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Letters To The Editor
Bonds Too High, Claim Inmates
Dear Editor:
We, the inmates of Chattooga County Jail,
would like to enuihten the citizens of Chat
too%aeCounty. that at least one of our rights
are in%violated. That being the right to a
*“‘reasonable bond."
No bond in this county is “‘reasonable.’” As
a matter of fact, they are so ridiculously high
it is in most cases impossible to make one.
In the decree order which this jail is run
under, on Page 14, paragraph 38, the law plain
ly reads, that within 72 hours of arrest, each
inmate will be set a “‘reasonable bond.”
No bond set in this coun:f' has been
“‘reasonable.”” Murder bonds and armed rob
bery bonds which are totally violent crimes,
average from $25,000 to SIOO,OOO. Everywhere
else in the state and others they average from
$5,000 to $20,000.
Bonds for non-violent charges such as sim
fle car theft and drug charges are averaginfi
rom $75,000 to $1,000,000,000. A person wit
even menial intelligence knows something is
very wron%]here. Bonds are not made to punish
a person they are made to insure the person
comes to court.
Bonds in this county are clearly being abus
ed after a person has been hung with one of
these bonds. The only way he can get it lowered
is to pay a lawyer an average fee of SI,OOO and
then maybe he can get it lowered. If he does not
have a SI,OOO Lhen%fe stands no chance of get
ting it reduced, making this a violation of his
“Civil”" and ‘‘constitutional rights.”” Where is
the money going? It makes one wonder if there
isn't a “‘ruse” involved somewhere.
One of our constitutional rights which is
Amendment 8 of the 10 original amendments:
The Bill of Rights found in file World Almanac
Book of Facts states clearly “*Excessive bail is
prohibited.”
The law says you are innocent until proven
guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt. These
h=l Capitol Beat
B - . By Andy Bowen.
’ Capitol Correspondent
Murphy Aims At DOT
LIKE A little boy who wants to win all
the marbles, Georgia House Speaker Tom
Murphy is trying to get his third man on
the 10-member State Transportation
Board. If he keeps placing his own can
didates, Georgia will be going back to the
time when one man decided where roads
would go.
Murphy says he’s only trying te-blunt
a power grab by DOT @ommiflasiomr Hal
Rives, who also is tryingto pack the board
with favorites.
* * *
MURPHY SAYS he wants only to
make sure the electorate still is well
represented on the board. Putting it polite
ly, that's a smokescreen. Since the board
members are elected by members of the
General Assembly, Murphy knows good
and well the people are already
represented.
Any novice can plainly see that what
Murphy really wants is to broaden his
political power base. Period.
“That’'s just plain false,”” declared
Murphy.
* * *
PRIOR TO 1963, one man controlled
the transportation board. Then, that man
was the governor, and the transportation
board had only three members. When so
meone wanted a road built somewhere, the
project would have to get the governor’s
OK. Roads were built for political favors.
Need had nothing to do with it.
Do we want to go back to that system?
Of course not. Neither do Lt. Gov. Zell
Miller nor Rives, who are opposing Mur
phy’s continued attempts to get his per
sonal candidates elected to the board.
* * *
THE FIGHT HAS almost been reduc
ed to a type of schoolyard standoff bet
ween bullies. Rives and Miller last year
backed the reelection of incumbent Hugh
Broome to the board from the Second Con
gressional District. But Murphy's man,
Billy Langdale, won instead.
Rives went to Murphy after that bat
tle and offered to bury the hatchet. Mur
phy said he would, but immediately began
politicking to back former state Rep. Bob
Argo for the 10th District board seat up
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kind of bonds are another way of saying, ‘‘in
Chattooga County you are guilty until proven
innocent."
How would you feel if you were under such
a hiFh bond? Some of us have a wife and
children and is hard to tell your child daddy
can't come home because he doesn't know so
meone with a half million dollars worth of pro
perts\(') to sigg his bond.
maybe you will take all of this under con
sideration when making an important decision,
like voting.
