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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
mion
Editorial Views
Take Another Look
At Flood Insurance
Last weeks heavy rains that created mas
sive flooding in other parts of the state just
happened to occur as Georgia is revamping
its flood insurance maps. They should give
everyone pause for rethinking both flood
insurance and the potential for flood dam
age.
Typically those who buy flood insurance
live near lakes, rivers or low-lying areas prone
to flooding, because the normal homeowner's
insurance policy does not cover water dam
age created by rain. We know what the most
flood-prone areas are historically, but some
times development, exceedingly heavy rain
or a combination of the two causes flooding
where flooding has never occurred before.
Large-scale developments are generally
required to manage stormwater runoff, but
they're required to meet a certain standard of
inches per hour of rainfall. On the rare occa
sions when rainfall exceeds that threshold,
the potential for flooding of adjacent prop
erty increases. In addition, massive amounts
of rainfall — 20 inches fell in some areas — is
likely to tax the drainage capabilities of both
nature and mankind.
Development upstream can change the
nature of flooding downstream in ways that
are difficult to predict. A 500-lot subdivision
in what was once woodlands will shed an
awful lot of water during a significant rain,
possibly creating flooding downstream in
areas not previously flood-prone. A stopped
up or overwhelmed storm sewer system can
create localized flooding that, while short
term, can cause extensive damage that won't
be covered by a homeowner's policy.
Twenty inches of rain in a few days is excep
tionally unusual (3.5 inches in an hour is the
100-year rain event for this area and eight
inches over 24 hours is the 24-hour 100-year
event), but that's of little comfort to those
whose homes were flooded and who had
no flood insurance. It's a wake-up call to all
consumers to take a closer look at the poten
tial for flooding and review their insurance
coverage, keeping in mind that homeowner's
policies do not cover damage from flooding
caused by rain. At the very least, homeowners
need to realize before it happens that flood
damage is not covered by a homeowner's
insurance policy.
The Party Of ‘Know*?
Speaking in Commerce Monday, Rep. Paul
Broun said the Republican party is the "Party
of 'know,'" a response to criticism labeling
the GOP "the party of 'no'" for its opposition
to health care reform.
"We know how to lower your cost of health
care — put you in charge of making deci
sions, along with your doctor," Broun said.
"We know how to solve this energy crisis and
make America energy independent. We know
how to stimulate the economy and that's by
getting dollars back into the hands of small
business so that they can buy inventory and
hire new people and put the country back on
track economically ... we know how to get
the government out of your hair, so you can
run your business, run your family without
all the government intrusion."
Really? Then why didn't the GOP demon
strate that know-how the last eight years?
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
SCOn 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.
Thanks to the recession, I’m finally beginning
to understand negative numbers.
Beauty Is Deep, Believe Me
Several years ago,
my mother was hos
pitalized following
a bad fall. She was
hooked up to so many
machines that I won
dered whether (and
how) we would ever
get her home. Bruised
and sore, she was the
very picture of misery,
and she wasn't going
to be able to use her hands for weeks.
Dear oh dear, I thought, when the doc
tor said she would be released at noon
Saturday.
Mother had reservations about the
doctor's plans too, but for a different
reason. From deep in the pillows and
blankets, cords and tubes, he and I
heard a surprisingly strong voice. "I'll
have to be out of here before then," it
said. "I have a beauty parlor appoint
ment at eleven on Saturday!"
Wise doctor that he was, he said,
"Well, then — we'll have you out of
here by ten. Far be it from me to get
between a woman and her beauti
cian!" And sure enough, he had all the
nurses on red alert, and on Saturday
morning we were hearing things like,
"Hold the elevator — Mrs. Rice has a
beauty parlor appointment!" Looking
back, I think they knew a thing or
two.
Beauticians themselves have long
known that they are often literally
ministering to people, and that the
touch of caring hands can be restor
ative of more than appearance. The
British are so impressed by the healing
power of this kind of care that they
are beginning to install beauty parlors
and barber shops in their hospitals —
and of course we typically have them
in assisted-living facilities and nursing
homes.
I got a reminder of
all of this last week, as
Mother was recovering
from abdominal sur
gery. After a week and
a half of typical post
surgery ups and downs
(good days, bad days,
and really bad days),
she was languishing in
her recliner, looking
more than a little sad and discour
aged, as if she might never be well
again. I hated to bother her. "Mother,"
I whispered, squeezing her hand, "It's
almost time for your beauty parlor
appointment. Shall I cancel it?"
"Absolutely not!" she said briskly.
I could hardly believe it. She hadn't
sounded brisk for — well, a long time.
I tried to imagine how we could make
this happen: get her dressed, and out
to the car, and down to what we affec
tionately call "the beauty shot," and
in the door, and into the chair. But
she had already figured out what she
would wear, what she would take, and
how we would manage.
And that outing was a turning point:
the beginning, she says, of feeling
like herself again, and knowing that
she was well on the road to recovery.
