Newspaper Page Text
Page 6B
September 7, 2022
^Reporter
Gov. Kemp lunches with Forsyth business owners
By Will Davis
publisher™ my mcr.net
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp
told a crowd of Monroe
Countians over a south
ern lunch on Tuesday that
he feels good about polls
showing him leading chal
lenger Stacey Abrams. But
he said he won t be out
worked in his effort to win
re-election on Nov. 8.
Kemp met with local
business owners at the
home of his friend and
former business partner
Jim Cole in Forsyth on
Tuesday, Sept. 6. The Coles
served up a southern lunch
of fried chicken, potato
salad, grape salad and more
for the governor and guests
as they discussed the home
stretch of the campaign.
Kemp said polls show
him leading, but that
Abrams, who lost to Kemp
in 2018, has boatloads of
money from outside of
Georgia. He noted that so
cialist and globalist George
Soros had cut her a $1 mil
lion check.
Kemp, an Athens native
and former legislator, had
been written off for dead
after President Trump
condemned him in 2020
for not overturning Geor
gias election results. He
also took harsh criticism
for re-opening Georgia in
the spring of2020 when
many states remained in a
COVID lockdown. While
observers wrote Kemps
obituary, two years later
he has a steady lead over
Abrams in the polls.
Kemp said Abrams has
spent millions on advertis
ing over the summer and
still cannot get her poll
numbers above 44 percent.
The talk was that Abrams
has angered some Demo
crats with her campaign.
One report said that a
donor wanted to meet her
and was told to come to
California.
Asked how he’s been able
to resurrect his political
career, the governor said
he’s just focused on putting
hard working Georgians
first and fulfilling prom
ises of his 2018 campaign.
Those promises include
business development
and rural growth, and he
touted his efforts to bring
high-speed internet to rural
counties like Monroe.
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Gov. Brian Kemp, right, with wife Marty, on his left, talks to Monroe County business owners over lunch at the home of Mercer athletic director Jim Cole
on Tuesday. Kemp said he's in good shape for his re-election campaign but asked supporters to continue to work hard. (Photo/Will Davis)
He also noted that while
Democrats were playing
pandemic politics two
years ago, he just aimed to
making good, if unpopular,
decisions like reopening
the state. Kemp said as a
business owner he knows
what it’s like to fear losing
his house or career, and
that’s what motivated him
to reopen the state when
many people thought it
would mean a fatal spread
of COVID. He also knew it
was important to get kids
back into the classroom. At
the time he was slammed
as reckless. Today he's seen
as prescient.
“Those political winds are
blowing differently nowf
said Kemp.
Asked whether he’s done
enough to push back
against the increasing
power of the woke move
ment, Kemp said in a lot of
ways he was first governor
to push back against the
leftist mobs by signing an
election integrity bill de
spite howls of protest from
left-wing CEOs in Georgia
and around the country.
That bill prompted Major
League Baseball to move
the All-Star game out of
Atlanta last year.
Kemp said many people
wanted him to fold, but
he stood his ground, and
standing for the truth
played out well for him. He
noted that voter turnout
actually rose after the new
law, and the Braves won the
World Series.
Kemp said he’s running
on his record of creating
jobs and returning money
to Georgia taxpayers,
including $1 billion surplus
sent back to Georgians last
year. Meanwhile, he noted
Biden is raising taxes on
people that the president
had promised would not
see a tax hike under his
administration, while also
hiring 87,000 new IRS
agents.
Kemp said he’s also
helping Georgians cope
with inflation by suspend
ing the state’s gas tax. He
noted that Abrams has
been on all sides of that and
many other issues. He said
Abrams opposed the gas
tax relief when he first an
nounced it. Now she wants
him to extend it through
December even though the
law only allows him to do it
every 30 days.
Asked about the Fulton
County DAs efforts to
investigate Trump and his
allies for trying to fight the
results of the 2020 election,
Kemp noted he too has got
ten a subpoena and said he
will follow the law and the
constitution.
Kemp said he thinks
Republicans lost in Georgia
in 2020 because they had
very little “ground game” of
contacting voters. He said
his campaign is working to
address that with micro
targeting of Republican
voters, including those in
minority communities.
Asked about the fetal
heartbeat law he signed
that Abrams has heav
ily criticized, Kemp said
that’s another issue where
Abrams is all over the
place. He said she used to
be pro-life, then said it was
up the doctor, and then
said she opposed abortion
after 24 weeks. Kemp said
he has been consistently
pro-life.
Kemp said that Hol
lywood elites promised
never to film in Georgia
again after he signed the
fetal heartbeat bill. Yet with
California shutdown due to
COVID, Georgia has had
two record years for film
production.
The governor said he’s
proud of his pro-life record
not just with abortion but
also his wife Marty’s efforts
to stop human trafficking,
and a new law to address
mental health problems
in the state. Kemp said he
wants to value life across
the board. He said Abrams’
ads on abortion against
him have not changed the
polling, and that he thinks
this will be a pocketbook
election where people
vote over Biden’s record of
inflation and Kemp's own
record of growth.
