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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. MARCH 25, 2009
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Editorial Views
And You Thought It
Was Just Commerce
It turns out the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners has as little regard for its zon
ing ordinance as the Commerce City Council
has for its zoning law.
The BOC voted — with Chas Hardy the lone
nay vote — to allow a Nicholson man to oper
ate a welding business out of his home.
A welding operation is clearly not what
planners had in mind when they created
home-based businesses. That classification
generally limits the business to things that
take place inside the house.
But because the neighbors did not complain
and commissioner Dwain Smith didn't' "have
a problem with it," the next person who
wants to operate a welding shop, or a garage
from his house will have a precedent to cite.
Local officials need to realize that when
they change rules for one person, they do
it for all. No ordinance is worth a thing if
officials don't understand the purpose of
the law and aren't disciplined enough to
enforce it.
Congress: The Pot
Calls The Kettle Black
In spite of near universal disdain for AIG's
presentation of $165 million in bonuses
paid for by federal bailout funds, it's almost
comical to see members of Congress wrath
ful about wasteful spending.
Most Americans are leery about bailouts,
period. Even those who believe they may
be necessary to rescue the economy have
a hard time reconciling themselves to their
tax dollars being used to rescue companies
whose careless policies put them under. It
goes against every good business principle
to reward those who fail, and it adds insult
to injury to see many who helped bring
about the financial crisis being given mil
lions of taxpayers' dollars.
The AIG debacle demonstrates that the
Obama administration, like the Bush admin
istration, did not do its homework. Nor did
Congress. And when word that bonuses
were to be given — again — the very people
who approved the bailout were aghast.
To date, AIG has received $170 billion in
federal funds to cover what some character
ize as a corporate gambling debt. Is there
anyone who contemplates that the U.S. will
recover that money? Is there someone who
believes that AIG has demonstrated behav
ior that merits rescue?
But listening to members of the U.S.
Congress fret over how $165 million in
bonus money is frittered away to the unde
serving is a case of the pot calling the kettle
black. Congress just approved nearly $1
trillion in bailout money so loaded with
wasteful spending as to defy all logic.
Congress should be relieved that AIG
personnel are getting bonuses. If nothing
else, it deflects scrutiny — and anger — that
should be aimed at Congress, where, like at
AIG, failure is rewarded.
Congress lecturing AIG on the prudent
use of federal funds has all the credibility
of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich
teaching a course on governmental ethics.
You don't know whether to laugh or cry.
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.
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and Madison counties, $19.75; State of
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POSTMASTER send address changes to THE
COMMERCE NEWS. P.O. Box 908, Jefferson. GA
30549.
going to have myself frozen until someone
discovers a cure for bad debts.
How Does Retirement Work?
The majority of
the sentences I utter
these days begin with
the same four words:
"Now that I'm retired
..." They seem too
apply to everything:
what I've always meant
to do (e.g., write a
novel, revisit Paris,
take a flying lesson),
what I think I ought to
do (learn some basic auto repair, lose
weight, have friends over more often,
get a hairstyle), what I really have to
do, what I'd like to do for others, and
what I must read and should have read
long before now.
I'm clearly going to be very busy —
if I ever get going, that is. The pitiful
truth is that without the organizing
principle of a job to go to, I have col
lapsed the way a parachute does when
it hits the ground. My cousin stopped
by Sunday afternoon at four o'clock
and I realized as she came in that I
hadn't made my bed yet. That may not
be terrible, but it is definitely not me.
Worse still, it's eleven o'clock now,
and the bed remains unmade. I'm not
sure what I'm going to do tonight:
Make up the bed and then climb into
it? Or get into it as it is? I obviously
haven't had much practice at this.
Maybe I'll just make up a pallet and
sleep on the floor. I seem to have wan
dered by accident into Anything Goes
territory. The only thing that doesn't
go is me.
The funny thing is, I'm not sitting
around eating bonbons and watching
old movies, as originally planned. I'm
doing things, or trying to. I have a list,
and I envisioned whipping through it,
checking things off. Get car serviced.
Check. Clean up messy desk. Check.
That sort of thing. Not that I've done
any of that, but I plan to, once I figure
out why I haven't already.
What I've done instead is putter. I
puttered around in my
backyard, clearing out
my flowerpot grave
yard — not on the list,
but it was fun. I meant
to wash the few pots I
want to keep, but then
my cousin came over
and we sat outside in
some patio chairs and
talked, and looked at
the just-blooming dog
woods and listened to the blue jays
and admired the very blue sky. I recall
leaning back at one point and saying,
"You know, I bet I could count on the
fingers of one hand the number of
times I've sat in this chair."
I puttered around at my parents'
house, too. I washed my mother's
pretty yellow sugar bowl and refilled
it, and put some daisies beside it on
the table, and refilled all the salt and
pepper shakers, and tidied up the
fridge a bit — and all of these inconse
quential things gave me the deepest
kind of pleasure. I think I must always
have been miserly with time, feeling
that I had to spend every minute care
fully and not waste any, and suddenly,
now, the meter's been turned off,
and it doesn't matter if I waste a little
time. It probably doesn't even matter
if I don't make up the bed (although
that feels like a more dangerous idea:
a step on the path of slattern-hood
and domestic anarchy).
