Newspaper Page Text
February 23, 2022
Page 5A
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Don Daniel
Here’s the skinny
on the street...
F irst, let me get the rumors out of the way.
Word on the street is that changes are afoot at the
Monroe County Board of Education. Jackson Daniel,
no kin to me, formerly editor of this newspaper and
now the assistant superintendent of the school system, is
reportedly retiring this summer. Adding to the rumor is that
a long-time principal will get the promotion to the inner
sanctum of the central office.
If you’ve got a yearning for be
ing a public servant, four Board
of Education members are gonna
be up for re-election and again
rumors are a couple of the sitting
members are seriously consider
ing sitting out this election and
giving up their thrones. Qualify
ing starts in a couple of weeks,
March 7.
NOW FOR the audacity: We
are all aware of Monroe County
Commission Chairman Greg
Tapley and his famous tantrums
against this newspaper, Will and
even me.
Now word is that the self-described “Drought Breaker” and
“Coach” has taken his whining to another level. Tapley has
apparently called the editors pastor to ask the pastor to “do
something” about Davis... his “errant congregant”. Guess the
Chairman doesn’t know the name and phone number of the
pastor at the church I attend.
The chairman has Will Davis’ cell number as Will does his.
Wonder why the Drought Breaker didn’t take it up with him
man to man?
THIS IS a good spot to include a “putdown” without hav
ing to resort to profane and vulgar language. Walter Kerr
wrote this apropos putdown: “He had delusions of adequacy”.
ONE MORE rumor: Street talk is Forsyth’s police chief is
contemplating turning off his siren and handing in his badge.
Rumor has neither been confirmed nor denied. Just may
be confirmed at the Forsyth City Council meeting this past
Monday night. According to an ad in last week’s paper, the
Forsyth Police Department is hiring but the ad said nothing
about hiring a new chief.
AS YOU read in last week’s Reporter, the county commis
sioners have finally decided that people living in RV campers
and under blight conditions have 90 days to hook up that
camper and haul it away to somewhere else and then will
have another 90 days to live before being discovered. But, I
have to wonder what definition the commissioners used to
define “blight”. I am sure County Attorney Benjamin Vaughn
will define blight for the commissioners. Got a feeling one of
those RV camper dwellers just may hire a lawyer and fight it
in the courts. The vote to do something about the RVers was
three to one. The “Curse Breaker” was not at the meeting,
supposedly in Washington high flaluting around the capitol.
It will be interesting to see his expense report.
High Falls has been the scapegoat in this discussion and
truthfully the area has a lot of RV/campers as well as blighted
property. Commissioner George Emami has led the charge,
but John Ambrose and Eddie Rowland are pointing out the
problem is not unique to the High Falls area, it is all over
the county. Commissioner Lamarcus Davis was adamantly
against and voted so. He must have a lot of voters in his dis
trict living in blight and in RV/campers.
Here are a few unattributed commissioner comments:
“This is so far out of my lane”; “So, in short”; “I’m not an
attorney and I didn’t sleep in a Holiday Inn Express”; “In-
centivize people to recycle”; “Just food for thought”; “This is
a complaint driven issue”; “People are gonna be grumpy”;
“You can say I am butt headed”; “Somebody has to be a jerk”;
“That’s what this crap does to you”; and finally, “That’s all I got
to say about it”
I MADE a mistake last week but first I must explain. I have
the ideal house location for solar energy panels so I expressed
an interest with a couple of companies via the internet.
Big mistake! Only seconds later, the first call from a solar
company which was only the beginning. Within an hour I
received eight calls from solar panel providers.
One that interested me, looked and spoke legit until it got
down to the visit. They showed up and made the “assess
ment”. For $75,000 they could do it and solar would “cut” my
EMC monthly bill by at least/maybe $50 a month.
I got many proposals ranging from $10,000 to the $75,000
and even to this day I have not found a solar panel company
I have concluded that are nothing but scams! Wow, that felt
good to get that off my chest! Here’s an invitation: if your solar
company is legit, not a scam, call me.
I receive many what I have determined as “spoof” and scam
calls as I am sure you do. I have tried to call back the number
almost immediately and receive this message: “We are sorry
you have reached a number that has been disconnected” If it
has been disconnected, how did they call me?
From what I have been told and confirmed AT &T could
stop the spoofing but don’t want to because they make
money on every spoof call.
