Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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