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Page 4 — Wednesday, February 18, 2009, The Millen News Opinions, yours and ours The Chatter Box By Deborah Bennett Attention! Attention! Deadlines for submitting news items to The Millen News will change effective this week. All news items for inclusion in the Feb. 25 and subsequent editions should be submitted according to the following schedule. Due Thursdays noon - wedding/engagement/birth announce ments. anniversaries, school news, columns, memoriams, thank you’s and general news items. Due Fridays noon - letters to editor, Chatter Box items, datebook and church news. Obituaries will be accepted up until presstime. No news items of any kind will be accepted on Mondays for inclusion in that week’s edition. Also, news articles may be edited and condensed to accommodate space limitations. The deadlines for classified, legal and display ads will re main the same - 11 a.m. Mondays for classifieds and legals and noon Mondays for display ads. As always, we appreciate your cooperation in helping us meet our deadlines. I received this bit of information and thought it worthy of passing along. The Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Tourism Foundation have announced the launch of a new website highlighting Georgia-made products. Listings on the website are free, so artists, producers and retailers selling authentic Georgia-made Georgia-grown products are eligible to be part of this marketing tool. This is a web registry with a searchable data base. To list a product, or to shop for prod ucts, go to: www.GaMadeGaGrownProducts.org. The poll question on our website last week was, “Do you support Millen City Council’s efforts to revise and enforce a stricter Dog Ordinance?” Responses, as of Monday morning, were: Yes - 24; No - 0; Undecided - 2; and Who Cares - 5. Comments were: “What about cats? I can’t even have a bird feeder because of cats killing the birds.” To participate in this week’s poll go to http:// www.themillennews.com. Happy birthday this week to: Keith Lattimore, Elizabeth Mosley, Bob Fields, Edna Grace Royal, Viola Davis, Brandy Thompson, Lori Pickett, Eddie Bolton, Gena Boynton, Jesse Williams, Morgan Sharpe, Sandy Lanier, Jan Griffin, Lois Godbee Wilson,Vaughna Roberts, Gloria Becton, Clint Davis Jr., Susan Welch, Tykeise Oliver, Zachary Keller, Janasia Brady, Charles Burke, Blake Lane, Dee Dee Goodwin, Brooks Brinson, Abbi Ridings, Matt Thompson and Adam Oglesby. Celebrating wedding anniversaries are: Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Fleming, Mr. and Mrs. Hud McTeer, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Chance, Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Wiggins and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Burke. 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 Detach ment 1 Commander, Richmond Royal Australian AFB, Rich mond, Australia; Staff Sgt. Gilbert C. Sheppard III, 48th Brigade, 118th Field Artillery, 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 Cooper, U.S. Army National Guard, 878th Engineering Battalion-Augusta, Persian Gulf ; 1st Lt. J.R. Taylor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Iraq; SPC. Daniel Stuart, 18th MEDCOM, 121 General Hos pital, 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. Chartered 1903 The Millen News is published weekly by Chalker Publishing Company, 601 E. 6th St., Waynesboro, Ga. The Millen News 856 East Cotton Ave. • Millen, Ga. 30442 Phone: (478) 982-5460 • FAX: (478) 982-1785 Periodical postage paid at Millen, Georgia. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Millen News P.O. Box 909 Millen, GA 30442 USPS No. 349-660 Walter Harrison Frank M. Edenfield Editor 1946-1985 Editor/Emeritus 1985-1998 Roy F. Chalker Jr. Bonnie K. Taylor. Deborah Bennett Lavonna Drawdy Melodye Williams Publisher General Manager Editor Advertising Composition Office Assistant Subscription Rates (Includes tax): In Jenkins County $23.00 Elsewhere in Georgia $26.00 Outside of Georgia $29.50 "Can you believe it? ... I just got a text message that lawmakers want to clamp down on cell phone use in cars!" Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, Your front page story in last week’s edition, (Feb. 04,2009,) about the donation of the old Edenfield’s store was some of the worst reporting that you have done in a long time. The item wasn’t completely wrong, but it still gets an F. First, you were wrong about to whom the building was do nated. You said Millen Fire De partment. The correct answer was that it was donated to the North Jenkins County Fire De partment, with the proceeds to benefit the Oak Hill Fire Depart ment. Second, all of the history of the building was totally irrel evant. The subject was dona tion. If I donate a car to the Sal vation Army, the past history of owners is irrelevant. Third, you misspelled the name of the donors. The correct answer is Mr. and Mrs. Robert (Bob) and LaDonna Gest. Fourth, you failed to inter view Mr. and Mrs. Gest. Well, I did your work for you, (no thanks necessary.) I inter viewed Mr. and Mrs. Gest, and they told me this: “We have been advocates of trying to bet ter Millen and Jenkins County ever since we were on the Bet ter Home Town Committee. I guess that is what really got us interested in trying to help make improvements. We have heard for years, people saying ‘I sure wish someone could make this or that change.’ We decided to not only work on it through Bet ter Home Town, soliciting ideas and the like. We decided to be come more active in it by get ting the community together to push ordinances through the City Council that would benefit the businesses of Millen, but also the community as a whole. We have always wanted to be a blessing to the people of Jenkins County and Millen through our business. We not only try to reach people for Christ, but also to enlighten people to the fact that this is a good place to live. If the people and the powers that be would have a mindset to be upright and start looking out for the other guy rather than their own selfish interests, things could change.” Wayne Salter Suburbs of Perkins Jon Burns LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Like the majority of states across our nation, Georgia is expe riencing an economic crisis and the House continues to struggle with budget decisions. We may have to take drastic steps in or der to balance the budget including the difficult task of deciding what cuts will be made. A balanced budget means that the amount of money spent dur ing the fiscal year cannot exceed the amount of money collected. This makes the budget process very complex, but ensures that the state of Georgia does not operate with a deficit. Budget cuts of 10 % or more have already been enforced and additional cuts are expected. The state revenue for January of this year dropped over 14%, a decline of around $260 million compared to Janu ary of last year. But it is evident that further budget cuts will have to be made. The state of Georgia is now looking at close to $3 billion in cuts which will undoubtedly affect everyone in our state. This week, several important pieces of legislation were voted on in the House. HR1 failed to obtain a constitutional majority by a vote of 105-67. This Resolution would have allowed the citizens to vote on limiting the Property Tax Reassessment Caps on residential and commercial property. This legislation may be reconsidered this week. Most legislators realize that it is impor tant to have greater accountability of taxing authorities and trans parency for the citizens in Georgia. Another bill relating to property tax reform, HB 233, passed the House on Friday by a vote of 110-63. This Bill creates a two- year moratorium on property reassessment increases and requires that each parcel of property be reassessed at least once during that time. The property reassessment can be decreased during this time, but not increased. Legislators are working together on - See Burns, page 8 J.B. Powell SENATE APPROVES NUCLEAR FINANCING PROPOSAL The Senate voted Feb. 11 to approve the Georgia Nuclear En ergy Financing Act, legislation I co-sponsored that would allow Georgia Power to implement rate increases beginning in 2011 to cover $1.6 billion in construction costs for two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Building these nuclear units will generate about 3,000 jobs here in the 23rd Senate District and ultimately result in less expensive electricity for Georgia consumers. An amend ment to the bill authorizes the Georgia Public Service Commis sion to consider the funds raised for the new units in future ratemaking cases. SB 31 now goes to the House of Representa tives for its consideration. 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. In an effort to step up awareness of the state’s new “Made in Georgia” campaign, I have introduced legislation that would di rect the Department of Economic Development to create and maintain a web site informing the public of Georgia manufac turers and the goods they produce. Under SB 117, all govern mental entities that maintain web sites would cooperate with the department to include a link to the “Made in Georgia “ site. Also, companies would be required to manufacture a minimum of 50 percent of their products in Georgia in order to qualify to par ticipate in the campaign. Remember, manufacturing is the life blood of Georgia’s economy. Be sure to look for the “Made in Georgia” label. SB 117 was referred to the Senate Economic Development Committee for its consideration. Feb. 10 was Augusta Day at the State Capitol. Along with Sens. Ed Tarver and Bill Jackson and our House of Representatives delegation, I was pleased to host a large contingent of local offi cials and other community leaders from the greater Augusta area who came to Atlanta to visit with legislators and other state offi cials and discuss issues facing our part of the state. I was also honored to host former Atlanta Braves baseball star Ryan Klesko for the day at the Capitol. Now retired from his stellar career with the Braves, San Francisco Giants and San Di ego Padres, Klesko has settled with his family in Georgia and is very active in community involvement and service to others. He is founder of the Blue Ryno Foundation, which helps children affected by cancer and their families and very involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Klesko is also committed to promot ing land stewardship and conservation across the state. The Sen ate unanimously adopted SR 167, which I introduced, recogniz - See Powell, page 8