Newspaper Page Text
May 24, 2023
Page 5A
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Don Daniel
One man’s blight is
another man’s delight?
A s you should have heard by now the City of
Forsyth obviously “avoided” war with the de
veloper of the senior living center which the
city has been attempting to declare blighted.
The developer had been given an extension two other
“times” to keep his development from getting on the
blighted list and before being razed to bare ground. But
this time he used different tactics. He said he was going
to plant trees to hide the blight.
Here is the definition of “blight” according to Webster’s
Dictionary. Nope didn’t look it up on the web used the
old reliable method of a paper dictionary over 3 inches
thick and 75 years old. So, here’s Mr. Webster’s definition
of blight: “the legal word for land
that is dilapidated, hazardous or
unattractive”.
Of course, the council is at
tempting to prevent war with the
developer and is totally afraid the
developer will toss a few exple
tives, drop a few word bombs,
threaten war again and use more
of his delaying tactics even to
keep his burned-out building
declared “blighted” by using
whatever tactics he deems
necessary.
So the council voted not
to condemn the property until the city attorney and an
attorney to be hired by the developer attempt to define the
difference between commercial blight and housing blight.
Go back a couple of paragraphs and read the definition of
blight. I think you will agree the property fits the defini
tion.
Here’s the irony of the situation: councilman Greg Gools
by wants the attorneys to define the differences between
commercial blight and residential blight. Again, according
to Mr. Webster, there is no difference.
I am sure the issue of the developer’s other blighted
property will again get a council hearing delay. Wonder
how long the burned-out building next to Mary Persons
will remain hazardous, dilapidated and unattractive. Pretty
sure the “threat of war” will be used again. Guess he’ll plant
more trees to hide the bumed-out building.
GOT A few comments on last week’s column about
insurance and here is the best: “You are an insurance cus
tomer until the claim makes you an adversary”. Absolutely
correct!
OYER AT the county, it was pay-up time getting close
to the million-dollar mark. One hundred and ten checks
were written, totaling- -get ready—$807,312.93. Here are
a few of the biggies: $5,514.60 paid to Bryant’s Collision;
$8,446.08 paid to City Plumbing; Ergon got $12,769.60 for
pipe; Freedom Trophies, $3,162.80. Two months of inmate
meals, $27,578.25 at GPSTC; $8,212.50 paid to Head
Heating and Air; $24,161.30 for road matter; Johnson
Automotive repair for ambulance for $13,816.31. Mauldin
& Jenkins, the county’s accounting firm, got paid $12,000;
we paid Monroe County Hospital $8,081.01 for county
inmate medical services; $140,930.64 was paid to South
eastern Development for work on McCowan Road.
Don’t know what “SPCR” charges for “ARPA” Grant but
we paid $20,683.06.
Just about for whatever you can imagine, the county
United Bank credit card was paid $44,240.01 for 480
charges by county employees to the card. On the charges
to the card was a $1,206 for a county employee enjoying
the Westin Hotel, wherever it was. H20 Innovation, the
company that runs the county’s water system, was paid
$39,447.73 for a myriad of charges.
Hey, if you want to find out more detail about how our
county money is being spent, go to the County web page
and find the finance department. One thing you will not
find is county commissioners’ expense reports for mileage
for using their own vehicle to travel all over the county and
out of the county.
I doubt it but still hopeful that our county government
will become even more transparent and reveal consistently
how much the county manager and commissioners get
reimbursed for telephone, mileage, lunches/dinners/break
fast, hotel motel stays, you get the idea. Expense reports. It
is our right to know!
THE FIRST correct answer to The Question came
from Richard Schuler answering how many schools were
featured in last week’s newspaper. Here’s The Question for
this week: The county zoning board urged commissioners
to do what with their 300-page zoning proposal?
First correct answer after 12 noon on Thursday gets the
goodie certificate for a single dip at Scoops, slice of Jonah’s
Pizza, Dairy Queen Blizzard, slice of Shoney’s strawberry
pie, whistle stop friend green tomato appetizer, dozen
Dunkin Donuts and a Big Peach car wash.
