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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 18. 2010 — PAGE 5A
Opinions
Disturbed by all the
shootings in the news
Kids unfairly punished for skateboarding
Dear Editor:
Forget deer season, the
moose lottery, and duck hunt
ing. There’s a new season, and
it’s humans who are now the
hunted. Shootings are increas
ing and their randomness, lack
of motive, or trivial motives are
growing more shocking daily.
This week there has been
news of professors shooting
colleagues in Alabama, elemen
tary teachers shooting adminis
trators in Knoxville TN, restau
rant-goers shooting patrons in
Gresham OR, children shooting
parents in Des Moines, IA, teens
shooting children in Richmond
CA, and even here in Athens
a client allegedly attempted to
strangle her hairdresser.
Paul wrote in no uncertain
terns to Timothy about the state
of affairs in the last days. He
said they would be “perilous.”
(KJV) (2 Timothy 3:2-5)
When I read those verses I
think of national peril, such as
America is in now being an
ever-growing economic and
military target, but I also think
of individual peril. It's peril
ous for individuals to simply go
about their daily business. It’s
perilous to drive an ice cream
truck, go to a restaurant, have
a faculty meeting, teach in a
school. It’s perilous to cut hair,
to dwell in your home, to ride
in a car with your baby.
Making the days even more
perilous are the reasons for the
shootings. Being denied tenure?
Not liking your haircut? Not
responding quickly enough dur
ing an armed robbery? Trivial
reasons, as if any reason could
ever justify a shooting. In the
shootings listed above, the rea
sons make the times perilous,
because they are trivial and self
ish, just as Paul said men would
be. Worse, many shootings have
no motive. People simply show
up somewhere and begin shoot
ing randomly.
More and more often the
shooters are teens. In one of the
news stories above, a 12-year-
old boy killed his stepfather.
Children shooting parents is
simply unthinkable. Paul men
tions disobedience to parents
in the verses above and there is
no greater disobedience to par
ents than killing them or their
siblings.
But the peril is not just from
without, it is from within even
more. James 1:14-15 says,
“Each one is tempted when, by
his own evil desire, he is dragged
away and enticed. Then, after
desire has conceived, it gives
birth to sin.” It is not only peril
ous times because of bodily
danger, but perilous because of
our sinful natures to begin with,
and Satan's war against human
ity is increasing these days. We
are susceptible to being dragged
away and enticed. Failure to
take captive all sinful thoughts
immediately lends a person vul
nerable to satan’s wiles. It is
open season and every human
is at risk.
If you have not asked Jesus
to forgive your sins, do so and
do not delay. If you are truly
sorry for the bad things you
have done, thought, or said, ask
Jesus to forgive them. Make
Him the Lord and Savior of
your life. If you are saved, you
are not immune to being hunted
either. Satan hates the Godly
even more than the godless,
and it is incumbent upon every
Christian to persevere daily in
the diligence of seeking His
face. Doing so brightens His
light inside us, and in these per
ilous times, what better antidote
than being the light of Jesus
shining into the eyes of those
who dwell in dark places? It
is a gift to be bright for Him,
because the unsaved are “peo
ple living in darkness have seen
a great light; on those living in
the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.” (Mat 4:16)
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Prata
Comer
Dear Editor:
I am so upset with Madison
County. They locked my son
and two other 17 year olds for
skateboarding on the school
tennis court for criminal tres
pass.
The kids were never told they
could not to skate there. There
Dear Editor:
As I sit around and see
all the things that God has
blessed me with and that I am
grateful for, I can’t help but
think of others less fortunate. I
see and deal with so much on
a daily basis that wares at the
strongest of hearts.
Several months ago I was
dealt a hand that I didn’t know
if I could play. After praying
and praying over this I wasn’t
sure why this had been laid
upon me as it was. I just know
Dear Editor:
I was very pleased to
see that my small treatise
on Marxist Communism
was printed in the paper.
Knowledge is more pow
erful than the atom bomb.
Unfortunately, if you wait
for knowledge to be impart
ed to you by television com
mentary, the train may never
leave the station.
