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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