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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2017
Editor: Angela Gary
Phone: 706-367-2490
E-mail: AngieEditor@aol.com
Website: www.banksnewsTODAY.com
Opinion
“Where the press is free and every man
able to read, all is safe. ”
— Thomas Jefferson
Georgia has its own mini-Trump
For those Georgia voters who couldn’t
get enough of Donald Trump in last
year’s election, fear not.
We have a local version of The Donald
who is now running for governor: state
Sen. Michael Williams (R-Cumming),
who hasn’t served quite two terms in the
Legislature but has his eye on the state’s
top job.
Williams was the first Georgia lawmak
er to endorse Trump in the presidential
election and his campaign for governor
is modeled on how Trump ran for office.
He even has a campaign manager, Seth
Weathers, who was briefly involved in
Trump’s Georgia campaign organization.
Like Trump, Williams is trashing his
opponents both online and in public,
making outrageous accusations that
aren’t supported by such things as facts
and data.
In particular, he is going after Lt. Gov.
Casey Cagle, the choice of many in the
capitol establishment to be the succes
sor to current Gov. Nathan Deal.
At the state GOP convention in June,
Williams claimed that Cagle and the
Senate leadership offered him the chair
manship of the powerful Senate Appro
priations Committee if he would not run
for governor.
“The establishment, and the career
politicians they finance, see our move
ment and they know we’re coming for
them,” Williams said.
He repeated that charge last
Thursday at a capitol press con
ference: “There's a reason that
Casey Cagle's team wanted me
out of this race to the point
where they offered me a Senate
chairmanship for my support.”
In the face of numerous ques
tions from reporters, Williams
would not produce any evi
dence at either event to back up
his sensational charges against
Cagle and the party establishment.
Most likely, that’s because his accusa
tions aren’t true. The charges have been
denied by everyone who would have
been in a position to offer him a chair
manship, and it’s simply implausible that
the Senate leadership would have made
such a move.
Like Trump, Williams sees himself as a
martyr to political correctness, a valiant
fighter that the “establishment” wants to
bring down because of his opposition to
crony capitalism.
He declared at last week’s press con
ference: “I know that in less time than
it takes me to tie my shoes, Casey and
his gang of bullies will begin to further
assault me and my family. It won't be the
first time or the last. We are ready. You
cannot break us. . . .We will be
here. Your days are numbered.”
Like Trump, Williams tweets a
never-ending stream of attacks
on liberals, the party establish
ment, and undocumented immi
grants. He appears to hate the
establishment even more than
he hates immigrants.
I guess it won’t be long before
he’s referring to the lieutenant
governor as “Crooked Casey”
and “Low-energy Cagle.”
Many of Williams’ tweets include pleas
for campaign contributions, promising
that if people will just give him money
“we can beat the establishment.”
That message doesn’t appear to be
resonating with Republicans.
When the campaign disclosure
reports for the period ending June 30
were released last week, Williams wasn’t
even close to his opponents in raising
money.
Cagle reported nearly $2.7 million in
contributions, Secretary of State Brian
Kemp reported $1.7 million, and even an
obscure state senator named Hunter Hill
brought in more than $1 million. Dem
ocrats Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans
each raised more than $400,000.
Williams’ take was a measly $51,404 in
outside contributions. Even the Demo
crats running for governor were out-rais
ing him by a ratio of more than eight-to-
one.
Like Trump, Williams is now in a posi
tion to talk about how he can use his
own money to run for office so that the
“establishment” can’t buy him.
He indicated on his disclosure report
that he’s loaned his campaign $1 million
in personal funds. Thus, he’s kicking in
$20 out of his own pocket for every dol
lar he brings in.
When a candidate has that much trou
ble raising money, attacks his own party,
and makes thunderous accusations that
he knows aren’t true, the normal rules of
politics would tell you that the candidate
is on track to lose the race.
However, Trump’s presidential cam
paign showed us that the old political
rules no longer apply. Williams thinks
he can do at the state level what Trump
did at the national level. Will the voters
agree with him?
Tom Crawford is editor of The Geor
gia Report, an internet news service at
gareport.com that reports on state gov
ernment and politics. He can be reached
at tcrawford@gareport.com.
Science fiction now part
of careers academies
Looking for frogs...
and rabbits...and bugs
Machine shop and cos
metology were in the “voca
tional” wing of my high
school, and that was where
the troublemakers were
shunted off.
Now, we have “college
and career academies.”
Machine shops are “mecha-
tronics” and have to do as
much with computers and
math as with grease and
skinned knuckles. Diesel
technicians work on huge
engines with computer diag
nostics.
“Pathways” are all over
the map. Some school dis
tricts have a dizzying array
of them. The director of
Henry County’s program
mentioned 47 last week.
I did the “college” path
way because I was told to
by a sophomore guidance
counselor, who had looked
at my junior high grades and
test scores.
Now, kids are being asked
to imagine their own careers
in the sixth grade. Multiple
districts in Georgia - Hall
Mike Buffington
Scott Buffington
Angela Gary
Cameron Whitlock
Sharon Hogan
Anelia Chambers
County is one near us - are
requiring those “plans.” The
Hall County super
intendent says, “So
what if they change
10 times before
they’re through.”
I just read where
Chicago schools
are going to
require such plans
for students.
Technical col
leges offer “video
game design”
courses. Lanier
Tech has that. It is all com
puters - software that is still
science fiction to me.
