Newspaper Page Text
June 29, 2022
Page 5A
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Don Daniel
County needs to sell
impact fees to public
O ver the last couple of county commission
meetings, commissioners have heard from a
company hired to assist them in developing
what is being called “Impact Fees”. No matter
how you look at Impact Fees, they are just another way, in
addition to taxes, to collect more money Of course, taxes
will not be lowered. Proposed impact fees will include
spending the collected fees
for everything from capital
improvements, paving roads,
water supply production, to
libraries and related facilities.
The list is long and compre
hensive
Monroe County is very
obviously facing growing
pains that former county
commissioners had no idea
were coming as fast as
they are now. At the past
time, they thought they
were spending county
taxes just to keep up, not
planning for the future. They were keeping up but falling
behind on the growth
So, the question is who is going to pay the impact fees?
Well here is a quote from the most recent document:
“Impact fee: the impact cost plus surcharges for the
program administration and recoupment of to pre
pare the Capital Improvements Element”. If that is not
governmenteze for “hey taxpayers you gotta pay for that
waterline, having your road paved, new recreation park
and new books in the library”.
I hear there is/was discussion amongst the coffee klatch
groupies lamenting how this “better not be implemented
or the voters will make the difference”.
Here’s an offer to the county manager and/or the
county PIO: explain to the citizens of Monroe County
what impact fees are.
FANTASTIC that Monroe Country is going to be rep
resented in the World Series in New Orleans by the 12U
Monroe County All-Start baseball team. The team is go
ing to be in New Orleans Julyl2-17 for the World Series.
I assume Will is going to the Big O to cover the games.
I AM just not a Facebook user. Very seldom do I par
ticipate in conversations, postings, etc., but I do find the
postings most interesting and particularly some peoples
post making it obvious Facebook is an addiction for
some.
I make that comment as a prelude to the story about
the commissioners restoring our ability to comment
on the commissioners’ Facebook page. Didn’t know the
commissioners had a four month experiment of limiting
comments on the county’s Facebook page.
SO WHAT that the Monroe County Board of Educa
tion appointed the elected BOE candidate Sherrye Battle
to the unfilled term of the deceased J.P. Evans. Continu
ity was very obviously the reason to appoint her to the
unexpired term of J.P.
FROM what I have been hearing up here in the north
ern part of the county, those who are now connected to
high-speed internet are very satisfied with the Central
Georgia EMC internet. I was told that Conexon was go
ing to make the connection to my house in January. That
month came and went so I called and was told I would
be connected in February which came and went. Called
again and was told March was going to be the month.
HaHa.
Called and was told the connection would be mid-
April. HaHa! Called the end of April and was told May
was going to be connection date. May came and went, so
I called. Told by the “EMC operator” that June was the
connection date.
So here it is coming up on the end of June. Just maybe
but not probable and I will give Conexon and CGEMC
the advantage with one more day left in the month.
Wonder what excuse they will use.
As a sidebar to this saga, I think I have figured out why
I have not been connected. Remember back last year
when I “exposed” CGEMC using “killer” chemicals to
spray on their right-of-ways killing even small trees. Not
implying CGEMC is attempting to “pay” me back for
exposing their killer ways.
Well, as a friend exclaimed, “What do you expect? You
exposed their killer spraying, so you probably will be the
last connection in the county, 2025 even if then”. Guess
I’m stuck with AT&T and Verizon.
CULLODEN celebrated a renovated city hall and that
was the answer to last week’s the Question. No answers.
Here’s the Question for this week: Name the new MP
boys’ hoops coach? First correct answer after twelve
noon on Thursday gets the “goodie certificate” for single
dip at scoops, slice of Jonah’s pizza, Dairy Queen Bliz
zard, car wash at Big Peach, slice of Shoney’s strawberry
pie, Whistle Stop fried green tomato appetizer and a
dozen Dunkin Donuts.
