Newspaper Page Text
June 8, 2022
Page 5A
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Don Daniel
Crime ends my
trips to Atlanta
p until a couple of months ago, I enjoyed
“escaping” for a couple of nights at an
upscale hotel in the Buckhead area of
Atlanta. I would meet a friend and dine at
an upscale restaurant. I haven’t done that in the last
year particularly since COVID regulations came into
existence. My friend lives in
North Atlanta and she said
she has also become wary of
going out to dinner, shop
ping, going to public places
even the Atlanta zoo and
particularly outdoor concerts
or any venue.
Under no circumstances
is it paranoia. It is simply
being cautious. Okay over
cautious. What happened
in Texas, Nashville, and
Philadelphia and even close
to us, Macon? Those have
become a crisis and just about whomever you talk with,
the murders are being blamed on guns and obviously
not the person pulling the trigger.
Okay I am going to write this and it is my opinion:
there used to be an adage, “commit the crime, pay the
time” That is no longer applicable. Ask yourself, how
many persons who have committed murders, rape,
robbery are back on the street instantly, released from
prison after serving only a minute portion of their sen
tence? When was the electric chair, firing squad or gas
used to carry out a jury’s and judge ordered sentence?
Simply stated, criminals are not scared of the law.
Many are wearing their crime as a badge of honor
even when they get sent to a limited prison term or a
local jail and when they get out, they become “celebri
ties” in their communities and amongst their friends.
And then we read how a court over rules a local
judge’s ruling and the mother could lose her son having
him taken away. And you wonder why our judicial
system favors the criminal.
WHAT IS officially called the Forsyth’s Convention
and Visitor Bureau has released their not too up-to-
date hotel/motel tax collection report. For Febru
ary, $49,105.03 was collected with the city getting
their 60-percent share, $29,663.02 and the CVB got
$19,642.01 to spend on attracting tourist to the motels
collecting the tax and other tourist attractor related
promotions.
March saw an up-tick in collecting the taxes from the
17 local entities. $65,305.65 collected with $39,183.41
going to the city coffers and $26,122.28 going to the
CVB to promote the opportunities of stopping, shop
ping , dining and staying at one of our sixteen hotels/
motels and campgrounds collecting the tax.
The top five hotels/motels collecting the tax were
Hampton Inn at number one, collecting $11,928.42.
LaQuinta Inn and Suites came in at number two, col
lecting $8,008.80. Number three was Motel 6 collecting
$5,812.97. At number four was Days Inn $4,843.32 and
at number five was Forsyth KOA at $3,570.24. New
Forsyth Inn paid the least amount of hotel/motel tax,
$708.80.
OVER AT the county, it was bill paying time with
95 checks written totaling $403,855.74. Here are some
“biggies”: Blue Cross Blue Shield got a $11,243.18
for dental and vision insurance. Charm-Tex got paid
$3,544.20 for inmate supplies.
Our county water supplying is obviously growing
since we paid Consolidated Pipe and Supply $49,410
for “334549 and 34550 meters”. We also paid EDS
Public Safety $ 18,173 which included pay for “patrol
Glock” for $6,097 and $2,690 for ammo.
The inmates at the local prison and city jail must eat
pretty well since we paid the Georgia Public Safety
Training Center $23,550 for inmate meals and here’s
the biggy: $134,423.08 pad to Macon Water Authority
for supplying water to Estes and Zebulon Roads, New
Forsyth Roads and Whittle Road.
Not listed as “inmates” but listed as “contract billing”,
Monroe County Hospital got a check for $16,621.02 for
medical and dental services.
This newspaper got a check for $874.97 for required
advertising in the legal organ.
AS YOU will read, at the state newspaper association
meeting on Jekyl Island this past weekend, your home
town newspaper (the one you are reading right now)
received many awards for excellence in journalism or
better yet awards for serving our community.
When we are judged by our peers, no matter what the
profession, it is an honor to be recognized for a “good
job” done. Congratulations Will and others on your
staff.
I AM old enough to remember memorizing The
Lord’s Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance and every
day we said both and if I remember correctly, did so
every day until graduating from high school.
I read this on Facebook didn’t take down the name
of the person who wrote it. But, during the recent local
election for school board, I didn’t hear a candidate
say anything like “You know what is sad? They are all
saying pray for our schools but don’t want prayer in the
schools!”
OOPS! ANOTHER computer crash and I lost a lot
of stuff but more important, I lost the winner of last
weeks’ The Question. Here is a new question: Name
the local insurance agency that celebrated 100 years not
100 years here in Forsyth. It was yesterday.
First correct answer after twelve noon on Thursday
will get the certificate for a dozen Dunkin Donuts, fried
green tomato appetizer at Whistle Stop, Dairy Queen
Blizzard, single cone at Scoops, car wash at Big Peach,
slice of Shoney’s strawberry pie.
