Newspaper Page Text
THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. DECEMBER 31.2009 — PAGE 5A
Opinions
In response to Escoe’s letter about the BOC
BOC
• • • continued from 1A
Dear Editor:
In response to the letter to
the editor from Jim Escoe. I
feel the need to defend the
BOC and make clear what
happened to the BOA.
If you remember when Mr.
Escoe was a member of the
BOA, there was always con
troversy. They didn’t okay
a digest for several years,
causing the tax notices to be
late being mailed.
Also they couldn’t agree
on hiring a chief appraiser,
because the BOA couldn’t
work together to do what
was necessary to get the
digest out and to hire a chief
Dear Editor:
I was just reading the
paper and some of the head
lines really stood out to me,
“Tax sales planned” and
“Foreclosures reach a record
high” jumped off the page.
We are also looking at pay
ing taxes for the third time in
two years. I will be honest
in saying that with all that is
going on the actions taken by
our government anger me.
We are facing the toughest
economic times this coun
try has seen since the Great
Depression and what is our
government doing to help?
Nothing! As a matter of fact,
they are making the situation
worse.
The board of commission
ers has been working hard
to cut the budget in order
to ease the burden on our
citizens. Even though they
cut 50 percent of employees’
appraiser.
After being given more
than ample time, the board of
commissioners was forced to
fire Mr. Escoe and the other
board members.
The BOA couldn’t accept
what was best for the taxpay
ers, so they hired an attorney
at the taxpayers expense to
try to keep their seats on the
BOA.
The judge overwhelmingly
ruled in favor of the board of
commissioners.
The BOC hired three new
members rather than five.
Yes, it is true what Mr.
Escoe said about the BOA’s
paid holiday time, I feel more
could have been done. I see
our neighboring governments
being a lot more drastic than
we are. They are looking at
furloughs and more extreme
cutbacks. They recognize that
more tough times are ahead,
maybe worse than what we
are seeing now. But not us,
we keep spending and allow
ing massive amounts of over
time to be accrued.
I guess the straw that broke
the camel’s back as far as
I’m concerned is our latest
employment decisions. The
BOC voted to implement a
hiring freeze due to our finan
cial situation. Louise Watson
from the tax office requested
help in her office and was
denied due to the freeze. The
tax office is a critical part of
our government that must be
in good working order for
us to operate. But, I under
budget being $8,400, and it is
true the meetings are shorter,
mainly because there is no
controversy and they are tak
ing care of business.
What Mr. Escoe failed to
tell the public is that while
he was in office, the bud
get was a whopping $17,200
which is more than twice the
present BOA’s budget.
Mr. Escoe also mentioned
county employees losing
part of their holiday pay.
The BOC worked long
hard hours on the 2010 bud
get, and while the state and
most of the counties around
us are having layoffs, cutting
stood that everybody has to
cut back. Then, in the Nov. 30
meeting. Chairman Anthony
Dove recommended that two
employees be hired. One at
the landfill so we can have
two people in the scale house
and the other at the recreation
department. These are non-
essential operations unlike
the tax office and a horrible
waste of money in this crucial
time. This is the down season
for the recreation department
until baseball starts in the
spring.
Do the math! That’s two
full-time salaries and we
are also paying for two full
time benefits packages as
well. C’mon guys, what in
the world are you thinking!
Chairman Dove and commis
sioners Stanley Thomas and
Bruce Scogin have succeeded
in proving that they have no
regard for the suffering of the
back services and furlough
ing, Madison County man
aged to keep every employee
on the job. The only thing
we had to do was to take part
of the holiday pay.
In this article Mr. Escoe
stated ignorance is bliss, and
after carefully reading his
article I couldn’t agree with
him more.
I stand ready to discuss
any part of this letter or any
part of the county budget
with anyone who would care
to.
Sincerely,
John Pethel Sr.
District 2 Commissioner
people. Not only did Dove
recommend these hirings, but
he cast the deciding vote to
follow through with them.
Gentleman, I assure you
that your ill-advised and
absent minded vote will not
be forgotten. I will not specu
late as to why some depart
ment heads were turned down
for additional employees and
some were approved. Whether
it was favoritism or just igno
rance it was wrong!
Finally, I would like to
thank commissioners Mike
Youngblood and John Pethel
for showing some manner
of good business sense. And
for the people that are losing
their jobs, their homes and
are being choked by taxes, let
this bum deep into your mind
and remember it when you
cast your next ballot.
Sincerely,
Robert Spivey
tire Georgia code for “maintain
ing a disorderly house.”
