By R. A. Pearson
Republican candidate for governor and former President pro tem of the Georgia Senate Eric Johnson of Savannah will be the featured guest speaker at the Grits 'n' Bits breakfast for the Camden County Republican Party to be held on November 7, 2009. The breakfast will begin around 8:45 AM at the Fraternal Order Of Eagles Aerie in St. Marys located at 101-C Industrial Park Dr. Directly behind the St. Marys Police Complex on Point Peter Rd.
Mr. Johnson has said his campaign would focus on jobs, education and ethics.
Eric Johnson was the Republican Caucus Leader for 10 years and was a long time advocate of the need of a viable two party system in Georgia. Many Clarion Issue readers will remember the Senator’s “Legislative Session Wrap Ups” we ran during the years he was President pro tem of the Senate.
During his tenure in office Senator Johnson represented District 1, a district that at one time included most of costal Georgia from Savannah to Glynn County and parts of Camden County. Today the district includes parts of Chatham, Liberty, and all of Bryan Counties.
Senator Johnson’s campaign web site is www.JohnsonForGeorgians.com.
Senator Johnson is among several contenders for the Republican nomination for governor. His opponents include Secretary of State Karen Handel, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, and State Representative Austin Scott.
The cost of the breakfast is seven dollars.
Also of interest is the Camden County Republican Womens’ meeting on October 27, 2009, at 6:30 p.m., at the Camden County Annex in Kingsland. Their featured speaker will be Virginia Galloway, Director of Americans for Prosperity, who will be teaching a class on grassroots and how to affect policy with elected officials. You will need to RSVP Patricia Viellenave at wvgal@tds.net as seating is limited.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
MUSIC REVIEWS: 40 YEARS AFTER WOODSTOCK
By R. A. Pearson
In mid-August 2009 the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival had its 40th anniversary. The celebration of the anniversary, along with the release of a new Woodstock movie, Taking Woodstock, has stirred a renewed interest in the music, the groups, and the events of the Woodstock Festival, the “Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace, Love, and Music” which took place on Max Yagsur’s 600 acre dairy farm near Woodstock, New York, over the weekend of August 15-18, 1969. Over 500,000 music fans and 32 acts attended the outdoor festival and braved heavy rains and poor planning to participate in the event.
The events of the festival, especially the musical performances, were immortalized in a documentary film, directed by Michael Wadleigh, released in 1970, along with a sound tract of the film. The film, Woodstock, and the sound track from the movie were major successes at the time. The entire event had been recorded leading to later releases after the initial success of the first album set.
The first Woodstock album, Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More, was a three-album set including performances from The Who, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Country Joe McDonald and the Fish, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Ten Years After, Jimi Hendrix, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. During the CD years this three album set was re-released as a two CD set. There is a Best of Woodstock CD released in the mid-1990s. This is a 12 cut CD collection, and it includes the mandatory Country Joe McDonald “Fish Cheer,” The Who, the Jefferson Airplane, Ten Years After, and Jimi Hendrix. The CSN&Y selection on Best of Woodstock is “Wooden Ships.”
In 1971 Woodstock Two was released. This album included more songs from performers who were on the original album and movie and cuts from performers who were not on the first album. There were two great songs, “Theme From An Imaginary Western” and “Blood Of The Sun,” from Mountain, as well as two songs by Melanie (Melanie Safke) on this double album. However, most of the album was given over to music by CSN&Y, Joan Baez, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix.
There are also several box sets of Woodstock CDs available containing The Original Woodstock, Woodstock Two, and other recordings from the weekend. Recently there has been an effort to release the performances of the various bands at the festival. Released under the title “The Woodstock Experience,” most of these are two CD sets. So far Janis Joplin, Santana, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane, and Sly and the Family Stone have released such CDs. Jimi Hendrix has a Woodstock CD entitled Live At Woodstock.
The Woodstock festival was not only immortalized in film and on the recordings of the event itself, but in several songs about the event. Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” appeared on her 1970 hit album Ladies of the Canyon and was ‘rockafied’ up and covered by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young on their 1970 album Deja Vu. Mountain’s ode to the festival, “For Yasgur’s Farm,” appeared on their 1970 LP Mountain Climbing. Since then Woodstock has made many cameos in songs, poems, literature, and is part of the persona of the counter culture movement of the 1960s and early 1970s.
On a sad note, the music world said goodbye to guitar legend and innovator Les Paul who died at age 94. Les Paul was best known for his design of the solid-body guitar which bears his name, the Gibson Les Paul. His work on studio improvements in recording and mixing made him an important factor in the rock’n’ roll movement. He will be missed.
In mid-August 2009 the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival had its 40th anniversary. The celebration of the anniversary, along with the release of a new Woodstock movie, Taking Woodstock, has stirred a renewed interest in the music, the groups, and the events of the Woodstock Festival, the “Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace, Love, and Music” which took place on Max Yagsur’s 600 acre dairy farm near Woodstock, New York, over the weekend of August 15-18, 1969. Over 500,000 music fans and 32 acts attended the outdoor festival and braved heavy rains and poor planning to participate in the event.
The events of the festival, especially the musical performances, were immortalized in a documentary film, directed by Michael Wadleigh, released in 1970, along with a sound tract of the film. The film, Woodstock, and the sound track from the movie were major successes at the time. The entire event had been recorded leading to later releases after the initial success of the first album set.
The first Woodstock album, Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More, was a three-album set including performances from The Who, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Country Joe McDonald and the Fish, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Ten Years After, Jimi Hendrix, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. During the CD years this three album set was re-released as a two CD set. There is a Best of Woodstock CD released in the mid-1990s. This is a 12 cut CD collection, and it includes the mandatory Country Joe McDonald “Fish Cheer,” The Who, the Jefferson Airplane, Ten Years After, and Jimi Hendrix. The CSN&Y selection on Best of Woodstock is “Wooden Ships.”
In 1971 Woodstock Two was released. This album included more songs from performers who were on the original album and movie and cuts from performers who were not on the first album. There were two great songs, “Theme From An Imaginary Western” and “Blood Of The Sun,” from Mountain, as well as two songs by Melanie (Melanie Safke) on this double album. However, most of the album was given over to music by CSN&Y, Joan Baez, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix.
There are also several box sets of Woodstock CDs available containing The Original Woodstock, Woodstock Two, and other recordings from the weekend. Recently there has been an effort to release the performances of the various bands at the festival. Released under the title “The Woodstock Experience,” most of these are two CD sets. So far Janis Joplin, Santana, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane, and Sly and the Family Stone have released such CDs. Jimi Hendrix has a Woodstock CD entitled Live At Woodstock.
