Newspaper Page Text
March 2, 2022
Page 5A
^Reporter
Locals clean
Tom Perry, chairman of Beautify For
syth, said on Saturday, “Forsyth has
never been cleaner. This was after the
biggest turnout ever for the Forsyth
cleanup that took place Saturday
morning. A group of 1 5 met at the new
City Hall and scattered in all directions
picking litter off the streets of down
town Forsyth getting it spiffy for next
Festival
weekends Forsythia Festival. Also on
hand were Mayor Eric Wilson, council
man Mike Dodd, Dr. Mike Hickman.,
Margaret Holloway with daughters,
10-year-old Ava, and 7-year-old Ad
dison along with Alicia Elder, Abney
Longer, Frank Wilder, Angela Brinser,
and Rick Schuyler.
ON THE PORCH
Continued from page 4A
hire, AD Josh Brooks has a chance to
find a new coach who’ll finally give
UGA fans a basketball program wor
thy of the tradition and high standards
of the university.
Some have opined that Brooks
should go after legendary coach Rick
Pitino. He has certainly won cham
pionships. But he was fired by Min
nesota last year after going just 54-96
in 8 seasons. During his previous stint
at Louisville, Pitino reportedly paid his
mistress $3,000 to have an abortion.
Yeah, maybe not.
But perhaps Brooks can learn from
the success of the Kirby Smart hire.
Smart is, of course, a Bainbridge na
tive who has loved the Bulldogs from
childhood. Though undersized, he
played in red and black in the 1990s,
became known for his passion, found
success in other places and came home
to bring his alma mater a National
Title.
There’s another guy out there with
a very similar biography. A native of
Rome, Ga„ Chad Warner was a walk-
on for UGA basketball in the 1990s,
playing for Hugh Durham and Tubby
Smith, in hindsight two of the best
coaches Georgia has had. Like Smart,
Warner was a graduate assistant at
UGA, in 2002-03, and then worked his
way up the college ranks as an assistant
coach at William & Mary and Ham-
den-Sydney. He was able to return to
Georgia for his first head job in 2007 at
Shorter University in his native Rome.
He guided Shorter from NAIA to
NCAA Division II starting with the
2012-13 season. The Hawks posted 21
wins and won the National Christian
College Athletic Association (NC-
CAA) Division I national title. He
was named the Georgia Basketball
Coaches Association (GABCA) Divi
sion II Coach of the Year in 2013.
Warner then joined the Valparaiso
staff that led the program to one of its
most successful seasons ever in 2016-
17. The Crusaders won 24 games and
claimed a share of the Horizon League
regular season title, the program’s fifth
regular season title in the last six years.
Valpo also advanced to the postseason
for the seventh straight season, earning
an NIT berth. One of his players, Alec
Peters, was selected in the 2017 NBA
Draft by the Phoenix Suns.
And in 2017 Warner was named
head coach by Flagler College in St.
Augustine, Fla. He has led the Saints to
unprecedented success. This year War
ner is 21-7 record including a berth
to the NCAA Division II Southeast
Regional on Saturday.
“The Saints have experienced un
precedented success and transformed
into a conference and national con
tender” under Warner, says the school.
In 2020-21 the Saints got their first
ever wins over Division I opponents,
defeating Central Michigan and North
Florida.
Flagler set a program record going
11-1 in Peach Belt Conference play,
culminating in the program’s first
PBC regular season and tournament
championships. Warner then guided
the Saints to their first-ever NCAA Di
vision II Elite Eight appearance, tearing
through the NCAA South Regional.
Flagler beat perennial power Universi
ty of Alabama- Huntsville in the South
Region title game to secure a spot in
the Elite Eight, where the Saints scored
a 70-69 win over No. 7-ranked Tru
man State. Warner’s group became just
the third team in Flagler NCAA Divi
sion II era to advance to the national
semifinals. Warner was named the
2020-21NABC South Region Coach
of the Year and Peach Belt Conference
Coach of the Year. In sum, Warner
took two teams that had never been to
the post-season and took them to the
Final 4. If UGA needs a turnaround
specialist, and heaven knows we do,
then Warner is the man.
Yes I’m a little biased. Warner and I
were friends and fraternity brothers
at Georgia. I remember him as smart,
competitive and very confident, even
cocky. He reminded me quite a lot of
another mutual acquaintance during
our time at UGA, a guy named Kirby.
Warner turns 46 on Thursday, which
happens to be Mr. Smart’s age.
