Newspaper Page Text
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► TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2003
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Rex Gambill
Vice President Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
School Board Bites The Bullet
The Houston County Board of Education
swallowed hard, faced reality and voted to
increase the tax rate 1.91 mills to cover the
budget that already has been adopted for this
school year.
The action was necessary. And it was
inevitable if the school system continues to
provide the level of service that is required.
It was a hard decision for the school board
members, naturally. One member of the
board - Karen Mertens - said “no.”
The crisis that is facing the Houston County
School System is not of its own making. The
state of Georgia, with its own financial crisis,
has cut back funding that our system has
been receiving to the extent of $16.6 million.
When the state cuts back, the local school
board must make up the loss. One way or
another, taxpayers must foot the bill. The
burden of raising the money is just shifted.
Federal and state governments have placed
so many mandates on local school systems
that they really have very little wiggle room.
While there is a lot of talk about giving local
school systems more authority and leeway in
operating, actually the pendulum is swinging
in the opposite direction.
This is true not only for school systems. It
works across the board. Federal and state
lawmakers are good at passing laws and dic
tating mandates for local governments to
carry out and then not funding them. The
lawmakers look good because they are “doing
something” about problems and local govern
mental bodies look bad when they must raise
taxes under a gun to pay for the mandates.
Taxpayers will have opportunities at three
public forums to give their opinions on the
school board’s increase in the millage rate.
This is required any time there is a tax
increase.
Anyone with questions or comments should
attend one of these forums.
Indigent defense funding out of control
OK, Kelly, admit it, you
were wrong! Well, I would if
I was, but I won’t because
I’m not. You may remember
that in my earlier rantings
about the absurdly designed
indigent defense bill I com
plained that no one knew
the cost of the proposed pro
gram. So, quoting other
sources, I said it was going
to cost between SSO-75 mil
lion dollars a year. I have
since had my head handed
to me by several irate public
defenders, or their support
ers, contending that I over
stated the budgetary needs
in an effort to simply rail on
against indigent defense.
An open letter to CentervMe citizens
Editor:
Well, I have stood back long enough and
listened and read all the negative things
about the people at Centerville City Hall
and especially the candidate for mayor,
Ronnie Brand. I have personally known
Ronnie Brand for 30 years. We have attend
ed First Baptist Church of Centerville
together for 15 years. We attend the same
Shining Lights Sunday School class on a
regular basis. We have served on church
committees together and I know Ronnie to
be a line Christian man and a good leader. I
have observed him as he served on
Centerville City Council a number of years
and I know he is an honest and well-respect
ed person in the Centerville community. I
know he is a man of service and I also know
that he has nothing to gain from serving as
your mayor. He is a dedicated man with high
morals and principles and would be a Mayor
the people can talk to and trust. Ronnie has
a lot to offer as a SERVANT to the people of
Centerville. Don’t be misled by the negative
slander toward Ronnie Brand. Call someone
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Kelly Burke
District Attorney
distatty@houstonda.org
First, just so there is no
mistake, let me reiterate my
in Centerville that knows him well and I’m
sure you will hear the truth about this fine
man that is willing to serve his community.
He lives only two blocks from City Hall and
his work schedule is very flexible. He com
pletes much of his career work from home,
at night and on weekends. I’m sure that he
will give only his best to the people of
Centerville. I know Ronnie and I strongly
recommend him to the people of Centerville.
Do the right thing for the future of
Centerville and cast your VOTE on Tuesday,
Oct. 7, for the very best man to serve as
mayor who is, without a doubt, RONNIE
BRAND.
Rick Thompson
Centerville
Rtewsppper should support Bush
Editor:
I would like to see this newspaper support
George Bush for president. He had done
more for the security for the people of this
country than the last administration did in
eight “years” to tear it down. We cannot
afford to lose such a strong leader that does
Some questions never go away
SOME FRIENDS read
my column of last weekend
and disagreed with some of
my reasoning concerning
the cities providing police
officers for middle and high
schools in the county.
One friend said, “You just
stepped right into the dou
ble taxation trap.”
I asked how. He said,
“Don’t you realize that the
cities are being asked to pay
the full cost of these officers
even though many of the
students attending the
schools are living in unin
corporated parts of Houston
County?”
It seems this bugaboo
never will go away.
What, I asked of my
friends, do you believe
would be right?
I should not have been
surprised when they unani
mously argued that it would
be fair for the cities to pay
half the cost of the salaries
of the officers with the
school board paying the
other half.
Another thing all agreed
on was that the school sys-
' \ 11
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position on indigent defense.
I support it. I support indi
gent defense programs that
provide legal representation
to the poor. I support the
fact that poor people have
the same rights as anyone
else in the criminal justice
system. What I don’t sup
port is the concept that only
certain designated people
can possibly care about the
rights of the poor. The ban
ner-carrying intelligentsia
says that only government
paid lawyers, traditionally
with a massive liberal bent,
can possibly care about the
poor. Anyone else simply
doesn’t care, or so they
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@eox.net
tern does not need - nor
should it have - its own
police force, as they do in
Bibb County.
