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PAGE 4A — THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. JULY 30. 2009 A £1XaJT! mar pi * - ' - ' ‘--- Jl $ 'is i a: ■fi A ;'B\ i—1 Li m 1 Opinions Frankly Speaking frankgillispie671@msn.com By Frank Gillispie Memories, what would we old men do without them? Haying season is here. The row crops have had their last plowing, side dressing (sodium Nitrate) has been applied to the com, and the cycle of activity on the farm is at a lull while the crops mature. Harvest season will be here soon. On the small farms of my youth, this period was used to gather in supplies of wood and hay. Wood, preferably oak that had been cut earlier and given time to cure, is cut and split and piled into a pile to provide fuel for the stove and fireplace. Hay has been cut and turned to make sure it dries evenly. Then the neighborhood hay bailer is brought in to compact and tie the hay into big square bails. Among my fondest memories were summer visits to my grandfather Fortson Sorrow's farm, where I and any number of other grandsons would help to gather in the wood and hay, process it and store it for use in the upcoming winter. We were typical teenagers, the kind who worked harder avoiding work than we did getting the work done. So when we were told to take my uncles old pickup truck to the back field and bring the bails of hay back to the bam, we decided to bring them all out with one trip. We rigged a frame of pine limbs around the bed of the truck, filled bed with bales of hay, stacked them up on the supporting pine limbs, even packed bales of hay on top of the cab. Finally we managed to get the entire crop of hay stacked on that one little pickup truck. The trick then was to drive the truck out of the field back to the bam without the hay falling off. I don't know how many of you are familiar with field roads, especially here in the piedmont. They consist of nothing more than a cleared track through the trees, rocks and hillsides. They have small gullies washed out by the spring rains, stony outcrops that make the road unleveled, and occasional creeks or spring runs with their accompanying mud. Well, I was the more “experienced” driver of the group which was not saying much, so I was chosen to drive the truck out of the field to the bam. The load of hay was so large and unstable that almost any bump, tilt or sudden stop would send it tumbling onto the ground. I sent my cousins out ahead to move any sticks or rocks from the road and started out.... very slowly. I probably averaged no more than one half mile per hour, gingerly edging through overlapping tree limbs and over rocks and gullies. And eventually we got the load to the bam without spilling it. We finished with a great sense of accomplishment. We brought out the entire field of hay in one trip! No doubt we would have finished sooner, with less stress and aggravation, had we made two trips, but teenage boys are teenage boys and we were convinced that by getting it all in one load was quite a triumph. We stacked the hay in the bam loft and headed out for our reward. We had left a watermelon in the creek to cool, and by the time we finished with the hay it was ready to eat. We were hot, tired and satisfied with our effort, so the watermelon was a fitting way to end the day. Ah, memories. What would we old men do with out them? Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal His e-mail address is frankgillispie671@ msn.com. His website can be accessed at http:// frankgiUispie.mpod.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. More questions than answers on Hwy. 29 Will the Town Center shopping complex in Danielsville — and other businesses in the town — be negatively impacted if Hwy. 29 is reshaped to bypass the county seat? Would a bypass on the eastern side of Hwy. 29 serve Madison County better than one on the west, considering that the schools are to the east? The Hwy. 29 project is on the drawing board again and Department of Transportation officials will be on hand today (Thursday) to answer questions and receive input from local resi dents about what’s proposed. Local officials certainly have their questions about the Hwy. 29 project. For instance, Madison County Commission Chairman Anthony Dove voices concerns about a bypass hurting business in Danielsville by taking the traf fic flow out of the town. And he expresses a pretty common sentiment in the county in pre ferring an eastern bypass to a western one. Meanwhile, property owners along Hwy. 29 have faced a con siderable waiting game, one with few certainties and too many maybes. The Hwy. 29 widening In the Meantime zach@ mainstreet news.com By Zach Mitcham and bypass project was a hot topic about 10 years ago when the DOT held public meetings on the matter and folks won dered about their future. The change seemed imminent. But the DOT quickly put on the brakes and the talk of the project died away. Now, there's federal stimulus money flowing and the discussion is alive again. But there are still no definites, no dates. The project is considered “long range,” according to DOT spokesperson Teri Pope. And despite this week’s pub lic meeting, I anticipate a long period of frustrated head scratch ing for those who could be most affected. Of course, state officials must look at transportation through a big lens. How a road project affects a little town is something the DOT will consider, but the overall transportation picture is the focus of state officials. There are local interests to consider, but they must be aware of state, regional and federal transporta tion flows, too. Ultimately, what do the traffic counts show? How can that traf fic be accommodated? I understand big picture think ing, but I’m also puzzled at times about the decision making. I’m appreciative of efforts to keep state routes properly surfaced. If you get outside of Georgia, you can quickly recognize that our roads are in better shape than many other places. But some projects seem like a stretch. I felt this way about the Hwy. 106 project, which was initiated in October 2007 and continued for many months. It cost $4 million and caused con siderable inconvenience for local residents, along with wear and tear on local roads that were used as alternate routes. I drive that road frequently, but I still don’t understand the necessity of the alterations. As it was, the road was hilly, but not really curvy. I think improving the path of Hwy. 29 makes more sense than the Hwy. 106 project. There are more dangerous curves and blind spots. Think of that left turn off Booger Hill Road. It’s pretty dicey. And if the DOT can elimi nate some of those danger zones and improve safety, then it's accomplished something worth while. However, I don't see the Hwy. 29 project as particularly neces sary from a traffic flow point of view. There is considerable traffic in Danielsville at school time — less now that the middle school has moved — but the highway seems capable of han dling the overall traffic flow. There are highways in this state that are frequently clogged. And Hwy. 29 is not one of them. Ultimately, the DOT will move or sit on 29. And many folks will move or sit, too, depending on what they do. We'll follow the story as it unfolds. But 10 years ago, the Hwy. 29 project loudly approached like a mufferless Mustang — one that petered out before it reached us. And I’m not sold on this current engine hav ing the fuel to