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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS. WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 17. 2008
mion
Editorial Views
Public Safety Should
Be Deciding Factor
The decision by the Commerce Police
Department and Commerce City Council
regarding the creation of a city police
unit certified to conduct Motor Carrier
Compliance inspections of big trucks should
be made strictly from a public safety stand
point.
That is not to say that revenue is not to
be considered. In today's economic climate,
Commerce cannot afford to start a new pro
gram without making sure that there is rev
enue to offset its costs. On the other hand,
no law enforcement effort should be driven
by anticipated revenue.
The proposal to create the new Motor
Carrier Compliance unit comes from the
police department where two major con
cerns are cited: public safety and drug inter
diction.
Those who live and work downtown see
the high number of trucks that go through
every day, 18-wheelers often speeding, in
areas where motorists must back out of
parking spaces, where adults and children
are walking and riding. Safety is a concern.
One of the purported virtues of building the
U.S. 441 bypass was to remove heavy truck
traffic from the downtown, but many trucks
bound to or from 1-85 spurn the bypass for
the quicker route through Commerce.
There are also many heavy trucks on the
road that do not have the required DOT cer
tification. At present, city police cannot stop
them unless there is a traffic violation. Such
a vehicle is highly likely to have a multitude
of safety violations, from faulty tires and
brakes to inadequate sleep for the driver.
Law enforcement officials also say that
the trafficking of drugs and drug money is
increasingly done with large trucks. Part of
the reason is that with fewer law enforce
ment agencies authorized to do DOT-style
stops, the odds of a big truck being pulled
over are less than when transport is by
passenger vehicles. That is a valid consider
ation.
In the end, if the creation of a new police
unit enhances public safety, helps deter
crime and is financially feasible, the city
should proceed. Most citizens will support
the enforcement of laws and the effort of
police to not just apprehend criminals, but
also to deter those who would put the public
at risk by operating unsafe vehicles.
Wreck Shows Why
Seat Belts Are Required
Sometimes people wonder why police agen
cies ticket people for not wearing seat belts.
Look no further than the accidents last Friday
when a 7-year-old boy was ejected from a
vehicle during a wreck as the reason.
Two others not wearing seat belts were
also injured. Had everyone in the vehicle
been protected, the injuries would have been
much less.
Often, the taxpayers wind up footing the
hospital bills from such accident victims.
That's reason to demand seat belt use, but a
far greater reason is to protect the lives and
bodies in the event of an accident.
Don't be stupid. Wear your seat belt and
make sure everyone in your vehicle does too.
Editorials, unless otherwise noted, are written
by Mark Beardsley. He can be reached at mark@
mainstreetnews. 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 BEARDSLEY..Editor/General Manager
JUSTIN POOLE 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 discounted $2 for senior citizens.
POSTMASTER send address changes to THE
COMMERCE NEWS, P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, GA,
30549.
Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and explain
that the bright light was NOT a UFO.
What Is It About Commerce?
From the time I
was young, I've been
asking myself (and
others) that ques
tion. What is it about
Commerce that makes
it so unique, and so
extraordinary? A seem
ingly modest small
Southern town deter
mined to hold onto
its small-town atmo
sphere, Commerce is big in all the
ways that count. But why?
As one of the "summer kids" who
arrived each June to visit relatives,
I was politely treated like a mini
cosmopolitan because I came from
New York — but I knew from early
on that the real cosmopolitans lived
right here. I heard them talk about
their travels to the Holy Land or the
Galapagos Islands; I watched them
laugh about running into each other
in the Swiss Alps or at a Paris cafe.
These were not the sorts of conversa
tions I heard on Long Island, which
was really much more provincial.
Commerce has produced a long list
of award-winning journalists. Its pub
lic servants and politicians have had a
major impact on state government. It
is the setting of a famous novel which
has been made into a movie and a
grand opera. What is going on here? Is
it something in the water?
I was reminded of this question
twice last week: at the First Baptist
Church's Christmas cantata, and again
the very next day, when I learned that
Mac Barber had died. Mac and my
mother were near contemporaries,
growing up here, and he was a fam
ily friend who was especially good to
my grandmother for as long as she
lived. No matter how
busy or important he
became, he turned up
at her birthday party
each spring, often
with special citations
for her from the gov
ernor or the president,
which he presented
in a sonorous voice
as only Mac could. I
learned more about
his thoughtfulness when I went to
work at the library here and discov
ered that many books in the library's
permanent collection had been given
by Mac and his wife Janette, who was
president of the Commerce Friends
of the Library for years, or by Mac in
memory of Janette after she died.
Mac would have loved the First
Baptist cantata and the astonishing
sound of almost 100 voices singing
perfectly as one. Hearing the splendid
hymns of Christendom being sung
with this kind of strength was like
standing in a gale-force wind; I could
hardly bear the beauty and the power
of it. Yet later, when I tried to con
gratulate Todd Chandler, the conduc
tor and musician who, it appeared,
had made all of this happen, he said,
"Oh, I just stand up there and wave
my arms. It's the singers who make
the music."
