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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. MARCH 5, 2009
Opinions
Frankly
Speaking
frankgillispie671@msn.com
By Frank Gillispie
No need for
dependence on
government for
our basic needs
How do you make a slave? There are two
ways to do it. You can make a slave with
chains and whips. If you punish the slave
enough he or she will finally be obedient just
to avoid the pain. But making a slave that way
is never permanent.
If the slave ever gets a chance to fight back,
or to flee, he will do so. You may break his
will, but you will never end his desire for
freedom.
The other way to make a slave is far more
insidious. It does not involve whips and
chains. It is done by keeping him ignorant
and totally dependent on his master. This
kind of slave never knows the satisfaction of
freedom. Thus, he is far less likely to seek it.
The chain and whip method was used in the
sugar fields of Haiti. Plantation masters there
worked on the principal of buying slaves
from Africa and working them as long as pos
sible, then leaving them to die and purchase
replacements. Eventually the slaves rebelled,
killed off all the whites and set up their own
government.
In North America, the other system was
used. Slaves were bom and raised on Southern
plantations. They were taught from infancy to
be obedient, but little else. It was against the
law to teach a slave to read, because once
they have the gift of literacy, they would
naturally seek out the knowledge they needed
to seek freedom. Today's history books teach
that the War Between the States was fought
to end slavery. That is not true. It was fought
to extend federal power over the states. And
as soon as it was won, the federal government
began a gradual program of drawing the citi
zens of all states into ever greater dependence
on government while keeping us ignorant of
the real purpose of that war and subsequent
government programs. Now the new Obama
administration is making a concerted drive to
finish the program. If they succeed, we will
all become slaves of the government.
We will all be ignorant of the history of the
founding of this nation, of the form of gov
ernment intended by the founders, the true
causes of the bloody “Civil” war. And with
more and more welfare programs, we will
all soon become totally dependent on gov
ernment for our basic needs. Once we reach
that point, we will be afraid to vote the slave
masters out of office, because we will fear
starvation, freezing, or other degradations.
Ignorance and dependence will make slaves
of all of us, and the program is rapidly
approaching success. If we hope to escape
this slavery, we had better start opposing it
now!
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison
County Journal His e-mail address is frank-
gillispie671@msn.com. His website can be
accessed at http://frankgillispie.tripod.com/
The Madison
County Journal
(Merged with The Danielsville Monitor
and The Comer News, January 2006)
P.O. Box 658
Hwy. 29 South
Danielsville, Georgia 30633
Phone: 706-795-2567
Fax: 706-795-2765
Email: zach@mainstreetnews.com
ZACH MITCHAM, Editor
MARGIE RICHARDS, Reporter/Office Manager
BEN MUNRO, Reporter/ Sports Editor
MIKE BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
FRANK GILLISPIE, Founder of The Journal.
Jere Ayers (deceased) former owner
of The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News
Periodical postage paid at Danielsville, Georgia 30633
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
A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
The snow of ’09 won’t be forgotten
Our faucets are dry. My cow lick
won’t sit down. Our house seems
cold, dark and alien.
Thousands of Madison County
folks surely feel the same.
What a week!
Yeah, that snow was sure beauti
ful. Like a lot of other parents of
young kids around here, I enjoyed
watching my 3-year-old daughter
look out the window at her first
snow. It’s been so long since the last
big snow that I was beginning to
wonder if she would make it to her
teens without sticking a carrot nose
on a snowman. That was answered
Sunday as the rain drops turned to
flakes and we tied that snow hat on
her head.
After our quick play in the snow
storm, Addie and Jana headed inside.
I walked around our property with a
camera, getting a few shots.
The limbs began to pop and fall.
The snow was becoming less
beauty, more beast. The flakes fell
in large clumps, like a pillow had
exploded in the heavens Sunday
afternoon. It just kept coming.
I was on the phone with my mom
when the static fired into my ear.
The phone was dead. The power
was out.
It was out everywhere.
In the
Meantime
zach@
mainstreet
news.com
By Zach Mitcham
Yes, a snowstorm is a magnificent
force of nature. But thankfully, such
events are met with the strength of
human nature. The power outages,
the blocked roads, the medical calls,
the traffic accidents, the fires —
these things were met with men and
women who worked through the
frigid night and well beyond, trying
to help others. They are to be appre
ciated, thanked in person.
Meanwhile, folks tried to deal this
week the best they could. Fanners
patrolled their fences with chain
saws, looking for downed trees and
limbs that would provide an escape
for their livestock.