THE QUESTION was raised in conversation the other
day, “do parents have control of the school system” and
the answer was yes when they get behind an issue such as
firing a teacher, principal or coach.
The vocal outrage has not simmered down with the
firing of baseball coach Clae Mathis. From what I have
been told and listened to it was a “group” of parents who
convinced the MP assistant superintendent and the athlet
ic director to give the coach the pink slip. As I have often
said, success breeds jealously and is fed by ignorance.
THIS FROM the Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce:
‘Christian: n: One who follows the teachings of Christ in so
far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.
WITH THE death of my very close friend Phillip En
glish, a vacancy occurred on the Monroe County hospital
board At the County Commission meeting with the chair
man AWOL, Commissioner Eddie Rowland made the
motion to appoint former hospital board chairman Mac
Brown to fill Phillip’s unexpired term. The three commis
sioners voted yes.
I’m glad Mac is back on the board and hopefully he will
be re-appointed when Phillip’s term expires.
GOT A publishable comment or want to answer The
Question? E-mail me at mediadr@bellsouth.net.
'•Reporter
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Is county gonna ever fix Jenkins Road?
To the Editor:
T o the powers that
be.... what are the
realistic inten
tions for repairing
Jenkins Road, Edge Road
and Natures Trail and I’m
sure other roads in Monroe
county?!
Quite honestly we pay too
much taxes to have to sub
ject our vehicles to these
conditions on paved roads.
Jenkins I think most will
agree wasn’t as bad when it
was dirt. Have we just de
cided it cost too much for
repair (and I’m not talking
fill it with tar and pour rock
in it) so now dodging pot
holes is the new norm?
We deserve better than
this .... find the money
seems easy to do for every
thing else!
Al Williamson
Forsyth
Would love to see recipes in the Reporter
To the Editor:
wish you could start a recipe
section for the paper. I’m sure
there are some good recipes from
the folks in Monroe County.
People would love that. I’ve got many
that I’m sure the ladies would love to
have on they’re table for Sunday or
anytime and I’m sure they have great
recipes to share to. Especially now
that the veggies are plentiful.
Patsy Ellis Hollifield
Forsyth
Family loving child’s Hubbard Elementary
To the Editor:
ack in 2015 when we moved
to Forsyth, we were told we
would not be happy with the
elementary school we were
zoned for. Over the past 8 years that
could not have been further from the
truth. Our experience has been so
wonderful. Every teacher and staff
member took the time to learn our
girls’ names and speak to them daily.
Any issue was solved with a quick
email. From the media specialists
to the parapros, every staff member
seemed to generally care and love for
our girls as their own. They tried their
best to help our girls succeed. So as
we approach our last day of Hubbard,
just wanted to show them some love.
Samuel Hubbard Elementary School
will always have a special place in
our hearts. Thanks for an amazing 8
years!
Brandi Heath
Forsyth
Reed: Reporter needs more balanced content
To the Editor:
any people I know
wonder why I subscribe
to The Monroe Coun
ty Reporter
when some of its editorial
views so obviously contrast
with some of my own. They
also wonder why I, living
in the northwest corner
of Monroe County, also
subscribe to The Barnesville
Herald Gazette, The Jackson
Progress-Argus and The
Atlanta Journal Constitu
tion. Sometimes, my lovely
wife does, too.
The obvious answer could be
that while I’m semi-retired, I have
more dollars than sense. The better
answer is that these newspapers all
represent me in places that I would
find challenging, if not unpleasant,
to spend time. I’m talking about
council meetings, board meetings,
and commission meetings. They
keep me informed about events and
decisions that may impact my life and
my neighborhood.
Sadly, The Jackson Progress-Argus
has lost its last investigative
reporter. I often saw him
at Butts County Industrial
Development Authority
meetings where he recorded
the proceedings as unelected
officials seemed intent on
turning Butts County into
Henry County South with
warehouses all along 1-75 in
cluding the northwest corner
of High Falls State Park Lake.
Decisions like that could impact
water quality from Butts County to
the Ocmulgee River in Macon and
beyond. So now my neighbors and
I take turns attending the BCIDA
meetings, though without the re
sources of a newspaper. Few of them
subscribe to a newspaper, preferring
the so-called “fair and balanced”
approach of their online news silo.
