Georgia and American History
Georgia Governor George Towns signed a constitutional amendment that removed the requirement that governors own at least 500 acres real estate and other property valued at least $4000 on December 30, 1847. At the time, an amendment to the state constitution had to be passed twice by the General Assembly in subsequent sessions, but did not require voter approval.
The Gadsden Purchase, establishing the southern border of the United States with Mexico, was signed on December 30, 1853.
The USS Monitor, the first federal ironclad steamship, sank on December 30, 1862 off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
The American Political Science Association was formed on December 30, 1903, and has been misunderstood ever since.
The first live recording of Led Zeppelin was made at Gonzaga University on December 30, 1968.
Lockheed received the contract to produce 50 C-5B cargo aircraft for the federal government on December 30, 1982.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Batten down the hatches, as more rain is expected beginning today. In Gordon County, a local state of emergency has been issued and a 64-year old man was found drowned in his car, presumably after he bypassed a barricade to drive on a flooded road.
Residents in many areas are being warned against drinking water from flooded wells or springs.
“We don’t advise cooking with the water, showering or bathing,” said Raymond King, Director of Environmental Health at the North Georgia Health District in Dalton.
Unlike public water systems, wells are easily contaminated.
“Bacteria, viruses, chemicals, even manure from farms. When (wells) are covered with flood waters, most of them get contaminated, one way or another,” King explained.
While homeowners with contaminated flooded wells can still flush their toilets, King advises them to buy their drinking water. Any food touched by flood waters should also be tossed in the trash.
Homeowners with flooded wells should use bleach to disinfect it, and wait at least 8 hours before flushing the system. Water samples should then be dropped off at a public health lab for testing to determine if the well is safe to drink.
“We’re not saying everybody who drinks a contaminated well is going to get sick, but we’re especially concerned about small children and people with compromised immune systems,” King said.
In Catoosa County, the public water system was overwhelmed by flood waters and residents are asked to conserve water.
All of the recent rain is responsible for the low water supply and shutting off the water pumps.
Now, [the county] is asking all customers to conserve water — so the county doesn’t run out.
“The pumps were first turned off on Wednesday of this week and we got them up and running yesterday, Sunday,” said Randall Crawford, Vice-Chairman of the Catoosa Utility District Authority.
That water comes from a local spring, which is now flooded, forcing the utility company to shut down its pumps to avoid contaminated water.
“When that run-off can not flow then we have to stop pumping so we don’t take the chance of getting bad water into the system,” Crawford said.
The potential failure of an Oconee County dam led county officials to ask residents below the dam to evacuate, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Oconee County officials were asking people along Briar Lakes Court to evacuate their homes Tuesday evening due to the possibility of a dam failing on one of three lakes in the subdivision located off Mars Hill Road near Georgia Highway 316.
If the dam fails, it will cut off access to homes along the dead-end street, according to Oconee County Fire Rescue and the county’s public works department. There are approximately nine homes along the street.
“Residents on Briar Lakes Court are encouraged to leave now or risk being trapped in their homes,” the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page. Other homes in the subdivision are not in any danger, according to the post.
Yesterday, Gov. Nathan Deal swore in three new judges to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
The three new judges took their oaths in this order, creating their order of seniority on the now-15-member court: former Mountain Circuit District Attorney Brian Rickman, 38; former Appalachian Circuit Superior Court Judge Amanda Mercier, 40; and Nels Peterson, 37, former chief legal officer to the Georgia university system as well as counsel to the governor and Attorney General Sam Olens.
The theme of the day was tribute to the governor’s judicial reform efforts, with all the new judges having played a role. Rickman, as a prosecutor, and Mercier, as a judge, worked with accountability courts, diverting nonviolent offenders mostly on charges related to drugs, alcohol and mental health issues into treatment as an alternative to prison. Peterson worked in state government as the governor garnered support for a series of changes that have reduced population and budgets for Georgia prisons.
Rickman recalled discussing judicial reforms in a private meeting at the Habersham County Courthouse in the hills of Northeast Georgia with Deal, before Deal was elected governor.
Once Deal was in office, Rickman said, “We dove headfirst into accountability courts.” He told stories of lives repaired by the accountability courts’ success with treatment of addictions. One was a woman who approached him tearfully at a bowling alley in Clarkesville to point out her grandchildren enjoying a birthday party for their first time ever with their mother sober and present.
Rickman called Deal’s criminal justice reforms a “most amazing legacy.”
Senator David Perdue reviewed his first year in Washington, writing.
I came to the Senate with a sense of urgency to make a difference. In my first weeks, I sponsored three bills that would help put in place a system that is more representative of Georgia’s priorities, including a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, a Fair Tax system, and term limits legislation. But as a businessman with no political experience, it immediately became clear to me that Washington’s budget process is broken. It has only worked four times in the last forty years. In the real world, this would have been fixed long ago.
Our government today spends more than two thirds of its annual budget on mandatory expenses. That is more than four times what we spend on defense. This explosion in spending has propelled our nation into a debt crisis that is already well past the tipping point. In fact, Washington has racked up so much debt that it amounts to nearly one million dollars for every American family. Equally as concerning, career politicians have no plan to solve this problem anytime soon.
Clearly, we simply have to get our nation’s finances in order to ensure our economic security, but also to project American leadership and guarantee our country’s security. The United States must have the financial resources available to invest in a strong military, support our allies, and secure our nation from foreign threats.
We can definitely solve this debt crisis and save Social Security and Medicare. We can also deal with this global security crisis, but we have to get started right now.
Perdue also released a photo set of the Year in Review, which is pretty cool.
