& EDITORIALS
Declare
among
the nations, and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not; Jeremiah 50:2
2016 end 2017 winner: Editorial Page excellence ~rC~
@
2016 winner: Sports Photography excellence
2016 winner:, News Photography excellence
2016 winner:, Fronl Page excellence
2017 winner:, Best Humor Column - On the Porch
ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
makes progress
Tw Tbs up to Monroe County school superinten-
ent Dr. Mike Hickman for conceding on Friday
at ifhe knew then what he knows now, he
uldnt have hired attempted child molester Javis
Stewart as a substitute teacher. It's a small step of progress,
about as much we can hope for, apparently.
In an email to school employees and later sent to the wider com-
munity, HAckman noted that when he applied for a job, Stewart
provided them with a first-offender court order telling employers
they can't hold Stewart's con4iction against, him.
"They felt if they violated that order they would be violating the
law;,' district attorney Jonathan Adams told the Reporter.
Adams met with HAckman last Tuesday about the issue. Adams
informed HAckman that the order failed to note that under Geor-
gia law, school systems, and many others, are exempt -- they can
[and should] hold it against him. How the school system attorney
didn't know that, we're not sure.
HAckman continued: "Our focus nowis to move ahead; to work
with officials in correcting what was a serious legal mistake so
neither our nor any other school system falls victim to a similar
situation"
Whether that was the most serious mistake in this case is up for
deq~ate. The school system is technically and legally correct that
the "first offender order" was mistaken. But as Adams notes, since
Georgia is a "right to work" state where employers can hire and
fire at will, the school system still could have used its discretion
not to hire a man convicted of attempted child molestation. Or it
could've taken the time to find out what Stewart actually did, as
this newspaper did, and that he did it as a substitute in Bibb Coun-
ty. Or it could've pressed Stewart to know where he worked for 10
years as a substitute teacher as he daimed (hint: he didn't). And
after all that, if it still felt that legally
it had to put him on the substitute
list, it could've at least discouraged
schools from using him in the class-
room (it didn't; he worked a LOT
here in three months). Or, it could've
just decided that in this particular
case, right and wrong are more im-
portant than the demands of the law.
That's what Adams said he would've
done ffhe were in charge.
"When I hear the word molesta-
tion" said Adams, "that's the end of
the conversation:'
But the school system did not, and
to some, that was the bigger mistake.
Indeed, one school official told me
that the central office will admit pri-
vately that hiring Stewart was a mistake, but won't say it publicly.
Instead, the superintendent made his first priority of his ematl to
question this newspaper's reporting.
"First and foremost, regardless of what you read this week in our
local newspaper," wrote HAckman, "there are NO efforts underway
by our District Attorney to call for a grand jury investigation or an
outside probe in this matter:' HAckman quoted Adams saying that
"a lot of information in the artide that is out of context:'
Herds what we had reported: "But [Adams] said if school
officials don't address it, there may need to be an independent
investigation, perhaps by a grand jury, to find out who knew what,
when:' Those are a lotofifs, ands and buts. The district attorney
told me on Monday that we reported his words correctly.
"Everything in the artide was accurate," Adams told me flatly.
Recall that Adams' comments came three weeks after we first
reported this story; and school officials still had made very little
public comment and had not apologized for pu ng a molester in
our children's classrooms.
Adams said the confusion may have come because the Reporter "
talked with him for our story last Monday. A day later, on Tuesday,
Adams finally met with HAckman where they reached the conclu-
sion that Stewart's first-offender order was in error. Then the paper
came out on Wednesday with Adams' comments about wanting
a resolution. Adams said that's why his comments about perhaps
considering having a grand jury look at it, which were predicated
on the school board not addressing it, were moot by the time the
paper came out.
. Alas, hopefully we can all put this episode behind us now, and
be wiser for it. Adams said the school system now knows that it
can call on his office or the sheriff's office flit ever has another
questionable applicant. And it be er understands the first offender
law. That is progress. As for admittingmistakes and acknowledg-
ing that they work and answer to the taxpayers, who pay them
very generously? Well, let's just say top school officials still have a
little work to do on that count.
tim Monroe C~mnty
www. MyMCR.net
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, President Robert M. Williams Jr Vice President
Cheryl 5, Williams, Secretary-Treasurer
STAFF
Will Davis ~ ~ Trellis Grant
Publisher/Editor " Business Manager
publisher@mymcr.net business@mymcr.net
Richard Dumas ~ ~ Diane Glidewell
News Editor Community Editor
forsyth@rnymcr.net news@myrncr.net
Carolyn Martel Brand0n Park
Advertising Manager Creative Director
ads@mymcr.net graphics@mymcr.net
Official Organ of Monroe County and the City of Forsyth
SO N. Jackson St. Forsyth, GA 31029
Periodicals Postage Paid at Forsyth, GA 31029
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
THE MONROE COUNTY REPORTER - p.o. Box 795, Forsyth, GA 31029
SUBSCRIPTION RATE: In County: $35 Out of County~ $48 Single Copy: $1
Deadlines noon on Fdday prior to issue. Comments featured on opinion pages are the creation of '
the writers, the do not necessarily reflect the opinions of~e Reporter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840
PEACH S.TATE POLITICS by Kyle Wingf!eld
To be two Georgias, or not
to be.
