Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
2016 winner: Editorial Page excellence
2016 winner: Sports Photography excellence
2016 winner: News Photography excellence
2016 winner: Front Page excellence
m
Reporter
July 6, 2016
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
On the Porch
Abuse of power
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should, have a gov
ernment without newspapers, or newspapers without a gov
ernment, I should not hesitate a, moment to prefer the latter. ”
- Thomas Jefferson
“Jesus called them together and, said, You know that,
the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and, their high
officials exercise authority over them, 26 Not, so with you.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be
your servant, ”
- Mat the w 20-25-26
BY WILL DAVIS
publisher@mymcr.net
l County Superior Court. Judge Brenda
leaver admits she was angry.
“I don’t react well when my honesty is ques
tioned,” Weaver told the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution.
So she used her power late last
month to exact revenge. Working with
district attorney Alison Sosebee, she
had a local newspaper publisher, Mark
Thomason, along with his attorney
Russell Stookey, indicted on multiple
counts for seeking records related to
her court. Stookey and Thomason
were arrested Friday, June 23, and
charged with attempted identity
fraud and identity fraud. Thomason
was also accused of making a false
statement in his records request.
Here’s how the acrimony started, according to the AJC:
The dispute rose out of a March 2015 incident involving
another judge who is no longer on the bench. Judge Roger
Bradley was presiding over several cases and asked the
name of the next, defendant. The assistant district attorney
announced next up was “(Racial slur) Ray.” Bradley, who
resigned earlier this year, repeated the slur and also remi
nisced about another man whose street name started with
the same slur.
Thomason asked for the transcript after he was told court
room deputies also used the slur.
But the transcript only noted that Bradley and the assis
tant district attorney used the word.
According to Thomason, the court reporter told him that it
was “off the record” when others in the courtroom spoke the
word so it would not be recorded in the transcript. He asked
to listen to the audio recording, but his request was rejected.
So that has turned into a year-long dispute and led to the
newspaper publisher being locked up.
So who is this Judge Weaver that locks up newspaper
publishers who tick her off?
My source in that area says that Judge Weaver is kind of
like TVs Judge Judy. She mothers the whole community,
he said, or at least anyone who comes in her courtroom. My
source says she’s very popular in her 3-county circuit. She
sends just about all defendants to counseling, my source
says. But he concedes she made a terrible decision to have
the press arrested for seeking court records. It’s like some
thing out of a third-world hell hole like Cuba or Iran.
Worse, Judge Weaver is the head of the state’s Judicial
Qualifications Commission. That’s the agency charged with
policing judges. Td like to know what our former probate
judge Karen Pitman, who was removed by the JQC for still
unclear reasons involving DUI procedures, thinks of this.
Apparently the woman who enjoys denying private citizens
their rights is well regarded in the legal community.
The case reminds of one that happened here in Forsyth.
You may recall a few years ago when district attorney
Richard Milam invited me to speak to the Monroe County
grand jury about a county commissioner meeting that I
opined was closed illegally. I thought that Milam may want
to know more about whether commissioners were following
the law. I was wrong. He was letting the commissioners use
him to talk to grand jurors about the possilibty of indict
ment me for Peeping Tom for hearing what was said behind
closed doors.
Milam led the grand jury to invent a new duty that day.
Instead of opting to prosecute or not, he had the jurors give
me a written reprimand to conduct myself with integrity.
Of course you know the rest of the story. Milam lost his
re-election largely due to Monroe County voters supporting
incoming DA Jonathan Adams. Adams has assured me
he doesn’t plan on using his prosecution powers to settle
personal grievances by the good ole boys against newspaper
editors. That seems like a good start.
This July 4 week, these tales remind us why our nation
was founded as a rebellion against government. Our found
ers believed in placing shackles on government as much as
possible. They knew human nature was to abuse power.
Indeed, all of us have a little Judge Weaver in us: “I don’t
react well when my honesty is questioned.”
