Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 — Wednesday, February 25, 2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box I I
"Honey, don't think of it as another one of my toys...
think of it as doing our part to stimulate the economy!"
Jon Burns
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
By Deborah Bennett
I was saddened to hear of the death of the Rev. Michael Guido
this weekend.
I grew up listening to his “Seeds from the Sower” on the tele
vision and radio and reading them in various publications.
I am sure that his ministry will continue, and the “sower” is
now "reaping” his rewards in Heaven.
Janet Johnson telephoned me to brag a bit about the greatl6
oz. cup of coffee she recently purchased locally for only 25 cents.
I, like she. was a little bit surprised that you can still buy a cup of
coffee for only a quarter.
So who is still selling coffee for 25 cents? Thompson’s Corner
on Winthrope Avenue is the answer.
Please remember our new deadlines. They are as follows.
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 until press time.
No news items of any kind will be accepted on Mondays for
inclusion in the current edition. Also, news articles may be
edited or condensed to accommodate space limitations.
The deadlines for advertisements remain unchanged.
Happy birthday this week to: Phil Cowart, Sandy Becton, Ri
chard Odom, Becky Thomas, Linda Jackson, Matthew Thomp
son, Fran Boynton, Lynn Pierce, Megan Odom Thomas, Amber
Davis, Jennifer B. Rich, Barbara Bowers, Ollie Moore Jr., Chad
Holton, Travis Brown, Jasper Marion, Austin Kent, Keith
Lattimore, Garfield Hendrix, Elizabeth Mosley, Anna Troisi,
Reann Black, Lauren Garvin, Evelyn Richardson. Wendy Wallace
and Darrel Clifton.
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 Cal
vary 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 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 Divi
sion, 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 Expedi
tionary 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.
As the fifth week (the 21 st Legislative Day) of Georgia’s legisla
tive session comes to an end, numerous pieces of legislation were
discussed. Activity has picked up significantly as the budget require
ments were made clearer with the addition of $465 million in fed
eral funding for Medicaid. This additional funding has taken some
of the pressure off the Medicaid funding parts of the budget which
have federally-mandated requirements.
This week the first bill passed out of the General Assembly and
signed by the Governor, HB 143, and will fund the Homeowner Tax
Relief Grants (HTRG) for 2008. This legislation, in place for almost
a decade, provides state funding to local government taxing districts
to help keep property taxes lower. By passing this legislation and the
Governor signing it, we make good on our commitment to
homeowners to continue to fight for lower property taxes thus keep
ing citizens in their homes, especially during this economic crisis.
Citizens will not receive additional property tax bills for 2008 and
this bill further states how the funding will be appropriated in future
years.
In a Press Conference, top leadership in the General Assembly
unveiled their plans for the Transforming Transportation Investment
Act. Transportation is a statewide issue that comes up every legisla
tive session. In a joint effort to try and improve transportation projects,
Governor Perdue, Lt. Governor Cagle, and Speaker Richardson in
troduced the Transforming Transportation Investment Act. The trans
portation plan would create a new State Transportation Authority
(STA) composed of an eleven member board with five members
chosen by the Governor, three by the Speaker, and the other three
chosen by the Lieutenant Governor. It would incoiporate the Geor
gia Regional Transportation Authority and the State Road and Toll
way Authority into a new State Transportation Authority respon
sible for overseeing state and road project funding. Once this piece
of legislation comes to the House, we will take an in-depth look at it
and will make an informed decision on whether or not it is the most
effective solution for our transportation needs.
Legislation this week that also was passed by the House includes
HB 59. This bill would exempt the sales tax on free drug samples
provided by physicians and also on the samples used in clinical
trials and research. As legislators, we want to encourage physicians
to continue to provide free drug samples to their patients, especially
those that might be unable to pay for a prescription. During hard
economic times, people often cut back on medications and we need
to ensure that the option of being able to use free drug samples is
available and that the physicians continue to disperse it to the people.
This bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. In addition we
passed HB 217, a bill that will allow pharmacists and nurses to
administer flu shots through the use of a written protocol formed
between a doctor and either the pharmacist or nurse. This is ex
tremely important in rural and inner-city areas where doctors are
less prevalent. The legislation passed 160-3.
We unanimously passed HB 237, legislation that provides finan
cial assistance for adoptive parents who adopt children classified as
“hard-to-place.” The legislation expands financial assistance to fami
lies that adopt hard-to-place children through private adoption agen
cies. This includes children with mental, physical or emotional dis
abilities. This legislation is designed to make Georgia more adop
tion-friendly.
