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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. DECEMBER 10. 2009 — PAGE 5A Opinions Perdue’s metro task force eyes Northeast Georgia water By Rep. Alan Powell After a prolonged period of severe drought, residents of the Lake Hartwell area and all of Northeast Georgia finally are able to enjoy the beauty and recreational benefits of a lake at full pool level. For the half- century or so since construc tion of the Hartwell Dam, we have lived through the ups and downs of lake levels caused sometimes by the whims of the Army Corps of Engineers but most often by natural fluctua tions in rainfall amounts. In recent weeks, a new threat has emerged - not only to Northeast Georgia and Lake Hartwell but also downstream to Lake Richard B. Russell, Clarks Hill Lake and the lower Savannah River basin - in the form of inter-basin water trans fers, courtesy of Gov. Perdue and his hand-picked “task force” representing corporate and development interests from metropolitan Atlanta. Eight years ago, state Rep. Tom McCall (R-Elberton) and I sponsored a legislative amendment making inter-basin transfers illegal in Georgia, with the intention of perma nently outlawing the practice of taking water from one area of the state to another. Two years ago, the General Assembly passed and Gov. Perdue signed into law a state wide water plan that estab lished 10 regional water coun cils across the state for the purpose of protecting our most precious natural resource now and in the future. The coun cils are to report their find ings to the state Environmental Protection Division, which in turn will formulate a water plan for the entire state. But like thieves in the night, plotting to ignore the state law stricdy prohibiting inter-basin transfers and the diligent work of the regional water councils, the governor’s task force has issued a recommendation for siphoning off hundreds of mil lions of gallons of water from Lake Burton in Rabun County and Lake Hartwell and sending it to Gwinnett County and the eastern side of the metro area. The governor’s group also pro poses transferring water from aquifers in southwest Georgia to metro Atlanta. If the task force, which was created not by legislative statute but by the Governor’s Office, is successful in chang ing the law to allow inter-basin transfers and in circumventing the regional water council pro cess, it could lead to perma nently damaging the security of our water resources from the mountains of Rabun County to the ports of Savannah and would be a sad commentary on the credibility of state gov ernment in addressing such a critical issue. Many of you are well aware that I have been fighting for the last 20 years and warn ing that this day could come, when powerful special inter ests in metro Adanta would launch an effort to take water out of the Savannah River basin to satisfy the percep tion that more water is needed there to accommodate growth. This is an unnatural, artificial approach to solving metro Adanta’s problem, which was caused by poor planning and a lack of conservation over the past 30 years. Rep. McCall and I, along with other colleagues, knew this would happen, which is why we prepared for it with the legislation banning such transfers. But with Gov. Perdue and his powerful allies in the metropolitan area apparently prepared to go in a different direction, we need to gear up for another fight. Everyone in Northeast Georgia should con sider this a “call to arms.” This is no longer just about beau ty and recreation; the future supply of drinking water and economic development for communities up and down the Savannah River is at stake. Take a good look at Lake Hartwell in all its abundance today and remember what it looked like last year when it was 23 feet lower. Better yet, take a photograph. If the governor and his friends have their way, today’s scene could become a thing of the past. Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell) represents the 29"' District (Franklin, Hart and Madison coun ties) 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@ homiail.com. For more infor mation, visit www.alanpowell. net. Winter has arrived Like it or not, winter weather has arrived right on cue. December is the start of meteorological winter, and chilly temperatures arrived with the passage of a cold front last week. This followed another very wet rain system that drenched our area as well as most of Georgia with two-to-four inches of rain, bringing renewed flooding on area creeks and rivers. This latest soaking contin ued the wet siege that began in mid-September and shows little sign of stopping. Although not as wet as September and October, November still ended with well above average rain totals. If this trend continues, we will have more flooding ahead. So what does this winter look like for our area? The Weather wise By Mark Jenkins warmer than