Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 — Wednesday, April 1,2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett
Beginning immediately, The Millen News will advertise “Help
Wanted” positions free of charge, up to a 5-inch advertisement. If
you have a position you are looking to fill, call the newspaper at
982-5460 or bring the information by the office at 856 Cotton Av
enue, and we will publish it free of charge.
We will also publish free of charge in The Millen News "help
wanted” positions that are being advertised in The True Citizen.
This is just our way of trying to help our neighbors and friends
during the current economic crisis that our county and the nation are
facing.
Please remember our new deadlines, especially for church news.
I’ve been trying to work it in until everyone became accustomed to
the new deadlines. Starting next week, however, that ends.
Church news needs to be in the office by noon on Fridays. After
that it is too late.
An e-mail buddy sent me the following which I thought worthy
of passing along for a good chuckle.
Hymns for those who speed on the highways: 45 mph - God Will
Take Of You; 65 mph - Nearer My God To Thee; 85 mph - The
World Is Not My Home; 95 mph - Lord, I’m Coming Home; and
100 mph - Precious Memories.
The Weatherman’s hymn - There Shall Be Showers of Blessings;
the Politicians hymn - Standing On The Promises; the IRS Agent’s
hymn - I Surrender All; the Gossiper’s hymn - Pass It On; the
Electrician’s hymn - Send The Light; and the Optometrist’s hymn -
Open My Eyes That I Might See. I’d like to add one of my own: the
Newspaper Editor’s hymn -1 Love To Tell The Story.
Happy birthday to: Kathy Turner, Hagan Jenkins, Wayne Bennett,
Tramain Wilson, Lance Garvin, Lynne Hodges, James Williams,
Midge Chance, Arianna Hernandez, Johnny Murdock, Robert
Deason and Mickey Boynton.
Celebrating wedding anniversaries this week are: Mr. and Mrs.
Roy Cheney.
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, FA; SPC 4 Travis D. Motes, 1 st Calvary Division, T. Hood,
Texas; Capt. Donald Slade Burke, 735th Air Mobility Squadron
Detachment 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, Per
sian Gulf ; 1st Lt. J.R. Taylor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th
Infantry Division, 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 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
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Walter Harrison Frank M. Edenfield
Editor 1946-1985 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
“...Think we ought to send the legislature a card?"
Letter to the Editor
Dear editor,
In 2006, Elba III, a project to
build a natural gas pipeline from
Savannah to Anderson, S.C., was
announced. The project has
three phases; expansion of the
terminal on Elba Island; con
struction of a 42” pipeline
(“Southern Segment”) running
parallel to existing pipelines
from Savannah to Wrens, includ
ing Jenkins County; and con
struction of a 36” pipeline
(“Northern Segment”) from
Wrens through Glascock, War
ren, McDuffie, Wilkes, Elbert
and Hart counties to connect to
Transco with a separate pipe
planned to parallel Transco,
cross under the Savannah River,
and connect to Transco in Ander
son, S.C. This would allow Elba
to avoid using Transco to cross
the river, saving an estimated
$54 million in tariffs annually.
Unlike the Southern Segment,
the Northern Segment is a
Greenfield space, void of pipe
lines. Landowners in the North
ern Segment created “Landown
ers for Environmental and Eco
nomic Protection” (“LEEP”),
represented by Decker, Hallman,
Barber & Briggs of Atlanta.
LEEP opposes condemnations
and pipeline construction which
solely increase profits by $54
million annually for private com
panies with no service or signifi
cant benefit to our counties and
tremendous environmental im
pacts.
We want to update our south
ern neighbors impacted by Elba
on the status of LEEP’s efforts.
Defective language in Elba’s
Petitions for Condemnation is
currently under review by the
Georgia Court of Appeals. In
addition, Judge Roger Dunaway
has ordered a stay for all con
demnation cases in the Toombs
Circuit. Judge John H. Bailey
has effectively stayed all North
ern Circuit cases by reserving his
ruling on motions until the Court
of Appeals has ruled.
