Newspaper Page Text
THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. TUNE 11. 2008 - PAGE 5A
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
What’s Important Is What Goes On
Inside The New High School Building
Editor:
I have watched, listened, and
read about the argument over
the design and layout of the new
Commerce High School with
mixed emotions. Sometimes I
have felt that the situation was
humorous, and sometimes I
have felt that the situation was
tragic.
In 1982, when it was time for
my oldest son to enter kinder
garten, my wife put the follow
ing question to me: "Can your
sons get as fine an education
at Commerce in the 1980s and
1990s as you received in the
1950s and 1960s?" I studied the
number of children graduating
in the 1960s and directly enter
ing the University of Georgia,
against the number of children
graduating in the late 1970s and
1980s and directly entering the
University of Georgia. After
wrestling with the question, I
made the decision to send my
children to Athens Academy (a
private school), from kindergar
ten through the twelfth grade.
It is a decision that I have never
regretted. The atmosphere at
a private school is centered
around education and learning.
The reason is because the par
ents are paying for their chil
dren to go to private school, in
addition, to the property taxes
they are paying to the public
schools. Conversely, in many
public high schools, athletics
are stressed first, academics sec
ond, and the arts are last.
I believe I made the cor
rect decision, because both of
my sons went directly to the
University of Georgia, and from
there to law school, and both
of them are currently practic
ing attorneys. My immediate
family has three private school
graduates and one public school
graduate. My brother has also
served as chairman of the
Commerce Board of Education,
so we have had experiences in
both arenas. The Commerce
City Schools can and do pro
vide an adequate education for
those who want to learn. Both
of my nephews were honor
graduates of Commerce High
School. They both went directly
to UGA.
That being said, the debate
over the layout and design of
the proposed new Commerce
High School is much ado about
nothing.
By reading flyers, newspaper
advertisements, The Commerce
News stories, letters to the
editor, and the broadcasts on
Channel 54, it is pretty clear
that there exists a group upset
by the plan for the new high
school. Nobody knows who the
members of "PEACE" are, but
I get the impression that they
have lost sight of the reason the
Commerce Schools exist. While
the "PEACE" group prefers to
stand back and criticize, none
of them will put their name on
the ballot and run for the school
board. There is an old saying,
"If you are not a part of the
solution, then you are a part of
the problem." Most public offi
cials, from the president of the
United States on down, are not
rocket scientists, but they were
elected by the people to do a
job. You must admire them for
running for public office and
getting elected. From personal
experience, I can tell you that if
you want to find out how many
friends you have, run for public
office.
When we are talking about
the design and location of the
school, we are essentially talk
ing about the wrapping on a
Christmas present. The point
is, when it comes to education,
it does not matter as much
what the outside (school build
ing) looks like; what matters is
what goes on inside. The qual
ity of the education that our
children and grandchildren get
is not determined by whether
the school building is one-story
or two-story, whether we have
the old gym or not, it is deter
mined by the efforts of the
parents, teachers, and school
officials, working together to
produce a superior education
for our children.
If the People Excited About
Commerce Education (PEACE)
would put as much effort into
supporting the board of educa
tion in developing advanced
placement courses with hard
teaching, hard discipline, and
a hard business-like approach
to educating our children, as
they have given to complaining
about the size, location, height
of the school building, this
community would be much
better off. For those that are
unhappy, an election occurs
every two years. Put your name
on the ballot or be quiet. The
discussion regarding the school
building is much ado about
nothing.
As the Commerce area contin
ues to grow, new residents locat
ing in this area will primarily be
coming from the Atlanta area.
They will look for schools that
can provide an education equal
to those found in Gwinnett
County and Cobb County. If
Jefferson or Jackson County has
the better academic credentials,
then they will locate in that
school district.
Taking a cue from the people
living at Lake Oconee, I sug
gest that Commerce apply to
become a charter school, stress
ing high academic standards.
A charter school is given much
more flexibility in its admin
istration and in its curriculum
than regular public schools. If
Commerce became an academ
ically oriented charter school,
that would be the first step in
raising the academic standards
and producing the quality edu
cational products our children
need and deserve. Do not let it
be said that by going to a char
ter school for academics that we
can't have a good football team.
If Athens Academy can establish
the type of football program
that it has, there is no reason
why Commerce could not do
the same.
In closing, quit arguing over
the wrapping on the package
and start worrying about what
is in the package.
Greg Perry
Greg Perry is a Commerce attor
ney. He is a graduate of Commerce
High School, was president of the
Class of1966, and participated in
athletic and academic endeavors,
winning numerous honors. He
is chairman of the Commerce
Planning Commission.
