Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4, JULY 14, 2008, THE ISLANDER
D
BILIIC
M
Letters to the Editor and Opinions
Publisher's Statement
THE ISLANDER (USPS 002430), A
member of the Georgia Press Association
and Glynn County’s only weekly news
paper is published 51 weeks a year for
$17 per year in Glynn County; $19 per
year in the United States outside Glynn
County; $25 per year outside the US by
Permar Publications, Inc., 3596 Darien
Hwy. Suite 6, Brunswick, GA 31525.
Periodicals postage paid at Brunswick,
GA.
Contents of The Islander, including
advertising, may not he reprinted or
reproduced in any form without written
permission of the publishers. POSTMAS
TER send address change to The Islander,
P.O. Box 20539, St. Simons Island, GA
31522.
Publication Deadline
Publication Date:
Every Monday
Deadline: Thursdays, 12 PM for
ads and news copy for the
following Monday’s edition.
Holiday Schedule
On Monday Post Office holidays,
The Islander is printed on the
Friday before.
2008 Post Office Holidays
Tuesday, January 1 - New Year's Day
Monday, January 21 - MLK Birthday
Monday, February 18 - Presidents Day
Monday, May 26 - Memorial Day
Friday, July 4 - Independence Day
Monday, September 1 - Labor Day
Monday, October 13 - Columbus Day
Tuesday, November 11 - Veterans Day
Thursday, November 27 - Thanksgiving Day
Thursday, December 25 - Christmas Day
Holiday Deadline: Wednesdays,
12 PM for ads and news copy for
the following Monday’s edition.
Mission Statement: to publish the
truth without fear or favor.
Established 1972
Matthew J. Permar - Publisher
Elise J. Permar - Publisher 1972-2003
Gertrude Bradshaw - Co-Editor 1972-1991
Managing Editor &
Advertising Manager
Pamela P. Shierling
912-265-9654
Staff/Production Assistant
Sarah Banks Long
Church News
Patty Gibson - 912-638-8844
Contributors
Dave Barry, Clark Gillespie MD,
Sonny Doehring, Roland Willis,
Diane Bowen MD
Phone Numbers
912-265-9654 • Fax - 912-265-3699
entail: ssislander@bellsouth.net
Award Winning Newspaper
1975
1980
1985
1976
1981
1992
1977
1982
1999
1978
1983
2002
1979
1984
2007
Letter to the Editor
The Jekyll Island Authority put on
a truly brilliant fireworks show on the
Fourth of July. In many respects it
was the most awesome display that
we have seen on the Island.
According to the collection station,
4,560 cars entered Jekyll Island on
July 4th and paid the $3 parking fee.
In addition, uncounted vehicles with
Jekyll Island decals also came to wit
ness the pyrotechnics that evening.
Rockets were launched on the beach
behind the Jekyll Convention Cen
ter and an overflow crowd approach
ing 15,000 surrounded the area and
enjoyed the extraordinary show. All
parking areas were brim full of cars.
Unfortunately this may be one of the
last fireworks shows of this kind on
Jekyll Island.
Unless developer Linger Longer
Communities makes major revisions
Poor Max Sanders. The 19-year-old
University of Minnesota student faces
five years in jail and a $10,000 fine;
he is accused of putting his vote in the
presidential election up for auction on
eBay. He started the bidding at $10.
The charge is bribery, treating, and
soliciting.
I'm confused. Aren't all our votes for
sale? Each candidate tries to bribe us
with future benefits of all sorts. Basi
cally, a campaign is an effort to buy
votes wholesale.
Why do you think Barack Obama
is "refining" his positions on so many
issues? He's in the process of buying
the independent votes he needs to win
in November. This creates a problem.
If he goes too far in buying indepen
dent votes, he may have to return
votes he already bought from left-lean
ing Democrats during the primaries.
His updated positions on the Iraqi
occupation, the death penalty, hand
gun bans, campaign finance, money
for religious groups, and immunity for
telecom companies that illegally helped
the Bush administration wiretap us
without warrants have upset people
who thought their vote sales were final.
In politics no sales are final.
John McCain may have a bigger
problem. He's had trouble buying
votes from the conservative base of
the Republican Party. Those voters
don't seem eager to sell their votes
to him because they don't like what
he's promising to pay in return. While
McCain is trying to close the deal with
conservatives, he also needs to buy
votes from independents. That's one
of the dilemmas of politics. If you buy
votes from, say, fiscal conservatives,
you might have a hard time also buy
ing votes from advocates of climate
control through cap and trade, which
would be a tax on energy production.
