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PAGE 4A — THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. APRIL 23. 2009
Opinions
Frankly
Speaking
frankgillispie671@msn.com
By Frank Gillispie
Relay holds special
significance in my life
It is time again for an event that holds special
interest for me: The Relay for Life. Relays are
scheduled in most area communities during the
month of May. Here, in Madison County, the Relay
is set for Friday, May 1, in Danielsville.
Most of you know by now that I am a cancer sur
vivor. So, naturally, I have strong reasons to support
any effort to combat that far-too-common disease.
The American Cancer Society through its signature
program. Relay for Life, is a leader in that effort.
Relay for Life is more than a fund-raiser, although
your donations are important. It is a program that
allows cancer patients, their families and caregiv
ers a chance to come together to be entertained,
informed and encouraged in their battle.
The local event will start at 6 p.m. at the
Madison County Recreation Department track.
The Survivors' lap, in which I plan to participate,
starts at 6:30. At least 17 Relay teams will then take
the track for an all-night effort to log as many laps
and raise as much money, as possible.
At 9:15 p.m. the Luminaria Ceremony of Hope
will begin. As the sun sets over campsites and
darkness falls, the night is brightened by the glow
of illuminated bags called luminaria, each of which
has a special meaning. Some celebrate the lives of
those who have battled cancer and have lived to
tell their stories. Many remember the lives of those
who have been lost to this disease.
Announcements, presentations and various enter
tainment will occupy the bandstand during the eve
ning. The Holman-Autry band will play from 10
p.m. to midnight. The FIGHT BACK ceremony
begins at 12:30 and games and activities will con
tinue throughout the night. Closing ceremonies will
begin at 6 a.m. For more information contact Katie.
Cullinan@cancer.org
Perhaps the best weapon we have against cancer
is information. And that is one of the key goals of
the American Cancer Society. Information about
the causes of cancer, ways to prevent it, and most
importantly the early detection programs that can
save so many lives. Early detection is the key to my
survival. When my colon cancer was discovered, it
was still at stage two, meaning that it was treatable
with surgery and chemotherapy.
I had surgery in July 2007. In February 2008 I
completed my course of chemotherapy. Since then,
I have been checked for the presence of cancer
every three months, and as of now, no cancer can
be found. Other than the regular screening visits to
the clinic, my life has returned to near normalcy.
Had I put off the rather unpleasant test that found
the cancer for another year, my chances of survival
would have been greatly reduced.
So my suggestion to all of you is call your doctor
and schedule a cancer test. Don't be afraid of it.
If you find it early, you can defeat it. Then come
to Danielsville on Friday, May 1, at 6 p.m. for the
Relay For Life. There will be many of us there
who can talk to you about the disease and how we
overcame it. And while you are there, enjoy the
displays, the ceremonies and the music.
Life is good. Don't let cancer bring it to an end
too soon.
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County
Journal. His e-mail address is frankgillispie671@
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.
Hard to put much stock in the stock market
When I listen to money discus
sions by people who seem to
understand finance. I'm usually
pretty intimidated. I am certainly
a financial novice. I understand
the basic rule of retirement plan
ning, that you have to be in things
for the long haul, that the market
ebbs and flows and you have to
bear with it despite your immedi
ate anxieties. At least this is what
people smarter than me have
always told me.
And there's a part of me that
still holds on to that way of think
ing. I want this to be true. I want
to believe in clear rules, in the
notion that long-term commit
ment surely pays off. I have a sus
picion that Social Security won’t
be so secure by the time I need
it. So I’ve put part of my check
aside for the past decade into a
mutual fund, hoping for modest
gains over the years, hoping blind
faith in those people smarter than
me, who set up and manage the
mutual fund, will pay off in the
long run. Of course, that fund
recently took a severe nosedive
like many others. Still, I have time
to recover. If I do retire, it will be
many years down the road.
Trouble is, right now, it’s pretty
hard not to think of the stock
market as some red-faced, huge-
bellied country club guy, an
In the
Meantime
zach@
mainstreet
news.com
By Zach Mitcham
I-know-better-than-you fellow,
who drinks too much, smashes up
the clubhouse, then collapses in a
bathroom stall, before bellowing
out for help.
According to common invest
ment wisdom, I’m supposed to
witness this, help the guy off the
floor, then continue giving him
part of my paycheck for the next
30 years, pretending his drunken
fiasco didn’t happen, while blind
ly accepting that he is wiser than
I understand and that he won’t go
on a bender again later.
