid, Inc. Kenneth Jerome
Dixon was charged with four felonies in connection with the
theft, which was discovered when he attempted to sell the
metal to an Augusta recycling firm.
S.A. Gray was honored for his 60 years as a member of
American Legion Post 120. He had served in Europe during
World War II.
25 YEARS AGO-MARCH 19,1997
The City of Waynesboro’s water supply was threatened
when the pump to its only functioning well quit working for
six hours. A ban on non-emergency water use was in place
for over 10 hours until the pump was repaired.
Porter Cohen was named as the new chairman of the Burke
County Board of Elections, succeeding longtime chairman
Pete Willis.
Ralph Dickey was named president of the Bank of Burke
County. The announcement was made by bank chairman
Preston Conner.
50 YEARS AGO-MARCH 15,1972
Jesse C. Palmer, III was elected to the Board of Directors
of the First National Bank at the bank’s annual stockholders
meeting.
Congressional candidate Bo Ginn of Millen spoke at the
Waynesboro Rotary Club as the guest of Porter W. Carswell.
Veteran county commission member and chairman W.T.
McBride said he would not be a candidate for re-election.
Bobby Webster, George Holloway, Bobby Collins, Jackie
Lovett and M.A. Miller were appointed to the newly created
Burke County Planning Commission.
70 YEARS AGO-MARCH 20,1952
The Burke County Band participated in the St. Patrick’s
Day parade in Savannah. The event was the third largest in
the country, surpassed only by events in New York and Bos
ton. It included 17 bands from Georgia and South Carolina.
Mayor George Holloway and other city officials entered
the City of Midville in Georgia Power’s Better Hometown
contest. Many new projects were in the planning stage and
would be completed by the end of the competition period.
“Show Boat” starring Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson
was playing at the Waynesboro Drive-In Theatre.
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Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
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BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
The problem with having
more money than you know
what to do with is that you often
find yourself doing things with
it that you probably shouldn’t.
Much like the Burke County
Board of Commissioners did
earlier this month when they
purchased 22.65 acres and
an 1,887-square foot house
on the corner of Clark Place
Road and Highway 24 East.
There’s the obvious question
of “why” - which we’ll get to
in a moment - after the other
obvious question of “what did
it cost us?”
The good news is the com
mission had enough walking-
around sense not to pay the ask
ing price of $675,000, which
would have amounted to some
where in the neighborhood of
$25,000 an acre, excluding
some value for the house. The
bad news is they still paid too
much at $350,000. That’s more
than double the tax appraised
value of $170,939.
I’ll grant you the tax value
is probably behind the market
curve, but the commissioners
still paid well above the going
rate for Burke County’s most
desirable land.
On top of that, the property
wasn’t even on the open mar
ket, so it’s not like we needed
to move fast to avoid someone
else picking it up. The owner,
B .J. Jones of Waynesboro, went
straight to the commission last
year and told them he wanted to
sell and named his price.
If that frustrates you, I rec
ommend you quit reading now
because the answer to that
question of why we needed
this property just might push
you over the edge. Accord
ing to County Manager Merv
Waldrop, there is no formal or
immediate plan for the property
at this time.
There has been the mention
of a park with walking trails
and a fishing pier, which is
odd because the fishing pond
is actually located on 75-acres
adjacent to this property - on a
parcel the county already owns.
Waldrop recommended the
need for a plan for that acreage
as well to avoid its haphazard
development. You could argue
that has already begun with the
county’s odd placement of the
new animal shelter on its east
end. Waldrop also admitted the
county may or may not need
the house we just purchased
and that it could eventually be
tom down.
I’ve got nothing against
walking trails or fishing holes
but Waynesboro already has a
large fishing area, open to the
public, by the name of Jones
Lake. And if you’re looking for
somewhere to walk outside, the
Family Y has a walking track
(on county property); there’s
a large sports held behind the
rec department gym (again,
county-owned); and the City
of Waynesboro built the Green
way Trail a number of years
ago. Of all the things we need
in and around Waynesboro, it’s
hard to argue either of these
would be high on the list.
Lastly, there’s the way this
purchase was handled com
pletely behind closed doors.
