Newspaper Page Text
August 3, 2022
Page 5A
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Don Daniel
Sunshine disinfects
on’t get bored with this statement: I have covered/
reported on more than my age of Forsyth City
Council and county commission meetings since
1972. With that statement made, I have often been
asked, what has stood out about the two elected bodies. I
am not ignoring Culloden but it has not been on my radar
as often as the county and Forsyth.
My first reporting on the county was
when Rose Ivey was the county clerk
and Malcom Smith was mayor of
Forsyth. It was very simple reporting
back then.
I think you will find this story
interesting. One day I went to the
courthouse where I always found an
interesting story on that beat. On the
counter in the clerk—Ms. Minette
Snow—of the courts office, were
copies of the court calendar for the
upcoming Superior Court session.
I picked up a copy of the calendar
and Ms. Snow politely asked why I wanted the court calendar.
I politely replied it was a public document and I was going to
print it in next weeks Reporter.
Mixed in with the criminal cases on the court calendar were
several, and I mean a lot, of divorce cases that were scheduled
to go before the judge and jury in the upcoming court session.
I hung around the courthouse for a while before going back
to The Reporter office in the basement of Trio Manufacturing
directly across from what was then the post office and now a
county office.
As I walked into the office, Janice Redd, my bookkeeper and
secretary, anxiously asked where I had been and what is going
on? I told her I had been to the courthouse and her response
was almost a yell “I know” and began explaining that six local
lawyers and couple out of Macon had called. I returned a call
to a local lawyer who explained he had a couple of divorce
cases on the calendar and they had been settled, no longer on
the court calendar.
So it went for the rest of the afternoon. Lawyers calling and
emphatically explaining that the divorce case(s) he had on
the calendar had been resolved/settled. Several of the lawyers
admitted they had just forgotten to notify the clerk their cases
had been settled.
Court had been scheduled to begin on Monday and I was
going to press on Monday. Long story short, Ms. Snow called
and told me she had a revised court calendar and she had a
copy for me. Of course I printed the revised calendar. Privately
she almost whispered with a “Thank you! I have tried to get
the calendar updated and revised to no avail. But when the
word got out that you were going to print the calendar in The
Reporter, my phone started ringing asking to remove cases
because they had been settled. Thank you Don!”
GOING BACK to the city and county governing bodies. I
have determined the Forsyth City Council is ultra-conserva
tive when it comes to spending taxpayer monies, except they
follow the county when it comes to “soirees” at fashionable
tourism sites.
Whenever you see the county managers name on the agen
da, you can bet it’s spend taxpayer money time: Here are a
few items the county manager wants to buy or spend taxpayer
money on: High Falls Fire station, Records Storage Building,
Sheriff Training Facility, Taylor County Apparatus, and Public
Works Vehicle Purchase.
Of course the county commission chairman likes to fly off to
Washington, drive up to Atlanta at the drop of a county credit
card to wander the halls of Congress and the state Capitol.
Back home, he likes to go high-falutin with the excuse he is
promoting the county. Some commissioners like to pad their
expense reports with reimbursable funds for riding around
their district and stopping wherever they can gather a crowd.
Both the Forsyth City Council and Monroe County com
missioners have already met this week and am sure the county
commissioners meeting room was jam packed with High Falls
and Johnstonville Road residents being opposed to the “green
municipal waste facility”. The commissioners had the last vote
aye or nay Tuesday night.
QUALIFYING for the city of Culloden elections are set for
Aug. 15 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. They are going
to elect a mayor for a four year term and two aldermen for
four year terms. Qualifying fees are $10 for both positions.
THE ANSWER to The Question was Oglethorpe Power
is the biggest owner of Plant Scherers units one and two and
Debra Radcliffe was the first with the correct answer. She gets
the goodie certificate.
HERE’S THE Question for this week: What is the name of
the Cutest Pet in Monroe County? First correct answer after
12 noon Thursday gets the goodie certificate for a Big Peach
car wash, Whistle Stop fried green tomato appetizer, slice of
Shoney’s strawberry pie, single deep at Scoops, slice of pizza at
Jonahs, Dairy Queen Blizzard and a dozen Dunkin Donuts.
THERE IS a lot of speculation being subtlety discussed and
whispered after the headline “Chief blames Hall for police
woes” and the story. Is the chief going to retire or purchase
“dress” attire, maybe start wearing a uniform and bury the
muscle shirts? Instead of driving cars, why not bring those
(scooters) out of retirement?
