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Page 4 — Wednesday, February 11,2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett
Please pardon me. I wrote in this column last week that we
would have six more weeks of winter due to the fact that the
groundhog saw his shadow on Groundhog Day. I learned later
that the groundhog I consulted was not the “Georgia” ground
hog. I had no idea that there is a Georgia groundhog and that he
did not see his shadow, which means we will have an early
spring.
I guess groundhogs differ in their weather forecasts, much
like weathermen do. In the end, we will still just have to wait
and see. I am in favor of an early spring, however.
My nephew, Chester Joyner, has been named Jenkins County
High School’s Star Student. He selected Dr. Ivis DeLoach as
his Star Teacher. Congratulations to both.
Chester, your Aunt Deborah is very proud of you!
The poll question on our website last week was, "Funding for
the Homestead Tax Relief Grant (homestead exemption) pro
gram for the 2008 tax year was frozen by Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Should the Georgia Legislature restore funding for the pro
gram?”
Responses, as of Monday morning, were: Yes - 33; No - 1;
and Undecided - 1.
To participate in this week’s poll, go to: http://
www.themillennews.com.
Happy birthday this week to: Tim Clark, Cori Brinson, Ray
Roberts, Tyiese Cooper, Willie Baldwin, Johnnie M. Green,
Demarius Baldwin, Marshella Herrington, Emily Pierce, Carroll
Gay, Chasity Wilkerson, Melvin Dickey, Scoot Jenkins, Don
Hopkins, Megan Fields, Randy Thompson, Perry Hearn, Viola
Davis and Quinn Weaver.
Celebrating wedding anniversaries are: Mr. and Mrs. Thurman
Kent.
Military Active Duty List: Lance Cpl. Adam Lanier, U.S.
Marines, 8 th & I Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.; E-4 Sr.
Airman Roy Davis, U.S. Air Force, RAF Molesworth, United
Kingdom; Lance Cpl. Patrick Barnette, U.S. Marines, Twenty
Nine Palms, CA; Sgt. Adam Demshar, 44th Signal Battalion,
Baghdad, Iraq; Cpl. Lee Ogden, U.S. Marines, Camp Pendleton,
CA; E5 Petty Officer 2 nd Class Eric B. Kelsey, U.S. Navy,
NSA Naples, Italy; Airman First Class Charles F. Woods,
Moody Air Force Base, Valdosta, GA; Stuart Burrus, U.S. Air
Force, Barksdale AFB, Bossier, LA; SPC 4 Travis D. Motes,
1st Calvary Division, T. Hood, Texas; Capt. Donald Slade
Burke, 735th Air Mobility Squadron Detachment 1 Commander,
Richmond Royal Australian AFB, Richmond, Australia; Staff
Sgt. Gilbert C. Sheppard III, 48th Brigade, 118th Field Artil
lery, Iraq; Petty Officer 3rd Class Jamie A. Yager, U.S. Navy,
Marine Corps Base Hawaii; Petty Chief Officer Andy D.
Crosby, U.S. Navy, Elroy Destroyer, Norfolk, Va.; Stephanie
Crosby, R.N., U.S. Navy, Lafayette Destroyer; Jimmy Coo
per, U.S. Army National Guard, 878th Engineering Battalion-
Augusta, Persian Gulf; 1st Lt. J.R. Taylor, 2nd Brigade Com
bat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Iraq; SPC. Daniel Stuart,
18th MEDCOM, 121 General Hospital, Seoul, Korea; Jeffrey
Sweat, U.S. Navy, USS Kauffman, MM3 59/E-Division, A-
Gang, Norfolk, Va.; Cpl. Larry Lamont Clark, U.S. Marine
Corp, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Bagdad, Iraq; Khan Young, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Kitty Hawk,
Persian Gulf; Robert Milton Jr., E-3, U.S. Army, Ft. Stewart,
Hinesville, Ga., Mission Kuwait; Arnold R. Mosley, 2nd Lt.,
U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas; and Debra A. Mosley,
Tech. Sgt., U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas; and SPC
Charles “C.J.” Amerson, U.S. Army, Camp Adder, Iraq.
