About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 2011)
Come Check Out Our Dinnertime Hearth Baked Flatbreads • Proscuitto di Parma Ham, Tomato, Provencal Herbs, Arugula, Provolone, & Parmigiano Reggiano • Duck Confit, Quick-Pickled Vegetables, Local Farmed Egg, Dijon & Baby Lettuces • Smoked Salmon, Capers, Onions, Dill, Creme Fraiche BREAKFAST • LUNCH • DINNER 393 M. Finley St. off Prince Ave. 706-353-0029 • Catering Available . www.bigcitybreadcafe.com r Moleskine 1 8 month planners are in. Get yours before they are gone! MOLESKINE l tnit 146 e. clayton st. • 706-354-8631 • www.helixathens.com • free gift wrapping J BPCK TO SCHOOL! BUV P BREPKFPST BISCUIT PND GE ONE HALF OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!! mONDRV-FRIDOV. 8/9-8/17 ONLY. JANE CATCHING UP ON THE NEWS Lawmakers will be back in Atlanta on Aug. 15 for a special session on redistricting, but before the fun begins, let's catch up on a few developments in state politics. Last week we received confirmation— again—that Georgia taxpayers are getting snookered by some of their elected representa tives. This one involves "Joshua's Law," a bill passed by the legislature several years ago that imposes a 5 percent surcharge on traffic fines. The proceeds from this surcharge are sup posed to pay for high school driver education classes to help teenagers learn how to handle our roads and highways. A new report from state auditors, however, shows that less than 20 percent of the traffic fine surcharges collected under "Joshua's Law" have actu ally been used for driver's edu cation. The money instead was used to plug holes in the budget. This is not the only time this has happened. For more than a decade, you have been paying a fee of SI per tire each time you buy a new tire. The money is supposed to go to a solid waste trust fund to help pay for the cleanup of millions of discarded tires around the state. In reality, most of the tire-fee funds are diverted to pay for unrelated programs in the budget, instead of being used to get rid of old tires, which continue to pile up. In other news, Gov. Nathan Deal said the state is getting a $1 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund some pilot programs that could help boost the percentage of college students who get a degree. "It really doesn't-do us a lot of good get ting people into our universities and technical colleges if they don't get a degree," Deal said. Deal did not mention that one of the main roadblocks to getting a college degree is the high cost involved, especially for students from middle- and low-income families. The Board of Regents has had to jack up tuition and fees in recent years because of budget cutbacks. Earlier this year, legislation was passed that will reduce the amount of money paid to students through HOPE scholarships, making it more difficult for many of them to stay in college and get that degree. The governor who signed that bill into law was Nathan Deal. Here's a helpful hint to the governor: if you'll stop cutting HOPE grants and reducing budget allocations for the University System, a college education might become a little more affordable. That will do more to increase col lege graduation rates than a puny foun dation grant. Finally, the members of the state ethics commission announced they will implement a new plan to privatize a large portion of the agency's watchdog responsibili ties. This is a response to cut backs in the commission's budget that have resulted in the dismissal of most of the staff. Many of the commission's func tions will be farmed out to a private attorney who will be paid a maximum of $25,000 a year. If you pay a low-ball fee of $50 per hour for a private attorney's services, that will amount to 500 hours of legal work. That's a little more than 12 weeks of work, if you figure the attorney will be billing for a 40-hour week. In other words, the state would be able to enforce its campaign disclosure laws for about three months out of the year. Politicians would be able to ignore the law's requirements the rest of the year, because the ethics com mission probably wouldn't have the resources to investigate violations. The ethics commis sion would become useless. Is there a way you din take a state agency outside and shoot it to put it out of its misery? Tom Crawford tcrawford@gareport.com THIS MtlliN WtILi by TOM TOMORROW OUR HERO AND HIS ESTEEMED ARCH-RIWL HAVE JUST SURVIVED A BRUISING BATTLE... I HAD HOP£D TO USE THIS OC CASION to REACH A GRAND BAR- GAIN— BUT YOUR SlDE-S RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT MY PRE-EMPTIVE COM PROMISES PROVED MOST VEXING.' TRUE ENOUGH.' BUT IN THE END, WE ARRIVED AT A VERY REA SONABLE Solution- Id I IH1 dfch" till --A BIPARTISAN SUPER-COM- MtTTEE which MUST Achieve COMPROMISE--LEST THEY TRIGGER DRACONIAN CUTS IN BOTH DEFENSE AND DOMESTIC SPENDING.* SUDDENLY—IN BURSTS THE ONE VILLAIN WITH WHOM MIDDLE-MAN WILL NEVER COMPROMISE—THE DISSATISFIED LEFTIST: SERIOUSLY, MIDDLE-MAN? THE G.O.P. WAS READY TO DRIVE THE ECONOMY INTO A DITCH RATHER THAN MAKE THE SLIGHTEST CONCESSION ON REVENUE — --AND NOW YOU'RE BETTING EVERY THING ON THEIR WILLINGNESS TO COMPROMISE NEXT TIME? ARE You KIDDING ME?? DO YOU HEAR A VAGUE WHINING SOUND, AS IF AN UNSEEN INSECT HAS SOMEHOW GAINED ACCESS TO THE ROOM? ■I ELI RIGHT. ME NEITHER. NO. NO, I REALLY DO NOT. NEXT time: SUPER-COMMITTEE STALEMATE! No one I r 1 COULD \A, HAVE— -on YOU KNOW. 6 FLAGPOLE.COM-AUGUST 10. 2011 i»M 1«MoRR»W©20II ...www.thismodomworld.com...twittar.com/tomtomorrow
