Newspaper Page Text
May 3, 2023
+Reporter
Page 5A
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Don Daniel
Students marvel
at no-show council
T he other night the county commissioners’
meeting room was packed, standing room
only The reason, the commissioners were
honoring a group, passing out plaques and
reading a proclamation honoring local volunteer
firefighters who had served 30 years or more with the
county fire department. Ideal for some “good press”
and community relations for “They Think They Are
The Fabulous Five” The presentations were the first
item on the commission agenda just after commission
roll call.
As soon the presentations and photos were made it
was like someone yelled fire and firefighters and family
members were “excused” and exited. The room was
empty except for me. When crowds show up for those
being honored, put the
presentations as the last item
on the agenda at least the
commissioners will have an
“audience”.
The reason I bring this up,
often county commission
ers, county elected officers,
city council members do
not attend such functions
as chamber of commerce
business after hours and
monthly breakfast. I guess
that they have already
been elected just don’t feel
any obligation to be social.
Let’s twist it around. The Forsyth City Council was
going to participate in Georgia Cities Week, inviting
a group of Mary Persons students to attend a city
council meeting, and then the council members would
watch as students participated in a “mock” city council
meeting.
Well, guess what? The city council couldn’t hold a
city council meeting like they were expected because
only one city council member, Mike Dodd, showed up
therefore no quorum, no meeting. Councilman Julius
Stroud showed up late. Since only two council mem
bers bothered to show, city government could do no
business for the students to see. So students held their
own “council” meeting which from what I have heard
brought up several issues. The real council, if they had
showed up, could have learned something! At least the
students showed up.
I FOUND the 97 county-issued building permits in
March very interesting. Twenty three building permits
were issued to Luxe Homes at 50 South Jackson. That
must be the development planned on land sold by
county commissioner member George Emami next to
Animal Medical Clinic.
PLANNING ON attending The Backlot Players per
formance of “Five Tellers Dancing In The Rain” at the
Rose Theater. First performance is Friday night May
12 and other night performances on the 13th, 19th
and 20th with curtains rising at 7:30 p.m. There will be
afternoon performances May 14 and 21 at 2:30.
FROM WHAT I have been hearing, there is a very
definitive split under way within the United Methodist
Church all over the state and maybe elsewhere. Meth
odists are notorious at moving their pastors like figures
on a chess board. Baptists keep ’em as long as they can
if the pastor is “good”.
I have heard via the grapevine that the situation with
the Forsyth UMC is not unique here in Forsyth. It is
pastor-moving time all over Georgia. Guess the Meth
odist believe familiarity breeds contempt.
I have heard they are shutting the doors of the First
United Methodist Church in Swainsboro, my home
town. I was a member of the Swainsboro First Baptist
Church and the competition for souls with the Meth
odist was which preacher ended their Sunday sermon
first.
TALKED TO Doug Justice who is going to be at the
Forsyth’s Farmers Market which opens this Friday at a
new location at The Old Mill Market behind the Rob
ins Federal on East Adams Street and today he plans
on being there with his selection fresh vegetables. Of
course I will be tasting Doug’s boiled peanuts qualify
ing whether you should buy one or two bags.
THE ANSWER to last week’s The Question was
that the new proposed county zoning ordinance
would require subdivisions with an HOA and 25 or
more homes to build a 30,000 square foot playground.
Teresa Hobbs was the first with the correct answer. She
receives a certificate for a dozen Dunkin Donuts, slice
of Jonas Pizza, Dairy Queen Blizzard, slice of Shoney’s
strawberry pie, Big Peach carwash, fried green tomato
appetizer at Whistle Stop in Juliette and single dip at
Scoops.
Here’s The Question for this week: What kind of
business is commissioner George Emami planning to
build in the Indian Springs Industrial Park. First cor
rect answer after 12 noon on Thursday gets the goodie
certificate.
WONDER IF the new beer “invented” by Fox City
using purified recycled water could be the water the
city wants to dump down to the Ocmulgee River? Ac
cording to the “news” story, Fox City worked with the
private company which runs the City of Forsyth and
Monroe County water systems to develop the water
the brewery is going to use.
