Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 — Wednesday, March 11,2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett
Changes are taking place at The Millen News. Beginning this
week, I will be at the front desk. I wish Melodye Williams, our
office manager, only the best as she moves on to what I know will
be bigger and better things. I will miss her terribly, not only as a
co-worker but also as a wonderful friend. That friendship will re
main despite the fact that we will no longer see each other every
day.
The Millen News will continue to provide community news cov
erage. But because I will be confined to the office more, the man
ner in which we do that will change somewhat.
Beginning this week, the office will be closed every day from
noon-1 p.m. for lunch. We have a “drop box” on the door, and I
encourage you to use it during this time. Telephone calls during
the lunch hour will be forwarded to The True Citizen.
We ask the public to bear with us as we adapt to the current
economic climate of this community and the nation as a whole.
The Millen News has been serving the citizens of this community
since 1903, and we look forward to many more years of doing the
same.
I received information this week that all Social Security recipi
ents will receive a $250 check in May as part of President Barack
Obama’s stimulus package. Those receiving Social Security should
receive a letter in April informing them of the matter.
The full article appeal's elsewhere in this issue.
Happy birthday this week to: Dina Keller, Rick Pickett, Ralph
Chance, Gloria Hawes, Jacob Oglesby, Wayne Skinner, Tori Becton,
Mary Alice Becton, Johnny Oglesby Jr., George Hall, Rose Small,
Embree Jenkins, Brittania Cosby, Cad Davis, Phil Rhodes, Bonnie
Becton, Caleb Golden, Jody Lynn Wilson and Freddie Gillis.
Celebrating wedding anniversaries this week are: Mr. and Mrs.
Norman Clifton, Mr. and Mrs. Darrel Clifton and Mr. and Mrs.
Dale Wiggins.
Military Active Duty List: Lance Cpl. Adam Lanier, U.S. Ma
rines, 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 Austra
lian 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 De
stroyer; Jimmy Cooper, U.S. Army National Guard, 878th Engi
neering Battalion-Augusta, Persian Gulf; 1st Lt. J.R. Taylor, 2nd
Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Iraq; SPC. Daniel
Stuart, 18thMEDCOM, 121 General Hospital, Seoul, Korea; Jef
frey 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 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
Editor 1946-1985
Frank M. Edenfield
Editor
1985-1998
Roy F. Chalker Jr Publisher
Bonnie K. Taylor General Manager
Deborah Bennett Editor
Lavonna Drawdy Advertising Composition
Subscription Rates (Includes tax):
In Jenkins County $23.00
Elsewhere in Georgia $26.00
Outside of Georgia $29.50
Jon Burns
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
As the sixth week (24 th legislative day) of Georgia’s legislative ses
sion wraps up, many necessary items on the agenda were
accomplished. The Georgia House passed out the mid-year budget,
which was a sigh of relief for some. Overall, the bills that were passed
covered a wide variety of issues.
The budget is always the number one item on the agenda for the
legislative session. The supplemental appropriations bill for fiscal
year beginning July 1, 2008 and ending June 30 th , 2009 was passed
out of the House by 168 to 5. The $18.9 billion midyear budget in
cludes funding for the operation of State government, its departments,
boards, bureaus, commissions, institutions and other agencies. With
the aid of federal money (around $ 145 million), we were able to avoid
some of the difficult cuts; however, we still had to cut back. Given the
challenges and constraints of these economic times, the budget we
passed was very reasonable. We tried to keep from hurting those that
are most vulnerable in our society. As I have mentioned in previous
reports, the economic situation we are in makes detailing the budget
for the state of Georgia a very difficult task. We had to make approxi
mately $2.6 billion in cuts, and it was not an easy choice. We realize
that we are in hard times right now and we tried to restore funding that
was necessary for the people. For instance, we funded the
Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grants and other various programs, such as
the Meals on Wheels, which many of our senior citizens rely on.
Education is a priority, and in the budget we tried to restore some of
the funding for education. We realize how essential our local school
systems are and how budget cuts can have drastic effects on our
communities. Now, we will have to focus our attention to the next
fiscal year which begins July 1 st .
Energy needs have been an increasing concern in Georgia for the
Library News
By Sharon Blank
Bring the little ones in on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and they’ll be
able to listen to fun stories and do a special craft in our magical
story time! Wear green!!
Funky Hat Day is Friday, March 13. Let us see your craziest
hat.