average Pacific (called “El Nino") is likely to be the main factor in our winter this year. Since most of our storms origi nate in the Pacific, it looks as though our wetness will continue. This does not mean that flooding is a certainty, as sometimes the heaviest rain falls across south Georgia in an El Nino year. This is considered a moderate El Nino this year, and we are not expecting a massive barrage of killer storms to slam California and move quickly east as happened in 1982-83 and 1997-98. This winter is shaping up to be stormier than nor mal, but not necessarily complete wildness as in a strong El Nino. This winter may be more sim ilar to 1957-58, 1965-66, 1977-78, and 2002-03. The strength of the El Nino's in those years were very similar to this year’s, and particularly the rainfall pat terns of the summer and fall of this year match well with 1977-78. That was a winter that started slowly but gained strength after Christmas. In my “unoffi cial” weather diary I kept that year as a high school senior, I recorded 11 days with at least a trace of ice, sleet or snow from Jan. 1 to March 10, none of which were very heavy. We had a temperature drop from 59 to 12 degrees in nine hours one night (January 8-9). Several blasts of arctic air invaded that winter, drop ping temperatures as low as 10 degrees, and many farm ponds froze completely over. Of course, there is no guarantee that this winter will behave the same way, but the similarities are, well, eerie. Weather averages for November 2009: Avg. low: 44. Avg. high: 64. Lowest 34. Highest: 75. Mean: 53.8 (+1.0). Total precip.: 5.43” (+1.06”). Total rainfall for 2009 to November 30: 55.55” (+7.91”). Mark Jenkins is the coop erative weather observer for Madison County. He provides a monthly weath er column to The Madison County Journal. J. Mitcham • • • continued from page 4A “I reckon” — I suppose. Some I didn’t know, but also like, are “Red up,” meaning to clean the house; “Barking at a knot,” meaning you effort is as useless as a dog barking at a knot; and “Blinky,” between sweet and sour. New Oxford American Dictionary recently announced its word of the year - “unfriend.” After some one befriends you, you can “unfriend” them, techno logically speaking, on your social networking site such as Facebook. Apparently the dictionary expands to include new words, with those adopted based on projected longevity and use. As some phased out — although they aren’t really gone, they just aren’t used as often and aren’t as well known — others become introduced as “official” words. Not surprisingly, many of the new words are techno- and social-site based. Ha. “Intexticated” is “the state of being distracted while driving because of sending a text message.” I nearly got run over the other day by someone who was clearly “intexticated,” text messaging instead of looking up and ahead to the stop sign where I — a sitting duck — watched apprehensively in my car’s rearview mirror. Clearly I am no longer a spring chicken. Jana Adams Mitcham is fea tures editor of The Jackson Herald and a Madison County resident. r Apple Specialist ~\ Find that perfect gift at PeachMac # of Mac/Apple Products 1,300 Educational Discounts Yes 4th Year of AppleCare-Free* Yes Authorized Service Yes Free Tech Support Yes Free Service Loaners** Yes Free Color Printer*** Yes w/ purchase of a mac *covers labor only in year 4. **Free loaner available to PeachMac customers who purchase a Mac with AppleCare. ***Free Printer after mail-in rebate and requires purchase of printer cable. peachmac macs • ipods • software • service • business solutions 1850 Epps Bridge Pkwy • 706-208-9990 • peachmac.com • Athens • Augusta • Macon Notice To Adopt 2010 Budget For the Madison County Board of Commissioners The Madison County Board of Commissioners has submitted its proposed 2010 budget as of November 30, 2009. Copies of the 2010 budget are available at the County Clerk’s office located within the Madison County Government Complex, 91 Albany Avenue, Danielsville, Georgia 30633. A meeting will be held on December 17, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. to adopt the 2010 budget. The meeting will be held in the Public Meeting Room, or if additional space is needed, in the Courtroom. Both meeting spaces are located within the Madison County Government Complex, 91 Albany Avenue, Danielsville, Georgia 30633. J It’s ludicrous to say that continuing the wars is ‘keeping us safe’ Dear Editor: Regarding the comment “Says Obama shows ‘double speak’ on war” in the Dec. 3 edition, I couldn't agree more with Mr. Drago Tesanovich more. As far as taking it to the bank, what bank, President Obama? One of those that has failed and you have given bailout monies to? There was a time for a just war against Afghanistan, but that passed years ago under Duh-Bya’s disastrous watch. We had Osama Bin Laden in our sights but Georgie was more interested in taking