It’s up to voters to ensure people without the character
to handle power are removed from office. I hope the people
of north Georgia, or perhaps the bar association, will make
that happen sooner rather than later for Judge Weaver.
www.mymcr.net
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/Editor
publisher@mymcr.net
Richard Dumas
News Editor
forsyth@mymcr. net
Carolyn Martel
Advertising
Manager
ads@mymcr.net
Trellis Grant
Business Manager
business@mymcr.net
Diane Glidewell
Community Editor
news@mymcr.net
Sheila Benoit
Graphics Designer
graphics@mymcr.net
50 N. Jackson St., Forsyth, GA 31029
Periodicals Postage Paid at
Forsyth, Ga 31029
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
THE MONROE COUNTY REPORTER
P.O. Box 795, Forsyth, GA 31029
Official Organ of Monroe County and the City of Forsyth
Phone: 478-994-2358 • FAX 478-994-2359
SUBSCRIPTION RATE: In County - $35 Out of County - $48
Single copy - $ 1
Deadlines noon on Friday prior to issue. Comments featured on opin
ion pages are the creations of the writers, they do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of The Reporter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Who stole my earrings?
To the editor:
T he people of Monroe
County should
know that one of
your county jail
ers is stealing
from people.
I was arrested on June 27
here and charged with driv
ing on an expired license,
an expired tag and no
insurance.
When I was booked at
the jail, I had to turn in
my 1/2 karat platinum dia
mond earrings. They put them
a plastic bag. I was released 1.
days later but they said they no
longer had my earrings. Deputies
watched the video and
said the deputy put them
in the property storage
bag. Why aren’t they
there? One investigator
said he watched the video
and the earrings were
turned over to a lieuten
ant. But I keep getting
the runaround. Why do
I have to go through so
many people watching
this video? My diamonds
j n are no longer around. I think
g someone took them home. When I
SHANNON
took them off one jailer said those
sure are some nice earrings.
I may have to get the feds
involved. I worked hard for those
earrings. I’m a cook and stand
over a hot grill 18 hours per day
to pay for them. I think I deserve
an answer.
Warren Shannon
Antioch, Tenn.
Editor’s note: Sheriff John Cary
Bittick said they’ve opened an
internal affairs investigation that
will include polygraphs to try to
find out, what, happened to the
earrings.
On Georgia Politics
Ga. not turning blue yet
BY KYLE WINGFIELD
Kyle. Wi,ngfi,eld@ajc. com
^rational
I prognostica-
I tors insist
^^1 Georgia will
^ be in play
in November for the first
time in 20 years. Real
Clear Politics
labels our state
as one of a dozen
“toss-ups.” The
University of
Virginia’s Center
for Politics,
which assigns
all states to one
party or the
other,
lists
Georgia
and
Arizona
as the
least firmly Republican.
Now NPR has a new
online gadget to test what
seems to be the working
theory of Donald Trump’s
candidacy: He’ll win if
more white voters show
up and vote GOP than
in recent elections. Users
can adjust the share of
the vote and turnout
among white, black and
Hispanic voters to see
how the results might
change.
The most interesting
thing about the NPR
model to me is how likely
it deems a Hillary Clinton
win in Georgia. With par
tisan shares of the vote
and turnout the same as
in 2012, adjusted only
for 2016 demographics,
NPR’s model predicts
she’ll win by 2.5 points.
That would be
a huge swing
from 2012,
when Mitt
Romney won by
almost 8 points.
Is it really pos
sible?
In the scenar
io with the nar
rowest
Trump
win using
NPR’s
model,
Georgia
would be the last state
in his column. We would
go Republican by a
smaller margin than such
purple states as Florida,
Colorado, Ohio and even
Pennsylvania.
Frankly, I have a hard
time believing Trump
will win Ohio by almost
4 points, Pennsylvania
by more than 3 — and
Georgia by less than 0.2.
Delving into their data,
I think I know why the
model has it wrong.
For one thing, the model
assumes a jump in black
voters beyond even what
Barack Obama inspired
in 2008. Its underlying
data show black voters
making up 34.5 percent
of Georgia’s electorate.
In 2008 they hit a record
of 30.1 percent, before
sliding to 29.9 percent
in 2012 and 29.3 percent
among registered voters
as of April.
Based on the historic
turnout levels of 2008, for
NPR’s model to be cor
rect there would have to
be almost half a million
more black and Hispanic
voters this year. Recall
that the much-hyped New
Georgia Project two years
ago sought to increase
minority registration by
just 120,000 but fell tens
of thousands short. The
group’s goal this year is
170,000 — ambitious, and
yet only one-third of that
half a million.
