Declare among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard;
& EDITORIALS
)
publish, and conceal not; Jeremiah 50:2
2016 and 2017 winner: Editorial Page excellence
2016 winner: Sports Photography excellence
2016 winner=, News Photography excellence
2016 winner:. Front Page excellence
2017 winnen. Best Humor Column - On the Porch
ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
churches around Monroe County
this past weekend marked Sanctity
of Life Sunday, which always falls
around the anniversary of the dread-
Roe vs. Wade decision by the U.S.
Supreme Court.
While it's awful to be reminded every year that
the running total for abortion deaths is now 60
million since that awful 1973 decision, the Monroe
County Pregnancy Center has noted that abortion
rates in our county have plummeted in the recent
years.
According to meticulous stats of abortions
worldwide compiled by William Robert Johnston,
Monroe County's abortion
rate has been cut in half the
past 10 years.
In 2005, the number of
Monroe County women
having abortions was its
highest-ever, 80. By 2014, "
that number had plum-
meted to its lowest levels in
decades with just 27 abor-
tions reported for Monroe
County women. In the most
recent year available, 2016,
that number had remained
lower, at 34.
Movene Futch, a founding
board member of the center and its indefatigable
advocate, has often said she hopes the Pregnancy
Center will work itself out of a job one day.
They're not there yet, but they're much closer
than they were.
If you know of anyone who's pregnant and needs
help, take them by the Center on the Square or
have them call (478) 994-3173. They have baby
clothes and countless items to help women make
the choice for life.
How did you mark the snow day last week?
When I was a kid in Raleigh, N.C a snow meant
all the neighborhood tykes headed to Hillandale
Road where we would sled down, walk up, sled
down and walk up until frost-bite began to kick in.
Then we'd head home for grilled cheese sandwich-
es, soup and maybe some home-made Snow Cream.
With only an inch on Wednesday, our kids didn't
get a whole lot of time for sledding last week.
Before long you were riding on grass and pave-
ment. But we did/hake the Snow Cream and it
was a big hit. If it snows again, you may want to
try it. Here's the recipe: 1 gallon of snow (make
sure it's not yellow), two cups of milk, a cup of
sugar and a tablespoon of vanilla. Whisk vigor-
ously and enjoy.
County manager Anita Buice was the guest
speaker at the Kiwanis Club on Tuesday, telling
members what her job is like.
"when I tell people what I do and they say 'that
must be fun', I know they don't know much about
my job," joked Buice.
To give her audience a taste of her duties, Buice
walked members through her Monday.
She recalled arriving at 8 a.m meeting with two
sheriff's deputies about a matter, handling a zon-
ing request, compiling the minutes from the com-
missioners' retreat and fielding a call from county
commission chairman Greg Tapley.
When she was done, Kiwanis president Wes Cone
joked that he thought she was going to say that
once she got the call from the loquacious Tapley,
she couldn't do anything the rest of her day. That
drew chuckles from the audience. Our new chair-
man would probably be the first to admit he's
rarely at a loss for words.
the Momoe Ckmmy
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
i !, ii~ ,~, i
Will Davis I~ ~ Trellis Grant
Business Manager
Publisher/Editor I
publisher@mymcr.net business@mymcr.net
Richard Dumas ~
: ~- Diane Glidewell
News Editor Community Editor
forsyth@mymcr.net : news@mymcr.net
Carolyn Martel
Advertising Manager
ads@myrncr.net
Brandon Park
Creative Director
graphics@mymcr.net
Official Organ of Monroe County and the City of Forsyth
50 N. Jackson St. Forsyth, GA 31029
Periodicals Postage Paid at Forsyth, GA 31029
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
THE MONROE COUNTY REPORTER RO. Box 795, Forsyth, GA 31029
SUBSCRIPTION RATE: In County:. $35 Out of County:. $48. Single Copy:. $1
Deadlines noon on Friday prior to issue. Comments featured on ~nion pages arelhe oealion of
the writers, the do not necessarily reflect the opinions ~ Reporter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840
PEACH STATE POLITICS by Kyle Wingfield
mazon this past
week eliminated 218
cities from its HQ2
)stakes, and
wasn't one of
them. Instead, Atlanta made the
20-city "short list" of candidates
still in the hunt for a $5 billion
investment and 50,000 high-
paying jobs.
