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PACE 4A
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008
Editor: Angela Gary
Phone: 706-367-2490
E-mail: AngieEditor@aol.com
Website: www.banksnewsTODAY.com
Opinions
“Where the press is free and every tnan
able to read, all is safe.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Football fun
with Zelosport
B oard games, spending time with your
family and sports. If those are three
things you love, Zelosport, based out of
Columbus, Ga., has the perfect product for you.
The company has transformed the age-old pas
time of paper football into a series of finger sports
games for all ages. Now sports fans can enjoy foot
ball, baseball, soccer and golf at the convenience of
the kitchen table.
What’s even better is that you can order a game
themed around your favorite team. My 6-year-old
nephew, Jake, and I tried
Zelosport’s Georgia Bulldog
football game recently and we
love it.
It’s a familiar game that
most everyone has played
before. The football is a
folded sheet of paper in the
shape of a triangle. The field
is a tabletop. And the goal
is to score a touchdown by
flicking the football across
the table until part of it hangs
over the edge. You’ll experience
the challenges and big plays of the real game. You
can play with family and friends in the comfort of
your home.
Every game is packaged in a clear tube and
includes a 2’x4’ vinyl playing surface, parts bag
and rulebook. The game is simply rolled out onto a
table when you’re ready to play and can be placed
back into the tube for safe storage when you’re
done.
Starting this fall of 2008, Finger Football national
tournaments will be held across the south. The com
pany will provide a structured league format so that
anyone wanting to compete on a national level will
have that opportunity. In Georgia, tournaments are
planned in Columbus (Aug. 30) and Macon (Sept.
13). The winner of each local tournament will be
invited to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain for a
chance to win a grand prize of $10,000 in the inau
gural Finger Football National Championship.
What I love about the product is that it brings
families back together again in the kitchens and liv
ing rooms playing wholesome games and building
lasting memories. All of Zelosport’s games provide
a level playing field. Regardless of size, shape, ath
letic skills or ability, everyone has the same chance
at winning.
The company was founded in 2004 and has
license deals with the NFF and the PGA and
has inked an endorsement deal with Brett Favre.
Recently, the Army and Air Force Exchange
Service ordered 10,000 games to send overseas to
the troops. In 2007, their finger baseball game won
toy of the year from Family Fun Magazine.
For more information on Zelosport visit www.
zelosport.com.
angela
gary
Angela Gary is associate editor of The
Jackson Herald and editor of The Banks County
News. E-mail comments about this column to
AngieEditor@aol.com.
The Banks County News
Founded 1968
The official legal organ of Banks County, Ga.
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher
Angela Gary Editor
Chris Bridges Sports Editor
Sharon Hogan Reporter
Anelia Chambers Receptionist
Suzanne Reed Church News
Phones (all 706 area code):
Angela Gary Phone 367-2490
Angela Gary Fax 367-9355
Homer Office Phone 677-3491
Homer Office Fax 677-3263
(SCED 547160)
Published weekly by
Main Street Newspapers, Inc.,
P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, Ga. 30549
Subscription in county $19.75
Subscription in state $38.85
Subscription out of state $44.20
Military with APO address $42.20
Senior citizens get a $2 discount
Periodicals postage paid at Homer, Ga. 30547
Postmaster, send address changes to:
Subscriptions,
The Banks County News,
PO. Box 920,
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Member: Georgia Press Association
Georgia Sports Writers Association
National Newspaper Association
"Rubber band .solutions may save some fuel,
but I still think off-shore drilling makes more sense!"
The political machine of Karen Handel
T he most overlooked Georgia
political development since
the 2006 election may well
be the increasing level of partisanship
in our secretary of state’s office. Most
Georgians don’t think about their sec
retary of state very often. If they do,
they interact with the office in one of its
more mundane functions, which include
issuing licenses for trades like cosmetol
ogy and serving as the filing agency for
corporate records.
Those responsibilities, however, are
not what give the position its real power.
That comes from the secretary of state’s
regulation and administration of our
elections. When one controls the pro
cess of choosing all of our other elected
leaders, one has the ability to funda
mentally influence the direction of our
government.
Before Republican Secretary of State
Karen Handel was elected in 2006, the
office was a largely apolitical bureau
cracy staffed by career employees.
Like most government agencies, those
bureaucrats were varied in their abil
ity and commitment to their jobs, but
they were not widely regarded as car
rying out the political bidding of the
Democratic Party, of which all secretar
ies of state before Handel were mem
bers.
