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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016
Editorial
Views
Deal right to
veto 'religious
liberty' bill
Gov. Nathan Deal found himself in
a no-win situation when he vetoed
the religious liberty bill. Veto it or sign
it, the governor was going to catch
heat. However, in a discussion with the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Political
Insider Jim Galloway after he vetoed
the legislation, Deal made a statement
that legislators across Georgia should
consider.
“The reality was that nothing that
that bill sought to prevent was not
already prevented by the current law
of our state or of our federal govern
ment,” the governor said.
In other words, all of the fears con
cocted by same-sex marriage oppo
nents were groundless, which lays bare
the central fact of the Georgia debate:
The legislation was crafted not to pro
tect Georgians, but for two other pur
poses — to give supporters a chance
to showcase their conservative anti
gay sentiments and to allow to thumb
their noses in defiance of the Supreme
Court of the United States.
All of the energy, time and resources
Georgia’s legislators expended on a
mean-spirited bill that solves no exist
ing problems but creates new dilem
mas could have been spent trying to
improve educational opportunities,
planning for infrastmcture needs or
attending to the state’s healthcare
challenges. But rather than focus on
complicated and difficult matters, our
legislators allowed themselves to be
baited into a controversy that ultimately
showcased their narrow-mindedness.
Deal made the right decision, both
on principle and practicality. The reli
gious liberty bill offered no protections
not already available under the U.S.
Constitution and state law, and had it
become law, it would have licensed
and encouraged bigotry in the name
of religion. It may also have had eco
nomic ramifications as a number of
major companies would have second
thoughts about locating in Georgia.
Contrary to Sen. Frank Ginn’s asser
tion that House Bill 757 does not allow
discrimination, the provision stating
that “Government shall not substantial
ly burden a person’s exercise of reli
gion...” opens the door for any manner
of discrimination based on the claim
that the action violates one’s religious
beliefs. That might mean refusing to
issue a marriage license to a same-sex
couple but it could also mean declining
a concealed carry gun permit — to
anyone.
Same-sex marriage has virtually zero
effect on ordinary Georgians, yet the
General Assembly is already making
noise about passing similar legislation
in 2017. If the General Assembly is
intent on tilting at windmills instead of
dealing with issues that actually affect
Georgians, legislators should remove
the fictitious “protections” from the
bill and give it an accurate name —
say, “The Discrimination in the Name
of Religion Act.” If nothing else, let
those who want to discriminate against
fellow citizens be honest about their
intent.
Unless otherwise noted, all editorials
are written by Mark Beardsley. He can
be reached at mark@mainstreetnews.
com.
The Commerce News
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Mark Beardsley. Editor
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Being ripped off in restaurants
Locally-grown food is in high demand these
days, as far as restaurants are concerned.
The “farm to table” movement is popular with
consumers, so restaurants like to advertise local
ly-grown produce, locally-raised beef, pork or
poultry and fresh-caught wild seafood.
Alas, frequently those restaurants are lying.
Years ago, the Boston Globe ran DNA tests
on seafood from Boston’s restaurants and
found that restaurants not only misrepresented
where their seafood came from, but also what it
was. Red snapper listed on the menu might be
much cheaper tilapia.
An aberration?
An investigative piece by The Tampa Bay
Times’ food critic suggest that’s commonplace.
Over the period of months, she found countless
restaurants — including some of the top eateries
in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area—lied outra
geously about buying produce and protein from
local farms, lied about the origins and quality
of meat and fish on their menus and basically
ripped off the public by advertising one kind of
food and serving another.
“Florida blue crab” on a top restaurant’s
menu came from the Indian Ocean. Wild rain
bow trout grew up in a commercial fish farm in
Idaho, fresh snapper spent a long time in the
freezer, a house wine was actually the leftovers
of opened bottles. Menu claims of organic,
hormone-free, antibiotic-free meats proved false,
wild Alaskan pollock proved to be imported
from China and treated with sodium tripoly
phosphate. The wild Florida shrimp? They were
It's
Gospel
According
To Mark
By Mark Beardsley
raised on a farm in India.
