Newspaper Page Text
Page 4A
& EDITORIALS
Declare among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not. - Jeremiah 50:2
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 winner: Editorial Page excellen
2019, 2018 winner: Best Headline Writing
2019 winner: Best Community Service
2019 winner: Best Layout and Design
2019 winner: Best Serious Column - Don Daniel
a:
ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
Chairman loves to
play the blame game
few loose ends from Monroe County commission
ers meeting on Tuesday:
Part of Brent Road washed out by recent
itorms may not be replaced immediately Com
missioners got bids to repair the road that ranged from
$284,000 to $400,000. Commissioner John Ambrose
suggested that the city’s water lines on that road may have
caused the problem. But commissioner Lamarcus Davis
said the city told him that concrete installed by the county
actually caused the problem.
Commissioners said they would rather “punt” on the
issue since residents can still reach their homes by another
road for now.
• Monroe County commissioners voted to extend their
subdivision moratorium until July 1 to give them yet more
time to re-write the rules on subdivisions. It was set to ex
pire May 1. Commissioner George Emami said he’s getting
some push back because the moratorium was supposed to
be temporary.
“It’s gone longer than I was hoping,” said Emami.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to extend the hold on new sub
divisions two months, with chairman Greg Tapley the only
no vote. Commissioners were scheduled to meet at 9:30
a.m. on Wednesday to discuss those new subdivision rules.
• Commissioner Emami allowed on Tuesday that he’s had
a change of heart in his quest to stop people from living
in RVs and campers all around Monroe County. He said
the county needs to make changes to its rules but wants to
allow some people to stay in them temporarily. Emami said
commissioners have discovered that Upson County has a
good ordinance governing such things they’re consider
ing. County attorney Ben Vaughn urged commissioners to
read Upson’s ordinance, as it may be a model for Monroe
County going forward.
• Commissioner Eddie Rowland
clarified that he’s not going to opposi
tion meetings in his district against the
proposed rezoning of900 acres on Hwy.
41 at the Lamar County line on the
advice of Vaughn. Rowland said com
missioners must stay neutral on zoning
issues soon to come before them. He
said Vaughn told him that if he went to
the meetings, any decision commission
s' ers made could be reversed in court.
s<k sL^$V,V\»4^ Rowland said he’s not on Facebook. He’s
apparently taken some criticism from
locals for not attending.
• Finally, as reported on page 3A of this week’s edition,
commission chairman Greg Tapley joined his fellow com
missioners in conceding the county made mistakes in last
July’s sale of 103 acres for just one bid that they changed
to $103,000. Yes commissioners failed to follow the law by
not advertising it more than 15 days prior to opening THE
ONE BID. Yes, they failed to take a public vote on the issue
that is recorded in the minutes. Yes, they failed to note in
the advertisement that it was not 94 acres but actually 103
acres. But by golly, Tapley reminded everyone that they’re
not the only ones to blame.
“There’s plenty of information not represented in the
paper that could’ve been,” said Tapley, citing the $3 million
estimate the county got to remediate the land. “Most of this
information could have easily been reported properly. They
(the Reporter) are another culprit. That happens regularly
with this paper.”
Ah, thank you Mister Chairman for finding the real cul
prit here. Not the powerful government with 200 employ
ees, a $40 million annual budget and the power to tax, make
law and govern our lives. Oh no! The real culprit is that little
Fake News Fish Wrapper with 5 employees. It’s the small
locally-owned business that must please its readers and ad
vertisers every week in order to remain in business. No, it’s
not the guys who failed to follow the law. It’s the hometown
newspaper’s fault.
Next week, join us as Tapley explains how global warm
ing, COVID, the debt, the Mary Persons’ state title drought
and slow drivers in the fast lane are all the fault of this little
newspaper you are holding in your hands.
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, President • Robert M. Williams Jr., Vice President
Cheryl S. Williams, Secretary-T reasurer
OUR STAFF
Tammy Rafferzeder
Business Manager
business@mymcr.net
Diane Glidewell
Community Editor
news@mymcr.net
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Creative Director
mymcrgraphics@gmail.com
Official Organ of Monroe
County and the City of Forsyth
50 N. Jackson St., PO Box 795 • Forsyth,
GA 31029 • Periodicals Postage Paid at
Forsyth, GA 31029- 994-2358
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Deadlines noon on Friday prior to issue. Comments featured on opinion pages are the creation of
the writers, the do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Reporter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840
Will Davis
Publisher/Editor
publisher@mymcr.net
Steve Reece
Reporter
stevereece@g ma i I .co m
Donna Wilson
Advertising Manager
ads@mymcr.net
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DRAWING ON THE NEWS by AF Branco
REECES PIECES by Steve Reece
Home of the free, or land of the inmate?
ith 2.1 million of its
citizens behind bars,
it’s ironic that the
country famous for
freedom has by far the most people
incarcerated in the world. Of every
100,000 people living in the United
States, 664 are imprisoned. Compare
this number to the Russian Federa
tion with 329 and China with 232,
two of our oldest adversaries we
consider to be police states.
