Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
September 24. 2008
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
OUR VIEW
Quit the Gang Johnny, Saxby
W 'e often agree with
Georgia senators
Johnny Isakson and
Saxby Chambliss, but
their membership in the
so-called Gang of 20 and its boondoggle
energy bill is a huge disappointment.
As Barack Obama might say, you can
put lipstick on a pig, but this bill is still
a pig.
The Gang of 20 is a group of senators
from both parties trying to ram this
brokered deal through Congress.
Chambliss and Iskason argue that the
legislation represents Democratic con
cessions to allow more domestic oil
drilling. Hogwash. It merely gives four
states - Georgia, North and South
Carolina and Virginia - the option to
allow drilling, but only if it’s more than
50 miles offshore. On the other hand, it
enacts a permanent ban on drilling
within 50 miles of the shore. That puts
off limits most of the Gulf of Mexico,
the Pacific coast and the Alaska
National Wildlife Refuge, places where
oil rich reserves are waiting to be
tapped. So much for energy independ
ence.
Even worse, the bill would slap $30
billion in new taxes on oil companies.
Reckon that will help bring gas prices
down?
Almost as bad, the bill lards on more
subsidies for alternative fuels, proving
that Congress doesn’t learn from past
mistakes. The energy bill of 2005
included massive subsidies for ethanol
fuel, setting off a surge in com and food
prices that still hasn’t abated. Yet, our
senators’ proposal includes $20 billion
in research funds and subsidies for
alternative fuels. What part of unin
tended consequences do they not
understand?
The bill also slaps more regulations
on the already reeling auto industry to
require that all cars be able to use
alternative fuels by 2010.
The bill is not only terrible policy, it’s
also bad politics.
With fuel prices passing $4 per gal
lon, the American people have at last
been demanding that Congress allow
more oil exploration to boost supply.
The public favors expanded offshore
drilling by 2-1 margins. President
Bush did his part by lifting the execu
tive branch’s ban on off-shore drilling.
Congress had been feeling the heat to
do the same. But this bill gave
Democrats the political cover to pre
tend they were expanding exploration,
without really doing so.
Besides, if Congress doesn’t act by the
end of September, its ban on offshore
drilling would simply lapse, opening up
an estimated 18 billion barrels of oil
and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
That’s what should happen.
Fortunately, while a version of the
Gang of 20’s bill passed the House, it’s
not going anywhere before the election.
Still, we urge our readers to let Isakson
and Chambliss know that we don’t
approve of this repugnant legislation.
High oil prices are hurting our families
and our economy, and they ensure that
our fuel spending goes to countries that
hate us. We now import 70 percent of
our oil even though we’re sitting on
vast untapped reserves of it. Congress
hasn’t authorized a new oil refinery in
30 years. It’s past time for Congress to
act.
Call Isakson at 202-224-3643 and
Chambliss at 202-224-3521 and tell
them to quit the Gang and its sham
energy bill, and to get on with a real
expansion of domestic oil supplies.
KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR
Name: Angie Dillon
Age: 57
Education: Specialist in
Education, University of
Georgia; Master’s of Ed.,
Mercer University; B.A.,
Tift College
Family: Husband Mike
Dillon, son Drew, daughter
Alex
Where you worship:
Mt. Pleasant Baptist
Church
Your job: Principal,
Samuel E. Hubbard
Elementary
ANGIE
DILLON
What was your first
job: Assisted Mrs. Ruby
Watts in summer school
Your passion:
Reading and gardening
Your favorite pos
session: Pictures of my
family
Favorite movie:
“Manon of the Spring”
and “Jean de Florette”
Favorite book:
Kristin Lavransdatter
What kind of car do
you drive and what was your
first car? Volvo. First car was a
used Volkswagon.
Your hometown: Forsyth
Something you are consider
ing doing: Retiring in five years
Words you live by: The only sin
that we never forgive in each other
is difference of opinion.
Something you can't live
without: What aspect of the Bush
Doctrine are you referring to,
Charlie?
The thing you are most proud
of: My family
What keeps you awake at
night: Worrying about students
and things left undone at school.
Name something you will
never do again: I don’t think I
have any regrets
What's your favorite web
site? The Weather Channel
If your life had a theme song
what would it be? “Freedom’s
Just Another Word for Nothing
Left to Lose” by Janice Joplin
If you could start your life
over, what would you change?
