& EDITORIALS
"Declare among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not." - Jeremiah 50:2
A 20111, 2017, 2016 ~ Editorial Page ex:el!ence
20!8 wilmer: ~st Headline Writing ~ro ~'~1~~
20111, 2017 wilmef:. ~sr News Photography I~l~'-(( ~gl
2018, ~17 ~ I'lel~, Bes~ Humorous Column- On the Porch~
ON THE PORCH by Wilt Davis
N~w that I'm on my third child, I've got this parent-
g thing down pretty good.
Mrs. Davis left me last week for a business trip to
rlando. My in-laws in Macon offered to keep our
lively four-year-old boy during the trip. Of course I could han-
dle all three of them, no problem. I am just that kind of dad.
But don't you know teachers can tell when a studenfs mom is
out of town? Their hair is a mess. Their dothes don't match.
Their lunchbox includes two bags
of Doritos and a Twinkle.
Yep, I'm not so proud that I
don't take help when it's offered.
So I did.
Plus it gave me some time alone
with the two teenagers, a chance
to teach them valuable life lessons
before we launch them into the
real world, such as the value of
Waffle House. So that's where we
went for The Last Supper before
the wild child and the verbose
wife returned on Friday.
"It sure has been quietV we all x~.~x~
agreed.
My mother-in-law offered to
pick up the little one from school
again on Friday; even though the wife was retuming that
night.
"Oh no," I assured her. "You've had him long enough. I will
get him. I miss the little guy?
Then, I dropped my track off at the Pit Stop for some minor
repairs and walked to work.
There were stories to write. There were ads to sell. There
were websites to update. And yes, there was my ever-present
ADD.
Finally, at 3:30 p.m. my ~-fe was calling from an interstate in
Florida, and I knew immediately I had blown it.
"The school is calling wanting to know why Ford hasn't
been picked upS' she said.
Ummm.
I did have a good excuse. I didn't have a car!
Thinking of that little boy sitting alone in the school office
waiting on his absent-minded father, I immediately pressed
news editor Richard Dumas into service gwing me a ride to
Pit Stop to get my truck. We raced down Lee Street only to be
stopped at the railroad crossing for a slow train.
"Crap!"
I quickly dialed Pit Stop to see if my car was ready.
"HSs got it in the shop working on itS' Leah said.
"Double crap!"
"Richard, get out of this traffic jam and go to the soccer field.
FlU get my daughter's car since she's at soccer practice" I said.
Meanwhile the wife texted.
"School called again?
Dumas delivered me to Banks Stephens Middle School
where I found my daughter's car by the soccer field.
"Thanks!" I said, jumping out and finding no key inside the
car.
Uggg. It was now 3:45 p.m. I wasn't sure what time the
school turns orphaned children over to DFACS custod but I
was sure it was close now.
"School called again;' the wife texted once more.
I saw the girls practicing on a field about 200 yards away and
sprinted toward them to find my daughter, and her As I
approached them I kept scanning the girls and didn't spy my
Abbie.
"This is JV,' they told me. "Varsity is in the gym?
"Triple crap!"
So now I began sprinting hundreds of yards back to the
gym.
At last I found my daughter, got her key and rounded the
corner to T.G. Scott Elementary School on two wheels.
I ran inside and found assistant principal Chad Sanders on
the phone with the police.
"Yessir, the suspect father is here now, so I'll be talking to
him about this child abandonment situation;' he said.
He was kidding. I think. Thankfiall)~ the four-year-old, as
always, was glad to see me anyway.
"DAY-DAY!!" he screamed.
Some fathers struggle keeping their kids when their wife is
out of town. It takes a special dad to screw up when they're
NOT keeping them. Isn't it great my boy was glad to see me
anyway?
d~e Monr~e
www. MyMCR.net
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, President Robert M. Williams Jr Vice President
Cheryl S, Williams, Secretary-Treasurer
OUR STAFF
Will Davis
Publisher/Editor
publisher@mymcr.net
Richard Dumas
News Editor
forsyth@myrncr net
A d vCe~i~iln~nMl~a ~a~: Ir i~
Trellis Grant
Business Manager
business@mymcr net
Diane Glidewell
Community Editor
news@mymcr net
Brandon Park
Creative Director
graphics@mymcr.net
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50 N. Jackson St. Forsyth, GA 31029
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Deadlines noon on Friday pnor to issue. Comments featured on opinion pages are the oeation of
the writers, the do not necessarily reflect the opinioos ~ Reporter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840
PEACH STATE POLITICS by Kyle Wingfield
The partial shutdown of
the federal government
wrapped up its fourth week
just as the Georgia General
Assembly completed its first week
of action in 2019. One imagines the
shutdown will end before state legis-
lators finish their annual work some-
time in early spring, but
one never knows.
