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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 18, 2009
mion
Editorial Views
Now’s Your Chance
To Make A Difference
Too often, the public feels left out of the pro
cess as government makes decisions involv
ing public funds and public facilities. On
Thursday night, the Commerce Downtown
Development Authority will hold a town hall
meeting seeking the public's input. It's at
6:00 at the Commerce Civic Center.
Much of what the DDA has done over the
past three years is a direct result of a similar
meeting in which 30-50 citizens made sug
gestions about things they felt were needed
downtown. They mentioned the need for
more restaurants, for residential housing and
public restrooms. They cited parking prob
lems and the need for more retail stores.
Since that time the DDA and the city have
worked to implement the peoples' ideas. The
city has improved (but by no means solved)
its parking problems, public restrooms are
about to be provided, there are more res
taurants, retail and housing units and more
activities in the downtown. In short, the ideas
suggested by town hall participants were
implemented.
The process begins anew Thursday night,
but it will succeed only if enough interested
people turn out to provide guidance. The
results of the previous downtown meeting
should assure participants that their sugges
tions will be taken seriously. This is a typical
government required hearing after which
decisions already made will be implemented.
It is a brainstorming session aimed at keep
ing the downtown viable and making it more
attractive to shoppers, more profitable for
businesses and more fun and interesting for
all of us.
The DDA seeks your input. Don't say you
were never asked.
Leading The States
In Fiscal Calamity
And we thought Georgia had it bad.
Our state's projected revenue is growing
faster than inflation. It's gone from $2 bil
lion and is headed toward $3 billion.
But look at California, where a $40 bil
lion shortfall and a legislature unwilling or
unable to stomach spending cuts and tax
hikes threatens to send the state into insol
vency. Maybe Georgia's not in quite as bad
shape as we thought.
California has always been a national trend
setter in everything from educational phi
losophy to social behavior. Now it's leading
all other states in fiscal calamity, and the rest
of the states will probably follow California's
lead in terms of how they respond to their
own budget shortfalls.
The first response is short-term. California,
like all the other states, has its hands out to
the federal treasury.
But what will be more interesting and
more important is how the nation's most
populous state restructures its government
from both the service and revenue sides in
future months and years. All states will find
out that past spending levels are not sustain
able but they will also discover that they
have constituencies for state services far in
excess of a willingness to pay for them.
Georgia will be watching. Lead on
California!
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 Jefferson, Georgia
30549.
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.
You got flowers. We ate out, and rededicated our
marriage at church. Now that things are back to normal,
bring me some more chips and another beer.
What On Earth Will I Do?
So many people have
asked me what I'm
going to do when I
retire that I've started
to worry about it,
which I never did
before. It seems to
me that I've spent
my whole working
life building up an
account called Maybe
I'll Have Time for That
When I Retire, so I've quite naturally
assumed that I might finally have
time for all the things I piled up in
that account. But the warnings I've
received have been so dire, and the
advice so heartfelt, that I feel bound to
do some rethinking.
"You won't have time for anything,"
I'm told. "You'll wonder how you
ever found time to work." And "Don't
commit to anything for at least six
months," to which someone else
added, "Make that a year."
Two of my dear friends who are
already retired say, "Why do peo
ple ask what you're going to DO?
Retirement is about not having to DO
anything!" But they're both better at
relaxing than I am, and I think there's
something oxymoronic about trying
to relax; it's a contradiction in terms.
They're also better at saying "no"
than I am, I suspect. "Have a plan,"
many have advised. "Otherwise you'll
end up doing what other people want,
instead of what you want."
So here's my — well, it's not a plan
yet. Here's my list of what's in the
When I Retire account.
I'm a year or two late in painting my
porches (I'm supposed to do it every
other year, preferably in the spring), so
that's near the top of the list. And I'm
about 10 years late in developing some
A Few
Facts t A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
real gardens, but hope
nti springs up boldly at
! 'V . 7 the thought of actu-
f ally having time. I'd
love to plant bulbs in
j t the right seasons, and
W H in big swaths of color.
*“ But first I have to
organize my life a bit.
It's been over 14 years
since I cleaned out
my personal files; the
filing cabinets are so full at this point
that I just pile things up in towering
stalagmites on my desk. My parents'
papers are in about the same state,
so perhaps we'll do it all at once, in
a blinding blizzard of white paper
and the red-hot energy of a truly
rested person, which is what I plan to
become.
Getting fit is on the list, too. I
should have time for regular exer
cise, don't you think? (Let's see: How
much time have I spent so far?) Plus
I want to write a letter a day until I
catch up with all the people I miss, or
owe, or think about a lot, and then
I'd love to write a Great American
Novel or two, and use the proceeds to
expand the library. After that, I'd like
to become acquainted with the guitar
my son gave me for Christmas, and
reacquainted with my flute, which
I haven't played seriously in years,
and who knows? — maybe even get a
Labradoodle!