In fact, the elected secretaries of
state were surprisingly nonpartisan,
often pursuing election reforms that
ran counter to the political interests of
Democrats. For example, Cathy Cox,
the Democrat who preceded Handel,
successfully pursued an early voting ini
tiative that made casting a ballot more
convenient. She did so even though all
evidence from other states (and now
Georgia) indicates that it results in a
large net gain in votes for Republican
candidates, particularly in growing
exurban areas. In addition, Cox, while
working as assistant secretary of state
under her predecessor, Lewis Massey,
helped enact Georgia’s first law requir
ing voters to show
identification to
cast a ballot. The
Massey/Cox law
was less restric
tive than the
recent Republican
initiative requir
ing voters to have
photo identifica
tion which has
raised Democratic
hackles. The
Massey/Cox law,
however, also met with resistance from
Democrats concerned that their voters
were more likely to be disenfranchised
by it.
Now that Handel has taken control
of the office, nonpartisan tradition is
gone with the wind. She’s been com
pared to former Florida Secretary of
State Katherine Harris, who was made
famous during the 2000 vote recount of
the state’s vote for president between
George W. Bush and A1 Gore. That
comparison is not particularly apt,
because Harris was an accidental pawn
in a game far larger than she, and her
office was essentially commandeered
during the recount drama by national
Republican operatives. In contrast,
Handel is part of a long-range plan by
Republicans to use the secretary of
state’s office to solidify and expand their
hold on Georgia politics.
Handel’s recent conduct has provided
plenty of examples of the GOP plan in
action. Perhaps her most egregious act
was her recent attempt to disqualify
Jim Powell, a Democrat running for the
Public Service Commission. Powell, a
candidate widely regarded as an appeal
ing prospect for the PSC, was forced to
go to court to block Handel’s attempt
to remove him from the ballot the day
before this summer’s primary. Handel
tried to boot Powell at the last minute,
despite the fact that an administrative
law judge, to whom Handel had referred
a question regarding Powell’s residency
in his PSC district, reviewed the evi
dence and ruled that Powell was eligible
to run for the office.
Other recent examples of partisan she
nanigans have occurred as well. In June,
when state Sen. Joe Carter (R-Tifton)
withdrew as a candidate for re-election
to run for a judgeship, his Senate seat
was left without a candidate. (Carter
was running unopposed.) State law
requires that Handel reopen qualifying
for the seat, but she brazenly did so only
for Republicans, ensuring that the party
would not have an open Senate seat to
defend. State Democrats considered
challenging her decision in court but
demurred when their state party could
not produce a candidate.
Handel also has been fighting tooth
and nail to allow state Rep. Mike Jacobs
(R-Atlanta) to run unopposed. Jacobs
made an odd decision to switch from
Democrat to Republican in an intown.
Democrat-trending seat, during what
may be the worst Republican year since
Watergate.
Handel kicked his Democratic oppo
nent off the ballot, and is doing every
thing in her power to keep Michelle
Conlon, an independent candidate, out
of the race as well. Conlon is now suing
Handel for throwing out a multitude
of seemingly valid petition signatures
collected by Conlon to qualify as an
independent.
What we are witnessing is the skillful
and shameless exploitation of power to
ensure its perpetuation. As Handel and
her partisan minders march on, each
small decision makes a Democratic
comeback in Georgia less and less likely
— a plotline that should be left for the
voters to decide, not some state bureau
crat.
You can reach Bill Shipp at P.O. Box
2520, Kennesaw, GA 30156, e-mail:
shippl@bellsouth.net, or Web address:
billshipponline.com.
bill
Agrees with Bridges about third party ballot access
Dear Editor:
Amen to Chris Bridges’ column
urging changes in laws that keep third
parties from getting on the ballot!
I knew that Georgia’s law regard
ing ballot access was among the most
restrictive in the nation, but hadn’t
realized until I read Chris’s column
that third party candidates must col
lect almost 43,000 signatures to be
included on the ballot.
I enjoy Chris’ columns, though I
don’t always agree with him. However,
he writes well and raises interesting
questions.
I also enjoyed Bill Shipp’s columns
and very much regret that you’ve dis
continued them. He’s the most knowl
edgeable commentator on Georgia
politics, past and present, that I’ve
ever read. Over the years he has criti
cized both liberals and conservatives.
Sincerely,
Emily B. Calhoun
Cornelia
EDITOR’S NOTE: We did not dis
continue Bill Shipp’s columns. Mr.
Shipp took a break from writ-ing his
column following the death of his wife.
