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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008
Editor: Angela Gary
Phone: 706-367-2490
E-mail: AngieEditor@aol.com
Website: www.banksnewsTODAY.com
Opinion
“Where the press is free and every tnan
able to read, all is safe.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Our View:
Drag racing did
not honor Bush
People manage grief in a variety of ways. But
last week’s ill-concieved “tribute” to a dead
Banks County teen was not the way to honor the
young boy’s memory.
High school student Tyler Bush was killed last
week after he apparently attempted to run along
side a jeep while the vehicle was moving 30-35
mph. It was a tragic, senseless death that stabbed
at the heart of the Banks County community.
On Friday afternoon following Bush’s funeral,
a large number of students and some adults
gathered along Sims Bridge Road near his house
to cheer on several cars drag racing and doing
“spin-outs.” The event was said to be a tribute
to Bush.
Had it not been for one brave woman who
stopped and confronted the crowd, another trag
edy could have happened. Drag racing on a pub
lic road was not the appropriate place to honor a
boy who had just died because of carelessness in
a vehicle.
One could dismiss the incident as simply an
emotional response of grieving friends. But that
would be too easy and dismissive of a warped
cultural environment that led a group of teens to
endanger themselves, and others, along a public
road.
Something larger, deeper and more disturbing
is going on here. If the death of a friend isn’t
enough to send a message about the danger of
vehicles and carelessness, then what is? What
does it take for a community to impress on its
young the seriousness of auto accidents and the
deaths that result from a lack of good judgment?
How many more teens in Banks County have to
die?
Tyler Bush’s death will have been in vain if
the community doesn’t begin to alter its automo
tive culture, a culture that last Friday, celebrated
horsepower over a human life.
Letter to the Editor:
Water is
real emergency
Dear Editor:
First, I would like to commend the Banks County
Commissioners for the progress made on the water
system. Great job! Water plays a very important part
in leading to progress in all counties in our state. We
still need to extend the system out into the areas of
county without water. The entire population of tax
payers have contributed to this system, they should
also benefit from it.
In regards to the “economic development profes
sional” (Sept. 4, 2008, The Banks County News), I
would like to make a comment. Angela Sheppard
said, “You can’t do anything in Banks County until
you have your water and sewer in.” She should know,
this is one of the areas she has been working in.
Hiring an economic development professional at
this point would be like hiring a truck driver and
not having a truck. It would be difficult for the truck
driver to produce benefits for the county without a
truck.
Businesses build in counties that can supply water,
sewer in land. One of the speakers in the article said
“this is an emergency.” If there is an emergency, it
is to get the water and sewer system completed. We
will then have what businesses are looking for in
Banks County.
At the present time, spend the salary money on
the real emergency, completing the water and sewer
system. We will then be able to compete with those
other Georgia counties for those new businesses.
A lack of jobs in Banks County didn’t just happen
overnight and it won’t be solved overnight. Water
is a very important project for our commissioners
and has been handled well in the past. Keep up the
good work! Build more lakes in our county for an
increased supply of water. Water and continued good
management will bring progress to banks County.
Sincerely,
Ed Barrett
Lula
The Banks County News
Founded 1968
The official legal organ of Banks County, Ga.
Mike Buffington
Scott Buffington
Angela Gary
Chris Bridges
Sharon Hogan
Anelia Chambers
Suzanne Reed
Co-Publisher
Co-Publisher
Editor
Sports Editor
Reporter
Receptionist
Church News
(SCED 547160)
Published weekly by
MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.,
P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, Ga. 30549
The battle of vet vs. non-vet
T oo bad about Jim Martin. The
Democrat may have had a slim
chance of unseating incumbent Sen.
Saxby Chambliss in this year’s election.
Sarah Palin and Barack Obama may have
punctured his last hopes of victory in the Nov.
4 election. Palin’s surprise candidacy for vice
president has changed the dynamics of the
presidential race and forced Obama’s brain
trust to rethink its strategy.
Forget about winning Georgia; that was one
of the Obama team’s first reorganization deci
sions. Turning Georgia from red to blue just
wasn’t worth the gazillion dollars it would
have cost.
Besides, there was no guarantee that it
could be done, no matter how much was
spent. Georgia looks like a Republican state
from here to eternity, or as long as it main
tains a white majority.
The quality of the candidates doesn’t mat
ter much. The GOP tag is what counts. If
you don’t believe it, just take a look at the
Republican-controlled Georgia House. The
GOP House leadership looks and acts like a
bunch of reform-school fugitives.
But back to Martin vs. Chambliss. Bless
his heart, Martin is trying to make this a race
between a military veteran and a non-vet.
Martin served with distinction in the Vietnam
War. Chambliss didn’t go. He had a hurt knee
and a fistful of student deferments.
Once upon a time, a clever campaign direc
tor could have used the candidates’ vet/non-
vet status to carve out victory for the military
man.
That time may have passed. The veterans’
from World War II are dying out fast. And the
Korean and Vietnam vets are mostly aging
warriors now. Look at McCain at 72.
In any event, Martin is running a veterans'
campaign, seizing on Ms. Palin’s declaration:
“There’s only one candidate who has fought
for America, and that’s John McCain.”
Martin is counting on help from a group of
Georgians who will never vote for Chambliss
because of smear advertising he used six
years ago against incumbent Max Cleland, a
triple-amputee Vietnam veteran.
In addition, despite the Obama campaign
running out on him, Martin is running a sur
prisingly energetic race, though Chambliss
remains the heavy favorite.
If Chambliss had faced a substantial prima
ry opponent, he might
have had a tough fight.