The Woodstock festival was not only immortalized in film and on the recordings of the event itself, but in several songs about the event. Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” appeared on her 1970 hit album Ladies of the Canyon and was ‘rockafied’ up and covered by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young on their 1970 album Deja Vu. Mountain’s ode to the festival, “For Yasgur’s Farm,” appeared on their 1970 LP Mountain Climbing. Since then Woodstock has made many cameos in songs, poems, literature, and is part of the persona of the counter culture movement of the 1960s and early 1970s.
On a sad note, the music world said goodbye to guitar legend and innovator Les Paul who died at age 94. Les Paul was best known for his design of the solid-body guitar which bears his name, the Gibson Les Paul. His work on studio improvements in recording and mixing made him an important factor in the rock’n’ roll movement. He will be missed.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
THERE SEEMS TO BE A PROTEST IN THE AIR AGAINST THE PROPOSED TAX MILLAGE HIKES IN CAMDEN COUNTY
Jason Spencer and the newly formed Camden County Tea Party Patriots (Taxed Enough Already) invite you to protest the proposed tax hikes in Camden County. The Camden County Tea Party Patriots group is an off-shoot division of the Golden Isle Tea Party Patriot movement. The Tea Party Patriots feel both political parties and the local political leaders are ignoring the will of the people, and the people must be heard! The Tea Party Patriots will be aligning themselves with the Camden Watch Dog group that has built an excellent way to “watch the local government’s taxing and spending. Please go to their web site at www.camdenwatchdog.com to get up to date on local issues. The Tea Party Patriots do not currently have a web site operation at this time.
PROTEST TIMES: There will be two (2) protests you are encouraged to attend.
Protest #1.
October 15th, 2009 Start Time: 5:00 p.m. End Time 6:00 p.m.
Place: Board of Education Admin. Office, 311 South East Street, Kingsland, Ga.
Reason: The BOE is proposing a millage increase that will increase property taxes by 0.88%. Hearing to follow after the protest.
Protest #2
October 22nd, 2009 Start Time: 4:15 p.m. End Time 5: 15 p.m.
Place: Camden County Government Services Building, 200 East 4th St, Woodbine, Ga.
Reason: Board or Commissioners have tentatively adopted a millage rate by 0.88% and the Woodbine tax district by 4.65%
For more information email Jason at jcsdawg@yahoo.com.
PROTEST TIMES: There will be two (2) protests you are encouraged to attend.
Protest #1.
October 15th, 2009 Start Time: 5:00 p.m. End Time 6:00 p.m.
Place: Board of Education Admin. Office, 311 South East Street, Kingsland, Ga.
Reason: The BOE is proposing a millage increase that will increase property taxes by 0.88%. Hearing to follow after the protest.
Protest #2
October 22nd, 2009 Start Time: 4:15 p.m. End Time 5: 15 p.m.
Place: Camden County Government Services Building, 200 East 4th St, Woodbine, Ga.
Reason: Board or Commissioners have tentatively adopted a millage rate by 0.88% and the Woodbine tax district by 4.65%
For more information email Jason at jcsdawg@yahoo.com.
Friday, October 9, 2009
THE SIXTH, FIRST ANNUAL THATHLOTHLAGUPHKA AWARD ANNOUNCED BY THE CLARION ISSUE
By R. A. Pearson and other staff members
Each year the Clarion Issue presents the Annual Thathlothlaguphka Award. The Thathlothlaguphka Award is a local award for abject stupidity, general idiocy, or total incompetence, given to a local official, body politic, or politically connected contractor or company whose actions have negatively affected the people in the area. The name Thathlothlaguphka comes from the Native American name for the St. Marys River and means “smells like rotten fish.” The Jefferson Muzzle Awards, presented by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, and the Ig Nobel Prizes, presented by the Harvard Computer Society and the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students, and the Darwin Awards have served as the models for the Clarion Issue’s Thathlothlaguphka Award.
The winner receives a Thathlothlaguphka Award certificate, a Clarion Issue bar stick, an I HATE THE CLARION ISSUE tee shirt, a $25 bar tab from The Island Bar and Grill on Hwy 40, and a $25 lunch from Lucky Dawgs, Love At First Bite, on Point Peter Rd. We thank our sponsors for their support in the presentation of this prestigious award.
This year’s winner is …. The Camden County Board of Assessors! Hardly a surprise, in view of the recent County Commission vote to initiate an investigation of their activities.
After almost two years of dramatic devaluation of almost all real property, defaults and foreclosures, the Assessors seem to think Camden County was spared. There are so many protests over the inflated valuations that the entire Tax Digest is threatened. To make matters worse, the Assessors sent out “preliminary” valuations which were even worse inflated, presumably thinking tax payers would be grateful when the final assessments were slightly lower. This is akin to the federal government’s stunt of quadrupling the annual deficit, then bragging about their plans to cut the deficit in half, leaving the final amount only twice what it has been in recent years. We can only hope the investigation proceeds a little faster than the strung-out investigation of former Sheriff Bill Smith, a former winner, and frequent dishonorable mention (see below.)
The first member of the Camden County Board of Assessors to contact the Clarion Issue at www.clarionish.com will become eligible for the valuable prizes which accompany the award; however, a photo-op is required at the time the award and prizes are presented.
Honorable mention is only that because the scope and effect of their failures is much more limited. The St. Marys Ethics Commission is almost completely dysfunctional, and might as well disband. The Commission received a complaint against a Council member, and dismissed it for lack of evidence. When the complaint was re-filed, with the supporting evidence, it was dismissed on the basis that it had previously been dismissed. When the subject of that complaint filed a new complaint against the Council members who colluded to violate the Open Meetings law, so many Commission members recused themselves that the Commission could not get a quorum to consider the complaint. In other words, all it takes to beat the law is enough members of the Council to agree to flout it!
A quick check on a few past winners shows slow progress on the cleanup of the old paper mill in St. Marys. LandMar, the 2006 winner, was left holding the bag on this land deal faux pas, has pulled an “Elvis,” and left the building site. Today it seems a series of various “contractors” ease in and out doing various jobs and moving on. The latest seems to be a Florida contractor crushing the concrete to be recycled into roads in the Sunshine State. Many St. Marys residents still believe the real toxic chemical damage to the site, the chemicals stashed underground, has not been adequately dealt with by the “clean up” at the mill. When will the citizens of the nation’s “second oldest city” get a real answer from its city or county government on this issue? Who are these companies and whose making the money at the mill site on these deals? When will the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be called in for a real study and clean up? Inquiring minds want to know!