Review by the Georgia Court
of Appeals and stays from the
state Superior Courts have
stopped condemnations and con
struction of the Northern Seg
ment of the pipeline.
At the Federal level, argu
ments opposing the Northern
Segment of the pipeline will be
presented to the US Court of
Appeals for the District of Co
lumbia on May 14, 2009. If
LEEP’s Federal appeal is suc
cessful, the permit to build the
pipeline will be revoked. We do
not know what impact that rul
ing would have on the Southern
Segment, but interested land-
owners who are tired of their
land being taken for corporate
profit might want to look into the
matter.
LEEP is not guaranteed suc
cess, but after three years, we at
least have the satisfaction of hav
ing our objections heard at the
State and Federal levels.
Sincerely,
Lincoln and Cindy Bounds,
Wilkes County
Joe and Debbie Bennett,
Wilkes County
Rick and Gina Thomas,
Elbert County
Jon Burns
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
As we end the 34th legislative day of the Georgia General As
sembly on Friday, March 20, the end of the 2010 legislative ses
sion is in sight. The highlight of the week was the passage of the
House’s version of the 2010 budget. As I have stated previously,
the budget is one of, if not the most, important functions of the
legislature. At the beginning of each legislative session, the leg
islature receives the Governor’s Budget Report, which includes
Governor Perdue’s revenue estimate and also recommendations
for the budget. As required by Georgia’s Constitution, the state
must operate under a balanced budget.
The FY 2010 budget, HB 119, was passed by the House by a
vote of 123 to 49 on Thursday and includes a total budget of
$18.6 billion in state funds. All revenue bills and the budget for
the state of Georgia must originate in the House. The House has
passed the 2010 budget and it was directly transmitted to the
Senate. The Senate will then adopt their substitute to HB 119;
the House can either accept or reject it. If the House rejects the
substitute, the members will meet to work out their differences
in Conference Committee. It should be noted that we had to make
some drastic cuts and the 2010 budget is significantly less than
the original 2009 budget (12.3% or $2.6 billion less). We realize
that many of the people in the state of Georgia are suffering fi
nancially, and that is why we chose to tighten our belts instead of
raising taxes. If this economy continues to decline, there will be
many more cuts that will have to be made.
Although federal stimulus funds and money from the state’s
reserve fund have helped mitigate the effects of the revenue short
fall, some state programs and services will be significantly
reduced. These cuts were not taken lightly, and were only put in
place after considerable study. Just as every Georgia family feels
the effects of the economic downturn, state government does as
well. No agency escaped scrutiny, and they are all facing some
level of reduction. Due to the magnitude of the downturn in rev
enue, it is inevitable that expenditures for education be included
as a part of the reduced spending.
In regard to healthcare, some of the items we were able to
restore include: approximately $234 million to hospitals and $203
million to providers, funding for nursing home capital improve
ments and a 1 % quality incentive, expanding our community
health centers, funding undergraduate/graduate medical educa
tion programs, and providing some funding for state trauma.
Despite the cuts, Georgia is devoting a higher percentage of
the budget to K-12 education. While the education portion has
been reduced, the reductions to K-12 are much less than cuts to
other agencies. In fact, education spending accounts for 46% of
the House 2010 Budget. This is an even higher percentage than
in years past. Additionally, the House fully funded school nurses
to ensure that our children have access to health care while at
tending class.
This budget conservatively applies federal funding to existing
programs. While these funds have enabled us to alleviate the
painful effects of our decreased revenue, we must remember that
they are only a short term solution. The stimulus package is a
one-time fix that will not be available for the 2011 Budget. This
is why we have worked so hard over this session to pass eco
nomic recovery packages such as the JOBS Act. Legislation like
this will speed Georgia’s economic recovery by allowing the pri
vate sector to grow and create jobs.
All Georgians are affected in some way by the state’s
budget. For this reason I want to hear from you. I was elected to
represent you, and welcome your emails and phone calls. If you
have any questions or concerns, please contact me at my Capitol
office at 404-656-5116 or at jon.burns@house.ga.gov. 1 look
forward to hearing from you soon.
The Millen News
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