About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2023)
6A OPINION ®he £ntics gainesvilletimes.com Midweek Edition-April 12-13, 2023 Nate McCullough Group Editor | 770-718-3431 | nmccullough@gainesvilletimes.com Submit a letter: letters@gainesvilletimes.com The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Trump reaping his whirlwind, other thoughts As I watched the surreal events this past week concerning the first-ever criminal indictment of a former president of the United States, I thought of a passage in the Old Testament, Hosea 8:7: “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirl wind.” Donald Trump, who has sown a lot of wind, is reaping the whirlwind of potentially damaging investigations from a num ber of sources, including Fulton County. Should he survive them - and I would never bet against the man, even though I am not a fan - it will be the Democrats who will be dealing with the whirlwind. Republicans will see to that. Which brings me to another familiar passage from the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 32:35: “Ven geance is Mine and retribu tion. In due time their foot will slip.” My column on the unsuccessful efforts of private school advocates to get another voucher scheme through the Legislature this year (“It’s not public schools that are failing, it is society”), brought the expected reaction from proponents defending the use of tax credits to send kids to private schools (and a lot of “thank-yous” from public school advo cates.) Interestingly, proponents made no mention of the fact that it is society — of which they are a member - that is failing. Not the schools. If the Leg islature will open up the books and let us see who is taking advantage of this scheme, I am willing to have another conversation. But they won’t because it is mostly families that could already send their kids to private schools without a tax break. One more comment on public education. I am in total agreement with those who object to schoolteachers being required to discuss race and sexuality and transgender issues in the classroom. That is not the schoolteacher’s job. Those discus sions belong in the home. If parents refuse to take responsibility for raising their children properly, don’t foist that job off on our schoolteachers. My St. Simons Island friend, Hans Trupp, send me a recent video presentation featuring Major John “Lucky” Luckadoo, USAF (Ret.), in con nection with the National Museum of the Mighty 8th Air Force located in Pooler. Maj. Luckadoo is 102 (That’s not a misprint!), ramrod straight and a dynamic speaker. He flew and survived 25 mis sions over Germany and other occupied territories in a B-17 Flying Fortresses when the average bomber crew flew 8-12 missions. I recommend you watch his speech. It is simply spellbinding. You can see it at (vimeo.com/mighty8thmuseum/seais- landlucky.) The man is the epitome of the Greatest Generation. Will we ever see his likes again? This won’t make the nightly news, but it is another reason to be proud of the Great State of Georgia. A group called Good Plant Care recently polled 3,000 people, revealing the top 200 public gardens in America they would most like to visit in their lifetimes. We have four of them within our borders: Georgia Southern Botanical Garden in Statesboro; Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens, on the campus of Middle Georgia State University; Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens in Savannah; and the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a part of the University of Georgia. (Woof! Woof!). I have long held that we will forgive our intrepid public servants a lot of their political puffery if they will provide us good constituent services. I mention this because Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and state Sen. John Kennedy, R-Macon, have announced a new pro gram to assist with the monitoring and tracking of constituent requests sent to all 56 Senate members. “A well-organized constituent services program will ensure that taxpayers across this state have access to all available resources within our state agencies,” Jones’ office says. That is as it should be. They are there to serve us, not vice versa. Finally, I’m not sure my prayers make it through the ceiling, but I hope God will at least give me an “A” for effort. Dr. Gil Watson, aka, the World’s Greatest Preacher, has had recent and serious heart surgery in Rome and I am praying hard for his recovery. I know nothing of cardiac matters but I do know that Dr. Gil has a very big heart because I have been the beneficiary of it as have countless others that this good shepherd has touched. Get well, Dr. Gil. God still has a lot more left for you to do. Amen and Amen. You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough. com; at P.0. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA 31139; online at dickyarbrough.com or on Facebook at www.facebook. com/dickyarb. DICK YARBROUGH dick@ dickyarbrough.com To submit a letter Send by email to letters@gainesvilletimes. com or use the contact form at gainesvilletimes.com. Include name and city of residence; letters never appear anonymously. Letters are limited to 350 words on topics of public interest and may be edited for content and length. Writers are limited to one letter per month. Letters may be rejected from readers with no ties to Northeast Georgia or that address personal, business or legal disputes. Letters not the work of the author listed, with material not properly attributed or with inaccurate material will be rejected. Letters and other commentary express the opinions of the authors and not of The Times. Democrats have catching up to do Donald Trump’s arraignment was supposed to be the nation’s big story last week, but it was old news the day before it happened. When the arraignment was over, a little-noticed but more significant story rose to be the lead item on national news shows in the space of 48 hours. The sharp edge of this story was the expulsion of two Democratic legislators in Tennessee for breaking decorum in the state’s House chamber by leading a leading a gun control protest. The ham handed way in which the Republican majority carried this out — expelling rather than censuring, and tossing two young African-American men while sparing a White woman charged with the same offense — drew national derision. But what happened last week is a big ger story, of which Tennessee is only a part. Tennessee’s Republican lawmak ers would not have engaged in this act of self-flagellation if they were not a supermajority. That means they can pass veto-proof bills, not that Gov. Bill Lee would veto them, anyway. More impor tantly, the supermajority has bred a culture of impunity, in which committee chairs have passed or killed bills on sus pect voice votes, amendments have been inserted in bills without notice, and in an incident which got some national atten tion last week, a Republican urinated on the chair of a fellow Republican he didn’t like. Upwards of a dozen of those who voted for the expulsions last week, including Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, have testified in a grand jury investigation of government corruption. While the drama of the expulsion was being played out before a national audi ence, Republican gained supermajorities in two other states. That’s the larger context of last week’s big story. In North Caro lina, where Repub licans already held a supermajority in the State sen ate, Rep. Tricia Cotham switched parties, giving the GOP a superma jority in the House. Not only was Cotham a Democrat with a liberal voting record, representing a suburban Charlotte district which Joe Biden won by more than 20 points. She’s the daughter of a longtime Democratic county councilwoman, and she has run for Congress as a Democrat. Cotham was offended by the House Democratic leadership, which she said treated her like a freshman when she returned to the House this year after her failed congressional bid and a stint in the private sector. She also complained of feeling stifled by Democrats who demanded she toe the party line. But her party switch shocked both parties and gives Republicans the chance to override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Irate Democrats are already talking about recruiting another candidate in Cotham’s district, but Republicans will have the power to redraw the district map to put Cotham in a more winnable district. Democrats across the country cele brated last week when Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated former state Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly by more than 10 points, giving liberals a 4-3 majority on the nonpartisan-elect state Supreme Court. In a state known for close elections, this was looked on as a demonstration of how much the overturning of Roe v. Wade has energized pro-choice voters. But on the same day, Republican Dan Knodl won a much narrower special election in suburban Milwaukee, giving Republicans a supermajority in the state Senate. Although observers in Wisconsin say it’s unlikely, Knodl’s victory raises the possibility that Republicans could impeach Protasiewicz if they don’t like the direction she takes on the court. It’s much harder to hold on to a two- thirds majority than a simple majority of 50 percent plus one. In Georgia, Repub licans held a supermajority in the House from 2010 to 2018, and in the Senate from 2005 to 2018, losing that advantage in the year Donald Trump was elected president. But longterm trends have not favored the Democrats. A decade ago there were nine states with Democratic supermajorities and 16 with Republican supermajorities. After last week, there are now 22 Republican supermajority states, while the number of Democratic supermajority states remains at nine. Democrats made surprising gains in state legislative elections last year, espe cially in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. But while the North Carolina party switch and the Wisconsin special election didn’t get many headlines last week, they are a reminder that in state houses around the country, Democrats are still a long way from catching up with Republicans. Tom Baxter is a veteran Georgia journalist who writes for The Saporta Report, saportareport.com. TOM BAXTER tom@saporta report.com ;^aMV23 I’LL RAISE IT IF THERE’S EVER A DAY WITHOUT A MASS SHOOTING BILL BRAMHALL I Tribune News Service Community banking, local economy stand strong In a March Madness of another sort, the recent