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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. MARCH 19. 2009
Opinions
Frankly
Speaking
frankgillispie671@msn.com
By Frank Gillispie
A rose by any
other name
OK, so I have reached that time of life
where we are supposed to slow down. Or,
as the old suggestion is, “Stop and smell the
roses.”
Well, the comer of my front porch is occu
pied by a very large and very old rose vine.
Every spring it puts out a blanket of red,
fragrant blossoms. It is a very hardy vine that
requires little attention. I never give it fertil
izer. It never needs any treatment for diseases.
Even in the extreme drought of the last sev
eral summers did not faze it.
My mother took a cutting from a vine at
an old home place and rooted it. That was at
least 40 years ago and it is still going strong.
I never knew a name for the rose. I assumed
it had one, but not being a rose fanatic, I never
worried about it. But now that I have a bit
more time to allow my curiosity to expand,
I decided to see if I could find out just what
kind of rose it is. It didn't take long on the
Internet to identify the rose, and what I found
stunned me. That vine has quite a history!
Its scientific name is R. gallica officinalis,
but it has many common names in various
parts of the world. Yes, I said world. This
flower is grown in many nations. It is called
a Double Red Rose, Old Red Damask, Red
Rose of Lancaster, and many other names.
Most of the websites put at the top of the list
of names Apothecary's Rose because of its
use as a medical herb.
The earliest report of this plant comes from
the seventh or eighth century ancient Persia.
It was brought to Europe in the 12 th or 13 th
century by returning crusaders, and on to
North America by the early colonists. It was a
feature in the gardens of European monaster
ies where it was used in the treatment of indi
gestion, sore throat, skin rash and eye prob
lems. Women would rub the petals into their
skin to eliminate wrinkles. It was also used in
various other cosmetics and perfumes.
Monks would also use the rose petals in the
manufacture of prayer beads. That gave rise
to the name “rosary.”
An ancient recipe for rose petal tea: five
teaspoons of petals seeped in four cups of
boiling water for five to ten minutes, sweet
ened with honey and served warm.
There is a large body of literature about
the rose. It appears in many diverse places
such as book titles, history books, poems and
motion pictures. There is a nice article with
pictures about the rose at www.rosemaga-
zine.com.
For 40 years or more, that vine has been
outside my living room window. And I never
gave it much notice other than a pretty flower.
I am glad I looked it up. It has been around
throughout the history of western culture and
heritage.
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.
Agriculture remains the backbone of county
We know 2009 will be remem
bered for the economic turmoil, the
bailouts, the layoffs, the stream of
disheartening news.
But it will also be a year of the
garden.
With spring here, there will be
more hands in the soil than ever.
The sad economy will be met this
year with the dirty boots and sweat-
soaked shirts of people who want to
take out their frustrations in produc
tive ways. “Slow food” will take the
place of “fast food” in some places.
People will nurture tomato plants,
pick squash, grow peas, share these
things with family, friends, neighbors
— maybe even strangers. Many will
can the vegetables, stock their shelves
for winter.
These things always happen. But
this year seems different, doesn’t it?
The grocery store is a great modem
convenience. We have a world of
tasty pleasure just a debit card away.
In the
Meantime
zach@
mainstreet
news.com
By Zach Mitcham
But the satisfaction people take in
growing their own food, of produc
ing for themselves and their fam
ily takes on new meaning during
economic hardship. The garden, the
farm, they seem like firm posts in the
ground, something to hold onto as
harsh winds blow.
We look back at the centuries of
pre-Ingles, pre-Kroger days. “Store-
bought” was a luxury, not a necessity.
Now, “home-grown” is the luxury,
“store-bought” the necessity.
We moved from an agrarian to
a modem, technologically advanced
society. And this shift from a produc
ing to a purchasing society was a
natural result of our more specialized
job market.
In a world of gadgets, machines,
and rapid development, people find
their own little niche, their own little
way to carve out a living. A man
working at a computer software firm
doesn’t have to slaughter his own
pig, scald it, string it up, quarter it,
salt it and keep it in a smokehouse
for a year.
If he did, he would be quite the talk
at the office.
It’s a different world now.
But old timers, who are sometimes
flummoxed by modem gadgetry, are
wiser than most of the rest of us in
large part because they had to be
generalists. They lived through days
of inconvenience. They had to know
a little of everything in order to have
a little bit of something.
Yes, the equipment is different
these days. And farming practices
have evolved with the rise in technol
ogy, leading to greater efficiency.
But Madison County is a place
where old traditions are still alive.