He has now resumed his column.
News department contact numbers
Anyone with general story ideas,
complaints or comments about the
news department is asked to call edi
tor Angela Gary at 706-367-2490.
She can also be reached by e-mail
at AngieEditor@aol.com.
Anyone with comments, questions
or suggestions relating to the coun
ty board of commissioners, county
government, county board of educa
tion and crime and courts is asked to
contact staff reporter Chris Bridges
at 706-367-2745 or by e-mail at
chris@mainstreetnews.com.
Bridges also is sports edi
tor of the paper and covers local
high school, middle school and
recreation sports.
Anyone with comments, ques
tions or suggestions relating to
Alto, Lula, Baldwin and Gillsville,
should contact Sharon Hogan at
706-367-5233 or by e-mail at
sharon@mainstreetnews.com.
Calls concerning the City of
Maysville should go to staff report
er Justin Poole at 706-367-2348.
Calls for information about the
church page should go to Suzanne
Reed at 706-677-3491. Church
news may also be e-mailed to
churchnews@mainstreetnews.com.
The Banks County News website
is updated throughout the week and
may be accessed on the Internet at
www.banksnewsTODAY.com.
Voters rightfully
send fanatical
Schaefer packing
N ancy Schaefer, who has repre
sented the 50th District in the
State Senate for the past three
and a half years, was turned away for a
bid for a third term by voters.
The election was decided by those
who cast Republican ballots as Schaefer
lost the runoff to Jim Butterworth,
chairman of the Habersham County
Board of Commissioners. While the
people of 50th District, which includes
Banks County, will have to grin and
bear it concern
ing Schaefer for
the remainder of
the year, relief
is on the way.
Butterworth will
take office in
January.
Schaefer has
always repre
sented the extreme
right-wing of the
Republican party.
Like Cynthia
McKinney is to the left, Schaefer is to
the right. While extremists make for
enjoyable viewing at times, they really
aren’t effective at what they are doing.
That’s why it was past time for Schaefer
to go. It should have happened two
years ago.
In 2006, a clearly more qualified
candidate in Carol Jackson challenged
Schaefer. I thought the race was a no-
brainer for voters. However, Schaefer
won although I have still yet to figure
out why. The only reason I can offer
is because Schaefer had an “R” by her
name while Jackson had a “D” by hers.
Of course, this is not ample reason to
vote for any candidate. To simply sup
port a candidate solely because of his or
her party is lazy voting. It’s what gives
us elected officials such as Schaefer and
McKinney.
This summer, two Republicans lined
up to challenge Schaefer and both were
clearly better options than the incum
bent. I felt good about the chances for
a new state senator. Both Butterworth
and fellow challenger Terry Rogers were
conservative, make no doubt about.
However, they had plans if elected to the
state senate. They simply did not mouth
extremist right-wing propaganda which
really had nothing to do with the office
they were seeking.
Yet, Schaefer continued to show
strong vote gathering power and did
well in the primary. Rogers was elimi
nated from the battle leaving a primary
runoff between the incumbent and
Butterworth. My confidence from just
a few weeks earlier was now begin
ning to fade. Perhaps the voters in the
50th District were in fact going to send
Schaefer back for a third term. Part of
me couldn’t imagine it happening, but
she was showing signs of doing it. All
she needed to do now was win the run
off. There was no Democratic challenger
waiting in the wings and even if there
were it wouldn’t have mattered.
Schaefer, however, must have felt
threatened because she went negative
in the final days of the runoff campaign
and I believe that really worked again
her. She went as far as trying to criticize
Butterworth for having a full-time job.
When it was all over, Butterworth
coasted to victory and a much better
voice has now been elected. The citizens
deserve credit for finally seeing through
the Schaefer mystique and elected some
one who will represent them well in
Atlanta.
Butterworth is now preparing for his
first term as a state senator. Schaefer
meanwhile is finishing out the final
weeks of her term in office and blasting
an area newspaper for what she calls
“erroneous journalism.” In a ridiculous
attack on The Northeast Georgian based
in Cornelia, Schaefer shows just how far
off the deep end she has now gone.
Look for much better representation
for the citizens of the 50th District dur
ing the next two years. However, don’t
be surprised if you haven’t heard the last
of Nancy Schaefer. It’s hard for extrem
ists to go away quietly or even go away
at all.
A h
chris
bridges
Chris Bridges is a reporter for The
Banks County News. Contact him at
706-367-2745 or e-mail comments to
chris @ mainstreetnews. com.