Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
® Reporter
April 9. 2008
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
OUR VIEW
Glad to have Gresco
in Monroe County
W e in Monroe County have a lot
going for us: a strong school sys
tem, stats showing we’re the
wealthiest county in middle
Georgia, an emphasis on family
and faith, a strong recreation department and a
lucrative interstate corridor.
But let’s be honest: We have become somewhat
of a bedroom community. It’s a great place to
raise a family, but other than Georgia Power, we
don’t have much industry to provide local jobs.
Many of our friends and neighbors must leave
Monroe County during the day to go where the
best jobs are.
But, there are signs our industrial base is grow
ing. Witness this week’s front page story about
Gresco, the rising star of Smarr.
Here’s a company that is showing other busi
nesses how to grow and create more jobs. Monroe
County was fortunate indeed to land Gresco last
year.
The company, which sells electric supply equip
ment to power providers, suffered five straight
years of declining sales in the early 1990s. But
Jere T. Thorne took over as president in 1994,
and he hired Steve Gramling in 1995 to try to
strengthen the firm, then based in Reynolds.
Thorne and Gramling have managed to more
than quadruple the company’s sales in the past
13 years. How did they do it? The way most busi
nesses do it: Develop a workable model to ensure
profits can outpace expenses. Emphasize cus
tomer service and aggressive marketing. And be
willing to reach out of the tried patterns to
explore new markets.
As a result, Gresco now has more than $200
million in annual sales and more than 100
employees in six states, and that growth is what
brought it to Monroe County and our centralized
interstate location.
The company provides jobs, takes care of its
employees, pays taxes and offers a needed serv
ice. Well-run corporations are a tremendous asset
to a community, and we salute county officials
and others who worked to bring Gresco to Smarr.
It’s an election year, and many of our national
politicians will surely attempt to appeal to our
worst instincts of fear and envy by demonizing
“greedy” corporations. And certainly some corpo
rations are guilty of greed, because they are
made up of humans. Any institution, even a gov
ernment run by politicians, nay, especially gov
ernment, is subject to greed and the darker side
of human nature.
But it must also be remembered that without
“greedy” corporations, many of us wouldn’t have
something called a job. It’s popular these days to
condemn Wal-Mart, Exxon, Haliburton, etc. as the
evil empires of our day. But in these challenging
economic times, perhaps we are re-learning the
lesson that a society that has antipathy toward
economic growth and success may soon find itself
having less of both. And then we wonder, whom
do we blame now?
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secretary-treasurer
OUR STAFF
Will Davis
Publisher/E ditor
publisher@mymcr.net
Trellis Grant -
Business Manager
business@mymcr.net
Gina Herring -
Reporter
news@mymcr.net
Carolyn Martel -
Advertising
Manager
ads@mymcr.net
Wendell Ramage
Contributing Writer
wendellram4@
bellsouth.net
at 30 E. Johnston St., Forsyth, GA 31029
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Forsyth, Ga 31029
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Deadlines are noon on Friday prior to issue.
The comments featured on the opinion pages
are the sole creations of the writers, they do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of The
Reporter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840)
Point Blank: Cartoons best understood via last week’s Reporter
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On the Porch
Sufficient unto the day? Oh yes
Take therefore no thought
for the morrow: for the mor
row shall take thought for
the things of itself Sufficient
unto the day is the
evil thereof
Matthew 6:34
Enough junk is
thrown at us every
day, Jesus says, to
keep us busy. But
Monday? Well, it
seems to
carry a dou
ble-helping
sometimes.
That’s espe
daily true for those of us at
the Reporter. Monday is usu
ally a four-letter word here.
We don’t leave this office
until this week’s edition is
put to bed, and she seems to
be taking later bed
times in recent
weeks. Today was a
particularly chal
lenging second day
of the week. I had to
catch my daughter’s
first softball game. It
was worth
while, of
course, but
that’s one
hour that
has to be
made up on the night shift.
Later, I got a panicked call
(or 10) that our mutt, Honey
Bun, was throwing up blood
and acting strangely. Finally,
I abandoned a newspaper
that was only half-way in its
pajamas and eventually
hunted down Dr. Butler
Caldwell for an emergency
visit. It seems Honey had
the familiar malady: An oys
ter shell in the throat. We’ll
follow up tomorrow. In my
rush to deposit the dog at
home and finish the paper, I
reversed out of Dr. Caldwell’s
driveway and went boom!
into a steep ditch. Now it
was my turn to page my wife
for an 11 p.m. ride back to
the office.
