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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 12, 2009 Opinions Frankly Speaking frankgillispie671@msn.com By Frank Gillispie Both parties gambling on the future “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it,” is an often quoted saying. But it is a applicable today as it was when it was first invented. Frequently, people find that although things go exactly as they planned, the results are far from what was expected. For example, the national Democrats wished for complete control over the federal government. They now have it. They control both houses of Congress and the Presidency. They can do about anything they want to do without any support from the Republicans. So why are they so anxious to have Republican support for their “stimulus” program? They can pass the program without any Republican votes. They can draft a plan and put it into effect totally within their own party. One would think they would be anxious to do just that. If they put together a plan that resourc es the nation's economy from the present downturn, they would get all the credit. The Republican party would be left out in the cold, and Democrats would rule Washington for the next 20 years if not longer. But what if they are wrong? What if the massive spending bill actually does more harm than good. If it fails, the bill could easily result in an even deeper depression, massive unemployment and runaway inflation while leaving our children and grandchil dren with an overwhelming load of national debt to repay. If that is the outcome, then the Democrats will have to take all the blame and will probably lose their grip on power for that 20-year or longer period. It is to protect themselves from the damage a failure will bring that they want the Republicans to be equally responsible for the program, and it looks like the Republicans have figured it out. So what we have is a massive gamble on the future of our nation. The Democrats are gambling that the massive spending bill will restore the economy and generate enough tax revenue to pay the cost of the program. Republicans are gambling that it will fail, and by fail ing, return the power to govern back to them. Regardless of which party wins in this big gamble, we the people are going to lose. If the Democrats win, they will use their power to impose the kind of left-wing socialism that they have preached for many years now on our nation, and we will lose more and more of the freedoms that have made ours the great est nation on earth. If the Republicans win, it could result in long-term damage to our economy that will allow India, China and possibly other nations to over take us as world leaders and force the United States into something near Third World status. We need a completely different solution to our eco nomic problems. One that will return our economy to its primary purpose of promoting the fair and honest exchange of goods and services among our citi zens while blocking the concentrations of economic power in the hands of a few "robber barons” as we now have. Only when we allow the basic rules of economics to operate without interference from the greedy and power hungry few, will our problems be solved and all of our citizens get a fair shake. 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/ Plenty of cold but no snow As I am writing this article we are finally begin ning to enjoy a much-needed warm-up from the recent cold snap. January featured a month that ended only slightly below average in temperature and below average in rainfall. The real cold snap occurred in the middle of the month and brought low temperatures to their coldest readings in six years. Officially, the coldest morning (the 17th) saw the low dip to 13 degrees, while the normally — See “Jenkins” on 5A The Madison County Journal SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Madison & surrounding counties $19.75/year State of Georgia $38.85/year Out-of-state $4450/year Military personnel with APO address $4250/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 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. County growth through a new economic lens The recently approved Sunrise pro posal split much of this county, just like any other major residential development in recent years. Of course, the Sunrise debate was the first real county residential conflict in a new economic era. The credit collapse punctured the housing bubble, which had become the mother's milk of our economy due to the desertion of manu facturing. Without home building, our nation is now like the sleeper who wakes disori ented in an unfamiliar room. How will the housing market regain its feet? How will the credit market flow again in a more responsible way? More impor tantly, how will we regain lost jobs? How will we move forward to brighter days? The owner of Madison County's lone golf course approached county commis sioners recently with this economic dark ness shadowing our lives. His proposal was the same one commissioners shot down twice before: a tightly clustered senior residential community of more than 200 houses on a drastically modi fied course, one that will be reduced from a par 72 to a par 57 setup, with a length of 2,605 yards from the back tees, which is less than half the length of a typical 6,000-7,000-yard traditional setup. This debate linked two, very separate issues: the survival of a long-time busi ness and the acceptance of a unique In the Meantime zach@ mainstreet news.com By Zach Mitcham residential development in the county. The Sunrise proposal was framed as a way to save the golf course. But commissioners didn’t stipulate that the golf course remain open. How could they, anyway? Can a county government mandate that a business owner stay in business against his will, lest they block the door armed with a hammer and sickle? Perhaps the rezoning improves the likelihood that the course will remain open, but given the shaky ground that so many businesses find themselves on — particularly golf