Several structures suffered col
lapsed roofs under the weight of
the snow. People slid into ditches
in their vehicles or felt their feet
slip out from underneath on an icy
patch.
With the power out, the tempera
tures dropped in unheated homes.
Old quilts were pulled from closets.
Extra pairs of socks were pulled
over feet. Toilets went unflushed
and sink faucets went dry as well
pumps went dead. Flashlights were
needed to navigate those old, famil
iar rooms. The quiet TVs suddenly
assumed their proper irrelevance in
our lives.
I lay awake Sunday night, think
ing of how life must have been
200 years ago in Madison County,
how the modem conveniences alter
this landscape for us in comforting
ways. But the rural land is still the
rural land. Pull those comforts from
us and how do we do?
Personally, I could use some
improvement.
Of course, one modem conve
nience made life more manageable
for us. A portable gas heater my
father-in-law provided for us kept
temperatures in the old house from
falling too far. I’ll admit, that gas
tank makes me think of something
that might be loaded onto an Air
Force plane to drop on an enemy.
But by morning time Monday, I had
made peace with that heater. In fact,
it was my new best friend.
On Saturday, we made a family
outing to the grocery store, loading
the cart to the brim. Later, with the
power out, we tried to salvage some
of the goods from that expensive
trip, putting items from the refrig
erator into coolers and setting it on
the back porch. A sheet of ice and
snow fell off the roof Monday onto
those coolers, crushing one of them.
I sifted through the white pile. It was
a suneal moment for me, digging
through this porch avalanche for the
milk, for the broccoli, for the little
packs of chocolate pudding.
My early childhood is all frag
ments, these little mental photos
here and there. So I often wonder
what will stick in my daughter's
mind as she gets older.
“Have you ever seen snow like
this before?” I asked her as she used
a little stick to help me scrape snow
off the car.
“Yeah, I think maybe I did back
when I was two,” she said.
I expect those thick sheets of ice,
those cold nights under a wall of
blankets, those things will remain
somewhere in her head.
I know the snow of 2009 will
remain with me — and I’m sure,
with you, too.
Zach Mitcham is editor of The
Madison County Journal,
House passes amended ‘09 budget
As we closed out the month of
February at the State Capitol, the
House was extremely busy work
ing on an amended budget for the
current fiscal year, a new transpor
tation plan, and more good news
for homeowners.
On Thursday, we passed House
Bill 118 - the amended fiscal year
2009 budget. At nearly $19 billion,
the House cut approximately $2.6
billion due to declining state rev
enues, including $6 million in local
assistance grants that fund projects
in our own districts.
I am happy to report that the bud
get does include $40,000 to fund
new food safety inspectors after
the salmonella outbreak at a south
Georgia plant. This is a huge vic
tory for consumers. We were also
able to save funding for impor
tant programs to help our elderly
and needy populations, including
Meals on Wheels, and we were
able to restore funding to keep
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
crime labs open. This is a budget
that meets the needs of our citi
zens in a time of economic crisis
and paves the way for our work
to begin on the fiscal year 2010
budget.
The good news for homeowners
keeps coming and this week it was
the Senate that acted. I am happy to
report that House Bill 233, adopted
two weeks ago by the House and
By Tom McCall
includes a two-year cap on prop
erty tax assessments, was approved
by the Georgia Senate and now
moves to the Governor for his sig
nature. Property tax relief was one
of our top priorities this legislative
session and with the passage of this
act combined with the continuation
of the state-funded property tax
relief grants Georgia homeowners
will not see their property tax bills
go up this year.
Next week, the House will take up
House Bill 277 - the Georgia 2020
Transportation Act. Transportation
is also an extremely important
issue this legislative session and
we are making great progress.
The Georgia 2020 Transportation
Act is a forward looking solution
that will create the Georgia 2020
Transportation Trust Fund and
the Georgia 2020 Transportation
Trust Fund Oversight Committee
to oversee the funds.
The legislation provides for one-
cent special transportation sales tax
collected statewide and deposited
into the trust fund. The Governor,
Lt. Governor and the Speaker will
appoint the members of the over
sight committee and funds will be
used on specific projects outlined
in the legislation. This is a crucial
transportation bill that I believe
when combined with additional
legislation to change our transpor
tation bureaucracy will move our
state forward.
