Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
January 28, 2009
Tell Jim Marshall to vote no on the
“Bankrupt Our Children” Act, also
called the Stimulus Package. Call
him at (202) 225-6531 or email
jim.marshall@mail.house.gov.
Urge Marshall to
keep his promise
W fe’ll soon find out if Monroe County's con
gressman, Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Macon),
meant it when he promised to represent our
conservative values in Congress. Marshall
will face his first test of the Obama Era in a
few weeks when he votes on the unprecedented, budget-
busting omnibus bill larding its way to the House floor.
Local voters should be watching - and calling and email
ing - to see if Marshall stands by his claim to reflect our
common sense values to Washington.
President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to hurried
ly approve a "stimulus" package that includes more than
$800 BILLION (and growing) in new federal spending. The
president says the enormous spending bill is needed quick
ly to stimulate the sagging economy.
But a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on
the spending monstrosity raises questions about whether it
is really the right medicine for an "emergency." The CBO
says that less than 40 percent of the discretionary spending
in the bill would be used in the first 18 months. For
instance, the bill includes $80 billion to bail out states that
promised more in Medicaid and other welfare benefits than
they had revenue to pay for. Just over $30 billion of the
money would be spent by 2011. The rest is reserved for the
years 2011 and 2012, with allocations stretching to 2019.
And another interesting note: There is four times as much
funding for grass planting on the Washington Mall as there
is small business tax relief in the bill. And it includes mil
lions of dollars for birth control. Economic stimulus? We
think not. This is not so much an economic shot in the arm
as a political payback to supporters of the party in power.
A better alternative would be a tax-relief proposal put
together by a group of conservative (Marshall should like
that) members of Congress. It calls for gradually cutting
the corporate tax rate, currently the highest in the world,
from 35 percent to 28 percent over the next five years. As
National Review notes, a corporate tax cut would flow
through to workers in the form of higher wages, consumers
in the form of lower prices, and investors in the form of
greater profits. It would stimulate economic activity across
a broad spectrum.
History has shown us that it works. In 1981, the country
faced a deep recession. A new president pushed through a
Democratic Congress a series of steep tax cuts. The result
was seven years of unprecedented economic growth, and
therefore a huge surge in tax revenues.
The current spending proposal, on the other hand, will
hurt, rather than help, private industry. And that's where
the job creation and productivity rests. The only thing this
boondoggle is sure to stimulate is inflation.
With the ballooning deficit already bigger than it's ever
been, we wonder how the "conservative" Marshall can pos
sibly support this mammoth government expenditure. Last
year, he bravely voted against even more modest spending
proposals, like the expansion of the Children's Healthcare
Program. He ran promising to continue voting those con
servative values.
Our fear is that he'll support this one because he doesn’t
want to offend the new president. Or because he wants a
hand in distributing the pork to his district. Or he’ll say it
would pass anyway, so he might as well vote yes.
But a little crumb of government pork is no reason to
mortgage our children’s future on a trillion dollar expense
that won't fix our economy. There’s nothing conservative
about that.
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secret ary-treasurer
OUR STAFF
Will Davis
Publisher/E ditor
publisher@mymcr.net
Gina Herring
Reporter
news@mymcr. net
Adam Ham
Webmaster
webmaster@mymcr.net
Wendell Ramage
Contributing
Writer
wendellram4@
bellsouth.net
Trellis Grant
Business Manager
business@mymcr.net
Carolyn Martel
Advertising
Manager
ads@mymcr. net
Denzil Hansford
Graphics Artist
gr aphics@mymcr. net
Laura Thackston
Editorial Assistant
for syth@mymcr. net
50 N. Jackspn St., Forsyth, GA 31029
Periodicals Postage Paid at
Forsyth, Ga 31029
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
THE MONROE COUNTY REPORTER
P.O.Box795, Forsyth,GA31029
Official Organ of Monroe County and
the City of Forsyth
Phone: 478-994-2358 • FAX 478-994-2359
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Monroe County - $25 Out of County - $38
Single copy - 750
Tax ana Postage Included
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 oi The Re
porter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840)
^Reporter
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
On the Porch
Quick, hide the breakables
A nd now, the rest of
the story...
.
Regular readers of
this column (hi mom
and dad) may
remember the inter
esting relationship I
share with my moth-
er-in-law, Sandra
Head of Macon. We
lived with her for
four months
while we built
a house in
Forsyth. More
than a year
later, she is just now recover
ing. Or I should say, was recov
ering.
You see, friends, when it
comes to keeping house, my
mother-in-law and I are like,
well, night and day. She’s
Hazel, the five-in maid. I’m
Dennis the Menace.
My spasms of clumsiness
have been terrorizing her for
some 10 years now. And it con
tinues right up to this past
Sunday. Something just seems
to happen when I enter the
spotless interior of her home.
It’s like a spirit envelops me
and says: ‘You must break
something.” Believe me, I
wish I could just break this
habit.
It started from the very
beginning, when I was
a mere prospect for
her lovely daughter
Cassie. The first time
Cassie brought me
home from Athens to
visit, I immediately
made a good impres
sion. How? By
sitting on a
closed toilet
seat, of
course, and
cracking the fid like a Pringle.
I’m sure they were thinking:
Wouldn’t he be a great hus
band for our only daughter?!?
On a later visit, a glass fell
off a table in the living room
(OK, I knocked it off). It shat
tered into a hundred pieces. I
hurriedly shoveled the shards
into the trash can and aimed
for a successful cover up. I did
n’t know at the time that
nothing escapes her. “What’s
all this glass in the carpet?” I
heard her ask Cassie later, as
she started getting out her
power vacuum. Uh-oh. Cassie
used to joke that her mother
would scrub the carpet trying
to get rid of imaginary spots.
