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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS. WEDNESDAY. TANUARY 2. 2008
mion
Editorial Views
Some Resolutions For
Our Elected Officials
Some New Year's Resolutions for our elected offi
cials:
•Resist simple-sounding solutions for complex
problems. They're problems because of their com
plexity, i.e. restructuring the state or federal tax
codes with one "simple" flat tax.
•Don't overreact to the drought. Georgia needs
more reservoirs, but you can't build for a 100-year
drought. The best way to get through the next
drought is to learn to be more efficient with the
water we have.
• Consider the possibility that people in the oppo
site political party can have good ideas too, and
when they do, support them. No party has cornered
the market on good — or goofy — ideas. Politicians
whose every motive is to belittle the opposing party
don't just look small, they are small.
•Protect the Constitution. The Bush
Administration has worked overtime to erode our
rights from habeas corpus to illegal search and
seizure. Thousands of Americans died to earn and
protect those rights and we ought not to let this
president continue to take them away.
•Protect the environment. The United States
should not be a bystander or an obstacle in the
fight against global warming. It's a shame when
states have to sue the federal government to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
• End the war in Iraq. It's an illegitimate and unjus
tifiable war that has killed thousands of Americans,
tens of thousands of Iraqis. It is shameful to waste
the lives of our young men and women in such an
immoral foreign intervention.
• Balance the budget. It is also shameful to finance
today's government on the backs of tomorrow's
taxpayers who will pay the debt we're rapidly accru
ing. It is, in effect, taxation without representation,
because those who will have to pay it off had no say
in the creation of the debt.
Lots To Hate About
Hate Crimes Legislation
Legislation before the General Assembly to affix
special punishment to crimes that are determined to
stem from the perpetrators' hatred of the victim is a
study in confusion.
First, there is a legitimate argument that says the
motive behind a crime is irrelevant. A murder victim
is just as dead regardless of the assailant's motives.
Is one reason for committing a crime deserving of
more punishment than the next?
If you can get past that conundrum, the major
stumbling block of the legislation appears to be the
determination as to which groups of people deserve
protection from hate crime. Blacks, women, other
minorities, Jews and Muslims are in; gays and lesbi
ans are the sticking point. Conservative legislators
oppose giving protection to homosexuals lest they
somehow appear to compromise their belief that
homosexuality is a sin.
The whole exercise is governmental silliness. The
punishment for assault or murder ought not to be
determined by one's racial or ethnic views, but on
the harm done to the victim and to the laws of the
state. And what would it say about Georgia if the
General Assembly — by its new hate crime legislation
— were to declare that it's less offensive to commit a
crime against a gay or a lesbian than against a Jew, a
Muslim or a Southern Baptist?
The best thing the General Assembly can do is drop
the whole matter. Creating separate laws for different
groups of citizens violates the fundamental principle
that we are all equal under the law.
Editorials, unless otherwise noted, are written by Mark
Beardsley. He can be reached by e-mail at mark@main-
streetnews.com.
The Commerce News
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Ralph feels that making Yew Year’s resolutions
implies that one has room for improvement.
Work On In 2008
I just love the turn into the
new year, and welcome it
annually as if I were having a
whole new start in life: a clean
slate, a wipeout of all past mis
takes — of what the poet Robert
Bly calls "the long black bag
we drag behind us." Mine is
too heavy to pull, at this point.
I sometimes feel like the ghost
of Jacob Marley, wearing "the
chains I forged in life."
But on New Year's Day I wake
up thinking I can do better,
start fresh. The very air feels
like champagne, and all things
are possible! (For at least a day
or so.)
With that in mind, I have a
few things I'd like us to tackle
— as humankind, I mean, and
not necessarily in the following
order, but just starting any
where, here's the short list.
Umbrellas could be better,
don't you think? I am forever
finding myself needing three
or four hands to deal with
them plus everything else I'm
carrying, and even then I get
wet. I appreciate the fact that
the Totes people have finally
made one that not only goes
up at the push of a button, but
comes down the same way. But
I think we can do better, con
sidering that umbrellas have
been around for about 1,700
years. I want one I can wear
as an extension of my purse —
perhaps one that is activated
by verbal commands. And I
want it to collapse one side at
a time, so I can get into my car
without getting soaked.
Pie plates, too, have a brighter
future, I feel sure. The pie is
even older than the umbrella,
so by now there ought to be a
way to slice and serve one of
mine without having it tear
up. I'm tired of being consoled
with the notion that it tastes
just as good when it's scat
tered about the plate in pieces.
I mean, maybe it does, but
it doesn't look just as good.
Fortunately, presentation is not
everything. I'm waiting for
some smart pie-loving engineer
to invent a gizmo that lifts
perfect pie-slices out of the pie
plate.
Perhaps this pie wizard could
also invent sticky thread. I'm
not big on sewing, so once
I've hemmed something, or
sewn a button on, I like it
to stay sewn. The thread I'm
envisioning would seem per
fectly normal as you sew, but
would then develop a sticky
quality that would make it
cling to the garment and hold
things in place. So if you tore
part of the hem, say, the whole
thing wouldn't unravel; there
would be just one little place
to mend.
I'd like for my car to tell me
what's wrong with it, too. I
don't want one that calls the
dealership and tattles on me —
just one that says, "Yo, Susan!
My frattersnatter needs chang
ing, and I could use a lube job
this week or next."
