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PAGE 4A • THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2007
imon
Editorial Views
Time To Pull The Plug
On Fire Training Center
Is Jody Thompson the only Jackson County com
missioner who thinks the proposed county public
safety training center is an outrageous example of
wasteful spending? If so, the other commissioners
need to wipe off their glasses and take another look
at a project that is a perfect example of government
spending spiraling out of control.
Today's price tag for the burn building is about
$6 million. When it was first conceived, the project
involved a concrete structure with which firemen
could get real-time training in fighting structural
fires.
The original cost was to be $400,000, and it
was a part of a special purpose local option sales
tax (SPLOST) proposal approved by the voters.
Unfortunately, over the years the facility has grown
in both scope and cost to the point that Jackson
County now plans to spend 15 times what was origi
nally allocated. What might have been a reasonable
concept at the outset has evolved into a "public
safety training complex," a combination fire train
ing center, fire station, burn building with dorms
and classrooms, a fire truck driving range and more
— a boondoggle project at a time when the county is
struggling financially.
This is a project that has gotten grossly out of
hand. Commissioner Thompson is right in question
ing the priorities of a county where there are scores
of more pressing needs but where the commission
ers think they've got $6 million to burn. Right now,
public safety training is available at the state training
center in Forsyth at no cost to the county, save travel
and lodging. Jackson County can afford to send a
world of firemen and police officers to Forsyth for
$6 million.
Even as the project continues to inflate, little
discussion takes place in public. After setting aside
$400,000 from one round of SPLOST, $1 million
from a second round and another $4.5 million in
bonds (upon which there was no public vote), maybe
it's time for the other commissioners to wake up and
kill this project.
There's $4.5 million of senseless debt just waiting
for someone to recognize it. Thompson sees the
project for what it is. The other commissioners need
to open their eyes too.
Happy Birthday To Roper
Belated birthday greetings to Roper Pump Company,
which has been observing its 150th anniversary dur
ing 2007. It's been in Commerce almost 50 years.
In a county where industrial growth has been
strong in recent years, sometimes the existing indus
tries get taken for granted as we express excitement
about new corporate citizens. Much has been said in
praise of the location of the Toyota and the Kubota
plants, for example, and those were terrific economic
development success stories for the area. Meanwhile,
Roper Pump Company has been the top taxpayer in
Commerce for decades and one of its major employ
ers. It's jobs and economic impact are second to none
here. The new industries that locate here take nothing
away from what Roper has and continues to mean to
the Commerce area.
Roper Pump Company is an industry leader. Its par
ent company, Roper Industries, founded right here
in Commerce, is a $2 billion enterprise. That Roper
Pump Company has survived 150 years is a tribute to
its leadership, its skilled employees and its constant
innovation, and those are the traits that will allow it to
continue to be an industry leader in the future.
We're glad Roper Pump Company calls Commerce
home. A hundred and fifty years in business is an
accomplishment worth celebrating.
Editorials, unless otherwise noted, are written by Mark
Beardsley. He can be reached by e-mail at mark@main-
streetnews.com.
The Commerce News
ESTABLISHED IN 1875
USPS 125-320
1672 South Broad Street
Commerce, Georgia 30529
MIKE BUFFINGTON Co-Publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON Co-Publisher
MARK BEARDSFEY Editor/General Manager
BRANDON REED Sports Editor
TERESA MARSHAFF Office Manager
MERRIFF BAGWEFF Cartoonist
THE COMMERCE NEWS is the legal organ of the city
of Commerce and is published every Wednesday by
MainStreet Newspapers Inc. Periodical postage paid at
Commerce, Georgia 30529.
Subscription Rates Per Year: Jackson, Banks and
Madison counties $19.75; State of Georgia $38.85;
out-of-state $44.50. Most rates discounted $2 for
senior citizens.
POSTMASTER send address changes to THE COMMERCE
NEWS, P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, GA 30549.
