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PAGE 4A — THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. APRIL 2, 2009
Opinions
Frankly
Speaking
frankgillispie671@msn.com
By Frank Gillispie
Time to abolish
all property taxes
Once again our board of commissioners and board of
tax assessors are in disagreement. This is a continuing
story that started many years ago. There have been a
series of members of both boards, including the chair
man’s seat. But no matter who occupies the positions,
nothing changes. I am now of the opinion that it will
never change.
The only solution to the problem is an entirely dif
ferent tax code, one that eliminates property taxes and
abolishes the board of tax assessors. The only practical
way to do that is with an enhanced sales tax program.
Now I have, for a long time, had problems with the
concept of property taxes. It makes no sense to me for
a person or family or business to put forth the effort
to secure a title to property, then be forced to pay rent
to the government for property they supposedly own.
Among the rights guaranteed by the Constitution are
property rights. Yet government can slap a big tax on
property, then seize it if the owner fails to pay that tax.
Finally, people who go to the trouble to purchase and
improve property are taxed. People who rent that prop
erty are not taxed.
People who use their property to produce food,
minerals or wood products are taxed on the amount of
property, not the production from that property. And
they are required to pay the tax even if the property is
producing no income. Property owners must pay taxes
that benefit all citizens of the county, including those
who own no property and pay no taxes.
Property taxes are often ill conceived and unfair to
the property owner. I strongly support the idea of abol
ishing all property taxes.
So how do we replace the property tax? After all,
essential county services must be paid for and tax
revenue is the only source county government has for
financing those services. I support an enhanced sales
tax as the source of county revenues. By enhanced,
I mean that the sales tax should apply to all financial
transactions.
Currently, we pay sales taxes on merchandise we
purchase, but not on most services. If you take your
car to the garage, you will be charged sales tax on the
parts the mechanic puts on your car, but the charge for
his labor is not taxed. Same applies for house cleaners,
landscapers, swimming pool cleaners or other services.
I think sales taxes should be extended to services as
a replacement for property taxes. Stocks, bonds and
insurance policies should also be included in the sales
tax program.
We can easily finance country government in a
way that places the burden on all citizens, not just the
property owners. And that would make the tax asses
sors office unnecessary, thus solving that long-standing
problem.
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County
Journal. His e-mail address is frankgillispie671@msn.
com. His website can be accessed at http.V/frankgil-
Iispie.tripod.com/
Letter to the Editor
Thanks local attorney
for holding essay contest
Dear Editor:
On behalf of the State Bar of Georgia, I would like to
thank Danielsville attorney Warren C. Caswell for his
sponsorship of a Law Day Essay Contest for students
in Madison County and surrounding areas, with a cash
scholarship and savings bond being offered as prizes for
the top two winners.
Every year since opening his law practice in Madison
County, Mr. Caswell has sponsored the competition to
encourage young people to think about the rule of law
and its place in society. The essay contest informs all
participating students about our American justice sys
tem. In addition, Mr. Caswell’s contest inspires the next
generation of Americans to appreciate the shared values
at the bedrock of our society: the rule of law enshrined
in the United States Constitution and the essential role
of fair and impartial courts in protecting freedom and
doing justice for all.
Warren Caswell evidences the fact that Georgia law
yers are committed to service - to their clients, to the
public interest in a fair, impartial, and accessible justice
system and to the highest standards of the legal profes
sion. I appreciate his community spirit in sponsoring this
outstanding educational program.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey O. Bramlett, President
State Bar of Georgia
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.
Newspapers still vital to American health
Publishers across America have
spent the past decade trying to prove
that they "get it” when it comes to
tire Web. Nobody wants to look like
a technological stick in the mud. The
Internet is the future. Shoot, it's today.
Everyone understands that. And so
newspapers have tried to show that
they’re up to the task of providing
information in a new medium.
But how do you survive financial
ly when you make free samples the
staple of your business? Tire embrace
of news via the Web has been great
for consumers, but for the newspaper
industry, it's the business equivalent
of a restaurant putting entire meals on
tire sample tray. Could you really be
surprised if such a restaurant began
laying off cooks and wait staff, or if
they soon closed their doors?
No doubt, the “free” news flow
has its price. We see it in the constant
stream of bad news about the news —
tire pay cuts, the layoffs, tire shrinking
coverage areas, tire paper closings.
When you click on the AJC website,
you probably don’t give much thought
to the fact that some paper delivery guy
is no longer hurling pre-dawn missiles
toward driveways or that a press room
now sits silent when it used to roar.
Tire Web is a convenient new medium,
but there are many missing paychecks
as a result.
Of course, in this economy, most
everyone's hurting, but big papers are
looking more and more like mighty
mastodons, stumbling toward extinc
tion. Major nretros used to serve as the
In the
Meantime
zach@
mainstreet
news.com
By Zach Mitcham
"gatekeepers" of national and inter
national news to their markets. Now,
no one needs to buy tire local daily to
learn what's up with the world outside
of their city limits. The wire service —
well, we’re all wired now.
