Newspaper Page Text
May 4, 2022
Page 5A
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Don Daniel
Reader: When
leaders screw up,
it’s Reporter’s fault
I ust in case you have forgotten, early voting began
on Monday and if the turnout at The Reporter’s
Board of Education and county commission forum
was any indication, this is going to be a ho-hum
ion. Only a few fireworks
were started and with the issues
of growth, COVID, inten
tionally avoided, it really was
humdrum. I guessed there were
maybe 40 people at the Forsyth
City Hall council chambers.
BOE member from District 7
didn’t show. Guess since she had
attended a previous forum, The
Reporters wasn’t necessary to
show up. Same no-show goes
for candidate Sherrye Battle
hoping to get a BOE throne
from District 1.
Of course, county BOE chairman Priscilla Doster
Grant was in the audience as was commissioner John
Ambrose who wouldn’t shake my hand and said “my
wife wanted to cuss you out” for what I have no idea.
Gave him my cell and home phone number as well as
my email address to give to his wife if she wanted to call,
email to cuss me out.
Here are a few unattributed candidate comments: “I’m
not trying to throw anybody under the bus”; “concen
trate on manufacturing”; “Nuanced a little bit”; “I saw
them in a blightful moment”; “I’m a little embarrassed”;
and “I’m a people pleaser”.
THE CITY of Forsyth and Monroe County have great
teams in place to take advantage of our growth poten
tial. Frank Wilder, son of Monroe County’s Magistrate
Judge Buck Wilder, recently appointed Chairman of
Forsyth Main Street and Downtown Development
Authority. He is a graduate of North Georgia College,
where he attended his first two years of college.
Over at the Development Authority of Monroe
County, Joyce White brings her extensive and profes
sional development expertise. Of course we all would
like to see major industry pour some concrete and she
would also.
And fresh on the job, Cody Ellis is Forsyth’s new eco
nomic developer. As the story stated, he is the primary
contact for new businesses coming to Forsyth. One of
the most interesting aspects of his job is insuring and
enforcing Forsyth’s ordinances which have been lax over
the years.
Proof that “things” are happening in Monroe County,
106 building permits were issued in March by the For
syth-Monroe County Building Department. Everything
from commercial, pools, electrical, new construction to
additions were in the list.
THE HEADLINE caught my attention, “Join the
Duck Hunt” my thinking it was the County Commis
sioner Chairman referring to his wanting to duck hunt
on the non-advertised county property that got sold
way below fair market value.
Here’s what it was really all about: buy a rubber duck
for $20 from the Boys and Girls Club of Central Geor
gia, didn’t say where they would be turned loose on the
Ocmulgee River but the first duck to cross the finish line
down at Amerson Park in Macon wins $10,000.
Will won’t tell who paid for the ad featuring our
county commission chairman dressed in his duck hunt
ing best.
FROM A READER: “I find it strange that every time
the Forsyth City Council screws up or the Monroe
Board of Education screws up or the Monroe County
Commission screws up, it is always the Reporter’s fault.”
Sounds about right.
SINCE THE county check register can be accessed by
going to the Monroe County web site, I have diligently
attempted to find our county commissioners’ filed ex
pense reports, you know what we reimburse them for-
-gas, meals, travel, etc. Since they are not on the check
register on the county web page, guess it is going to be
necessary to file an Opens Record request. So much for
transparency!
Long story short, can’t find them but do find where we
pay the county attorney for this week and just found out
last week, as you should have read, we pay for our out
county manager to bed down at hopefully local motels,
since he lives about 90 miles from his office.
Here are some expenses we have paid: AT&T,
$9,898.77; Cherokee Culvert Company, $12,364.85,
replacement for culverts recently washed out; City of
Forsyth, E911 reimbursement, $3,193.44; Cornatzer
& Assoc. $202,625 for LED lighting at rec department;
$34,184 paid to Correct Health for inmate dental, that’s
right, inmate dental; $20,612.79 for one months’ inmate
meals paid to GPSTC; $9,744.96 to Tommy Camp
bell’s Collision Center for one county vehicle repair;
$37,752.99 to H20 Innovation, for pest control, equip
ment rental, and other services.
Seventy checks were written totaling $546,804.07
THE ANSWER to The Question was Erika Long as
the best stylist at Wild+Rooted and the best hair salon
was Wild+Rooted selected by Reporter readers. Sorry
but there were no correct answers.
What was the stated reason for the delay in the indus
trial rezoning of 845 acres on Highway 41 and Zellner
Road? First correct answer after 12 noon on Thursday
gets the certificate for a dozen Dunkin Donuts, Dairy
Queen Blizzard, Whistle Stop fried green tomato ap
petizer, Big Peach car wash, slice of Shoney’s strawberry
pie, slice of Jonah’s Pizza, single dip from Scoops.
