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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. MARCH 12, 2009
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Opinions
Frankly
Speaking
frankgillispie671@msn.com
By Frank Gillispie
The radical left — the
true purveyors of
hatred in America
On November 6, 2008, I told you about a
remarkable 13-year-old writer who had pub
lished a book on the principles of conservatism.
Almost immediately, we received a response
attacking the young man, his parents, and
myself for having the audacity to praise his
efforts.
Since then, Jonathan Krohn has done well.
He has been interviewed by numerous radio
talk show hosts, and been the subject of a
number of major newspaper reports. Then he
was allowed to give a three-minute talk at the
Conservative Political Action Committee in
Washington, D.C.
Within hours, the short speech was popping
up all over the web. The New York Times did a
feature story on him and he appeared on several
FOX news programs.
The radical left wasted no time in staging a
slanderous assault on the lad, accusing him of
hate speech, accusing his parents of teaching
him to despise people who disagree with their
political and religious agenda, and in general
insisting that his work was of no value.
Others gave him high praise, “Remember the
name "Jonathan Krohn," said a blog site called
The Gawker. “At the 13-year-old’s apparent
rate of mental development, he’ll soon move
on from speaking at a conservative convention
to launching the next National Review or Fox
News.”
Do you remember Joe the Plumber? Remember
how the radical left media harassed him for ask
ing Obama a difficult question then questioning
his answer? How about the vicious lies told
about Sarah Palin? And, of course, there was
the constant barrage of hate directed towards
President Bush. You see, these people are only
happy when they are angry. And they have to
have a target on which to direct their anger.
Well, George, Sarah and Joe are no longer
in the news. The favorites of the radicals are in
office and doing a pretty good job of installing
the radical agenda they support. They tried to
attack Rush Limbaugh, but he does not care.
He just shakes them off his back and keeps on
talking.
So now the radicals think they have a good
target, a young venerable lad upon whom they
can heap their venom until he crawls back under
his rock. But there are two problems with that
plan. The young man may be a lot stronger than
they think. And, a lot of good Americans will
see their attacks on him as a nasty form of child
abuse. After all, he has just turned 14 and looks
younger than that.
Americans are in general a fair-minded peo
ple. They are made very uncomfortable by
people who constantly attack anyone who dares
to disagree with them. The constant attacks by
the radical left on anyone who holds conserva
tive opinions is getting old.
But the kind of abuses they are heaping on
Jonathan Krohn and his parents marks them
for what they are, the true purveyors of hatred
in America.
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 occupation tax — passing the sniff test
If Madison County’s occupation tax
was a food, it would be a questionable
container of tuna salad in the back of
the refrigerator.
Commissioners keep sniffing at it,
trying to determine whether to keep it or
toss it out to the dogs.
The BOC approved the occupation
tax — a less likable phrase for “busi
ness license” — in unincorporated areas
of the county last year, but it seems like
every few months, the tax matter comes
up again, and the same old discussion
ensues: “OK, now why do we need
this?” one commissioner asks. And then
another will point out why the license
was initially proposed.
Despite media coverage of the matter,
commissioners noted that the public
remained in the dark about tax dead
lines and requirements. So, the board
completely scrapped the plan for 2008,
agreeing to launch it this year. The tax
includes a fee schedule, with a per-
employee charge tacked onto a base
fee.
But even that still seems like a twangy
tuna spoonful that no commissioner
wants to raise to his lips. And com
missioners will soon consider further
In the
Meantime
zach@
mainstreet
news.com
By Zach Mitcham
revisions, perhaps eliminating the per
employee fee from the tax.
Actually, the issue was on Monday
night’s agenda, but board tabled the
matter since the head of the building
inspections department, who enforces
the tax, was unable to attend due to
illness.
Well, let's reverse gears and remem
ber how the proposal began.
Former Madison County District 4
commissioner Wesley Jordan pushed
for the tax, noting that it would allow
contractors who must have a business
license to do work in other counties to
pay for one license, rather than numer
ous licenses elsewhere. The tax would
also help the government to compile a
list of what businesses are actually in
the county, giving people a better under
standing of what business opportunities
are available to them.
These are both worthwhile goals.
But a number of people say the tax
does nothing for businesses except dig
into their pockets, a bad move during
tough economic times.
They have a point.
“As the owners of two very small
businesses we are barely holding on;
every penny counts,” wrote one blogger
regarding the tax. “I say scrap it. We
already pay through the nose.”
Well, could the BOC narrow their
focus? For instance, could the county
establish an optional business permit,
something that the building inspections
office could provide to contractors who
want some official permitting to show
when they travel to other counties? The
inspections office could establish a fee
for that license, as well as certain criteria
for what you must do to get the license.