The incongru-
ity between these two
legislative branches is
another occasion to
note the state body's su-
perior fitness for doing
the people's work. The
question is why this
should be so. Here are a
few possibilities.
The first and most
obvious is that state leg-
islators are closer to the ~ /~/'@,~
people. This is true in
the literal sense: Atlanta
is nearer to every part
of Georgia than Washington, D.C is
to any part of our state. It's also true
in that they represent smaller geo-
graphic areas: At the most, our state
senators represent parts of 11 coun-
ties, whereas our two U.S. senators
jointly represent all 159. Likewise,
each state House member represents
fewer than 60,000 people, each U.S.
House member more than 750,000.
More than a century has passed
since the U.S. House expanded to the
current 435 members, during which
time America's population has more
than tripled. There's nothing magic,
nor necessarily optimal, about that
number 435. Britain's Parliament
has 650 members (roughly one per
100,000 Britons) and Germany's
Bundestag has 709 members (about
one per 115,000 Germans).
You might think the last thing we
need in this countryis a bigger Con-
gress, but there's a chance it would
make the body more responsive and
more representative.
Size and proportion
are hardly the only
structural flaws with
Congress. Another one
relates to deadlines; the
problem being they
haven't many.
It is widely observed
that Congress has
become accustomed
to governing by crisis.
This owes in part to the
absence of any deadline
other than the ones cre-
ated by lawmakers' own
dereliction of du .
The state Legislature
is allowed 40 workdays per year.
There's no date by which those
40 days must be used - in theory;
lawmakers could work three or four
days in each month - but the limit is
useful. Also helpful is the added time
pressure for members of a part-time
legislature, most of whom have other
jobs awaiting them, to return home
if they want to keep those iobs.
The General Assembly's lone man-
date is to pass a budget. It is possible
lawmakers could let the 40th day
expire without passing a budget, and
we should acknowledge the leader-
ship required to ensure that doesn't
happen. Yet, the time limit combined
with that dear prioritization means
the budget sets much of the tone and
tempo for the session. Everything
else must fit around it.
It also helps that Georgia must
balance its budget each year. Now,
there are reasons Congress could
not easily do that, and there are even
reasons Congress perhaps should
not do that in any given year.
But consider how unlikely the
current shutdown would be - over
a matter of about $5 billion - if it
weren't assumed and even accepted
that Washington was going to bor-
row almost $1 trillion this year. It
is hard to believe Congress and the
White House would be haggling
over a border wall, at any price, if
they had to balance all the other
spending against the available tax
revenues.
Or, conversely, much of the other
spending would have long since
been discontinued, shifted to state
and local governments, or left to the
private sector to figure out, minimiz-
ing the effect of a shutdown for any
reason.
It should come as no surprise that
a legislature whose members are
doser to the people, with a firm
deadline for legislating and more
pressure to balance the budget,
functions better than one lacking
all three. So why do we keep adding
to the pile of things we expect the
dysfunctional body to handle?
The president and CEO of the Geor-
gia Public Policy Foundation, Kyle
Wingfield's column runs in papers
around the state of Georgia.
TAKING A LIKENS TO YOU by Dale Likens
I
Last night I had a by the open door to our terrible things about me. thought! Why wouldn't I
dream. It was not classroom. She paused HE S A LIAR!" some know your eve ,dream or
ood. I dreamed I momentarily and than of the signs said. "HE'S every nightmare ,She held
back in school shouted out the most CURSED!" others said. my hand tighter. You just
teaching children much
older than I
had taught
before. The
students were
as tall as I was;
looking more
like adults
than chil-
dren. Most
of the stu-
dents looked
mean and
uncontrol-
lable. Their
eyes were
glassy with
hatred spilling
out like teardrops rolling
down their cheeks and
finally spewing out their
mouths.