This has always been an ag county.
And it appears that will remain true.
The pressures of growth will surely
return, but the deep agriculture versus
residential development tensions of
the past few years seem like a differ
ent era, a different reality.
We printed our third-annual agricul
ture section this week in The Madison
County Journal. It’s a celebration of
ag education in the county.
No one will dispute the deep need
for the ABC’s of agriculture to be
repeated to new generations.
Agriculture is still valued. It is this
county’s backbone. And we surely
need a strong posture now.
Zach Mitcham is editor of The
Madison County Journal.
Hospital troubles; cross-over bills
Despite the flow of billions of federal
stimulus dollars to strengthen health
care in Georgia, the governor has pro
posed a 10 percent cut in Medicaid
reimbursements to hospitals and six
percent to physicians. This action could
have a devastating effect on Georgia’s
already financially strapped hospitals,
especially those in rural areas.
Because of the stimulus package, the
matching rate for Medicaid is nearly
$3 in federal funds for every $1 raised
at the state level. So the governor’s
planned reduction of $255 million in
state funding would wind up cost
ing Geoigia $750 million in federal
funds. According to testimony before
the Appropriations Subcommittee,
it is estimated that if these cuts are
imposed, Georgia could lose 20 of
its critical access hospitals and two to
three midsized hospitals.
Earlier this session, the governor
proposed a 1.6 percent health care
provider tax. which failed because of
legislative opposition. Apparently, the
governor's displeasure with that failure
is one reason for his new proposal for
Medicaid cuts. With many rural hos
pitals already on financial life support,
legislative budget writers are seeking
ways to avoid the governor’s proposed
cuts.
March 12 was the 30 th day of the
2009 legislative session, also known
as “cross-over" day because it was
the deadline for legislation to pass
the House and still be considered by
the Senate this year, and vice versa.
Some of the measures receiving House
House
News
By Alan Powell
approval this week were:
•HB 23, which would ban teenage
drivers from sending text messages or
making calls on their cell phones while
driving.
•HB 44, which would require at
least a fourth of all state departments to
justify their entire budgets to the legis
lature in a given year. This is a start, but
actually all departments should engage
in "zero based” budgeting every year.
•HB 160. which would put an addi
tional $200 fine on “super speeders.”
motorists who are convicted of driv
ing more than 85 mph on a four-lane
highway or more than 75 on a two-lane
road. The bill’s sponsor claimed the
revenues from the extra fees would
go toward trauma care funding, but
revenues cannot be designated with
out changing the Constitution. The
state is expecting a big "payday" from
this new law, but there are more than
250,000 unlicensed drivers who can
not pay their license reinstatement fees
now, and HB 160 would exacerbate
that problem.
•HB 228, which would reorganize the
massive state Department of Human
Resources by moving Public Health
and Mental Health, Developmental
Disabilities and Addictive Diseases
to a new Department of Public and
Behavioral Health Services. The
Department of Community Health
would continue as a regulatory and
payer agency for Medicaid, PeachCare
and the State Health Benefit Plan. The
remaining Department of Human
Services would oversee the Department
of Family and Children Services and
Aging. This bill takes one large bureau
cracy and creates two new ones.
•HB 243, which would eliminate
the year-long, rigorous program of
National Board Certification for public
school teachers and the 10 percent
salary increase incentive that goes
along with it. This legislation sends
the wrong message to educators and
those who plan to become teachers.
Approximately 2,500 Georgia teach
ers have gone through this program
because they know it will improve their
skills in the classroom and benefit our
students.
•HB 480, which would eliminate the
yearly ad valorem tax on automobiles
that is due on the owner’s birthday and
replace the tax with a one-time title
fee of 7 percent of the purchase price,
not to exceed $2,000. This bill is still
a work in progress as it moves to the
Senate.
•HB 481. which would provide
a tax credit for businesses that hire
unemployed workers and temporarily
suspend the fees charged to new busi
nesses for filing incorporation papers
and similar business documents.
•HB 482. which would eliminate
the state inventory tax charged to busi
nesses.
•HB 484, which would exempt the
one-year residency requirement for
HOPE Scholarship eligibility for the
children of active duty military per
sonnel.
Both the House and Senate approved
final versions of the supplemental bud
get for fiscal year' 2009. which ends
June 30. The $18.9 billion proposal
reflects approximately $2 billion in
spending cuts due to a severe downturn
in revenues over the past year. Despite
the federal stimulus/bailout funding
making its way to Georgia, this budget
includes $185 million in education
cuts that will have to be borne by local
property tax increases.