Wonder if the company suggested/considered using
the polluted water the city of Forsyth is going to pipe
down to the Ocmulgee River? Just wondering.
Revival is the name of the beer and guess I’ll have to
try a pint.
THIS FROM “The Devil’s Dictionary: “Eulogy, n:
Praise of a person who has either the advantages of
wealth and power, or the consideration to be dead”.
WANT TO submit a printable comment or answer
The Question? Contact Donald Jackson Daniel at medi-
adr@bellsouth.net.
A SMARTIAN PERSPECTIVE by Joe Evans
Time to send a John Wayne message to DC
T he political actors in Washing
ton that are playing chicken
with the debt ceiling remind
me of a married couple that
once had their home financed
with me. They got a couple of
months past due, and I called
them in. He said, “she spends
too much money’’ She said, “he
doesn’t earn enough.”
After listening to them for
what seemed like an eternity, I
said, “I am sure both of you feel
justified in your perspective,
but you need to understand
where I am on this. If you don’t
have this loan caught up by the
end of next month, both of you will be
sleeping in your car.”
Remember the Simpson Bowles
Commission? It was a bi-partisan group
co-chaired by former Republican Sen
ator Alan Simpson and former Chief
of Staff to President Clinton Erskine
Bowles. After months of wrangling,
EVANS
they came up with a plan to bring the
Federal deficit under control through
a combination of cuts in entitlements
and some modest tax increases. Perfect?
Absolutely not. General
Patton famously said,
“A good plan today is
better than a perfect plan
tomorrow’’ I think the
Simpson Bowles plan
passed the Patton test.
Where did it go? To the
trash heap. One side was
unwilling to cut enti
tlements and the other
unwilling to consider a
tax increase. Sounds a lot
like my past due couple, and just as they
had a banker holding the mortgage on
their house, our country has creditors
who have loaned based on its “full faith
and credit.” If our political actors can’t
figure out a way to avoid a Federal de
fault, an economic crisis will result that
could put us all out on the street.
One of my favorite movie scenes
is John Wayne’s message to Richard
Boone near the end of “Big Jake.” Big
John said, “Now you understand.
Anything goes wrong, anything at all...
your fault, my fault, nobody’s fault... it
won’t matter.” The Duke proceeded to
explain to Boone that dire consequenc
es would be the result.
I think voters all across the political
spectrum should send a “no excus
es” message like this to their folks in
Washington. If the game of political
chicken they are playing winds up with
a Federal default, it will be time to send
in a whole new team.
Joe Evans ofSmarr was Chairman
and CEO of State Bank, which merged
with Cadence in 2019. Now retired, he
was given the Lifetime Achievement
Award from American Banker magazine
in 2018. He remains on the board of
Cadence. Email him at joe.evans@bcgllc.
net.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Ingles’ Edna an example of friendly Forsyth
To the Editor:
T jhis is not my first letter to the
editor and I think it will not be
my last either. Let me explain
why. The Bible exhorts us to
“not withhold good from whom it is
due when it is in our power to do it.” My
previous letters had to do with extraor
dinary encounters that my family and I
have had with the good folks of Forsyth
since we moved here from Texas almost
4 years ago. My recent experience of ex
traordinary kindness and service here in
Forsyth occurred at Ingles Market when
I purchased some birthday balloons
for my grandson’s birthday. Miss Edna,
the Flower and Celebration lady who
always makes entering Ingles a joy with
her flower arrangements and potted
plants, had fixed me up with exactly
what I needed and I returned home to
help my daughter prepare for the party.
Unfortunately, one of the balloons was
leaking and kept deflating. I called Ingles
and spoke to Miss Edna, (try that at
Walmart), and she told me to come on
in and get a replacement at no charge.
This is typical of the friendly and caring
service we have consistently received at
Ingles of Forsyth.
