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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 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
Counting blessings
Sometimes it is necessary to slow down, clear my
head, take a realistic look at my life and then count
my blessings.
Good health.
That is huge.
Family.
Another big one.
Friends.
Not to be taken for granted.
Good food. Good sleep.
Good books. Good music.
Those rank high on my list.
The older I get, the simpler
the pleasures.
Quiet time alone.
Fun time with my daughter,
as well as quiet times together.
Talking and laughing with my husband.
Learning more about my parents as people, not
only as my parents.
A really good laugh, the kind that makes your
sides hurt, the kind where you say, “Oh, I really
needed that.'
Co-workers who are also friends.
My daughter’s laugh, that honest-to-goodness
belly laugh.
Fall leaves and blue skies.
A heating pad for my feet when the weather turns
cold.
Seeing a good movie at the movie theater.
Going out to dinner with my husband, just the two
of us.
Well, the list goes on and on.
I think we can all learn a Thanksgiving lesson
from children.
I enjoyed some artwork this week by Wyatt Poe,
age 6, who drew pictures of things for which he
is thankful, but also wrote out his Thanksgiving
thoughts.
Like most children, Wyatt cuts straight to the
heart of the things that are important in his life. His
parents, his brother, his faith, his grandparents, his
pets.
Some things children say may seem a little funny
- they are thankful for chicken nuggets and french
fries, for example.
They are thankful for pizza.
They are thankful for toys.
But, in reality, how great is that?
To still be so immersed in the small pleasures of
the day — which aren’t so small when you are small
— that you can still get excited over what “bigger”
people may take for granted.
It’s a good view of life.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Jana Adams Mitcham is features editor of The
Jackson Herald, a sister publication of The Banks
County News.
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.
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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L et us come before
* his presence
with thanksgiving...
Psalms 95:2
'PoOElff,
~u>oi
<9
Don't mess with the teachers
If you want to
accomplish anything
in Georgia politics,
you had better remem
ber one thing: don’t
mess around with
public school teach
ers, particularly with
their pensions.
Teachers are one of
the state’s best edu
cated groups of work
ers and they are also
among the most politically active. The
politician who does anything that makes
teachers mad will surely pay the price at
the ballot box.
Roy Barnes could attest to that. Eight
years ago, when he was Georgia’s gov
ernor, he persuaded the Legislature to
adopt an education reform measure that he
promptly signed into law.
Barnes wanted to improve student per
formance by reducing class sizes and pro
viding more resources for local school
systems. Teachers were fine with that, but
they were very unhappy over a provision
that eliminated their right to a fair dismiss
al healing. To add insult to injury, Barnes
commented on several occasions that one
of the problems with public schools was
that “it’s too difficult to get rid of bad
teachers.”
That was the match that touched off
the explosion. Angered at the lack of
respect shown by the governor, educators
decided to teach Barnes a lesson when
he ran for reelection in 2002. Teachers
around the state denounced the incumbent
and supported his Republican challenger,
Sonny Perdue. With the teachers’ help,
Perdue defeated Barnes in one of the most
astounding political upsets in the state’s
histoiy.
The lesson that Barnes learned at such a
high price does not seem to have hit home
with Perdue, however. Two months ago,
Perdue tried to reduce pension benefits
for teachers by proposing that the Teacher
Retirement System (TRS) eliminate their
annual three percent increase in cost-of-
living adjustments to pension benefits.
This increase has been granted auto
matically to retired teachers for nearly
40 years, but Perdue suggested giving the
TRS board of trustees the flexibility to
grant smaller increases because he said he
wanted to protect the fiscal soundness of
the $41 billion pension fund.
Just as they did six years ago with
Barnes, teachers went ballistic over the
Perdue proposal. They flooded the gover
nor’s office and the office of the TRS board
with an estimated 20,000 letters and emails
protesting the policy change.
Teachers felt, not unreasonably, that they
and their local school boards have been
making hefty contributions to the pension
fund for decades to make sure there would
be enough money to pay for those of cost-
of-living adjustments. If the governor
would not listen to them, they made sure
that the legislative leadership got the mes
sage about the perils of reducing pension
benefits.
That message was received. By the
time the TRS board met last week to vote
on Perdue’s pension proposal, teachers
had such key officials as Lt. Gov. Casey
Cagle, House Speaker Pro Tem Mark
Burkhalter and House Minority Leader
DuBose Porter on their side. Perdue
may have been tone-deaf to the feel
ings of teachers, but lawmakers were
not going to make that same mistake.
