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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 23, 2009
mion
Editorial Views
Time For DOT To
Adjust Traffic Signal
Drivers who come through Commerce every
day have a common complaint: the red light
at Central Avenue is incredibly long. It's time
for the Department of Transportation to make
an adjustment.
The timing of the light changed at or
around the time that Atlas Traffic Management
Systems Inc. began working on the DOT'S sig
nal improvement project. Atlas subsequently
walked off the job in February and has not
been back since. The project, which involves
new signal lights and a more sophisticated
timing system, is about half done.
DOT spokesman Teri Pope indicates that,
made aware of the problem, the DOT'S engi
neers will come to Commerce to investigate,
probably next week. That agency, under
standably, is dealing with the aftermath of
storms that dumped up to 20 inches of rain
across North Georgia, washing out roads and
bridges. But Pope says the DOT will look at
the situation and change the timing if it is
warranted — as local motorists know it is.
The DOT is also working to get Atlas or
somebody back on the job to finish the
project, which includes tying that light
into the light at Hardee's to improve traffic
flow, and to upgrade two signal lights in
Jefferson. Negotiations are under way. In
the meantime, Commerce area motorists
would be grateful for a temporary fix at
Central Avenue.
Memory Of Drought
Fading Quickly
It's hard to believe after a weekend in which
parts of the state (not locally) got 7-13 inches
of rain that two years ago the big story was
abut speculation as to how long it would take
the Bear Creek Reservoir to run dry.
The Commerce area got about three inches
of rain over the weekend, and rain dampened
the Art in the Park Festival, caused several
high school sporting events to be postponed
and caused flooding in areas of heavier
rainfall. All local reservoirs are full and Lake
Lanier should be as well. Memories of the
great drought are fading quickly. If only the
recession would disappear so conveniently.
Now we're starting to hear complaints
about leaking roofs, soggy yards and athletic
fields and minor flooding. Through Sunday,
the cumulative rainfall for September had
passed five inches (results vary from location
to location) in town, well over the annual
average for the past decade of about 3.5
inches. September is usually the driest month
of the year.
While the memory of the drought is fading,
perhaps the lessons it taught us will linger.
Forced by the drought, we learned to get by
on less water, not just in the yard and garden,
but also in our households. We looked for
and repaired leaks in municipal systems and
in households. We found out that our yards
could survive on less water than we thought,
and we began thinking of ways to reduce
water consumption.
Those lessons got us through the drought,
and they'll help us adapt to the next one.
Enjoy (or tolerate) the abundance of rain with
the knowledge that it won't last forever.
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.
I miss the drought!
On The Birth Of A Son
I wasn't there to
cover the commis
sioners' meeting with
the sheriff on the
2010 budget. Instead,
I carried a reporter's
pad into St. Mary's
Hospital Sept. 2.
I guess it brought
me some comfort to
jot down the notable
events. There's sort
of a helpless feeling for spectators in
a hospital, but you can at least docu
ment what's going on. And sometimes
that can come in useful later when
questions arise. So I scribbled such
things as: started pitocin at 7:30 a.m.;
epidural, 12:45 p.m.; water broke, 2:15
p.m.; 10 centimeters dilated, 3:50 p.m.
Jana spent much of the morning
reading "The Time Traveler's Wife."
She was very calm throughout the day,
though she got the shakes really bad at
times.
On the other hand I had not been
calm, at least not for a couple of weeks
as a heavy knot found a home in my
stomach — the worry that comes with
anticipation is hard to bear. But once
the day arrived, I felt more at peace.
I glanced at the mirror that morning
and in my face, there was a hint of my
grandfather. And I felt the first wave of
real emotion, realizing that I was mov
ing on that huge wave of generations.
We felt we were in a good place. Our
nurse for the delivery, Angela Mullis,
was excellent. And all the staff in the
St. Mary's maternity ward seemed
attentive and professional. The facility
itself is quite a sight. The maternity
wing at St. Mary's looks more like an
upscale hotel than a hospital.
Of course, all of this is routine, at
least statistically.
Count to seven and a child is born
somewhere in this country in that
time. There are 307 million of us in
the U.S.
But who among us is a number? We
are flesh and blood.
And numbers can
not tell our stories. A
birth is never routine
— especially not when
it's you.
Our time finally
arrived.
And I stood by my
wife as the doctor
barely got her gloves
on in time to catch
our son, Noah, as he
entered the world.
Ten minutes of pushing and there he
was. He was 7 lbs. 2 ounces. He kind
of whimpered before finally crying in
full.
But he was OK. And the blessing in
that is the greatest thing I know.
His 4-year-old big sister, Addie,
hurried down the hall later that day
to meet her brother. I wonder what
her memory of that day will be. She
recalls so much. Will she remember
standing at the nursery window, wav
ing at me from the other side as we
watched his first bath?
