Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. MARCH 12, 2009 — PAGE 5A Opinions Thanks to all who worked tirelessly during and after storm I am writing to say thank you to all of the citizens and employees of Madison County who worked so tirelessly to help our county endure the recent winter storm. Our county is blessed with an outstanding vol unteer fireman workforce that worked day and night to help clear roads and responding to emergen cies. Thank you also to all Madison County government employees who stepped up and worked together during this crisis. I appreciate the effort of the road department that was not only challenged with clearing obstructions from every road in the coun ty but also with maintain ing all the county vehicles throughout the snowstorm. Chairman’s Report By Anthony Dove Thank you Emergency 911 staff who had to process the massive number of calls. Thank you to the many other departments who respond ed during the storm such as EMS, the building and grounds department and law enforcement. Thank you also to Jackson EMC and Georgia Power for your hard work. Georgia Power had two line tow ers and Jackson EMC had around 80 poles broken in our county; the towers and poles had to be replaced in extremely difficult condi tions. From an initial 24,000 outages in Madison County alone, power was restored to almost every home by week’s end. Thank you to all the pri vate citizens and organiza tions that reached out to help those in need during this week. For example, citizens in the Sanford area served people and power crews hot meals in the Sanford Community Center during the week. I witnessed many other examples of people helping each other throughout the week. If you have other exam ples of outstanding service in your community, please send your stories via email to adove@madisonco.us or call 706-795-6300. My main prayer was that all the workers and citizens get through this unusual event unharmed. I know when people are without power they are cold, they are hungry, they want a hot bath and they lose their food in the freezer; they want someone to blame. If you would like to blame myself for any rea son, please contact me at the above information with your concerns. I am very open and accessible to your opinions and suggestions. When man thinks he is in control, a power far greater than he will humble him every time. Anthony Dove is chair man of the Madison County Board of Commissioners. Thanks to all who helped get power back on Dear Editor: I would like to say a big thank you to all those that helped get the power back on. My family was out from Sunday at 3:30 p.m. until Wednesday at 8:20 p.m., not fun with four children, but I knew they were out there doing the best they can. For those that want to complain about the power crews: If you don’t think those guys were doing a good enough job getting the power on, I’m sure they would like to have been at home under a blan ket instead of working in the middle of the night in the freezing cold, dealing with snow and mud to get power on for people that don’t even appreciate it. As for me and my family we appreciate every per son who helped get the power back on. We are such a spoiled people. We have a roof that doesn’t leak, lights in every room, a little box on the wall that keeps our homes as warm as we want, run ning water, and more food than we need, all while there are people who go to sleep cold and hungry every night. Thank God for his bless ings on us. Sincerely, Wes Bond Thanks to Jackson EMC for restoring power There is a phrase that says March comes in like a lion, and while that was definite ly true of our weather last weekend, it was also true at the State Capitol as we continued to tackle many tough issues for the people of Georgia. From measures to protect small businesses to updating our election laws, our days at the State Capitol are getting longer as we approach the crucial Day 30 for legislation to be adopted this year. Not surprising, property taxes were again a big issue this week. The House con sidered Senate Bill 83 that would provide an annual cost-of-living increasing in Georgia homeowner’s home stead exemption. Under the House version of the bill, homeowners would see a homestead exemption for the year beginning January 1, 2009, of $2,000 and beginning January 1, 2010, homeowners would see their homestead exemption increase by an amount equal to the cost-of-living index. If there were no increase in the cost-of-living index then homestead exemptions would not increase. I supported this measure because I believe we need to continue to find ways to help keep homeown- ership affordable, especially in today’s economic climate. election. In addition to the utility rate hikes approved by the Senate and House already this session, a number of other tax increases are still on the table this ses sion. This Thursday, March 12, was the 30 th day of the session and the deadline for legislation to pass in either the House or the Senate and still be consid ered by the other body before the end of the session. So time may be on the taxpayer’s side. Among the measures passed by the House and sent to the Senate last week were: •HB 45, which requires Georgians to provide docu mentation of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. •HB 86, which would require county election boards to tabu late and report the totals of absentee and advance ballots by precinct. •HB 280, which addresses the state’s shortage of math and science teachers. Under the legislation, new educators in Georgia public schools who certified in math or science would receive higher pay. •HB 304, which would March comes in like a lion By Tom McCall Unfortunately, this bill did not receive the required