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Che Summeruille News
The Official Legal Organ 'of Chattooga County Georgia
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Our Opinion
Vote In Trion
Today, Jan. 2, is election day in the
Town of Trion.
Two candidates are running for mayor
and six hopefuls are seeking three seats on
the town council. All are honorable,
capable individuals.
The next mayor and council members
will face some significant challenges in the
next few years.
Of course, the current effort to update
the town’'s wastewater treatment plant
must be pushed ahead as rapidly as possi
ble. We must not allow the Chattooga
River to be polluted with wastewater that
hasn’t been properly treated.
The mayor and council will face a deci
sion on what to do with its vacant proper
ty on U. S. Highway 27. Will the town's
industrial park be nothing more than a
brush-covered jungle with no more
amenities than a weathered sign? Or will
utilities and roads be installed on the tract
and a speculative building constructed to
Important Issues
This is going to be an extremely
political year.
Not only is President Bush seeking re
election, so are a third of all U. S. senators,
all U. S. House members, and all Georgia
state legislators.
County offices in Chattooga County
will be up for grabs this year, an event that
always heightens interest in politics.
Georgia is also apt to host a presiden
tial primary sometime in March. That
may, or may not, bring the Democratic
Party’s hopefuls to the state. President
Bush may even make an appearance if the
economy keeps sliding.
At some point in March, Chattooga
Countians are expected to vote on whether
to retain their current sole commissioner
form of government, or change to a five
member board form. That'’s likely to spark
some heavy debate during the next couple
of months.
We should be thankful that we have
the luxury of politics in Chattooga Coun
ty and in the United States. It is a freedom
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50 YEARS AGO
* * *
WHAT OF THE new year? What of 1942? What does it hold in store for
us, here in our own community, here in our country, and elsewhere in the world?
Not soon will the wounds of a devastating war be healed. Not soon will the
reverberations of the world conflict cease. Not soon will we cease paying the
heavy penalties of bloodshed and destruction. With all that, the bells of a New
Year ring, and they tell us that happier days are due. The decencies of life which
we know so well in our community, the neighborliness which people in American
towns enjoys, the sturdiness of independence that characterizes us in rural areas
may yet find their proper influence throughout the world. The world, tested
severely, will yet emerge to better, happier things. Civilization has been rude
ly mangled, but it has not gone to pot. We face 1942 with higher hopes than
seemed reasonable in 1941. This is no little progress, no small cause for cheer.
A happy new year, then, neighbors; we wish you prosperity and the continuance
of the democratic way of life, the American way, and American heritage that
will never die.
* * *
THE ELECTION for Mayor and City Councilmen will be held Saturday,
Jan. 3. In the race for mayor, H. M. Wood, the incumbent, is opposed by Dr.
F. W. Hall. None of the candidates for the offices of city councilmen has op
position. These candidates are: E. C. “Red” Powell, T. H. Selman, Marshall
Lowry, Gordon Allen. The city officials will be elected for a two-year term in
stead of the one-year term in previous elections.
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Opinions Expressed By
Editorial Columnists Are Not
Necessarily Those of This Newspaper
Thursday, January 2, 1992
draw potential industries?
A newly elected mayor and council will
also find some goodies in their basket. The
$63 million expansion program at Mount
Vernon Mills Inc. will near completion
later this year. More jobs will be added,
and a significant addition will be made to
Trion’s property tax digest.
It will not come this year, but the time
may come when the mayor and council will
have to decide whether it will be cost
effective to continue financing the town’s
school system.
Trion has the potential for growth, but
it will be up to the new council to deter
mine whether it will occur, how fast, what
type, and where.
We encourage all registered Trion
voters to go to the polls today and elect
the leaders best able to meet the
challenges of the present and future.
that we too often take for granted.
Public debate on the issues — not per
sonalities — is helpful in the formation of
public policy. We still have the vote.
Almost anyone who can walk and talk can
cast a ballot. It’s easy to vote.
