About The Madison County journal. (Hull, Ga.) 1989-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2025)
PAGE 4A - THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2025 pinions ‘Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.”- Henry Ward Beecher A window Baby boomers Hello, neighbors. After a recent night of fitful sleep with an ill-at-ease mind, I held on to wakefulness as the day’s earliest grays began to seep through the closed blinds. Sun rises on a weekend are harder to see, I decided. I got up, opened my house’s eyes to the world, and decided to use my own to watch the morning sky grow. Here is what I saw... The window pane, dot ted with dried water spots, a little dusty and in need of a Saturday spring cleaning. Not this particular Saturday, though. During later hours, in full overhead sunlight, the glass is clear, hardly marking a barrier between Mother Nature’s wild world and my own carefully cu rated one. However, in the lower morning light, signs of her relentless efforts ap peared when I looked at— rather than through—it. My mind thought of countless past rainstorms, sound and fury and necessity, with hun dreds of tiny specks and streaks left as a calling card. Beyond the dappled pane, there was little color at first, a muted picture of bluish-gray. Fitting for eyes and a mind not yet fully awake. A flashing porchlight from a neigh bor’s house was a mote of brightness among the swaying branches. Already a breezy morning, then. Watching the boughs gently drift brought memories of other winds: warm, like a soothing embrace on summer nights; cold, By Travis Moak Sen. Frank Ginn: Week seven under the gold dome Crossover Day—the deadline for bills to pass out of their original cham ber and stay in consideration for this session—is quickly approaching, with committee hearings and legislative de bates in full swing. This week, we passed HB 67, the Senate’s version of the 2025 amended fiscal year budget. With these appro priations, we’re returning hard-earned money to state taxpayers—providing $250 refunds for single filers, $375 for heads of households, and $500 for married joint filers—all made possi ble by Georgia’s strong conservative financial stewardship. Investments in education and workforce develop ment include $50 million in school security grants, salary increases for Pre-K teachers and funding for col lege career academies. This budget is a commitment to Georgia’s working families, rural communities and con servative principles—returning mon ey to taxpayers while making targeted investments to keep our state strong and prosperous for future generations. Most importantly, this budget pri oritizes help for those still recover ing from Hurricane Helene, a storm that tore through Georgia over 100 days ago. Many of our rural commu nities—farmers, small businesses and families—are still waiting for relief to repair the damage from this genera tional storm. The Senate’s budget in cludes essential funding to help these Georgians get back on their feet by adding $50 million to the Governor’s Emergency Fund to support recovery efforts. These funds will help fami lies, farmers and businesses rebuild, covering debris removal, housing ex penses and hazard mitigation efforts. An additional $50 million will support Georgia farmers and timber produc ers through the Georgia Development Authority, bringing the total invest ment in agriculture recovery to $300 million. We also included $15 million to support nonprofit organizations aid ing storm victims and $15.6 million to help stabilize rural hospitals in disas ter-affected areas. We must continue to ensure that when disaster strikes, our citizens aren’t left waiting for re lief while bureaucratic red tape slows down recovery, and this carefully crafted amended budget is a testament to those efforts. This budget priority is especially important to me given the damage we experienced from the storm. Speaking of red tape, we also suc cessfully passed Senate Bill 28, the “Red Tape Rollback Act of 2025.” This legislation looks at the regula tions that have piled up over the years and ensures they still serve their in tended purpose. For too long, govern ment overreach has placed an unfair burden on small businesses, farmers and job creators—the backbone of our economy. SB 28 requires a small busi ness impact analysis for future legisla tion and economic impact reviews for any new rules costing the state more than $1 million over five years. Sim ply put, this bill ensures that Georgia remains a low-tax, business-friendly state where people can provide for their families—without being stran gled by government bureaucracy. On Wednesday, the Senate passed Senate Bill 79, the “Fentanyl Eradica tion and Reduction (FEAR) Act.” This bill strengthens penalties for those who possess, distribute, or manufac ture fentanyl, a drug that is devastating communities across Georgia. Fentanyl is not just another illegal drug—it is a lethal poison that is killing our loved ones at an alarming rate. Last year, Austin’s Law increased penalties for fentanyl distribution, and SB 79 builds on that by tightening restrictions and cracking down on traffickers. We must do everything in our power to keep these dangerous substances out of our communities