AS YOU know, Willie Nelson is my favorite musician
and George Carlin, if you can call him a comedian, is my
favorite comedian. I am a subscriber to the Wall Street
Journal, The New Yorker and Atlanta magazines. I am
a vociferous reader and have read many of my over 500
books twice.
I collect art, bears and trains with train collecting
my favorite hobby. Always looking for O gauge steam
engines. Just can’t pass them by. If you are interested in
seeing my train collection or have an O gauge engine
you want to sell, call or email me.
The older I get, the more opinionated on many issues I
have become and am really glad of the many life expe
riences I have had to face, many successful and some
failures. One of my primary successes is this newspaper
and hard to believe 50 years have passed since I founded
it in 1972. Thank you Monroe County for the continued
support of this newspaper and this column.
Don Daniel founded this newspaper in 1972. Email him
at mediadr@bellsouth.net.
sReporter _
EDITOR’S KID by Park Davis
Low standards
the key to golf
Clubs will be thrown when the Davis family gathers for
golf, says Park Davis.
A s a member
of the Davis
family, if you
expect to do
well in a golf round, well,
your goals are
misplaced. Usu
ally our goals
are: Don’t lose
more than 5
balls today, fin
ish the round,
or don’t throw
a club into
the grass.
My cous
in, Charlie,
when we
were 8 years old, had a
modest goal of “don’t
throw a club into the
green”. After he missed
a putt on the Reynolds
Landing Golf Course, he
hurled his club into the
green. He missed his goal
too. Golf is so hard on the
Davis family that it’s where
my Uncle Chad taught
me some words I could
not repeat.
I’m not free from the
golf curse either. On
Memorial Day
weekend this year,
I achieved my best
score I’ve ever got
ten... 100.1 walked
away happy as ever.
Then T.J. Sauls, my
sister’s boyfriend,
walked way with
an 86 and called
it “a bad day”
On a normal
day of 18 holes
of golf, I skip at least 1
hole, throw a club, and
lose about $25 worth of
golf balls. Most recently,
it’s become normal to
almost or actually lose a
club on a course. I end up
going back to get it, or I do
what I recently did with
my pitching wedge and
forget about it.
And so for the Davis
family, the goal of golf is
more to hang out with
friends and family than to
succeed at the sport. But I
actually learned one thing
valuable on a recent golf
outing from my Uncle
Chad: when I don’t take 4
practice swings, my golf
game improves. When it
comes to golf for our fam
ily, less is always more.
A graduate ofFPD
heading to the University
of Georgia in August, Park
Davis of Forsyth is the sum
mer intern for the Reporter.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sounds like Hamlin wrongfully charged
To the Editor:
hope that the Reporter will
have an in-depth follow-up to
the Lee Hamlin arrest. I
read the story and I read
Lee’s rambling account. The
one thing that troubled me
was the fact (I assume that it
is true) that the warrant was
for “Theft By Conversion”
and it was issued by a “Judge
Bittick”, who is not listed
anywhere, but I assume that
this is a magistrate judge.
Years ago (1986,1 believe) I was
falsely accused and arrested after
a verbal altercation in the Monroe
County tag office lobby (you know
the one) and accused of “Simple
Assault”. After I stood outside, got
the names and statements of over a
dozen witnesses, and pre
sented that to the DA, the
charges were immediately
dropped. Later, magistrate
judge Buck Wilder told me
that this could never hap
pen again because a “show
cause” hearing would
be held before an arrest
warrant was ever issued in
that type of situation.
Now, I see where Lee Hamlin was
arrested after an obvious civil (not
criminal) business dispute. It also
seems that there was no opportunity
for Mr. Hamlin to give his side of
a civil dispute before being hauled
off to jail. If true, that is atrocious
behavior on the part of a magistrate
judge, in which case, I would classify
the judge’s action as criminal.
Lee Hamlin may be eccentric
and colorful, but I’ve never heard
a bad word said about him. This is
where the Reporter needs to step up
and defend the citizens of Monroe
County against judicial misconduct.