Surely that sounds bitter to
some. But that’s not my intent.
Actually, I’m pretty mellow about
my retirement account these days.
There are far greater things to
worry about. And there are many
people with much greater trou
bles. Any whining I do about
an IRA ought to come with that
acknowledgement.
I’m just coming to a new accep
tance. Right now, I have a hard
time seeing my IRA mutual fund
as much more than a glorified
game of blackjack, given that it's
only good if you win enough over
time and then step away from
the table before folks get rowdy
and flip the table upside down.
I say this because we’ve seen so
many people who played by the
old rules, who were faithful to the
basic tenet of working hard and
investing in a low-risk diversified
way, who were severely burned.
Many are now trying to mend
their wounds while they search
for post-retirement work.
Of course, there are all sorts
of numbers thrown around these
days regarding the economy —
the unemployment rates, the bail
out figures, the national debt.
Many numbers are eye-open
ing. But one significant figure that
hasn’t gotten a lot of attention is
41. It’s the percentage of U.S.
corporate profits that came from
the financial sector this decade.
Prior to 1985, that percentage had
never gone over 16.
So over the past two decades,
as manufacturing dwindled, Wall
Street more than doubled in size.
With the flow of easy credit, there
were more and more ways to
reshuffle that paper, more ways to
create a huge stack of poker chips
without really building much of
anything to back them up. Both
political parties supported the
ballooning of the financial sec
tor. The easy credit for housing
was like coal for that growing
machine. And financial novices,
me included, kept putting their
chips on the table, blind to the hot
air that filled the balloon.
In recent years. I’d ride down
the road, wondering how we
could see economic growth if we
weren't really making much of
anything besides houses, content
to just buy stuff made overseas.
Now, most everyone can agree
that the best economic medicine
will be a heavy dose of at-home
manufacturing, something clearly
visible from the roadside, not just
tricky number manipulations in a
finance netherworld.
Until that happens. I'll try to
stay calm, take the good with the
bad and save as much as pos
sible.
These days, I pretty much ignore
the stock market, pretending it is
like a wildly moody acquaintance
best left alone. He's giddy one
day, grumpy the next. Go figure.
All I know is I wish he’d get
some counseling and appropriate
medications.
Zach Mitcham is editor of The
Madison County Journal.
Letters to the Editor
Support Ga. farmers, eat a peanut butter sandwich
Dear Editor:
The recent salmonella out
break that has been traced back
to peanut butter made by the
Peanut Corporation of America
(PCA) has left many consumers
questioning the safety of peanut
products. The deaths and illness
es caused by this outbreak are
disturbing and regrettable. The
reported sanitation conditions at
the processing facility that led
to the outbreak should not be
tolerated. I’m a farmer, but I’m
also a consumer. My family and
Dear Editor:
The annual Ham 'n' Egg Supper
March 6 at the Eloise McCurley
Madison County Senior Center was
I eat peanut butter and peanut
products, just like you.
The peanut butter affected by
the recall was sold in bulk by
PCA to other food manufactur
ers who used the peanut butter
in their food products. Many
companies did have to recall
products that contained PCA
peanut butter, but the good news
is, according to the National
Peanut Board, PCA is estimated
to have produced less than three
percent of all peanuts and pea
nut butter sold in the United
States each year. This means
there are many peanut products
not affected by the recall that are
safe to eat.
Peanuts are grown in 80
Georgia counties. Georgia farm
ers grow almost half of the pea
nuts produced in the U.S. More
than 50,000 jobs in Georgia exist
because of our peanut indus
try according to the University
of Georgia. These jobs include
farmers, people who work in
peanut-related agribusinesses
such as shelling plants, facto
ries that roast peanuts or make
peanut products. The farm gate
value of the 2007 peanut croj
was almost $382 million. I can’
think of a better way to celebrate
the Georgia peanut than to eai
a peanut butter and jelly sand
wich or some roasted peanuts
We appreciate your support ol
Georgia agriculture and Georgia
farmers.
Sincerely,
Terry Stephenson
President, Madison Count)
Farm Bureau
Says Ham ‘n’ Egg supper was a success
the most successful ever.
Thanks to everyone who purchased
tickets and thanks to those who
helped prepare and serve the meals.