The law does allow for dis
cussions about buying and
selling property to be handled
in closed session without the
public watching, to avoid sell
ers driving the price up because
they know the government is
interested or alerting compet
ing buyers, neither of which
would have been a problem
in this instance. The law only
requires that a public vote be
held at some point to make
the transaction binding. In this
case, the commission voted at
its regular meeting
last Tuesday, sev- SEE
eral days after the BIRD DOG,
closing of the sale. g
(Reprinted from 2014)
I wasn’t really paying atten
tion, I admit it. I’m often ac
cused of being inattentive but
that’s really not the case.
It’s more like my mind wan
ders.
Wait, maybe that’s the same
thing.
Anyway, I was walking from
my office to the men’s room to
wash my hands and whiskers
after consuming a sizable slice
of red velvet cake from the
local bakery. I was moseying
through the building, as usual
with my head in a cloud, when I
walked straight into something
not normally expected inside a
closed building.
A cloud.
Of bees.
Inside a closed building.
That’ll get your attention.
I estimated that there were at
least a half million of them and
then I pictured the paramedics
having to haul my swollen,
welted self to the ER.
I fled in terror.
Not at the bees.
To avoid the possibility of
having to convince my insurer
Don Lively
THE FEVER
to cover a honey bee assault
and to also preempt the stories
that would be told, retold and
told again by my unsympathetic
brothers and cousins around
future hrepits.
At any rate, I escaped un
killed with nary a sting.
One day of spring-like weath
er and already the bugs have
returned.
Welcome to the Blessed
South.
The frogs are back too.
I suspect the water in the
ditches and sloughs is still
quite cold but after only one
warm day I started to hear the
beginnings of the swampy
symphonies that will serenade
me. Before long the frogs will
be joined by the toads and the
crickets and the grasshoppers
and the cicadas with their noisy
accompaniment that will play
till summer’s gone.
We are experiencing climate
change.
Not the A1 Gore variety that
requires puny humans to affect
what God has put into place.
Those theories have pretty
much been shot to Hades as
evidenced by the virtual disap
pearance of the good VP from
Middle Tennessee.
We’re talking Springtime.
One of the very best things
about living in our neck of the
woods is that we actually have
four separate and distinct sea
sons unlike my adopted home
Out West where the shortest
Spring on record lasted about
forty-seven seconds before ev
erything dried upturned brown
and stayed arid till Autumn
arrived.
Around these parts, when
Spring arrives, Spring arrives.
Just this morning I was a
little late getting to the office
because I got behind a tractor
with a disk harrow that was so
wide it probably required two
counties to turn it around. The
disks were all shiny clean and
had obviously not begun their
work just yet. But soon they
will bust open the top layers of
moist earth that have been lay
ing dormant for a few months.
Without giving it much thought
the tractor driver will begin the
process of turning plain old dirt
into life giving soil and before
long the soil will start yielding
food and fiber.
Springtime around here.
Even though we leapt for
ward a week or so ago and even
though it’s technically still a
couple of weeks till official
Spring, Spring is in the air.
With the arrival of the afore
mentioned insects also come the
birds looking to consume those
bugs. From my office window
I watched a huge entanglement
of some sort of black bird, quite
possibly blackbirds, swoop and
swirl and dive and dip in a cho
reography worthy of Radio City
Music Hall. They put on a show
for several minutes and then
disappeared over the horizon.
The trees and plants and
bushes are trying to outguess
the weather by gambling their
tender buds that there won’t
be another freeze. My heart is
with the plant life cause Em
tired of the cold but I wouldn’t
bet money against a few more
chills.
How else do I know Spring is
just around the corner?
The fire ant beds have turned
from gray to red indicating
devious activity down below.
My mutt LooseE goes for
long walks in the woods instead
of parking her lazy tail on the
north porch 24/7.
My Facebook friends have
started posting their barefoot-
at the-beach pictures from last
year in anticipation of this year.
My furnace hasn’t kicked on
in over a week. I won’t turn it
off till I’m sure though cause it
lied to me last year.
Here it comes.
Spring.
Barbecues.
Balmy breezes.
Pre-skeeter porch
SEE
LIVELY,
6