FOUND IT very interesting that a “Macon man sues after
hitting cow” because that is not the way it used to be. The
Open Fence Law was appealed many years ago but what it
allowed, if you hit a farmers cow, you would be responsible for
the damage to your vehicle and you had to pay the farmer for
the cow. I had personal experience with that law.
READING THE legals, Building Permits and Property
Transfers reveal a lot about our county. Simply stated, Monroe
County is changing. Just for instance, sixty-eight building per
mits were issued in June for everything from new construc
tion , enclosing a pole barn and even a bathroom addition
which I assume went from a “one holer” to a “two holer:
Ninety-eight property transfers were recorded with one
property being transferred for $1,600,000. The biggest prop
erty sale was $4,600,000.
GOT A printable comment or want to answer The Ques
tion? Contact Donald Jackson Daniel at tullaybear@bellsouth.
net
Don Daniel founded the Reporter in 1972. Email him at tul-
layhear@hellsouth. net.
^Reporter
EDITOR’S KID by Park Davis
Monroe Co. will always be home
Park Davis and his dad, Will, and brother, Ford, hike on
Grandfather Mountain, N.C. last week.
"1 yf" y favorite
|\ /1 hobbies are
I I usually the
▼ .^Lones that
bring me the most thrill.
I love rollercoasters, zip
lining, and really anything
that involves going fast.
I’m not as excited to do
things that are slow and
take a long time, like hik
ing.
My family went to the
mountains in Boone,
N.C. this weekend for my
mom’s birthday (happy
late birthday mama). It
was probably the most
activity-filled weekend in
awhile. Thursday
was my dad’s
day. I agreed to
go on a 6-mile
hike with him
and my brother
on Grandfather
Mountain. The
ONLY rea
son I did it
was because
I had missed
“leg day” that
week.
It takes a long time,
and while the views are
nice, the misery of having
to wait on my dad and
brother to catch up isn’t
fun. That wasn’t even
the worst part. A young
couple sitting on a peak
had masks on... out
side. .. 5,000 feet above
sea level. I don’t get it.
The most exciting thing
about finishing the hike
besides feeling accom
plished is visiting the
Grandfather Mountain
Zoo. I always want to see
the otters because they are
the cutest there, but they
weren’t there... what a
disappointment.
Saturday, my mom’s
birthday, was the
best. We went zip
lining through
trees, which as I
said, is thrilling for
me. After riding
five zip lines, we
went on a large
swing, which
was a small
scale version of
the “Pandemo
nium” ride at
Six Flags. I got to pull the
wire that let us go from
the top, which made it all
better because I was hold
ing on with one hand.
The last thing we did
was the ropes course,
similar to the one at Stone
Mountain. While my little
8 year-old brother sped
through the course, my
mom and I were strug
gling to keep our balance.
We had to keep up with
my brother to help him
with moving the hooks
that kept us up. After
struggling to make it up
three levels, we all finally
brought ourselves down
using the pulley system at
the top.
Hiking was free and
gave me exercise, but
sometimes, spending
money to get more of a
thrill is worth it. This trip
was my going away trip in
a way because I’m leaving
for UGA next Friday. This
is also my last column.
These next couple of
weeks will be sad, but I’m
grateful that I got to work
for the newspaper in my
hometown this summer.
Monroe County will
always be home.
A graduate ofFPD head
ing to the University of
Georgia later this month,
Park Davis of Forsyth is
the summer intern for the
Reporter.
PEACH STATE POLITICS by Kyle Wingfield
Big-spending Congress learns nothing
T he debate over whether
we’re actually in a reces
sion has been as illumi
nating as most spin jobs
for bad news.
The Biden administration has
been flailing on multiple fronts for
several months now, producing
a job-approval recession for the
president. When that happens, it’s
awfully tempting to force
faux-nuance and legalism
onto what previously were
straightforward mat
ters - such as the rule of
thumb that two consecu
tive quarters of economic
contraction indicate a
recession.
This much we know:
The economy shrank by
0.9% from April to June,
after contracting by 1.6%
in the first quarter of2022.
Going backward isn’t going for
ward. But most important is what
comes next, and whether we’ve
learned from what’s already taken
place.
To understand both, we need
to talk about inflation. That is the
primary culprit for our don’t-call-it-
a-recession. But inflation typically
signals an overheated economy, not
a struggling one. What gives?