courses — the Sunrise residential development should really have been considered on its own merits, quite separately from the golf course. But the two were linked. And honestly, I just can’t make this development work in my head. As a former obsessed golfer, I can't imagine a lot of folks getting excited about leaving the driver in the bag to play a 2,600-yard course amid a tightly clustered retirement community. I can’t really imagine people buying into the senior village without more shopping and medical options in the immediate area. Like others, I wondered why the board would vote “No” twice, then change their minds. Of course, one new BOC member voted in favor of the devel opment, but the proposal would have passed even without that vote. One thing to consider is that a loud choms of “No" in such a negative cli mate is a tough thing for many to take right now. There is a deep yearning to be positive in the face of this economic collapse. No one is taking risks now. No one is lending money. No one is building much of anything. We are drowning in oppressive negativity. We hate it in oth ers. We hate it in ourselves. I don't even want to be around myself much of the time these days. I am constantly at battle with that ugly inner voice. I’m sure a lot of you are, too. So a person appears before county leaders and offers a plan basically to add a small city to the county. The plan flies in the face of all of today’s news. For some, it sounds like a promise of a brighter county housing future, of a recovered local market, of a way to keep more jobs from leaving the county. While commissioners surely weighed the details of the Sunrise request, there is no ignoring the large, ever-looming negativity of the economic climate. This was surely on their shoulders, too, just like everyone else. In fact, who doesn’t recognize that the pervasive negativity in our environment is an accelerant in our downward economic spiral? Say what you will about the Sunrise proposal. You may be for it. You may be against it. But the BOC’s "Yes” vote was, at least on a purely emotional level, a defiant act of optimism amid a gloom- and-doom economy. To vote “No,” the commissioners would have taken the negative road on the only major housing proposal in this county in quite some time. Perhaps their vote was foolhardy, per haps prescient. Only time will tell if the light breaks through today's darkness for a new Sunrise, and if the defiant “Yes" is a long-term positive or negative. But beyond Sunrise, I think any Madison County development battles in the near future will be viewed with that deep need for economic optimism churning in the gut of many. This may or may not affect BOC votes, but in troubled times, you can’t deny that an optimistic "Yes” has the emotional edge over the pessimistic “No." Zach Mitcham is editor ofThe Madison County Journal. More bad news on the budget front Bad news! Last week, members of the General Assembly and Georgia citizens received more bad news on the already dismal subject of the annual state budget. State tax collections for January were $262 million below where they were for the same month last year - a 14.3 percent drop-off. As I have been predicting for the last eight months, this brings the state’s overall deficit for the current fiscal year closer to $3 billion, causing an even greater chal lenge for lawmakers to balance the budget for the remainder of fiscal year 2009 and fiscal year 2010. As the result of several years of poor fiscal policies at the state level and the current economic recession, extraordinary action has been taken by legislative leaders. For the first time in my many years in the General Assembly, both the House of Representatives and the Senate had voted to slow down the legislative clock on the current ses sion in order to provide more time to work on the budget. Over the next six weeks, lawmakers will be in session only three days per week, Tuesday through Thursday, leaving Mondays and Fridays for committee meetings, constituent work and fine-tuning the budget proposals. On March 25, the scheduled 35 th legislative day, supposedly with a budget finalized, we will go into recess until the final week of June. That would leave five days to make any amendments to the budget that take into account the impact on By Alan Powell Georgia from the federal economic stimulus package. Some estimates report that $5 billion or more in addi tional federal funding for education, Medicaid, infrastructure and other programs would flow to Georgia from the proposal now being debated in Congress. While I am glad to see our House and Senate leaders taking this crisis seriously and giving those of us on the Appropriations Committee the maximum amount of time to have all the information we need to repair six years of fiscal irresponsibility, at the same time, I hope we are not simply counting on a one-time bailout from Washington, D.C., to fix all the state’s problems. The same state leaders who have been publicly criticizing the federal stimulus proposal now appear to be privately begging for it and counting on it like manna from heaven. But simply going to the mailbox each day in eager anticipation of a giant federal check will, in the long run, cause more problems than it solves. It would be a devastating mistake for us not to use this extra time to roll up our sleeves and work on curing the systemic problems that got us here in the first place. During econom ic downturns in previous decades, Georgia was able to survive because of fiscally responsible budget prac tices that prepared the state for rainy days. But the past six years have seen monumental growth in big-govem- ment spending, bonded indebtedness to the tune of $1 billion per year and a near-total disregard for the average taxpayer with continued shifts of the tax burden to the local level. This is not how you repair an econ omy. Like other states in a crisis mode at this time, we need to resist the temptations of unnecessary spend ing, unnecessary programs and more tax increases disguised as “fees.” Hopefully there will be an outpouring of calls for a restoration of sanity to the state budget process. We could use this extra time to “start from scratch" in the appropriations process with zero-based budgeting. By carefully examining the AOB (Annual Operating Budget) Documents, mem bers of the Appropriations Committee would have a better opportunity to scrutinize where every penny of the state’s money has gone - to state pro grams and privatized contracts. We could end the smoke-and-mir- rors and shell-game approach once and for all and produce a state bud get that is based on common sense and fiscal responsibilities, delivers the core services of state government and respects the Georgia taxpayer. We could preserve the state's eco nomic future and ability to withstand future rainy days without waiting on Washington’s version of Santa Claus. In action taken last week, the House of Representatives voted unanimous ly to approve legislation that would make it easier for the state to keep HOPE Scholarship funds available for students’ book purchases and related fees. Current state law requires that any time the total collection of state lot tery revenues declines during a cal endar year, the use of HOPE funds for books and fees is reduced by a set percentage. HB 157 would modify the law to require that lottery revenues decline by eight percent before engaging the “trigger” to reduce grants to stu dents for books and fees. The lottery reserves currently stand at $960 mil lion, which is high enough to justify this change and prevent deserving stu dents from receiving their full HOPE benefits. The legislation now goes to the Senate for its consideration. Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell) rep resents the 29 b District (Franklin, Hart and Madison counties) in the Georgia House of Representatives. Contact him at 507 Coverdell Office Building, Atlanta, GA 30334; by phone at 404-656-0202 or by e-mail at alanpowell23@hotmail.com. For more infonnation, visitwww.alanpow- ell.net. Budget challenges seem to be getting larger As the 2009 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly con tinues, our budget challenges seem to be getting larger and impacting more constituencies in our state. This week we began hearing that January revenues would be down again, making our work on the budget more complicated. But we are mov ing forward in other areas. There is a new transportation plan on the table and this week the House took steps to protect portions of the HOPE scholar ship for students and increase access to life insurance. Last week the House voted over whelmingly in support House Bill 157 to protect students’ book allowance under the HOPE scholarship. Students now receive a $300 book allowance but a provision in current law could see that benefit reduced as early as 2011. But with healthy reserves in the state lottery program, I see no reason to allow these cuts to take effect. House Bill 157, heard in committee early in the week before being approved by the By Tom McCall full House, changes the circumstances that trigger the cuts so that they would go into effect if the lottery program ever experienced a hue funding emer gency. This bill now moves to the state senate for consideration. In today’s economy, we must always be looking for ways to help workers provide life insurance to protect their families in the event of a tragedy. Last week, the House passed House Bill 80. If enacted, this bill will lower from 100 employees to two employees the threshold requirement to purchase cor porate-owned life insurance. Lowering the threshold will make life insur ance more accessible to employees of small businesses. HB 80 must now be approved by the State Senate. Transportation is a hot issue again this session. You may recall that last session the House passed a transpor tation bill that would have allowed regions of our state to come together and adopt a one-cent sales tax to pay for regional transportation projects but the measure died in the State Senate. Transportation Chairman Vance Smith has re-introduced an improved version of that bill this year. This year’s proposal calls for a statewide one-cent sales tax and includes a list of specific projects that must be funded with the tax revenue collected. One reason I co sponsored this legislation is because it will generate several billion dollars for local governments to pave and re surface local roads. It also has money included for local airports. The truth is Georgia is grow ing and we must ease congestion and improve all modes of transportation if we want to keep up. As you probably continue to hear, peanut safety concerns remain a prom inent news item. At last count there were 1,555 items on the recall list. I do want to reassure you that this is a manufacturing and processing prob lem and not a farm product problem. Remember that most peanut products are safe but to be sure you don’t have recalled items, check either food- safety.gov or the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores web page at www.gacs.com At this site, even spe cific UPC numbers can be checked. I will continue to keep you up to date on our actions as the legislative session progresses. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at your Capitol office at (404) 656-5115. Rep. Tom McCall (R). Elberton, is the District 30 member of the Georgia House of Representatives, which includes the southern half of Madison County, all of Elbert County and the eastern portion of Jackson County. Letter to the Editor Thanks to emergency personnel for working so hard Dear Editor: I and my family would like to personally thank the EMTs, First Responders and paramedics who came out on Monday morning, Feb. 2, in response to my 911 call for help when my husband, Johnny Massey, had a heart attack, and to the 911 opera tor who kept calming me on the phone until the EMTs arrived - within minutes of my call. The paramedics and others worked so hard to try to revive my husband - God bless you all. Sincerely, Shirley J. Massey and family