But she wasn’t imagining the
glass. It was real, and it was
confession time again.
Later, I knocked an angel
magnet off her refrigerator,
which of course broke a wing.
I wasn’t about to lose my
wings. I shoved the angel and
broken wing in my pocket, cer
tain that with a little super
glue, the cherubim would fly
again. I would just return her
to duty on our next visit, and
no one would ever know!
But when I did return the
angel, it wasn’t many minutes
later I heard her exclaim:
‘How did this angel get back
up here?!?” Turns out she had
spent months blaming my
father-in-law for making her
angel disappear. We call her
hawkeye.
More recent destruction has
been too overt to conceal. A
few months ago, I was carry
ing my plate to the sink (see
I’m not a total slob) when I
brushed up against her
Oriental plates hanging on the
wall. This sent them crashing
to the floor. Uhhh, sorry. The
Heads just shake their heads
and start cleaning my mess.
Two weeks ago, they fed us
another excellent Sunday din
ner (they’re very forgiving). I
was taking my plate back to
the sink (again!) when I
tripped over a potted plant.
The pot crashed into several
pieces on the kitchen floor and
potting soil was flung into the
crevices of the tile. As usual,
the Heads wouldn’t let me
dean it. I might break some
thing else.
So then this past Sunday,
we’re feasting on Krystal
burgers (fewer plates for me to
break) and I get up to help
dean. But I trip over the same
daggum plant, now in a
brand-new pot, and shatter
the plate underneath that had
survived my size 13s a week
earlier. This is getting ridicu
lous. It’s like the movie
“Groundhog Day” on meth.
For $100 an hour, I’m sure
some shrink could tell me my
problem here. But I rest in the
knowledge that I am doing my
part to help build in my in
laws important character
traits like patience and for
bearance. But in the process, I
fear I'm losing all of my possi
ble inheritance - or at least
breaking it.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Perry: Hope scary
Health Matters
cover didn’t harm
health of Monroe
To the editor:
hank you for the recent
section “Middle Georgia
Health Matters.” I am
hopeful, however, that
the full-page picture of
me did not startle readers into
heart palpitations, elevated blood
pressure or blurred vision (on sec
ond thought, I’m not necessarily
opposed to the last symptom).
Anyway, thank you for helping to
educate us on local health opportu
nities. This sector is expected to
enlarge, and this is good news for
us all!
Dr. Tom Perry
Forsyth
Editor should’ve apologized to run-over cat
To the editor:
egarding your On
The Porch entry of
Jan. 21, “Cats like
me....” This was a
cute, well written
article, until I reached the
paragraph concerning the hor
rible accident to Pepper. I don't
know if this was an attempt at
wry humor, but you should be
ashamed of yourself. Introduced
her to the bottom of a Michelin
tire? What if it had been YOU
that had been introduced to that
tire? Can you for a minute stop and
concern yourself with
the pain and fear that
poor Pepper was going
through? Hard to see
her, exclamation point?
Did special emphasis
need to be placed on that
statement? Also, we
have had many ill and
injured cats attended to
by our vet, Dr. John
Wadley, and at no time
have we had to obtain a
second mortgage on our
home; but this is a deci
sion you have to make for yourself.
Finally, after she was placed in the
shoe box, I hope and pray her "part
ing gifts" were as follows: a last
scratch behind her ears, a sincere
apology, and to be told that she was
loved. But I really doubt any of that
happened.
Charles Smith Jr.
Juliette
Editor’s note: Yes, Mr. Smith, I was
trying to be humorous (obviously
with mixed success). I may have omit
ted the grief I felt after running over
“Pepper.” Rest assured she was given
a dignified funeral and her memory
is well-preserved in my wife’s scrap
books.
PEPPER
KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR
Name: Cassandra W.
Ogletree
Age: 46
Education: Mary Persons
graduate, B.S. from Tift of
Mercer, Master’s
degree from
Georgia College
Family: Darryl
G. Ogletree (hus
band), sons
Brandon and
Cason
Where you
worship: St.
James Baptist
Church
Your Job: Media
specialist at T.G. Scott
Elementary
What was your first job?
OGLETREE
Waitress at Quality Inn.
Your passion: Gardening
Favorite movie: “Pretty
Woman”
Favorite book: “The
Purpose Driven
Life”
What kind of
car do you
drive and what
was your first
car? GMC Yukon
XL
Your home
town: Forsyth
Something
you are consider
ing doing: Writing
a book and opening a cloth
ing boutique
Words you live by: “Do
unto others as you would
have them do unto you.”
Something you can’t
live without: A To Do fist
The thing you are most
proud of: My sons
What keeps you awake
at night? My new puppy,
Buddie
Name something you
will never do again: Drive
on the cliffs of the Idaho
mountains
What’s your favorite
website? Overstock.com
If your life had a theme
song, what would it be?
“Superwoman” by Alicia
Keys
If you could start your
life over, what would you
change? I would not change
a thing. Life is great and I’m
constantly learning from my
mistakes.
What food could you eat
every day? Chicken
Something people don’t
know about you: I love to
shop for purses and shoes.
What’s the worst idea
you’ve ever had? Not pur
chasing property on the
lake.
What’s the best thing
about living in Monroe
County? The people
If you could change one
thing about Monroe
County, what would it
be? To have more entertain
ment for our youth.