While small papers also face real
economic troubles, they have never
earned their bread and butter with
news from Wall Street or Warsaw.
Community newspapers that continue
to focus on providing local stories in
print are in a better position to weather
the hard times than bigger papers,
which are often cash-strapped, saddled
with debt and giving all of their goods
away for free online.
While technological innovation
has been embraced by tire newspa
per industry, business innovation has
not accompanied that change. For
instance, despite the huge commit
ment to the Web so many papers now
make, only 8.4 percent of newspaper
profits in the third quarter of 2008
were generated by online advertising
(Newspaper Association of America).
Well, why should anyone care if
newspapers survive?
For many, “the press" is about as
lovable as a skin infection, something
that grates on your nerves but you
can't ignore. People criticize the press
for being politically motivated. And
there are examples of organizations
with overt partisan aims, but I would
argue that the institutions that do this
are ultimately focused on winning
over a target market for financial rea
sons. They project political leanings
and abandon objectivity in order to
win a target audience.
Nevertheless, I think this is gener
ally the exception to the mle, at least
in newspapers. It's my experience that
newspaper reporters generally try to
hold hue to the old journalism teach
ings, the idea that your aim is to
honestly present the world around you
to the public, not to project your own
feelings to the world. When a news
paper reporter steps into city hall, the
state capitol, Washington or Kabul,
the reporter recognizes that Iris alle
giance needs to be to tire reader, not
the person or party he's covering. Fie
also recognizes that if he willfully
publishes in a straight news story his
own feelings about what he’s cover
ing, then he’s violated the ethic of Iris
profession.
As reporting jobs are phased out,
many see the blogosphere as the
replacement to newspaper reporting.
But if blogging is a form of jour
nalism, it’s one that embraces opin
ion making, not discourages it. For
instance, a blogger is a lot more likely
to shout down a public official on the
Web than he is to call up that official
and soberly ask him for a quote on his
questionable action. The blogger may
have a great point to make, but some
body still needs to get the quote, while
leaving personal feelings out of the
matter. And, at least so far, that's not
an activity that many bloggers seem
interested in.
Ultimately, a society is better off if
there are private businesses with solid
resources working to produce news
— organizations willing and able to
devote time and expense to foreign
war coverage or months of investiga
tive digging.
When government officials know
that they’re being watched, they're
more inclined to do right. Effective
newspapers are a private counter
to excessive government power —
some leverage on the citizens’ side.
Meanwhile, a good newspaper points
out the positives in a community so
folks can appreciate them, while high
lighting tire negatives so people can
know what needs to be fixed. In short,
it’s a positive to look honestly at both
tire positive and negative.
For decades, the newspaper has been
a given in most every community. We
expect a local paper everywhere we
go. It’s part of American life.
I’ve always tucked papers into nry
suitcase whenever I take trips to other
towns. I sure hope I can keep up that
practice in years to come.
Zach Mitcham is editor of The
Madison County Journal.
Meyor decisions due as 2009 session conies to an end
By the time this report is pub
lished, only one day will remain
in the 2009 session of the Georgia
General Assembly - Day 40, Friday,
April 3. Final approval of the annual
state budget for fiscal year 2010 and
major decisions on transportation
funding and oversight will still be at
the top of the agenda, as they were
on Day 1 back in January.
As I reported last week, the House
of Representatives majority passed
an $18.6 billion budget proposal
on March 19, but the Senate had
yet to send its plan back to the
House as of the beginning of this
week. When the Senate does final
ize its budget, the Appropriations
Conference Committee will have
only a short time to work out dif
ferences between it and the House
plan before final adjournment.
Meanwhile, there are still major
disagreements on the issues of
transportation funding and gov
ernance. The House and Senate
have each passed separate sales tax
increase proposals - on a statewide
basis in the House and a regional
basis in the Senate - and both sides
were, for the most part, adhering
to those positions at the end of last
week. The House did appear to be
ready for a compromise, passing
an amended version on March 25
that provides if the statewide ref
erendum fails, then counties would
be authorized to implement the
regional sales tax. But the Senate
rejected that compromise the next
day, setting the stage for conference
committee negotiations this week.
House
News
By Alan Powell
The governor's proposal to
strip the state Department of
Transportation (DOT) board of
its authority and replace it with a
new State Transportation Authority,
whose members would be hand
picked by the governor, lieutenant
governor and House speaker, has
yet to reach the House floor for a
vote. Many lawmakers feel mov
ing away from the current process
of the legislature electing the DOT
board members by congressional
districts would weaken the voices
of many areas of the state, and this
particular plan appears to be losing
support in the House as the session
draws to a close.