Don Danielfounded this newspaper in 1972. Email
him at mediadr@bellsouth.net.
m
Reporter
EDITOR
LETTERS TO THE
Reader loves concerts on the square
To the Editor:
T hank you Frank Wilder
for promoting con
certs on the square.
The Grapevine Band
and Steve Swain’s Band were
very enjoyable. These events are
about much more than a musi
cal performance. It is about the
Forsyth community gathering,
bringing their chairs to see, be
seen, socializing with friends and
neighbors, visiting with folks that
you don’t even know, and danc
ing in the street. The town square
is a wonderful venue for this
kind of activity. It is much better
than an amphitheater where you
just sit in a seat crowded next
to someone else and watch. We
look forward to these concerts
and other events that make living
in Forsyth the great lifestyle that
it is. It is important to maintain
this quality of life in Forsyth. We
cannot allow the greedy devel
opers and their money to ruin
Mayberry.
Edd Hart
Forsyth
JUST THE WAY IT IS by Sloan Oliver
Biden wants your guns, not solutions
S ecurity, or lack of, is
the underlying theme
of books and movies
about dystopian soci
eties where civil order breaks
down. In those movies, ev
erything hinges on security.
Security for your family/
tribe/community means
defending yourself
and preventing oth
ers from attacking.
When one side wins,
the first thing they
do is DISARM their
opponents. Why?
Because armed
opponents
are a threat;
disarm them
and you con
trol them. You don’t disarm
family, friends or allies. You
disarm your opponents and
enemies. Hitler did it, Stalin
did it, and Mao did it.
IN THE United States,
the earliest gun control laws
prevented slaves from own
ing firearms. After the Civil
War, Black Codes (imposed
by southern Democrats) did
the same. Why? Because
an armed black man was
considered defiant (and
dangerous). Take away
his firearms and he read
ily complied. Now Biden
and Democrats want the
same - disarm you for your
(sorry, for their) protection.
Just like southern Dems felt
threatened by Blacks, Biden
is threatened by opposition
and considers us the enemy.
Last week, Spike Cohen said
it best, “The US government
has been arming Ukraine,
because they’re allies. The
US government has been
seeking to disarm Russia,
because they’re opponents.
In totally unrelated news,
the US government seeks to
disarm you.”
IN THE wake of recent
mass shootings in Buffalo
(10 killed at a grocery store),
Uvalde (21 killed at Robb
Elementary School), and
Tulsa (4 killed in a hospital)
Biden wants to disarm you
claiming it’s for the children’s
protection. Biden and his
Democrats are lying. They
don’t care about stopping
school shootings or any
other killing. If they did,
they would insist on actions
that actually stop killings.
The measures they propose
will have zero effect on
future school, business, or
church shootings. How do
we know? Because
nothing they
propose, save one,
would have stopped
any of the recent
killings.
BIDEN SAYS
we need more
background
checks. How
ever, each one
of the recent killers passed
full background checks
when they purchased their
weapons. How about more
training? Everyone agrees
that police need more train
ing to stop active shooters.
The Uvalde police received
such training, yet when
confronted with an active
shooter; they failed to act. In
stead, police sat paralyzed for
60 minutes as family mem
bers and neighbors begged
them to do something.
Only after a border patrol
agent arrived, and killed the
shooter, did Uvalde police
enter the danger zone. Same
scenario occurred in Park
land, Florida (in 2017) - the
armed, school policeman
failed to confront the shooter
as he methodically went
classroom to classroom kill
ing students. The “Coward of
Broward” quivered outside
and did nothing to stop the
shooter. (He’s now retired on
an $8,700/month pension.)
DEMOCRATS SAY
they want “red flag” laws to
prevent dangerous people
from buying guns. Recent
shootings, in states that have
red flag laws, those laws
failed to prevent dangerous
people from purchasing
weapons. How is that pos
sible? Because humans make
mistakes and fail to ID dan
gerous people (Uvalde killer)
or failed to enter dangerous
people into the database
such as the Sutherland, TX
church shooting (also 2017).
In Sutherland (26 killed), the
shooter had been kicked out
of the Air Force for domestic
violence. He should not have
been able to purchase the
weapon but he passed the
background check because
his name was never entered
in the database. The only
Biden proposal that might
have prevented a recent
killing is a 21-year-old age
requirement to purchase
weapons. It might have
stopped the Uvalde killer but
given the ease that weapons
are purchased on the street,
that age requirement could
readily be overcome.
SO, WHAT does Biden
and his Dems propose?
Disarming you, of course; by
enacting laws that will make
most guns illegal to own or
to operate, such as limits on
magazine capacity (fewer
than 10 rounds) or making
semi-automatic weapons
illegal. “Oh no, no, no, we’re
not trying to disarm you.