Letters policy
Letters to the editor of The Millen News are welcomed and
encouraged. These are pages of opinions, yours and ours.
The unsigned editorials generally appearing on the left side of
the editorial page represent the opinion of the newspaper and not
that of any one person on our staff. Personal columns represent
the opinions of the writers whose names appear on them and are
not to be considered the opinion of this newspaper, its manage
ment or owners. Letters to the editor voice the opinions of the
newspaper’s readers.
The Millen News reserves the right to edit any and all portions
of a letter. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters must
include the signature, address and phone number of the writer to
allow our staff to authenticate its origin. Letters should be lim
ited to 400 words.
The deadline for letters is Friday at 5 p.m. You can email let
ters to themillennews@yahoo.com.
k Goi/t teEtjcY w
COULD K DOING away
m k FULL Ws vJbRK.
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I would like to inform the par
ents of students who attend
Jenkins County Schools that
school food service is NOT us
ing any peanut containing prod
ucts. I instructed my managers to
discontinue peanut butter and any
other peanut-containing products
on January 21, 2009.
Some of you may be using
some of the products at home that
are listed in the recall notices.
Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) has a website that you can
go to and search for specific prod
ucts. You may find this helpful if
you have a question about a pea-
nut-containing product at home.
The website is as follows:
http://www.cdc.gov/widgets/
Salmonella/Salmonella2009.swf
Thank you for your support and
trust, as we feed your children
daily.
Sincerely,
Debra Herrmann
School Nutrition Director
JB Powell
SENATE LEGISLATION DEMANDS ‘ZERO-BASED BUDGETING’
Responding to the current state budget crisis, the state Senate voted
to mandate much more stringent budget reviews for state agencies.
Also known as “zero-based budgeting,” the legislation was adopted
unanimously.
Georgia is facing its greatest budget crisis in many years because
of a revenue shortfall of at least $2.2 billion in the current fiscal
year. Gov. Sonny Perdue’s budget proposals for the remainder of
FY 2009 and all of FY 2010 include deep reductions in funding for
nearly every department of state government, as well as the end of
property tax relief grants and a new fee on hospitals and health care
plans.
SB 1 would require one-quarter to one-third of all state programs
to go through a more thorough budget review, as well as making
agencies prioritize their services and mandating that state depart
ment heads propose alternative levels of funding for their programs.
This effort to avoid future midyear budget crises now goes to the
House of Representatives for its consideration.
On Feb. 3, the Senate began the process of dealing with Georgia’s
transportation funding crisis by passing a proposed constitutional
amendment that would allow counties to band together and pass a
regional, local option sales tax dedicated to transportation projects.
Introduced with bipartisan support, SR 44 and its enabling legis
lation, SB 39, would authorize multicounty regions to levy an addi
tional one cent sales tax if a referendum is approved by the voters in
those regions. Specific transportation projects would be identified
before moving forward with the referendum. The rationale behind
the regional approach is for local dollars to be spent on local roads,
where the needs are most critical.
As a constitutional amendment, SR 44 still needs approval by
two-thirds of the House of Representatives and must be approved
by a majority of Georgia voters in the 2010 general election. Similar
legislation was proposed last year but fell short of final passage just
before the legislative session adjourned. Sponsors of the measure
are hoping that dealing with the issue early in this term will give
lawmakers more time to resolve any disagreements.
So far during the 2009 legislative session, bills I have co-spon
sored include: SB 27, which would create an annual observance of
Confederate Heritage/History Month; SB 31, the Georgia Nuclear
Energy Financing Act; SB 45, revising the requirements for nursing
education programs and licensure of nurses; SB 59, addressing elec
tronic mail fraud and strengthening state laws governing commer
cial e-mail “spam”; SB 75, the Landowners Protection Act of 2009,
which would limit the liability of property owners who allow per
sons to hunt or fish on their land, as well as those engaged in agri
tourism; and SR 83, which would establish a Senate Study Commit
tee on Green Information Technology.