UGA has tried it the other way with
basketball. We’ve hired “respected
coaches” from around the U.S. — Jim
Harrick, Dennis Felton, Mark Fox and
Tom Crean. We have very little to show
for those hires, save for an NCAA
penalty. Why not try a plucky over
achiever who loves this state, loves the
red and black, and has succeeded at
other places? It seems to be working
out pretty well in that other sport.
A Report from The General Assembly
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Don Daniel
Drought breaker,
or broken record?
I majored in advertising and public relations at the Uni
versity of Georgia and the first job out of college was ad
vertising manager at the Swainsboro Forest Blade. Way
back then there were certain products and people that
could not advertise specifically in newspapers. For example,
lawyers could not advertise their lawyering. Doctors couldn’t
advertise their practice.
No way could beer, wine and liquor be advertised by
an establishment selling those
products.
Some things that could be
media advertised were female
hygiene products but advertised
discretely, not on the radio or
television.. ..way back then. Of
course condoms were hidden
behind the counter and never
advertised. Sexual gratification
objects have become blatant on
the internet.
I have to admit, the strangest
advertising is the one directed
to males asking if “you” have a
problem shaped like a carrot. The
advertising says there is a cure for
the curvature.
Now, I am no longer surprised what is advertised in the
media and specifically on television. The graphics and per
sonalities are more entertaining than the products.
Yes, I have purchased items on line for my computer—ink,
paper, etc.—and I have ordered books and searched Ama
zon for items that I could not find in our local stores such as
Wal-Mart, Ingles, Georgia Hardware.
FOR 50 years, that’s right 50 years, I have reported on our
local governments, i.e. Forsyth City Council and of course,
the Monroe County Commission and a couple of other local
government entities. I have worked for local governments,
state government and the Federal Government. I’ve seen
wanna-be’s have their egos taken to an airy level and some
fallen into the trap of being a politician, self-serving and
egotistically inflated.
Our governments are supposed to be “of the people, for
the people and by the people” Many politicians, even on the
local level, seem to not include us citizens as soon as they get
elected and taste the juice of power and the longer they are
in office. Yes, I am in favor of term limits at every form of
our local government.
At the last commission meeting, seems like our “they think
they are the fabulous five” decided to limit comments by
citizens on the county Facebook page. All five voted to limit
comments. The Curse Breaker Chairman, hiding behind his
Superman statute, again aggravatingly attacked this newspa
per with the comment “The local paper is not credible about
local governmental information. They’re just not. They get it
wrong regularly”.
The “Curse Breaker” has never given examples of how
this newspaper “gets it” wrong, obviously does not have
the professional courtesy to call the editor, sit down with the
editor and work out his differences with Will and I’ll include
myself.
It’s very interesting watching the Curse Breaker’s facial
expressions made when other people are talking or making
a presentation.
That comment brings up a comment and then a question.
As you know I (as you can also) access the county check
register and see where our tax money is being spent. You
can find out how much we pay our county attorney, pay
other attorneys, but not on the check register are the expense
accounts of the commissioners, i.e. travel, reimbursements,
hotel tabs for attending a government soiree.
For example, the Curse Breaker recently attended an all
expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. supposedly on county
business. Haven’t see his expense report for airline, hotel/
motel, etc. you get the idea. Maybe the county manager has
determined that expense reports by commissioners are not
necessary and payment/reimbursement is not a county tax
payer required reportable document. I’ll ask for the expense
reports via an Open Records Request. Sad it has reached this
point but transparency is a requirement of all politicians and
government.
Here are few items we taxpayers paid for: county employee
dental insurance, $9,190.93; Brodie Law Group for special
legal services, $5,416.67; Butts County $26,555.35 for water;
Inmate Medical Specialty Care, $6,738.04; Monroe County
Reporter, $185 legal advertising. Thirty-five checks were
written totaling $123,632.53.
THE CORRECT answer to The Question came from
Chris O’Neil identifying Wendy Harvil who found freedom
from dependency.
Here’s The Question for this week: Who was named Busi
nessman of the Year in Middle Georgia. First correct answer
after twelve noon on Thursday gets the certificate for dozen
Dunkin Donuts, fried green tomato appetizer at the Whistle
Stop, Big Peach carwash, single scoop at Scoops, slice of
strawberry pie at Shoney’s, Blizzard at the Dairy Queen, slice
of Jonah’s Pizza and a Reporter and Main street t-shirt.