Iraq out, at any cost! While the Bush administration was busy fabricating reasons to go into Iraq, Osama stole quietly away. We spent $12 billion a month for this illegal and immoral war in Iraq under Bush. Also, is everybody aware of the fact that we sent pallets of money to Iraq, about $9 bil lion worth supposedly for bargaining with the Iraqi’s that remains totally unaccounted for? I have been disappointed in Obama's attitude about the wars. We need to bring our exhausted, medically and mentally wounded troops home ASAP! There is no way to win either war unless you're willing to take the whole Middle East off the map and take millions of innocents out in the process. It's ludicrous to say that continuing the wars is “keep ing us safe.” How many honestly believe that having to bring our battle weary troops home to fight when we are attacked again on our own soil (which will probably come when we are through destroying ourselves sufficiently enough from within) will enable us to protect and save ourselves? To those who believe you have to support the war to be patriotic, how about truly supporting our troops ? Keep them from back-to-back deployments to the Middle East. Help their families keep their homes out of foreclosure, food in their stomachs and clothes on their backs. Give them the medical and mental treatments they need to recover from the horrors they have seen and been involved in. Our economy is in desperate need of a transfusion. Let’s stop the blood and money flow and put that money into creating millions of jobs here in America rebuilding infrastructure, creating clean energy and safe foods for us to grow and eat. Although Obama has disappointed me in some ways, I will cut him some slack as he hasn’t had much time to fix what it took eight years to destroy. At least he will listen to citizens’ input which is something the former administration would not even consider. My fear now is that there is still enough ignorance out there to decide already that the Democrats can’t do it so put the Republicans back in. We need to stop voting for the party and vote for the candidate. Many of us are dis appointed in how both parties have been handling them selves but the total degradation of our precious country in the tenure of the previous deceitful administration should be enough to keep us away from that fire for a long time. Please stay involved in the process, walk the walk and talk the talk. Vote, call and write the President, your Senators and Congressmen instead of just giving it lip service. Sincerely, Janie Massey Danielsville FOR ONLY $5 PER MONTH, YOU CAN LIST YOUR GROUP'S MEETINGS! Let your members know when your group is meeting! Call (706) 367-5233 to advertise your meeting time, place and date in... • The Jackson Herald • The Commerce News • The Braselton News • The Banks County News • The Madison County Journal X° DANIELSVILLE « AMERICAN LEGION Post 39 Meets last Thursday, 7 p.m. JANUARY - OCTOBER American Legion Building Crawford W. Long Street jg& BANKS COUNTY Ill AMERICAN LEGION Post 215 Meets each 3rd Thursday, 7 p.m. In Homer, GA at the American Legion Building on Historic Highway 441 Pd.o6/io VETERANS OF W FOREIGN WARS Post 4872, Hurricane Shoals Convention Ctr. Each 4th Tuesdasy, 7:00 p.m. Jason Mergele, Commander Phone 706-367-7237 263 JEFFERSON ROTARY CLUB Meets Tuesdays Jefferson City Clubhouse 12:30 p.m.-(706) 335-3151 Shade Storey, President 547 A UNITY LODGE F&A.M. No. 36, Jefferson, GA 1st Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m. Dwayne Potts • 706-367-4449 Borders St. behind Tabo’s 260 JEFFERSON LIONS CLUB Meets 2nd & 4th Monday Jefferson City Clubhouse 6:30 p.m. *(706) 367-9349 Jimmy Mock, President -fife BANKS COUNTY AMERICAN LEGION Georgia Real Estate Investors Association, Inc. - Athens Meets the third Thursday each month 6:30 pm at the UGA Conferen ce Center 1197 South Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA 30601 Tom Hewlett - Chapter President thewlettl@charter.net Pd. 12/09 Kmers post zi s Meets each 2nd Thursday, 7 p.m. In Homer, GA at the American Legion Building on Historic Highway 441 Pd,o2/io BANKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC. meets first Monday each month 7:00 p.m. in the Banks Co. Historial Courthouse at 105 U.S. Hwy. 441 North in Homer pd.-07/io NORTH EAST GEORGIA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB Meets the 1st Thursday each month at the Commerce City Public Library 1344 South Broad Street www.ne4ga.org pd. 12 Ull JEFFERSON WAMERICAN LEGION Albert Gordon Post 56 Each 3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Harvie Lance, Commander Phone (706) 654-1274 no St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Mission Mass Schedule: Sat. 4:00 p.m., Sun. 11:00 a.m., Thurs. 12:10 p.m. First Friday Adoration 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. Website: www.stcatherinelabourega.org 706-367-7220 Pd. 1/10