They tell me this is just a phase; I'm
in Early Retirement, and this is how
it works: not at all. It works by not
working. It winds you down until you
can actually smell the roses. So if you
see me wandering aimlessly around,
just point me toward a chair and I'll
sit and admire the scenery. Or better
yet, join me — if you dare.
Susan Harper is the former director of
the Commerce Public Library. She lives
in Commerce.
A Few
Facts t A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
The Ten ‘Won’t Do’s’
Viewpoints
In
Rotation
On a recent Sunday
morning, the Old
Testament lesson
which was read in
many churches was
Exodus 20, the Ten
Commandments, or
as some people have
called them, "The
Shall Not's." Hearing
the "Shall Not's"
escalated my imagina-
tion as to what my own
non-theological prohibitions might
be, and I came up with ten of my own
"Won't Do's." They are based solely
on personal principle, embarrassment,
conscience, and vanity.
I. 1 won't do tattoos. Reason: vanity.
From the time I was a toddler, I have
been heavily freckled on face, arms,
and every exposed part of my body
with very brown spots. In addition,
I have scars from surgical removal of
skin cancer, and blue zig-zags of bro
ken veins. Why, with all that confu
sion of patterns on my body, would I
want to add to the confusion?
II. I won't do shopping in a recently
opened business that razed a his
toric building and destroyed 22 trees.
Reason: principle.
III. I won't do porno. Reason: con-
■ ^9
f'
BY CLAIRE GAUS
science and embarrass
ment. I deplore the
degradation of human
beings, and if I did
do it, I'd for sure get
caught. 'Nuff said.
IV. I won't do high
heels. Reasons: prin
ciple and vanity. The
female faculty dress
code when I taught
high school was heels
and hose. My feet hurt
every day from that experience. I now
refuse to squeeze my aching tootsies
into glamour shoes to be fashionable.
Besides, I'd be sure to fall flat on my
"you-know-what" if I tried to walk on
stilettos at my age.
V. I won't do the marriage thing
again. Reason: principle. Been there,
done that. There exists a lack of equi
ty in the arrangement.
VI. I won't do alcohol to excess.
Reason: vanity. There is nothing as
pathetic as a drunken old broad (or a
young one).
VII. I won't do a reality show.
Reason: embarrassment. If the viewing
public ever saw what an untidy person
I was, or saw my rolls of fat if I wore a
Please Turn to Page 5A
It's
Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Life’s Changes
Show A Need
For Humility
When Edmund Spencer wrote
of the "ever whirling wheel
of change," he recognized the
certainty of change. We under
stand, but we seldom appreci
ate the speed with which it can
happen.
How many of those laid
off at BJC Medical Center,
Baker & Taylor, Toyota,
Huber Engineered Woods
and Caterpillar could have
foreseen that 12 months ago?
Who would have looked at the
Commerce City Council a year
ago and predicted that two
long-time members would be
knocked out by illness and eth
ics? How many of us saw the
housing crisis looming?
Life issues change relent
lessly. Our very lives can end
in a flash on a highway, by
sudden illness or by countless
other unexpected events. Some
are random, some are brought
about by our own actions.
We are told change is good.
I'm not ready to concur, but
there is nothing to do but cope.
In 2007, Bob Sosebee and
Richard Massey won re-election
to four-year terms, assuring that
there would be no significant
change in city government.
Some said that's good, others
that it's bad. Today, Sosebee
is gone and there is question
about whether Massey can
return. This fall, voters will
elect a mayor pro tern and
council members from wards 1
and 2 in the General Election
and Ward 4 in a special elec
tion. Who knows today about
Massey's status in Ward 5.
Meanwhile, a dramatic reduc
tion in gas sales due to the
closing of Louisiana Pacific and
cutbacks at Huber Engineered
Woods, along with a projected
18 percent reduction in sales tax
revenues mean heavy cuts in
operations in most city depart
ments.
Commerce will just have to
cope. But it will not be alone.
Detroit is losing the automo
tive industry, it's lifeblood.
Here, where route to the prom
ised land has been economic
development, we're seeing the
flipside. Plants we worked hard
to get are closing or laying off
people. The jobs that enabled
people to buy houses, eat at
local restaurants and support
local businesses are slashed, kill
ing sales tax revenue, eroding
housing and real estate values
and with them property taxes
that keep schools and govern
ment afloat.
We can only ride out the
ever-whirling wheel of change
as best we can, mindful that
we are not immune and that
people, businesses and practices
we thought were solid or etched
in stone may have to change
tomorrow.
We're never in absolute con
trol of our destinies. Whether
by tsunami, hurricane or reces
sion, life constantly sends out
humbling reminders that noth
ing is certain.
All we can do is cope. And,
hopefully, gain some humility.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached
at mark@mainstreetnews.com