For instance, you probably don’t want
to give county certification to someone
who says he's a plumber unless he can
provide at least some evidence that he
performs such work. The home busi
ness operator could be charged a fee for
having a building inspector travel to his
house for a face-to-face visit prior to the
issuance of a permit.
Meanwhile, the building inspections
office could work on compiling a list
of all businesses in Madison County,
something that would prove beneficial.
The county could require licensing
for any home business to be included,
which could add legitimacy to the list
ing, perhaps keeping some scammers
away.
The occupation tax was launched with
good intentions. But with so many busi
nesses struggling to stay afloat, another
county tax seems like a bad move by the
Madison County government.
As it stands, the occupational tax
seems like a sweeping measure to
accomplish narrow goals.
If the BOC could narrow the focus,
try to find a way to compile a business
list and to provide needed permitting
to small contractors, without imposing
new fees on everyone else, well, then
this could probably pass the sniff test.
Zach Mitcham is editor of The
Madison County Journal.
My husband Charles has tried a lot
of different things over the years to
commemorate my March 1 birthday.
One year he tried to take me to
Savannah for a riverboat dinner and
cruise. It was a wonderful idea, but
that day it rained harder than I think
I've ever seen it rain. We turned
around about half way there and came
home. I love Savannah, and I love
River Street, but not in the pouring,
flooding rain that had spread from
here all the way to the coast ahead
of us.
Another year, bless his heart, he
tried a small get-together at a local
restaurant, only to have those plans
dashed by violent thunderstorms and
the imminent threat of tornadoes all
that evening.
Then still another year, the two
of us and my side-kicks (aka “the
girls”) Shirley and Virginia, went to
my favorite place - Jekyll Island - for
the weekend, only to have a howl
ing, cold north wind and patchy rain.
A birthday snow
Close
to
Home
By Margie Richards
along with some bored spring-break
ers staying at our hotel, dampen that
trip. The girls didn’t complain, but
I'm sure they would have preferred to
be somewhere else.
We have made a few overnight trips
to the mountains or the beach that
have been in good weather and I’ve
enjoyed those very much - but most
of the time, early March is just not a
good time to plan much of anything.
But I knew he (with the help of
other family members) was trying
to come up with something again
this year for my 50 th birthday. The
whispering started, along with fur
tive phone conversations and a wiley,
well-executed plan designed to get
me into Athens to for a joint “fam
ily" celebration with my great-niece,
Lindsey, whose 11 th birthday was the
following day.
And it was all going along pretty
well - until the snow started.
Our daughter Miranda and her boy
friend, Josh, had shown up (as part of
the ruse to throw me off the trail) with
a small cake and ice cream shortly
after the heavy rain changed over to
snow and they were forced to hurry
away for the trip back into Athens.
It took them two hours with sev
eral close calls to make the 30-minute
drive.
Charles went down to his shop,
ostensibly to get the generator since
the power had gone out, but also (he
told me later) to make more phone
calls, this time to call the whole thing
off.
But hey, the day wasn’t so bad. I'd
said it’d be nice to have snow on my
birthday, though I was thinking of the
usual one inch or so dusting of the
white stuff. And I look at this way -1
won’t soon forget my 50 th , which
brought the Great Snowstorm of ’09.
And for her part, Lindsey loved it -
as I would have at her age.
Charles and his accomplices were
disappointed, but I really wasn’t after
I found out about it, after all it is the
thought that counts, and everyone,
particularly my husband, went to a
lot of trouble for me. That's a nice
birthday gift in itself.
For my part, I promise to never say
again that “a little snow would be nice
for my birthday." (But I don’t want
tornadoes either.)
Margie Richards is a reporter and
office manager for The Madison
County Journal.
Biggest snow since 19-something
By now, many of us still have mixed
emotions about the big snow of last
week. It was a darling and a demon,
monstrous and marvelous all wrapped
up in one.
It was an amazing storm in sev
eral respects. My teenage son kept
remarking as the flakes got bigger and
the depth increased, "Wow! This is
amazing!”
Bless his snow-deprived heart, it had
been over seven years since a decent
snow and he was only two when the
blizzard of ‘93 left its mark.
The official snow total for Madison
County was 8.1”, which barely
eclipsed the previous one-day total of
8.0” set on March 24, 1983. The snow
in 1983 did reach a reported 10"+ in
some sections of the county, especially
the Colbert area.
So the 2009 snow may not be a
recent record in some areas. My father
remembers a big snow in January
1940 that surpassed this one. The 11”
that fell that year may be the larg-
Weather
wise
By Mark Jenkins
est snow in modem Madison County
history.
Other recent humdinger snow and
ice events were the blizzard of March
(when else?) 1993 with 5.2”, back to
back January's in 1987-88 when 5.5”
and 5.3” fell, and the devastating snow,
sleet, ice storm in February 1979 (old-
time JEMCO employees may still be
having nightmares about that one).