The St. Marys City Council received last year’s award for their role in the give-away of the St. Marys City Airport to the north end of the county. The City Council, the Sea Island Corp., and various other county officials and attorneys pushed a deal to move the airport spending almost $50,000 of federal, state, and local money studying possible relocation sites. They then chose the worst, most expensive, and most distant of the nine sites from the city, evidently based solely on an agreement between city officials and the Sea Island Corp, the owner of the chosen site. It now appears the Tarboro International Airport will soon be a reality. At this airport flocks of geese at the end of the runway are not the real danger, but pilots had better beware of wild hogs and the infamous 150 pound Tarboro armadillo known to haunt the area.
Meanwhile building has stopped and the company gone bust at the 2005 winner, Cumberland Palms (a.k.a. Fiddler Flats), off North River Causeway in St. Marys. The ‘marsh front’ (that is gum-palmetto swamp front) property that idiots were supposed to pay $500,000 to 850,000 a home for is another example of over building and over pricing in the area. As part of the plan, the builders installed a large wall, which would keep any rising floodwaters or a tidal surge from a hurricane inside the site, ricocheting back and forth, compounding the damage to the condominiums. Today the beautifully landscaped area outside the wall is growing a fine crop of coffee weeds making the site a major eyesore. Perhaps the Clarion Issue Inc. can pick up this property cheap; it will make a great site for our planned alligator farm and alligator petting zoo. Thanks to the city’s generosity toward builders and contractors, water and sewerage are in place while some areas with real taxpayers wait for service.
FARTS AND FLORALS
FARTS TO THE FORMER SHERIFF- Bill Smith for misspending over $660,000 in federal funds. The misspent cash was discovered in a federal audit covering a period from July 2004, to April 2008. It now appears the new sheriff must make restitution to the federal government for Bill Smith’s good ol’ boy spread the cash system, ultimately cutting his departments ability to serve and protect the citizens of Camden County.
FLORALS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO THE COASTAL CAMDEN ART LEAGUE- for opening a new gallery at 121 N. Lee Street in Kingsland. The gallery features local artists and displays and sells paints, pottery, photography, jewelry and many other artistic genres. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The group also has a gallery and studio with classes the St. Marys shopping center near Hardee’s. Call (912) 673-0102 for more information.
FARTS TO ST MARYS WATER AND SEWER DEPARTMENT- What does Bank of America and the St Marys City Water and Sewer Department have in common? They have both stepped or moved up their billing cycles. Bank of America has moved up its credit card billing cycle to a bill every 29 days. The St Marys City Water and Sewer Department have moved their bills from around the 10th of the month to sometimes before the beginning of the month. One has to wonder is the City of St Marys in the same financial difficulties as the Bank of America? No wonder the fine folks at the City of St. Marys Planning and Building Department persist on insisting the Clarion Issue is a business, has employees, and charges the Clarion Issue over $100 for a business license every year.
FARTS TO THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF WOODBINE- for their water drainage ditch project. The project has left the city full of stagnant ditches, scarred and bumpy roads, and unsightly landscapes reminiscent of a World War I battlefield. Evidently the project was designed by Hieronymus Bosch and drainage into the Big Satilla River was not approved by the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources or the Army Corps of Engineers. Citizen comments on the Woodbine blog also suspect the ditches have and will add thousands to the city budget while becoming a breading ground for mosquitoes, mosquito related illnesses, and other water borne illnesses. The Clarion Issue would also like to dispel the rumor that the Woodbine ditch program is part of a remake of Gone With The Wind (the Battle of Atlanta sequence) costarring Joe “You Lie” Wilson of South Carolina and Kanye “Jackass” West in the epic story of the South.
FLORALS TO HABITAT FOR HUMANITY- for building two houses for the less fortunate in Camden County over the last year. Congratulations to immediate past president Dr. Mary Keating, new president Leonie Pinnell, and all the HFH staff and volunteers for a job well done. To volunteer or donate to this worthy cause visit their office at 302 S. Lee in Kingsland or their website at www.hfhcamden.org . For more information call 912-673-1266 or contact them by e-mail at info@hfhcamden.org . You may also visit the Re-store for items from new to recycled appliances, furniture, or building materials. The group works on houses on Saturdays from 8:00-3:00, except during inclement weather. Lunch is provided.
FARTS TO THOSE NEW FANGLED MULTICOLOR NEON SIGNS NEAR THE ROAD- especially those at roadside/eye level. With cell phones, iPods, texting, tweeter, sodas, Big Macs, and all the bells and whistles now in our automobiles do we really need more distractions designed to take our eyes of the road? Look for more accidents, especially on Coleraine Road at the intersection of N. Gross Road. There is a great example of this type of signage there.
FLORALS TO THE CAMDEN WATCHDOG COMMITTEE- a group of citizens working to keep local taxes low and local politicians frugal with tax payer dollars. The Watchdog Committee is a non-partisan organization formed when tax assessments went through the roof in St. Marys. The watchdogs warn against public apathy and encourage individuals to join their group so ‘watchdogs’ can attend every governmental meeting in the county, be it county or municipal, to keep an eye on attempts to raise taxes and to check on wasteful governmental spending. The Camden Watchdog Committee has a web site at www.camdenwatchdog.com where interested citizens can obtain information on their meetings and activities.
FARTS TO THE CAMDEN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS- who took too long to look into the shenanigans going on inside the County Tax Assessors office and the Board of Assessors. The untimely rise in the property values in the county plus Governor Perdue’s suspension of the homestead exemption will mean excessive tax burdens for all Camden residents. The decision of the Commissioners to look into the problem is too little and comes too late for any type of tax help this year. Of course, the county should make a killing with the higher assessments and the suspended homestead exemptions. Maybe that was the plan all along! Perhaps we need a new definition for incumbent during the next election. Incumbent- v. grab another lever or press another button.
FARTS TO THE ST MARYS CITY COUNCIL- for blowing $14,000 on a consulting group for ideas to bring tourists and business to St. Marys. For the mere cost of $14,000 the group suggested a name change of the “second oldest city” from St. Marys to Saint Marys. For a lot less the Clarion Issue would have gladly made suggestions to the city council to bring tourists and business into the city. St. Marys could host activities such as a fishing tournament. But we had one, which we had to send away. City Hall and city scuttlebutt has it this was due to a scheduling faux pas when a wedding was scheduled at the waterfront park on the same weekend as the fishing tournament. St. Marys lost thousands of dollars in sales of gas, ice, bait, restaurant meals, and rent on hotel rooms. St. Marys may never get the tournament back. As the Clarion Issue so often points out, the city is not business friendly. If you ain’t a land developer or restaurant ‘go to Kingsland’ seems to be the city’s motto toward business. A good calendar and a better approach toward business may help tourism and business in the “second oldest city.”
P.S. Keeping a bait store at the waterfront might be a plus also.
FARTS TO DEVELOPERS- who don’t pay their taxes. After all the local municipalities and county governments have done to provide utility services (like water and sewer services) to these developments the least these developers can do is pay their taxes. Everyone, especially regular citizens, are seeing their taxes go up and are finding it hard to pay their taxes. Developers have taken from the local governments, now they too must pay.
