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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS. WEDNESDAY. APRIL 23. 2008
mion
Editorial Views
Now It’s Gasoline We
Must Learn To Conserve
Gasoline prices surpassed $3.50 a gallon last week.
Is there anybody who doubts $4 per gallon is a pos
sibility by the end of the year?
There is little doubt that the cost of fuel affects
most Americans. They see their disposable income
reduced every time they fill up their vehicles, they
note the increased cost of groceries and the inflation
ary trend in other prices, much of which is related
to fuel costs.
The presidential candidates are starting to point
fingers. Congress wants to hold hearings and there is
a proposal to suspend the 18.5-cent federal gasoline
tax as a stop-gap measure.
But just as Georgians learned to use less water last
fall when the drought became severe, Americans
must learn to use less fuel. Other factors affect
price, but the laws of supply and demand cannot be
avoided. Our demand for oil is at the heart of the
fuel prices.
On the positive side, the fuel prices themselves
may accomplish what the U.S. government has been
afraid to do for years — force more efficient vehicles.
If Detroit is still stuck on its model of bigger, less effi
cient vehicles, it'll suffer the consequences. Toyota's
climb to dominance is only in part due to its vehi
cles' reliability; part of the reason is Toyota vehicles
are more fuel-efficient — as are other imports. While
Detroit turns out some high-mileage vehicles, its
bread and butter offerings are still the gas-hogging
sport utility vehicle and pickup trucks.
Getting 16 miles per gallon (mpg) instead of 20
may sound like real progress in Detroit — a 25 percent
increase — but if fuel prices continue to climb, most
drivers will make the transition to more efficient —
yes, smaller — cars. Cheap fuel, like unlimited water,
is a thing of the past, and future decisions about
buying vehicles will be influenced accordingly.
Old habits die hard, but it's time we learned to
be more efficient users of gasoline and other fuels.
The lesson may be more palatable if learned in the
market than if forced upon us by a whim of the gov
ernor. The knowledge learned last fall that we can get
by with less water will come in handy as the drought
continues. When we finally accept the need to con
serve fossil fuels, that will serve us well too.
Lack Of Recycling A
Shame In Jackson County
Those who participated in the Great American
Cleanup last week by removing litter from the
county's roads were reminded of a truth. As a soci
ety, we're slobs. The amount of trash we toss care
lessly from our cars is an indictment.
But the refuse itself provides another reminder the
Saturday before Earth Day: Jackson County fails its
citizens and the environment by offering no com
prehensive recycling plan.
The volume of plastic and glass bottles tossed out
(not just on the road, but also into proper waste con
tainers) is astounding. Plastic and glass, along with
newsprint, cardboard and other paper goods should
be recycled as a matter of policy.
Having a full recycling plan won't eliminate road
side litter, but it will reduce the amount of landfill
space we use, it will play a role in reducing energy
consumption and the emission of greenhouse gases
and it will remind citizens of our responsibility to
protect the earth against our own excesses.
As officials wax effusively about our growth
opportunities, let them also consider the need to
recycle the wastes of that growing population. It's
shameful that the tenth fastest growing county in
America has no comprehensive recycling program.
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 MARSHALL Office Manager
MERRILL BAGWELL 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 dis
counted $2 for senior citizens.
POSTMASTER send address changes to THE COMMERCE
NEWS, P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, GA, 30549.
The price of gasoline is so
high I find I can no longer afford to
travel down life's highway.
The Real Master Gardener
Last Sunday may have been
the most perfectly beautiful
day I've experienced in my
nearly 13 years of living here.
Certainly it was ideal for gar
dening: cool breeze, warm sun,
and inspiration everywhere
in the form of blossoms and
blooms tossing their heads in
the lovely light wind.
So I put on my oldest T-shirt,
my most disreputable pedal-
pushers (known these days, I
believe, as Capris? — though
they didn't look like Capris on
me!), and my naturally soil-
colored sneakers, and ventured
forth.
At such times I invariably
conjure the image of a beloved
figure from my childhood: our
old next-door neighbor, Mr.
Straus. Austrian and urban by
birth, Mr. Straus had grown
up in an apartment, and I'm
not sure he ever figured out
what to do with a yard. But he
appeared each Sunday after
noon, opening the garage door
and emerging in a gardening
outfit of his own: dress shoes,
high black socks, Bermuda
shorts, and an undershirt. Thus
clad for action, he stood in the
driveway and mildly surveyed
his territory, his gentle face
wearing a smile even in repose,
and his hands at his lower
back as if it already ached in
advance just from thinking
A Few
Facts, A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
about yard work.
None of us ever saw Mr.
Straus actually do anything
except putter — and yet the
grass got mowed (or didn't
grow; we weren't sure which).
It made one think of the
Sermon on the Mount: "Look
at the birds of the field, for
they sow not, neither do they
reap ... Consider the lilies of
the field: they toil not; neither
do they spin..."
And that was my experi
ence last Sunday. I was gaz
ing around at a yard I hadn't
touched in 18 months, and a
garden that I fully expected
would show the ravages of
drought and neglect to a heart
breaking extent. Really, I'd
been afraid to look.
And it's true, I did have to
pull up a couple of rhodo
dendron bushes that had suc
cumbed to heat and lack of
water. But all that seemed to
do was open up a little breath
ing room for the astilbes, the
lamb's ear, the rose of Sharon
and gardenia bushes, and the
hydrangeas, all fresh as a daisy,
so to speak, as if they'd just
had a nice long rest from my
inept ministrations of years
past. The azaleas were burst
ing with blooms — so much
so that their subtle perfume
was clearly perceptible. The
dogwoods wore their clouds
of white flowers with gentle
grace. There were trees, literally
trees, of honeysuckle, and the
huge lorepetalum at the corner
of the house was covered with
a deep pink fringe of flowers.