Celebration is not
only premature but a
bit unseemly. There's
a long way to go, and
it would have been
shocking had Atlanta
not made this cut. In
football terms, it'd be
like Alabama tout-
ing its inclusion in
the preseason rank-
ings. At this point,
allAtlantans can say
is at least we're not
Detroit. Or Charlotte.
Speaking of rank-
ings, this list isn't one.
The cities were listed in alphabeti-
cal order, which is like the College
Football Playoff Committee releas-
ing its list in order of mascot size.
It's nice anytime you're listed first,
as Georgia's alphabetically advan-
taged capital was, but what you
really want is to be No, 1 at the end.
So the work is just beginning.
Emissaries from Amazon will soon
scout the potential locations, sizing
up their strengths and weaknesses.
This may be the po'mt at which
you start to get a little queasy at
the thought of opening up the state
treasury to attract a single compa-
ny, no matter how large (although a
recent AJC poll suggested the pros-
pect of offering Amazon as much as
$1 billion to come here doesn't faze
Georgians, whether they live near
Atlanta or not). If so, keep reading.
Landing Amazon would be a big
deal. It might even be worth all the
money state officials are
prepared to throw at the
company. But the real
opportunity here is to
concentrate minds on
what needs to be done in
Atlanta and elsewhere
in Georgia to attract
and sustain growth well
beyond what Amazon
would bring.
When I worked in
Brussels, seat of the
European Union, there
was a line of thought
that most of the good
new members accom-
plished by joining was in meeting
the requirements for entrance. That
is, a nation would be better off hav-
ing made the prescribed reforms
to open its markets to cross-border
trade, limit its fiscal profligacy,
clamp down on public corruption,
and so on, even if it were for some
reason denied membership in the
end. What it got from EU member-
ship after joining paled in compari-
son. (Britain is something of a test
case for this theory as it negotiates
its exit from the EU.)
We might find the same is true
in the case of Amazon. If beefing
up transportation infrastructure
including transit will help attract
jobs, it ought to make sense even
if Amazon goes elsewhere. Some
thoughtful people question whether
Atlanta find its near suburbs can
offer enough affordable housing to
handle 50,000 new Amazonians.
Well, that l be a challenge no mat-
ter what, given that the region is
projected to add more than I mil-
lion jobs by 2040.
Conversely, if a particular expen-
diture only makes sense because
Amazon might bite on it, maybe it
deserves to slide down the list of
priorities.
As if to underscore the bigger
picture beyond Amazon, Apple
this past week also announced it
will spend some $350 billion in the
U.S. over the next five years. That
includes a new campus which is
sure to set off a frenzy similar to the
one chasing Amazon's second head-
quarters.
There aren't many of these
' vhales" out there. But the ones
that do exist, plus more numerous
medium-size fish, will want some of
the same basic conditions to invest
in Georgia. If there are things we
need to do anyway to be more com-
petitive, let's get moving.
Kyle Wing ld writes for The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the
Monroe County Reporter and other
newspapers. Reach him and read
more at www.bit.ly / Kyle Wing ld.
JUST THE WAY IT IS by Sloan Oliver
e
a gySident Trump was
augurated one year
o. For 75 percent of
e country it has been
ear of great economic
news, great wealth creation, and
sanity restored. For the other 25
percent, it's been a year that feels
more like a decade because they
want and need a bad economy
in order to keep their minions
addicted to govern-
ment handouts and
addicted to welfare
programs. Let's do a
quick review of the
past 12 months to
explain what I say.
TRUMP was
elected in a land-
slide victory largely
because he made
several promises.
Those promises can
best be summarized
by his campaign
slogan, ' YIake America Great
Again." The MAGA slogan was
very simple and easily understood
because most people realized that
his predecessor, President Obama,
and the Democrats did everything
possible to destroy America. Why
would Obama and the Dems want
to destroy America? Simple; they
want a large, powerful govern-
ment that will control ALL aspects
of society. And to grow govern-
ment, they need America to fail.
They need the economy to decline.
They need a perpetual cohort of
impoverished Americans. They
need people dependent on govern-
ment. Then, the Dems convince
the impoverished underclass that
they've been wronged by "evil" cor-
porations who only want to exploit
the workers. And the only way to
"right the wrongs" of those evil
corporations is to give the govern-
ment ever increasing power over
every aspect of society. That ended
on Jan. 20, 2017 when Trump
became president.