Each of these measures has been assigned to a Senate committee
for consideration. I will keep you posted on their progress through
out the session. For more information on these and other bills and
resolutions, visit www.legis.ga.gov.
(Sen. J.B. Powell (D-Blythe) represents the 23 rd District (Burke,
Emanuel, Jefferson, Jenkins, Richmond, Screven, Washington and
Wilkinson counties) in the Georgia State Senate. During the legisla
tive session, contact him at 320-A Coverdell Office Building, At
lanta, GA, 30334; by phone at 404-463-1314; or by e-mail at
jb.powell@senate.ga.gov.)
Jon Burns
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
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The 2009 General Assembly session has slowed down due to the
current economic crisis and the looming $2 billion revenue to the
state. This critical shortage has forced the entire membership to first
stop and understand that there is not any money for special projects,
and, most current programs will face reductions in funding or outright
elimination. There is a veiy good reason why there has not been much
legislation looked at, because we are all looking at the budget and
determining how it affects us.
The schedule for the General Assembly has been modified by the
leadership of the House and Senate. This was done to slow the pace
down of the constitutionally-mandated, no more than forty day ses
sion of which as of this past Friday, came to 15 days. We are waiting
to see what the federal stimulus package does for education and Med
icaid funding which consumes a majority of the roughly $19 billion
annual budget total. The General Assembly will meet on Tuesday
through Thursday of each week until the end of March, hoping to
finish in 35 days. It also will leave five days for a brief session should
the economic crisis worsen and adjustment be needed for the Fiscal
Year 2010 budget.
The House has passed several meaningful pieces of legislation in
cluding House Bill 141, a bill that further updates our state banking
code. This includes amending the definition of “net assets” and “fi
nancial institutions”, reestablishes what a credit union is and is not, as
well as other house-keeping rules. This bill passed easily, 162-5. We
also modified the threshold requirements to purchase corporate owned
life insurance from 10 employees to 2 employees. H.B. 80 passed
unanimously.
In an effort to help those who work in the state’s largest business,
agriculture, we have ratified the Governor’s executive order which
provides a state sales tax exemption for the sale of dyed fuel oils which
are used exclusively for agriculture, timber growing, harvesting, min
ing or construction purposes. This bill, H.B. 121 passed unanimously
also. We also passed H.B. 69, a bill that would allow for the change in
criteria for determining “candidate for non-resuscitation” from need
ing two physicians to only one. The bill also clarified that two physi
cians were required to concur on an order not to resuscitate. This bill
easily passed 153-4. We unanimously passed H.B. 128, a bill that
would exempt from occupation taxes, administration fees and regula
tory fees, those self-employed individuals that are also disabled veter
ans or blind.
Ask nearly anyone in Georgia, and they will tell you that everyone
has transportation needs. Whether you’re in Atlanta, Savannah, or
any town in-between, transportation affects your quality of life. Solving
these problems isn’t just about building new roads or widening lanes
in one or two cities; it is about allowing families to spend more time
together instead of sitting in traffic. A state-wide problem requires a
state-wide solution. That is why Rep. Vance Smith Jr. introduced a
state-wide plan. The Georgia 20/20 Statewide Transportation Act will
allow Georgians to vote on a ten year one percent state-wide transpor
tation sales tax that would expire at the end of year 2020. The great
thing about this plan is it allows Georgians to choose whether or not
to tax themselves.
One bill that has received and will receive continued attention is
Governor Sonny Perdue’s plan to create a "hospital tax.” The bill,
H.B. 307, was introduced this week as a way to overcome the $423
million shortfall in the state’s Department of Community Health’s
budget. The bill would require hospitals to pay the state a 1.6 percent
"provider-fee” out of their net patient revenues. The taxes collected
will allow the DCH to leverage those funds for additional Medicaid
funding from the federal government. At this point in time, the legis
lation faces an uphill battle as many of us do not want to raise taxes,
especially on our local hospitals.
Representative Bums may be reached at jon.bums@house.ga.gov
or at 404-656-5116.