Keeping most campaign promises
costs money. For politicians, money
comes from the taxpayers, who are
forced to surrender their cash whether
they like it or not. As H.L. Mencken
in it’s proposed beachfront town cen
ter, there will be no parking lots or
ready access to that beach two years
from now. The Linger Longer plan
proposes to divert the eastern end of
the Ben Fortson Parkway and cut off
Beachview Drive from Days Inn to
Blackboard’s Restaurant. Their plan
calls for elimination of four ocean
front parking lots and destruction of
the present Convention Center. In its
place they propose to build 277 condo
miniums plus 160 time share emits,
and 3 hotels totaling 725 rooms.
The Linger Longer plan essentially
will privatize the entire stretch of
beach between Days Inn and Black-
beard’s Restaurant. It is highly unlike
ly that a fireworks display could be
mounted on the remaining beachfront
and there would be no public parking
anywhere near the beach at the site of
the present Convention Center.
Several of the candidates in the
understood, "Every election is a sort of
advance auction sale of stolen goods."
So the only difference I see between a
politician who buys a vote and an eBay
bidder who buys it is that the bidder
spends his own money. Since people
spend their own money more wisely
than they spend other people's, we can
conclude that the eBay sale might be
preferable.
I'm srue many people were appalled
that young Mr. Sanders -- eligible to
vote in his first presidential election
- would even dream of selling his vote.
How cynical he is, they must be think
ing.
I don't think he's cynical. I think he's
naive.
He thought someone would be will
ing to buy his vote for $10 or more.
Why would anyone do that? One vote
isn't going to change the outcome of the
election. The chance that McCain and
Obama will tie in any of the 50 state
elections is roughly zero. No single vote
will be decisive. So we can be certain
that for any voter, on election day it
won't matter if he stays in bed.
Now, if a person's one vote doesn't
matter, are two votes — his own and
the vote he buys — likely to change the
outcome of the election? Of course not.
Yes, his vote total would increase 100
percent, but that only shows you how
forthcoming elections for the Geor
gia Legislature have expressed their
strong support of the massive Linger
Longer development plan. Represen
tatives Jerry Keen and Roger Lane
are supporting the Linger Longer
redevelopment. Terry Carter has also
signed on to the plan and is running
for State Senate against Senator Jeff
Chapman.
If Jekyll Island is to remain a State
Park for the benefit of all Georgia resi
dents who enjoy visiting Jekyll Island
to attend celebrations such as we have
just witnessed on the 4th of July, it
is important that they express their
support of the few legislators, like
Senator Chapman, who have opposed
the Jekyll Island Authority’s plan to
dismantle our State Park.
Please keep this in mind when you
vote in the primary on July 15th and
in the November election.
Joseph Iannicelli □
only one more. So why would anyone
pay $10 for it? If there is such a person,
tell him I have newborn unicorns for
sale.
Mr. Sanders's entrepreneurship
would have run into other problems.
How would the buyer know the vote
he purchased was cast for his favorite
candidate? There'd be no way to prove
it. He'd have to rely on Mr. Sanders's
honesty. That strikes me as a big risk
to take with a stranger.
But I guess it's no bigger than the
risk you take when you trust the hon
esty of a politician when you sell him
your vote.
Sheldon Richman is senior fellow
at The Future of Freedom Foundation
(www.fff.org) and editor of The Free
man magazine. □
College News
Furman University
Nicholas D. Reynolds, son of Dr. and
Mrs. Terry Reynolds, and Ian R. Ros-
siter, son of Dr. and Mrs. Jan Rossiter,
all of St. Simons Island were named to
the Dean's List 2008 Spring term.
Samford University
Melissa Jean McBride, daughter of
Beverly McBride of St. Simons Island
was named to the Dean's List for the
spring semester. “I
real estate auctions
701 Gold Shore Ct, Canton, GA
williamsauction.com
800.801.8003
60+ Georgia
Homes
July 11th - 22nd
Nominal Opening Bids
from $1,000
!»t=f
GA RE LIC 159223 DEAN C. WILLIAMS BROKER, W&W RE LIC H-
16048, AUC LIC AUNR002789 MONTE W. LOWDERMAN AUCTIONEER
WILLIAMS & WILLIAMS
What's Wrong with Selling Your Vote?
By Sheldon Richman
misleading percentages can be. It's still