Newspaper Page Text
July 6, 2016
PAGE 5A
Outside Looking In...
Should
Forsyth
fight
blight?
By DON DANIEL
tullaybear@bellsouth.net
ead this story in the Macon news
paper and picked some pertinent
information that is applicable to the
City of Forsyth as well as the county:
The Perry city council is considering
a ordinance that would fine owners of build
ings within the city that are termed “unsightly”.
Obviously it is an attempt to make the city more
attractive to visitors as well as encouraging the
development and re-development by businesses.
The Perry city manager said “buildings that are
eyesores are already subject to being taken to
court and fined”. The Mayor said many of the
problems are with vacant homes and commercial
properties that have not been rented in years.
Kudos to the Perry City council.
Perry’s code enforcement officer identifies
properties that are classified as unsightly build
ings and asks the owner to fix the problems. If
that fails, the City sends a letter. If that doesn’t
work, the owner will get a citation to appear in
court and possibly face a fine. Side note: Forsyth
had a code enforcement officer but she quit.
Monroe County has hired a code enforcement
officer but if there are no teeth in enforcing, it
will be for naught.
Here’s an email I received that asked: “What’s
your take on unsightly buildings? What might be
a good way to approach the issue in a small town
without coming across as a whiny tattle tale?”
That’s a poor excuse.
Here’s my response: What are you afraid of?
Taking pride in your community, voicing your
opinion and becoming involved in local govern
ment? We have too many citizens that are afraid
and that is sad. Kinda like those that don’t vote
and then b---- and complain.
Another part of the email: “On one hand, there
are places like the old Ann’s Deli sitting empty
and useless. On the other, a building like the one
the one next to United Bank”.
This is my response to that statement: The
City of Forsyth has a Downtown Development
Authority with the purpose of helping, encour
aging, seeking businesses and promoting local
Forsyth Businesses. One of the objectives of
a committee of the Forsyth DDA is to iden
tify “unsightly” buildings and again assist and
encourage the building owner to clean up the
derelict and unsightly property. Here’s an irony:
One of the members on the “identifying” unsight
ly buildings committee in downtown Forsyth
owns one of the buildings the emailer identifies.
And to repeat, Forsyth at this time does not
have a code enforcement officer and for a code
enforcement officer to apply codes, the support
for the officer must be trusted and relied upon.
Of course, don’t forget, the mayor and city coun
cil members are elected and their opinion mat
ters when it comes to constituents who elected
them.
On the same hand, a county code enforcement
officer will face the same hurdles in a balancing
act with the ultimate decision left up to those
who are elected, their bosses who “supposedly”
speak and often vote along the lines of those who
elected them.
TALKING with a friend who is a “high priced”
lobbyist under the Gold Dome, telling him about
the opportunity for a train museum in Forsyth.
When I told him a city council Ad Hoc commit
tee had been appointed to undertake the task
of working out the details of a train museum,
he rolled his eyes and commented, “You should
know that when an Ad Hoc committee is
appointed and assigned a project, it is called a
‘burying committee’. Ideas and suggestions are
sent to an Ad Hoc committee in hopes the idea
and suggestion will never be heard from....bur
ied in bureaucracy”.
Don’t think that will happen with Forsyth’s
Ad Hoc committee on the train museum, but his
definition was scary.
THE CORRECT answer to last week’s ques
tion was Habersham Winery and Kudzu Corner
in Juliette that were robbed. Dena Wheeler was
the first with the correct answer and she gets
a certificate for a dozen Dunkin Donuts, Dairy
Queen Blizzard, Jonah’s cookie, two Lucky Cafe
egg rolls, t-shirt from Main Street Forsyth and
a fried green tomato appetizer at Whistle Stop
Cafe.
This is The Question for this week: there are
two restaurants in Bolingbroke. Name them
after 12 on Thursday and you will get the certifi
cate.
I’M gonna have a column, not next week, about
my experience up in Walker County where 339
uncremated bodies were found, strewn around. I
was the public information officer for the state.