In the House Agriculture com
mittee, we passed two important
bills this week: House Bill 516
and House Bill 529. HB 516 seeks
to end local ordinance discrimi
nation against ‘modular homes’
and instructs the Safety Fire
Commissioner to create safety
standards and an inspection pro
cess for these manufactured homes
and their residents. HB 529 forbids
any county or local government
from adopting or continuing any
local ordinance that regulates the
production of agricultural or farm
products on any parcel of land that
is five acres or greater in size and
in no way affects any local zoning
or land use plans. These bills must
be cleared by the House Rules
Committee before being heard by
the full House.
The House also passed a bill that
will allow Georgia Power to more
efficiently fund the construction
of two additional nuclear reactors
at Plant Vogtle. This will ensure
Georgia’s growing population will
have an abundant electrical sup
ply. The measure will also save
rate payers hundreds of millions
of dollars in interest by allowing
the construction of the plant to be
financed as it occurs.
We also passed HB 229, which
is related to school physical educa
tion. The bill requires that schools
beginning in the 2011-2012 school
year assess and report on the fit
ness level of its students each year.
It empowers the state board of edu
cation to determine the required
elements of the fitness test. It then
requires that the aggregate results
be presented to the state board of
education and governor for anal
ysis. This will help ensure that
students in Georgia schools are
staying healthy and fit.
I will continue to keep you up to
date on our actions as the legisla
tive session progresses. As always,
if you have any questions or con
cerns, 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.
Utility rate hikes; Stimulus funding bails out budget
After a long debate, a majority
of the House of Representatives
voted Feb. 26 to authorize
Georgia Power to begin charg
ing its customers higher rates in
2011 for advance financing of the
construction of two new nuclear
reactors, which will not be in
operation at Plant Vogtle before
2017 or beyond.
I opposed this legislation, SB
31, for several reasons. Utility
rate decisions are under the
authority of the Georgia Public
Service Commission (PSC), not
the state legislature. While sup
porters of the bill claimed this rate
increase would create jobs and
reduce costs in the long run, they
were unable to give a clear reason
as to why the Legislature was
being asked to bypass the PSC.
Also, the measure exempts large
companies from the rate hike,
leaving residential consumers and
small businesses to shoulder the
burden.
Another very serious concern for
those of us in the Lake Hartwell
area should be the lack of infor
mation on how the nuclear energy
facilities will affect the water sup-
By Alan Powell
ply in the Savannah River Basin.
I had requested an impact study
several months ago as to how
much additional water would be
required to be released from Lake
Hartwell for operations. No study
was provided, but I was told the
impact would be insignificant. (?)
The additional charges will pro
vide Georgia Power stockholders
an estimated $1 billion advance
profit, plus prepayment of about
$400 million in federal and state
income taxes. Customers will also
be charged additional sales tax on
the higher rates.
Concerns over how rates would
be affected if, for any reason, the
nuclear reactors are not built also
went unanswered by the bill’s
supporters. This rate increase has
no end date. But the measure
passed and it is expected to be
signed into law by the governor.
The House members voted
Feb. 26 to approve an amended
$18.9 billion state budget for the
remainder of fiscal year 2009,
which ends June 30. The budget
had to be trimmed by $2.3 billion
because of the shortfall in state
tax revenues resulting from the
economic recession.
Due to an influx of federal fund
ing from the economic stimulus/
bailout plan passed by Congress
and signed into law by President
Barack Obama, budget writers
were able to come up with $428
million to restore the homeowner
tax relief grants. These grants,
which were marked for elimi
nation in Gov. Perdue’s budget
proposal, will save the average
homeowner $200-$300 this year.
The House version of the plan
also accounts for the furlough
ing of state employees in the
Department of Human Resources
and Department of Corrections,
plus another $186 million in K-12
public school funding cuts that
will have to be absorbed by local
property taxpayers.
This spending plan represents a
missed opportunity to implement
prioritized budgeting in state gov
ernment, including a complete
audit of all state programs and pri
vate contracts. When the stimulus/
bailout money from Washington,
D.C., is gone, Georgia will still
have its systemic problems in the
budget process that have led to the
current problems.
The Senate will now consider
the supplemental budget while
the House continues to work on
the annual budget for fiscal year
2010.
Thursday, Feb. 26, was the 24 th
day of the 2009 session of the
General Assembly, and the pace
of legislation has picked up in
recent days. Some of the bills
approved by the House and sent
to the Senate last week include:
HB 100, which would expand
a state program implemented last
year that provides income tax
credits to individuals and corpo
rate entities that donate to orga
nizations set up to provide schol-
— See ‘Powell’ on 5A