“A person who keeps and
maintains, either by himself or
others, a common, ill-governed,
and disorderly house, to the
encouragement of gaming,
drinking, or other misbehavior,
or to the common disturbance
of tire neighborhood or orderly
citizens, is guilty of a misde
meanor,” the code reads.
Scogin did not seek a vote on
any noise ordinance changes
Monday. He just passed out
information on the Georgia
code to other BOC members.
District 4 commissioner Pete
Bond, who proposed tire 300-
foot noise ordinance regulation
that was rejected, was not at
Monday's meeting. Scogin said
tire state code provides a tool
for dealing with "consistent dis
turbances in a neighborhood.”
“This will in no way violate
anyone's rights," said Scogin
of tire state law. "It's already a
provision in state law.”
Commissioner Stanley
Thomas asked why a local
ordinance is needed, when a
state law already gives depu
ties authority to deal with noise
problems.
Attorney Daniel Haygood,
who filled in for county attor
ney Mike Pruett Monday, said
the reason local ordinances
are passed on such issues is to
allow county code enforcement
officers to handle complaints,
not just deputies. Haygood said
tire state code on “maintaining
a disorderly house” is vague.
“This is a pretty tough one;
it's vague enough so that it
makes law enforcement offi
cials queasy." said Haygood. "I
haven't heard this sheriff speak
to it, but I have heard other
sheriffs speak to it.”
Haygood said that under
tire code enforcement office, a
noise violation could be heard
in magistrate court.
"There are also some firings
you could do to not make is a
criminal violation, but a civil
violation and a less strict bur
den of proof,” he said, not
ing that criminal charges could
involve jury trials and indigent
defense expenses. “There are a
lot of reasons you want firings
to be a code violation, rather
than a state code violation.”
Thomas said the code
enforcement office already han
dling a lot.
"That poses the question
of are we going to put noise
ordinance violations under
code enforcement when he’s
got general code enforcement
and animal control and reduced
hours in there anyway," said
Thomas.
Scogin said he would work
with Pruett on ironing out any
problems with the proposal.
"This is just for you guys
to look at,” said Scogin. "I’ll
talk with Mike (Pruett) about
it. We’ll get these details ironed
out.”
In other business Monday,
fire board discussed the possi
ble purchase of three new patrol
cars for the sheriff’s depart
ment. Four patrol cars have
been totaled in fire past couple
of years. Insurance funds will
help cover some of the cost
of the purchases. Sheriff Kip
Thomas said the estimated cost
of each car is $24,000, with
radios from the old cars put in
fire new ones.
Tire board agreed to consider
its 2010 personnel and gen
eral policies at its Jan. 4 meet
ing. Human resources director
Donna Sisk asked the board
to reconsider its 480-hour cap
on accumulated employee sick
leave time. Sisk also said the
county will need to update its
technological privacy policies.
Tire group may also name a
vice-chairman at Monday's
meeting.
BOC’s employment decisions make no sense
Batteries need to be recycled to prevent pollution
By Stephen Bailey
University of Georgia
During the holidays, we scour
the stores for the newest gadgets
and electronics to give as gifts. But,
some people forget new animatronic
animals and game system remotes
need batteries to operate.
In fact, about 40 percent of bat
tery sales occur during the holiday
season. This can really become a
problem from an environmental
standpoint. Batteries contain metals,
acids and other compounds that can
be harmful when released into the
environment.
To help the environment, consider
buying rechargeable batteries and
a charger to go along with battery-
operated gifts. Rechargeable batter
ies can go a long way to reducing
your carbon footprint.
You can also help the environment
by recycling old batteries properly.
The Department of Transportation
requires that consumers tape the
positive end of rechargeable batter
ies with clear tape and store them
in a plastic bag before recycling.
Alkaline batteries do not have to be
taped. This regulation was designed
to help prevent major incidents, such
as fires, during battery shipment.
To identify rechargeable batteries,
look for the words Nickel-Cadmium
(NiCad), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni
MH), Lithium-ion (Li-ion), Lithium
Polymer or silver-oxide (button) bat
teries.
To dispose of smaller button-style
batteries, line them up on a strip
of clear tape and secure them with
another strip of clear tape along
the top.
If in doubt, seal the positive ends
of all batteries with clear tape before
recycling.
To find a recycling center for sin
gle use batteries go to the Web site
earth911.com/. To find out where
you can recycle rechargeable batter
ies visit the Web site www.call2re-
cycle.org/.
Stephen Bailey is a graduate stu
dent at the University of Georgia
College of Family and Consumer
Sciences.
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