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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 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
Says voters need to
be educated
Dear Editor:
In order to make an educated decision when vot
ing, it is necessary to take into consideration the ability
of each candidate to perform the duty of the job they
are seeking. The importance of this cannot be overly
emphasized, whether it is a national election or a local
campaign. Do not expect every candidate to “lay it on
the line” when trying to build up their character, espe
cially when an incumbent has things they had rather
not discuss.
There is available to the public the financial state
ment of every governmental branch in Banks County.
Don’t scream or refer to anyone as an “idiot” until you
have researched and know all the facts.
The BOE in Banks County has had to go to a finan
cial institution and borrow money to operate time and
time again. They have recently had to pay $60,000 in
terest on their last note simply because the funds were
not made available to them by the tax commissioner’s
office.
In fact, they are, as of this writing (Nov. 12), $864,000
in arrears from the tax commissioner’s office. Guess
who paid the $60,000 interest? Go look in the mirror!
Mrs. Ausbum issued 780 Fi Fes in the past week or
so, to collect on delinquent taxes, some of them dating
back to 1989, meaning some of these uncollected taxes
are nineteen years old.
I’m sure some of these people have either moved, been
foreclosed on, or had to file bankruptcy in this time,
meaning these taxes are uncollectible. As you all know,
the tax commissioner recently reported to the sheriff’s
department that there was a deposit error of $14,600.
In the same statement, she said it showed up on her
“daily deposit.” This deposit was made in late July.
Conveniently withholding this information until the
day after the November election is absolutely inexcus
able, although it was good political strategy. I com
mend the Banks County Sheriff’s Dept, for immedi
ately notifying the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. By
writing this, I’m not trying to make any enemies. In
fact, if more people were interested in harnessing the
full circle of the importance of their voting decision,
there would be no reason for the writing of this letter.
The truth is, I feel bad about writing this letter, for I
hope I didn’t insult anyone for not doing their home
work before casting their ballot in the recent election.
Sincerely,
Hank Taylor,
Baldwin
Contact Us
Anyone with general story ideas, complaints or com
ments 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 sugges
tions relating to the county board of commission
ers, county government, county board of education
and crime and courts is asked to contact staff report
er Sharon Hogan at 706-367-2350 or by e-mail at
sharon @ mainstreetnews.com.
The Banks County News website is updated through
out the week and may be accessed on the Internet at
www.banksnewsTODAY.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
Justin Poole
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
MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.,
P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, Ga. 30549
Subscription in county
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Member: Georgia Press Association
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"We've got the Christmas lights up,
the presents are bought and wrapped, the cards are sent.
...Looks like we're ready for Thanksgiving !"
The law of unintended consequences strikes again
There is a longstanding tradition in Georgia
that the political party controlling state govern
ment will try to give itself an advantage over
the opposition by fiddling with the election
laws.
Every time a party messes with the election
code, however, the law of unintended conse
quences always seems to backfire on them.
The latest victim was the Republican Party and
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who now has to worry
about losing a Dec. 2 runoff election to Demo
cratic challenger Jim Martin.
This whole mess started decades ago when
the Democrats were in power and enacted a
law that required a candidate to get at least 50
percent of the vote to win an election. If the
first-place finisher had less than 50 percent, a
runoff election was required.
The 50 percent rule was intended to prevent
black candidates from winning primary elec
tions with a plurality of the votes. The thinking
was that if you could force a black candidate
into a runoff, white voters would team up to
defeat him.
That worked fine for the Democrats until
1992, when U.S. Sen. Wyche Fowler was run
ning for reelection against Republican Paul
Coverdell. Fowler finished first in the general
election but the presence of a Libertarian candi
date in the race held him just below 50 percent
of the vote. That required a runoff election in
which Coverdell narrowly defeated Fowler to
win the Senate seat.
Democrats decided they would fix that prob
lem by changing the law so that a runoff was
not required if the first-place finisher received
at least 45 percent of the votes. That change
allowed Republican Linda Schrenko to win re-
election as state school superintendent in 1998
even though she received just 49 percent of the
vote. This turned out to be a disaster for Geor
gia’s public schools not because Schrenko was
a Republican but because she was a crook.
Schrenko was subsequently indicted and
is now serving a prison sentence for stealing
federal education funds and converting them
to her own personal use. We might have been
spared that embarrassment if the Democrats
hadn’t tinkered with the election laws.
When Republicans gained control of the
governor’s office and the Legislature several
years ago, one of their first initiatives was -
you guessed it - to try to rig the election laws
in their favor, just as Democrats had done for
years.
They promptly moved the election require
ment back to 50 percent of the votes. They
also adopted a law re
quiring voters to show
government-issued pho
to identification on elec
tion day and they greatly
expanded early voting by
allowing citizens to cast a
no-excuses absentee bal
lot up to 45 days prior to
election day. The belief
was that these changes
would benefit Republi
can candidates in future
election cycles.
Once again, the law of unintended conse
quences reared its head in this year’s general
election.
African Americans who wanted to vote for
Barack Obama lined up in record numbers dur
ing the early voting period in Georgia - they
accounted for nearly 700,000 of the two mil
lion ballots cast prior to election day.
The 50 percent requirement also trapped
Chambliss, one of the most prominent Repub
lican officials in the state.