majority to pass the first time we voted, but a House rule will allow us to vote on this measure again. I will support the measure when it comes up for a vote again and I urge you to encourage other legis lators to do so as well. One thing that happens when we see the high level of unemployment we have today is a surge in small busi ness creation. This happens because as people are laid off or lose their jobs, many take the initiative to start their own businesses. Most of these are classified as a lim ited liability company also known as a LLC. This week the House passed a measure to give more protections to these new small businesses. House Bill 308, the Georgia Limited Liability Company Act, will among other things protect these small compa nies from being forced by creditors to dissolve. In the wake of last year’s historic elections we realized that there were some areas of Georgia’s election laws that needed to be modified and this week we addressed those. House Bill 45 will require that anyone applying to reg ister to vote in Georgia must first provide proof of citizen ship. Acceptable forms of proof of citizenship include birth certificates, passports, U.S. naturalization papers, Bureau of Indian Affairs card numbers, tribal treaty card numbers, or tribal enroll ment numbers. The House approved this measure by a vote of 102-63. House Bill 86 has to do with Georgia’s early voting. This measure requires that all absentee bal lots be counted by precinct instead of simply added to the county total. This is an important bill because it helps us to pinpoint accu rately how many are voting. This measure was approved by a vote of 159-0. There were two separate bills approved by the House this week that I sponsored. House Bill 564 provides a new charter to the City of Nicholson. House Bill 528 would require any developer who manages communities of a certain size or with cer tain annual fees to provide an annual audit to homeown ers on how those fees were used. In the House Agriculture Committee, we passed House Bill 381 relating to food safety inspections. HB 381 will require represen tatives of the local county board of health to contact the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and when appro priate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service if they suspect violations in food processing plants. We also passed SB 80 that will give the department greater authority over food safety inspections. We have adopted a new calendar for the remainder of this legislative session. Under our new calendar, legisla tive day 30 - also known as “crossover day” - will be on Thursday, March 12, and we will conclude our business for this session on April 3. I will continue to keep you up to date on our actions as the legislative session pro gresses. 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 Powell .cont’d from 4A prohibit a tax appraiser from entering your property until he has given reasonable notice as to why he is entering your property. •HB 312, which would incor porate provisions of the federal SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 into state financial institutions law. Meanwhile, a proposal to increase the homestead exemp tion from $2,000 to $4,000 by statewide referendum, SB 83, failed to receive the neces sary two-thirds approval in the House. Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell) represents the 29"' District (Franklin, Hart and Madison coun ties) 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 alanpoweU23@ hotmail.com. For more infor mation, visitwww. alanpowell net. Dear Editor: I would like to say thank you to Jackson EMC and the power companies that helped out with getting the power back on in this weather. We are happy to have Jackson EMC as our power company. You all do a great job. May God bless you all. Sincerely, Ray Studdard Danielsville 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. "A Family Restaurant" 1990 Main St. Comer 706-783-5145 Co, nc check XLG Cheese S8.99 All You Can Eat Pizza and Salad $4.99 Lunch & Dinner out our HEWn Money; „ Wch & o, nncr - Mention this ad! VOTE FOR PHILIP CROYA Danilesville City Council Hello, my name is Philip Croya. I have lived in and around Danielsville all of my life. I am the Assistant Transportation Director for Madison County Schools. I am working on a bachelor’s degree in business. My wife Janet works as a Certified Pharmacy Technician in Danielsville. Our son Keegan attends Danielsville Elementary School. If elected I will do my best to serve the residents of Danielsville. I will listen to your concerns in all city matters. Our goal is to make Danielsville a better place for us and all our children. I am asking for your vote on March 17, 2009. You can vote now, until March 13 from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. On March 17 City Hall will be open 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. I look forward to a chance to serve our city. Thank you for your support, Philip Croya Madison County Board of Commissioners NOTICE ROAD CLOSING The Road Department will supervise the closing of Booger Hill Road at The Plantation Pipeline crossing area. This work on the pipeline will take place from March 19, 2009 until the work is done. The work may take 7 days. Any questions, please call: 706-795-6260 or 706-795-6300. Charles Temple Madison County Road Department ACE HARDWARE & LAWNMOWER SERVICE Proudly Serving Northeast Georgia For 18 Years Master Your Great Outdoors With Professionally Proven Outdoor Equipment We Carry Parts & Service Most Brands Of Power Equipment Pick-Up & Delivery Available IT’S THAT EASY. 706-788-2878 • 706-788-3319 6145 Hwy. 72, West Colbert, Ga. 30628 www.colbertacehardware.com