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Declare among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not. - Jeremiah 50:2
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ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
DRAWING ON THE NEWS by AF Branco
Say no to impact fees
If you want to build a home in Monroe County without
having to pay an additional tax of $2,000 on already-expensive
building supplies, you better let your commissioner know.
It appeared during a debate on Tuesday, Dec. 6 that com
missioners have at least 3 votes to impose impact fees on new
homes and businesses.
Commissioner George Emami, the most reliable friend of
the taxpayers on the board, said he was undecided. He offered
reservations. Most insanely, he noted that a small business
owner, who perhaps put up everything he owned to build a
5,000-10,000 square foot building for his small business, would
have to pay $ 12,000 in impact fees on a building that cost about
$200,000.
And Frank Perez of Forsyth, who owns a trucking and ware
house company, told commissioners to get real about calling it
an “impact fee”.
“It’s just another tax,” said Perez. Perez said he moved to
Monroe County from Macon to escape high taxes. He said
Jackson already imposes impact fees, costing him $50,000
to build a business there. Commissioners had suggested that
impact fees would be negotiable. Perez said that was absurd.
He said government workers don’t negoitate - they just tell
you what you have to pay. He said if government keeps adding
taxes, they’re gonna have a revolution on
their hands.
“We can’t stop stuff like this from
Washington because of the bureaucracy’
said Perez. “But let’s not create the same
thing here.”
But commissioners Greg Tapley and
John Ambrose said they see impact fees
as a way to keep Monroe County rural.
They said it’s also a way to make
sure newcomers pay as much for the
new services they require as existing
residents.
But Perez is right. Impact fees are
a tax. Any commissioner who votes to impose impact fees is
adding a tax on Monroe County residents, current and future.
If my children want to move back here when they finish
college, they too will have to pay an additional $2,000 to build a
starter home. Impact fees are wrong. But as I said, that’s exactly
what were gonna get if the people of Monroe County don’t
insist that commissioners to do otherwise. They would have
imposed them Tuesday, but wanted to figure out how easy it
would be to change the fees. So now you have your chance. Tell
them to save themselves the trouble, and toss impact fees into
the trash, where they belong.
• ••
My 8-year-old and I got invited to a father-son birthday party
last weekend at a farm near Cochran. The boys rode 4 wheel
ers, fished and hunted squirrels. It was a blast. My son even
found a bear print.
The adventure even extended into the sleeping hours. Earlier
in the night while the men watched the Pac 12 championship
game, my son noted a mouse scurrying along the base board.
I wasn’t too worried though. It’s not uncommon for a largely
unoccupied farm home to attract a few critters. So when we
climbed onto our air mattress in the kitchen around midnight,
I expected some good sleep. But about 10 minutes after the
lights went out, I started to hear a bag of potato chips rustling.
Maybe I just had an overactive imagination, I surmised. But the
rustling continued. Finally, I shone my cell phone flashlight on
the chips bag. I saw a mouse-sized hole in the chip bag. I picked
up the bag, opened the door, and chucked it into the Bleckley
County night. We never heard the mouse again. But yes, I did
keep my toes covered the rest of the night.
Two days later our reporter Steve Reece was telling me that
he had his own encounter with a rat in a ride-along with Mon
roe County sheriff’s investigator Chris Landers. Reece found
out that the Monroe County Animal Shelter was storing a rat.
Of all things! That led to the story on this week’s front page
about the drug suspect who had her pet rat in her lap while
driving. We’ve already sold so many “No She Didn’t” books of
our craziest police stories over the last decade that we’re about
to order a second printing. You can bet the rat story will be
added for the second printing in the chapter entitled, of course,
“Who Let the Dogs Out?”
• ••
I HAVE long admired Atlanta pastor Andy Stanley as a
See ON THE PORCH Page 5A
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is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, President • Robert M. Williams Jr., Vice President
Cheryl S. Williams, Secretary-T reasurer
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Official Organ of Monroe Coun
ty and the City of Forsyth
50 N. Jackson St., PO Box 795 • Forsyth,
GA 31029 • Periodicals Postage Paid at
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Publication No. USPS 997-840
REECES PIECES by Steve Reece
Speeding can slow you down
A nyone who has ever ex
pressed a fear of flying has
had to listen to somebody
say, “Now, you know it’s
much more dangerous to drive to an
airport than it is to fly out of one.”
According to the International Air
Transport Association, out of nearly
8 million flights, there was only one
major flight crash worldwide in
2021. With those kinds of numbers,
a person would have to squeeze into
an airplane seat and take a trip every
day for the next 22,000 years before
being involved in a fatal aircraft
accident. There were only 176 deaths
reported in 2021 from all aviation
accidents across the globe. One of
the safest years for aviation ever.
By comparison, 1.35 million people
died in road accidents around the
world last year. In Georgia alone,
traffic deaths jumped by 21% in 2
years with 1,806 fatalities in 2021. An
estimated 42,915 people died
in motor vehicle accidents in
the United States during the
same year. This was the highest
number of deaths since 2005
and the largest annual percent
age increase in the history of
the Fatality Analysis Reporting
System. Traffic fatalities
in the U.S. hit a 16-year
high in 2021 with an
increase of 10.5% from
2020.