Georgia’s senior sen
ator is still dogged for
his support of a contro
versial immigration bill
that would have opened
the door to citizenship
for millions of illegal
aliens. And who doesn’t
remember him posing
for photos with liberal
icon Ted Kennedy to
show his support for the
bill? Of course, he later backed away from
the measure, but the damage was done. His
credibility would never be the same among
the anti-immigration crowd.
Then there’s Chambliss’ son, who has been
a lobbyist for the commodities trading indus
try at a time when Dad happened to be
chairman or ranking member of the Senate
Agriculture Committee — the committee
with jurisdiction over commodities trading.
Chambliss is one of the few statewide
elected officials in America who is still will
ingly joined at the hip to President Bush.
Even in Georgia Bush has now hit bottom in
his approval rating.
Despite his unfailingly loyal service to the
Bush administration, Chambliss has little
bacon to show for his efforts. Georgia lost
multiple military installations during the last
round of closings, which occurred on his
watch.
We appear likely to fail in efforts to land
several major federal projects, including the
national biodefense facility that the University
of Georgia has doggedly pursued.
Nevertheless, Saxby looks like a winner on
Election Day. He has too many advantages.
He is a Republican; he looks the part of a sen
ator; and at the end of the day, not many folks
give a damn whether he’s a veteran or not.
Correction; In last Sunday’s column, we
erroneously reported that Alaska Gov. Sarah
Palin had sold a state-owned plane on eBay.
She did not.
You can reach award-winning political col
umnist Bill Shipp at P. 0. Box 2520, Kennesaw,
GA 30156, e-mail: shippl@bellsouth.net, or
through his Web address at: billshipponline.
com.
Letters to the editor policy given
The Banks County News has established
a policy on printing Letters to the editor.
We must have an original copy of all
letters that are submitted to us for publi
cation.
Members of our staff will not type out
or hand-write letters for people who stop
by the office and ask them to do so.
Letters to the editor must also be signed
with the address and phone number of the
person who wrote them.
The address and phone number will be
for our verification purposes only and will
not be printed unless the writer requests
it. Mail to, The Banks County News, P.O.
Box 920, Homer, Ga. 30547.
E-mailed letters will be accepted, but
we must have a contact phone number
and address. Letters that are libelous will
not be printed. Letters may also be edited
to meet space requirements. Anyone with
questions on the policy is asked to contact
editor Angela Gary at AngieEditor@aol.
com or by calling 706-367-2490.
News department contact numbers
Anyone with general story ideas, com
plaints or comments about the news
department is asked to call editor 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 county board of
commissioners, county government, coun
ty board of education 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 alsois sports editorofthepaper and
covers local high school, middle school and
recreation sports.
Anyone with comments, questions 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 reporter Justin Poole at
706-367-2348 or e-mail him at justin@
mainstreetnews.com.
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.
Hello: No, the
celebrity you are
calling isn't in
T he first call happened a few
years ago in the dead of
night.
“Hello,” I managed to say, hoping
bad news wasn’t about to be deliv
ered.
“Is this Chris Bridges?”
“Yes, I said,” realizing I didn’t
recognize the voice, even though I
was only half awake at best.
“Why haven’t you called me?”
“What?” I responded.
“You said you would call,” the
female voice
said.
“Huh?!” I
said looking at
watch which
read 2:30 on a
late Saturday
night/early
Sunday morn
ing.
“When we
met in the bar
you said you
chris
bridges
would call
later,” the caller
said, beginning to become irritated.
“I’ve never met you in a bar,” I
said.
“Yes, you did,”
the woman
responded, becoming more deter
mined to get an answer as to why I
had stood her up by not calling.
“Why haven’t you called?” she
continued.
“I’ve never met you in a bar,” I
said, becoming somewhat irritated
myself. “I don’t even go to bars.
Who is this?”
Finally the woman ended the con
versation by yelling, “LIAR!” and
hung up the phone.
As the days, weeks and months
went on I began getting more calls
for someone named “Ludacris.” I
must admit I had no idea who or
what Ludacris was. I am out of
touch with today’s pop culture and
admit to having been at a loss.
However, curiosity finally got the
better of me after many more middle
of the night phone calls. It seems
Ludacris is from the Atlanta area and
believe it or not — I actually found
it funny — his real name was Chris
Bridges. Now my knowledge of rap
music is limited to 1980s groups
such as Run DMC so I was definite
ly out of my league on this one.
Well, the phone calls for Ludacris
to my residence continued, almost
on a daily basis. I can only assume
people were calling information
and asking for any phone number
with the name Chris Bridges associ
ated with it. One again, I can only
assume I was the lone one within
a 100-mile radius of Atlanta so the
operator gave my number out.
At times, I had a little fun with
the people calling. One time a
young fan called and I pretended
to be Ludacris’ manager and said
he “stepped out to go the store and
would be back in a few minutes.”
The caller could hardly contain his
excitement and asked if I would
please ask his idol to call back.
“Sure I will tell him,” I told the
young fan who began yelling to his
friends who were obviously gathered
around the phone. “It’s him! It's
him!” the caller yelled.
“OK,” I said, “He’ll be back in a
about 15 or so.”
I also received a letter once from
a woman in Seattle who felt it
was her “destiny” to be with Chris
“Ludacris” Bridges. She talked of
how she wanted to marry him and
how she had given it serious thought.
She eagerly awaited a response from
him and was ready to get married if
he felt the same.
Eventually though the calls got
to be too much, especially the ones
in the middle of the night. I had to
change the way my name was listed
in the phone directory to stop the
calls. I haven’t gotten one in some
time now.
If nothing else, I got a small taste
of what it would mean to be a celeb
rity. Personally, being small time
does have it advantages.
Chris “Not The Singer” Bridges
is a reporter for The Banks County
News. E-mail comments to him at
chris @ mainstreetnews. com.