HERE ARE a couple putdowns without vulgar language
that you might find applicable in your everyday communi
cating: Clarence Darrow said “I have never killed a man, but
I have read many obituaries with pleasure”. Here’s one from
Oscar Wilde: “He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by
his friends.”
I JUST finished reading George Carlin’s “When Will Jesus
Bring The Pork Chops? And these caught my eye: “When
ever I hear that someone lives in a gated community I think
of Auschwitz”. Here’s another from his book: “If you have a
legal problem, guess how you determine whether or not you
need a lawyer. You see a lawyer. Isn’t that weird?”
AND THIS from the executive director of Forsyth
Convention and Visitors’ Bureau speaking at the Chamber
of Commerce Eggs & Issues breakfast: “motels are still in
recovery mode”
Interesting observation at the meeting in that there were
no elected officials from the Forsyth City Council or County
Commissioners. Guess they ate breakfast elsewhere.
Contact Don Daniel, the founder of this newspaper, attul-
laybear@bellsouth. net.
By Rep. Robert Dickey
robert.dickey@house.ga.gov
The Georgia House of Representatives
reconvened for another impactful week of
legislating on Monday, February 28th. The
House had a full schedule all week,
and we are counting down the
days until Crossover Day, which is
the last legislative day that a bill
can pass out of one chamber and
still be eligible for consideration
this year. As such, we worked
diligently to pass dozens of bills on
the House floor in preparation for
this critical deadline.
Last Tuesday, my colleagues and I passed
historic tax relief legislation that will help
millions of hardworking Georgians in our state.
This legislation would provide a one-time tax
credit for eligible Georgia taxpayers who filed
income tax returns in both 2020 and 202 1.
Base on their 2020 tax filer status, single filers
would receive a $250 refund, head-of-house-
hold filers would receive $375, and those who
file jointly would receive a $500 refund.
In an effort to curb vaping inside public
spaces, my colleagues and I passed House Bill
1 348, which would add vaping to the Geor
gia Smoke-free Air Act and align our vaping
laws with our cigarette smoking laws. Like
smoking, vaping would be prohibited inside
most public areas, such as restaurants and
government buildings, under this bill.
Additionally, my colleagues and I passed a
bill last week that would encourage hands-on
agricultural experiences for Georgia students.
First, House Bill 1 303 would authorize the
Georgia Department of Education (GDOE)
along with local school systems to implement
agricultural education programs in public
elementary schools.
Here are two other bills of interest I wanted
to mention:
HB 1 2 1 6 - Fleeting Law Enforcement - This
legislation enshrines respect for law enforce
ment in Georgia law, providing for enhanced
penalties for fleeing, attempting to elude, or
impersonating a police officer. Right now, all
offenses of fleeing from police in Georgia are
high and aggravated misdemeanors. This bill
would make the penalty a felony in some cases.
HB 1 1 78 - Parents Bill of Rights - The intent
of this bill is to make it clear in state law that it
is the fundamental right of parents to direct
the upbringing and education of their children.
This includes to the right to direct the moral
and religious upbringing of their child; to
review instructional materials
intended for use in the classroom;
to apply to enroll their child in a
public, private or other school of
their choice; and to access all
records relating to their child unless
specifically prohibited by law.
The House was joined by Kirby
Smart, head football coach for the
University of Georgia Bulldogs, in the House
Chamber on Tuesday. It was exciting moment
as Coach Smart was the first special guest
invited to join us on the House floor since the
COVID-1 9 pandemic began in March 2020.
The House was proud to recognize Coach
Smart for leading the Dawgs to their 2021
College Football Playoff National Champion
ship victory, and we wish his team the best of
luck as they defend their national champion
ship title next season.
The new Monroe County district maps for
both the Board of Education and the County
Commissioners have been signed by Governor
Kemp. All candidates qualifying this week are
qualifying under these new maps which are
slightly different from the previous maps.
It is hard to believe we are now in the final
month of the 2022 legislative session. As you
read this, I will have qualified for re-election
for my House district - still representing
Monroe County in the Georgia House of
Representatives. Please continue to reach out
to me with any questions or concerns you may
have about the legislative process or bills that
may be pending. My Capitol office number is
at 404-656-5099 and my direct email is
robert.dickey@house.ga.gov.
As always, thank you for allowing me to
serve as your representative.
Rep. Robert Dickey
404-656-5099
228-B State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
robert.dickey@house.ga.gov