Page 16, March 11, 2019, The Islander
International Women's
Day and Wonder Woman
Okay, so last Friday (March 8) was
International Women’s Day.
Fact is, had I not seen it heavily ad
vertised on WTBS® I would not have
known it even existed. And I still don’t
know why it does exist.
I found it interesting that WTBS®
chose to honor International Women’s
Day by airing the Wonder Woman®
movie.
So... with all the amazing, accom
plished women in history like Rosa
Parks, Dr. Grace Hopper, Margaret
Thatcher, Ella Fitzgerald, Marga
ret Sanger, Condoleezza Rice and so
many, many more, the best TBS could
do is a movie about a cartoon charac
ter?!?!?! With “super powers!!!?!?!?”
Yikes.
Maybe there’s a bunch of video
game playing millennials running
WTBS®’s programming department.
And just for a fun side note on Won
der Woman®: I did some quick re
search and while her creator, William
Moulton Marston, was, according to
Wikipedia®, “an outspoken feminist,”
he was also a “swinger, S&M practi
tioner, and firm believer in the superi
ority of women. He described bondage
and submission as a “respectable and
noble practice.”
So there you have it.
My mother Elise Permar was one of
the strongest, smartest people I ever
knew.
In 1934 she graduated from Pa-
tchogue High School (Long Island,
New York, the one time home of Billy
Idol and wife killer Jeffrey R. Mac
Donald) at 16 and went straight to
college at the State University of New
York New Paltz.
She taught high school, she raised
three children, then in 1972 she start
ed a weekly newspaper that is still
going strong 47 years later, 16 years
after her death.
As an investigative journalist, one
of the big stories she broke was about
the City of Brunswick water and sew
er department’s plan to convert an old
sewer line into a water line.
She contacted engineers and offi
cials in other cities and found that it
had never been done before. She wrote
about it every week with headlines
like, “They don’t do it in Savannah,”
or “They don’t do it in Amarillo,” or
“They don’t do it in...” whatever city
she had spoken to that week.
In the end the plan did not come to
fruition.
I dislike the word visionary, and
my mother would have rejected it and
laughed at anyone who used it in ref
erence to her.
But in the early 1970s she advocat
ed for a second causeway to the north
of St. Simons Island. She knew back
then the traffic issues that are arising
today.
She also went to the Glynn County
Commission in the late 70s advocating
Publisher The Islander EDITORIAL
for architectural design standards for
St. Simons.
Her words fell on deaf ears, which
makes it that much more ironic that
last week the Glynn County Commis
sion unanimously voted to oppose a
proposed Georgia law that would pro
hibit local governments for enacting
design standards.
The current county commission
has authorized a rewrite of our zoning
laws and expect there to be some “de
sign standards” included in them.
I suppose had they listened to
Elise 35 years ago... this new ordi
nance could have been a little easier
to rewrite.
My mother would have found Inter
national Women’s Day hilarious.
Along with her strength of charac
ter and brilliance, she was 110% confi
dent in herself and her beliefs.
The last thing she needed was a
socialist created, feel-good “holiday.”
She absolutely did not need anyone
to validate her as a woman, an educa
tor, a businesswoman, a journalist or
a wife and mother.
While they had their ups and
downs like every other married couple
on the planet, she and my father had
a straight 50 / 50 marriage and even
though she outlived him by 16 years,
she never took off her wedding and en
gagement rings.
Pam and I miss you both every day,
but we and The Islander are doing just
fine. I appreciate you letting us take
the helm.
I hope everyone a very merry Inter
national Women’s Day!!!
More weird legislation
Since I’ve got a bit of room left
here... I already mentioned the county
commission’s objection to an odd state
law that would prevent local govern
ments from enacting design stan
dards, but there’s another piece of
legislation that’s already passed that
I find completely baffling.
It’s in Pam’s page 11 Board of Edu
cation article.
Passed last year, House Bill 763
requires the chief judge of the Superior
Court of each county to establish a stu
dent attendance protocol and school cli
mate committee for the comity. The com
mittees even have four subcommittees.
HB 763 also requires attendance
rates and student discipline be reported
to the State Board of Education at the
end of each school year.
Lord have mercy, I know for a fact our
Chief Superior Court Judge has much
better tilings to do than this foolishness.
And so do the teachers and
administrators.
I suppose in their infinite wisdom our
state legislators decided everyone had
way too much free time on their hands
while trying to educate the students of
Georgia.
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136 Marsh’s Edge Lane • St. Simons Island, GA 31522
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