It is important during this crucial time
in the history of our county, state and na
tion that we inform ourselves about the
issues and facts, and then cast intelligent
ballots on election day.
If a person depends on rumors, innuen
do, personality likes or dislikes, lies and
half-truths, to form his opinion, it is best
that he stay home and not vote. An ill
informed or uninformed voter is of more
danger to representative government than
one who stays home on election day.
Political observers will have a lot of fun
in 1992 so get your seat belts buckled and
settle back for the topsy-turvey world of
politics — Chattooga County, Georgia and
U. S. style.
It’s great.
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It’s Our Choice
A FRESH YEAR is under way for all
of us. What we do with it and our lives will
be up to each of us individually.
Some things — such as the national
economy — will be out of our hands.
But what we do within those con
straints is within our power and grasp. We
can waste money, or conserve it. We can
be wise consumers, or foolish spendthrifts.
How we handle our personal relation
ships is too important to leave to someone
else. We can be cruel and mean to each
other, or we can be kind, gentle, caring and
understanding of each other’s human
foibles.
* * *
SELFISHNESS can rule a person’s
life. Or he can look outward instead of in
ward. The world was not designed for one
individual’s personal likes and dislikes. We
have to live with others and consider their
feelings and views, too.
Fidelity can rule a relationship. Or in
fidelity can wreck a home and ruin the
lives of children in that home. Again, that
decision is up to individuals alone. Hor
monal “feelings” can be controlled, or they
can control a person’s life.
Guest Editorial
Truth In Taxing
The Georgia General Assembly decid
ed that the citizens need to understand
more about local government taxes, so
they passed so-called “‘truth in taxation”
laws. These require counties, cities and
school boards to advertise the tax rate
that they propose to levy in advance of
adopting their budget.
This idea caught on in legislatures
around the country as a way to divert at
tention from state government to the local
governments that all too often have little
say over much of their budget because so
much spending is decreed from either the
state capital or Washington.
Notice that demonstrations against
higher taxes are always held at the cour
thouse or city hall, never at the state
capitol or our nation’s capitol. Why is
that? To put it simply, mandates hit the
taxpayers and primarily property tax at
the local level.
What doesn’t trickle down as addi
tional property taxes often comes in the
form of service charges and fees. An arti
cle in the October, 1991 issue of Govern
ing Magazine pointed out that because of
federally mandated environmental laws,
the cost of pollution control per household
will increase an average of 60 to 120 per
cent between 1987 and 2000. Why wasn’t
Congress required to run a big ad in local
newspapers announcing what they were
about to do? That would have been truth
in taxation. L
The state wants all property assessed
fairly, so it adopts standards, eliminates
the small grants that helped counties
assess the property, and then proceeds to
reject digests because someone in Atlan
ta believes values are wrong. Let’s give the
state the appraisal function, and then the
state can give the counties the values.
Thereafter county commissioners, city
councils and school boards can just worry
Viewpoint
By Tommy Toles, Editor
EACH PERSON is responsible for
what he or she does. A person can choose
to be honest. Or to steal. To be truthful.
Or to be a liar. To be a drunkard. Or to be
sober. To be lazy. Or to be industrious. To
be tidy and clean. Or to be filthy and inde
cent. To attend church. Or to ignore the
presence of God. To work hard for good
grades. Or to goof off and be satisfied with
just passing, or worse, failing.
Ronnie Lance, chairman of the Georgia
Department of Corrections Board, drumm
ed home the point a few weeks ago that
prisons can’t be built fast enough to house
all the criminals being produced by
society. v
We are that society.
* * *
IF WE DON'T live honorable and
upright lives as adults and set clear ex
amples by our conduct at home and at
work, how can we expect our children and
grandchildren to be moral, honest in
dividuals themselves?
The year is before us. What will we do
with our individual lives? What choices
will we make? Will we accept responsibili
ty for our actions?
It’s up to you alone.
about setting the millage rate.
This approach would eliminate the pro
blem many legislators see with counties
appraising property and then levying
millage rates. This system would also
allow legislators to participate in the
wonderful world of property taxation.