As I began to teach I
realized the students were
not listening to me; they
were speaking to each
other, repeating exactly
what the other child had
said to them. Over and
over they continually cried
out that they must get rid
of me. I was not fit to be
their teacher.
"He's a Nazi!" Some were
shouting back and forth.
"He's not fit to be our
teacher!" Others were
saying. "We must get rid
of him!"
One of the young ladies
sat in her seat with her one
leg folded under the other;
Her foot dangled over her
seat. In her hand was a fin-
gemail file. She sat there
with a smirk on her face,
slowly filing her finger-
nails while she stared into
space. She raised her hand
to her mouth and yawned
so all could see that she
was pitifully bored of me.
The children laughed at
her antics. They thought
she was funny.
I noticed one of our
new teachers walking
profane words I had ever
heard, direct-
ing her foul
language
at me. She
began to
laugh and
the students
applauded
and laughed
joyfully with
her.
In spite
of all the
aA shou ng
and hatred
that filled
the room I
continued to teach. As
I looked down at my
students, I noticed a few
were listening to me. One
young lady was looking
up at me with tears in her
eyes. But the tears she was
shedding were not tears of
hatred. They were tears of
compassion. "I believe in
you!" She whispered softly.
A young man who sat
in the middle of the room
spoke up through all the
complaining. "He's a kind
teacher!" He shouted
through all the complain-
ing. "He's only doing what
is right! Our superinten-
dent and Board of Educa-
tion hired him because
they believe he is the right
person to be teaching this
dass!"
"You're just like he is!
The other students yelled.
"You're low-dass like our
teacher! That's why you
like him! You're deplor-
able! You're evil! You prob-
ably shop at Walmart!"
Now they laughed harder.
Outside I could hear
more chanting and
abusive language. I took
a moment to glance
through the window and
noticed some parents were
carrying signs that quoted
"HE'S A NAZI! HE'S
STUPID!"
Across the street a
smaller group of parents
gathered with signs also.
This group was quiet.
They simply hdd their
signs of approval and sup-
port of me as a teacher.
Later that evening my
wife and I stopped at a
local restaurant to enjoy a
peaceful supper. Without
warning, a small group of
angry people came to our
table. "You're not wanted
here!" They shouted. "Go
somewhere else! We don't
want you here!"
Suddenly I awoke from
my dream and quickly
jolted up in bed. In the
cold of the night air I
noticed I was beginning to
break into a warm sweat.
"What's wrong?" my wife
asked as she sat up in bed
and put her arm around
me. "You must have had
some nightmare. You were
tossing and turning all
night!"
As we sat together in our
bed I explained my dream
to my wife, word for word.
When I finished speaking
I threw my covers from
my body and set my feet
to the floor.
Karen crawled from her
side of the bed and quickly
joined me as we sat on the
edge of our bed pondering
the reason for my dream.
"It's no mystery to me;'
Karen spoke softly.
Coming out of my
stupor, I responded with
a smile. "So you have it
all figured out, do you?"
I said.
"Of course!" She an-
swered as she dasped her
hand to mine. A beautiful
smile shone through the
glimmering of the night
light. "I know your every
had a vision of America as
it is today! Those unruly
students represent the
media and those who have
nothing but hatred for
President Trump and all
his followers. The super-
intendent and Board of
Education are simply the
voters who put our Presi-
dent into office:'
"Oh, my goodness! I
said, still shaking the dust
from my mind. "That new
teacher using all that pro-
fanity! I see the connec-
tion! She's the freshman
representative. She's the
one who called President
Trump that filthy name
on television while those
around her laughed and
applauded her! And the
young lady filing her
fingernails is one of those
staunch 'no-Trumpers'
who was pretending to
be bored while sitting on
CNN and listening to a
President Trump sup-
porter. Wow! I now know
you are so right, Hon!" I
rubbed my eyes. "Some-
times I think I watch too
much news. But the truth
is, if I don't watch the
news, or ifI don't have
these dreams I'm afraid
my voice will never be
heard"
"Keep dreaming, Hon!"
Karen said as we crawled
back into bed. She kissed
me on my forehead.
'~kmerica needs to hear
from you! Some night
your dreams will be of a
wonderful America! And
your students in your
dreams will be as beauti-
ful and kind as they once
were! Just wait and see!"
God bless.
Dale Likens is an author
who lives in Monroe
County.
I