and protect our children from those who would do them harm. In addition to supporting these crit ical bills, I co-sponsored SB 213, the Fair Business Practices Act of 1975. This adjustment to the original 1975 law will ban commercial cheating services that target students and pre vent individuals from unfairly and improperly completing licensing re quirements. Our state has licensing Chaos and destruction President Donald J. Trump, acting without legal au thority and in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States, signed more than 200 pieces of paper he called, “executive orders”. In those pieces of paper, he purported to shutter federal agencies, fire thousands of federal employees and suspend federal funding, all of which had been authorized by law. Some residents of US House District 10 seem to think this is a great idea. There are residents of our Congressional District who seem to not care that: The Department of Education provides 26,000,000 healthy meals to school children; USAID saves millions of people who would have starved, is a cornerstone of American diplomacy and buys $2.1 billion dollars of farm products from farmers, including Georgians; Federal Aviation Administration employees are vital to safe operation of airports serving millions of Americans; Federal investments in renewable energy fight fos stinging, and hurtful in winter’s sharp glare. After a while, my eyes landed on a surprise in the form of barely-there privet hedge leaflets, the first I noticed of the coming season. Being smaller than the surrounding trees, they bounced with more energetic reactions to the gusty bursts. An old tree, next. A broad, looming, but squatty oak, its limbs stretched upward, seeking their patch of sunlight, though only just so; surrounding family members stood taller. While green would surely return to the loftier heights of its aging crown, one branch hung low, destined to remain barren. It did not dance in the breeze like its cousins. The wind will likely take it eventually. The morning’s growing light showed a songbird resting on it for the time being. Eventually, color painted the formerly-purpled clouds. They appeared as cream sherbet streaks brushed against the sky’s vanilla canvas, strawberry at first then sharpening to orange and finally a glowing, golden yellow. As the clouds took center stage, dawn’s curtain began to rise on the set’s backdrop: imagine any rose you ever laid eyes upon, and it was there. Light and wispy then deeper and more vibrant, the hues reddened. I thought of a tomato ripening for some reason. At the height of it all, the star of the show appeared, not quite as impossible to look at as it would be in mere seconds. My eyes caught rainbowed starbursts as its light streamed through every nook and cranny among the trees. Quite a while at the window that morning. Quite a morning, too. As I turned away, I saw another window on the wall, faintly orange. I stood to watch it brighten for a minute or two, the amber light warming the room. I felt warmed, too. My hope is that you stand, window-side, and look. Thank you for making my life better, dawn. Mindfully yours, Travis. examinations in career fields to cer tify industry competence and protect Georgians from being taken advantage of by bad actors. Implementing these updates will certify that examinees are earning the scores and certifications they receive and displaying genuine competence in their field before serv ing Georgians. This week, I was honored to rec ognize the hardworking students of the University of Georgia’s Block and Bridle Club for their outstanding work to prepare for the 50th Great Southland Stampede Rodeo. The Block and Bridle Club executes the largest student-coordinated rodeo in the United States. As a former Great Southland Stampede Rodeo competi tor and Georgia Bulldog, I am proud to see this UGA tradition grow into its tremendous success today. Last but not least, I was proud to welcome Boy Scouts from Boy Scout Troop 173 to the Capitol. The Boy Scouts of Ameri- ca train young leaders, and I was hon ored to show them how the legislative process works under the Gold Dome. I was also pleased to welcome stu dents and members of Georgia 4-H to the Gold Dome. 4-H provides af terschool programs and educational opportunities in agriculture, science, civic engagement, leadership, health and wellness to youth across Georgia. Their platform fosters our youth into the upstanding citizens and leaders we need in Georgia. As we move into the second half of the legislative session, I encourage you to reach out with any questions or concerns. I will always fight for the people who get up every morning, put in a hard day’s work, and ask for nothing but a fair shot at the American Dream. Thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to updat ing you on our progress in the weeks ahead. Sen. Frank Ginn represents the 47th Senate District which includes Mad ison County and portions of Barrow, Clarke, and Jackson County. He can be reached at (404) 656-4700 or by email atfrank.ginn@senate.ga.gov. sil fuel driven climate catastrophes, create thousands of good paying jobs and include $1 billion dollars in funding Georgia infrastructure; Federal law enforcement agents and judges protect