FARTS TO ANOTHER TAD (Tax Allocation District) VOTE- this time for Laurel Island. Do we really need this?
DOUBLE FARTS TO GEORGIA GOVERNOR SONNY PERDUE- first for the stupidity of the teacher furlough and second for the homestead exemption nullification this year. During a time when Georgia schools were trying to open their doors for a new school our Governor called for teacher furloughs of three days to save the state’s money. When teachers are trying to hold meetings, arrange their rooms, secure supplies and textbooks, become aware of Swine flu contingency plans, and even hold open house the governor furloughs them in the name of saving a few dollars of state money. Of course we all know “teachers make too much money anyway.” All Georgians should also thank the governor and the state’s General Assembly for suspending the Homestead Exemption for this year. Look for your property taxes, if you own a typical home, to be about $230 more than last year, assuming the millage and property assessment remain the same. The governor cannot run again; however, the members of the General Assembly sure will, so fill out a faux pas memory card on this blunder fellow Georgians, take it to the polls in November 2010, and when Sonny runs for another public office.
ONCE AGAIN A SPECIAL THANKS AND A CLARION ISSUE TIP OF THE HAT- to all the local law enforcement agents, emergency medical personnel, firefighters, and all the other first responders who keep our roads, recreation areas, and homes safe from those things that go “bump in the night.” Another special thanks and tip of the hat to those who are serving in our armed forces and to those who have served, we appreciate your service and sacrifice.
Each year the Clarion Issue presents the Annual Thathlothlaguphka Award. The Thathlothlaguphka Award is a local award for abject stupidity, general idiocy, or total incompetence, given to a local official, body politic, or politically connected contractor or company whose actions have negatively affected the people in the area. The name Thathlothlaguphka comes from the Native American name for the St. Marys River and means “smells like rotten fish.” The Jefferson Muzzle Awards, presented by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, and the Ig Nobel Prizes, presented by the Harvard Computer Society and the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students, and the Darwin Awards have served as the models for the Clarion Issue’s Thathlothlaguphka Award.
The winner receives a Thathlothlaguphka Award certificate, a Clarion Issue bar stick, an I HATE THE CLARION ISSUE tee shirt, a $25 bar tab from The Island Bar and Grill on Hwy 40, and a $25 lunch from Lucky Dawgs, Love At First Bite, on Point Peter Rd. We thank our sponsors for their support in the presentation of this prestigious award.
This year’s winner is …. The Camden County Board of Assessors! Hardly a surprise, in view of the recent County Commission vote to initiate an investigation of their activities.
After almost two years of dramatic devaluation of almost all real property, defaults and foreclosures, the Assessors seem to think Camden County was spared. There are so many protests over the inflated valuations that the entire Tax Digest is threatened. To make matters worse, the Assessors sent out “preliminary” valuations which were even worse inflated, presumably thinking tax payers would be grateful when the final assessments were slightly lower. This is akin to the federal government’s stunt of quadrupling the annual deficit, then bragging about their plans to cut the deficit in half, leaving the final amount only twice what it has been in recent years. We can only hope the investigation proceeds a little faster than the strung-out investigation of former Sheriff Bill Smith, a former winner, and frequent dishonorable mention (see below.)
The first member of the Camden County Board of Assessors to contact the Clarion Issue at www.clarionish.com will become eligible for the valuable prizes which accompany the award; however, a photo-op is required at the time the award and prizes are presented.
Honorable mention is only that because the scope and effect of their failures is much more limited. The St. Marys Ethics Commission is almost completely dysfunctional, and might as well disband. The Commission received a complaint against a Council member, and dismissed it for lack of evidence. When the complaint was re-filed, with the supporting evidence, it was dismissed on the basis that it had previously been dismissed. When the subject of that complaint filed a new complaint against the Council members who colluded to violate the Open Meetings law, so many Commission members recused themselves that the Commission could not get a quorum to consider the complaint. In other words, all it takes to beat the law is enough members of the Council to agree to flout it!
A quick check on a few past winners shows slow progress on the cleanup of the old paper mill in St. Marys. LandMar, the 2006 winner, was left holding the bag on this land deal faux pas, has pulled an “Elvis,” and left the building site. Today it seems a series of various “contractors” ease in and out doing various jobs and moving on. The latest seems to be a Florida contractor crushing the concrete to be recycled into roads in the Sunshine State. Many St. Marys residents still believe the real toxic chemical damage to the site, the chemicals stashed underground, has not been adequately dealt with by the “clean up” at the mill. When will the citizens of the nation’s “second oldest city” get a real answer from its city or county government on this issue? Who are these companies and whose making the money at the mill site on these deals? When will the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be called in for a real study and clean up? Inquiring minds want to know!
The St. Marys City Council received last year’s award for their role in the give-away of the St. Marys City Airport to the north end of the county. The City Council, the Sea Island Corp., and various other county officials and attorneys pushed a deal to move the airport spending almost $50,000 of federal, state, and local money studying possible relocation sites. They then chose the worst, most expensive, and most distant of the nine sites from the city, evidently based solely on an agreement between city officials and the Sea Island Corp, the owner of the chosen site. It now appears the Tarboro International Airport will soon be a reality. At this airport flocks of geese at the end of the runway are not the real danger, but pilots had better beware of wild hogs and the infamous 150 pound Tarboro armadillo known to haunt the area.
Meanwhile building has stopped and the company gone bust at the 2005 winner, Cumberland Palms (a.k.a. Fiddler Flats), off North River Causeway in St. Marys. The ‘marsh front’ (that is gum-palmetto swamp front) property that idiots were supposed to pay $500,000 to 850,000 a home for is another example of over building and over pricing in the area. As part of the plan, the builders installed a large wall, which would keep any rising floodwaters or a tidal surge from a hurricane inside the site, ricocheting back and forth, compounding the damage to the condominiums. Today the beautifully landscaped area outside the wall is growing a fine crop of coffee weeds making the site a major eyesore. Perhaps the Clarion Issue Inc. can pick up this property cheap; it will make a great site for our planned alligator farm and alligator petting zoo. Thanks to the city’s generosity toward builders and contractors, water and sewerage are in place while some areas with real taxpayers wait for service.
FARTS AND FLORALS
FARTS TO THE FORMER SHERIFF- Bill Smith for misspending over $660,000 in federal funds. The misspent cash was discovered in a federal audit covering a period from July 2004, to April 2008. It now appears the new sheriff must make restitution to the federal government for Bill Smith’s good ol’ boy spread the cash system, ultimately cutting his departments ability to serve and protect the citizens of Camden County.