I was reminded of that assignment when I read
the story about the owner of the crematory being
released from prison after serving a 12-year sen
tence.
You can contact Don Daniel at tullaybear@bell-
south.net or 478-994-1312. Don’t forget to listen
to The Reporter On The Radio on Majic 100 on
Sunday mornings at 7.
Reporter
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Southern cookin’ quotes for Don
To the editor:
I n reference to Don
Daniel’s column in
the June 29 Reporter
concerning Southern
Cooking, I’d like to share
some of the quotes that we used
in our family cookbook:
“It’s a lovely thing-everyone
sitting down together sharing
food. So take a moment before
you dig in to smile at your
friends.” - Alice Brock
“If a recipe cannot be written
on the face of a 3 x 5 card, off
with its head.” - Helen Nearing
“It’s difficult to think anything
but pleasant thoughts while
eating a homegrown tomato.” -
Lewis Grizzard
“The belly rules the mind.” -
Spanish Proverb.
We enjoy your column, Don.
Jean Ann Zellner
O’Neal
Forsyth
‘It’s difficult to
think anything
but pleas
ant thoughts
while eating a
homegrown
tomato.’
- The late
writer Lewis
Grizzard
Kommentary
Poetry is hard, if it’s any good
BY ALEX KINSELLA
alexjkinsella@gmail.com
t is a real issue that our lan
guage is so literal. People like
poets who deal directly with
figurative language spend
their fair
share of time
staring at dry-
wall, tapping on
desks in mental
loops trying to
find the rights
words and fan
tasizing about
a real
ity where
their entire
readership
is able to
‘get it’. And
“it” doesn’t
mean the ridiculous, grade school
idea of the ‘point’ of a poem, but
the mental complex that the poet
hopes the poem will construct and
awaken in the reader. The result,
when the literal is forced against
the figurative and suggestive, can be
off-putting.
Marianne Moore comments on
this in her poem Poetry the best
way I have heard:
“I, too, dislike it”
She puts her guard up when deal
ing with poetry just like a fifth grad
er does when forced to read Robert
Frost. She also groans at the absur
dity of it. But the idea she tries to
convey with her piece (as close to a
“point” as you’ll usually get from an
esteemed poet; and correct me if I’m
wrong about hers) is that the writ
ers feel the same. Moore came full
circle. Although Frost tapped on
desks straining for a better way,
his conscience was calm because
he expected his audience to be
able to approach the absurdity.
Frost’s words are tongue-in-
cheek but at the same time mas
sively important.
And there are Emily Dickinson’s
lines:
“A narrow Fellow in the Grass /
Occasionally rides—”
“Occasionally rides”? Where else
but in poetry does a snake “ride”?
There is great playfulness in
poetry, but those lines and the ones
after it, and most other lines and
words in anthologies and collec
tions, are overwhelmingly the result
of great practice and obsessive
revision. Poetry is just as much a
discipline as painting and physics.
The base unit, the word, is like a
one-of-a-kind puzzle piece—except
there is no predetermined whole. A
word carries baggage and radiates
light, and those characteristics are
absolute. Like Dickinson, Gerard
Manley-Hopkins was able to inven
tory these characteristics and
arrange (and so leverage) words to
effect:
“Pitched past pitch of grief, / More
pangs will, schooled at forepangs,
wilder wring.” (from ‘No worst, there
is none)
If effective prose were modeled as
a wireframe, it might be cylindrical
or branch-like. There would be a
base and direction. The wireframe of
a great poem, however, would stand
on one single wire end and balance
perfectly, absurdly, on its own.
Alex Kinsella of Forsyth, a student
at Mercer, is the summer intern for
the Reporter.
Carolyn’s Corner
Where did we come from,
BY CAROLYN
MARTEL
ads@mymcr.net
K ids can ask
some pro
found ques
tions
can’t
they? A little girl
asked her father,
“Where did the
human race come
from?” The father
answered, “We
were made /) . ,?
by God.” The C
girl asked her
mother the
same question. The moth
er answered, “Many years
ago we evolved from mon
keys.”