For going on 35 years,
that has been the question.
It was in the early 1980s that we first
heard the notion that our state was
really two, variously described as
metro Atlanta vs. South Georgia or
metro Atlanta vs. everywhere else.
There's an argument to be made that
there are more than two.
The temptation under the Gold
Domehas been to govern as if this
weren't true. Policy makers are at
pains to make their policies attrac-
tive to urban and rural alike. There's
even a state entity, aptly named
the One Georgia Authority, aimed
at "bridging Georgia's economic
divide"
Yet, the divide has only widened.
Governing all for one, and one for
all, hasn't brought shared prosperity.
Nor has the focus on unity actually
yielded much comity. The detach-
ment from the capital region felt
by the "other Georgia" is instead
reciprocated by the typical Atlantan,
who's as likely to have grown up in
the Midwest as in Middle Georgia.
What's Hahira to him, or he to Ha-
hira, that he should weep for her?
So perhaps the most promising
development in this year's session is
the emerging template for address-
ing the different needs and wants in
various regions.
Two examples stand out. One is
the push to organiZe true regional
transit in metro Atlanta. The other
is the move to ensure high-speed
internet, or broadband, is deployed
e
across rural Georgia.
Transit has remained a dirty word
in Republican circles longer than
necessary because it is such an urban
concern. The recent uptick in inter-
est in places like Gwinnett, north
Fulton and even Cobb owes mostly
to their increasing urbanization
and need to compete with Atlanta
proper. It remains a
solution best suited to
higher-density areas;
the difference is the
near-suburbs are begin-
ning to gain some den-
sity, and are projected to
have more by the time
new infrastructure can
be brought on line.
Alpharetta still isn't
Atlanta, though, so the
best model for regional
transit isn't the monop-
4//
oly service originally
envi6ioucd for MARTA.
It will look a little dif-
ferent, not just in terms of favoring
buses over trains but in terms of
maintaining, and coordinating, a
handful of service providers. (That's
one of the reasons to favor the
House's version of a transit bill over
the Senate's. Another is the House's
making use of an existing agency
and board rather than the Senate's
method of creating a new layer of
bureaucracy.)
None of which strikes much of a
chord in Alapaha. That's where the
broadband piece comes in.
Hopping online virtually anywhere
at high speeds is taken for granted in
JUST THE WAY IT IS by Sloan Oliver
e
Last artide, I wrote that the
leftist cabal (consists of leftists,
emocrats, the media, and
ow-information liberals) does,
says, and writes so much that is dishon-
est and ridiculous that it's difficult to
winnow out the extraordinarily stupid
from the average stupid. Last week
was another typical week of leftist
lunacy This time it's Jill Abramson. It's
been 17 months since Donald Trump
was elected president but Abramson
continues to be so distraught that she
carries, in her purse, a small, plastic
Obama doll to provide her comfort.
Did I mention that Abramson is the
former editor of the NY Times - one of
the most influential newspapers in the
country? Can there be any doubt about
Trump hatred, by the media, when the
very person who derides what articles
to print hates Trtunp to the point
where she seeks comfort in an Obama
doll? In the same interview, she goes
on to say that "southem Republicans
are racist." Abmmson's knowledge
of history is very faulty because she's
unaware that Republicans defeated
slavery; fought against Jim Crow laws,
and fought against discrimination
while Democrats fought to preserve
those institutions. It's impossible for
sane people to understand the vitriol
of the leftist cabal. But Abramson,
like Hillary; is a typical Democrat
who represents the thinking of most
Democrats.
SPEAKING of Hillary, I shouldn't
be, but I'm constantly amazed at the
contempt and scom that "tolerant"
Democrats have for conservatives,
espedally for conservatives whom
Democrats think should be liberal. I'm
referring to the scorn that Democrats
have for conservative minorities and .
conservative women. For proof, look
no further than Hillary Clinton. Last
week, Hillary was in India promoting
her book"What Happened." Explain-
ing why she lost, Hillary blam ,
married women calling them stupid
and unable to think for themselves.
She said that married women are
controlled by their husbands, sons, and
employers who tell hhem who to vote
for. Hillary is pathetic. She touts herself
as a feminist, but then calls women
who disagree with her - stupid. Hillary
is not alone in her thinking as most
liberals and Dem&Tats agree with her.