It’s now past midnight and
I just heard a sheriff’s
deputy on the Reporter’s
police scanner run my tag
through the crime computer.
He wants to know why some
dude left an SUV sitting
almost upright in a ditch
along Hwy. 41.1 politely
called the 911 operator to
remind her I had just called
her to inform her I had left a
car in a ditch there and
would get it in the morning.
She had forgotten, and my
car was almost impounded.
There is good news though.
The paper’s almost done, and
Monday? It’s gone, for six
more days anyway!
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Milam: Remember crime victims
MILAM
To the editor:
A pril 13-19 is
National Crime
Victims’ Rights
Week. This year
theme, “Justice for
Victims - Justice for All,” evokes
the ideals that support our sys
tem of justice and inspire our
nation’s quest for equity. It
declares that justice for all can
not be achieved without justice
for victims of crime.
My staff and I will be sponsor
ing a candlelight vigil on the
courthouse steps on the square
in Jackson at 6 p.m. on
Tuesday, April 15. Our purpose
is to honor victims of crime and
those who serve and protect
them, including law enforce
ment, emergency medical per
sonnel, search and rescue per
sonnel, firefighters, protective
service workers, child advo
cates, 911 operators, counselors,
prosecutors, victim advocates
and all the others who selflessly
work for justice. Please join us.
Richard Milam
Jackson
Richard Milam is the district
attorney for the Towaliga
Judicial Circuit, which includes
Monroe, Butts and Lamar coun
ties.
Rocky Creek appreciates support
To the editor:
hat a great community we have here in
Forsyth! Our Relay for Life team had a
Chicken Que fundraiser on March 29. It
was a great success. But we couldn't
have done it without the following spon
sors, LaFarge Aggregates (who donated all the food),
Forsyth Wal Mart, Captain D's, Ingles, Monroe County
Memorial Chapel, Rocky Creek Baptist Church, and
Connie's Creation. I thank you all very much. Also a
very special thank you to all the people of Monroe
County who bought tickets, who sold tickets, and to all
the Rocky Creek Baptist Church Relay for Life Team
members who helped at the chicken que.
Our team is very excited about our other upcoming
fundraisers. We will have a Crappie Fishing
Tournament at High Falls Lake on April 12 and a
Motorcycle Bike Rally on April 19.
David Niblett
Forsyth
For more information see the Relay For Life page 12B
in the Reporter.
Among the servers at Rocky Creek Baptist Church’s Relay
for Life chicken-que were, from left, Pastor Scott Harrell,
Janice Winters, Joyce Jones, Carla Niblett and Lynn Dean.
(Photo/Will Davis)
Thanked your library workers today?
To the editor:
A mericans love our
libraries, and we show
our appreciation
by visiting
libraries almost
1.2 billion times each year.
In fact, a recent national poll
by Marist College Institute
for Public Opinion found that
94 percent of Americans rate
libraries very valuable or
valuable.
The library is correctly perceived
as a beneficial and benevolent pillar
of the community. Libraries are
unique in providing educational,
recreational, and useful materials to
everyone for free. In these challeng
ing economic times, libraries are
being used more than ever for job
searches, computer classes and other
resources. Library workers are doing
more with less while trying to meet
the diverse needs of our communi
ties.
On Tuesday, April 15, during
National Library Week, schools,
campuses and communities
across the country will celebrate
the valuable contribution of our
librarians and library support
staff on the second annual
National Library Workers Day.
Libraries are part of the
American dream - places for
opportunity, education and lifelong
learning - but that dream would not
exist if not for the people staffing our
libraries.
Library workers select or create
and then organize and maintain
everything available in our library.
From a book for research or leisure
reading to a laptop that can be
checked out, a skilled and dedicated
human is responsible for its presence
in the library. Library workers —
catalogers, circulation clerks, pages,
reference librarians, security guards,
student assistants, systems engi
neers, Web designers and youth
librarians, to name just a few — pro
vide access to the past while preserv
ing the present.
I encourage everyone to take a
moment this Tuesday to thank our
library workers for the services they
provide and to remind our govern
mental and educational officials that
libraries provide vital services each
and every day. Monroe County
Library works because library work
ers do!
Marilyn H. Smith
Forsyth
Marilyn H. Smith is the librarian
for the Monroe County Library.
SMITH