Contact Don Daniel, the founder of this newspaper, at tul-
laybear@bellsouth. net.
^Reporter
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
New city hall looks like
To the Editor:
I am a strong supporter of the
city of Forsyth. The govern
ment, the Mayor, city coun
cil and Police department
-- all dedicated individuals who
deserve more appreciation.
We moved here four years ago.
First stop was building/zoning
department as we were plan
ning construction. We were told
new construction had to meet
requirements to “blend” with the
“city landscape”. My question is what
HART
happened? A new city
hall was constructed that
resembles an abandoned
Motel 6 with “costly
wasted space”. A single
story building with effi
cient usable space would
be more appropriate.
Now plans are to add a
“scrap iron sculpture”
with a light from some
artist with delusions
of grandeur at a cost upwards of
$23,000. BUT, like Motel 6 the city
a Motel 6
will leave the light on for us. This is
a blatant waste of taxpayer funds. A
better project would to be to repair
the street at the golf course which
carries a high volume of traffic and
provides revenue.
Let’s save Forsyth, and not let the
city sell out to greedy developers with
uncontrolled growth creating higher
taxes, and ruining the quality of living
in Forsyth.
Edd Hart
Forsyth
Give Bang to your body, not the roadside
To the Editor:
eed some energy? Bang!
In collecting litter we found an empty
16-ounce can of the energy drink, Bang, a
“potent brain and body fuel.” Named Blue Razz
and sporting “super creatine,” Bang is “not your stereo
typical high sugar, life-sucking soda” which causes you to
“crash harder than a test dummy into a brick wall.”
The Polish-manufactured drink contains zero carbs,
sugars, calories or artificial colors but does include 30
percent daily requirement of vitamin C, vitamin B-6 and
niacin, plus 60 percent of B-12.
Bang is not intended for those “under the age of 18.”
So, apparently, an “adult” gets “credit” for littering in our
town!
Please keep the grounds of your home and/or business
litter-free. And if you need some energy, then Bang!
Dr. Tom Perry
Forsyth
JUST THE WAY IT IS by Sloan Oliver
Upcoming local elections, Part II
L ast month I wrote an article
of the importance of doing
your homework to know your
election candidates. It’s easy
to find information about big office
candidates - the president, governor,
and senators. It’s harder and more time
consuming to find the same about
down ballot candidates - Lieutenant
governor, Sec of State, Labor Commis
sioner, state senators and representa
tives, and school boards and county
commissioners. Despite the difficulty
of obtaining information, many of
those positions hold just as much sway
(or more) over you and your family
as do the bigger offices. School board
elections are a perfect example; elect a
Biden or Stacey Abrams supporter
and you get someone who thinks
they own your child’s education.
Abrams supporters want to imple
ment transgender and racist ideol
ogy, force endless mask mandates,
and attempt to force vaccinate
your children. OTOH, elect
a conservative (such as Greg
Head) and you get someone
who realizes that parents are
the ultimate stakeholder for
their child’s education and will ada
mantly oppose transgender grooming
of children.
I attended the Reporter’s April 28
Election Forum for Monroe County
(MC) commissioners and Board of
Education (BOE). Regarding the
county commissioners, John Ambrose
(District 3) and George Emami (Dis
trict 4) are up for reelection. Ambrose
is running unopposed and didn’t
participate in the Forum. Emami’s op
ponent, Travis Daniel, wasn’t present,
so Emami spoke about his (and the
comity’s) accomplishments over the
last four years. As a whole, I feel that
our current commissioners - LaMar-
cus Davis (District 1) elected in 2020;
Eddie Rowland (District 2) elected in
2017 by special election; John Ambrose
(District 3) elected in 2014; Emami
(District 4) elected in 2017 by special
election; and Chairman Tapley elected
in 2016 have been good stewards of
county resources (your tax dollars).
Emami highlighted that fact.
In the past four years, the county
has helped bring high-speed internet,
county wide; begun the process of
bringing county water to residences in
the vicinity of Plant Scherer; and have
firmly placed the county on the path of
financial stability. The commissioners
have stabilized finances by hiring good
j-' ^
people (such as Lorri Robinson (2018)
as Finance Director), by being more
transparent, and no longer requiring
TANs (tax anticipation note) to see
the county through the fiscal year (as
past commissioners did). One of the
key issues that Emami addressed was
“responsible” county growth. He noted
that we don’t want to be one of those
uncontrolled growth counties (such as
Henry County). We want controlled
growth taking into account agricultural
and small town interests when consid
ering zoning and re-zoning.