HERE’S THE question for this week the Forsythia Festival
events are getting cranked up and coming in a hurry. What
is the day and date of this year’s festival? Both Chamber
President Rebecca Stone and Chamber Office Manager Pam
Davis are working overtime to make sure this years’ festival
will be the best “getting over COVID” ever.
Answer the question after 12 noon on Thursday and if you
are the first with the correct answer you get a certificate for
a dozen Dunkin donuts, Big Peach car wash, single scoop
at Scoops, Whistle Stop fried green tomato appetizer, slice
of Jonah’s pizza, slice of Shoney’s strawberry pie, a Monroe
County and Forsyth Main Street t-shirts, and a Dairy Queen
Blizzard.
OKAY, TAKE a look at your fingernails and remember
this: the white area at the base of your fingernails is called the
lunula because it resembles a crescent moon, that from the
book So Now You Know”.
Contact Don Daniel, the founder of this newspaper, at tul-
laybear@bellsouth. net.
sReporter
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Are Facebook beratings helping?
To the Editor:
here are some wonder
ful and intelligent people
in our Monroe County
community. Imagine these
same people running for public of
fice. They don’t do it for the money.
They don’t do it for the power. They
do it for the betterment of our com
munity. In office, they are forced to
make difficult decisions. Very likely
half the decisions that are made are
thought of as being wrong by half
the constituents. Rather than civil
discourse being generated, these
same wonderful and intelligent
people are name-called and berated
by “keyboard jockeys.” Can’t we as
Monroe Countians do better? If this
is the future for those running for
public office, many of these wonder
ful and intelligent people may decide
that the trouble simply isn’t worth
it. Whether you identify as a (D), or
an (R), or an (I), treat others as you
wish to be treated. If you disagree
with a decision made by an elected
official, find the time to talk with this
person. When two people don’t have
the same facts on a situation, it will
inevitably viewed in two different
competing views. Just my ram
bling President’s Day thoughts for a
Monday.
Josh Hill
Forsyth
Time to enforce the code violations
To the Editor:
eems like some
people only want
codes enforced for
things they don’t
like. I think all codes
should be enforced and
people fined for violations.
Then maybe use those
funds to build the fire
stations Monroe County
needs. And to pay the fire
fighters a fair wage to staff
them. Or even some RV
communities where it is
OK to live in your RV. I’m
sure there are plenty of
things the county needs
that there aren’t enough
taxpayer dollars for. I keep
hearing the RV code has
been on the books for
years with no enforcement,
what other codes haven’t
been enforced? How much
revenue has MC lost over
the years that could have
done a lot of good here?
Do we only have one code
enforcement officer? I
think he might need some
help.
Sherry Jones
High Falls
ON THE PORCH
Continued from 4A
time unless an outside force injects en
ergy into the universe. Atoms lose their
movement and energy and move fur
ther apart, breaking down into chaos
as time passes if left to themselves.
The same law operates in humans.
A human being left alone also disinte
grates over time. That is why one of the
worst forms of punishment is solitary
confinement. People lose their minds
without human interaction.
Babies are the same way. They cry
and scream when left alone. But when
they’re held and their needs are met,
they (usually) relax, coo and go back
to sleep.
And what do smart phones do?
They make it possible now for us to
get money from the bank, order lunch,
pay our mortgage, schedule a doc
tor’s appointment, check the weather,
sell a lawn mower and buy a house
without ever having to interact with
another person. Now sometimes I
see this as a nice thing. I would rather
text with someone than take a phone
call. People can be a bother. But I also
recognize that that is part of my selfish
human nature, the old Adam inside
me. Just because I like something
doesn’t mean it’s good.
“How wonderful and pleasant it is,”
says the psalmist, “when brothers Eve
together in harmony!”
I don’t often quote Barbara Streisand
(wait, I never have quoted her), but her
song “People” had memorable lyrics:
“People who need people, Are the
luckiest people in the world.”
Every Sunday, my iPhone sends me
a weekly report on how much screen
time I have had the past 7 days. I’m
ashamed to tell you the results. You
probably are too. Lord help me put
that stupid thing down, and pay some
attention to the only thing around me
that will last forever: other people.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
A Report from The General Assembly
By Sen. John F. Kennedy
john.kennedy@senate.ga.gov
Forsyth to the State Capitol is about an hour drive up
1-75, depending on how bad the traffic is when you get
to Henry County. But sometimes it seems like it might as
well be a million miles away. The happenings “under
the Gold Dome during the 40-day
legislative session don’t always make front
page news, and most times, the average
Georgian is too busy putting food on the
table and gas in the tank to keep an eye
on the people and policies impacting their
daily life.
