Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 20, JULY 6, 2009, THE ISLANDER
Matthew J. Permar
Publisher
A
They’re still there
I'm sure you don't want to read my
opinion about the proliferation of golf
carts on St. Simons roads again, but
I keep getting phone calls, e-mails
and comments from people who agree
with me that they have no place on the
streets and pose a traffic hazard that is
going to end up getting someone seri
ously hurt or killed.
An island businessman who did not
want his name mentioned due to his
business, wrote this in an e-mail:
"I'm, writing as a concerned, citizen,
and in no official capacity, about a topic
that concerns me. Specifically, golf carts
on the streets of St. Simons Island.
My question is, when did it become
legal to drive golf carts on city streets?
I just saw a golf cart go by, driven
by a woman with three young children
— one on the seat next to her and two on
the platform on the back with no seat
belts and nothing to keep the kids from
falling out or protecting them if they
get hit.
Last week, I saw a golf cart go
through the roundabout. The girl driv
ing it couldn't have been more than 14.
Don't get me wrong --1 have nothing
against golf carts. However, it scares
the heck out of me to see situations such
as the ones I just described. And these
aren 't random incidents. I see this from
my office ton a main island roadway) at
least once a day, if not more often.
Golf carts are not cars. Flashing
lights and SMV (slow moving vehicle)
placards do not, in my view, make them
any safer. God help the occupants if
they are hit by anything larger than a
riding lawn mower. They are accidents
waiting to happen. I pray they don't."
A week or two later I got a phone call
from a friend with the exact same con
cerns after seeing a golf cart with small
children on the back going through the
roundabout.
"The law requires me to wear a seat
belt," she said, "these golf carts don't
even have them. Or brake lights or
turn signals. Why is that?"
A friend of mine who has been rid
ing motorcycles for longer than the 36
years I've know him told me once that
motorcycle helmets are useless because
there are only two kinds of motorcycle
accidents - those that are so minor that
the rider doesn't get hurt or need the
helmet.
And those that are so catastrophic
that the helmet isn't going to the pro
tect the rider anyway.
There's no in between he said.
I'm afraid the same goes for golf
carts. When one gets hit by a car, which
is inevitable as more and more take to
the streets, it is going to be bad and
mark my words, people will demand
to know, "Why didn't the county com
mission do something to regulate these
things?" □
College of Coastal Georgia
Continued from Page 1
fourth president at the helm, Dr. Val
erie Hepburn, the College of Coastal
Georgia (CCG) is on the brink of its
50th anniversary and a major expan
sion program expected to carry the
college to 2020.
Change has come quickly to the col
lege, according to Dr. Hepburn who,
after serving 7 months as interim pres
ident, was appointed to the position
permanently on February 1 of this
year.
Although it is not the only time it
has happened, Hepburn's move from
interim to permanent president was
an unusual move by the state Board of
Regents.
"The expectation was that I was not
a candidate when I came on board as
interim president," Hepburn explained,
"Policy does not allow an interim to
become president. But the Regents
waived the policy in my case to make
the appointment. The same thing hap
pened at South Georgia College in
Douglas, but they had accreditation
issues, whereas my case was a tran
sition issue after Dr. (Dorothy) Lord
retired."
Hepburn holds adjunct faculty sta
tus at the University of Georgia, Col
lege of Public Health where she previ
ously served as a faculty member in
Health Policy and Management and as
the College's academic dean.
She also holds adjunct faculty
appointments in pediatrics at the
Medical College of Georgia and at the
Insttute of Public Health at Georgia
State University, a nationally recog
nized program which she helped found
in 2003 as associate director and assis
tant professor of health policy.
Prior to her academic service, Dr.
Hepburn spent more than 20 years in
senior leadership positions with state
health, financing and regulatory agen
cies.
She continues to work with public
officials on health planning, educa
tion and resource allocation issues. She
holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Public
Administration and Policy from the
Univ. of Ga., a Master of Public Admin
istration from Ga. State Univ., and a
Bachelor's of Arts in Political Science
from Agnes Scott College.
One of the first things to happen
under Dr. Hepburn's watch, along with
receiving its four-year college status
and accreditation, was the formation
of a Steering Committee that worked
with consultants Eva Klein & Associ
ates and Perkins Eastman to develop
the college's first strategic master plan,
which recently received final adoption
by the steering committee.
Some information in this article is
taken from Dr. Hepburn's Biographi
cal Sketch' provided by the CCG
administration. Look for Part Two of
'New president prepares local college
for future' in next week's issue. □
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