Our most recent storm may best be
remembered for the extreme water
content of the snow, and how huge
some of the flakes were. I had a very
close estimate of some 2 inches of
water with the 8 inches of snow.
That is 2.5 times the normal amount
of water one would expect with an
“average” snow with a 10:1 ratio snow
to water. No wonder trees, power lines
and roofs were strained to the break
ing point.
The total rain and melted snow for
the three-day event was 5.13”. This
has saturated the ground and brought
area streams, rivers, and ponds to lev
els not seen in over one year.
Believe it or not, all this just brought
us to normal for rainfall for 2009.
Short-term, this winter storm event
helped ease drought conditions con
siderably. The long-term drought still
stubbornly hangs on, however.
Our local area received the brunt of
this storm, while areas to the north,
where the big lake watersheds are,
received much less precipitation. The
outlook for 2009 is for La Nina condi
tions (cold Pacific waters) to slowly
morph into more neutral water tem
peratures during the late spring and
summer, before going back to La Nina
for the winter.
There is a strong correlation that
generally equates La Nina to drought
in our area. While there are certainly
other significant variables (such as
hurricane activity) that influence our
climate, the official outlook is for a
continuation of drier than average. It
should be noted, however, that even
a modest change toward warmer than
predicted Pacific waters can have a
major impact on our forecasted cli
mate and sensible weather.
Weather averages for February,
2009: Avg. low: 34. Avg. high: 57.
Lowest: 14. Highest: 71. Mean: 45.6
(-1.2). Total precip.: 3.39” (-1.36”).
Total 2009 rainfall to Feb. 28: 7.04”
(-2.54”).
Mark Jenkins is the cooperative
weather observer for Madison County.
He provides a monthly weather col
umn to The Madison County Journal.
Budget problems mount; tax increases move forward
There was more discouraging news
on the economic front last week for
members of the House Appropriations
Committee to consider as we continue
to work on the annual budget proposal
for fiscal year 2010.
State revenues hit rock bottom in
February as tax collections were off by
35 percent from the same month last
year, one of the largest decreases ever.
According to the state Department
of Revenue, total revenues for last
month were $629.4 million, compared
to $965.8 million in February 2008.
The state’s unemployment rate,
meanwhile, hit a record high of 8.3
percent. Mounting job losses caused
individual income tax revenues to
plummet by 63.6 percent. Sales tax
collections were down 24 percent,
motor fuel taxes dropped by 25.4 per
cent and corporate income taxes fell
66.3 percent. State revenues are now
down by 7.3 percent for the current
fiscal year.
In response to these dismal numbers,
the governor lowered his revenue esti
mate for the next fiscal year to $18.6
House
News
By Alan Powell
billion, another decrease of $1.6 bil
lion. After some original hesitation, the
governor announced he has decided
to accept Georgia’s full allotment of
federal stimulus/bailout money for the
state’s unemployment trust fund.
This will mean another $150 mil
lion to help pay jobless benefits for
Georgians who have been laid off. The
governor also said he has abandoned
his effort to impose a 1.6 percent
provider tax on hospitals and health
insurers, in part because of stimulus/
bailout funding for Medicaid and in
part because of near-unanimous oppo
sition from legislators to the new tax.
The governor is still proposing to cut
$81 million in Medicaid funding.
While the news talk shows are con
sumed with criticism of the stimu
lus plan, one does not hear a single
negative word in the halls of state
leadership at the Capitol these days.
Both the administration and the leg
islative majority leaped at the oppor
tunity to balance the state’s budget
using "free money” from Washington,
D.C. The legislative leadership, which
had planned to hold off until late June
before finalizing the 2010 budget, has
now changed that schedule, and the
final day of the session is slated for
April 3, now that the amount of stimu
lus funding is known.
However, what they fail to acknowl
edge that this is only a temporary fix
to Georgia’s budget problems which
have been festering for the past six
years and have come to full fruition
this year. When the bailout money is
gone, these systemic problems brought
on by a culture of fiscal irresponsibility
will remain.
Until our governor and legislature
implement a zero-based budgeting
system, under which every spending
program and every private contract
receives the utmost scrutiny Georgia’s
big budget problems will compound.
Until these problems are properly
handled, the state will continue to fail
to adequately fund our top priorities
like health care and education, and
the local taxpayer will continue to be
forced to make up the difference.
The tax-shift-and-spend culture con
tinued at the State Capitol last week
when a majority of House members
passed a 10-year, $25 billion statewide
sales tax increase for transportation
spending. The Senate had previously
adopted a regional sales tax increase
for transportation. Both plans will
likely have to go through a conference
committee before going to the voters
for ratification in the 2010 general
— See ‘Powell’ on 5A