Asked about a sweep
ing new school choice law
in Arizona, Kemp said he
supports school choice and
he will wait and see what
the legislature does on the
issue next year.
Asked if the legislature
could resolve the lingering
Monroe-Bibb county line
dispute by re-drawing the
boundary, Kemp said he
thought they could if they
could agree on a resolution.
When he was Secretary
of State Kemp refused to
record a survey that would
have re-set the line in its
original 1821 position to
Monroe County’s favor.
New Secretary of State
Brad Raffensperger prom
ised to resolve the dispute
but has not.
Kemp said his campaign
has been banking its mon
ey and waiting until now to
unleash more advertising.
He said with him already
in the lead he thinks he’s in
good shape. In 2018 Kemp
upset favorite Casey Cagle
in the GOP primary by
criss-crossing the state furi
ously to meet with every
one he could. Kemp said
he is doing the same thing
now, citing a crazy schedule
of three campaign events
on a recent Saturday from a
hunting event near Millen
to the GOP fish fry in Perry
to a Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce event in
Atlanta.
“People remember you
when you show up,” said
Kemp.
And that’s what the
governor did in Forsyth
on Tuesday. Among those
having lunch with Kemp
were Wes Cone, David
Prim, Warren Selby, John
Conn, Roy Fickling, Char
lie Cantrell, Luke Stickler,
Caroline Edenfield, Silas
Peed, Ruth Cole and Caro
line Cole.
Commissioners cut property tax rate again
For the second consecutive year,
Monroe County commissioners
have lowered the county’s millage
rate beyond the rollback rate.
Monroe County Commission
ers approved by a 2-1 vote in a
called meeting on Aug. 18 to set
the 2022 millage rate at 12.05
mills, a three-quarter mill reduc
tion from 2021. The move comes
one year after Commissioners
lowered the millage rate by more
than a quarter mill in 2021.
In fact, it is the fifth consecu
tive year that Monroe County
commissioners have either
maintained the same millage
rate or lowered the millage rate,
which accounts for a 9.61 percent
overall millage reduction during
that period.
At the recommendation of
county manager Jim Hedges,
District 2 commissioner Ed
die Rowland motioned to set
the county’s 2022 millage rate at
12.05 mills, a 0.75 mill reduction
from the rate of 12.8 mills set in
2021. Commission chairman
Greg Tapley seconded Rowland’s
motion, and it passed 2-1 with
District 4 commissioner George
Emami opposed.
Emami has stated for the past
month that he would not support
any tax rate that would result in
more revenues into county coffers
than last year.
With District 1 commis
sioner Lamarcus Davis at work
and District 3 Commissioner
John Ambrose on a fishing trip,
Rowland had to be summoned to
the meeting despite a bout with
COVID to give commissioners a
quorum. Rowland wore a mask
and sat on the opposite side of
the dais from the other commis
sioners.
According to 2022 Monroe
County tax digest projec
tions, 12.05 mills will generate
$20,285,603 in property tax
revenue, which due to new
growth is up $476,430 from the
$19,809,173 generated at a mill-
age rate of 12.8 mills in 2021.
At a rate of 12.05 mills, Monroe
County will have just under $1.4
million in contingency in 2022.
Under the final millage, a Mon
roe County homeowner with a
home valued at $250,000 and a
Homestead Exemption will pay
$1,060 in county property taxes
for 2022, a reduction of $66 from
the $1,126 the same homeowner
paid in 2021. The only way that a
homeowner would pay more in
property taxes in 2022 than he/
she did in 2021 is if the home
owner’s valuation has risen due to
reassessment.
The Aug. 18 called meeting
came 15 days after commission
ers set on Aug. 3 a tentative 2022
millage rate of 12.63 mills, which
was the rollback rate. Commis
sioners had the option of setting
the final millage at or below
the tentative millage figure but
were not allowed to set the final
millage at a higher level than the
tentative millage rate. Tax bills
will go out later this fall and are
due in December.
Some of the information in this
story is courtesy of Monroe County
public information officer Richard
Dumas.
Macon man charged with fighting deputies at rest area
By Steve Reece
stevereece™ gmail.com
A 26-year-old Macon man was tak
en to the Monroe County jail on Aug.
26 after deputies Corbin Becelia and
Enrique Hogan were dispatched to
the 1-75 S rest area regarding a man
harassing people and kicking over
trash cans. According to the incident
report, Dontrez Caleb Price had a
white shirt pulled over his head when
the deputies arrived and told them he
had been kicking over trash cans but
had not been bothering anyone.
Hogan instructed Price to remove
the shirt so they could see who they
were talking to, and Price responded,
"I'm not removing sh*t, but you
can try and take it off." Hogan then
reached for the shirt and Price ag
gressively jerked back and slapped
Hogan's hand. Becelia then grabbed
him and told him he was under
arrest, but Price began resisting and
the deputies took him to the ground.
Price continued to thrash and broke
Becelia’s sunglasses and his name
tag. Becelia then hit Price in the face
several times with a closed fist and he
soon complied.
Price told the deputies he was just
trying to find a ride home and be
came frustrated. He refused medical
treatment and was taken to the Mon
roe County Jail where he was charged
with felony obstruction.
PRICE