FLORALS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO THE COASTAL CAMDEN ART LEAGUE- for opening a new gallery at 121 N. Lee Street in Kingsland. The gallery features local artists and displays and sells paints, pottery, photography, jewelry and many other artistic genres. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The group also has a gallery and studio with classes the St. Marys shopping center near Hardee’s. Call (912) 673-0102 for more information.
FARTS TO ST MARYS WATER AND SEWER DEPARTMENT- What does Bank of America and the St Marys City Water and Sewer Department have in common? They have both stepped or moved up their billing cycles. Bank of America has moved up its credit card billing cycle to a bill every 29 days. The St Marys City Water and Sewer Department have moved their bills from around the 10th of the month to sometimes before the beginning of the month. One has to wonder is the City of St Marys in the same financial difficulties as the Bank of America? No wonder the fine folks at the City of St. Marys Planning and Building Department persist on insisting the Clarion Issue is a business, has employees, and charges the Clarion Issue over $100 for a business license every year.
FARTS TO THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF WOODBINE- for their water drainage ditch project. The project has left the city full of stagnant ditches, scarred and bumpy roads, and unsightly landscapes reminiscent of a World War I battlefield. Evidently the project was designed by Hieronymus Bosch and drainage into the Big Satilla River was not approved by the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources or the Army Corps of Engineers. Citizen comments on the Woodbine blog also suspect the ditches have and will add thousands to the city budget while becoming a breading ground for mosquitoes, mosquito related illnesses, and other water borne illnesses. The Clarion Issue would also like to dispel the rumor that the Woodbine ditch program is part of a remake of Gone With The Wind (the Battle of Atlanta sequence) costarring Joe “You Lie” Wilson of South Carolina and Kanye “Jackass” West in the epic story of the South.
FLORALS TO HABITAT FOR HUMANITY- for building two houses for the less fortunate in Camden County over the last year. Congratulations to immediate past president Dr. Mary Keating, new president Leonie Pinnell, and all the HFH staff and volunteers for a job well done. To volunteer or donate to this worthy cause visit their office at 302 S. Lee in Kingsland or their website at www.hfhcamden.org . For more information call 912-673-1266 or contact them by e-mail at info@hfhcamden.org . You may also visit the Re-store for items from new to recycled appliances, furniture, or building materials. The group works on houses on Saturdays from 8:00-3:00, except during inclement weather. Lunch is provided.
FARTS TO THOSE NEW FANGLED MULTICOLOR NEON SIGNS NEAR THE ROAD- especially those at roadside/eye level. With cell phones, iPods, texting, tweeter, sodas, Big Macs, and all the bells and whistles now in our automobiles do we really need more distractions designed to take our eyes of the road? Look for more accidents, especially on Coleraine Road at the intersection of N. Gross Road. There is a great example of this type of signage there.
FLORALS TO THE CAMDEN WATCHDOG COMMITTEE- a group of citizens working to keep local taxes low and local politicians frugal with tax payer dollars. The Watchdog Committee is a non-partisan organization formed when tax assessments went through the roof in St. Marys. The watchdogs warn against public apathy and encourage individuals to join their group so ‘watchdogs’ can attend every governmental meeting in the county, be it county or municipal, to keep an eye on attempts to raise taxes and to check on wasteful governmental spending. The Camden Watchdog Committee has a web site at www.camdenwatchdog.com where interested citizens can obtain information on their meetings and activities.
FARTS TO THE CAMDEN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS- who took too long to look into the shenanigans going on inside the County Tax Assessors office and the Board of Assessors. The untimely rise in the property values in the county plus Governor Perdue’s suspension of the homestead exemption will mean excessive tax burdens for all Camden residents. The decision of the Commissioners to look into the problem is too little and comes too late for any type of tax help this year. Of course, the county should make a killing with the higher assessments and the suspended homestead exemptions. Maybe that was the plan all along! Perhaps we need a new definition for incumbent during the next election. Incumbent- v. grab another lever or press another button.
FARTS TO THE ST MARYS CITY COUNCIL- for blowing $14,000 on a consulting group for ideas to bring tourists and business to St. Marys. For the mere cost of $14,000 the group suggested a name change of the “second oldest city” from St. Marys to Saint Marys. For a lot less the Clarion Issue would have gladly made suggestions to the city council to bring tourists and business into the city. St. Marys could host activities such as a fishing tournament. But we had one, which we had to send away. City Hall and city scuttlebutt has it this was due to a scheduling faux pas when a wedding was scheduled at the waterfront park on the same weekend as the fishing tournament. St. Marys lost thousands of dollars in sales of gas, ice, bait, restaurant meals, and rent on hotel rooms. St. Marys may never get the tournament back. As the Clarion Issue so often points out, the city is not business friendly. If you ain’t a land developer or restaurant ‘go to Kingsland’ seems to be the city’s motto toward business. A good calendar and a better approach toward business may help tourism and business in the “second oldest city.”
P.S. Keeping a bait store at the waterfront might be a plus also.
FARTS TO DEVELOPERS- who don’t pay their taxes. After all the local municipalities and county governments have done to provide utility services (like water and sewer services) to these developments the least these developers can do is pay their taxes. Everyone, especially regular citizens, are seeing their taxes go up and are finding it hard to pay their taxes. Developers have taken from the local governments, now they too must pay.
FARTS TO ANOTHER TAD (Tax Allocation District) VOTE- this time for Laurel Island. Do we really need this?
DOUBLE FARTS TO GEORGIA GOVERNOR SONNY PERDUE- first for the stupidity of the teacher furlough and second for the homestead exemption nullification this year. During a time when Georgia schools were trying to open their doors for a new school our Governor called for teacher furloughs of three days to save the state’s money. When teachers are trying to hold meetings, arrange their rooms, secure supplies and textbooks, become aware of Swine flu contingency plans, and even hold open house the governor furloughs them in the name of saving a few dollars of state money. Of course we all know “teachers make too much money anyway.” All Georgians should also thank the governor and the state’s General Assembly for suspending the Homestead Exemption for this year. Look for your property taxes, if you own a typical home, to be about $230 more than last year, assuming the millage and property assessment remain the same. The governor cannot run again; however, the members of the General Assembly sure will, so fill out a faux pas memory card on this blunder fellow Georgians, take it to the polls in November 2010, and when Sonny runs for another public office.
ONCE AGAIN A SPECIAL THANKS AND A CLARION ISSUE TIP OF THE HAT- to all the local law enforcement agents, emergency medical personnel, firefighters, and all the other first responders who keep our roads, recreation areas, and homes safe from those things that go “bump in the night.” Another special thanks and tip of the hat to those who are serving in our armed forces and to those who have served, we appreciate your service and sacrifice.
CAN AMERICA STAY THE COURSE IN AFGHANISTAN?