The House Transportation
Committee passed a bill on March
27 that would allow the governor
to appoint a “planning czar” and
give the leadership of the General
Assembly more control over the
financing of transportation without
creating a new authority. Whether
that plan would win approval on
the House floor or in the Senate
remained in doubt.
As the session wound down
toward its final days, the follow
ing legislation originating from the
Senate was approved by the House
last week:
•SB 13, which would allow a
sentence of life without parole to
be imposed, even when prosecu
tors do not seek the death penalty.
Currently, life without parole is
allowed only as an option in death
penalty cases.
•SB 14, which would prohibit
anyone on the national or state
sex offender registry from being
eligible for election to or service on
local school boards.
•SB 44, which would require
school systems to give preference to
products manufactured in Georgia
when purchasing supplies, equip
ment and food.
•SB 61, which would establish
the Life Settlements Act, provid
ing oversight and regulation of life
settlement contracts and requiring
brokers to be licensed and regu
lated by the Georgia Department of
Insurance.
•SB 69, which would require citi
zens to report suspicions of sexual
exploitation of children.
•SB 155, which would remove
buffer zones from streams carrying
mostly rainwater.
•SB 165, winch would authorize the
Department of Community Health to
obtain income eligibility verification
from the Department of Revenue for
Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids
applicants.
The 2009 session has seen some
good bills pass both houses and go to
the governor for his signature, includ
ing HB 233, which will freeze proper
ty valuation reassessments for the next
two years and create transparency
in government. We have also seen
some not-so-good legislation adopted,
such as SB 31, winch implements
a statutory electric rate increase and
threatens the future water supply in
Lake Hartwell for the building of two
nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle.
Perhaps the biggest failure of the
legislative leadership tins year was
not dealing with the systemic budget
problems that have plagued our state
for seven years now. By using federal
stimulus/bailout funds to balance this
year's budget, the majority leadership
has put a Band-Aid on a gunshot
wound.
My concern is that we have not
moved past tire failed policies that
have brought us to this point of job
losses, furloughs, reductions in vital
services and shifting the tax burden to
the local property owner. My predic
tion, as the House speaker recently
agreed, is that we may very well
return to the Capitol later this year to
deal with more economic fallout.
Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell)
represents the 29"' 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 information, visitwww.alan-
powell.net.
Have you noticed?
Last Saturday I got up early, put on
my sweats, pulled back my hair in a
ponytail, forfeited the makeup and
made a quick ran to the grocery store.
Of course, I figured that I wouldn't
see anyone that I knew. After all, the
sun wasn't even up. As I went up and
down each aisle, I ran into individu
als that I hadn’t seen in years. Have
you ever noticed how this seems to
happen?
Have you noticed that when you
are late for an appointment, you catch
every red light in town? On the other
hand, if you are hying to eat while
driving and hope to catch at least
one in order to wipe your face with
a napkin, every light you approach
automatically turns green.
Have you noticed that the price
of gas stayed pretty consistent for
weeks or even months at a time until
just a few years ago? After Hurricane
Katrina, gas prices actually fluctuate
every single day.
Have you noticed that when watch
ing television the volume is pumped
up when commercials are being
a bird with a full tummy flies over
your vehicle, using it as a target?
Have you noticed that when you
need something to write with, you
can’t find a pen or pencil, much less
anything to write on? You have to
borrow a writing tool from a com
plete stranger and use your hand or
a deposit slip to write the informa
tion on.
Have you noticed that if snow is
predicted in the forecast, people auto
matically run to the store to pur
chase milk and bread? People who
don’t even drink milk buy it. Without
power, the milk is no good and bread
and water don't make a very satisfy
ing meal.
Have you noticed that life is never
boring? I often wonder if daily events
like these take place to teach us
patience and endurance and, in some
ways, bring humor to our lives. I have
noticed that it is the little things like
these that somehow make life more
interesting.
Sherri Stephens is a columnist for
MainStreet Newspapers Inc.
My
View
By Sherri Stephens
aired? And when you flip to another
channel, commercials are also run
ning on those stations at the same
time, as well?
Have you noticed that just about
every Sunday morning when it is
time to leave for church, someone in
the house is missing a shoe? It seems
as though one disappears, causing
chaos, and ends up being found in an
odd place.
Have you noticed that when you
clean your carpet, it is not until then
that someone accidentally spills a
drink on it? Or if you wash your car.
Letter to the Editor
Thanks to
those who
worked so hard
Dear Editor:
Just a few weeks ago we
had a wonderful snow day in
Madison County that I have
not experienced since my days
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It
was veiy enjoyable for me
and my family.
I would like to thank
Jackson EMC, Anthony
Dove and all of the volun
teer fire departments in the
county for the clean-up. On
Monday afternoon after the
storm, our new county com
missioner was out on Spratlin
Mill Road helping the volun
teer firefighters clean debris
off the road.
I believe we have a keeper!
Support him.
Sincerely,
Jody Whieldon