Newspaper Page Text
Page 6B
sReporter
March 9, 2022
County limits Facebook commenting
By Will Davis
publisher@mymcr.net
You wont see as many
angry arguments and
crazy comments on the
Monroe County commis
sioners’ Facebook page
after they voted 5-0 on
Tuesday, Feb. 28 to limit
commenting.
District 3 commissioner
John Ambrose wanted to
go further and shutdown
the whole page, which has
3,300 members.
“After reading the com
ments on our page the
last couple of months,”
said Ambrose, “I think
we ought to get out of the
business. It’s just gone
crazy.”
Ambrose cited a local
rabble rouser who had
written on another Face-
book page that he would
rather live in an RV,
smoke meth and point a
gun at the county’s code
enforcement officer dur
ing the debate over blight.
“That is what disturbs
me,” said Ambrose. “That
could have been written
on our page.”
District 4 commissioner
George Emami agreed the
county needs to prevent
such comments, but said
he likes having a Face-
book page.
“Where there’s no trans
parency,” said Emami,
“there’s a lack of trust.”
Emami said by posting
commissioners’ actions
on Facebook, people can
keep up with what they’re
doing. And if someone
objects, Emami said he
likes being able to ask
them if they came to a
meeting or watched it on
Facebook. He said it helps
to point out that some
times constituents need
to engage and learn more
before they complain.
“My gut tells me we
should leave the Facebook
page up because it’s the
best medium for getting
the video (of meetings)
out,” said Emami.
Commission chairman
Greg Tapley agreed they
need the Facebook page,
and couldn’t resist using
the debate to take a swipe
at “false information”
from the local paper.
“There’s so much mis
information out there,”
complained Tapley. “Even
when (public information
officer Dumas) Richard
does an amazing job, you
know, he does an amazing
job of getting all the facts
out there without any
bias, unlike some local
media that we’ve got oth
erwise. I mean you know
the local paper is not
credible about local gov
ernmental information.
They’re just not. They get
it wrong regularly so I like
having him putting the
correct information out
there.”
Tapley said the people
who can’t “get it right”
are the ones who read
the comments and take it
seriously when someone
posts something in jest.
Tapley said if people have
questions about a county
issue they should contact
the commissioners per
sonally to “relieve a whole
lot of misunderstanding.”
Rowland said he’s not on
Facebook but agreed that
the comments cause the
most confusion.
District 1 commis
sioner Lamarcus Davis
also wanted to keep the
Facebook page.
“Can’t let a few bad
apples spoil everything,”
said Davis. “That’s how we
get our message out” for
the many who can’t attend
meetings, he added.
Commissioners voted
4-1 to keep the page
Forsyth man pinned under car in wreck
A Forsyth man hit a tree and flipped a 2008
Kia Sorento when he drove off Edge Road
on Wednesday, March 2 around 11:10 a.m.
According to the accident report from deputy
Dalton Mosely, Charlie Clowers was injured
when he was ejected and became partially
trapped beneath the vehicle. He was taken to
Navicent Medical by Monroe County Emer
gency Medical Services. (Photo/Steve Reece)
DOT truck lanes pushed back 3 years
Plans to add truck lanes
to 1-75 north in Monroe
County have been delayed
by at least three years, the
DOT announced last week.
DOT chief engineer Meg
Pirkle wrote to Monroe
County that a “developer”
or contractor for the project
would not be selected until
the fourth quarter of2026
with final design and con
struction to follow. GDOT’s
original plans called for a
contractor to be selected in
the first quarter of2023 with
construction to begin in the
second quarter of2024. The
project was to be substan
tially completed by 2027.
Pirkle’s letter states that
the decision to alter the 1-75
Commercial Vehicle Lanes
project start date came
after meetings in 2021 with
“industry representatives.”
Pirkle wrote that the new
timeline “allow the limited
number of developers to be
responsive based on capabili
ties, labor, and supplies, as
well as reduce project risk.”
Pirkle wrote that in the
meantime GDOT will
complete environmental
studies, secure federal ap
provals and permits, acquire
right-of-way, and assist with
the relocation of conflicting
utilities.
Pirkle’s letter states: “These
efforts will help reduce the
construction duration and
impacts to the traveling
public, increase industry
competition, and improve
project pricing.”
DOT officials say the new
schedule will encourage
competition by spreading
the projects out and allow
ing more companies to bid.
They say other factors —
including inflation and labor
shortages caused by CO-
VID-19 — also affected the
schedule.
In its plans, the DOT had
already moved the lanes to
the median rather than the
right shoulder in the city
of Forsyth to avoid causing
disruptions to local busi
nesses. The DOT says the
lanes will help move goods
from the port of Savannah to
Atlanta. The DOT has said
the truck-only lanes, which
will extend northbound on
1-75 from the Bibb-Monroe
County line to Highway 155
in McDonough, will benefit
the entire state, bringing
a 44 percent reduction in
transit time for commercial
trucks. It is thought to be the
first project of its kind in the
country.
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going but 5-0 to limit
comments. Dumas, who
moderates the county’s
Facebook page, said
Facebook doesn’t let
government pages turn
off commenting totally.
Readers will still be able
to see comments by their
Facebook friends.
Tapley asked how the
new policy would affect
other departments, such
as the animal shelter and
sheriff’s office, that have
Facebook pages.
“Does each department
make that decision ... or
do we make that deci
sion since we’re at the top
of the food chain?” the
chairman asked.
County attorney Ben
Vaughn said the com
menting policy would ap
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ply to other departments
as well. It was noted that
those other departments
don’t have as many com
ments to police as com
missioners.
Sheriff Brad Freeman
said the vote won’t change
his policy. He said if they
see inappropriate com
ments, they hide them,
but don’t delete them. The
sheriff’s Facebook page
has about 19,000 mem
bers.
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