Contact Representative Bums at jon.burns@house.ga.gov or at
404-565-5116.
J.B. Powell
SENATE ADDRESSES ECONOMY’S EFFECT ON PROPERTY VALUES
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 noon. You can email letters
to themillennews@yahoo.com.
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
The Senate voted on a property tax relief measure last week, ap
proving legislation that would hold down increases in valuation as
sessments by local tax officials.
Under SB 55, tax assessors would be required to consider the im
pact on property values of home foreclosures and bank sales of com
parable real estate, along with the decrease in property values caused
by conservation easements.
These are considerations that could have a negative effect on prop
erty values and thus justify a lowering of the assessment, which in
turn would mean lower ad valorem tax bills for property owners.
Sponsors of SB 55 said the bill will bring a more realistic, common-
sense approach to the tax appraisal process as home prices have dropped
dramatically during the current economic turndown. The foreclosure
crisis affects the value of other homes in the community.
Critics of the bill complained about its potential effect on local gov
ernment revenue, but the legislation passed Wednesday by a 46-6 vote
and now goes to the House of Representatives for its consideration.
On Feb. 19, a majority of senators approved legislation that will
strip the Georgia Public Defenders Standards Council of its authority
to oversee the state’s indigent defense system. Under SB 42, the coun
cil would be changed to an advisory board with its members selected
by the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker.
The legislation, which passed 32-21, would place administration of
the agency in the hands of its director. Supporters of the bill are un
happy with present members of the council, who have publicly criti
cized the lack of adequate funding for indigent defense in our state.
I voted against the bill because it appears to be a reactive measure
against individual council members and fails to address the problem
of funding for the constitutionally mandated public defender system,
resulting in lengthy delays in criminal cases in our state.
Following up on last week’s report about legislation addressing the
case of the Peanut Coip. of America plant, the Senate voted unani
mously Feb. 18 to pass SB 80. The proposal is aimed at preventing
future situations like the shipping of salmonella-tainted peanut butter
products from the Early County plant.
SB 80 would require that any time a test comes back positive for the
presence of hazardous substances in food products, the processing
company must report those results to the state Department of Agricul
ture within 24 hours and retain the test results for at least two years.
The bill now goes to the House for its consideration.
The $787 billion economic stimulus plan passed by Congress and
signed into law by President Barack Obama includes an estimated $6
billion in aid for Georgia in the form of grants for new roads and
bridges, mass transit, local schools and other critical needs. Some of
the highlights of Georgia funding, according to the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, include: more than $1 billion for highways and bridges;
$168 million for transit capital grants; $97.8 million for weatheriza-
tion of modest-income homes to make them more energy efficient;
$420 million for Title I schools; $333 million for special education;
additional stabilization funds for modernization and renovation of
schools; $220 million in additional unemployment insurance trust fund
dollars; and $1.73 billion for increased Medicaid payments.
The Senate and House Appropriations committees are still working
on the supplemental budget for fiscal year 2009 and the annual bud
get for 2010. Last week, Gov. Perdue lowered the current-year rev
enue estimate by another $450 million, bringing the total budget defi
cit closer to $3 billion.
The governor also signed into law HB 143, which guarantees pay
ment of the $428 million in homeowners’ tax relief grants to local
governments for this year only. While continuing to express his oppo
sition to the tax relief grants, the governor acknowledged the receipt
of federal funding helped in his decision to sign the bill.
On Feb. 19, lawmakers from the 12th Congressional District elected
state Rep. Bobby Parham of Milledgeville to the DOT Board to suc
ceed Raybon Anderson, who retired. Congratulations to my friend
and legislative colleague Rep. Parham on this election.
Sen. 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 legislative session,
contact him at 320-A Coverdell Office Building, Atlanta, GA 30334;
by phone at (404) 463-1314; or by e-mail atjb.powell@senate.ga.gov.
The Millen News
Deadlines
THURSDAY AT NOON:
Wedding Announcements
Engagement Announcements
Anniversary Announcements
Birth Announcements
School News
Columns
Memoriams and Thank You’s
General News Items
FRIDAY AT NOON:
Chatter Box Items, Letters to the Editor,
Datebook and Church News Items
OBITUARIES
Accepted until press time
MONDAY-11 AM:
Classified & Legal Ads
MONDAY-NOON:
Retail Display Ads