Most of all, though, and first of all, I
hope to spend time with my parents:
leisurely time; go-out-to-lunch time;
linger-over-coffee time. If I can do
that, I think retirement could be as
much fun as my job — which is saying
quite a lot.
Susan Harper is the (soon-to-be-retired)
director of the Commerce Public Library.
Surviving A Casting Call
Viewpoints
In
Rotation
In previous columns,
I have mentioned
to you that the real
ity television show
"Survivor" is my all-
time favorite show.
Three years ago I sub
mitted an application
and video but never
heard from the pro
ducers.
Recently, a friend
e-mailed me the link to an announce
ment about an open casting call for
"Survivor." I was so excited I could
hardly contain myself. The CBS sta
tion in Greenville, SC, hosted the call
Jan. 21 in Travelers Rest, SC.
When you apply for "Survivor" you
submit a video, application, passport
picture and proof of passport or appli
cation for one. Since this was an open
casting call, applicant videos were
done on the spot.
If you've seen an episode of
"Survivor" and know anything about
me, you can quickly observe that I'm
not the ideal contestant. All my body
parts are original with no enhance
ments; the only body piercings I have
are in my earlobes and the only tat
toos I have are the designs my varicose
veins are quickly making on my legs.
Nevertheless, I was going to attend
the open casting call because I
thought it would be a great experi-
BYTRICIA MASSEY
ence. When I arrived
at 1:00, there were so
many people at the
location that I almost
didn't get out of the
car. However, I parked
71 and grabbed my folder
jM of materials and made
my way to the line.
After finding out
where to go and what
to do, I made my way
to the back of the registration line at
1:10.1 met a lot of people who shared
their personal life stories. Among
them were a retired female army
sergeant who is now a high school
English teacher; a text messaging,
phone calling and overly confident
salesman; a mechanic, a father-and-
son duo, and a self-proclaimed profes
sional wrestler. We were all intrigued
with the wrestler so we spent a lot of
time talking to him, during which it
became clear to me he would prob
ably not get far if he made it onto
"Survivor."
At 3:30 I made it to the end of the
line just to register! I was given num
ber A-190 and was told to wait until
it was called. I went back to my car
for about 20 minutes and turned the
heat on full blast to warm my toes.
I was worried that a spy for the pro-
Please Turn to Page 5A
It's
Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Waiting To
Spend That
Big Stimulus
I said a brief prayer of thanks
last week after learning that
Congress had voted to spend
$789 billion to stimulate the
economy.
Middle-income Americans like
myself will average about $13
more per week as withhold
ing formulas are changed this
spring. That should do a lot for
the Commerce economy, don't
you think?
As a former VP candidate
would say, "You betcha."
My calculator doesn't do
hundreds of billions, but if my
math is correct, my share of the
stimulus ($789 billion divided
by 150 million taxpayers — my
guesstimate) would be almost
$5,260.
My share of the debt for the
stimulus will also be almost
$5,260. That money is all bor
rowed, you know.
At $13 a week, I could pay
the principal off in 405 weeks,
assuming I have a job and a sal
ary on which to pay $13 less in
withholding taxes every week.
This is all over my head. Like
you, I just have to trust that
Congress has — as it usually
does — done the financially
responsible thing. (I made a D
in the last economics class I
ever had, so I do not compre
hend how borrowing $789 bil
lion to give me $13 a week can
solve this financial crisis, but
I figure Congress knows what
it's doing.) My job is to spend
that windfall so the economy
will crank up and BJC Medical
Center can re-hire some folks.
Trouble is there's not much
you can buy at BJC for $13 — at
least not with my co-pays. If we
had the time, we could use the
stimulus money to buy two or
three packs of cigarettes a week,
which would eventually bring
us to a hospital. Really, though,
we're looking for a faster effect.
You could buy two sheets of
7/16ths J.M. Huber oriented
strand board every week and
help get those folks back to
work. That would also generate
87 cents of sales tax revenue,
including about 36 cents that
would stay in Jackson County
to help pay off school bonds,
among other things.
You could use your extra $13
to have a meal at Vaughn's
Wing Slingers, Little Italy
Pizzeria, Stonewall's BBQ or
(starting Monday) the Common
Road Bakery downtown. If
everybody in Commerce
bought an extra meal down
town every week, the restaurant
owners would smile.
Sanders Furniture can sell you
any number of pieces of furni
ture on a payment plan for $13
a week. Jay's Department Store
is having a sale, so $13 will buy
more than you think. Maybe
The Commerce News will mark
down subscriptions to $13 per
year, or you could buy an extra
500-750 kilowatts of electricity
every month from the city.
I feel sure all that extra money
will turn things around. After
all, Congress has never let us
down before.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached
at mark@mainstreetnews.com