Inflation is eating into household
budgets, leaving less money to
spend on non-essentials. Reflect
ing this, inflation-adjusted personal
disposable income fell another 0.5%
in the quarter after shrinking by
7.8% in the first quarter. Dispos
able income was actually higher
before adjusting for inflation, as
was personal income overall due to
wage increases. So inflation is the
problem.
Getting a raise doesn’t feel like
much of a win if you’re spending all
of it, and then some, on the same
things you were buying before.
Investments of all kinds, including
in private inventories, declined as a
result. That is a bad omen, because it
means businesses expect consumers
to continue holding back.
For those who point to strong em
ployment numbers as a
reason the economy isn’t
actually in recession, in
vestment declines suggest
wages and jobs are next
on the chopping block.
Now we come to what’s
next. The policy response
to inflation is key because
policy largely created it.
Two common deflec
tions on this point are
the war in Ukraine and
supply-chain disruptions.
Yes, the war has affected everything
from the obvious (fuel and grain) to
the obscure (the neon gas needed to
make the computer chips missing
from automobiles which are other
wise ready to sell). But inflation was
already at 7.5% in January, more
than triple the Federal Reserve’s
target rate, well before Russia’s late-
February invasion.
As for supply-chain disruptions:
Yes, they’re a problem. But they’ve
been a problem for two years now,
including while the economy grew
rapidly. And they were exacerbated
by one of the main policy responses
to the pandemic: the way Wash
ington flooded the economy with
(borrowed) dollars.
That flood meant demand surged
without supply increasing - and in
some cases, despite supply decreas
ing. More dollars chasing fewer
products and services will push
prices upward. That’s Economics
101.
That’s why it’s distressing to hear
leaders in Congress hail a couple of
new spending measures as cures,
one of them perversely titled the
Inflation Reduction Act.
Congress has previously appropri
ated hundreds of billions of dollars
that are yet to be spent. In Georgia,
for example, the American Rescue
Plan Act allocated $4.8 billion to
the state government, plus money
for schools, local governments,
individual taxpayers and others.
The state initially received only half
of the money and still hasn’t found
a way to spend it all. The other half
arrives soon - on top of a surplus of
the state’s own revenues, and new
federal infrastructure funding - and
most allowable ways of spending the
money will likely worsen inflation.
Now Congress has appropriated
hundreds of billions of dollars more,
threatening to offset whatever price-
calming effects the Fed’s recent
interest-rate hikes might have. This
is like turning a fire hose on a man
who’s bailing out a flooded boat.
Policymakers have a hard enough
time making economically sound
decisions in the best of circum
stances. It’s harder still when times
are tough, and all the more so when
times are tough because of their
previous decisions.
It’s virtually impossible when they
demonstrate they learned nothing
from their mistakes.
Kyle Wingfield is president and
CEO of the Georgia Public Policy
Foundation: www.georgiapolicy. org.
BORN
Continued from page 1A
arrived 5 minutes later to find the
mom holding her very pre-term
infant daughter.
FireMedic Cole Donaldson, Capt.
Christina Bramlett, and Capt. Bur
ris rushed little Lima and mom to
Spalding Regional Medical Center,
which has a Level IINICU cen
ter. Most equipment on Monroe
County ambulances, even for new
borns, was still entirely too big for
little Luna. Weighing in at 1 pound,
10 ounces and just 13 inches long,
even with strategic positioning on
infant life support, little Luna was
quite the fighter.
Luna has since been transferred
to Piedmont Columbus. The
mother, Abby Wiseman, tells the
Reporter that Lima is doing as well
as can be expected to be so prema
ture.
Joshua and Abby Wiseman
She said she’s glad that Edison
was there to deliver.
“Honestly, if this is how Luna was
going to make her entrance, I can’t
imagine anyone else I trust more
than her,” said Wiseman. “She has
been my best friend since college,
all my best stories involve her. And
now the absolute best one!”
Wiseman said her brain is still
catching up to the gravity of what
happened. She said she had been
a 26 week preemie when she was
born, but they had zero indicators
that she wouldn’t be able to carry
Luna to term.
Abby and Joshua Wiseman will
now need to commute between
Raleigh, N.C. and Columbus, Ga.
for the next few months until she is
stable enough to be moved closer
to home. They have a GoFundMe
to help them as they navigate
this time of nervous anticipation.
Abby credits God’s provision and
sovereignty over all of this. Monroe
County EMS spokesman Christina
Bramlett said they are honored to
have been a part of it.
“We can’t wait to tell Luna about
how she came into the world!,” said
Wiseman. “I won’t ever let her hear
the end of it I’m sure.”