By R. A. Pearson
On September 11, 2009, America solemnly remembered the eighth anniversary of the horrible terrorist attacks of 2001. Shortly after those attacks the Unites States armed forces intervened in the ongoing Civil War in Afghanistan on the side of the Northern Alliance and helped overthrow the Taliban leadership of the country. The U.S. also helped establish a government based on western democratic principals, began to help train and equip an Afghan police force and armed forces, and American military personnel stayed to fight both the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the country. The war has gone on now for eight years.
The initial success of the Afghan War was negated when the Bush administration elected to switch American war strategy from Afghanistan to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, leaving the War in Afghanistan a backwater or more or less forgotten war in the theater. Over a period of time the Taliban recovered and has presented itself a much more formable enemy than the one which appeared to have been defeated in 2003. In 2009, as the U.S. forces scale down their involvement in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan has become the major front in what was once called “The War On Terror;” however, the terrain, people, government, and history of the country itself make the Afghanistan countryside a difficult place to fight a war.
President Obama has assumed ownership of the war. Labeling it a “war of necessity,” the president has hand picked his own commander, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and backed the commander with an additional 21,000 U.S. forces being sent to Afghanistan already this year. The U.S. will soon have a total of 68,000 military personnel in the country. On September 21, the White House leaked a report from Gen. McChrystal indicating the need for a future increase in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to insure victory. Pentagon watchers, news media talking heads, and most of the public informed about the war believe the commanders in the field will ask or may have already asked for another 40 to 55 thousand troops in the weeks and months to come. According to the General David Petraeus, Commander of U.S. Central Command, and author of the Army’s anti-insurrection guide, it requires a one to 20 ratio of military personnel to quell an insurrection in a country. Even with the NATO forces in the count, the number of coalition forces in Afghanistan do not come close to the required one to 20. By mid-September the situation in the Afghan war had really taken a bad turn for the Americans. The situation was described by Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, as “seriously deteriorating.” The Taliban now holds and controls one-third of Afghanistan. 51 U. S. service personnel were killed in August making August the deadliest month of the war. Many of the NATO allies are getting war weary fighting in the mountainous terrain, and the apparent fraudulent election, which reelected President Hamid Karzai, has created doubt about the real chance to establish any type of democratic government in Afghanistan. Finally, a poll taken in mid-September showed 60% of the American public feeling that America should not be fighting in Afghanistan. If one looks at the Democrats in that survey a full 75% indicated the U.S. should not be in the fight.
Around Labor Day a group of neoconservative leaders joined by several political leaders, including Sarah Palin, sent a letter to Pres. Obama encouraging him to continue the Afghan War. However, during the same time period conservative columnist George Will wrote and editorial calling for an American exit in the war. Will stated the U.S. strategy of “clear, hold and build” in the country was not workable and America needed to withdraw and strike from a distance at Taliban and al-Qaeda bases “using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, air strikes and small, potent Special Forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters.” If the war has lost George Will, what other conservatives has it lost?
The fraudulent presidential election held in August only proved to America and the world the unwillingness of the Karzai government to move toward democracy. The Karzai government is often seen as corrupt, full of nepotism, and whose writ does not extend very far beyond the city limits of Kabul. Yet, the U.S. government persists on backing this fraudulent and corrupt president and his government with millions of dollars and the lives American troops.
In the Afghan countryside, local warlords control the provinces, and the people are loyal to tribal and clan leaders. Village leaders indicate they need three things for their people: security from the Taliban, ability to trade (move crops and goods to market), and education for the young people in the village. The part of the Petraeus playbook in Afghanistan providing this type of aid to the Afghan people is called the Human Terrain System. This program enlists engineers, anthropologists, and people of many skills to go into the villages and develop the irrigation ditches, the roads, and schools needed to meet the needs of the villagers. Of course, the number one need, security, is proving the hardest need to meet and keep.
In terms of American politics, the Democratic Party is leaning more and more away from the Afghan War, while the Republicans tend to support President Obama’s continued pursuit of the war. Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the Senate Armed Services Chairman, indicated an objection to another major increase in troop strength in Afghanistan on September 11. With public opinion deserting the war and casualities mounting, more and more Democrats will eventually do the same.
What will it take to keep American hearts in the war? The first thing Gen. Petraeus and McChrystal must do is to get the causalities down. Americans are not willing to take these types of causalities in a war that was supposed to be winding down. The second thing Pres. Obama must do is define the Afghan mission and identify the circumstances for victory in the country. Finally the U.S. needs a clear exit strategy; however, as Iraq proved, the more troops there are in a country, the harder it is to exit that country.
Our leaders, both civilian and military, tell us the U.S. forces need to train Afghanistan’s army and police to stand up to the Taliban. America has been at war in Afghanistan for eight years. It takes eight years to train a doctor. With all due respect to the fine policemen and members of our armed forces, their training periods are a whole lot less.
Can America stay the course in Afghanistan? It can only if Pres. Obama is willing to take a lot of heat from his own party, get the causalities down, define the mission, victory, and exit strategy, and begin to move the Afghan government toward helping the people in the countryside rather than helping themselves to power. Afghanistan has swallowed up many empires including the Greek, British, and Soviet. Let’s hope America is not next on the list.
On September 11, 2009, America solemnly remembered the eighth anniversary of the horrible terrorist attacks of 2001. Shortly after those attacks the Unites States armed forces intervened in the ongoing Civil War in Afghanistan on the side of the Northern Alliance and helped overthrow the Taliban leadership of the country. The U.S. also helped establish a government based on western democratic principals, began to help train and equip an Afghan police force and armed forces, and American military personnel stayed to fight both the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the country. The war has gone on now for eight years.
The initial success of the Afghan War was negated when the Bush administration elected to switch American war strategy from Afghanistan to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, leaving the War in Afghanistan a backwater or more or less forgotten war in the theater. Over a period of time the Taliban recovered and has presented itself a much more formable enemy than the one which appeared to have been defeated in 2003. In 2009, as the U.S. forces scale down their involvement in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan has become the major front in what was once called “The War On Terror;” however, the terrain, people, government, and history of the country itself make the Afghanistan countryside a difficult place to fight a war.