We scribble for these pages each
week, knowing the paper itself typi
cally finds a less-than-glamorous fate:
the old fish wrap, the liner for animal
cages, the low-cost gift wrap. I've
done this long enough to know that
each issue floats away from us and is
gone. The words that fill this space are
wiped clean each week.
But they do remain in one way.
Behind my desk in Danielsville are
the old bound volumes of The Journal
and The Comer News, stretching back
to 1964. What did Mr. Jere Ayers have
to say about the moon landing? Well,
you can look it up.
I imagine my children cracking open
those old bound volumes years from
now to look up their own births. If
this is that distant reader, an adult I
can only imagine, I hope that I have
fulfilled my promise to you. And,
never forget, your father loves you.
Zach Mitcham is editor of The
Madison County Journal.
In The
Meantime
zach@mainstreety
news.com
BY ZACH MITCHAM
Change Thrills, Scares
Change, for some, is
met with apprehen
sion, anxiety and fear.
For others, change is
welcoming and excit
ing. I am currently so
mixed up in a state of
change that I'm not
sure if I'm thrilled or
scared to death.
My wife and I are
expecting a baby girl
this winter and I'm in the middle of
changing occupations. Everything that
I've grown to be accustomed to over
the past four years is changing.
Waking up in the morning to my
alarm clock, not a hungry baby, is
soon to be a thing of the past. Going
for a run whenever I want to and read
ing countless sports blogs will soon be
replaced with fitting in a run when I
can and searching the blogosphere for
baby-related remedies.
Who knew that there were so many
things to be scared of? Everything
from the type of paint you put on the
nursery walls to the type of bottles
you buy has an effect, as the experts
say, on the future health of your
child. Putting a little
4 money to the side for
a short vacation for
two will soon trans-
■L form into creating a
college fund for our
* baby girl. While a lot
of what I mentioned
above may seem like
fearful banter, in real
ity I couldn't be more
excited.
I can't wait to hold our baby so close
to my chest that our heartbeats join in
harmonious thumping. I can't wait to
hear her first words. I think her first
word will be "Daddy" (wink-wink).
I can't wait to dance with her in my
arms. I can't wait to watch her explore
this world, learn how to use her hands
and feet, how to talk, how to smile.
Wow, the more I write about my
excitement, the less anxious I feel.
Walking the streets of downtown
Commerce trouble shooting with
business owners will soon be replaced
with visiting 12 counties and 54
municipalities across Northeast
Please Turn to Page 5A
Viewpoints
In
Rotation
BY HASCO CRAVER
It's
Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Good To Know
The Recession
Is Finally Over
So, we are told the recession is
over. It's a good thing someone
told me, because I had no idea.
Unemployment is in double
digits, newspaper, TV and radio
ad sales are down, foreclosures
continue to be brisk and people
are worried. It still feels like a
recession.
As a confirmed economic
pessimist though, I'm more
concerned about the recovery.
What will the new "normal"
be?
I don't see the GNP return
ing to 2007 levels. After all,
that kind of buying was pos
sible only with massive debt.
We've learned not to do that.
Haven't we? Oh, right, I forgot
about that trillion dollar federal
deficit. But banks aren't as will
ing to loan as they were two
years ago; even the credit card
companies are less free with the
plastic.
The economy is like a blueber
ry bush. For steady production,
the bush has to be cut back reg
ularly, after which it produces
more berries. But it has to be
trimmed regularly.
We've pruned the economy.
We've trimmed government
(except for the federal govern
ment) spending, spending by
school systems and even our
own spending. Like the berry
bush, we can expect a rebound,
but if growth is too fast, anoth
er round of pruning will occur.
Instead of declaring the reces
sion over, I'd say there is a
chance it has bottomed out.
That's a far cry from the reces
sion being over, and even the
optimists that claim it's over
talk of a slow recovery. In gar
dening terms, benefits of the
pruning are minimal.
If you've been laid off, had
your salary reduced, your house
foreclosed upon, or your busi
ness' sales are still slack, hitting
the bottom doesn't mean the
recession is over. People, govern
ments, businesses and schools
may use up their reserves (sav
ings) and find worse days ahead.
I hope the recovery is under
way. Unfortunately, I do not see
any fundamental changes in
the economic system that will
prevent a reoccurrence. In fact,
since so many nations increased
their debt to try to blunt the
recession, I'm more worried
than I was a year ago about the
long-term economic outlook.
(I did say I'm an economic
pessimist, so if you're depressed
by reading this far, it's your
own fault.)
The news that the recession
is over brings little joy to the
Jackson County School System,
which faces a $2 million deficit.
A slow recovery means it isn't
likely to balance its next bud
get without cutting jobs and
programs, and that scenario is
likely in other Georgia school
systems. Ditto with local and
state government.
Recession over? I wish. The
idea that we've bottomed out is
as optimistic as I can be. Don't
open that bottle of champagne
you've been saving just yet.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached
at mark@mainstreetnews.com