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PAGE 4A — THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. JANUARY 15, 2009 4i Opinions Frankly Speaking frankgillispie671@msn.com By Frank Gillispie Satisfaction possible without living high on the hog You do not have to have a large income to live well. That is. unless your definition of living well is buying all the latest gadgets and eating "high on the hog.” Living well does not require a McMansion with a half dozen bedrooms and multiple showers. It does not require having two cars in your garage, each of which cost more than a modest home. It does not require T-bone steak and crab legs at every meal. You can only use one shower at a time. A 3-year-old Ford will get you there just as comfortably as a new BMW. A modest TV will show you that great catch in the end zone just as well as that giant liquid crystal set You can have a very nutritious diet on a fraction of what those T-bones cost you. I am a book nut. I collect and read books by the dozen. I have a house and garage full. But I paid full price for only a few of them. I find that I enjoy the murder mystery that I picked up at a garage sale for one dollar just as much as the new one that cost $25 or more. I live in the small house that I helped my father build 50 years ago. My income would be considered below the poverty level anywhere in the U.S.A. But I am happy with my life. There are many advantages to the modest lifestyle. You do not have to work long hours to afford it. Instead you can spend quality time with your family, your neigh bors and your church. You do not have to worry about your impact on the environment. A modest home uses far less energy than the McMansions. You do not have to concern yourself with whether the neighbor down the street has more than you do. In fact, if he is enslaved by his possessions, you can feel sorry for him. I am a product of rural Madison County. That is a good way to learn to appreciate the lesser things in life. It was normal for us to have few resources. It taught us to take what we have and make a good life with it. We learn to build and repair our own furniture. We learn to make full use of the clothes we had and only replace things when they wear out. We learn to make tasty nutritious meals out of whatever foods we happen to have in the pantry. Last week. I went to my kitchen to see what I could find for a meal. In the freezer I found a pound of catfish nuggets and a pound of cut okra. In the storage bin I found potatoes and onions, and in the upper shelf of the pantry I found a collection of canned vegetables that I had purchased a few weeks ago when the store had a sale. I diced up the catfish nuggets and tossed them into a big stew pot. I opened the pack of okra and tossed that in. I diced up three potatoes and a big onion. I filled the pot about half full of water and put it on the stove at medium heat. After a couple of hours, the potatoes, onions, okra and catfish were tender. So a poured in two cans of diced tomatoes, a can of cut com, one of butter beans, green beans and sweet peas. A pod of finely diced cayenne pepper and some seasoned salt gave it flavor. After it all cooked together, I had 15 man-sized servings of catfish gumbo that cost me less than fifty cents a serving. You can live a productive, entertaining and comfort able lifestyle on a limited budget. I recommend it. Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frankgillispie671@msn. com. His website can be accessed at http://frankgillispie. tripod.com/ Letter to the Editor Thanks for community support Dear Editor: The family of Charles McCarty would like to express their appreciation for tire acts of love and kindness shown during their bereavement. We would also like to thank tire staff of Athens Regional Medical Center ICU for the care and compassion given to Charles during his hospital stay. Our heart felt thanks to Colbert First Baptist Church, Colbert U.M. Church and Lord and Stephens Funeral Home for their love and support during this difficult time. Our personal thanks to the many special friends and family who visited Charles regularly during the years after Iris spinal cord injury. What a wonderful blessing they were. Also, a big “thank you” to all tire wonderful and special caregivers we have had over tire years. Sincerely, Martha McCarty and family The Madison County Journal (Merged with The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News, January 2006) SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Madison & surrounding counties $19.75/year State of Georgia $38.85/year Out-of-state $44.50/year Military personnel with APO address $42.50/year Senior rate $2 off all above rates College student discount rate $2 off all above rates POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: THE MADISON COUNTY JOURNAL P.O. Box 658, Danielsville, GA 30633 Love of gadgetry shouldn’t overshadow road safety We know that people drive while talking on cell phones, while put ting on makeup, while changing clothes, while eating dinner, while searching through CDs, while intoxicated, while half asleep, while reading, while air drum ming, while making out, while reaching into the backseat to dis cipline their kids. There are coundess scary things that might be happening in the couple of tons of metal approach ing you at 75 mph on the road. And who hasn't seen a car or duck weave into their lane and felt that rage, wondering what in the heck is wrong with that idiot who doesn't respect the