Chambliss finished 109,000 votes ahead
of Martin and garnered 49.8 percent of the
vote. In almost every other state, that would
have sent him back to Washington for another
six-year term. In Georgia, it forced him into a
high-risk runoff election on Dec. 2.
If you go by past voting patterns, Cham
bliss would ordinarily be the favorite to win
that election because there is usually a heavier
dropoff in voting by blacks than by whites in
runoffs. But this has been one of those election
years where the conventional wisdom, in many
ways, has been overturned. If Martin goes
against the conventional wisdom and wins the
runoff, Republicans will have lost one of their
most prestigious political posts in Georgia.
It’s simply another illustration of why legis
lators should not tamper with election laws to
try to obtain a temporary political advantage.
Evidently, it’s a lesson that has yet to hit
home here in the Peach State. Republican leg
islators are already talking about changing the
election laws yet again to cut down on the early
voting period, if not eliminate it entirely, and
to drop that 50 percent requirement back to 45
percent.
When will they ever learn?
Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s
Georgia Report, an Internet news service at
www.gareport.com that covers government
and politics in Georgia. He can be reached at
tcrawford@ capitolimpact. net.
tom
crawford
Peterson no longer with Peace Place
Dear Editor:
As you know, Peace Place is the shel
ter and programs that serves the domestic
violence victims of Barrow, Jackson, and
Banks counties.
The board of directors recently ex
pressed concern over the troubled econo
my and decided to eliminate my CFO po
sition which was created last year in a staff
restructuring. I no longer work with Peace
Place and my duties have been absorbed
by executive director, Charlene Garrett,
who has faithfully worked for Peace Place
for seven years in several roles.
I am pleased to leave the agency in good,
sound financial condition, and as a solid
institution. Charlene and Peace Place need
your continued support (as do all non
profits), especially in this poor economy.
More than 1,400 women and children have
been sheltered at Peace Place since its in
ception, plus many more helped through
our other programs and services. Indeed,
still more domestic violence victims will
be assisted in the future.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my service to
Peace Place, beginning eleven years ago
and am deeply grateful for all the wonder
ful support given to Peace Place and to me
during that time.
Thanks ever so much!
Sincerely,
Pat Peterson
Winder
Letters to the editor policy given
The Banks County News has established a
policy on printing Letters to the editor.
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.
Effectivness
of Broun
questioned
Citizens of the 10th Congres
sional District are stuck with Paul
Broun for at least two more years.
I say “stuck” with Broun al
though I’m not really sure that word
is appropriate. You see, Broun re
cently won his
re-election
bid with lit
tle trouble.
The extrem
ist right-wing
Republican
had a simple,
although ef
fective, strat
egy: crank up
all the conser
vation buzz
words and
cliches and let the chips fall where
they may.
The strategy worked to perfection.
Broun’s first term in office was filled
with press releases condemning ev
erything from illegal immigrants,
gay marriage, abortion, Democrats
in general and anything else that
wasn’t in step with his ultra-right
wing banter.
The only problem with this rheto
ric is that it has nothing to do with
serving the people of the 10th dis
trict.
On the surface, Broun had a for
midable opponent this fall in Dem
ocrat Bobby Saxon. An Iraq War
veteran, Saxon actually had ideas
which would have benefited the
citizens he wanted to represent and
would have be beneficial to the dis
trict as a whole. Saxon is anything
but a left-leaning liberal (despite
Broun’s attempt to portray him as
one). He brought credibility to the
table where it was sorely needed
after Broun’s first two years in of
fice.
Yet as the race wore on, there was
really never any doubt Broun was
going to be re-elected. Saxon did
everything he could to gain traction,
but he was like a football player
competing on a rainy Friday night
without proper footwear. No matter
how hard he tried, most people sim
ply didn’t take notice of his cam
paign. They didn’t care about his
credentials. They didn’t care that
Broun was all talk and no action
during his first two-year term.
The reason? It’s simple really. A
majority of voters in this area have
fallen into the of simply voting for
the Republican candidate. It doesn’t
matter if it is Bozo the Clown,
Homer Simpson, Hank Hill or Paul
Broun. It didn’t matter to the ma
jority of voters in the 10th District
that Broun’s outrageous comments,
while good for rhetoric and right-
wing blogs, do nothing for those he
is elected to serve.
So citizens of the 10th district get
what they vote for. Not long after
the Nov. 4 election, one which was
truly historic for our country, Broun
cranked up his extremist right-wing
propaganda again by hurling com
parisons about Barack Obama with
Gestapo and Marxists tactics. Some
people did call Broun for his asi
nine statements this time, but what
did it matter to the Congressman?
Hey, he was just re-elected by an
overwhelming margin.
Meanwhile, the voters turn a tru
ly qualified candidate like Bobby
Saxon, with solid ideas and plans
for the citizens of the 10th district,
away. One can only ponder how
much he would have accomplished
had he been given the chance.
Instead, the 10th district is given
at least two more years of Broun
and his right-wing press releases
claiming he believes in freedom but
in reality believing in you are free
to think the way he does.
Voters of the 10th district I have a
simple and direct question for you?
What in the world were you think
ing when you sent Paul Broun back
to Washington for another term? It
doesn’t seem to me much thought at
all was put into your vote.
Chris Bridges is an editor with
Mainstreet Newspapers. E-mail
comments about this column to
chris@mainstreetnews.com.
chris
bridges