In Georgia, the rate is 968 people
per 100,000, well higher than the
national rate and all countries in the
world. Within our state’s boundaries,
there are 102,000 prisoners, includ
ing 54,000 in state prisons, 39,000
locked up in county and city jails,
and 7,900 in federal prisons. Sadly
1,100 juveniles are also included in
this count. At the Georgia Diagnos
tic and Classification State
Prison which holds the state
execution chamber in nearby
Jackson, there are 2,487
inmates. The place with the
highest prison incarceration
rate in the world is the State
of Louisiana with 1,094
citizens in jail per 100,000.
The overall crime rate
in our country is 47.70,
ranking number 56 on a list of 195
and well below the most dangerous
country in the world, Venezuela,
which has a crime rate of 83.76. The
Department of State has issued a
travel advisory for Venezuela, mean
ing that it is extremely dangerous to
travel to that country, yet its incar
ceration rate is only 134 per 100,000.
Some of the world’s lowest crime
rates are in Switzerland, Denmark,
Norway, Japan, and New Zealand.
All these countries have very effec
tive law enforcement and some of
the most restrictive gun laws.
Nearly half a million US citizens
are languishing in concrete cells be
cause they don’t have the resources
to raise enough money to cover bail.
The bail amount for felonies averag
es $10,000 which for the typical per
son who can’t pay bail equals many
months of income. Even though
it’s easy enough to call a bail bond
company, collateral is usually needed
and for many, it’s simply not there. It
is estimated that around 13 million
misdemeanor charges like littering
are brought yearly in America. Some
of these lawbreakers face jail time
while waiting for trial or to be bailed
out for a minor offense
Many believe that if drugs were le
galized and non-violent drug offend
ers were released, the prison
population would dramati
cally decrease overnight. Even
though the “war on drugs”
which began on June 18,
1971, by President Richard
Nixon has put many people
in jail, only 20% of people
in prison are incarcerated
for a drug-related offense.
The “war” hasn’t done much
to reduce the drug supply but the
release of420,000 prisoners would
obviously have a great impact on our
society. One I’m not sure we could
handle easily even if experts believe
treatment is a better option than
imprisonment.
It is no secret that there are racial
disparities in our criminal justice
system. Blacks are more likely to
be arrested than white Americans,
more likely to be convicted, and
when they are convicted, it is nearly
certain they will face a stiffer sen
tence. For every black man born in
the United States in 2001, statistics
say that 1 in 3 will spend at least
some time in prison during their
lives. For white men, the number is 1
in 17, and 1 in 18 black women can
expect to be locked up compared to
only 1 in 111 white women.
During its nearly 250-year exis
tence, the United States has become
infamous for its notorious prison
system with 25 percent of the world’s
total inmates. The history of the
prison system in the United States
is an ugly history that should not be
forgotten.
After the Civil War, in 1866, state
prisons in the South began leas
ing convicts to railroad companies
and factories, essentially replacing
the old slave system with prisoners
arrested for minor crimes such as
vagrancy, trespassing, and breaking
one of the “Black Codes” which were
restrictive laws designed to limit the
freedom of African Americans.
In 1868 the Georgia and Alabama
Railroad paid Georgia $2,500 for
the use of one hundred prisoners for
one year and the convicts expanded
the state’s demolished railway system
laying hundreds of miles of new
track. It was a solution to the post
war labor crisis and the state granted
private businesses total control over
the lives of these overworked, un
derfed, and heavily abused prison
ers. Once the South’s railway system
was back up and running, the coal,
rock quarry, and mining industries
took off and the need for more
cheap labor led to unfair conviction
and sentencing of mostly African
American men and slavery contin
ued to exist under a new name. The
most common feature of Georgia’s
convict camps was the constant
brutality evidenced by beatings and
sexual abuse by wardens of female
prisoners.
There are many reasons why we
have such a high number of prison
ers incarcerated in our country and
the war on drugs and racial inequali
ties are only two. Maybe it’s time we
find out why.
Steve Reece is a writer for the Reporter
and a known crime fighter. Email him at
stevereece@gmail. com.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Tori’s family thankful for support in loss
To the Editor:
T hank you to
everyone in
Monroe County
and Forsyth for
their prayers, texts, calls,
donations, gifts of food and
words of comfort during
the loss of our daughter
Tori. The love and support
shown has been so great
it’s overwhelming. The kindness and
thoughtful acts show us how much
Tori was loved!
PROCTOR
Thank you to the com
munity! Thank you to fam
ily and friends! And thank
you to those who have
reached out to us from out
of town and even out of
state. Thank you to Deputy
Thompson of the Monroe
County Sheriff’s Office for
his professional actions and
to Scott Bogulski for setting up
a drive for donations for Ton’s baby;
everything from formula to diapers
means so much to us. A special thank
you to the Classes of2018 and 2016
for their help.
The support and donations are so
appreciated I don’t have words to
express what they mean to me. I don’t
want to forget anyone, and I want ev
eryone to know how much they mean
to Tori’s family in this difficult time.
Please continue to pray for us as we
will need it in the days to come.
Willie and Latosha Proctor
Forsyth