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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 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
"...And I thought Homeland Security was tough!"
Ringing the death of a cliche
Something is missing from this year’s
election campaign cycle. No principal can
didate from either major party has dared use
that trusted cliche of past stump speeches:
“Elect me, and I’ll run your government
like a business.”
Perhaps candidates stopped using the
phrase because business — at least big
business — doesn’t enjoy the popularity
and admiration that it once did.
Looking back at a long list of successful
Georgia politicians, I find that governors
from Joe Frank Harris and George Busbee
through trial lawyer Roy Barnes and now
Sonny Perdue promised to use business as a
model for reforming state government.
Then out of the blue it dawned on some
bright consultant that comparing govern
ment with corporations may not be such
a wonderful idea. See Enron, WorldCom,
Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and AIG
for starters. Mentioning business as light
ing the way for politicians these days is
akin to shouting “Remember the Alamo!”'
in a crowd of Hispanic s. However, ripping
Wall Street is bound to get a good round of
applause.
The current Commission for a New
Georgia was organized six years ago to
apply business principles to Georgia gov
ernment. Its charge has not exactly worked
out. Commission members dreamed up the
idea of the state spending $600,000 on an
airplane hangar lease, while closing a home
for veterans. Georgia’s budget gurus missed
estimating the state budget by a shocking 13
percent — or $2.5 billion to $3 billion. That
is peanuts compared to the feds' trillion or
so dollars in debt, but the deficit is signifi
cant for li’l old Georgia and its $20 billion
annual budget.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly
Fiorina, described as “the face of McCain’s
economic team,” was asked last week on
a radio talk show whether she thought the
Republicans’ hugely popular vice presiden
tial nominee Sarah Palin had the experience
to run a major corporation like Hewlett-
Packard.
No, said Fiorina, then she realized she
should not have said that about Palin. So
she hastened to add that neither does John
McCain, Barack Obama or Joe Biden have
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
News department contact numbers
the experience to head
a giant company. She
asserted that serving
government is different
from managing a cor
poration. Didn’t much
matter what she said
after the Palin gaffe.
McCain was said to
be furious, and Fiorina
was sent to the showers
as a campaign spokes
person and told to stay
off TV and radio.
Just as the selection of Palin says some
thing about McCain, maybe the pick of
Fiorina does too.
Just because Fiorina spearheaded HP’s
merger with Compaq and cut 18,000 jobs
doesn’t make her the arbiter of whether
politicians are fit to run businesses, does it?
Zell Miller and Bill Clinton’s adviser Paul
Begala had a few choice words for Fiorina
in his new book, “Third Term: Why George
W. Bush Loves John McCain.”
Begala referred to Fiorina as “the poster
child for corporate avarice, incompetence
and outsourcing.” Calling her the “out
sourcing queen,” Begala quotes Jeffrey
Sonnenfeld, late of Emory, now of Yale:
“You couldn't pick a worse, non-imprisoned
CEO to be your standard bearer."
Well, maybe you could. How about Bob
Nardelli, formerly of Home Depot? With
Nardelli at the helm, Home Depot's stock
price languished while do-it-yourself rival
Lowe's shares doubled in value. Nardelli
finally exited Home Depot with a $210
million severance package, a lot more than
Fiorina's paltry $21 million firing bonus
from Hewlett-Packard.
In any event, the great-sounding false idea
that government can be run like a business
finally appears dead and not likely to be
revived for another generation or two when
the current Wall Street debacle is barely a
footnote to history (I hope).
You can reach award-winning politi
cal columnist Bill Shipp at P.O. Box 2520,
Kennesaw, GA 30156, e-mail: shipp l@bell-
south.net, or Web address: billshipponline.
com.
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.
Our View:
Many aspects
to successful
development
Banks County leaders are in
discussions about a more formal
approach to economic develop
ment. Led by the Banks County
Development Authority, the effort
revolves around hiring someone to
be the county’s economic develop
ment contact and an office to sup
port those efforts.
But officials fear the effort will
be met with resistance by some
citizens who won’t understand what
the county’s leadership is attempt
ing to do.
Economic development is impor
tant to a county’s economic and
political health. Not only do new
industries provide tax dollars to
local governments, but they also
provide job opportunities for local
citizens.
But it isn’t cheap. To hire a pro
fessional economic development
person who has experience in
cultivating business will come at
a premium. It’s not unusual for
development professionals to cost
$75,000-$100,000 or more in sal
ary.
In the larger picture, however,
that’s a minor cost. To really be suc
cessful at economic development,
a community has to invest much
more in other areas. Primarily, the
community has to be willing to
invest in building a trained work
force through its local school. In
addition, it has to provide the hard
infrastructure, such as water, sewer
and road access, that will attract
new businesses. Finally, the com
munity has to invest in building a
strong quality of life, such as suf
ficient recreation programs and the
availability of quality housing.
There are no magic bullets in
the economic development game.
Hiring a professional is just one
aspect of a very complex process.
But it is a step Banks County’s
leaders need to consider as they
attempt to move the county forward
in economic development.
Letter to
the Editor:
Overwhelmed
with support
Editor:
As they say, there is some good that
comes out of a tough situation.