Without my pruning, all of
these plants had been shaped
by Mother Nature into grace
ful arches and grown to perfect
heights. I was afraid to touch a
thing. Was this what Mr. Straus
had seen each week? I did put
in some Bulgarian geraniums
a friend had given me the day
before, thinking that perhaps
even Mother Nature couldn't
grow things in a bucket
(although I'm not so sure
about that anymore). I carted
off the extinct rhododen
drons, potted a few impatiens,
watered the sedum, and called
it a day — a lovely day — in
Mother Nature's garden.
Susan Harper is director of the
Commerce Public Library.
Must Campaigns Be So Mean?
As the political battle
between the two front running
potential Democratic presi
dential candidates continues
to bewilder saner Americans,
it becomes increasingly clear
that we have only begun to
hear and bear the fight bound
to come when one of the two
Democrats finds him or her
self in direct opposition to
the Republican candidate for
President.
Other than this being a
historic election when two
minority representatives have
an opportunity to become the
first of their gender or race to
become president, the hopefuls
and their campaigns might be
better served in history if all
of their rhetoric were buried in
some impenetrable vault, and
their footnote in history read
"They also ran."
Please take note. This is not
a condemnation of one politi
cal party, but of both major
parties. I am not alone in my
dismay. More than a few baby
boomers and post-baby boom
ers with whom I have chatted
have joined me in side-to-side
Views
Rotation
BY CLAIE GAUS
head wagging when the subject
of the approaching election
arises. Has any election had so
many negatives attached to it?
The personality, character, age,
gender, race, spouses, friends
and religion of each candidate
have been exposed in any pejo
rative manner the researchers
have been able to uncover, and
have made it a matter of public
record. Yet, these indignities
heaped on the candidates will
be carried into the most digni
fied office any person can hold
in this country. Does taking
the oath of office in some mag
ical way erase the "sins" of the
winner and his or her accusers?
At what point in history did
character assassination become
more important than philo
sophical view? At what point
in history did it become neces
sary to raise such an obscene
amount of money that its
consequence taints the validity
of the statement "No promises
made to the donors?" The list
of shady and illicit implica
tions of running for office on
a large scale could cover several
pages, but no one should point
out problems without present
ing some solutions.
I propose that instead of an
election, we have a lottery.
Elections have been called
unfair (delegates not recog
nized, ballots not counted,
hanging chads, etc.), so by
having a slate of nominees
whose qualifications have been
verified draw lots for the office
they desire, think of the time,
money and energy that could
be saved. Think of all the
speeches and debates we would
not have to hear. Those candi
dates who are supposed to be
serving in the Senate represent-
Please Turn To Page 5A
It’s Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Bottled Water:
Marketing Trumps
Common Sense
The growth of the bottled water
industry is an example of how mar
keting trumps common sense. It is
also an environmental disaster.
Yet, if you look in our refrigerator,
you'd find a half dozen containers of
bottled water. It's convenient, immi
nently portable and non-fattening.
Actually, Barbara drinks the bottled
water. I keep two glass bottles filled
with Commerce tap water for my
use — no leaching of chemicals from
plastic for me, thank you.
What the bottled water industry has
done is to create the perception that
its product is more pure, healthier
and tastier than tap water. It's a huge
commercial success story, another
example of skillful marketing to a
gullible public.
It isn't safer, although during
the two weeks a year when the
Commerce reservoir "turns over," the
bottled water people would win the
taste test.
Forty percent of bottled water is the
same as my bottled water. It's filled
directly from the tap with city water,
except you pay for it at a rate rivaling
that of jet fuel.
It's intriguing that consumers who
complain about the price of gasoline
will spend $1.25 for 16 ounces of
water when for $1 they could buy
16,000 ounces of municipal tap
water. What the consumer is doing
is paying $1.24 for the bottle, cap,
label, advertising and shipping, and
less than a penny for the water itself.
And it's no better tasting than most
tap water in America.
(Most lousy tap water, if put in a
pitcher and allowed to sit for a few
hours, loses tastes associated with
chlorine or other chemicals used to
treat it.)
But the real problem is the plastic
containers. Every day, 60 million
plastic water bottles are produced,
sold and put in landfills. Soft drinks
are bottled in similar containers, and
many other products are also pack
aged in plastic, so it's not fair to con
demn one segment of the bottling
industry. They all contribute; the bot
tled water business just exacerbates
the problem due to the popularity of
the product.
Those containers, which can be re
sealed, make water as convenient and
portable (and as expensive) as soft
drinks, giving the public for the first
time a healthier option for quench
ing its thirst.
So, drinking tap water is both bet
ter for the environment and easier
on the pocketbook. The good news
is that drinking bottled water is far
healthier than drinking soft drinks
and energy drinks, and just as expen
sive in some cases.
All of those products have the
same by-product, a plastic bottle
that could be but is not likely to be
recycled and that requires imported
oil for manufacturing. Those bottles
litter our roadsides, fill our landfills,
contribute to our trade deficit and
pollute our waterways because we're
too sorry to properly dispose of
them.
Here's to municipal water. It's
cheaper, as safe or safer, and doesn't
contribute to the degradation of the
environment. If you insist on putting
it in a plastic bottle for convenience
and portability, please properly dis
pose of the container when you're
done.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached at
mark@mainstreetnews. com.