Look at your property taxes. Schools
spend 54% of those taxes. Add in that
schools and teachers greatly influ
ence, shape, and educate
the next generation; and
the importance of BOE
elections cannot be over
stated - whether you have
children in the system or
not. These past two years,
we’ve seen Leftist and
Democrat controlled
JJTY BOEs (they’re sup
posed to be non-par
tisan but they’re not)
ban in-school learning, forced students
and teachers to get vaccinated against
their will, forced never ending mask
ing, implemented transgender agendas,
and showed complete disregard for
actual academic learning to shove
radical social justice issues down our
students throats. Yes, MC schools are
currently Top-10 in Georgia. I will state
the obvious; they will only remain Top-
10 with good educators - starting with
conservative BOE members.
BOE Districts 1 (mainly Forsyth), 3
(north part of the county), 5 (around
Plant Scherer and Juliette), and 7
(Bolingbroke area) are up for election.
Candidates for those seats participated
in last week’s forum. This is important -
know your BOE district and candidates
(many people have no idea). Candi
dates for District 1 are Diane Soule and
Sherry Battle (not present); District 3
- Greg Head (incumbent) and Melissa
Mixon; District 5 - Robbie Jenkins and
Kristi Varnadoe; and District 7 - Eva
Bilderback (incumbent, not present)
and Dr. Rick Lanford.
Regarding the Forum, while BOE
elections are non-political, many
questions focused on the candidate’s
political positions. If BOE positions
are non-partisan, why were the ques
tions politically focused? Because
everything has become political, to
include school boards. We saw that
during COVID. Schools in Red areas
(Republicans) were open; Blue areas
(Democrat) cowered in fear and closed
schools. Blue area BOE’s forced masks
onto children; Red areas left masks to
parental discretion. Democrat BOE’s
promote transgender ideology; con
servatives leave early childhood sexual
orientation to the parents. Turns out
the political ideology of BOE members
determines a school district’s curricu
lum, determines if gender indoctrina
tion will be forced onto your children,
if critical race ideology will be taught
at the lowest grades, and whether or
not parents are in charge of their child’s
education or whether BOE Demo
crats will indoctrinate your children
with Leftist and Marxist ideology. All
candidates insisted they were either
non-partisan or conservative. Hold
them accountable, otherwise they will
become beholden to the extreme Left.
So, BOE candidates’ political ideol
ogy is CRITICAL. We don’t want (and
don’t need) transgender ideology or
racism taught in Monroe County. We
want girls to compete against girls and
don’t want boys (pretending they’re
girls) prancing naked in the girls’
locker room. Elect Stacey Abrams or
the wrong BOE member and that’s
exactly what well get. Such nonsense
is happening all across the country
wherever Biden voters get elected to
school boards.
If you ever attend an election forum,
you appreciate the time and effort the
candidates put into their campaign.
Every candidate was passionate about
improving the community. Kudos to
the candidates for putting themselves
out there. Same is true if you attend
a county commissioner or a school
board meeting. Greg Head, owner
of Head Heating and Air, is a great
example of this. Every year he has
donated his BOE salary back to the
school system to promote shop classes
and technical learning - his passions.
Final Thought: Occasionally come
dians make spot on comments about
politicians. Last week, Trevor Noah
said to Biden, “Ever since you’ve come
into office, things are looking up - gas
prices are up, rent is up, food prices are
up. Everything is up.” Unfortunately,
Noah is correct.
Sloan Oliver of Bolingbroke is a retired
Army office who writes each week in
the Reporter. Email him at sloanoliver@
earthlink.com.
ON THE PORCH
Continued from page 4A
watch the monstrous decree they helped impose come to be
terminated itself. For millions upon millions of unborn babies
whose bodies have been ripped apart in abortion mills across
the U.S. the past 49 years, the reversal comes too late. But
human life, and God the creator, will not be mocked. There
are children yet unborn who will now have life and joy and
children and grandchildren if the Court indeed reverses the
tragic mistake of Roe v. Wade. But other children, especially
those in blue states like New York and California, will not be
so blessed. If Roe is indeed jettisoned, each state legislature
will have to make its own decision of whether to allow unborn
children to be killed. So the debate is not over. You haven’t
worked yourself out of a job yet, Movene. Hopefully Georgias
legislature will make sure abortion will be illegal here.
But isn’t it funny how all this happened? The aforemen
tioned Justice Ginsburg refused to retire when Obama was
president. Obama would have replaced her with another
pro-abortion justice. Then somehow a thrice-married playboy
from Brooklyn gets elected president. Then Ginsburg dies
just before the 2020 election and crazy Trump, whose favorite
Bible verse is in Two Corinthians, replaces her and two other
justices with conservative jurists. Don’t tell me God doesn’t
have a sense of humor. Don’t tell me you can predict how God
will work. And don’t be surprised that demons are howling in
protest that human life may be protected in America again.