Richard Schuyler
Forsyth
Unfilled promises to dean up High Falls blight
To the Editor:
I read with interest
the article on the
meeting for resi
dents at the High
Falls area. I was remind
ed of President Reagan’s
words, “I’m with the
government and I’m
here to help.” Last year,
during the campaign,
the drum was bang
ing on “We’re going to
clean up in the blight,
especially in the High
Falls area.” Since then,
I’ll give the comment,
“cricket, cricket.” Now,
the commission wants
to increase the zoning
codes from 70+ pages
to over 300 pages. They
don’t enforce the codes
currently in place. I have
no clue except someone
that would benefit those
in place. Tell me I’m
wrong. I’m just wait
ing for the campaign
promises to be fulfilled.
Anyone who cares really understands.
If anyone wants to discuss this issue
A MERRY HEART by Merry Harris
with me, come on by. I’m not going
anywhere. I’d love to stand by while
we’re watching the train wreck.
Keith Hayes
High Falls
JUST THE WAY IT IS by Sloan Oliver
Despite claim, woman is not a cat
T jhe Bible warns about calling
evil good and good evil (Isaiah
5:20). Based on that warning,
you Dems should be very wor
ried. The Dems are a party that openly
lies and calls evil good. You cele
brate killing babies in the womb,
revel in the authoritarian power
you seized during COVID lock-
downs, and now you’re trying to
groom young children (as young
as 6 and 8 years old) to mutilate
their bodies by confusing
them about their gen
der. You Dems claim if
someone identifies as the
opposite gender, that we
should celebrate and acknowledge their
confusion. Well, I refuse to do so because
doing so is dishonest and a lie.
PERHAPS YOU’VE seen the video
of Lindsay Graham, a Phoenix woman
who dressed as a cat to speak to her
local school board. Graham wore a cat
costume, introduced herself as a cat, said
“meow, meow”, then asked who believed
she was an actual cat. Nobody raised
their hands. Exactly the point, nobody
believed she’s a cat because she’s not a cat.
People aren’t stupid. But you Dems think
we are. A woman doesn’t become a cat
because she dresses as one, meows, and
calls herself a cat; any more than a bio
logical male becomes female by wearing
a dress, heels, lipstick, and calls himself a
woman. To accept that Graham is a cat is
to accept fantasy for reality and a lie for
the truth.
AS GRAHAM said, truth
prevails over imagination and
over fiction. One look at her and
we know she’s a woman (not a
cat) just like one look at a man,
dressed as a woman, we know
he’s a man. If Graham truly
believes she’s a cat, she’s
suffering from a mental ill
ness/disorder. Why would
anyone believe her when
we know she’s delusional?
The same question must be asked of
a man who believes (or claims) he’s a
woman - why would you believe his
delusions? And knowing he’s delusional,
why on earth would we allow him to be
near our children (as a teacher) forcing
them to believe his delusion, to believe
his lie?
YOU LEFISTS, you Dems, academia,
and the media (they’re all the same)
lecture us and demand to know why
it matters if Bill calls himself a woman.
Your delusions and mental illness doesn’t
matter provided you keep your fanta
sy to yourself and confined at home.
However, it does matter when you
publically broadcast your mental
illness and demand that society, and sane
people, go along with your delusion,
and when you groom young children to
your depravity. Increasingly, the Leftist
positions are impossible to defend which
makes them (Dems and Leftists) less
prone to debate the issue of transgenders
(and most other issues). Instead, they
scream at us, calling us dangerous, sexist,
misogynist, racist, etc. for not believing
or adhering to their delusion.
GRAHAM EXPLAINED, demand
ing our children go along with the
transgender insanity is worse than just
lying to them, you’re demanding our
children support, believe, and participate
in dishonesty; and demand they deny
the reality before their eyes. What I truly
don’t understand is why any woman
would play along with this idiocy. Why
do you women allow men to steal your
achievements, to steal your position on a
sports team, and to belittle what it takes
to be a woman? When Lia Thomas was
a male NCAA, collegiate swimmer, he
wasn’t ranked in the top-500. A year
later, calling himself a woman, and
despite having male genitals, Thomas
won the female 500-meter freestyle
championship - denying a podium spot
to a biological female, and stealing a
national championship from the same.
See SLOAN Page4B