I'm doing my part
to help conserve water
by drinking more beer
Can't Keep A Good Woman Down
When Frances Griffin decided
to retire, at the age of 93, from
the library staff position she
had held for 19 years, I begged
her not to leave us. There's
a photo of the two of us in
one of the library scrapbooks,
with Frances rolling her eyes
at me as I plead, "Just give us
another 10 years." I didn't miss
it by much; when she died last
week, she was a few months
shy of her 103rd birthday.
She had all of her marbles,
too (and way more than I'll
ever have). I used to call her
periodically with some arcane
question about the original
library building, for which we
no longer have the architectur
al drawings. Frances knew the
location of every drain, every
pipe, every switch. "Honey,"
she always said, "what are you
going to do when I'm not here
anymore?"
"My point exactly," I used to
tell her. "Don't go anywhere."
The reason I called her
Frances — this dignified and
elegant woman who was 40
years my senior — is that when
I first came to work at the
library, I asked her what she
preferred to be called, Mrs.
Griffin or Frances, and she
said "Frances," adding that she
wanted to be "one of the girls."
And the reason she knew
A Few
Facts, A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
so much about the original
library building is that she
was working in it when it
was being expanded, and she
showed such an avid interest
in the construction details that
one of the contractors devel
oped quite a crush on her. He
was dumbfounded (disbeliev
ing, really, I'm told) when he
was informed that she was in
her eighties. By then, she knew
pretty much all there was to
know about both the old and
the new parts of the library.
This came in mighty handy
when we decided to observe
her 92nd birthday with a sur
prise party. (She had threat
ened me with sudden death if
I gave her a retirement party,
but she had never mentioned
birthdays.) More than 100
well-wishers managed to slip
quietly into the darkened
meeting room while Frances
was at the front desk, and I
knew just how to get her back
there without arousing her
suspicion. "Frances," I said, "I
can't get the meeting room
lights turned on. Could you go
see if you can figure out what's
wrong?"
"Just let me get my tools,"
she said, grabbing a flashlight
and a screwdriver and trudg
ing toward the door. I watched
as she opened it, the lights all
went on, and a throng of peo
ple shouted, "Surprise!" She
smiled, turned and shook her
finger at me, and said, "You're
lucky I didn't have a heart
attack!"
Actually, I'd been guarding
her health by mixing up an
occasional batch of margaritas,
her favorite libation. I'm sure
that's what strengthened her
heart. Once she moved out
to Peachtree Village, I used to
smuggle my blender in once in
a while and whiz up our spe
cial recipe, just to give us both
a thrill — and a laugh.
We had many fine adven
tures over the years, and I can't
believe she's gone, but you
can't keep a woman like Frances
down here forever. I imagine
God is mighty glad to have her
back; I know I would be.
Susan Harper is director of the
Commerce Public Library.
Remembering International Paper
If you're about my age (I'm a
sexagenarian — look it up), you
may remember a long-running
series of magazine advertise
ments sponsored by the
International Paper Company.
The headline ran: "Send me a
man who reads." Back in the
sixties you used to see those
ads continuously — sort of like
the Microsoft ads of today.
I suppose they appealed to
me because I did like to read
and the ads seemed to hold
out great promise of future
employment.
Even as a kid I used to won
der what exactly IP was pro
moting. Obviously, if you had
a nation of readers you would
have a nation of books and
magazines and that would
stimulate the market for paper,
which is what they sold. But
I always believed that the
company had a higher goal
in mind. I imagined (and still
do) that they thought a well-
read man (or woman: this
was in the age when we didn't
explicitly have to name women
to assure them of their inclu
sion) would have a breadth of
Views
In
Rotation
BY WILLIS COOK
knowledge that made him a
more valuable employee.