By separating two distinct functions,
this approach would also demonstrate to
the public that the assignment of values
to property and the taxation of that pro
perty are not the same.
Some legislators seem to think that
commissioners play games with millage
rates and assessments. If the state instead
of local officials were making the ap
praisals, however, this perception could be
eliminated.
At the state level, legislation should
also carry a price tag. Let the appropriate
legislative committee attach a note to all
its bills and resolutions saying that if this
bill passes, it will cost the citizens however
much. Such a note should also include in
formation as to whether revenue is being
provided for the program. If not, it should
clearly state who is to cover its cost.
This would even help the Governor get
a handle on state government. After all,
most state employees are working on some
program or other that the legislature felt
was important to some group. Many pro
grams, such as Growth Strategies, are
passed and not even the state agencies
responsible for helping local government
implement them are given the resources to
do their work. Still, local government is
left with the mandate.
Truth in taxation might work if every
level of government had to play, but as
practiced today, it's more like a game of
“get the commissioners.”
— Georgia County Government Magazine
Published by Association County
Commissioners of Georgia
P 4
- Julie’s
-~ Notes
. By Julie Griffis
Where’s The Fire?
YEAH, I'M STILL on the smoking thing.
Ever since my column on the “Great American Smoke-
Out,” I've heard various comments from people of various
walks of life, smokers and non-smokers alike. They were
people who either didn’t smoke and didn’t care if other peo
ple did; people who smoke and would like to be left alone;
former smokers who have no compassion for smokers; and
people who have never smoked and feel the federal govern
ment should re-open Alcatraz for those of us who do.
FORMER SMOKERS probably are the worst. Most
have this “holier than thou” attitude. ‘I quit so can you,”
and “I quit because I didn’t want to die of lung cancer,
now I have to breathe your smoke.”’” Sometimes you just
want to “flick your Bic” and set them on fire, mostly
because they won’t shut up, which stresses you out and
you smoke more cigarettes.
Then there are the “put ’em on a boat to Alcatraz” peo
ple. “‘Now we can’'t smoke on airplanes, inside various
buildings, in some cases our own offices. Pretty soon
they're going to have cigarette police whose jobs primari
ly will be to snuff out smokers, put them in jail, lock them
up, throw away the key, etc.
* * *
I’'M NOT SURE which category Tommy Toles falls in
to. He doesn’t smoke and he has about 10 “no smoking”
signs in his office. I don’t have any ‘‘no smoking” signs
in my office. I just have a sign that says ‘“shirt required.”
But out of courtesy to him and to keep from having to
hear the junk I know I would have to endure, I don’t smoke
in my office. I retreat to the press room, in exile.
The man has an ‘“Environmental Air System” in his
office that he uses because he says another co-worker (who
has a “‘mind your own business’’ sign in his office) smokes
and even though the room is some “way’’ down the hall
from Tommy’s, Tommy says the smoke comes through the
air conditioning vents. One day soon I expect him to walk
into the office wearing a ga*s mask.
* *
I ACTUALLY quit smoking once, for about five
months. My roommate and I went to this stop-smoking
clinic. It was there that we learned that nicotine is a drug,
not just tobacco, and that smoking is an addiction, which
is why it is not easy to quit.
However, even though nicotine is a drug and smoking
is an addiction, and yes, I'm hooked, I'm tired of being
treated like a junkie. It doesn’t mean I'm going to go out
and beat some little old lady over the head and rob her
for my next fix.
* * *
YES IT’S NASTY. Yes it's gross. But so are chitterl
ings. Are they going to outlaw those too?
Yes, it’s unhealthy, but so is cholesterol. Are they go
ing to stop serving meals high in cholesterol on airplanes
or in federal buildings? Will offices prohibit employees
from bringing lunches to work that are high in fat,
cholesterol, etc.? I think not.
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“Why Should | Make Any
New Year's Resolutions...
I'm Not Through Breaking Last Year's Yet.”