Inmates
Chattoo% County Jail
Michael Dempsey
Anthon¥ J. Cupp
Duane Yancey
Daniel Clifton
James Mann
Ronald Adams
E. Norton
Tommy Tucker
Editor's Note: The sheriff’s office said
Dempsey was being held on $90,000 bond and
that he had failed to make several previous
court appearances on bad check and drug
charges. g’nncey. Mann and Cupp have been
sentenced and are not eligible for bond, the
sheriff's office said. Clifton is being held on a
bench warrant involving a Florida burglary, on
bail-jumping and auto theft, records indicate.
Tucker is being held on a parole warrant, for
which no bond is available, and also a detainer
for DeKalb County, Ala. authorities on an
escape charge. Adams and Norton are being
held on $350,000 bond each in connection with
the seizure of a large quantity of suspected
drugs, the sheriff’s office said. Norton was out
on $250,000 bond when he was arrested a second
time on drug charges, records show. Current
bonds were set by magistrate's court, said
Sheriff Gary McConnell.
for grabs this coming January.
% ELLe
MURPHY SAYS it was Rives who
broke the truce by immediately backing
former state Sen. Jimmy Lester for the
10th District seat.
The battle rages all over again. In 1990,
the Seventh District seat that includes
Chattooga will be the prize.
“Miller still wants ‘peace, but asserts
that *“When somebody shoots at you, you
are either going to duck or shoot back.
This is a bad thing. It is an unfortunate
way of doing business.”
* * *
HE REPEATED his call for Murphy
and Rives to sit down together and agree
to avoid future fights.
That's not likely. The bad feelings are
running deeper and deeper. Rives now
thinks Murphy has his replacement in
mind, and with enough Murphy men on
the board, Rives could be on his way out.
Replacing him might be Revenue Commis
sioner Marcus Collins.
Collins says he hasn't been asked to
take over the DOT. But he did say he could
manage the DOT better than any engineer
could, and might accept the post if offered.
* * *
THE PROBLEM here is that the DOT
is being run better now than ever. It ran
well under Murphy-foe Tom Moreland.
Both Rives and Moreland are engineers
familiar with the needs of a modern
transportation network. They aren’t politi
cians, and aren't inclined to go along with
the gang. That is what really galls
Murphy.
Under Moreland and now Rives, we've
had engineers running the DOT who are
concerned about the influences of the
state's most powerful politician on a board
that can't be hamstrung any more by
politics.
* * *
THE TRAGEDY is that all of us can
look for this soap opera to continue. To a
man, Murphy, Rives and Miller told me
Friday they each want peace. To a man,
they each added that telling word, ‘‘but,”
followed by a pledge to keep on politick
ing as long as the other guy does.
Save at Least
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All the Time!
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“As A Matter Of Fact, | Do Have A Definite
Presidential Choice. Unfortunately, He Has
Better Sense Than To Be In The Race.”
Potpourri
from editorial page
THE LAWS OF nature and of nature’s God were
nothing more or less than an 18th century way of saying
that law was built into the world at its beginning, by the
uncreated Creator, both in His world and later in His
Word.
Reading Darwinian evolution into the Declaration is
ideological nonsense. Darwin’s book, ‘“The Origin of the
Species by Means of Natural Selection of the Preservation
of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life,”” was publish
ed in 1859, 83 years after the signing of the Declaration.
* * *
UNFORTUNATELY, we have evolutionary law today,
and not law founded onthe enduring principles found in
the Declaration. i
The Declaration says rights are given by God and that
the purpose of any kind of civil government is to protect
those rights, not redefine, warp or deny them for the sake
of a political agenda.
* * *
“WHEN ANY form of government becomes destruc
tive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or
to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying
its foundation on such principles, and organizing its power
in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness.”
If you doubt there is Biblical justification for defen
ding property and rights that God has given, try this: com
pare the language of the last paragraph of the Declara
tion of Independence to language found in the Bible. In
the Declaration you will read that Congress appealed ‘‘to
the Supreme Judge of the world”’ for the rightness of their
cause.