“Leave law enforcement
in the hands of certified offi
cers,” one said.
As I wrote in my column,
it really doesn’t matter to
me who pays for the officers.
I pay city taxes. I pay school
taxes. So it adds up to the
same thing for me. And,
really, this should not be
such a big issue, except that
each governmental body
would have you believe.
Hence private lawyers, paid
for with public funds, simply
don’t have the well being of
the poor in mind, such that
they must be inherently
ineffective. I dispute that
notion and contend that
some excellent private
lawyers do a wonderful job
defending indigent clients.
Moving on.
The recently-submitted
budget request from the
Indigent Defense committee
set up to run this new pro
gram called for an annual
ized budget of $63.5 million.
Whoa! Didn’t I say between
SSO-75 million? Isn’t $63.5
not waffle in his decisions to protect us like
the other waffling party has shown every
time they debate in front of the American
people.
We need strong leadership in these dan
gerous times of our country to “lead” not
follow opinion polls from week to week to
decide what polity he will support and put
their political future and party ahead of pro
tecting the American people which is his pri
mary job. I will be looking forward to see
your support of this great and strong presi
dent, George W. Bush for his second term as
our real American president.
Curtis Brinkley
Warner Robins
Partnership salutes
(Hi Maintenance leam
Editor:
On behalf of the Middle Georgia commu
nity, the 21st Century Partnership salutes
all members of the Robins Air Force Base C
-5 Maintenance Team for their historic pro
duction of 23 aircraft this fiscal year. This
that collects taxes wants to
avoid criticism for its spend
ing habits.
I’m sure this will be dis
cussed time and again in the
future. But, in my opinion,
the time and effort could be
better directed toward other
things.
• • •
WHY DO middle and high
schools need a police officer
on hand?
Things just aren’t like
they used to be. They’re
needed because there are
troublemakers and they
must be dealt with. Any
attempt to delve further
into the subject could stir up
a can of worms.
• • •
THE SAME friends had
school matters on their
minds yesterday. They want
ed to know why the interim
superintendent of schools
was being paid only SI,OOO a
year more than assistant
superintendents receive.
The answer is interesting.
When the school board
began discussing an interim
superintendent they batted
million almost exactly in the
middle of that? Why, yes it is
Kelly. So I was right and the
attackers were wrong.
Again.
A couple of points about
that budget request. It does
n’t include any lower court
funding, such as State
Courts, Magistrate Courts,
Municipal Courts, and so on.
It only covers Superior
Courts. So counties will be
forced to pick up the rest of
the tab for defending in
those courts. So this isn’t as
comprehensive a system as
we’ve been led to believe.
Which leads to my next
point.
quantum increase in annual production
over previous production levels of 17 air
craft validates in spades what we have all
known for years ... the Robins workforce is
a hustling, dedicated team serving our
nation in the finest fashion.
To achieve this spectacular performance,
it is clear the C-5 team instituted produc
tion improvements that most people only
read about. Clearly the power of Gen.
Wetekam’s Lean program has paid large
benefits as evidenced by this production
phenomenon ... dramatically increased pro
duction with on-time deliveries. Not only
has the Robins workforce provided addition
al critical airlift at a most opportune time,
they have once again verified the reliance
this nation places in their ability to meet
and exceed all requirements.
So well done, Robins! This community
proudly salutes you and anxiously waits to
acknowledge your planned continued
improvements in C-5 flow days. Keep ’em
flying!
Eddie Wiggins
chairman, 21st Century Partnership
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
the compensation back and
forth.
Nobody wanted to pay the
interim superintendent
what they had been paying
Dr. Charles Holloway. But
there was an effort to get
agreement on a salary
halfway between Holloway’s
$145,000 a year and what
assistant superintendents
earn, which is around
$105,000.
One member of the school
board wanted to pay the
interim superintendent $1 a
year more than an assistant
superintendent’s pay. This
got nowhere.
So the board eventually
settled on a generous SI,OOO
a year above an assistant
superintendent’s pay.
The fact that Danny
Carpenter was willing to
take on all that additional
responsibility for only
SI,OOO a year tells me that
he is dedicated to the
Houston County school sys
tem above and beyond the
call of duty.
In my opinion, we’re for
tunate that he took the job.
Opting out of the new pro
gram was allowed only for
single-county circuits.
Houston County is a single
county circuit. Peach
County is not, they are part
of the multi-county Macon
Judicial Circuit. So under
current law, Peach County
cannot opt out. But Houston
County can. Why would
Houston County want to opt
out? You’ll have to wait for
next week’s column to hear
the answer to that one.
Kelly Burke is Houston
County’s district attorney.
He can be reached at (478)
218-4810 or by e-mail at dis
tatty@houstonda.org.