President Obama has assumed ownership of the war. Labeling it a “war of necessity,” the president has hand picked his own commander, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and backed the commander with an additional 21,000 U.S. forces being sent to Afghanistan already this year. The U.S. will soon have a total of 68,000 military personnel in the country. On September 21, the White House leaked a report from Gen. McChrystal indicating the need for a future increase in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to insure victory. Pentagon watchers, news media talking heads, and most of the public informed about the war believe the commanders in the field will ask or may have already asked for another 40 to 55 thousand troops in the weeks and months to come. According to the General David Petraeus, Commander of U.S. Central Command, and author of the Army’s anti-insurrection guide, it requires a one to 20 ratio of military personnel to quell an insurrection in a country. Even with the NATO forces in the count, the number of coalition forces in Afghanistan do not come close to the required one to 20. By mid-September the situation in the Afghan war had really taken a bad turn for the Americans. The situation was described by Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, as “seriously deteriorating.” The Taliban now holds and controls one-third of Afghanistan. 51 U. S. service personnel were killed in August making August the deadliest month of the war. Many of the NATO allies are getting war weary fighting in the mountainous terrain, and the apparent fraudulent election, which reelected President Hamid Karzai, has created doubt about the real chance to establish any type of democratic government in Afghanistan. Finally, a poll taken in mid-September showed 60% of the American public feeling that America should not be fighting in Afghanistan. If one looks at the Democrats in that survey a full 75% indicated the U.S. should not be in the fight.
Around Labor Day a group of neoconservative leaders joined by several political leaders, including Sarah Palin, sent a letter to Pres. Obama encouraging him to continue the Afghan War. However, during the same time period conservative columnist George Will wrote and editorial calling for an American exit in the war. Will stated the U.S. strategy of “clear, hold and build” in the country was not workable and America needed to withdraw and strike from a distance at Taliban and al-Qaeda bases “using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, air strikes and small, potent Special Forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters.” If the war has lost George Will, what other conservatives has it lost?
The fraudulent presidential election held in August only proved to America and the world the unwillingness of the Karzai government to move toward democracy. The Karzai government is often seen as corrupt, full of nepotism, and whose writ does not extend very far beyond the city limits of Kabul. Yet, the U.S. government persists on backing this fraudulent and corrupt president and his government with millions of dollars and the lives American troops.
In the Afghan countryside, local warlords control the provinces, and the people are loyal to tribal and clan leaders. Village leaders indicate they need three things for their people: security from the Taliban, ability to trade (move crops and goods to market), and education for the young people in the village. The part of the Petraeus playbook in Afghanistan providing this type of aid to the Afghan people is called the Human Terrain System. This program enlists engineers, anthropologists, and people of many skills to go into the villages and develop the irrigation ditches, the roads, and schools needed to meet the needs of the villagers. Of course, the number one need, security, is proving the hardest need to meet and keep.
In terms of American politics, the Democratic Party is leaning more and more away from the Afghan War, while the Republicans tend to support President Obama’s continued pursuit of the war. Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the Senate Armed Services Chairman, indicated an objection to another major increase in troop strength in Afghanistan on September 11. With public opinion deserting the war and casualities mounting, more and more Democrats will eventually do the same.
What will it take to keep American hearts in the war? The first thing Gen. Petraeus and McChrystal must do is to get the causalities down. Americans are not willing to take these types of causalities in a war that was supposed to be winding down. The second thing Pres. Obama must do is define the Afghan mission and identify the circumstances for victory in the country. Finally the U.S. needs a clear exit strategy; however, as Iraq proved, the more troops there are in a country, the harder it is to exit that country.
Our leaders, both civilian and military, tell us the U.S. forces need to train Afghanistan’s army and police to stand up to the Taliban. America has been at war in Afghanistan for eight years. It takes eight years to train a doctor. With all due respect to the fine policemen and members of our armed forces, their training periods are a whole lot less.
Can America stay the course in Afghanistan? It can only if Pres. Obama is willing to take a lot of heat from his own party, get the causalities down, define the mission, victory, and exit strategy, and begin to move the Afghan government toward helping the people in the countryside rather than helping themselves to power. Afghanistan has swallowed up many empires including the Greek, British, and Soviet. Let’s hope America is not next on the list.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT; HOW MUCH TIME ARE YOU WILLING TO WASTE?
By D. E. Lovett
Camden County is in serious need of the services of a competent traffic engineer, and the political will to enforce the findings of a traffic engineering study. The most obvious starting place is the massive proliferation of traffic lights. Think we have enough already? Think again: there are definite plans for at least nine more in the near future. It is now impossible to get out of St. Marys without passing through five, soon to be six, traffic lights. And unlike true love, a traffic light is forever- witness the lonely monument in Woodbine which bears blinking testimony to the days, a generation ago, when there was actually traffic on US 17.
It would be hard to judge the most pernicious lights, given that the great majority of them poorly serve a limited usefulness for only an hour or two a day, and constitute an active impediment to the smooth flow of traffic the remaining 22-23 hours. But serious claim must go to the light at Gross Road and Colerain (it is not a Parkway, and doesn’t pass within gunshot of Laurel Island.) In the modern day of intelligent traffic control devices, this controller shows all the intelligence of the politicians who ordered its installation: it turns color, 24/7, at 45 second intervals without regard to whether or not there is any traffic to justify it. And if you haven’t figured it out, don’t try to get out of town that way when the High School is letting out: one left turning vehicle can back up traffic for more than a mile!
In the fraud and waste department, for which government is duly famous, consider the absurd pedestrian signals at Colerain and Kings Bay and St. Marys Roads. At least we have not replaced the burned out lights which simply waste electricity! And is there any rationale for the light southbound on Colerain at St. Marys Road to stay green for 45 seconds, regardless of the lack of traffic? In a similar vein, why does the light at the Franklin Gate to the Sub Base hold up traffic on Spur 40 for almost two minutes, including 45 seconds for the green arrows, absent any traffic?
While the lights on Osborne at Dilworth and Julia might have made some sense when the paper mill was changing shifts, and the Bag Plant was thriving, before the Unions drove it away, today they simply impede traffic on GA 40, without regard to demand from cross traffic. They, like their cousin on Colerain and Gross, simply turn red for no apparent reason, other than the passage of time. The lights at St. Marys Road and GA 40 never made sense from the beginning, and the left turn arrows on GA 40 (westbound) at Kings Bay Road are a serious waste, since there is no road to the left!
The waste of time and gasoline to our citizens is truly appalling, and it’s going to get worse. Camden County is in serious need of the services of a competent traffic engineer, and the political will to enforce the findings of a traffic engineering study.
Camden County is in serious need of the services of a competent traffic engineer, and the political will to enforce the findings of a traffic engineering study. The most obvious starting place is the massive proliferation of traffic lights. Think we have enough already? Think again: there are definite plans for at least nine more in the near future. It is now impossible to get out of St. Marys without passing through five, soon to be six, traffic lights. And unlike true love, a traffic light is forever- witness the lonely monument in Woodbine which bears blinking testimony to the days, a generation ago, when there was actually traffic on US 17.