Realizing too late that he did not have the
votes on the TRS board, Perdue attempted
to have the proposal withdrawn. The board
refused to allow the withdrawal and every
member voted to reject Perdue’s proposal
- even though more than half of the trust
ees are appointed by the governor.
Perdue’s political mistake probably won’t
cost him the way it cost Barnes in 2002. He
can’t run for governor again because he’s
term-limited and he can’t step up to run for
higher office because Johnny Isakson isn’t
going to vacate his U.S. Senate seat in 2010.
One politician who does plan to run for
something in 2010, Cagle, made sure that the
teachers knew who had been in their corner.
He issued a statement soon after the TRS
vote saying he supported the decision and
followed that up with a letter to each teach
er who had written to him about the issue.
“I know many of you have waited weeks
for this decision, and I want you to know
that I reached out to the TRS Board to
express my concern in taking the proposed
actions to change this rule,” Cagle wrote.
“I am happy that they listened to my
advice, as well as the voice of many teach
ers across our state.”
Any politicians who want to keep getting
elected to public office will make very sure
that they listen to the voice of Georgia’s
teachers. The events of last week made
that crystal clear.
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 tcrawforcl@ capitolim-
tom
crawford
Thanks for help with fundraiser
Dear Editor:
The Homer Fire Department and
Ladies Auxiliary would like to thank all
the ladies and gentlemen who brought
cakes for the cake walk and those listed
below for their support for the David
Dunson fundraiser on Nov. 13.
Anthony Seabolt, Captain D’s,
G-Seven Farms, Hair Express, Ingles,
Joe and Patti Thomas, Lamar and Lynn
Ayers, Quality Foods, Sandra Garrison,
The Express Press and Wal-Mart.
We would also like to thank the com
munity for coming out and supporting
the Dunson family.
Sincerely,
Homer Fire Department
Ladies Auxiliary
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.
It's never too
early to think
about 2012
Sarah Palin. Newt Gingrich.
Haley Barbour. Mike Huckabee.
Bobby Jindal. John Thune. Tim
Pawlenty. Charlie Crist.
What do the people in this list
of names have
in common?
Each one has
already been
mentioned as a
potential can
didate for the
Republican
nomination for
president in
2012.
While some
of you have
just dropped
your newspaper on the tloor atter
reading that statement, believe it
or not presidential politics, and
more specifically presidential
campaigning, never really ends.
As soon as Barack Obama was
declared the winner at 11 p.m.
Eastern time on Nov. 4, poten
tial Republican candidates began
jockeying for position for the next
go around in 2012. While 2012
certainly seems a long way in the
future, it’s really not when you
consider how much time goes into
a serious run at the White House.
Today, even statewide candi
dates who mount serious efforts
at office declare up to two years
in advance. Already in our state,
candidates are on the trail for the
2010 elections where we have a
full slate of statewide offices up
for grabs.
On the national front, Iowa is
already receiving attention as
news stories have described how
interested candidates are already
making visits to the state or in
the process of doing so soon.
Yes, it seems early and our newly
elected president has yet to be
sworn it, but this is how it works
in politics.
Some of the names on the list
at the beginning of this column
you no doubt have heard of. Some
you have not although you may be
hearing more about them in com
ing months and years. Republicans
are still licking their wounds from
taking a rather one-sided defeat in
the presidential race this year and
are still debating just how Obama
and the Democrats got the best of
them nationally.
(Even in Georgia, one of the
reddest of the red states, McCain
only defeated Obama by a 52-47
percent margin. Incumbent
Senator Saxby Chambliss is fight
ing for his political life in a run
off with Jim Martin, something
many didn’t think possible at one
time.)
No doubt those who are road
weary of the nightly talk of
presidential politics will scoff at
the notion that the 2012 race
is already underway I remember
several years ago CSPAN (one of
my favorite networks) was criti
cized for beginning their “Road
to the White House” Series only
a few months after the previous
election had ended. Personally, I
was all for it. Political junkies like
myself can never get enough.
So splash some water on your
face, drink some coffee and get
ready to go again because the
countdown to the 2012 presiden
tial election is on. I realize not
many people are paying attention
right now, but the die-hards like
myself will be glad to keep track
and help keep you in the loop
until you decide to start paying
closer attention.
For me, it’s a big part of what
makes this country great.
Chris Bridges is an editor with
Mainstreet Newspapers. He can
be reached at chris @mainstreet-
news.com.