ACTUALLY, Trump's MAGA
plan began working the day after
he was elected when several com-
panies announced they were NOT
MOVING jobs to Mexico (Carrier
being one of them). And anticipat-
ing a pro-business, less regulatory
administration, the stock markets
began a rally that has continued
to this day. The President's MAGA
plan is very simple - put America
first, and by doing so, the economy
will blast off like a rocket ship:
When the economy "takes off,"
everyone's lot improves, and the
country is stronger economically,
militarily, and internationally. The
official part of Trump's MAGA
agenda began when he was inau-
gurated.
OLIVER
UPON Trump's inauguration
he began to implement his pro-
economic growth policies. He has
held true to his campaign promise
to reduce government regulation.
He signed several executive orders
that have greatly reduced "red
tape" and government regulations.
Many of these regulations had
been imposed by Obama
to stifle business which
harmed the economy.
Last month Trump said,
' rlthin the first eleven
months, we canceled
or delayed over 1,500
planned regulatory
actions, more than any
previous president, by
far." Also, Trump pulled
the United States out of
the Paris Accord (PA).
The PA was govern-
ment regulation at its
best. The Paris Accord
was Democrat nirvana because
it would have led to government
regulation of every aspect of busi-
ness - to include cow flatulence
(yes, Dems want to regulate
methane from cows.) Then, last
month, President Trump can-
celled "Net Neutrality" which was
Obama's attempt to regulate the
Internet. Finally, in December, the
Republicans passed the Jobs Act
and Tax Reduction Bill that great-
ly reduces personal and corporate
taxes.
THE NET effect of President
Trump's economic policies has
been staggering. Regulations are
down, unemployment is down, and
optimism is up. Unemployment
has fallen to 4.1 percent. Black
unemployment is at 6.8 percent,
and Hispanic unemployment is
4.9 percent - both are historic
low unemployment rates. Since
Trump's inauguration, other good
economic news includes 1.8 million
jobs have been created and two
million fewer people are on food
stamps or welfare. The recently
passed Tax Bill has led to mil-
lions of workers receiving $1,000+
bonuses and hourly wage increas-
es. More than anything, the stock
market is a reflection on the level
of optimism in the country. Since
Trump was elected, the markets
are up well over 30 percent. People
are optimistic about the economic
future of our nation. Markets
are up, not only in the U.S but
around the world. So despite the
vitriol spouted by leftists, the
world is optimistic about the eco-
nomic path that Trump is blazing.
IN FOREIGN affairs, President
Trump and the United States are
back again leading the free world.
For eight long years, Obama
acquiesced and kowtowed to North
Korea, Cuba, and Iran. Syria
thumbed its nose and Obama did
nOthing. Despite the brutality of
ISIS, Obama said that we must
learn to live with such evil. Our
foreign policy feebleness was an
embarrassment. So, Trump's big-
gest challenge, the first year, has
been to restore the international
credibility of the United States. He
has done that by defeating ISIS
and by confronting ' Rocket Man"
every time the North Korean dic-
tater has threatened the world.
ALL OF this great economic
news is bad news for Democrats.
That's because Democrat politi-
cians need people dependent on
government, not free from govern-
ment. Many of the "permanently
impoverished" are getting jobs,
receiving bonuses, and receiv-
ing pay raises which means they
require less government assistance
- that is bad news for Dems. As a
result, the Dems, the media, and
liberals are doing everything pos-
sible to remove Trump from office
and to obstruct every policy that
Trump and the Republicans try
to advance. Remember, all this
great news was never supposed
to happen because Hillary was
supposed to be president. The fact
that Trump is president and the
economy is "on fire" is more than
the Dems can handle. The day
after Trump's inauguration, fringe
waekos rallied in cities across the
country in a "hate Trump" melt-
down. The likes of Ashley Judd
and Madonna literally screamed
their hate of Trump and fanta-
sized about blowing up the White
House. Throughout the year, this
group has been blinded and hypno-
tized by "collusion." The evidence
has clearly shown there was no
Trump-Russian collusion; the only
collusion was Obama, Hillary, and
the DNC, all of whom conspired
against Bernie and then against
Trump. The clearest evidence that
those opposed to Trump are irra-
tional is that, despite all the great
economic news, they oppose every
aspect of Trump's economic poli-
cies.
WEEKLY QUOTE: "Some of
those jobs of the past are just not
going to come back. What magic
wand do you have?" President
Obama, on PBS News Hour,
mocked Trump when candidate
Trump promised to create new
jobs.
Sloan Oliver is a retired Army
officer. He lives in Bolingbroke
with his wife Sandra. Email at slo-
anoliver@earthlink.net.
L