centerline? Amazingly, in the future, that fool who swerves toward you may be blogging on his computer. Here’s a quote from a CNN article I read this past week titled “Technology’s next frontier: In-car computing.” “In March, Ford will release a fully functional, dashboard com puter — complete with keyboard — geared to contractors and other business folks who want to access the Web, review documents and In the Meantime zach@ mainstreet news.com By Zach Mitcham log inventory while on the go,” the article stated. “In the spring, AT&T will launch an in-car enter tainment service with 22 satellite TV channels.” I sure hope no bailout money goes toward these hairbrained ideas. Of course, these innova tions are touted as technologi cal breakthroughs — ways for busy people to “move seamlessly between their digital lives at work and home.” Or, perhaps, move seamlessly into the grill of a Mack truck. “Consumers want a vehicle that’s always on and always con nected,'”’ said Kieran O'Sullivan, vice president at Continental Automotive Systems, which sup plies parts and technology to auto makers. In the near future, he said, “con sumers and carmakers will be able to customize the [dashboard] instrument panel to their individu al tastes the same way that people customize their mobile phones.” These technological “break throughs” include a new system by Hyundai that “lets motorists know when they start to drift out of the lane.” I guess that’s necessary because their eyes will be too busy with matters more important than vehicular homicide, like checking their Facebook page. Now, I consider myself to be on the old side of the generational divide when it comes to technol ogy. While I maintain this news paper's website, I have never sub mitted a blog comment to any website. I have never participated in MySpace or Facebook. I have a cell phone, but I prefer to keep it off. And I generally don’t want to do anything with that phone, except talk when arrangements are being made. I have never sent a text message and am annoyed when I get one. But I understand the appeal of toys, at least to some extent. The iPhone is pretty cool, with all that it can do. I don’t care to spend my money that way, but I understand why other people do. But the notion of a dashboard computer — you mean, people actually like this idea? What's up with these folks? Could such a marketing pitch really take root? If so, what does this say about our common sense? I hope lawmakers understand the absurdity of such plans and enact legislation banning the installation of computers on dash boards. Likewise, I think TVs mounted anywhere in the driver’s view should also be illegal. Most people would object, but I would even be in favor of banning cell phone use while driving, or, at the very least, outlawing texting while driving. The roads are scary enough now. We don’t need to compromise our safety even more out of allegiance to gadgetry and Google. Zach Mitcham is editor of The Madison County Journal. Letter to the Editor Former councilman speaks out on Danielsville raises Dear Editor: Up until 2000, the employees were getting a five percent cost of living increase and the annual cost of living Federal index was 1.9 and 2.5 percent. The council decided that we would change the policy to what the federal cost of living was each year. For the last seven years, it has been 2.5 percent or lower. This past year it was 5.8 percent. This was in the employee work policy. It was not something that the council just came up with. Should we reject the raises just because the cost of living went up that much in one year? I think not. The council can change it during this year if they so desire, but for myself, I was not about to vote to change it at the last minute. It would not have been fair to the employees - and fair is fair. Sincerely, Roger L. Watson Danielsville Will lawmakers act like adults? The Capitol Report tcrawford@ capitol impact.net. By Tom Crawford One of the advantages of being more than $2 billion in the hole is that it forces you to priori tize and focus on tire things that really matter. So it is with our state legislators as they gather in Atlanta this week to begin the latest chapter of the General Assembly. In recent sessions we have seen lawmakers fighting openly, to the point where the House speaker yelled at the lieutenant governor to “be a man” and allow a vote on a tax break measure. Not to mention the time the speaker accused the governor of "baring his back side” on another tax issue. No time for that kind of petty bickering this year. Georgia, like every other state, is in a deep budget ary hole aggravated by the worst economic recession in 75 years. Theoretically, that should mean the House and Senate will set aside their usual differences and try to work out a way to plug a revenue hole that could even tually exceed $2.5 billion. "Challenging times have a way of bringing people together,” said Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. Challenges ? There are plenty of them to be worked out this session, including: Tax cuts. You'll hear several lawmakers pro pose them, but as a practical matter, any tax cut just adds to tire $2.5 billion budget defi cit. Corporate CEOs and special interests may have to wait another year for their usual tax goodies. Tax increases. Republicans claim they don't like them, but tax hikes may be unavoidable this year if the budget is to be brought into balance without wrecking state government. Gov. Sonny Perdue has already floated a state wide provider tax on hospitals to raise money for Medicaid. Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Savannah) wants to raises taxes on cigarettes and Rep. Chuck Sims (R-Ambrose) would reinstate the sales tax on groceries. Sen. Jack Murphy (R-Cumming) even wants to tax patrons of strip clubs (a tax that might fall disproportionately upon legislators during the months of January, February and March). Homeowners tax relief. To help balance tire budget, Perdue will propose cutting $430 million in state grants to local governments that provided a small bump in property tax exemptions for homeowners. To offset this loss of a property tax break, the Legislature could well approve a cap on yearly increases in property assessments. Highway improvements. After failing last year to adopt a plan for raising funds to build new highways, legislators will try again this year. Their ability to get campaign contributions from business leaders in 2010 hinges upon their suc cess. Guns. Some lawmakers want to make it legal for anyone to carry a pistol in such public places as schools, churches, and mental hospitals. Cagle says he’ll try to holster that particular idea. Capital punishment. Frustrated by the inability to secure the death penalty for courthouse shoot er Brian Nichols, lawmakers will try to authorize the imposition of the ulti mate punishment through less-than-unanimous jury verdicts. School vouchers. Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), M jj, m a candidate for lieutenant governor, will continue Ms drive to expand tire issuance of vouchers for students to attend private schools, a step that could further weaken the state’s public school systems. Healthcare. Another area of failure last year was the effort to upgrade Georgia's woefully inadequate network of trauma care hospitals. Lawmakers will try again on trauma care, as well reorganize the sprawling bureaucracy in the Department of Human Resources. Part of the DHR restructuring could include the privatiza tion of mental hospitals. Overshadowing all of those issues, of course, is the state budget and that $2.5 billion revenue shortfall. Major spending cuts will have to be enacted somewhere, a painful process that could eventually cause a breakdown of the goodwill that legislators bring into the ses sion. It would have been easier if the Republican leadership had called a special session last fall to start dealing with the budget cuts, but the gumption to do that just wasn't there. "The ill-advised decision to not hold a special session to address the budget has left the Republican-dominated General Assembly with little choice other than falling in line like lemmings behind their leader,” said Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown. Whether you call them lemmings or legisla tors, the pressure is now on them to make the decisions that will somehow get the state out of this mess. Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report, an Internet news service at www.gareport.com that covers gov ernment and politics in Georgia. He can be reached at tcrawford@capitolimpact.net. Letter to the Editor Please help those in need in Madison Co. Dear Editor: This letter is to the residents of Madison County. Our county has babies and elderly who are cold and hungry! Yes, and one of those could be you or me! I talked with ACTION this morning ask ing how I could help. By the grace of God, I've never been hungry, cold or not have a place to live. My request to you is that you gather up coats, blankets and food and take them to the ACTION office in Madison County to help. If you can't do this, then send them money so they can go and get what these people need. Their phone number is 706-795-2128. It won’t take much of your time and you’ll be blessed for what you do -1 promise. We all feel the crisis with the economy, but our residents need help. It is heart-wrenching to me wondering if a baby, toddler, teen, middle-aged or elderly person is cold and/ or hungry. Won't you please be a blessing to just someone by helping? I knew you would. Sincerely, Janet Andrews-Epps Hull Letter to the Editor Mentors truly make a difference in children’s lives Dear Editor: TMs January brings the eighth annual National Mentoring Month. I would like to thank each of our current mentors who are helping 155 of our students head toward a healthy and productive life. We all need others to share our ups and downs, to encourage us, or to just be there. If you want to be a special friend who fills these needs for a cMld, please consider joining the Madison County Mentor lYogram. Your student will not be the only one who benefits: Mentors say, ‘This has been the most rewarding experience of my life." Become a part of tMs ever-growing program as the commumty umtes to make a lasting impact on our cMldren’s lives. Please offer your friendsMp and counsel to help meet personal and academic goals of one of over a thousand students waiting for a mentor. Please become a mentor. You can make a dif ference. For more information, contact me at 706-338-3689 or mcmentor@madison.kl2.ga.us. The Madison County Mentor Program is spon sored by the Madison County Board of Education, the Madison County Family Connection, and the Madison County Chamber of Commerce. Sincerely, Shirley Aaron Want to submit a letter? Email us at zach@mainstreetnews.com, fax us at 706-795-2765 or mail us at P.O. Box 658 Danielsville, GA 30633. Please include your first and last name, town of residence and phone number for verification purposes.