Regarding how Hitler is
universally maligned for
killing 25 million people,
while the Bolshevik (Russian
Communist) Stalin received
hardly a notice for killing
By Tom Crawford
Little by little, the money
keeps disappearing from the
state budget.
Georgia legislators have had to
delete $1.2 billion from the cur
rent year's budget because tire
recession has killed tax revenues.
Lawmakers will have to reduce
the budget for next fiscal year
by a similar amount because the
recession still shows few signs
of ending anytime soon.
Who suffers the most when
state spending is cut by such
large amounts? Public education
has consistently taken the big
gest hit. At the urging of Gov.
Sonny Perdue, the Legislature
has cut more than $2 billion
in state funding to local school
systems for grades K-12 since
2003.
Those reductions continued in
the revised state budget that the
House approved last week. The
amended budget cuts another
$281 million in Quality Basic
Education (QBE) funds that the
state would normally send to
local schools.
If the state’s public school sys
tem is to be kept intact, this cut
ting cannot go on much longer.
Is there a way, short of passing a
tax increase, to raise the money
needed for education?
As it turns out, there is a solu
tion staring legislators right in
the face.
Georgia loses buckets of tax
dollars every year because of
retailers who charge tire sales
tax on their customers but keep
the money rather than send it
were no signs posted until
after they were locked up for
this. Then, they turned around
a month later and said they
damaged the tennis court and
locked them all up again for
criminal damage to property in
second degree. You have three
A and B students that have
that it really tore at my heart
and I couldn’t let it go.
I was given the opportunity
to meet this couple that was
kicked when they were down,
and it seemed they couldn't
get much lower. They had
nowhere to turn. Without
going into details and giving
their names it could not have
gotten much worse. I prayed
to God to send me wisdom
and an angel to help this cou
ple and to send me guidance
in what to do. Shortly thereaf-
50 million Russians, and the
Chinese Communist Mao
received less than honorable
mention for the deaths of 70
million Chinese: some say
it is because Hitler gassed
women and children.
Hitler gassed old men too.
Old women. And anyone
regardless of gender under
the age of 15. They were
simply considered: unable
to work.
Anne Frank only survived
her first day at Auschwitz
because she was 15.
Was it really because Hitler
killed women and children?
to the revenue department. This
problem is well known to law
makers and revenue officials, but
they haven't done much to deal
with it.
A pilot program in Hall
County uncovered the fact that
nearly 1,000 businesses in that
county do not have sales tax
numbers, which means they are
not reporting their sales tax col
lections to the state. There are
several hundred businesses that
do not have a business license
from their local government.
House Minority Leader
DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) and
his Democratic colleagues have
been trying in vain for more
than a year to pass legislation
that would crack down on these
renegade businesses who are
cheating tire state of sales tax
proceeds.
“Our bill will stop the tax
cheaters and get the money
where it ought to go,” Porter
said.
Based on tire results of tire
Hall County program. Porter
estimates that unreported sales
taxes for the whole state could
amount to as much as $1 billion.
This is not a tax increase: this is
money that the businesses are
already required to collect and
send to tire state.
Revenue Commissioner Bart
Graham gets imitated whenev
er his agency is criticized and
claims that the estimate of $1 bil
lion in uncollected taxes is much
too high. But even Graham con
cedes that somewhere between
five percent and 10 percent of
Georgia's sales tax proceeds are
now been made to look like
criminals in their own home
town and all they were doing
was simply skateboarding.
They have no proof that these
three children did the small
damage that they said they did.
When they were locked up,
there were three of them and
ter he did. He sent an angel by
the name of Scottie Edwards.
Scottie had no more money
than I did so how were we
going to make this happen?
We may not have had money
but we did have compassion
and knew how to ask for
help.
People can say what they
like, but I know firsthand that
there are some wonderful
people in Madison County,
whether they helped with the
home, gave money or services
Maybe not. Did Stalin kill
women and children? How
does one kill 50 million peo
ple and never touch a woman
or a child? Marxists would
have you believe that it hap
pened that way. And you'll
find almost zero information
on it. I have never seen a
breakdown of exactly who
was killed by the communist
Russians. There are how
ever numerous photographs
of Ukrainian children dead
and starving at the hands
of Stalin. Stalin killed more
Ukrainians by starvation (10
million) than Hitler killed
being evaded. That conservative
estimate would still amount to
$250 million to $500 million
a year.