The new budget restores the $428
million in homeowner tax relief grants
that had been cut by the governor, sav
ing the average Georgia homeowner
$200 to $300 in property taxes. The
governor signed HB 118 into law
March 13.
Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell) rep
resents the 29 h District (Franklin. Hart
and Madison counties) in the Geoigia
House of Representatives. Contact
him at 507 Coverdell Office Building,
Atlanta, GA 30334: by phone at
404-656-0202 or by e-mail at alan-
powell23@hotmail.com. For more
information, visitwww.alanpowell.net.
Bames sounds more like a candidate
Over the past year or so, there
has been one question about
politics that I hear more often
than any other: “Is Roy going to
run?”
The “Roy” is former governor
Roy Bames and the questions
generally come from Democrats
yearning for someone who would
actually be a credible statewide
candidate in this top-of-the-ticket
race next year.
For a long time, my answer to
all those questions was “prob
ably not.” I took Bames seriously
when he said that his loss in the
2002 election to Sonny Perdue
had cured him of the disease
of politics and that he was hav
ing too much fun making money
with his law practice and playing
with his grandkids.
In the last couple of months,
however, the Marietta lawyer has
been tossing out hints that he just
might get into that governor’s
race after all.
In early February, Bames took
a high-profile stand in an op-ed
column for The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution where he peeled the
hide off corporate lobbyists who
were working - successfully, as
it turned out - to grease the skids
for passage of a bill that will
enrich Georgia Power by more
than $1 billion by allowing the
utility to charge ratepayers early
for a nuclear plant.
“A People’s Lobbyist would
The Capitol
Report
tcrawford@
capitol
impact.net.
By Tom Crawford
point out that Georgia Power has
a rate case next year, and it is
commonly thought that we are
overpaying them today given
their investments and the monop
oly granted to them,” Barnes
wrote, arguing for the creation of
a lobbyist who would work for
everyday Georgians.
Bames has also been confirm
ing in public speeches, such
as a recent one to a group of
Democratic-leaning lawyers, that
he is at least considering a mn for
governor and will make his deci
sion known shortly after the cur
rent legislative session adjourns.
In fact, Bames will have a con
venient public appearance com
ing up in May, when the Georgia
Budget & Policy Institute, an
Atlanta think tank, will pres
ent him with the organization's
annual “Visionary Award” at a
dinner planned for the Georgia
Aquarium. It would be the ideal
forum from which to announce
a statewide candidacy, if Bames
should decide that’s what he
wants to do.
“Roy's got to say something
soon,” said a veteran politi
cal operative. “People need to
decide if they're going to get
behind him in the governor's
race, or DuBose Porter (the cur
rent House minority leader) or
David Poythress (former state
adjutant general).”
The one issue that could tip
Bames towards making the deci
sion to mn, I am told, is trans
portation and the failure of the
state’s elected leadership to deal
with our overcrowded highways.
With just a few days left in
the current General Assembly
session, the House and Senate
are still miles apart on how to
raise tax revenues for highway
improvements and on what
to do about restructuring the
Department of Transportation. If
they can’t untangle this knot by
the end of the session, they surely
won't get anything done next
year as the politics of a gover
nor’s race pushes everything else
to the sidelines.
If the Republican majority is
unable to resolve the transporta
tion funding issue during this
session - and it's looking more
likely that they won’t - then the
odds would improve that Bames
may get into the race.
“That’s the one issue that could
give us a Democratic governor
again,” said an Atlanta business
leader who’s politically conser
vative but is also outraged over
the GOP’s lack of progress in
addressing the traffic congestion
mess.
Bames would be the under
dog if he should decide to mn
for the top job again. Georgia
has become a more staunchly
Republican state since he lived in
the governor's mansion, although
the growing percentage of black
and Latino voters may bode well
for Democrats some day.
The Republican nominee - Lt.
Gov. Casey Cagle, Insurance
Commissioner John Oxendine,
Secretary of State Karen Handel,
or state Rep. Austin Scott - will
be campaigning in a state that
has become one of the most con
servative and GOP-leaning in
the country, a state where the
Democratic Party has basically
collapsed as an effective political
organization. Not even Bames'
formidable collection of jokes
and one-liners could overcome
that advantage.
Should he decide to mn, how
ever, he could at least make it
interesting. Very interesting.
Tom Crawford is the editor of
Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report,
an Internet news sendee at www.
gareport.com that covers govern
ment and politics in Georgia. He
can be reached at tcrawford@
capitolimpact.net.