So the "beauty shot" was a shot in
the arm — and not just for her. I too
felt much better, seeing her perk up
like that, and so did Dad. We all think
we're going to make it now, thanks to
Mother's hairdo. And I have learned
anew that we feel better when we look
better, and that a little vanity can be a
saving grace.
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
On Her Own With H1N1
Somehow during our
pre-marital counsel- Viewpoints
mg sessions, Jon and c
I missed the session In
on "How to Function p , ,,
While Your Spouse is ixOtatlon
Out of Town for 11
days." Two weeks ago,
I discovered that being
without my husband
is not in our best
BY TRICIA MASSEY
interest.
He had the opportu
nity to go with several men to the
Boundary Waters for 10 days of camp
ing, canoeing and fishing. He had a
great time, but with no cell service,
he had no idea of the situation I faced
while he was out of town.
It started with a raspy cough on
Monday accompanied by a lot of
sneezing. On Tuesday, my mom and I
were enjoying lunch together and she
commented that I might be suffering
from allergies or sinus problems. She
knew what would help. She suggested
we go to Walgreens and get a Neti Pot.
I had never heard of a Neti Pot and
told my mom that it sounded like a
bunch of old women sitting around
smoking marijuana. "It looks like a
genie lamp and you put salt water in
it and put the spout up your nose and
inhale and then the water will come
out your other nostril. It will make
you feel better. It's been on Oprah
and the Doctors. I love
my Neti Pot."
I was beginning to
feel really sick and felt
that since my mom is
a nurse, I could trust
* j her and would try
M it. So, for two days
Jm I inhaled salt water
from a genie lamp and
then it happened.
While on a confer
ence call for work, I
could feel the instant a fever chose
to enter my body. It happened in sec
onds. I got off the phone and called
my doctor and he said come in imme
diately.
I described my symptoms: cough for
two days, runny nose, achy, fatigued
and then within the hour a 102 degree
fever hit. "Let's do a flu test." Within
fifteen minutes, I was diagnosed with
Influenza A. I asked if I had the swine
flu. In a calming, soothing voice, the
nurse practitioner who may or may
not be aware of my hypochondria,
said, "We don't know for sure, but
Type A is the same strain as the H1N1
vims. And it is too early for other
types of flu, so you may have it. I'm
going to start you on Tamiflu right
away."
I was a victim of swine flu. And, I
Please Turn to Page 5A
It's
Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Making His
Mark Via A
Stunning Video
When Steven began work on
his master's degree in journal
ism at Columbia University in
2007,1 figured he'd make his
mark in journalism. I just never
thought it would happen so
soon and that it would come
not through his writing, but
because of a video he shot.
Kind of funny, that.
He's a crime reporter for The
Naples (FL) Daily News. It was
in Naples last week that Mesic
Damas slit the throats of his
wife and five children and
fled to Haiti, news that played
nationwide.
Steven wrote the first story for
the NDN, but then management
decided to send a reporter and
photographer to Port-Au-Prince,
Haiti, to cover the story from
that end. As a crime reporter
with a passport, Steven got the
assignment.
"Lexey (Swall, a terrific staff
photographer) and I leave for
Haiti at 8:30 tomorrow morn
ing," he told Barbara and I dur
ing a call.
All I know about Haiti is bad.
It's the poorest country in the
Western Hemisphere, dirty and
violent, not the kind of place
parents want their kids to visit,
let alone work.
Long story short: He shot a
video during the perp walk in
which he enticed Damas into
a full confession of what the
Collier County (FL) sheriff
called "the most horrific and
violent event" in county histo
ry. That video ran on the Naples
Daily News' web site, on the
FOX TV channel in Naples, on
CNN Headline News' 30-minute
cycle last week and made the
AJC web page via the Associated
Press. The exposure was huge.
Of course he also wrote sev
eral excellent stories from Haiti,
including one about the confes
sion and another based on inter
views with Damas' relatives,
with whom Damas was staying
when Haitian officials raided a
house and arrested him. But the
video was an incredible news
coup, the kind of things report
ers dream about. I'm not sure if
he'd ever shot any video for the
Naples Daily News before and I
was surprised to see that he had
shot video in this instance.
Since then, he's had numer
ous requests for interviews,
finding himself a part of the
story, kind of a mini-celebrity.
Naturally, the family is thrilled.
We knew he was doing good
work because we follow him via
the newspaper's website, but we
like to think the video tells the
rest of the world (and hopefully
his bosses) what we already
know.
He's covered a wide range
of crime stories, including the
shooting death of a police
officer (he wrote a blog from
the funeral). He covered a visit
from Sarah Palin during the
campaign, and one from Barack
Obama. He's written about
floods, wildfires, and even a
TEA party. It's been a great
experience. I just wonder what
he'll do for an encore.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached
at mark@mainstreetnews.com