Clearly, these statistics show that
flying is far safer than driving but still
there’s something about not being in
control and not knowing exactly who
is. Being trapped with strangers in
a flammable tube so high above the
ground might make a normal person
just a tad nervous whether they admit
it or not. Even if it’s just a fleeting
thought, it’s difficult not to consider
going down in flames while you’re
standing in the security line with little
else to think about. Still, you shuffle
ahead and take off your shoes.
Of course, many more people
squeeze into cars than they do air
planes but still the odds of dying in an
automobile are much greater with 4
deaths for every 3 million trips.
Even with stringent laws and wide
spread education about the dangers
of driving under the influence of
alcohol or drugs, impaired drivers
caused 11,654 of those deaths in 2021.
This number represents the highest
percentage of highway deaths over all
other reasons. That’s one person need
lessly killed every 45 minutes due to a
person without the sense not
to drive while intoxicated.
Close behind, speeders
account for 29% of all traffic
fatalities with 11,258 deaths
in the U.S. last year. Some of
those speeders were drunk, of
course. Nowadays, nearly ev
ery driver on the highway
is a speeder. 80 mph has
become the new 70.90
mph is the new 75. Since
we were released full bore back on the
highways after COVID, we can’t seem
to get there fast enough.
People who were distracted while
driving were the cause of 3,141 traffic
fatalities. A high number of these
drivers were texting or talking on
the phone, but some were eating and
drinking, messing around with the
radio, or even turning around to talk
to people in the backseat. No doubt
some of those drivers were drunk and
speeding while being distracted reach
ing for a six-pack on the floorboard.
The grisly numbers cited above are
largely ignored. We
may slow down some
after passing a bad
wreck on 1-75 S near
Rumble Road but by
the time we hit the
475 split, were back
up to speed moving
over to the far-left
lane, posting a picture
of the accident we
just saw on Facebook.
If you drive at
80 mph on 1-75, it will take you 53
minutes to travel 70 miles, saving only
7 minutes if you were doing the speed
limit. For some drivers, arriving 7
minutes earlier than the time shown
on their GPS app gives them great
satisfaction and they make a game of
it. A game they may one day lose.
The only deterrent to drunk drivers,
speeders and distracted drivers is ob
viously law enforcement. Our deputies
and officers watch from bridges and
medians performing an incredibly
dangerous and largely misunderstood,
thankless job keeping us safe from
ourselves and the fools who drive
around us. Some say that speeding
tickets represent taxation by citation.
That quotas are being met. Any cop
will laugh and tell you there is no need
for a quota; there are plenty of stupid
drivers out there to keep the jails and
coffers filled.
A speeding ticket was issued in Texas
in 2003 to a driver in a Swedish sports
car doing 242 mph in a 75-mph zone.
At that rate, it took him 17 minutes
to go 70 miles. He would be able to
drive from Forsyth to Atlanta in only
15 minutes if traffic wasn’t blocked at
McDonough. His car was towed, and
he was turned over to the local jail staff
to await bond. Even at that speed, it
wasn’t worth it. Jail has a way of slow
ing even the fastest driver down.
Steve Reece is a writer for the Report
er and a known crime fighter. Email
him atstevereece@gmad.com.
CAROLYN S CORNER by Carolyn Martel
Tragic consequences of rejecting God
ext month my hubby and
I will be celebrating our
wedding anniver
sary. Looking at
our wedding photos, taken
decades ago, got me to think
ing about how the god-given
concept of marriage has
dramatically changed in this
nation. God’s standard for
marriage is one man and one
woman, but same sex
“marriages” are on
the rise. The number
of same-sex couple
households in the U.S.
has surpassed 1 million for the first
time, according to recently released
government data.
I WILL never forget a news broad
cast that reported a woman was plan
ning on marrying herself, because
she had not found a man that suits
her. She had already picked
out her wedding gown and
ring. Apparently, there’s no
cure for stupid. You can get
on the internet and read
stories and see photos of
people who have married
their pets, including dogs,
cats, goats, cows and frogs!
I LIND the break
down of our society
and Christian values
alarming. There are
those who want to rewrite and chal
lenge the standards that have been
based on God’s Word-standards that
have made this nation one of the
greatest places in the world to live,
work, worship and raise a family.
THINK ABOUT that for a mo
ment. All it takes is just one gener
ation failing to pass on the baton of
Christianity and the values that have
made America great will collapse. If
we fail to stand up and fight for godly
values, we will one day find that what
we once declared to be truths and
moral absolutes will only become
outdated opinions, thoughts and
ideas. In fact, this is already happen
ing, and this is one of the reasons our
nation is so philosophically divided.
We must keep the moral standard
lifted, even in the face of being
labeled politically incorrect or out of
touch with modern society.
Carolyn Martel of Forsyth is the re
tired long-time advertising manager for
the Reporter. Email her at carolynmar-
tell@bellsouth.net.