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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS. WEDNESDAY. APRIL 30. 2008
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Editorial Views
What’s The Best Course
For Hospital Authority?
With the Jackson County Board of Commissioners
split over financing a new BJC Hospital, and con
vinced that there is no practical choice other than
replacing the current facility, the BJC Medical Center
Authority is looking for a partner.
That offers both opportunities and concerns.
The authority has correctly concluded that the
most important issue is that the area keep a viable
hospital to meet the health care needs of residents
of Banks and Jackson counties. It would prefer to
replace the current facility, but with that not likely to
occur, the only other option is to convince another
medical group — for profit or not-for-profit — to
come into the area.
The concern is the replacement of a hospital owned
by the taxpayers of Banks and Jackson counties with
a facility in which there may be no public owner
ship. Who will answer to the public? How will the
public respond to losing its facility?
Those questions will be answered if and when BJC
finds a partner, someone willing to build that new
hospital and meet all of the conditions the authority
hopes to impose — or enough to get its blessing.
Coincidentally, Dr. James Bouchard appears to
be ready to start his medical complex. He told the
Commerce Planning Commission Monday night
that he hopes to begin moving dirt in six to eight
weeks on two large medical buildings, a hospice, a
pharmacy and more. Bouchard's continuing offer
of a hospital site — free to a nonprofit facility that
meets his conditions — could come into play with
the BJC project.
It's too early in the process to see what the hos
pital authority's best course of action will be, but
BJC Hospital is a crucial entity for Commerce and
Jackson and Banks counties, and its "replacement"
will not be taken lightly. The ultimate goal remains
to have a quality hospital in Commerce for the wel
fare of the community and its citizens. We'd like to
see the continuation of a publicly-owned hospital,
but unless the political situation changes — and it
could with an election upcoming — the BJC Medical
Center Authority has little recourse but to look else
where for help.
Time For Spring
Cleaning In Commerce
Spring brings a welcome rebirth in nature, as trees,
shrubs and grass put on new growth. Most lawns
look their best right about now.
Code enforcement officials in Commerce point
out, however, that spring growth often overwhelms
property owners, who let their yards get out of con
trol — and makes them subject to citation under the
city's cleanliness of premises ordinance.
If your property has been neglected, now's the
time to clean it up — while the weather is pleasant
and before you're forced to under the ordinance.
Editorials, unless otherwise noted, are written by Mark
Beardsley. He can be reached by e-mail at mark@main-
streetnews.com.
LETTERS POLICY
The Commerce News reserves space on its opinion
page for readers to express their views on current
issues. The News welcomes comments in response
to events in the news and to editorials or columns
expressing opinions.
Send letters to: Letters to the Editor, The
Commerce News, P.O. Box 459, Commerce,
GA, 30529 or e-mail them at commercenews@main-
streetnews.com. Letters must be signed and have a
phone number for verification. They should be of
general interest to the public.
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.
Let’s see. I can vote for Obama or Hillary, or McCain, if I
can afford the gasoline to drive to the polls.
Making A Spectacle Of Herself
To those of you who may
have seen me lurching in and
out of the library lately and
stomping on the ground as if
I were killing spiders, I want
to say that I have not gone any
crazier than usual — I just can't
always see where I'm going,
now that I have new glasses. I
can see straight ahead, actually,
and I'll think I'm doing fine,
and then suddenly the ground
will seem to drop away, or
ripple like a cartoon carpet. I'll
be leaving a friend's house, for
instance, and I'll think, "Wow
— I didn't know there was a
step here!" or "When did they
re-landscape?" And there isn't;
they didn't. It's me.
This whole adventure
began at the library, when
a patron — I'll call him Jon
Gable — ordered some books
from other libraries. As the
books came in, I consistently
misread the printout and put
them on hold for 'Jan Coble.'
Meanwhile, Mr. Gable kept call
ing to ask, "Have my books
come in yet?" It took some
clever sleuthing by library
staffers to sort this out and
get Mr. Gable and his books
together, and we all knew I was
the one at fault, because I'd
been going around wondering
aloud who Jan Coble was.
I'd also been having to get
my eye within an inch or two
of a driver's license in order
to read it when I was register-
A Few
Facts, A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
ing someone for a new library
card. I had to resist the tempta
tion to whip out a magnifying
glass, which I thought would
look as if I was suspicious of
the license and thought it was
fake.
Obviously, clearly, it was
time for new glasses — past
time, really — but more than
that, it was time, alas, for the
dreaded bifocals, those time-
honored symbols of age, a
veritable announcement — if
an announcement is needed —
that one has boarded the old
downhill slide.
I'm happy to say that mine
are the non-obvious kind. The
only way you can tell they're
bifocals is by watching me
walk around. I have to put
my chin on my chest in order
to see the real, solid ground
instead of that rippling stuff,
and I have to throw my head
back to read anything closer
than five feet.
The first two days were the
hardest. I considered taking
Dramamine, but I feared that
would just make me sleepy
while I was reeling around,
and might cause me to take
an unscheduled nap on the
asphalt in some parking lot.
Along the way, though, I
started noticing that I didn't
have to take my glasses off in
order to read a menu, find a
book on the library's shelves,
or have a conversation. I
noticed, too, that taking them
off was a hard habit to break.
I'd spent years wrecking the
frames of my glasses, so that
the earpieces shot off in oppo
site directions and flopped
around in a state of lamentable
dereliction. Now I'm having to
learn to leave the glasses alone
and move my head or my eyes
instead. It works wonderfully
when I'm driving.