Those advertisements are
long-since gone. I suppose
promoting the use of paper
became unnecessary once
personal computers became
popular. And in the years since,
I have sometimes wondered
if anyone cared if a poten
tial employee read. I seem to
remember an anecdote about
Jimmy Carter when he was in
the Navy being interviewed
by Adm. Hyman Rickover.
Rickover asked the names of
the books Carter had read in
the past six months or so. The
question caught Carter off
guard and he couldn't remem-
ber any, but after the interview
he took the trouble to send the
list to Rickover in a letter. And
I think he got the job.
Just the other day there was
a newspaper article about the
personal libraries assembled
by some of the greatest lead
ers of American business.
You wouldn't think that the
CEO of a prominent technol
ogy company would have a
library devoted to the works
of William Blake, but there is
one. And the ex-president of a
leading clothing manufacturer
has a library of books on Asian
culture.
You don't think of company
presidents, particularly those of
billion-dollar companies, hav
ing the leisure time to read for
pleasure and certainly not to
assemble a specialized library,
but apparently it is more com
mon than you expect. Now I
wonder, which came first: the
business success or the library?
The newspaper writer seemed
to think the books made the
man and I think so too. None
Please Turn To Page 5A
It's Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Wilson Backed
Wrong Group
In Nov. 6 Election
The biggest loser in last week's
city election could well be Ward 2
Councilman Donald Wilson.
He wasn't on the ballot, but he
backed all the men who lost, aligning
himself with the Commerce-Jackson
Concerned Citizens, who not only
lost, but lost badly last week.
Wilson is seen by those who won
Nov. 6 as a turncoat who sold his
political soul to a group of people
who want to see Commerce's govern
ment return to the laughingstock it
was in the 1970s. By backing those
working against Mayor Charles L.
Hardy Jr. and Councilmen Mark
Fitzpatrick, Bob Sosebee and Richard
Massey, the long-time Ward 2 coun
cilman has burned his bridges.
Mayor Pro Tem Dusty Slater
and Ward 1 Councilman Wayne
Gholston, both elected two years ago
as candidates of the "concerned citi
zens," are well-regarded by the other
council members and city staff and
are respected and trusted, although
there have been some strong dis
agreements. But by backing those
seeking regime change, Wilson has
lost what respect Hardy, Fitzpatrick,
Sosebee and Massey might have once
had for him. He's now busy trying to
convince them that he was on their
side all along, but they know better.
Ironically, after being recalled for
his support for Paul Vickery years
ago, Wilson put his political career
at risk a second time in part for the
same man. Names are already being
mentioned of candidates who might
beat Wilson in Ward 2 in two years.
That should be taken with a large
grain of salt because no one can fore
see what the political climate will be
in two years, but the Nov. 6 election
results suggest that the newly-re
elected incumbents could strengthen
their hold on city government in
the 2009 elections. At best, it will be
2011 before the citizens group can
improve its standing, and it may well
lose one or all of its current council-
men in two years.
Wilson can't count on the
Concerned Citizens for much help.
They lost all credibility by promot
ing a discredited has-been to the
most important elected office in the
city. How can they continue to claim
to have the best interest of the city at
heart when their candidate for mayor
has such a history?
Wilson is known for changing his
position with every new breath of
political wind, but turning against
long-time fellow councilmen was
a gamble he took and lost. As an
advocate of the citizens group, he's
lost respect and trust from at least
three city councilmen and the mayor,
and he can't depend upon support
from his former benefactors, whose
influence has proven fleeting. If he
continues to try to cozy up with
the winners, Wilson even stands to
alienate the Concerned Citizens, who
certainly won't appreciate his most
recent change of sides.
Politics is a matter of building
coalitions. Such groups ebb and flow
with the tides of time and issues, but
you can only change sides so many
times without losing all credibility.
The councilman from Ward 2 has
shifted his allegiance one too many
times. He bet on the wrong players
Nov. 6 and he'll spend at least the
next two years on the outside look
ing in.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The Commerce
News. He can be reached at mark@main-
streetnews.com.