Spring will arrive Friday, March 20. Why not get your garden
going with one of our great gardening and landscaping books?
Now, on to the books!
GEORGIA’S LAND OF THE GOLDEN ISLES by Burnette
Vanstory. If you’re interested in the history of Georgia, and
Georgia’s coastal islands in particular, you’ll want to read this
classic of Georgia history. From Oglethorpe and the Indians to
the Gullahs and the elite of America, she carries you through the
history of the Gold Coast, island by island.
THERE IS NO ME WITHOUT YOU: ONE WOMAN’S OD
YSSEY TO RESCUE AFRICA'S CHILDREN by Melissa Fay
Greene. Haregewoin Teferra was a grief-stricken widow and re
cluse when a priest showed up on her doorstep and left her with
first one, then a second orphaned child. Soon, children of all
ages were being brought to her by dying parents and families
too poor to support another mouth to feed, and she was learning
firsthand about the depth of the AIDS pandemic that is leaving
millions of African children orphaned.
Links to the following sites and more can be found at
www.sjrls.org or on our blog at sjrls.blogspot.com
Rosie: A Legend on the Home Front
Transcript of a round table talk with the author of the book,
“Our Mothers’ War,” and two women “home front” veterans of
World War II: one a tack welder on PT boats at the Philadelphia
Navy Yard and the other an African American clerk for the seg
regated boilermakers’ union serving the San Francisco Bay Area’s
Kaiser shipyards. Accompanied by a slide show. From the fall
2007 issue of Common Ground, a National Park Service publi
cation.
NAACP 100 Years 100 Films, 1909-2009
“The Purpose of the NAACP Top 100 Films of the Century
(1909-2009) is to identify the top 100 multicultural film projects
that have had the greatest influence on people of color, prima
rily African Americans, and American popular culture.” Browse
films using the scrolling timeline and then slide the rating bar
last several years. According to the 2006 State Energy Strategy re
port, Georgia’s demand for electricity grew 61 percent from 1990 -
2004 and will sustain an annual growth rate of three percent over the
next several years. Nuclear energy has operated safely and securely
in Georgia since 1975 and currendy provides more than 20 percent of
the state’s electricity. Nuclear power is a safe, clean and affordable
source of base load electricity that produces zero emissions.
For these reasons, the House passed a bill this week that will ad
dress how to finance the construction of two additional nuclear reac
tors at Plant Vogtle in Burke County. This bill, Senate Bill 31, will
lower the overall cost of the project which will lead to lower rate
charges for consumers. The average increase will be around $ 1.30 on
each customer’s power bill. Failure to pass SB 31 would have cost
Georgians an additional $300 million in interest alone. By paying a
slight increase in cost now we will ultimately lower our costs in the
future. It will allow Georgia Power to raise customer rates in incre
ments over seven years, instead of raising rates at the time of con
struction, which would have been around 12.4%. This bill will pro
vide Georgia’s citizens with low cost and clean energy and in return
will reduce the state’s reliance on coal and natural gas. We are fortu
nate to have companies that are willing to invest in Georgia. Since
this bill has been passed by the House and Senate, it will now go to
Governor Perdue.
The decisions made at the State Capitol affect all Georgians, espe
cially in the tough times we are all facing. For this reason I want to
hear from you, I was elected to represent you, and welcome your entails
and phone calls. If you have any questions or concerns, please con
tact me at my Capitol office at 404-656-5116 or
jon. burns @ house, ga. gov.
for each film. Requires free registration to rate films. From the
NAACP.
Well, that’s all for now - see you at the library!
Modern Woodmen ^
▼ SM
FRATERNAL FINANCIAL
Touching lives. Securing futures.®
depends on where you're sitting TODAY.
There's still time to make IRA contributions for the
2008 tax year.
April 15th.Tax deadline. Can you really afford to wait to save for your
retirement? You're probably wondering if Social Security or a 401 (k) will
cover your retirement needs. That's exactly why you need to look at
opening or adding to an IRA today.
An IRA can help you take the right steps toward financial security and your
retirement goals. Saving today means a better retirement tomorrow. Now
that's smart money, no matter where you sit.
Contact your Modern Woodmen representative to find out how an IRA
can work for you.
Linda Bragg, FIC
121 Terri Dr.
Millen, GA 30442
478-982-1824
706-871-0914
Linda.F.Bragg@mwarep.org