— Some Advice To Hasco Craver On When To Have Kids
Cont. from Page 4A
born, it just happens less fre
quently.
Don't worry about waiting
until you are financially secure.
You will learn to be happy with
what you have while working
for what you want. Babies don't
need a lot of stuff — they need
love, food, shelter, hugs and
kisses. They don't care about
the name brand diapers or hav
ing designer bedding for the
crib that they will outgrow in
two to three years.
Let me let you in on a little
secret. You will know when you
are ready. It's sort of like know
ing you want to marry some
one. The time will come when
you want to fill your days with
the responsibility of being a
parent. In the meantime, have
fun with the trying-to-get-preg-
nant part.
Tricia Massey is a stay-at-home
mom, a marketing consultant,
a member of the Downtown
Development Authority and
chairs the Commerce Public
Library's capital fund drive. She
lives in Commerce.
— Officials Worry That Reservoir's Capacity Is Overstated
Cont. from Page 1A
ers and the authority recently
engaged Prime to do the water
resources study, which ultimate
ly resulted in the selection of
three potential sites for a Jackson
County reservoir. The next step is
to select one of the three options,
none of which have been identi
fied.
“Our task is to get the commis
sioners on board,” commented
authority member Alex Bryan,
who predicted that the process
would require “lots of talk, lots of
meeting and a lot of buy-in” that
would keep the authority from
meeting the deadline.
The state made the money
available in response to the
drought, offering to pick up
from 18 to 25 percent of the
costs of water authorities or cit
ies trying to improve their water
sources.
There is growing concern that
the Bear Creek Reservoir will not
be able to provide the amount
of water originally estimated.
The lake was completed in 2002
and was supposed to be able to
produce 51 million gallons per
day (mgd). That figure was later
revised to 58 mgd.
Jackson County hired a con
sultant to analyze the reservoir’s
capacity. The Upper Oconee
Basin Water Authority — of which
Jackson is a member — has asked
its engineering firm, which came
up with the original estimates, to
do the same.
“There may be a divergence
(of opinions). That’s all I’ll say,”
said the authority’s manager, Eric
Klerk.
When the reservoir was built,
it was supposed to provide suffi
cient water (13.5 mgd) to Jackson
County to meet the county’s
needs until 2025. Local officials
now believe that date should be
moved to as early as 2015.
Chairman Hunter Bicknell was
also skeptical that Jackson County
could get a grant application com
pleted by the deadline.
“We can’t do anything without
them buying into this,” he said of
the commissioners. “It will be a
real challenge to have something
that will meet the Aug. 29 dead
line.”
MacPherson pointed out that
regardless of whether it gets a
state grant, the steps in the scope
of services will be necessary to
site and build a reservoir and the
money will have to be spent. He
didn’t make much headway.
“I can’t speak for the BOC, but I
think it’s going to be a hard sell,”
said Bryan, who nonetheless agreed
that the authority should meet with
the commissioners “to see if this is
where they want to go.”
That meeting will take place
Thursday at 5:00. The two groups
had already scheduled a closed
meeting to discuss pending litiga
tion. The proposal will be added
to the agenda.
Authority member Andy
Goodman appeared to feel some
urgency.
“This may be the most impor
tant thing to come up in our
county’s history,” he said. “The
Board of Commissioners knows
the situation... we don’t need talk,
talk, talk, we need action, action,
action.”
Maysville DDA Works To Establish Priorities
By Justin Poole
The new Maysville Downtown
Development Authority listed the
Veterans Park, community clean
up and recording the history of
the town as among issues to be
addressed.
The new DDA held its first meet
ing June 2 and the goals for the
group were among the items dis
cussed.
Other goals included seeking
grants, stimulating pride in the
community, contacting residents
to encourage input in meetings,
setting objectives to overlap with
the city council, working with
Banks and Jackson counties to
garner better working relation
ships, settling issues from the pre
vious DDA, and starting a website
or finding other ways to increase
community involvement.
The city council earlier approved
six residents to serve on the DDA,
Mary Hart, Kay Daniel, Catherine
Daniels, Charles Floyd, Melody
Standi and Marilyn Sherry.
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Appreciates Councilman
For Seeking State Funds
Editor:
When I get my check, it has
withheld "Georgia State Income
Tax" not "Pork Spending."
Kudos to Mr. Sosebee, he
represents Commerce well. I
believe you left out something
about "you stay out of our
business and we'll stay out of
yours." I can't remember word
for word.
I like old sayings like "the
squeaky wheel gets the oil."
Now I remember, "pork " is
one of those words used, like
"spin."
Your Federal, State and Local
taxpayer,
Randy Pinson
Commerce
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