Mac would have loved that, too. And
maybe it's Commerce's secret. Maybe
folks here don't go for the glory, but
focus on what they hope to achieve.
It makes for some amazing achieve
ments, and makes this a terrific place
to live.
Susan Harper is director of the
Commerce Public Library. She lives in
Commerce.
A Few
Facts t A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
Family Christmas Traditions
Viewpoints
In
Rotation
Browsing the aisles
of Borders a few
nights ago while wait
ing for a few friends to
arrive for dinner, my
wife motioned to me.
"Look at this. Have
you seen this before?
This is a great idea for
someone looking to
start a new holiday tra
dition. I wonder how
expensive it is."
All of that and much more rushed
out of her mouth as if she were either
really interested or disgusted by the
concept. After looking over this man
ufactured tradition-in-a-box, I politely
quipped that one would need to have
children to enjoy this tradition. "Oh
yeah," she said. (No, Becca is not
pregnant and that is not the purpose
of this column.) A little more conver
sation unearthed the Elf on a Shelf
and our collective surprise that it was
seemingly as popular as this year's
trendiest gift — Wii Fit, or at least
that's what the salesperson told us.
The Elf on a Shelf is literally an elf
doll that sits on a shelf somewhere
in your house and "watches" your
children during the time between the
Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays
and reports their behavior back to
Santa Claus. While this may be a won
derful way of settling down your chil
dren during a hectic time of year, the
BY HASCO CRAVER
idea that a family can
procure a tradition
bothers me.
Traditions are not
purchased from a
book store or manu
factured by a toy com
pany. Instead, they are
generally something
as small as a specific
type of food at the
Thanksgiving table
or a family's trip to a
tree farm sometime during the weeks
before Christmas. Every family has
its own set of traditions. As a married
man of only two and half years, I'm
learning how to blend the traditions
of both of our families, while still
leaving enough room to create a few
of our own.
Becca's family is proud of the goofy
nicknames they have for one other
and rhyming sayings that only make
sense to a few people on this planet,
but in my opinion they should be
most proud of the Christmas Eve Gift
tradition. The Christmas Eve Gift tra
dition in the McLeish household is
one part remembrance of a woman
named Mildred Petty and one part
competition.
Mildred Petty, a hard-working lady
more affectionately known to the
world as Gam, was Becca's great-
Please Turn to Page 5A
It's
Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Mac Barber A
Worthy Subject
For A Book
Somebody should write a
book about J. Mac Barber.
My experience with Mac
began after his legislative career
was over and dealt with him as
chairman of the BJC Hospital
Authority and later as mayor.
They represented Barber at the
nadir of his career.
He was not a good mayor,
and his leadership at BJC was
also lacking, but I came to see
that Mac's overriding virtue —
he cared for the little guy — was
at the heart of both situations.
Kindness covers a multitude of
sins.
Mac lived to help people.
That's a trait from which the
world would benefit if it were
widespread and for which Mac
will be both remembered and
rewarded.
Mac aided individuals to the
detriment of the institutions
for which he had a fiduciary
responsibility — BJC and the
city. It was no coincidence that
both were in terrible financial
condition at the end of his ten
ure. Yet, I now see his heart was
in the right place.
Mac should have been the
state consumer advocate. His
interest and passion were in
one-on-one situations where he
could help people, and he never
missed a chance to do a favor.
Barbara and I were beneficia
ries of that. In the late 1970s, a
telephone company van ran a
stop sign, T-boned our VW rab
bit and sent Barbara to the hos
pital. I can't recall the context
in which Mac and I discussed
the situation, but I told him we
were having a hard time get
ting the telephone company's
insurer to talk to us.
"Let me make a call," he said.
The next day the company
came to our house with a settle
ment check. I am convinced he
would do anyone who asked a
favor it it was within his capa
bilities.
Over the years but especially
during the two he served as
mayor, I often found myself at
odds with Mac, but he never
changed. He was exceptionally
humble, unfailingly polite and
relentlessly eloquent in speech.
In fact, one had to weigh his
words carefully, because Mac
could say what appeared to be
one thing but, upon careful
analysis of his words, you'd dis
cover he had actually said the
opposite. Crafty, I'd say.
Money didn't register with
Mac. Here was a guy with so
little regard for mammon that
he left three years of his own
payroll checks un-cashed and
left his banker to untangle the
mess. I find that endearing.
Although his lack of financial
interest or responsibility didn't
help BJC or the city, it tells a lot
about the man's priorities.
He leaves thousands of friends
and hundreds of entertaining
memories. His legacy will be
shaped by those successes rather
than his long and varied politi
cal career.
Mac was unique. Somebody
really ought to write a book.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached
at mark@mainstreetnews.com