I also wonder about my Monroe
County Reporter. I don’t understand
why the editorial slant is so frequently
far right wing and even Trumpeting
in nature. I’m grateful the editor has
moved on in his support, although
I fear Governor DeSantis is only a
slightly better coiffed version of the
former president. But, although
my contributions are almost always
included when I choose to submit
them, they seem to be a token effort
rather than a bipartisan approach to
presenting ideas and views.
Of course, The Monroe County Re
porter is a private enterprise and can
print whatever its editor wants. Still,
I wonder why he would not choose to
provide more balanced content aimed
at the 30 to 45 percent of our county’s
citizens to entice them to subscribe to
this paper. Maybe I’ll have a clearer
understanding in future issues. I’ll
keep reading and subscribing.
Joe Reed
High Falls
REED
JUST THE WAY IT IS by Sloan Oliver
When good guys become bad guys
T he world has good guys and
bad guys. Bad guys (BGs)
are sneaky, conniving, lying,
schemers. Society relies on
good guys (GGs) to protect us. GGs
wear white hats, come swooping in
to protect the weak and vulnerable,
advocate for the disadvantaged, and
fight for truth, justice, honesty, and the
American way.
POLITICAL PARTIES and politi
cians are bad guys in waiting.
They connive and lie to steal
elections. (The Dems tried in
2016 but were successful in
2020.) The media are the GGs
against political skullduggery
because they’re charged (by
the Constitution) to hold
accountable those polit
ical BGs by insuring any
chicanery is brought to
light. The justice system
become as dishonest as the BGs, when
they echo and advance the same lies
and fake stories as the BGs? When that
happens, society is no longer protect
ed. Instead, we have out-of-control
BGs, running amok, with little fear
of reprisals or of being caught. Even
worse, we no longer have any GGs
because the few remaining become
discouraged, throw up their arms and
join the BGs. Welcome to the United
States’ current political system and
justice system, as exposed by
the Durham Report (DR).
FLASHBACK TO summer
2016, Hillary and the entire
Democrat Party (the BGs)
accused Candidate Trump
of colluding with the
Russians to steal the
upcoming election.
After Trump was elected
those accusations went
is the second line of defense for the
GGs because they investigate, pros
ecute, and punish those responsible
for any shenanigans. The BGs know
that GGs are just waiting to catch and
imprison them. Knowing that, most
potential BGs behave themselves and
stay within the confines of the law.
Thus, by doing their jobs, GGs protect
society which keeps BGs on their best
behavior.
WHAT HAPPENS when the GGs
on hyperdrive. The BGs screamed for
an investigation. Robert Mueller was
appointed special counsel to investi
gate possible Trump-Russia collusion.
The media joined the BGs by siding
with Hillary and the Dems. They (both
sets of BGs - Dems and media) were
biased and kept screaming Russia,
Russia, and collusion, collusion. It was
nonstop. After two years, the Mueller
Report completely exonerated Trump
- no collusion was found because there
was NO collusion. Hillary’s accusa
tions were 100% bogus. To uncover
the origins of the Russia collusion
hoax, Attorney General Bill Barr
appointed John Durham to investigate
how the hoax began.
THE RUSSIA hoax kept President
Trump’s administration, and the
country, in chaos for two years while
Mueller investigated, trying to find
something to pin on Trump. In a
parallel investigation, the Democrat
controlled House investigated the
Russia collusion claims. Adam Schiff
(D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
held daily press conferences claiming
they had irrefutable proof that Trump
stole the election. Daily, the media
(now the BGs) echoed the Dems false
claims. For years, the duo set of BGs
(Dems and media) worked in tandem,
in an ever increasing crescendo of
Trump hatred.
BACK TO Durham, after four
years of investigating, last week the
DR was released, all 306 pages - and
it exonerates Trump by proving the
government cabal consisting of the
justice department, the FBI, and the
Intel Community are no longer good
guys. That cabal (the Swamp) was in
on the Russia hoax and attempts to
frame Trump from the very begin
ning. Durham irrefutably proved the
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