That amount of money could
make up for the major cuts in
state funding to local school sys
tems, and then some.
There have been indications
in recent weeks that legislative
Republicans could be ready to
join their Democratic colleagues
and take action to collect these
delinquent taxes. Bills have been
introduced by lawmakers from
both parties to set up a system
that would cross-check sales
tax and business license data to
identify retailers who are not
turning over tax proceeds as tire
law requires.
Legislators have also come to
the realization that you have to
have tax collectors before you
can actually collect taxes. The
revised state budget includes
money for the revenue depart
ment to hire six investigative
agents and four financial ana
lysts for its fraud detection
group, which means there will
be more people to go after tax
my child was the only one
handcuffed. I am highly upset
as a parent. These are not bad
children. They weren’t selling
dope, breaking into the school
or breaking in cars. They were
just simply skateboarding.
Sincerely,
April Hicks
to make this happen I thank
each of you, and the family
thanks you so very much. I
also thank God for sending
me Scottie. I could not have
made it happen without the
two of them.
I think in times like we are
having now, we must think of
others and help when we can,
because it could anyone of
us that could find hard times
knocking at our door.
Sincerely,
Linda Fortson
Jews (six million) with all
his forms of extermination.
So, was it the women and
children? Maybe not. Was
it the television commen
tary? Maybe so. Fox News
channel was able to find
information on it after 80
years. Could it be, that for
80 years, no one else was
looking?
Read. Devour the printed
word. It is the truth, not
work (Arbeit macht frei)
that will set you free.
Sincerely,
Dwain Lee Kirkland
Hull
cheats.
That’s a good start. Tire next
step is for lawmakers to get
moving and adopt this legisla
tion so that Georgia can start
collecting taxes that are long
past due.
Tire General Assembly can
move fast when it comes to
legislation that has no relevance
for its constituents. Tire Senate
has already adopted a bill that
would make it illegal to implant
microchips in people, even
though the bill’s sponsor, Sen.
Chip Pearson (R-Dawsonville),
could not cite a single instance
where any person in Georgia
was ever forced to undergo
such an implantation.
If legislators would only
move that quickly to go after
tax cheats, the state and its
school systems would be in
much better shape.
Tom Crawford is the edi
tor of The 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.
McCall
• • •
cont’d from 4A
County Commissioners met in my office with DOT and DNR and
went back home with good news about the three additional cabins
at Richard B. Russell State Park and several paving projects.
As we continue to work through these tough times, I would like
to know what issues are most pressing for you and your family.
As your state representative, I am always eager to hear your con
cerns. Please feel free to call me with any questions or comments
that you might have regarding our state. You can reach me at your
Capitol office at 404-656-5115. Thank you for your time.
Rep. Tom McCall (R), Elberton, is the District 30 member
of the Georgia House of Representatives, which includes the
southern half of Madison County, all of Elbert County and the
eastern portion of Jackson County.
Powell
• • •
cont’d from 4A
House majority voted Feb. 9 to waive state regulations on how local
school boards spend state funds over the next three years. HB 908,
which now goes to the Senate for its consideration, is intended to
provide flexibility during current economic conditions and in light of
budget cutbacks.
Transportation Funding: Bipartisan legislation was proposed this
week that would set aside 25 percent of any future increases in the
state's general sales tax revenues for transportation puiposes. Had
this plan been in place over the past 10 years, it would have generated
approximately $1.5 billion for transportation. HR 1358 was referred to
the House Transportation Committee.
Business Identity Theft: House members voted unanimously to
approve legislation that would allow businesses to be treated the same
as individuals by prosecutors when they are victims under state laws on
identity theft. HB 1016 now goes to the Senate for its consideration.
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, visit www.alanpowell.net.
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There are some wonderful people living in Madison Co.
Why so litde info on Stalin’s extermination campaign?
Lawmakers should go where the money is