It would be hard to judge the most pernicious lights, given that the great majority of them poorly serve a limited usefulness for only an hour or two a day, and constitute an active impediment to the smooth flow of traffic the remaining 22-23 hours. But serious claim must go to the light at Gross Road and Colerain (it is not a Parkway, and doesn’t pass within gunshot of Laurel Island.) In the modern day of intelligent traffic control devices, this controller shows all the intelligence of the politicians who ordered its installation: it turns color, 24/7, at 45 second intervals without regard to whether or not there is any traffic to justify it. And if you haven’t figured it out, don’t try to get out of town that way when the High School is letting out: one left turning vehicle can back up traffic for more than a mile!
In the fraud and waste department, for which government is duly famous, consider the absurd pedestrian signals at Colerain and Kings Bay and St. Marys Roads. At least we have not replaced the burned out lights which simply waste electricity! And is there any rationale for the light southbound on Colerain at St. Marys Road to stay green for 45 seconds, regardless of the lack of traffic? In a similar vein, why does the light at the Franklin Gate to the Sub Base hold up traffic on Spur 40 for almost two minutes, including 45 seconds for the green arrows, absent any traffic?
While the lights on Osborne at Dilworth and Julia might have made some sense when the paper mill was changing shifts, and the Bag Plant was thriving, before the Unions drove it away, today they simply impede traffic on GA 40, without regard to demand from cross traffic. They, like their cousin on Colerain and Gross, simply turn red for no apparent reason, other than the passage of time. The lights at St. Marys Road and GA 40 never made sense from the beginning, and the left turn arrows on GA 40 (westbound) at Kings Bay Road are a serious waste, since there is no road to the left!
The waste of time and gasoline to our citizens is truly appalling, and it’s going to get worse. Camden County is in serious need of the services of a competent traffic engineer, and the political will to enforce the findings of a traffic engineering study.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
EAGLES TO HOST FORUM FOR ST. MARYS CANDIDATES
Eagles Press Release
The Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie #4379 will host a public forum on Tuesday, October 27, 2009, for candidates in the St. Marys City Council and Mayoral Elections. The forum will begin at 6:30 PM. and will be in the St. Marys Aerie #4379 at 101-C Industrial Drive in St. Marys located directly behind the St. Marys Police Complex on Pt. Peter Road.
The election will be Tuesday November 3, 2009. The seats up for grabs include the Mayor’s office being sought by incumbent Rowland Eskridge, City Councilman Bill DeLoughy and Tom Cyphers. City Council Post #4, which will be vacated by DeLoughey, will include candidates Keith F. Post, former County Commissioner Sandy Feller and Roger Rillo. Candidates for Post #5, which will be vacated by Larry Johnson, will include Jolene Haney, John Morrissey, L.J. Williams, and Christopher Bennett. Candidates for Post #6 will include incumbent Gull Weaver and former City Councilman Sidney Howell.
All five precincts in St. Marys will be used and voters will vote in the same location where they vote in any other County, State or Federal election. The polls will be open from 7:00 AM until 7:00 PM on Election Day, November 3. Early voting will be available at the Registrar’s office in the Historic Court House in Woodbine from Tuesday October 13 through Friday October 30 from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Absentee ballots will be available after October 13, 2009 from the Registrars Office in Woodbine at 576-3245, but you can obtain absentee ballot request forms at any city hall, on line or at the Registrars office at any time. October 23 is the deadline for requesting absentee ballots.
At the forum questions will be submitted in writing and Eagle member Edward W. Clary will moderate the forum. Event organizer Dr. Jim Burnham said, “The Fraternal Order of Eagles is providing this service to the community and to the press. We frequently do this for non-partisan and bi-partisan elections. It brings all the candidates together at one time, which is convenient for the news media and it gives the public an opportunity to meet, hear and address the candidates. An informed electorate should bring about better government. I hope many St. Marys voters will turn out to meet the candidatures and hear them address the issues. I look forward to hearing the questions to see what issues are on the minds of the public and to see how the candidates do in public.” You may submit questions in writing at the forum or you may e-mail them in advance to JBurnham1@tds.net.
The St. Marys Aerie # 4379 Fraternal Order of Eagles is a non-political, non-profit benevolent organization whose focus is community service and charity. The Eagles are non-political, non-partisan and endorses no candidate. They are sponsoring this forum as a service to the community of St. Marys in an effort to increase familiarity with the candidates and the issues. The F.O.E. encourages civic participation. For questions or information call 882-4377.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie #4379 will host a public forum on Tuesday, October 27, 2009, for candidates in the St. Marys City Council and Mayoral Elections. The forum will begin at 6:30 PM. and will be in the St. Marys Aerie #4379 at 101-C Industrial Drive in St. Marys located directly behind the St. Marys Police Complex on Pt. Peter Road.
The election will be Tuesday November 3, 2009. The seats up for grabs include the Mayor’s office being sought by incumbent Rowland Eskridge, City Councilman Bill DeLoughy and Tom Cyphers. City Council Post #4, which will be vacated by DeLoughey, will include candidates Keith F. Post, former County Commissioner Sandy Feller and Roger Rillo. Candidates for Post #5, which will be vacated by Larry Johnson, will include Jolene Haney, John Morrissey, L.J. Williams, and Christopher Bennett. Candidates for Post #6 will include incumbent Gull Weaver and former City Councilman Sidney Howell.
All five precincts in St. Marys will be used and voters will vote in the same location where they vote in any other County, State or Federal election. The polls will be open from 7:00 AM until 7:00 PM on Election Day, November 3. Early voting will be available at the Registrar’s office in the Historic Court House in Woodbine from Tuesday October 13 through Friday October 30 from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Absentee ballots will be available after October 13, 2009 from the Registrars Office in Woodbine at 576-3245, but you can obtain absentee ballot request forms at any city hall, on line or at the Registrars office at any time. October 23 is the deadline for requesting absentee ballots.
At the forum questions will be submitted in writing and Eagle member Edward W. Clary will moderate the forum. Event organizer Dr. Jim Burnham said, “The Fraternal Order of Eagles is providing this service to the community and to the press. We frequently do this for non-partisan and bi-partisan elections. It brings all the candidates together at one time, which is convenient for the news media and it gives the public an opportunity to meet, hear and address the candidates. An informed electorate should bring about better government. I hope many St. Marys voters will turn out to meet the candidatures and hear them address the issues. I look forward to hearing the questions to see what issues are on the minds of the public and to see how the candidates do in public.” You may submit questions in writing at the forum or you may e-mail them in advance to JBurnham1@tds.net.
The St. Marys Aerie # 4379 Fraternal Order of Eagles is a non-political, non-profit benevolent organization whose focus is community service and charity. The Eagles are non-political, non-partisan and endorses no candidate. They are sponsoring this forum as a service to the community of St. Marys in an effort to increase familiarity with the candidates and the issues. The F.O.E. encourages civic participation. For questions or information call 882-4377.
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