collapse of two national banks — Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York — sent ripples of fear across our nation. Skittish depositors responded with brief runs on other large national banks before the federal government stepped in to calm nerves. The U.S. financial crisis of 2008-09 apparently is still fresh on the minds of many. However, here at home and across Georgia, the impending storm of a full-scale meltdown seemed to dissipate well before reaching our borders. For the most part, it was business as usual in local bank lobbies and drive-throughs. That is a testament to community bank ing and their strong hometown econo mies that so far have defied the looming threats of a national recession. Perhaps we in banking have learned lessons from the past in implementing much stronger due diligence and oversight of lending practices. However, the biggest takeaway has been the strength of community banks and their symbiotic relationships with the local markets in which they operate. More simply said, large national banks are beholden to Wall Street. Community banks answer to Main Street. I don’t mean to attack large multi-state banks with billions of dollars in assets. There is certainly a place for banks that are big enough to handle the huge trans actions of the Fortune 100. But the truth is that community banks handle 60 percent of all small business loans — and 80 percent of agricultural loans — every day across the United States. It’s important to point out that size does not define a community bank. Rather, it’s the location of the bank’s operations and its investment focus within the surround ing community. It’s like a partnership between the bank and its neighbors — RON QUINN Peach State Bank & Trust president, CEO with each benefit ing from the other’s success. Where I work, Peach State Bank & Trust is the only locally based com munity bank in Hall County. Though headquartered elsewhere, institu tions like Pinnacle Bank (Elberton), United Community Bank (Greenville, SC), and Mountain Valley Bank (Norcross) also serve here as community banks with independent operations and local lenders. The common denominator is that com munity banks pump profits back into their local economies as opposed to a corporate office far away. So, how have community banks sur vived — even thrived — through a pan demic, inflation and high interest rates that have tripped up mega-institutions with much larger balance sheets? There are several explanations. For one, community banks are more nimble and responsive. The PPP loans of 2020 and 2021 provide a perfect example. Community banks serviced a dispropor tionate share of government loans for shuttered small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. They were quick to set up systems and guide local custom ers through the application process while many national banks steered companies to a website portal to fend for themselves. Much closer banking relationships are another reason. When you’re banking your neighbors, you know their character. You see their businesses down the street. And you have a better grasp on their like lihood for success and whether they’ll pay back their debts. It’s hard to spot these intangibles if you’re lending money to a hotel developer or a new retail store in another state. Investment practices were another underlying factor behind the two recent national bank failures. SVB and Signature were working primarily with start-up businesses in technology and cryptocur rency markets that have been hit hard recently by the economy. In comparison, community banks typically have much more diverse loan portfolios reflect ing the various industry sectors in their hometowns. With economic drivers ranging from manufacturing and food processing to healthcare and tourism, Gainesville-Hall County is exceptionally well-positioned. In addition, publicly traded banks are under much more pressure to report stel lar profits to their shareholders — which led banks like SVB and Signature to make riskier investments such as long-term bonds, whose values dropped dramati cally in the wake of the Fed’s historic suc cession of interest rate hikes. Privately held community banks like ours typically are more conservative with a balanced portfolio of local loans and shorter-term investments. Finally, the local make-up of com munity bank boards provides an extra safety net. As a reflection of the bank’s own customers and community, they not only have keen insights but are also more approachable and trusted. For all these pluses, perhaps that is why Kevin Hagler, who oversees Georgia’s Department of Banking and Finance, has said he would like to see a community bank in all 159 counties of our state. I believe Commissioner Hagler under stands that in addition to instilling safety and soundness, community banks spur economic development that makes all our lives richer. Ron Quinn, president and CEO of Peach State Bank & Trust, serves as the Georgia delegate for the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) and is former chairman of the Community Bankers Association of Georgia. (The Srtnes Founded Jan. 26,1947 345 Green St., Gainesville, GA 30501 gainesvilletimes.com Publisher Stephanie Woody EDITORIAL BOARD Group Editor Nate McCullough