State Rep. Trey Kelley (R-Cedartown) has a couple issues on his 2016 agenda, according to The Polk County Standard Journal.
Kelley, who said he will seek a third term, said that much of his attention will be taken up by tax overpayment issues that have popped up over the past year, being looked into by the subcommittee he chairs.
Just last week, the city of Augusta and the Richmond County school system have to pay back Honeywell for a multimillion-dollar sales tax overpayment, according to an article written by Susan McCord of The Augusta Chronicle.
Floyd County taxpayers still don’t know where their money went after an unidentified local business demanded refunds in July and August.
That business cost the county governments and both school systems a combined $4.5 million, which includes $1.3 million from a 12-percent interest rate.
State law shields the name of the business getting refunds because it’s proprietary information.
MacKenzie said that’s a problem with the current sales tax system, because local governments have no oversight on their local businesses’ sales tax payments.
Casino gambling is a rising issue in the state house to help fund the HOPE Scholarship and bring other economic revenue to the state, but one that Kelley is unsure about at the moment.
“We just finished up – the house and senate just had a joint committee – to try and really figure it out,” Kelley said. “Certainly they would be able to put in a ton of money to the HOPE scholarship to help fund it for now and in the future.”
“Right now, there’s still a lot of questions that would have to be answered for me. I think we’re still a ways off in Georgia from that. It’s something that’s getting a lot of attention,” Kelley said.
Ethics Unconstitutional?
Lawyers for DeKalb County Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton (D) argued that changes to the county Ethics Board render the body unconstitutional.
DeKalb County commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton filed a lawsuit, contending that the DeKalb Board of Ethics, a body assembled to fight corruption in the county, is unconstitutional.
Voters in DeKalb County voted overwhelmingly to establish the board during elections in November 2016.
District 4 Candidate Steve Bradshaw had a thing or two to say about Sutton, who is his opponent in the 2016 election for that seat. He was appalled to hear that she filed a lawsuit against the county’s new ethics reform, calling it unconstitutional.
“For the incumbent commissioner to take the position which basically states I’m above all of that is disrespectful. It’s disrespectful to the voters #1 and it’s also disrespectful to other elected representatives here in DeKalb County who for the most part are trying to serve the people of this county with integrity and honor,” Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw believes Barnes-Sutton is only trying to cover up her own ethics complaints, because her lawsuit will put a hold on the ethics board investigating complaints against her.
“Apparently that’s one of the allegations that she was at some sort of charity auction and paid $1100 to $1200 bucks for a photograph of the President. I could probably write to the White House and get a photograph of the President for free. So I think it’s a misuse of public funds,” Bradshaw said.
DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester (R) responded to the report,
I am disappointed that DeKalb taxpayers will have to endure another court case and its costs involving another elected official. Electing people of high moral character and integrity is our duty as voters. Even as we support the Ethics Board, true reform will only come from the ballot box.
Comic Relief
Mickey Mouse is in full-effect, as Brookhaven, Chamblee, and Sandy Springs consider a “Disney World” style monorail.
In November, Sandy Springs Planning Commission chair Lee Duncan pitched a monorail system like the one used at Walt Disney theme parks as a potential solution for Sandy Springs’ growing traffic woes. The idea gained traction in mid-December when Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul said the city is “not unserious” about studying such a system to help address growing transportation needs.
The city of Brookhaven is committing $10,000 to study ways to build a monorail system that would loop through some of Brookhaven’s high-density hotspots, according to WXIA’s Doug Richards.
Brookhaven City Councilman Joe Gebbia said the city must get cars off roads. Gebbia said he envisions a 12-mile loop that goes from Brookhaven’s MARTA station, south to I-85 – then northeast to Century Center, DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, and back to Brookhaven MARTA, WXIA reports.
The Brookhaven Post has more on how my hometown is wasting taxpayer money studying the issue.
Brookhaven City Councilman Joe Gebbia has allocated $10,000 of his discretionary budget to enable the city to engage Gresham, Smith & Partners to look at many…any solutions to move people in, out and around the city. One idea that is getting attention in the media, is a “Disney-style” Monorail.
Gebbia’s idea, one he says came to him several times while pondering ways to reduce traffic and move people around the Brookhaven area more efficiently, is to have a Monorail loop that connects several dense, or about-to-become dense, areas in and bordering Brookhaven.
Gebbia contemplates a system connecting to MARTA, utilizing its Breeze card system, connecting PDK Airport, Century Center, Executive Park/Children’s Healthcare (CHOA) area, the Buford Highway corridor and the Brookhaven MARTA Station. According to Gebbia, if you look at the “nodes” around Brookhaven, where major development and redevelopment will be taking place, Brookhaven is right in the middle of it, “surrounded”, he says, and is one reason why solutions need to be contemplated.
The northside intown suburbs may have missed a great opportunity. The photo above is an authentic Disney Monorail car that stood in Tyrone, Georgia before being put for sale on eBay. The monorail lead car was sold in March 2015 to a new owner in Tampa.
Fulton County Commissioner Emma Darnell has spent more than $13,000 on flowers from a local florist over the past six years.
By statute, Fulton’s part-time commissioners receive annual expense budgets of $18,120 to cover typical office expenses such as postage, supplies and furnishings. There is also a line item for “hospitality.”
Darnell regularly taps the $3,000 allocated to her hospitality account to pay for floral arrangements and moves money from a separately appropriated travel account (which she said she doesn’t use very much) into the hospitality account when it’s depleted.
While her colleagues spend more on travel, Darnell usually outspends them on hospitality – and most of that money is spent on flowers. Since 2009, Darnell was responsible for 74 percent of the $18,130 total Fulton commissioners spent on floral arrangements.
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