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Page 4 — Wednesday, February 25, 2009, The Millen News Opinions, yours and ours The Chatter Box By Deborah Bennett The announcement this week by the City of Millen that bids are being accepted for the Cotton Avenue TE-grant project is good news. The project has been in the making for five years with one delay after another - none of which were the fault of the city. There will, of course, be some inconvenience when con struction actually begins, but when the project is finished our downtown area will be much improved in appearance and ac cessibility. Congratulations to all who have worked so hard on the project for so long. The poll question on our website last week was, “Do you think another red light is needed on Winthrope Avenue in the downtown area of the city?” Responses, as of Monday morning, were as follows: Yes - 13; No - 17; and Undecided - 0. To participate in this week’s poll, go to http:// www.themillennews.com. Happy birthday this week to: Jessica Davis, Justin Davis, Baker Jenkins, Kathy Turner, Joe Bob Law, Bailey Brown, Stacie Johnson, Brandon McKenzie, Marcus Richardson, Charlie Burch, Mildred Wiggins, Leslie Rowland, Judy Kent, James Poole, Bowden James, Teresa Hernandez, Donna Boynton and Erica Williams. Celebrating wedding anniversaries this week are: Mr. and Mrs. Dan Turner, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Cheney and Mr. and Mrs. James Poole. 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 Lorce, RAL 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 Lorce Base, Valdosta, GA; Stuart Burrus, U.S. Air Lorce, Barksdale ALB, 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 ALB, Richmond, Australia; Staff Sgt. Gilbert C. Sheppard III, 48th Brigade, 118th Lield Artillery, Iraq; Petty Officer 3rd Class Jamie A. Yager, U.S. Navy, Marine Coips 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 Expedition ary Lorce, 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, Lt. Stewart, Hinesville, Ga., Mission Kuwait; Arnold R. Mosley, 2nd Lt., U.S. Air Lorce, Randolph ALB, Texas; and Debra A. Mosley, Tech. Sgt., U.S. Air Lorce, Randolph ALB, 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 *Tve waited all winter for spring ...and I think the pollen has waited all winter for me!" Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, First, I want to say that I ap preciate Mr. Roundtree’s letter about his proud heritage and perhaps that would have been a good article for you to write as a human-interest story. He or any of his kin did not do the donation of the building; they did nothing but profit from the business. The donation of the building was a kind act of char ity by the present owners (whose name you misspelled). That is not what this letter is about but I felt that I needed to set the record straight. This letter is about the sad state of affairs concerning printed newspapers. The tele vised news media tells us every day about how many that are either shutting down completely or going totally digital on the Internet. I would like for the lo cal citizens to think about the great service that this little "mullet wrapper” does for this community. Our local events are heralded in your publication. We cut scrapbook pictures out of these pages. We know who is having a birthday, what the local churches are doing, who’s sell ing something, who’s hiring workers, what our city and county governments do at their meetings, the agricultural news, your “Chatter Box”, the list goes on and on. So, I am wondering what we can do to insure that we will continue to have a local newspaper. Folks out here in the down town and suburban area of Perkins have probably smelled smoke lately because I have been taxing my brain (as I’m sure you have). Some of the ideas that I have come up with are for us to send paid subscrip tions of The Millen News to our out-of-town relatives, soldiers overseas—anyone that you can think of that might enjoy read ing a small town newspaper. Subscription sales are the life blood of the printed media be cause they know that those pa pers are already sold. I believe that if every citizen of Millen and Jenkins County would sub scribe to the paper, the publisher would have a guaranteed read ership and know how many pa pers to print. I urge all of the citizens of Jenkins County to support The Millen News and keep it in print. When a city loses their news paper, the next thing to go is the post office. Things are bad enough already - let’s not lose our identity because we are too cheap to subscribe to our local newspaper. Sincerely, Wayne Salter Suburbs of Perkins J.B. Powell SENATE APPROVES FUNDING SYSTEM FOR TRAUMA CARE The state Senate voted overwhelmingly March 10 to approve a proposal that would provide a dedicated revenue source for the Georgia Trauma Trust Fund to expand and enhance trauma care in our state. SR 277 calls for a constitutional amendment authorizing a $10 annual fee on motor vehicle registrations, with the proceeds go ing directly to the trauma trust fund. The legislation, which passed the Senate 48-8, still needs a two-thirds vote of approval by the House of Representatives and then must be approved by a ma jority of voters in the next general election in order to change the constitution. Jon Burns LEGISLATIVE UPDATE This legislative week ended with Cross-Over Day on Thurs day, legislative day number 30, which is one of the longest days of the session. It is the responsibility of the legislature to enact new laws and legislative day 30 plays a key role in the law mak ing process. This day is significant in that it is the last day that legislation must pass either the House or the Senate. The Geor gia General Assembly meets for up to 40 session days, so only ten legislative days remain. For the second year in a row, we are trying to tackle the issue of the ad valorem tax paid on vehicles. HB 480 passed out of the House on Cross-Over Day by a vote of 133 to 39. This Bill would replace the sales tax and annual ad valorem tax on our motor vehicles with a one-time title fee. Another benefit of this bill is that the excess funds could be dedicated to help partially fund trauma care in the state of Georgia; but, will still be subjected to the appropriation’s process. If passed by the Senate, this would take affect on or after January 1, 2010. The total of the one time state and local title fees on the vehicle would be the lesser amount of $2,000 or 7% of the value of the vehicle. This bill is essential as it means that instead of paying the yearly ad valorem tax, a one time state and local title fee would be paid when the vehicle is titled. Several tax bills were on the minds of the General Assembly this week. Two proposals, HB 481 and HB 482 passed out of the - See Burns, page 8 ARE YOU PAYING YOUR MOBILE HOME INSURANCE IN WITH YOUR MORTGAGE PAYMENT? WE CAN SAVE YOU A LOT OF MONEY. CaH for a free quote today. Cynthia Scott Insurance Agency 109 N. Main St., Sylvania, GA 30467 912-564-2425/912-663-0533 (Cell) csinsurance@windstream.net Auto • Home • Life We provide you with the quality products and service you deserve. While voting to provide sufficient funding for trauma care is a step forward for health care in Georgia, the Senate unfortunately took a giant step backward on March 12. SB 169, passed 34-22 on a strict party-line vote, would criminalize potentially life-sav ing medical research in Georgia. The bill, if approved by the House in its present form and signed into law by the governor, would prohibit embryonic stem cell research in our state, even though many in the medical and scientific communities believe such research could lead to treatments for major diseases, in cluding Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and spinal injuries. Both the Senate and the House approved final versions of the supplemental budget for fiscal year 2009, which ends June 30. The $18.9 billion proposal reflects approximately $2 billion in spending cuts due to a severe downturn in revenues over the past year. Additional cuts would have been necessary if not for the federal stimulus funding making its way to Georgia. The new budget restores the $428 million in homeowner tax relief grants that had been cut by Gov. Perdue, saving the aver age Georgian $200 to $300 in property taxes. Also, $145 million in federal stimulus money was included to offset the governor’s cuts to local school funding. The governor signed HB 118 into law March 13. Meanwhile, work continues in the legislature on the annual budget for fiscal year 2010. Thursday was the 30 th day of the 2009 legislative session, also known as “cross-over” day because it was the deadline for legis - See Powell, page 8 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