Many of the restaurants that listed the names
of the farms from which they bought “local” veg
etables, beef or pork on menus or chalkboards
had either never done business with the restau
rants, were no longer suppliers to the restaurant,
did very little business with the restaurant — or
were long out of business.
The fraud is massive. We’re all being taken,
and there’s little we can do about it—unless,
of course, you will raise all of your own poultry
beef, pork and vegetables and only eat seafood
only you’ve caught. (That would be healthy cer
tainly making obesity a thing of the past, judging
from my gardening and fishing experiences.)
Georgia agriculture commissioner Gary
Black had his department copyright the name,
“Georgia Grown,” and is using the program to
market the state’s huge variety of food products,
from poultry to potatoes, shrimp to soybeans.
His counterpart in Florida created a “Fresh from
Florida” program to do the same thing with
Florida’s agricultural and seafood output. That
program runs on an honor system—which
the Tampa Bay times reports means no one is
checking to see that menu items using that lego
are either fresh or from Florida. And frequently
they are neither.
Barbara hates it when I read about food,
because usually what I read is not flattering. She
makes me promise not to ask waiters “where
your shrimp comes from,” because I know
enough about farm-raised shrimp not to want
them. Now, I see no point in even asking. The
waiter may say they’re from Apalachicola, but
they might be from Vietnam.
Part of the reason is that consumers expect
cheap food and food that is out of season
locally. Consumers want grass-fed, freerange,
no-antibiotic beef and pork, but they won’t pay
the price for the real thing. They clamor for
fresh, local collard greens, but they want them
in August as well as January.
Grocery stores also lie. Those “vineripe”
tomatoes were picked as green as tennis balls a
month or two earlier and taste like it.
I’m reconciled to eating food that’s neither
local nor fresh, but I’d prefer not to be lied to
about it.
Mark: Where do these shrimp come from?
Waiter: Beats me. I get them out of the kitch
en.
At least that would be honest.
Mark Beardsley is the editor of The Com
merce News. He lives in Commerce.
It's all in the details
A reading in church a few Sundays ago from
the Book of John caught me by surprise, and
sent me back to my years in San Francisco and
my work there for the Bureau of Jewish Educa
tion, where I did publicity and public relations
for the better part of a decade. This may sound
like a strange career niche for a born-and-raised
Methodist, but it was rich with learning experi
ences, and I wouldn’t have missed it.
For starters, I was impressed that they hired
me. It clearly bespoke a rare open-mindedness
—but also, I would learn, it signaled an interest
in reaching out to non-observant Jews and
beyond, to those whose only connection to
Judaism was a family history that was some
times vague and distant. My employers wanted
to avoid sounding strict and Orthodox, or like a
clique or a closed community.
Another discovery I made was that most of
my colleagues at the Bureau assumed that I was
a Roman Catholic. They didn’t seem to know
that there were other denominations, and could
hardly believe that Protestants made up more
than half of the American population. But in
general they weren’t curious about the Protes
tant/Catholic difference. All Christians believed
that the Messiah had arrived two millennia ago,
whereas Jews were still awaiting his coming;
that was the crux of the matter, to them.
The head of the Bureau was different, though.
He was curious, and we had some conversa
tions that still recur to me. The first thing he
A Few
Facts, A
Lot of
Gossip II
By Susan Harper
asked was whether I thought Jews had “missed
the boat.” No, I said. Jesus himself was Jewish.
As living representatives of the religion into
which He had been born, today’s Jews kept the
rituals and traditions alive that were vital to our
understanding of Him.
“So why do you suppose it is that some peo
ple believed Jesus was the Messiah and some
didn’t?” he asked - and then spoke knowl
edgeably about the perspectives of the Jewish/
Roman historian Josephus, who was born
shortly after Jesus had died, and of Saul, later
called Paul, a Turkish Jew who was a contem
porary of Jesus (born about 10 years after Him).
Paul persecuted Jesus’ apostles until the risen
Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damas
cus. Both Josephus and Paul had convictions
that made them resist believing that Jesus was
the long-awaited Messiah. But only one of them
saw and heard Jesus after He’d been crucified.
“Something happened there,” I told my
employer. “And whatever it was, it blinded Paul
for days, and convinced him forever!”
“But what convinced you?” my boss asked.