One wild card here is
that the fastest-growing
group of voters in Georgia
aren’t black or Hispanic,
but “unknown,” a group
that now makes up 7.8
percent of registrations.
If we assume a dispropor
tionate share of them are
black or Hispanic, those
groups might, reach the
share of the vote NPR’s
model assumes. But even
then, would it change the
outcome of the election?
Despite some large
demographic shifts
already, the GOP share
of Georgia’s presidential
vote has been consis
tent. In 2000, George W.
Bush won 54.7 percent.
The average GOP share
of the vote in the three
elections since: 54.5 per
cent. In 2012, Romney
came within 1.5 points
of Bush’s result, in 2000
— even though the white
share of Georgia’s elector
ate had fallen by almost,
14 points.
Georgia may be more
competitive this year,
especially with third-
party candidates getting
more traction than usual,
and it’s certainly possible
Trump could fritter away
his built-in advantages
here. But, beware predic
tions that. Democrats will
turn Georgia blue with
little more than demo
graphic increases. The
numbers just, aren’t, there
yet,.
Kyle Wingfield writes
for The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, the Monroe
County Reporter and,
other newspapers.
Reach him and read
more at www.bit.ly/
As I See It...
Dems appeal to mindless voters
BY CLAUDE CURLEE
chcurl47gmail.com
W hat, I saw and
listened to the
week of June 20
was pure hypoc
risy on the part,
of Democrats. There was also a
full measure of George Orwell’s
“Animal House” thrown
in, plus an excellent, dis
play of 3-year-old behav
ior.
The Democrats blame
Republicans for not,
passing gun control
bills. Once again the
Democrats are tell
ing half a story.
As Paul Harvey
would say, now
for the rest, of the
story.
There were four bills presented
in the Senate, two sponsored
by Republicans, two sponsored
by Democrats. None of the bills
passed. The bills supported by
Republicans received in excess of
50 votes. The bills supported by
Democrats received less than 50
votes.
Part, of the stated purpose by
the Democrats was to write bills
which they could use against.
Republicans in the fall. Their
agenda was not, to pass gun leg
islation. If they had wanted to
pass legislation, it, would have
required only seven Democrats to
vote with Republicans on one bill
and six on the other to pass the
bills.
The Democrats’ purpose was to
cause a controversy. They blamed
the Republicans for not, pass
ing the bills. The liberal media
spread the lie.
Not, wanting to waste the
moment, the Democrats
decided to stage a sit-in.
They pulled off a 25-hour
sit-in which was turned
into a fund raiser and
chicken-eating picnic. When
■ the Democrats got, hungry,
who did they order food
from? None other
than that, bastion
of family values,
Chick-fil-A. The
Cathys’ stated belief
that, marriage was between one
man and one woman caused
Democrats to call for a boycott of
Chick-fil-A. When the Dems got,
hungry, they threw the LBGT
community under the bus and
ordered Chick-fil-A. What, a
bunch of hypocrites Democrats
are.
Of the Congressmen and
Senators who performed the
sit-in, 26 are gun owners.
Congressman Charlie Rangel
stated he deserved gun protec
tion, but, citizens didn’t need
guns. It, appears Charlie Rangel
and the others are right, out, of
George Orwell’s “Animal House”
in which they are more equal and
therefore should receive protec
tion and you shouldn’t, be able to
protect, yourself.
The only reason for the sit-in
was as a pure political stunt,
to stir up a group of people
(Democratic voters) who never
use logic or common sense to
form an opinion. Emotion is the
driving force of the Democratic
voter.
Nothing the Democrats pro
posed would have prevented the
terrorist, acts. The Democrats
and Obama refuse to recognize
Islamic evil is the problem. The
European countries have the
most, restrictive gun ownership
laws yet, hundreds have been
killed in those countries with
guns by Muslims. In the U.S.,
Muslim terrorists have used
knives, machetes, planes and
bombs to kill. Guns are not, the
problem. Democratic political cor
rectness and evil is the problem.
So to sum up, we have a group
of Chick-fil-A-eating hypocrites
who believe they are more equal
than you, acting like 3 year olds
having a temper tantrum sitting
on the floor holding their breath
and stamping their feet,.
Claude Curlee of Forsyth is a,
Vietnam veteran and a, member of
the Monroe County GOP.