Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for April 18, 2023

On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere and William Dawes mounted up on horseback to warn of British troops on their way to confiscate American arms and to warn patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who the British sought to capture.

By 1775, tensions between the American colonies and the British government had approached the breaking point, especially in Massachusetts, where Patriot leaders formed a shadow revolutionary government and trained militias to prepare for armed conflict with the British troops occupying Boston. In the spring of 1775, General Thomas Gage, the British governor of Massachusetts, received instructions from Great Britain to seize all stores of weapons and gunpowder accessible to the American insurgents. On April 18, he ordered British troops to march against Concord and Lexington.

The Boston Patriots had been preparing for such a British military action for some time, and, upon learning of the British plan, Revere and Dawes set off across the Massachusetts countryside. They took separate routes in case one of them was captured….

About 5 a.m. on April 19, 700 British troops under Major John Pitcairn arrived at the town to find a 77-man-strong colonial militia under Captain John Parker waiting for them on Lexington’s common green. Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation, the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the “shot heard around the world” was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead and 10 others were wounded; only one British soldier was injured. The American Revolution had begun.

President William H. Taft learned on April 18, 1912 of the death of his military aide, Major Archibald Butts of Augusta, Georgia on RMS Titanic.

The honeybee was recognized as the official state insect of Georgia on April 18, 1975.

Thousands of Chinese students protested against their government on April 18, 1989.

By early 1989, peaceful protests against the government began in some of China’s largest cities. The biggest protest was held on April 18 in the capital city of Beijing. Marching through Tiananmen Square in the center of the city, thousands of students carried banners, chanted slogans, and sang songs calling for a more democratic political atmosphere.

On April 18, 2006, Governor Sonny Perdue signed legislation establishing February 6 of each year as “Ronald Reagan Day” in Georgia and celebrating the date of President Reagan’s birth.

April 18, 2014 was the deadliest day on Mount Everest as sixteen local guides died.

The avalanche, which occurred around 6:30 a.m., swept over the Sherpas in a notoriously treacherous area of Everest known as the Khumbu Icefall, at approximately 19,000 feet. At the time, the Sherpas had been hauling loads of gear for commercial expedition groups.

The disaster, in which no foreigners were killed, reopened debates about the dangerous risks undertaken by Sherpas for their typically affluent clients (in addition to lugging most of the supplies for an expedition, Sherpas are responsible for such tasks as setting lines of fixed ropes and ladders for climbers), as well as the over-commercialization of Everest, where human traffic jams during the spring mountaineering season and massive amounts of litter have become common.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

House Bill 520, the continuing mental health reform legislation died in the Senate, according to 13WMAZ.

It passed the House easily: 163 to 3. It died in the Senate which left dozens of behavioral health groups facing the problem.

One of those affected is the community service including the Community Service Board of Middle Georgia based in Dublin. Lori Montford, deputy director of behavioral health, says they’re roughly 15 to 20 clinicians short.

“It increases the wait time. It takes them longer to get in for their first appointment. It’s also increased the caseload for the therapists that we have,” Montford said. This means even more overtime for licensed clinicians on staff.
Representative Todd Jones co-sponsored House Bill 520.

He says the bill aimed to fix that shortage by forgiving student loans, easing training requirements, and making it easier to apply for and renew occupational licenses.

“Basically if you came from another state in good standing with that licensing board, and you came across the border and wanted to work in Georgia, which of course, we want you to work in Georgia. With House Bill 520 not being place, it will require significantly more hours to get your Georgia license as to a presumption of license that 520 would have catered to which would have meant we could on-board people faster,” Jones said.

“Georgia ranks consistently sometimes 51st. There’s only 50 states, and sometimes we’re even behind Washington D.C. in behavioral health,” said Jeff Breedlove, chief of communications and policy at the Georgia Council for Recovery. “Georgia with House Bill 1013 made a historic stride to correct this deficit. 520 is bill number two in what’s going to be a series of bills to transform a broken system.”

Tort-reform advocates vowed to try again next year, according to the Georgia Recorder.

Georgia lawmakers concluded the 2023 legislative session last month with a few changes in the area of civil litigation known as “tort law” that generated significant debate over how to balance the rights of people wrongfully injured and business lobbyists who often push to cap the amount of damages negligent parties might have to pay in lawsuits.

Georgia has been in the crosshairs of the American Tort Reform Association that for the last several years ranked the state among the worst in the nation in its report on so-called judicial hellholes.

In this year’s legislative session, several of the bills backed by the tort association and Georgia Chamber of Commerce advanced in the state House chamber before stalling in the Senate.

The agenda that favors civil laws that aligns with the interests of businesses facing the threat of class action lawsuits ranked the Georgia Supreme Court as its nation’s worst judicial jurisdiction for 2022-2023.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has expressed its support for limiting caps on punitive damages, lower liability exposure for business owners, and lower insurance rates.

“Enacting legislation and policy that provides liability protection to private landowners and lessees when crimes are committed by third parties on their property is invaluable, to support community development, job growth, and upward mobility,” the chamber’s legislative report said. “This is especially true in disadvantaged communities where crime has discouraged investment due to unsafe conditions, increased business costs, and the threat of increased liability.”

Also vowing to try again next year: State Rep. Esther Panitch (D-Sandy Springs) on efforts (HB 30) to define “antisemitism” in Georgia law, according to Fresh Take Georgia.

“It was devastating to watch the Georgia Senate, for the second year in a row, ignore the cries of Georgia’s Jewish community for help amongst escalating antisemitism,” state Rep. Esther Panitch, a Sandy Springs Democrat, said.

After passing in the House by a vote of 136-22 in March, the hate crimes measure failed to reach a vote in the Senate amid concerns about how to define antisemitism and free speech.