Hmmm. The gift of a devout upbringing, I
wanted to say—but that only explained the
credulity of youth. Then came the uncertainty of
my late teens and, later, a desire to give my chil
dren the gift I’d been given: a solid foundation,
at least, for faith.
And after that? Well, when I left San Francisco
and began working at the library here, I wanted
to get photos of library events into The Com
merce News, but Mark (the editor) wouldn’t
include one unless I listed every person in it
for the caption. What a challenge, even in a
small town. So in the recent reading from John
21, in which the apostles were fishing when
the risen Christ suddenly appeared and called
to them from the shore, John says the group
included “Simon Peter, Thomas (called The
Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons
of Zebedee, and two other disciples” -1 totally
believe him, precisely because a list that incom
plete, just as mine sometimes were, has the ring
of human truth. I bet John wracked his brain for
those other two names.
Susan Harpe■ is a retired editor, lecturer, and
local library director who currently serves on
the Jackson County and Piedmont Regional
library boards.
A Cumberland adventure
Next August, the National Park Service orga
nization will celebrate its 100th year.
During our spring break, we ventured to
Cumberland Island with our oldest daughter’s
AP Environmental Science class. Eight chaper
ones including Joe Costyn, the teacher, joined
17 students and their siblings for a 4-night, 5-day
Cumberland Island experience.
“I have worked and waited five years to see
my students on this spectacular island and
it finally happened.” Costyn said. “It was so
satisfying to see the enthusiasm of the kids as
they explored the island. I really liked to hear
and see their excitement as they described
what each new exploration had led them to
discover.”
We traveled to Cumberland Island as a vol
unteer group to do service work. We learned
that our assignment was to clear the dirt road
by cutting down palmetto plants so visitors
would be able to travel without any hindrance.
It took three days, 15 hours and lots of bug spray
and sunscreen to clear a little over three miles
of trail. The work was physically challenging
and hard at times, but the end result was very
rewarding when the island staff complimented
the hard work everyone put in to perform this
service work for their island.
After our volunteer work ended each day,
the kids were free to explore the island. Many
spent time at the beach, some went fishing and
others traveled to Raccoon Keys in search of
sharks’ teeth. Because we had no transporta
tion around the island, we walked everywhere.
During our walks, we saw a lot of wild animals,
including horses, deer, raccoons, armadillo, tur
keys, snakes, crabs, and one woodpecker. All of
these animals are living in their natural habitat
and it was fascinating to watch them.
After lunch each day wildlife biologist, Doug,
would tell the kids stories about his 16 years on
the island. He talked about some aspects of his
job such as getting up early every morning hunt
ing wild hogs and coyotes because they destroy
the habitats of turtles and other non-predatory
animals. We also learned about sea turtles and
how to keep their habitat natural.
Each night, we cooked a meal and the
kids were all very helpful in the preparation
and cleanup. After dinner, they played games
including volleyball, cards, football and Fris-
bee toss. One night, Mr. Costyn took us on a
beach walk. He asked that we walk in complete
darkness. He wanted us to experience a walk
with only natural light coming from the night
sky. There are very few places where you get
to enjoy a night walk with no electricity coming
from anywhere. The walk on the beach was
probably my favorite memory of the trip. He
showed us how the sand will sparkle because
of certain zoo plankton that gives off biolumi
nescence when disturbed. We were all gliding
our shoes across the wet sand to watch it glow
and sparkle in the dark. It was a fascinating
discovery for all of us.
My family had never been to Cumberland
Island, so the fact that we were able to tag along
and support this group’s effort was incredible.
Special thanks to Joe Costyn, Lisa and Alan
Hankins, Jessie Morgan, Cindy Youngblood,
Ray McDonald and my husband for volunteer
ing their time to give our kids a great experi
ence. Our kids were able to experience and
see things that they have only been able to read
about in an environmental science textbook.
As the National Park Service website stated,
we definitely explored, learned, had fun and
were inspired during our time on Cumberland
Island. It was an experience I will definitely
cherish, and we are very thankful that Mr. Cos
tyn made this opportunity happen for our kids.
Tricia Massey is marketing director for
Northridge Medical Center. She lives in Com
merce.