As Chairman of the State Senate’s
Majority Caucus, I have the privilege of
getting to know the people who shape our
policy better than most. Our Republican
caucus has a motto, “Real People, Solving Real
Problems," and it is my job to work with these part-time
legislators to make sure we prioritize our time together
in Atlanta to do good things for our constituents. For the
first few months of the year, we take time away from
full-time jobs to address pressing issues in our state and
our hometown districts.
Last week, one of our members, Senator Lindsey
Tippins, announced that he is retiring. His words stuck
with me when he said “I know I’m in the fourth quarter. I
just don’t know how much time is left on the clock."
Lindsey talked about the honor of service but how he
wanted to spend the rest of his days on the property
that has been in his family for generations, with those he
loves the most. On the same day he announced
retirement, Senator Tippins passed a bill to create a
new city of Lost Mountain in his district, it’s part of the
legacy he will leave for the people he has served.
I understand that a new municipality in Cobb County
probably doesn't seem to be that relevant to the good
folks in Monroe County. However, I wouldn t bring it up
if I didn’t have a reason. Senator Tippins was looking
out for the best interest of his people back home, and
there are over 30 members of our caucus that are
doing the same thing for the people who sent them to
Atlanta. Yes, we do pass a $30 billion budget and take
up issues of statewide importance, but we also advo
cate for the needs of the communities we represent.
Just before Senator Tippins passed his bill, another
one of our outgoing members, Senator Sheila McNeil
from Glynn County was in the well of the Senate. Her
husband, whom she loves dearly, is in bad health. I
have no doubt that she would have rather been at
home comforting him than standing at the podium, but
Sheila was completing a mission. She passed “Colton’s
Law," which increases protections for disabled children,
by a unanimous vote. In doing so, Senator McNeill
responded to a tragic local story, which now has
statewide impact.
I appreciate you letting me highlight two of my
colleagues, because the legislative session is about
people more than politics. I don’t care what you read in
the paper or see on TV. Legislating is about the hearts
of the people who serve and the people back home
who inspire us to get it done and get it right. Senators
Tippins and McNeill have servants’ hearts, and their
voices will be missed. But we still have time left on the
clock and a lot of good work to be done.
We are approaching the halfway point of the 2022
legislative session, and a lot of the issues
that we have been working on are
starting to take shape. The last time I
wrote one of these columns, I laid out the
Senate Majority’s priorities which focus on
our security, safety, students, and workers.
One of our bills regarding online security,
Senate Bill 393, cleared its committee last
Tuesday. This legislation will stop social
media companies from censoring opinions
simply because they don't agree with them.
SB 393 is on track to pass the Senate soon, along with
our other four priority bills.
Since session began, two other issues have gained the
attention and support of most of our caucus members.
SB 319, “Constitutional Carry" legislation will allow all
law-abiding citizens to carry their personal self-defense
weapon without having to go through the unnecessary
bureaucratic red tape for permitting. SB 435, the “Save
Girls’ Sports Act," ensures that young women don’t have
to compete against biological males, as listed on their
birth certificate. Both of the bills are out of committee,
and I’ve been working with the lead sponsors to win a
vote of the full Senate.
Over the course of this column, I have tried to give
some insight into the people and policies that impact
you. From the boarder importance of local legislation,
to statewide issues like Georgians’ ability to exercise
their constitutional rights, all the way through to our
tackling of issues being debated on the national stage.
Maybe it would be best to end on and international
note. Last week, Senate Republicans used our majority
to pass SB 346, a bill that keeps Georgia taxpayer
dollars from funding the Chinese Communist Party. It
bars the state of Georgia from contracting with
companies owned by the Chinese government. Yes,
sometimes the State Capitol seems far removed, but the
impact of the laws crafted there reaches from your
backyard to the other side of the globe.
Sen. John F. Kennedy serves as Majority Caucus
Chairman. He represents the 1 8th Senate District which
includes Upson, Monroe, Peach, Crawford, and portions
of Macon-Bibb and Houston Counties. He may be
reached at 404.656.0045 or by email at john.kenne-
dy@senate.ga.gov
Sen. John F. Kennedy
404-656-0045
42 1 -D State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
john.kennedy@senate.ga.gov
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