our border from violent criminals and suppliers of deadly drugs; The CDC provides crucial scientific research that pro tects us from the constant, evolving threat of deadly dis ease; Federal employees fight those who poison our air and water and protect us from workplace injury and death; So why, exactly, does anyone in Congressional District 10, and anyone anywhere within our United States, think it is a great idea to gut our federal government and de stroy the very agencies and agents that protect us? Do you care? Sincerely, Shelbey Alexander Winder By Charlie Snelling Are you what is known as a baby boomer? Well, I am. If you were born between 1946 and 1960 you are too. The 1950’s were great years to learn how to be a human being. By the time you are age ten, 1960 for me, you have most of your values locked in. Every thing after that is just gravy. I can remember around 1956 we got a television. My early memories of that Zenith black and white TV were Howdy Doodie and The Mickey Mouse Club. I don’t know about your mama but mine raised me using somebody called Doc tor Spock as a reference guide. I wonder if he was any kin to that Vulcan of the same name on Star Trek. If you ever watched Happy Days with Arthur Fonzarelli, the Fonz or Fonzie, you are aware of pleated skirts, bobby socks and oxford (black & white) lace up shoes. I didn’t have to watch Hap py Days. I lived it. Dwight Eisenhower was president and the most famous dogs in the world were Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. They should have had puppies called German Collies and started a new breed. When I was eleven, I heard a lot about pig farmers in Cuba. They kept them in a bay somewhere down there and we sent soldiers to get them but it didn’t work out. My uncle down in Covington built us a cool club house to play in. It was the strongest building that I had ever seen with thick concrete walls. They call it a shelter of some kind. I remember there was a huge pantry that had a lot of food in it. Most of all, I liked the pool table and it was always cool in there because it was below the ground and didn’t have any windows. I think they liked us using it to play in so they would always know where we were. The music was something else back then. There was this guy that was on the Ed Sullivan show. My grand parents wanted to turn it off. They said that the way he moved was vulgar. I had no clue what they were talking about. However, I did think he may have used Brylereem (a little dab’l do ya’) on his hair. Slick hair was the thing. The guy that sang Tutti-Frutti styled his hair the same way and he eventually became a preach er. This may be why my aunt bought me a guitar. An other big, tall guy with the same hair style, that always dressed in a black coat, was a popular country music singer. He liked to sing about jails. Movie stars were the thing back then. I did not think much about them. One of the blond-headed female stars sang Happy Birthday to the President of the Unit ed States on TV. She must have had a fever because the older boys were talking about how she was “hot.” This guy named Disney had it all going on. He has the most cartoon movies of them all. The movies, popcorn and a Coke were less than a dollar in Athens and if you went to Comer, it was less than fifty cents. Oh yeah! There was another guy that always dressed in black and wore a mask. He was a sword fighter and I think he was Spanish. I watched a lot of TV at my grandparent’s house. They had a color TV. It was also a Zenith with a four-button clicker (remote control). They loved Ed Sullivan, I Love Lucy and the Jackie Gleason. I didn’t do much reading, but I remember reading one book about somebody named Holden who dreamed about catching children in a rye field. I would not have read it at all, except I heard my parents say that young people should not read it. I got my hands on a copy as soon as I could. My daddy and my grandfather both worked at our store in Carlton. I was always around to hear all the old men talking about somebody that was a Russian cruise chef and a guy named Castro. He was involved in that pig bay thing. In those days, my folks were always tak ing us to get vaccinated for something. If I stepped on a rusty nail, I had to go get a shot. I was glad when I heard that one important immunization that we had to get was a drop of liquid on a sugar cube. There is so much more of this stuff that I could talk about but it would fill up this newspaper. One thing I do remember is my Daddy folding up a flag that had forty-eight stars on it. I still have it. If you are reading this, you are one of the lucky ones. Not too many of us boomers left these days! The Madison County Journal Danielsville, Madison County Georgia 30633 Merged with The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News, January 2006 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. MIKE BUFFINGTON, Go-publisher SCOTT BUFFINGTON Go-publisher CALEB ROLLINS Editor Subscriptions: $45/year —$40/seniors POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: THE MADISON COUNTY JOURNAL PO Box 908 Jefferson, Ga. 30549 The Official Legal Organ of Madison County, Georgia-Periodicals postage paid at Danielsville, Georgia 30633 (USPS 011-097: ISSN 1074987X)