As for world peace, I'd like
for all heads of state to be
required to attend Ruler School
once a year, take intensive
courses, do lab work and pass
an exam. And we citizens
could all become bilingual,
skilled in our own language
and in a universal language
like Esperanto that would
belong to no one and every
one. Well, as I said, this is the
short list. Happy New Year!
Susan Harper is executive
director of the Commerce Public
Library.
BY SUSAN HARPER
A Few
Facts, A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
Keeping A Promise To Herself
In this season usually dedicat
ed to making resolutions, my
thoughts go back to resolutions
I have made either formally
or informally, and if they have
been kept. The formal resolu
tions or promises made at the
time of marriage, confirmation,
allegiance to my country, and
the baptism of my children,
I have done my best to keep.
The others, except for one, I
do not recall or have chosen to
forget because I failed so miser
ably to keep them.
The one exception was a
promise I made to myself
when I was 6 years old. I was
so enthralled with the idea of
learning that I promised myself
I would be a teacher when
I grew up. I never wavered
from that promise, although
the route taken to reach that
goal was a circuitous 30-year
trip. The trip began in Rhode
Island, in a one-room school-
house built in 1877. It had out
door plumbing, a wood stove
for heating, two cloak rooms
(one for boys, one for girls),
two entrances (one for boys,
one for girls), no lunch facili-
Views
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BY CLAIR GAUS
ties, and four grades in that
one room with one teacher.
It also had the best education
under the best teacher I have
ever had, Miss Foley.
If some of you have had occa
sion to speak to me, you might
have noticed my dialect is not
that of the South, particularly
Georgia. Blame Miss Foley for
that. She was a young, dedicat
ed teacher who found herself
with a freckled, non-English
speaking first grade student. I
was not alone. Our small com
munity was made up of many
first-generation American stu
dents.
Some parents came as refu
gees from Poland and the
Ukraine. Some parents had
been left by the fishing fleets
from Portugal when the fish
ing for cod went bad. Some
parents came from French
Canada to work in the mills
of New England. None of us at
that time could speak English
well, but we all knew enough
of each other's languages to
run from household to house
hold and have conversations
with members of the families
in Polish, Slavic, Portuguese,
French or English. If this seems
incredulous, remember that
the time was The Depression;
there was limited access to
radio, no television, and pock
ets of nationalities with their
own newspapers, churches
and cultural organizations.
Therefore, it was entirely pos
sible for a child who had heard
only one language spoken in
the home to go school not
knowing English.
Enter Miss Foley. She took it
upon herself to have all of us
learn to speak Yankee English.
Not Yankee as in the North and
Please Turn To Page 5A
It’s Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Some Headlines
To Be Written
During New Year
It is a tradition for all-wise journal
ists to peer into their crystal balls at
this time of the year to make predic
tions about what the year will bring.
My crystal doesn't work half the
time, and when it does, it's wrong,
so instead of trying to convince you
I know what's going to happen, I'll
give you the headlines and stories for
2008 that I'd like to write:
• State Climatologist Admits
Being Wrong About Drought:
After record rainfall for the first four
months of the year and mandates by
the EPD requiring outdoor water
ing every day, State Climatologist
David Stooksbury concedes that
the drought of 2007 did not, as he
predicted, carry over into 2008. "It
turned out we had El Nino, not La
Nina," he said. "My bad." Asked to
comment, Gov. Sonny Perdue stated:
"Take a longer shower."
• Drunk Driver Admits Having
Three Beers: Commerce police were
stunned to pull over a driver for
weaving in the road and driving the
wrong way on South Elm Street who
actually admitted to having more
than two beers. "I'm sloshed," he
said. "No contest."
• New Tax Assessments Go Out
Friday: The Jackson County Board
of Tax Assessors will send out new
assessments this week, reflecting
a 9.4 percent reduction in prop
erty values due to the mortgage
crisis. The Jackson County Board of
Commissioners announced that it
will lower its tax rate accordingly.
• First Painless Tattoo Remover
Deployed At BJC: Local medical
officials say the device, which can
remove formerly permanent tattoos
painlessly and safely, is the only one
of its kind in the country. The hospi
tal already reports a backlog of 489-
procedures, which cost $3,000 a pop.
• Missing Water Found: The
Jackson County Water and Sewerage
Authority located more than 500
million gallons of "lost and unac
counted for water" that had been on
its books for years. "It was in Arcade
all along," an embarrassed Chairman
Hunter Bicknell explained. "We've
got it all back now, with interest."
• Public Boat Ramp Opens At
Reservoir: The Upper Oconee Basin
Water Authority held a ribbon-cut
ting ceremony at its boat ramp, erect
ed after three years of discussion at a
cost of only $1.2 million. Fishermen
must apply for launching privileges,
and must be cleared individually
on each visit by the Operations and
Recreation committees, as well as by
EPD and Homeland Security. "We
keep our promises," said Chairman
Melvin Davis.
• Skateboard Festival Planned
For Downtown: Hasco Craver,
executive director of the Downtown
Development Authority, announced
the three-day event, during which
pedestrians will be banned from the
downtown sidewalks.
• Cops Confiscate $4 Million On
1-85: Commerce Police Chief John
Gaissert announced the seizure of a
Brinks truck during a routine traffic
stop. "The tag decal was obscured,
so the officer pulled him over." The
driver expressed dismay about the
sacks of cash found in the back of
the truck during a search subsequent
to arrest.
Whatever the stories are, I'm sure
2008 will be an interesting year.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached at
mark@mainstreetnews. com.