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Page 4 — Wednesday, April 8, 2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett
I am “grandma” again and couldn’t be prouder.
Our son Tyson and wife Lindsey welcomed their first child,
Ty, into the world last Tuesday at Trinity Hospital in Augusta.
The “little man” is a precious bundle of joy with a good set of
lungs.
The other grandparents are Randy and Tisha Waters of
Hiltonia. Ty is their fourth grandchild, so they are experts. We
are still “learning as we go.”
I was not prepared for how much things have changed in
the years since I raised babies. I almost needed a set of in
structions just to operate the bottles the first time I kept grand
daughter Jaylee!
There is nothing like it, however! Grandchildren are truly
“grand.”
Our poll question on the website last week was, “Do you
think completion of the Cotton Avenue TE-grant project, will
result in increased business for downtown merchants?”
Responses, as of Monday morning, were as follows: Yes -
13; No - 36; Maybe - 7; and Undecided - 2.
To participate in this week’s poll, go to http://
www.themillennews.com.
Happy birthday this week to: John T. Herrington Sr., Andy
Dudley, Ray Miller, John Herrington II, Jonathan Hall and
Brandon Hooks.
Celebrating wedding anniversaries are: Mr. and Mrs. Joel
Hooks Sr. and Mr. and Mrs. Jim Waters.
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 Calvary 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 Ha
waii; 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 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., Mis
sion 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.
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Jon Burns
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
This week proved to be another busy one for the House of Repre
sentatives. We voted on legislation that would provide property tax
relief to our homeowners for a second time and sent a batch of bills
to the Governor for his consideration.
Earlier this year, we voted to approve Senate Bill 83 which would
have doubled the homestead exemption from $2000 to $4000, but it
failed along a party line vote. This week it was reconsidered and
came back up for a vote, but again fell short of the super-majority
requirement on a party line vote. If passed, it would have been put
before the voters to provide greater tax relief to our homeowners
during these difficult economic times.
After months of committee meetings and hearings, several bills
made it through the General Assembly and to the Governor’s desk
this week. If signed by Governor Perdue, these bills will become
law. Some of the bills awaiting the Governor’s signature include
House Bills 233, 149, and 160 as well as Senate Bills 13 and 44.
House Bill 233 puts a moratorium on property assessment increases
for the next two years. Under this freeze, property assessments in
Georgia will not rise above their current value for this period of time
unless the property is improved or rezoned. We all know that under
the current economic conditions, property values should not go up
and this legislation protects the homeowner from undue increases.
House Bill 149 allows 11 th and 12 th grade public school students
to attend a college or technical school to complete high school while
receiving credit towards a higher degree. This bill, commonly called
the “Move on When Ready” Act, gives public school students and
their families more options to fit their individual educational
needs. By allowing students to choose courses that fit their personal
life goals we can foster the educational interest students need to
succeed.
House Bill 160 imposes an additional $200 fine on “super speed
ers.” This bill defines a super speeder as a driver who goes 85 miles
per hour or faster on a four-lane highway, and 75 miles or faster on
a two-lane road. Revenues raised through these fines, approximately
23 million dollars, will help pay for a statewide trauma care net
work so that Georgians can get the critical care they expect in the
event of an emergency.
Senate Bill 13 gives prosecutors in Georgia the option to seek life
without parole convictions for serious criminal offenses. Under cur
rent law, the only way a prosecutor can secure a life without parole
conviction is to seek the death penalty. Death penalty trials are usu
ally very costly and take longer to complete at a greater expense to
our taxpayers. Often times, prosecutors seek the death penalty just
to secure the life without parole conviction. This change in law will
allow prosecutors to seek this type of conviction directly without
going for the death penalty. It will also ensure that the people who
need to be locked up for the rest of their life will be sentenced quicker
and reduce the cost of such trials.
In an effort to promote Georgia based companies and products,
the House passed SB 44 by a vote of 157-5 on Wednesday. We are
trying to come up with solutions to stimulate our economy, espe
cially here in Georgia. With the passage of this bill it would require
purchasing decisions by the state, departments, agencies, commis
sions, local governments, and public schools to give preference to
certain Georgia produced goods in the bidding contracts and/or with
their purchasing decisions. This bill would apply to large scale con
tracts and purchases to an amount that exceeds $100,000. Our in
tentions with this piece of legislation are to promote the purchase of
Georgia products, supplies, and food.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at
my Capitol office at 404-656-5116 or at jon.bums@house.ga.gov.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
J.B. Powell
SENATE RENEWS CALL FOR REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION SOLUTION
As the debate continued this week over the future of transpor
tation funding in Georgia, the Senate held its ground on the posi
tion that a regional solution paid for by dollars raised within those
regions is the appropriate direction to take.
On Monday, the Senate amended legislation previously ap
proved in the House of Representatives, which originally called
for a statewide 1 percent sales tax to pay for a pre-determined list
of road-building and other transportation projects over the next
10 years. The Senate changed that language in HR 206 and HB
277 in favor of a regional sales tax approach, which we had pre
viously approved in SR 44 and SB 39 early in the session.
Under the Senate plan, Georgia counties would be able to join
with neighboring counties to implement a regional 1 percent sales
tax, if approved by voters in those counties, to fund transporta
tion projects in their own areas. For example, revenues generated
in metro Atlanta would be spent there, while proceeds from a
sales tax in counties of Senate District 23 would be used to meet
our transportation needs here.
With only three legislative days remaining in the current ses
sion, and both the Senate and House basically adhering to their
positions on the issue, a conference committee will have to reach
some sort of compromise if the transportation funding problem
is going to be solved in 2009. It is my hope that the conference
committee can find a compromise as funding transportation is
critically important to all Georgians.
A slim majority of Senators also voted again to approve a plan
to strip the state Department of Transportation board of its au
thority and replace it with a new State Transportation Authority,
with members hand-picked by the governor, lieutenant governor
and House speaker. Inserted Wednesday into a new version of
SB 39,1 voted against this proposal again because it concentrates
too much power over the state’s highway program and threatens
to weaken the voice of many areas of the state.
On March 25, the Senate voted overwhelmingly for two tax
cut proposals aimed at generating job growth in Georgia, as the
state’s unemployment rate approaches 10 percent. HB 481 would
provide businesses a $2,400 tax credit and unemployment tax
advantages when they hire someone who is unemployed. The
Senate amended the bill to gradually phase out corporate income
taxes for Georgia-based businesses, so HB 481 goes back to the
House for further consideration.
- See Powell, page 5
The Millen News
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