If I am in error about the judge, I
apologize. If not, this warrants (no
pun intended) your full attention
and reporting acumen.
John Ricketson
South Monroe County
RICKETSON
Emami, Reporter holding county accountable
To the Editor:
pon reading Will Da
vis’ and Don Daniel’s
columns in last week’s
Reporter, plus the article
in the same edition “County to
restore Facebook comments”, I was
disgusted with commissioners John
Ambrose (my own) and Greg Tapley
for seemingly siding with Hedges
and their suggestion that commis
sioner George Emami needs to
apologize to Hedges. Emami rightly
went public on Hedges’ “behind the
scenes” antics.
As for the “performance” of coun
ty employees Kelsey Fortner and
Janet Abbott, they should be fired.
Who the hell do they think they are?
Emami is an elected taxpayer repre
sentative and needs be treated with
respect. Would a company employee
disrespect a member of the board of
directors? I think not! They would
To the Editor:
L et me first start by giving you
the Webster’s dictionary def
inition of the word “athelete.”
1) a person who is traind
or skilled in exercises, sports, or
games requiring physical strength,
agility, or stamina. Now that I have
established this definition, I must
point out that the most important
part of this definition is the fact that
it states that an athelete is skilled in
sports, as in a plural sense. Meaning
an athelete is skilled in more than
one sport! You can guess by now,
not survive in private enterprise.
Everyone needs to consider this
analogy .... Monroe County is, in
fact a business... the taxpayers are
the stockholders, the elected com
missioners are the board of direc
tors, Tapley is the chairman of the
board, Hedges is the general man
ager, and the department heads are
regional or divisional managers. The
directors make the decisions and
policy, and it is the general manager
who carries out the directors’ orders.
Thank God, we have the Mon
roe County Reporter to act as the
defacto company secretary, as scribe
to “take notes” and distribute the
“minutes” to the stockholders.
Too much is done in secret.
Years ago, everyone would snipe
at Jim Ham for his micro manage
ment. But he was a good steward of
taxpayer money, and much of what
Emami has brought to light would
that I am voicing my disgruntlement
with the Forsyth-Monroe County
Sports Hall of Fame. I grew up in
Forsyth and attended both Monroe
Academy and graduated from Mary
Persons, class of 1981.1 had the
honor of being teammates as well
as opponents of many of Monroe
County’s best atheletes! None of
which I see on the list of inductees.
Please understand that I am not
voicing my disappointment in the
inductees, but more so, in the great
athletes that are missing from the
list. I have gathered that some of the
not have stood back then. Heads
would have rolled.
Commissioner Emami, I stand
with you, and beg you not to
apologize to Hedges. He works
for the County. Instead of he and
Tapley conspiring to generate ill-will
between employees (all of whom are
well paid, with great benefits) and
the elected Commissioners, they
need be doing the will of the com
missioners and the taxpayers, and
their actual jobs.
Thanks again George. Please stand
your ground. You are right. We need
more daylight on how the taxpay
ers’ money is being spent, and like
George, I am concerned we may
lose our biggest taxpayer. It appears
George is the only one showing any
concern.
Laurence Byrne
Forsyth
best athletes
committee that selects these nomi
nees are not athletes. In my opin
ion, it is hard to be able to say who
has excelled to a “skilled” level in
sports if they themselves have never
matched wits with them, or against
them on any basketball court, foot
ball field, baseball diamond, tennis
court or golf couse. If this induction
is based on superior atheleticism,
that should be the deciding factor,
not civic involvement.
Jimmy Encinas
Kingstree, S.C.
Sports Hall of Fame missing
Sloan Oliver a mighty warrior with the pen
To the Editor:
dward Bulwer-Lytton said
“The pen is mightier than
the sword.”
With Sloan Oliver, God,
in ultimate wisdom, chose, then
armed, a mighty warrior with said
weapon. I am forever grateful to
God and to you. Wield it wisely my
friend. Carry on soldier.
Wade Scott
Forsyth