A really big thanks to all of you who Sincerely,
enjoyed the ham ‘n’ egg supper. We Joe Dudley
will do this again for you the first and the senior
week in March next year. center staff
Cagle opens the door for a tidal wave of candidates
Just when you thought you had
the next governor's race all fig
ured out, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle
decides to mess everything up.
Cagle had been the early front
runner for governor and was
still considered the man to beat,
even after he failed to broker a
deal in the General Assembly
for a transportation funding tax.
He consistently ran ahead of
the other Republican hopefuls
in the early polls and he would
have been favored over the
Democratic nominee.
Nothing in life or politics ever
works out quite that neatly, how
ever, and so it was with Cagle.
He abruptly announced last week
that because of “back problems”
he was dropping out of the gov
ernor's race, although insisting
he would still run for another
term as lieutenant governor.
The Cagle pullout probably
ensures that former governor
Roy Barnes, who still hasn't
made a public announcement of
his plans, will finalize his inten
tions to run again. More impor
tantly, Barnes could get a mone
tary boost from business leaders
fed up with the Republicans’
inability to pass a transporta
tion funding mechanism - they
could see Barnes as the best
bet for getting something done,
even if he does happen to be a
Democrat.
Cagle’s departure also leaves
room for at least two or three
The Capitol
Report
tcrawford@
capitol
impact.net.
By Tom Crawford
additional candidates in the GOP
primary. The leading names
under discussion are Cobb
County Commission Chairman
Sam Olens, House Speaker Pro
Tem Mark Burkhalter, state Sen.
Eric Johnson (who’s running for
lieutenant governor but could
easily switch races) and mem
bers of the state’s congressional
delegation (Lynn Westmoreland
or Jack Kingston).
It will be a big field of candi
dates, each of them with their
own vulnerabilities that leave
them open to attack.
Barnes has been traveling
around the state to talk up his
candidacy and he is being told
by party activists that they won’t
support him unless he cuts his
ties with political mastermind
Bobby Kahn, who is blamed for
the 2002 loss to Sonny Perdue
and the subsequent collapse of
the Georgia Democratic Party.
Would Barnes actually do such a
thing? More importantly, would
Bobby allow him to do it?
Attorney General Thurbert
Baker would be considered
the most serious challenger to
Barnes in the Democratic pri
mary, but after 12 years in
office it would be difficult for
the average voter to tell you
who Baker is or what he ever
accomplished. Baker rarely
took a stand on anything, which
doesn’t leave him with much of
a platform to run on.
Insurance Commissioner
John Oxendine becomes, for the
moment, the poll leader on the
Republican side, but the man
they call “The Ox” will have to
spend a lot of time explaining to
voters why he wrecked so many
state vehicles and why the attor
ney general’s office forced him
to turn off his “blue light.”
Secretary of State Karen
Handel is the GOP candidate
with the backing of Gov. Sonny
Perdue, who sees her as the best
choice to continue the “accom
plishments,” such as they are, of
his administration. Handel has
devoted most of her energies
as the state's chief elections
officer to pushing for legisla
tion that makes it more dif
ficult for blacks and Latinos to
vote. That won't do her much
good now that the U.S. Justice
Department is controlled by
Democrats who frown upon
such voter suppression tech
niques - and have the authority
under the Voting Rights Act to
do something about it.
Sam Olens is probably the
most intelligent, best-qualified
candidate of anyone running
in the Republican primary, but
he has a couple of handicaps
that will hurt him among GOP
voters. He holds three college
degrees and is also a Jewish can
didate in a party dominated by
its anti-intellectual, Christian-
right voting base. Olens is run
ning in the wrong state with the
wrong party.
Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton)
has a similar problem to Olens.
He has displayed an admirable
independent streak during his
years in the state House, sup
porting the new state flag in
2001 and expressing sympa
thy for the problems faced by
Georgia’s immigrant communi
ty. Those political stands would
be okay if he were running in
the Democratic primary - but
he’s a Republican.
There will be a lot of people
who qualify for the governor’s
race next year - but nobody
is a guaranteed winner. That
ensures it will be one of the
craziest, most wide-open cam
paigns we've ever seen.
Tom Crawford is the editor
of Capitol Impact’s Georgia
Report, an Internet news service
at www.gareport.com that cov
ers government and politics in
Georgia. He can be reached at
tcrawford@capitolimpact.net.