I would finish college early
What food could you eat
everyday? Foi gras
Something people don't know
about you: I wanted to be an
architect
What's the worst idea you've
ever had? Not to finish college
What's the best thing about
living in Monroe County? I live
near most of my family
If you could change one thing
about Monroe County what
would it be? Move the trucks off
the square.
Point Blank: Drawing
on news and events in
Monroe County
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secretary-treasurer
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Publication No. USPS 997-840)
iiWiefm Neal, TsQuire presents: POItlT* BlttflK!
Van, the clear with the
Monroe county roadude
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Well Wilioo, rth because there It only
enough taxpayer money <n the coffers to
pay for a commlctlorverA retreat
so no gas for gross II!
On the Porch
Say it ain’t so, Mr. Munson
It’s been a rough year for
sports fans in the state of
Georgia.
No, I’m not talking about
the Atlanta Braves’ descent
to earth after almost two
decades of championships.
Or the Atlanta Falcons’ little
pit-bull problem.
It’s the loss of
those weathered
voices so familiar to
Georgia ears: Skip
Caray and Larry
Munson. The news
broke Monday night
that Larry was,
gulp, retiring.
Skip (if you
were a
Braves’ fan
when their
top pitcher
was Bob Walk, you can call
him Skip) was like the back
ground music to life in the
South. Whether you were
working in Alabama, going to
the store in South Carolina
or playing at the lake in
Tennessee, you could count
on finding Skip’s voice on the
dial: wise-cracking about a
never-ending game, banter
ing with his broadcast part
ner or taking some know-it-
all talk-radio caller to task
for his ill-informed views.
If Skip was the South’s top
smart-aleck, Larry has been
its heart - with a nervous
tick, of course.
Many broadcasters unin
tentionally rip the guts out of
sports by analyzing
them to death. They
cite stat after stat
(i.e. the Bulldogs are
13-3 when leading
after the first quar
ter and drinking red
Powerade) until the
game is reduced to a
chess match
of dry facts.
s. Not so with
^ Munson. In
fact, espe
cially in later years, you were
lucky if you got the score and
the right ball carrier. But few
listened to Munson for the
stats. They wanted to hear
his heart, and he gave it to
us time and again. The AJC
recalls:
• After Georgia scored the
winning touchdown in the
final seconds against
Tennessee in 2001, he said:
“We just crushed their face
with a hobnail boot. We
broke their nose.”
• When Georgia clinched a
Sugar Bowl berth with a win
over Auburn in 1982, he
cried, “Oh look at the Sugar
falling out of the sky! Look at
the Sugar falling out of the
sky!
• When Buck Belue con
nected with Lindsay Scott on
a 93-yard game-winning
pass against Florida in 1980,
he pleaded with Scott to get
to the end zone: “Lindsay
Scott, Lindsay Scott, run
Lindsay, run Lindsay.” After
Scott crossed the goal line he
confessed, “I just broke right
through a metal steel chair.”
Munson’s passion on the
air won him devoted fans
even among the fan bases of
UGA’s biggest rivals. But in
person, it’s his humility that
won you over. As someone
who’s spent some time in
press boxes around media
types, I’ve learned humility
is not always the first word
you associate with broadcast
ers. But it does with
Munson. I remember run
ning into him in the bath
room at Williams Brice
Stadium at South Carolina
in the 1990s. The Dawgs had
stunk it up in the first half. I
asked him what he thought
the problem was, and we dis
cussed the problem like old
friends.
When my dad turned 60 a
few years ago, we decided to
ask Munson to narrate a
birthday video. On a whim, I
looked up his number in the
Athens phone book and
dialed. I almost dropped the
phone when a gravelly voice
intoned, “Hello.”
He couldn’t help me - “just
so darned busy recording
commercials.” But he wanted
to talk about how the Dawgs
would do, and, of course,
something about how hot the
danged weather was.
That was Munson. Never
too uppity to give someone
else attention. And never too
proud to growl his affection
for his beloved Bulldogs.
It’s ironic that Larry would
step down this week.
Unbeaten Alabama comes
calling on No. 3 Georgia.
Back at the Munson home,
I’ll bet Larry says something
memorable. Too bad we won’t
hear it.
Email Will Davis at pub-
lisher@mymcr. net.