To us, the family and friends that
dropped everything on that Wednesday
evening to come help us as our house
was on fire were a Godsend. We were
overwhelmed with all the offers of help
and people calling wanting to now if
we were okay.
We are so blessed to have such
special friends and family to help us
through this difficult time. There were
so many of you that stayed late into the
night helping us. We will never forget
your kindness.
We do not even know where to begin
thanking the 911 service, the firefight
ers and volunteers for trying to save
our house and belongings. The bravery
and talent of all the firefighters was
amazing.
You all so graciously give so much
of yourself and risk your lives to pro
tect all the citizens of this wonderful
county. Most of you have families of
your own to look after, but yet you risk
your lives to help save ours. Please do
not take these responders for granted.
When you see one of them, give
them a pat on the back and say thanks
for all they do.
God bless you all.
Mike and Peggy Gordon
The Banks County
News
Founded 1968
The official legal organ of Banks
County, Ga.
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 also is sports editor of thepaper 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.
No excuse for
bad behavior
O ne of the roles of a newspaper is to be a
mirror for the community. Last week. The
Banks County News mirrored something that
was unflattering to some people in the community.
The story and editorial last week about the events
following the funeral of a local teen who died in a traf
fic incident set off a wave of
discussion in Banks County.
In the debate, some con
demned the newspaper for
reporting and commenting
about the situation.
For those who have not
followed the issue, the
essential facts are these: A
popular Banks teen, Tyler
Bush, was killed when he
stepped out of a jeep and
tried to run along side of it
while moving at 30-35 mph.
It was the third tragic death
of a teen in the community
from traffic incidents in the
last 18 months. A few hours
after his funeral, several dozen friends gathered in a
field at his home on Sims Bridge Road. Along the pub
lic road in front of the house, a vehicle — or several
vehicles — were “laying drags,” apparently in “trib
ute” to the boy. A woman driving down the road saw a
car she said was “fishtailing.” She stopped, confronted
the crowd and called 911. She later filed a lengthy
account of the incident with the sheriff’s department,
which we published verbatim last week.
We also published an editorial that argued that sling
ing a car around on a public road — laying drags,
illegal drag racing, doing donuts, spinning-out, what
ever — was not the appropriate way to honor a teen
who had just died in a tragic automotive incident.
Furthermore, we said that the community's cultural
mentality that approved of such a response was very
troubling. I authorized the story being published and
wrote the editorial. I knew that there would be some in
the community who would not like it.
But it was the right thing to do and many of the
comments posted on our website illustrated, perhaps
unwittingly, the point we were attempting to make
— that using a vehicle as an emotional response to a
tragedy was evidence of a deeper cultural problem in
the community.
We stand behind that view. Consider the following
comments posted to our website:
- “... the people laying the drag were grown up not
children... the children were in the pasture while the
grown ups laid drags There was nothing wrong with
what happen....around here people care and we show
it and we express our feelings the country way not the
city way...The gentlemen who were driving the cars
were grown men and they were this childs friends they
did what they felt like doing... ”
• ••
-“These teenagers & adults were friends and family
of Tyler and they were dealing with his death in a mat
ter that is not always common but was related to Tyler
as they all knew him, ... The fast cars, large trucks and
mud seemed to be his heart and soul. They sent him
out the best way they thought he would like to go."
• ••
-“MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! You are in the
county now. And yes, we do thing a little differently out
here! If you don’t like it, I can give you directions to
Atlanta.”
• ••
-“The sad thing is that we've become so overpopu
lated in North Georgia - that country people can’t
grieve the way we want - we have nosey city folks tell
ing us that is the “right” way to grieve or celebrate a
life.”
• ••
-“I believe that if Tyler could say something here he
would tell us that the burn out was a perfect tribute to
him. I am not saying it was the safest thing to do."
• ••
Amazing. While these are a minority of comments
posted, they reflect something very wrong in our
culture. What is truly appalling isn’t the response of
teenagers. Teens will often respond irrationally in
emotional situations.
But it's very troubling that so many adults see no
problem with people doing dangerous activities in cars
on public roads as an emotional outlet to a tragedy.
And that was the point of our editorial last week; too
many adults in the community have modeled behavior
that condones immature automotive hijinks as being
“normal” and acceptable.
It isn’t. Those who think laying drags on a public
road is an appropriate response to a teenager’s death
are mistaken. And those who attempt to deflect criti
cism by suggesting it is normal, or just “the country
way” are also wrong. I’ve lived all my life in the coun
try and laying drags isn’t a normal way of expressing
grief.
All automotive deaths are tragic, none more so than
when a child is involved. Nobody, least of all this
newspaper, minimizes that, or the pain the family and
friends feel.
But to stand by silent would be to accept it as “nor
mal.” We won’t do that. It's wrong. It's immature. It's
dangerous. It sends the wrong message to the young
people of Banks County. It should not have happened.
Adults in Banks County need to send a message to
their youth that horseplay and cars are deadly.
Keeping other young people alive, not slinging cars
around, would be the best way to remember Tyler
Bush.
mike
buffington
Mike Buffington is publisher of The Banks County
News. E-mail him at mike@mainstreetnews.com.