The confused little girl
returned to her father
and said, “Dad how is it
possible, that you told
me the human race was
created by God, and
Mom said we came from
monkeys?” The father
answered, “Well, dear, it
is very simple. I
told you about my
side of the family
and your mother
told you about
hers.”
Here’s a question
that we’ve
“Where did
God come
from?” How
would you answer that
question? Our finite
minds find it difficult to
imagine a Being with “no
beginning.” Yet Isaiah
57:15 says, “He is the
Holy One who inhabits
eternity.”
A.W. Tozer wrote,’’Time
dwells in God. Time
marks the beginning of
the created existence and
because God never began
to exist; time can have
no application in Him.
God created time for our
physical existence here,
but He has no beginning
and no end.”
I admit that it may be
difficult to wrap your
mind around a God that
has no beginning and
no end. But I believe we
exist because He exists.
If you want to believe we
evolved from primordial
soup or from monkeys,
have at it. However,
Romans 1:20 offers a
convincing argument,
“For since the creation
daddy?
of the world, God’s invis
ible qualities -his eternal
power and divine nature
-have been understood
from what has been
made, so that people are
without excuse.”
Jesus is our Creator,
Designer and Life-Giver!
Everything that was
made has his finger
prints all over it. He’s
awesome, magnificent,
splendid, majestic, glori
ous, eternal, immortal
and all-powerful! And the
best part? He loves you
and me. That ought to
wow you! That’s my opin
ion. What’s yours?
Carolyn Martel is the
advertising manager and
regular columnist for the
Reporter. E-mail her at
ads@mymcr.net.
Sign
continued from front
the same as the current
sign.
Jackson Daniel, assis
tant superintendent,
said the school board
considered putting the
sign in front of the Fine
Arts Center but decided
it would be better to place
it across from businesses
instead of houses. Day
said the electronic mes
sage board can be dimmed
or turned off as desired.
Presley asked Daniel what
hours the school system
planned to operate the
electronic sign, but he
responded that hours had
not been discussed, yet.
Planning & Zoning
board member George
Emami asked whether the
board would be setting a
precedent by granting a
variance in the overlay
corridor. Presley said that
three or four other busi
nesses in the overlay cor
ridors have been granted
variances for monument
signs and he did not think
supporting the school
board would be perceived
as an unusual variance.
In other business: the
Planning & Zoning Board
recommended approval
of a request by Chad
Tyler on behalf of Rebecca
Weber to rezone property
off of Highway 83, across
from PruittHealthcare
Forsyth, from institutional
to highway commercial
and to allow the vari
ance of a zero side set
back. Planning & zoning
member Steve Coleman
recused himself from
the board on the request
because he surveyed the
property for Weber and
put together the package
for Planning & Zoning.
Tyler explained that as
part of her divorce settle
ment, Weber received
the property, which was
divided to leave one
building on her part. The
original property has two
buildings close together,
which is the reason for
the zero set back variance
request. The required set
back without a variance is
50 feet.
Tyler said there is a
monolithic slab poured for
the two buildings, which
have only been vacant or
used for storage for about
20 years. The other build
ing is rented by Pruitt
Healthcare for storage.
A lawn care company
would like to rent Weber’s
building, which would be
allowed under highway
commercial zoning. The
request for a change in
zoning will be posted on
the property for 30 days.
• Presley requested that
the Planning & Zoning
Board hold regular meet
ings at 5 p.m. on the
fourth Monday of each
month, even if does not
have a request to consider.
He said that last year
city council had asked
the board to review all
ordinances related to plan
ning and zoning as part of
council’s updating of city
ordinances.
Over the last year
Planning & Zoning has
cancelled its regular meet
ings when it did not have
new business. Presley
asked that meetings
without new business
be used to review ordi
nances. Other members
present (Jennifer Taylor,
George Emami and Steve
Coleman) agreed. Ralph
Ogletree was absent for
health reasons.
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