We’re only trying to keep
the kids safe.” Then, in a
rehearsed cadence of com
ments they demand you
surrender your “weapons of
war” telling us that an AR-15
isn’t needed for hunting
because deer aren’t “wearing
Kevlar vests.” Note: if Dems
were sincere, they would
demand all laws be applied
equally to everyone. But they
aren’t. Their bodyguards will
be allowed to carry AR- 15’s
and other semi-automatic
weapons and to use high
capacity magazines but not
you. (Obviously, Stacey
Abrams’ family is more im
portant than yours.)
HISTORY LESSON, the
2nd Amendment never was
(still isn’t) about hunting.
It protects the people from
a tyrannical government
by securing our God-given
right of self-protection. It’s
about defending ourselves
from evil doers and from
a government should they
ever try to oppress/disarm
the people. And semi-auto
matic weapons are needed
should the government
ever try. Also, a firearm is
the only thing that puts a
125-pound woman on equal
standing with a 220-pound
assailant. Why don’t Demo
crats say anything about
lawless inner cities, (such as
STL, NYC, LA, Milwaukee,
etc. - all ruled by Dems)
where black-on-black crime
has skyrocketed since 2020?
Why don’t Dems try to
disarm those thug criminals
who commit thousands of
murders in cities they rule?
Instead, Dems insist on dis
arming law abiding citizens.
LAST WEEK, Biden said
the “2nd Amendment isn’t
absolute” and went on to
say that, in the 1700’s, you
couldn’t own a cannon. Ac
tually Joe, you could. There
were no federal or state laws
that prevented anyone from
owning one. Many merchant
ships carried cannons to
fend off pirates. Back then,
when pirates attacked a ship,
the Navy was weeks away.
Ships relied on themselves
for immediate protection.
Two hundred years later,
nothing has changed. When
someone breaks into your
home or starts shooting up
a church, school, workplace,
etc. the police are minutes
away. And when they arrive,
they cower behind walls
until it’s safe.
DEMOCRATS SCREAM
“we will do whatever it takes
to end gun violence” and
talk about confiscating your
guns, ending the Senate
filibuster, and packing the
Supreme Court. Dems are
not serious about stopping
any of the violence. If they
were, they would investigate
why the shootings occur to
determine commonalities of
the shooters and common
alities of the targets. It’s obvi
ous they don’t want answers;
they only want your guns.
Sloan Oliver ofBolingbroke
is a retired Army office who
writes each week in the Re
porter. Email him at sloanoli-
ver@earthlink.com.
jtTY
EDITOR’S KID by Park Davis
Top Gun’ inspires a new career path
B elieve it or not, my
parents
are not the
most cul
tured people. While
they watched “Top
Gun” when it came
out in 1986, they
did not care to
show it to me until
the night before
we went to watch
“Top Gun: Maver
ick.” However, I didn’t care
that they didn’t show me for
long because I was so bent
on wanting to be a Navy
pilot after watching the two
movies.
I loved the thrill
that the movie put
me through. With
the loud roar of the
enigne and camera
angles inside of the
fighter jet, I felt like
I was flying myself.
I had so much fun
watching all of the
trainees sing “Great
Balls of Fire” and play foot
ball on the beach. This gave
me an urge to be in Top Gun
one day.
That urge didn’t last long
because I made the mistake
of Googling if Top Gun was
actually like it was in the
movie. Many times, mov
ies make things seem much
more fun than they actually
are. Spoiler alert: it’s not like
the real Top Gun. This ru
ined my fantasy of showing
off pilot skills, breaking every
rule, and still finishing top 5
of my class.
However, while I no longer
want to fly the plane itself,
there was one other thing
about the fierce engine on
the aircraft that I wondered:
How are these planes engi
neered? I had thought about
engineering in the past, and
it was always something that
I found interesting. Know
ing myself, I will change my
major at UGA many more
times. But “Top Gun” has
got my heart and soul into
engineering at the moment.
A graduate ofFPD heading
to the University of Georgia in
August, Park Davis of Forsyth
is the summer intern for the
Reporter.
Davis
GODLESS
Continued from page 4A
is a gift. Jones just denies that Jesus is
the Life-Giver-since he is an atheist!
The Bible says, “The fool has said in
his heart, there is no God” (Psalms
14:1). Acknowledging Almighty God,
worshipping Him, accepting His for
giveness, mercy and plan of salvation
is the “best thing for your soul” - not
godless meetings that exalt human
pride and self-sufficiency. The Sunday
Assembly movement is nothing more
than a humanistic “culf’that glorifies
man, his abilities, talents and intellect
and unashamedly denies the existence
of God.
Carolyn Martel is the retired advertis
ing manager of the Reporter. Email her
at carolynmartell@bellsouth.net.