The legislation would define antisemitism, which supporters said would give authorities power to prosecute people who commit acts against Jewish people under the state’s hate crime law.

“It provides a definition so that the authorities can figure out what the intention was of a crime or an act,” she said.

Panitch said Georgia’s hate crime law currently does not cover antisemitism, even though it applies to crimes based on actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability, or physical disability.

She explained that Jews do not strictly qualify as just a race, national origin, or religion and that typically, antisemitic acts are classified as strictly religious hate. A defendant could then say he acted not because of religion but due to something else, like politics. This is a common defense used to get around Georgia’s hate crimes law.

HB 30 would have provided the state’s prosecutors with a new tool as antisemitic occurrences have increased across the nation, according to the Anti-Defamation League. In 2022, the league recorded the highest number of antisemitism incidents since 1979.

American Rivers listed the Okefenokee Swamp in their top-ten most endangered American rivers, according to the Savannah Morning News.

“Some places are simply too special and should be off-limits to pollution and harmful development,” said Ben Emanuel, southeast conservation director with American Rivers in the press release. “The Okefenokee Swamp is one of those places. The state of Georgia must do the right thing and stop the mine that would devastate the clean water and wildlife habitat of this national treasure.”

According to a press statement, this year’s list focuses on how health and safety are impacted by climate change, pollution, dams and other threats to rivers, and how communities of color and Tribal Nations are disproportionately impacted by these threats. Other rivers listed include the Colorado River’s Grand Canyon, based on management decisions related to damn releases; the Ohio River, due to pollution and climate change risking the drinking water source of 5 million people; the Pearl River in Mississippi due to dredging and dam construction, among others.

Since 2019, Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals, LLC has sought permits with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to mine titanium less than 3 miles from the edge of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on a dune called Trail Ridge. Scientists and environmental advocates argue the mining operation would lower water levels in the swamp causing the fragile ecosystem to be more susceptible to prolonged drought and wildfires than it already is. The Okefenokee is also part of the ancestral homeland of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which has also spoken in opposition of the mine.

In March, the National Park Service also conducted an independent analysis of the proposed mine and also concluded the Georgia EPD’s analysis contained technical errors and “critical shortcomings” that make it unreliable and “obfuscates the true impacts from mining on the refuge.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has also called for more environmental analysis beyond the Georgia EPD’s permitting process.

The Brunswick City Commission will consider a new ordinance to regulate shelters and services for homeless people, according to The Brunswick News.

Under the proposed ordinance, any homeless shelters, day shelters or homelessness service providers would be required to get a conditional use permit approved by the commission. Conditional use permits must be reviewed by the city’s Planning and Appeals Commission first and are subject to a public hearing.

The ordinance applies to homeless shelters, day shelters and homelessness service providers, which includes rapid rehousing services, homelessness prevention programs, homeless educational services, hygienic services, job and job-training programs, mental health services, homeless management informational data collection, substance abuse programs, family crisis programs, homeless veteran services, domestic violence prevention programs, youth counseling, food preparation and distribution, supplying clothing and other daily necessities, counseling providers or “other endeavors intended to provide aid to homeless individuals on an exclusive basis.”

The ordinance also lists some considerations commissioners may make when ruling on a permit, including the applicant’s “character and mental capacity to conduct the business;” personal associations; past arrest records; reputation; and past performance operating similar facilities.

Other considerations are whether the applicant has met with the area neighborhood planning assembly and the facility’s proximity to other homelessness services, battered women’s shelters, children’s shelters, drug rehabilitation facilities and schools, among others.

The draft of the ordinance also lays out other restrictions for shelters and services, including bans on loitering and camping, and sets a minimum distance from facilities like schools.

Dougherty County Commissioners approved plans to build a new morgue, according to the Albany Herald.

The Dougherty County Commission, by a 5-2 vote, approved $1.3 million in funding for a new facility and decided on a plan that will site it on property near other county offices on Habersham Road.

“Everything fell in place,” Coroner Michael Fowler said after Monday’s commission meeting. “I’m glad it’s over with. I feel the citizens in Dougherty County deserve this.”

Of several design concepts proposed, the commission selected the one favored by Fowler, which includes a larger area for storage of bodies, a lobby area and space for storing records. The $1.3 million price tag also includes all new equipment.

The county currently rents morgue space at the Phoebe North facility on Palmyra Road.

Muscogee County Board of Education members will hear community feedback before voting on proposed schedule changes, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

According to the administration’s presentation to the board last month, the changes are based on research that shows revised starting and ending times will better support academic performance and align with guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The school day’s starting and ending times could affect students in their academic and athletic performance, their behavior and their transportation.

The administration also presented results from a case study on an unnamed high school with similar demographics to MCSD: 32,000 students, 5,100 employees, in a Southern urban community with Title I status.

Four years after that district changed its high school day’s starting time from 7:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. and its ending time from 2:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., the number of D’s and F’s in the first-period algebra class decreased by 11%. The study showed the passing rate on the state’s standardized test increased by 13%, and the passing rate on Advanced Placement exams increased by 2%.

Meanwhile, the number of tardies decreased by 19%, the number of absences decreased by 8%, and the number of discipline referrals decreased by 12%. The later starting and ending times for high schools mean practices and games for sports teams will be later, and student athletes (35% of all MCSD high school students) will miss additional class time for away games.

Whitfield County Republican Party Chairman Eddie Caldwell will teach an Introduction to Robert’s Rules of Order class, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.

This free one-hour class taught by Whitfield GOP Chairman Eddie Caldwell is an introduction to Roberts Rules of Order designed to give you the basics of how to get things done at a convention or board meeting. It also includes strategy tips to help you exercise and protect your rights at these meetings.

The class is Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Whitfield GOP headquarters at 515 Benjamin Way, Suite 310, in Dalton.