reach us either. Zach Mitcham is editor of The Madison County Journal. Get ready to be counted The older I get the more important my history - and the history of my family - becomes to me. I suppose I find some comfort in knowing something about how I “fit” in this world. I wish I had known grow ing up how important all those old family stories, told by rela tives that have now passed on, were going to be to me one day. Since they weren't writ ten down, many of the stories passed on along with the story tellers, and that’s a real shame. But besides listening to family stories and folklore, most of us can find at least some kinds of information that documents our ancestors by searching through legal documents, or by turning to the Internet. One of the most valuable places to start is with old cen sus records. Called decennial censuses, and mandated by the U.S. Constitution, one has been taken every 10 years since the first one in 1790. I’ve found a lot of infor mation using the census as a guide. For example, I found my By Margie Richards great-grandmother in an 1870 census, living near where I do now. She was listed as “head of household” with the occupation of farmer and was caring for her mother and five children, the youngest of which was my grandfather. I don’t know any where else I could have found that out. And speaking of the census, it's almost time for the next one. Work on the 2010 census is already under way. Census workers, this time armed with GPS systems, have already been sent out to document where residences are located. And beginning in February of next year, every one should get a census packet that contains just 10 questions. (According to the website, the Census Bureau estimates that it should take about 10 minutes to complete it.) Some people, particularly in this day and age, are leery of participating in the census, and understandably so. But the cen sus not only serves as a way to keep a count of the population, it also serves a myriad of other purposes. For example, census data are used to distribute Congressional seats to states, to make deci sions about what community services are needed in a particu lar area and to distribute $300 billion in federal funds to local and state governments each year. Local governments also use the data to determine what types of services are needed in their communities. Information from this data is used to apply for state and federal grants and loans as well. The very first census was a “simple count” according to the Census Bureau’s website. It consisted of six questions and counted approximately 3.9 mil lion people for the purpose of apportioning the U.S. House of Representatives. For next year’s census, one million enumerators will assist the Census Bureau in counting the more than 300 million peo ple who now inhabit the U.S. And besides apportioning state representation, 2010 census data will be used to make deci sions that will ultimately affect every one of us in some way. Decisions like where highways, hospitals, schools and govern ment assistance programs need to be located, to name a few. The information we provide to the Census Bureau is pro tected by federal law, and the law requires that we participate in the census. I look at it as a duty and a privilege, like vot ing. Let’s all make the effort to stand up and be counted. Margie Richards is a report er and office manager for The Madison County Journal. Water ruling will affect all of Georgia The federal court ruling that set a three-year clock ticking on water withdrawals from Lake Lanier won’t just affect metro Atlanta and North Georgia - its impact will be felt in every comer of the state. Even with the most optimis tic outcome where a settlement is worked out between Georgia, Alabama, and Florida over the use of Lanier, the amount of water available to metro Atlanta gov ernments will likely be reduced to a level that cannot support the current trends of development and growth. What then? The first reaction of metro and state officials could well be attempts to start taking water from other areas of Georgia. They might move eastward towards Athens and the Savannah River, in a northerly direction towards Rome and the Coosa River basin, and southward to the areas below the fall line where ground water is more abundant. We saw the first hints of that movement several years ago when officials working for Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin proposed the construction of a cross-state pipeline that would transport desalinated water from The Capitol Report tcrawford@ capitol impact.net. By Tom Crawford the coastal area around Savannah to the capital city. These efforts to grab water far from home will obviously be met with fierce resistance from the folks who live outside the metro area. Some of that hostility has been on display for years from Columbus and LaGrange, down stream users of Chattahoochee water who don’t like what Atlanta has been doing. It could result in some of the nastiest political fights this state has ever seen. Another likely development could be attempts to build new reservoirs that would provide water supply alternatives to Lake Lanier. Those reservoirs would require a long permitting process because of environmental regula tions and the costs of impound ing these lakes would probably require substantial tax increases for all Georgia residents. You can bet that people liv ing far south of Atlanta are not going to be happy about attempts to impose higher taxes so that developers up north can continue to build their office parks and shopping malls. This also has the potential to bring on political war between the northern and south ern ends of the state. There could be a happier end ing here as well. With a future of limited water supplies on the horizon, our elected leaders should seriously consider moving more of the state government offices out of Atlanta to areas where water supplies are not in such a crisis mode. There have already been some moves in this direction. Former secretary of state Cathy Cox shifted her department's licens ing division to Macon several years ago. Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to move the corrections department headquarters to the Tift College campus in Forsyth. Perhaps the person who replac es Tommy Irvin as agriculture commissioner when Irvin retires after 2010 will consider moving that department’s headquarters to middle or south Georgia where it would be more centrally located for the industry it serves. More of these government relocations should be brought up for discussion. They make sense from the viewpoint of custom er service and they could bring some badly needed jobs to areas far from Atlanta. Along the same lines, busi nesses and industries that may want to move to Georgia but also require a plentiful supply of water will think long and hard about whether they want to relocate to a metro area where consumption is going to be tightly controlled. There are opportunities here for communities in the other parts of Georgia to sell themselves as more water-friendly to the needs of industry. Metro Atlanta’s water future has always been question able because of the limitations of the Chattahoochee River. It's time for some of that develop ment to move to areas where the water is more plentiful and, frankly, where the growth would be more appreciated. Georgia’s leaders should also let go of the idea that they can — See ‘Crawford” on 5A