My favorite thing about all of
this, though, is how clever our
brains are. All by themselves,
I'm told, they figure the whole
thing out, and if you can get
through the first few days or
weeks without mishap, you're
home free. I'm in day four as
I write this, and doing better,
but I still clutch the railing
when I'm going down stairs, or
take a step down when there
isn't one. Look out! Here I
come!
Susan Harper is director of the
Commerce Public Library.
The Lure Of Advertising
The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution ran an op-ed
article recently in which the
author complained (oops,
"opined") that everyone in the
world was to blame for our
obesity epidemic except the
individuals who eat too much.
Fast-food shops are guilty, as
are soft-drink manufacturers,
restaurants and, of course,
advertisers.
Advertising must be a pow
erful thing, because we are
seemingly hopeless in the face
of it. If RBM of Atlanta runs an
ad telling you that you should
have a Mercedes, well, you
simply must buy one, right?
Certainly, in the United
States, advertising is ubiqui
tous. Between the billboards,
radio, television, movies,
magazines, direct mail and the
Internet, we must collectively
be exposed to a billon ads a
day. But are they really effec
tive? Don't we become accus
tomed to them pretty quickly?
My wife and I drive up and
down 1-85 all the time and we
Views
In
Rotation
BY WILLIS COOK
must see a dozen billboards
for the Pendergrass Flea Market
("Georgia's Largest!"), and
also for Cafe Risque in Lavonia
(Topless! Topless!). But we
have never patronized either of
those establishments.
The reason I am immune to
advertisements is that I had
my trial by fire in childhood
— and I got burned. When I
was eight or nine yards old,
no self-respecting breakfast
cereal manufacturer would
think of omitting the toy offer
on the back of the package.
For 75 cents and two box tops,
you could have a Real Flying
Saucer, a Magic Decoder Ring
(with whistle) or an Actual
Working Submarine. I remem
ber those specifically, because I
bought them all.
Unless your home is a board
inghouse, it takes forever (in
child days) to eat your way
through two boxes of cereal
— and your mom won't let
you cut the box apart until
the cereal is gone. The illustra
tion on the package is never
a photograph; it is always an
artist's rendition. An artist can
play with perspective the way
a camera can't. The offer for
the submarine showed a plastic
model at least 12 or 14 inches
long, with wonderful detail
and two (very small) excited
children in the background.
Even in the 1950s we had
postal service and a letter
could get just about anywhere
in the country in a week. So,
I sent in the money and box
tops and waited — and waited.
Every day I would go by the
Please Turn To Page 5A
It's Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
An Interesting
Race Ahead For
BOC District 2
Chas Hardy's decision to chal
lenge Jody Thompson for the Post 2
seat on the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners adds a little life to
what had been shaping up as a color
less local election.
Having worked for his father, Mayor
Charles L. "Buzzie" Hardy Jr. for the
first 12 years of my newspaper career,
I watched Chas grow up, changing
from a precocious child, to a teenag
er, young adult and now a respected
and liked father of two — who also
lives across the street from me. He's
got a good sense of humor, has two
cute kids, keeps his lawn mowed and
his Labrador retriever stays in his
yard. What more could you ask of a
neighbor?
Chas is the last person I expected
to run against Thompson, but he
comes by it naturally. His father got
into politics out of fear that no one
would stand up to run against Mac
Barber, who was seeking re-election
after a disastrous two years as mayor.
Now Chas tosses his hat into the ring
out of fear that nobody would other
wise run against Thompson. Is genet
ics at work here?
He certainly has the resume of pub
lic service. He's young (OK, more and
more people are young relative to
me), but not too young. He's got the
intellect, he's had some leadership
experience — he's a good candidate.
But don't ask me his chances. I had
an inkling his father would whip
Paul Vickery pretty badly for mayor
last fall, and turned out to be right,
but my record at predicting elections
is no better than a coin toss. As I
write this (Monday), there is specu
lation that Tommy Stephenson will
enter the race, and who knows what
other potential candidates are out
there, but at least we have competi
tion for the District 2 seat. As of last
Thursday, I hadn't heard any men
tion of opposition for Thompson.
Shows how much I know.
(A disclosure here: MainStreet
Newspapers is my employer.
Candidates running without opposi
tion don't buy much advertising, so
the company much prefers a spirited
local contest to an uncontested race.
We would actually like to see at least
a dozen candidates for each race,
although those of us on the news
side of the business would rather not
have to talk to any of them.)
It's hard to gauge Thompson's pop
ularity. He upset Sammy Thomason
four years ago as Thomason rode
Harold Fletcher's coattails to defeat
over the courthouse and other issues,
but there was a sense that anyone
could have beaten Thomason, given
the circumstances. You don't hear
too many complaints today about
Thompson's votes; but you don't
hear any strong support for him
either.
Anyway, District 2 should prove to
be a lively race.
+ + + +
Now the war hits home. Sgt. Shaun
J. Whitehead, a former CHS student,
was killed Thursday in Iraq. To my
knowledge, he's the first local soldier
to die in Iraq.
Whether you support the war or
don't is immaterial. A young man
died for his country and for his com
rades, and he deserves our honor and
respect. Whatever happens, however
history judges the war in Iraq, we
owe that to the fallen.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached at
mark@mainstreetnews. com.