* * * '
UNLIKE TODAY, those earlier representatives knew
they could be wrong, so they appealed to an authority
higher than themselves to judge between them and
England. Like Abraham, they knew that the Judge of all
the earth would do what was right in their cause (Gen.
18:25). A more telling passage is the appeal Jephthah
makes to the Supreme Judge is his territorial dispute with
the Ammonites (Judges 11:27).
In an age when government is more and more op
pressive and less and less restrained, it is good to reaffirm
the right to cast off such a government. It is good to know
the political battle has been won before. It is not, however,
a great comfort to know such battles usually require the
blood of martyrs.
* * *
ASISAY, if we were culturally literate about our own
history we would know that the cost of liberty is great.
In this case, ignorance is not bliss, it is bondage under
tyranny.
Guest Column
from editorial page
okay in emergency or crisis situations, but it is less than
adequate as a way of life.
Reacting is a way of not being responsible for your own
life. It is'a passive way of making it through life with ‘‘if
only’’ as your slogan. ‘‘lf only my spouse acted different
ly, I could be all I want to be.”
¥ NN
IF YOU ARE a reactor rather than an actor in your
relationships, try the following steps:
1. Disengage from your reactive relationship and
analyze what is going on. Calm your feelings.
2. Examine your own life. What do you want to be and
do? Are you getting there? (Instead of blaming a spouse,
child, or parent).
3. Take responsibility for your life. Set your own goals
and decide your actions. Talk it over with those you love,
but be responsible for *yourself. -
*
THE AMOUNT of reactivity in your relationships is
a signal of your level of maturity. Instead of your life be
ing determined by others’ actions, begin to plot your own
course. Keep your eyes ahead, rather than on what so
meone else is doing.
OTHER EDITORS
Murphy: Muckrake Education
HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) — Reg Murphy,
publisher of The (Baltimore) Sun, told é)ar
ticipants in the Pennsylvania Press Con
ference that newspapers need to go back
to muckraking and lead a call for educa
tion reform.
The educational system in the U. S. is
a national disaster and the media is guil
ty of perpetuating the myth that the
system is fine, Murphy said.
“The democracy won't work unless
children are educated. Every kid who is
not participating is missing out on his or
her chance at power. Because when they
don'’t get involved in the learning process,
they have lost their chance at power in the
society,” Murphy said. Instead of
benevolently reporting on education’s suc
cesses, newspapers should focus on the
schools’ inadequacies and insufficient fun
ding for salaries and books.
On a daily basis, newspapers should be
S R B TR O R O R R
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: ITIZENS
ol To T“E c e
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! OF CHATTOOGA |
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. COUNTY: :
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% |am a candidate for re-election as .
: Sheriff of Chattooga County. :
Ml | pledge to you, if re-elected, to con- j
ol tinue to provide fair, efficient, courteous, |
al common sense law enforcement for every [
o person in Chattooga County. *
b *
" Re-elect a Sheriff that knows Chat- M
4 tooga County, knows you, and knows the W
M problems we all face in these trying W
M times. .
: In the next few weeks | hope to see y
i each of you personally to ask for your .
vote, your support and your help in the |
: Aug. 9, 1988 Democratic Primary. *
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ad "
. Re-Elect :
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) A Working Sheriff :
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! RE-ELECT
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! GARY ;
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. *
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! McGONNELL !
3 PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT - PAID FOR BY GARY MeCONNELL *
A e A R S A O G T T e
investigating their school boards and the
quality of educators, he said.
“What you need is a tough-minded, in
telligent reporter working with a good
editor in asking ‘Why aren’t we getting
education that's necessary?’ Murphy
said.
Newspapers should be asking why
schools are out preparing children for the
future and what changes are needed.
““No one really stands up there and
says ‘They're terrible’ They are, and
something needs to be done about it,” he
said. Murphy referred to a period at the
turn of the 20th century marked by a
brand of journalism known as muckraking.
Reform-minded reporters of the time like
Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens and Ida
M. Tarbell wrote articles dealing with ci
ty government, labor unions and business.
— The Newspaper News
June/July, 1988
David Bovyd