It’s a different world
- especially if you can
remember The Big Chill as
an adult, as I was reminded
over the weekend while on
Facebook. (I’m not there a
lot, but I’m gradually moving
into the late 20th century.)
All of the above came up
last week because I heard
Jackson County’s dog-and-
pony show about its push
for a college and career
Co-Publisher
Co-Publisher
Editor
Sports Editor
Reporter
Receptionist
academy. It was an impres
sive program.
The promoter of
the idea in Geor
gia, Lt. Gov. Casey
Cagle, was the fea
tured attraction.
Cagle was smart.
He talked about
Jackson County
about the world
of possibilities
through technolo
gy, about good jobs
without getting a
four-year degree.
He never mentioned he
is a candidate for governor
next year. That was quite
deliberate.
The event was to promote
the county’s push for a col
lege and career academy.
Just showing up for it was
a campaign event. Cagle
didn’t need to do more.
It was nice to see an
understated politician for a
change.
As I said to my wife, Cagle
has a real accomplishment
he can campaign on. The
idea of college and career
academies is far from new.
It has been around for
decades.
But he was smart enough
to start promoting it years
ago, and he was skilled
enough to get money put in
the state budget to help the
idea along.
Three college and career
academies a year get the $3
million grants Jackson is
seeking. I covered a similar
program in Putnam County
that is now up and run
ning. I saw the beginning
of a successful push for an
academy in Morgan Coun
ty-
good sense to follow much
of that model. It has an
impressive list of business
es supporting the push.
In a lot of ways, this is
more “back to the future.”
Part of the model for the
academies is the German
notion of apprenticeships
- which was popular in the
1970s.
The difference is the
updated version has strong
academic parts to it - it’s
not the “vocational” wing
of my youth.
Given the ubiquity of
computers in our lives,
that might be natural. But
it takes a bit of getting used
to for someone who used a
pencil and eraser in school.
The publicity for Jackson
County’s “EC3” mentions
the possibility that Com
merce and Banks County
also might be part of the
academy. Why wouldn’t
they?
I wondered why both
those school systems were
not visibly promoting the
idea at last week’s event.
Equally important was the
complete lack of interest
or visibility from Jefferson
schools? Maybe that sys
tem sends all of its gradu
ates to colleges.
Cagle has a bruising pri
mary ahead of him and
a number of well-known
political opponents stand
ing before he can make a
general election. But I don’t
know of any candidate
who has as strong a “plus”
as he does starting out.
Ron Bridgeman is a
reporter for Mainstreet
Newspapers. Send email
to him at ron@mainstreet-
news.com.
I spent my childhood
playing with Barbie dolls,
reading Nancy Drew and
Trixie Beldon mysteries
and watching
Leave it to Beaver
and The Brady
Bunch.
I wasn’t the out
doors type at all.
I never learned
to ride a bicycle.
Never learned
to swim. Don’t
know anything
about sports.
I don’t want
to see bugs or
lizards or snakes or any
other creepy creatures. I
stay away from them if at
all possible. If I accidently
come upon one, I scream.
With all of this in mind,
it’s hard to believe I found
myself on a recent summer
night out in the yard with
a flashlight chasing a frog
down the sidewalk.
My nephew, Grayson,
spotted a small frog and
thought it would make a
great pet. He told me to
keep the flashlight on it
while he hurried inside the
house to find something to
put it in.
So, there I was at 9 p.m.
chasing a frog down the
sidewalk with the flashlight
on it. Thank goodenss, it
ran off into the bushes
before Grayson got back.
He may have wanted a pet
frog but not me.
Next, Grayson decided
we should catch one of
the many bunnies that we
see hopping around in the
yard. I couldn’t convince
him that it would be impos
sible to catch a wild bunny.
We chased a few bun
nies around for what
seemed like a very long
time. After a while, he
finally agreed that we
weren’t going to be able to
catch a bunny.
Our night wasn’t com
plete until we chased a few
fireflies around
the yard. We had
a jar all ready to
put a few in but
we didn’t manage
to get any of those
either.
While chasing
frogs, rabbits and
bugs is not some
thing I ever thought
I would be doing,
I had a great time
just watching
Grayson. His excitement
brought a smile to my face.
Grayson also enjoys
something else that is new
to me. He loves playing
video games and watching
you tube videos. These are
both activities that have
never been fun to me but
I have found myself doing
both. He likes me to watch
while he plays the video
games, which his mom
insists must be education
al. We have found some
that fits the fun requirement
for him, as well as the edu
cational requirement of his
mom.
Grayson and have also
spent many hours watch
ing “hilarious” videos he
finds on you tube. He
knows I love cats so he
usually finds one with
a cat in it. Some aren’t
as funny as others but I
always laugh. Again, it’s
fun to watch him watching
the videos.
I’m thankful to have this
little boy in my life to open
my eyes to so many things
that are new to me.
Angela Gary is an edi
tor with MainStreet News
papers Inc. She can be
reached at Angie@main-
streetnews.com.
Phones (all 706 area code):
Angela Gary Phone 706-410-1022
Angela Gary Fax 706-621-4112
Homer Office Phone 706-612-5327
Web www.BanksNewsTODAY.com
(SCED 547160)
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Jackson County has the
POLICY ON
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The policy for letters to the
editor submitted to The Banks
County News is as follows:
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Anyone with questions on
the policy is asked to contact
editor Angela Gary at Angie-
Editor@aol.com or 706-410-
1022.
The Banks County News
Founded 1968
The official legal organ
of Banks County, Ga.
142 Old Highway 441 North, Homer, GA 30547