I urge Democrats to continue allowing
Hfllary to speak in public so everyone
can see what Democrats and liberals
really think about conservatives. Every
time she speaks, she shows why she lost
the 2016 election. HiUary proves what
I say about Dems - they don't debate,
they name call.
ANYONE ELSE notice that the
liberal media has no sense of humor?
Recall during the 2016 campaign,
Hillary destroyed or deleted over
30,000 emails. Her lies about the "lost"
emails became a prime example of her
dishonesty. In a 2016 campaign speech,
Donald Trump joked by
saying, "Russia: If you're
listening, I hope you're
able to find the 30,000
emails that are missing7
The leftist media went
berserk and said that
Trumps comment was
proof that he was collud-
ing with the Russians.
They had no due that
Trump was mocking Hill-
ary. Now, two weeks ago,
Chinas President Xi
]inping appointed him-
self"president for life?
In response, Tromp
completely punked the
liberal media. At a fundraiser, Trump
jokingly said, "President for life. I think
it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot
someda) ' Democrats and the media
(I repeat myself) went crazy accusing
Trump ofwanting to be a dictator. It
really is hilarious seeing how Trtmap
plays the "never Trtunpers? They are
humorless.
YOU HAVE to laugh at the left and
the medi fake outrage at Trumps joke
about appointing himself president for
life. That's because the leftist cabal nev-
er saw a.dictator they disliked. While
Trump joked about being "president
for life;' only a few years ago Obama,
said that he admired Chin one party
system because it's easier to get things
done. As far back as the 1930's, liberals
loved Stalin and all things communist.
They applauded Fidel Castro when
he seized power, and they've refused
to condemn any of Castro's human
rights violations. It was Obama who
reestablished diplomatic relations
with the communist thugs getting
no concessions in return. hen, Jane
Fonda, a communist puppet, went to
North Vietnam in 1972 and sided with
our enemy while the North Vietnam-
ese were killing American soldiers in
South Vietnam. Fonda has never been
Georgia's big cities. Not so in its rural
areas, particularly in South Georgia.
But their decline will only continue
if that staple of education, com-
merce and, increasingly, health care
remains absent.
And the steady stream of their
residents bound for metro Atlanta
-- requiring that even more schools,
roads, etc. be built --
will likewise carry on.
It would be nice for
each area to recog-
nize its enlightened
self-interest in helping
the other. But simply
scratching each other's
back will do. That's what
legislators this year ap-
pear to be on the cusp
of achieving.
Is there still a place for
each to insist on frugal-
ity on the other's part?
There better be. Simply
agreeing to give one's
counterpart whatever they want, if
they'll agree to return the favor, is a
bad plan.
But working on specific solutions
for specific needs wherever they ap-
pear, and not trying to pretend one
size really can fit all, is the way to
prod each part of the state to meet its
potential.
Kyle Wingfield writes for The
Atlanta ]ournal-Constitution, the
Monroe County Reporter and other
newspapers. Reach him and read
more at www. bit.ly/Kyle Wingfield.
held accountable for giving aid and
comfort to the enemy, instead she is
treated like liberal royaI Throughout
the 1980's, the American left continu-
ally sided with Soviet dictator Mikhail
Gorbachev over President Ronald Rea-
gan going so far as to say that Reagan
was the threat - not communism. In
the 2000'S Hollywood liberals couldn't
give enough praise to Hugo Chavez,
the socialist, Venezuelan dictator. They
loved that Chavez seized foreign busi-
nesses. Now, thanks to socialism, Ven-
ezuela is one of the most
dysfunctional countries
in the world. Yet, liberals
in the United States
continue to demand
socialism and its evil
brother communism -
proof is how much they
worship the avowed
socialist Bernie Sand-
ers. And who can forget
during a 2012 election
debate, Mitt Romney
said that Russia and
: dictator Putin posed the
greatest foreign threat
to our countr)a. For that
comment, Romney was
mocked and sneered by Obama and
the liberal media. How dare Romney
think that Obam pal, Vlad Putin,
was a threat to the United States? And
the ignorant, liberal media thinks that
Trump is the threat?
FINAl&Y, A warning to all skeptics
of climate change, a play tiffed "Kill
Climate Change Deniers" might soon
be coming to a theater near you. That
title is not a joke; it's the actual name of
a play originally produced in Austra-
lia, partially funded by the Australian
government, and recently brought to
America. Andrew Bolt, a conservative
Australian columnist asked, "What
sane government donates to a project
urging others to kill fellow citizens,
even as a joke? Are these people mad?"
Mr. Bolt doesn't know liberals and
leftists because the answer is, "Yes, they
are mad." With such liberal "tolerance':
who needs Islam to prove intolerance?
WEEKLY Quote: "Why do liberals
remain enamored with communists
and dictators?" - Titus Techera
Sloan Oliver is a retired Army officer.
He lives in Bolingbroke with his wife
Sandra. Email him at sloanoliver@
earth!ink.net.
