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ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
any of you told us that we would enjoy
moving to the country in Monroe County.
You were right!
That's nothing against neighborhoods.
We really enjoyed the subdivision where we lived and I
think it contributed to a great childhood for our teenag-
ers. 2hey were surrounded by
kids their age and had a lot of
fun playing bali and traips-
ing around the woods when
we moved there 12 years ago.
Lots of us moved there in
2007-08, and then the market
crashed. The bank repossessed
our builder's helicopter, and
some homeowners discovered
they had liens on their homes
because of the developer's
financial woes.
In 2009 we discovered
that the HOA had racked
up $13,000 in debt and the
neighborhood didn't have
enough money to operate the pool that summer. So we
all joined River Forest and made the most of it.
With the real estate crash, there were only about 20
homes occupied then in what was planned as a 200-
home neighborhood. But it was nice and quiet. Most of
the neighbors bought golf carts and the kids created golf
cart trails through the woods around us. We discovered
an old mica mine that had been dug during World War
2 with giant holes and caves and lots of silver mica. We
also found an old homestead with a stack-stone chim-
ney and a wild lemon tree out front, which I had never
seen before. We called the bank and they let us get a
sapling of it to plant at our home. It's huge now.
And there was country life in the neighborhood too.
There was the time my wife found our cat Catfish in a
standoff with a rattlesnake in the backyard. This city
boy grabbed his shotgun and blasted at the rattlesnake.
The first shot missed. The second round split him into
two.
"Shoot him again!" my wife yelled.
It was about the first thing I'd ever shot, and all the
neighbors came over to see it and celebrate. My head
was too bag for a hat that day. Then there were less he-
roic moments. There was the time I was late for supper
from work and rushed up the driveway and ran inside
to eat. Our spaghetti was interrupted by neighbor Jim
Finch who screamed, "we've got a runaway Will!" Ap-
parently when I had stopped at the top of our driveway,
in my haste to enjoy the meal, I failed to put the truck
into park. The runaway truck rolled across the street,
into the yard of a vacant home, smashed an AT&T box,
roiled back into my yard, and then rolled to a rest back
across the street. Thank God no one was hurt.
Alas, growth returned a few years ago and the place
has exploded with new homes. With that came in-
creased scrutiny from the Homeowners Association.
One time when our dog Asian was a puppy I took her
to the workout room. I mean I need all the help I can
get when I work out. I didn't realize that the HOA had
installed cameras in the workout room until the presi-
dent emailed me photos of myself working out with the
dog and included a $100 fine in my name for breaking
community rules. Thankfully his successor forgave the
fine. But lately the HOA continued doing the thing that
HOAs do. We gotten phone calls about grass clippings.
We got warnings about parking on the street. Yep, it was
time to go to the country.
And so last Thursday, after the boxes were moved and
the furniture was in place, I stood in the yard at dusk
and spun myself 360 degrees seeing nothing but our
8 acres, and lots and lots of trees. I heard nothing but
whippoorwills and bullfrogs, and felt the cool breeze
rustling across our front porch. Yep, I think we're gonna
like it here too.
the Monroe Gamty
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Cheryl S. Williams, Secretary-Treasurer
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Publication No. USPS 997-840
PEACH STATE POLITICS by Kyle Wingfield
or all the complex-
ity ofhealthcare,
efforts to improve
it really come down
to one dividing line: Either
you think Washington's
central planners know best,
or you don't.
The past several decades
have been one
long exercise
in yielding
more and
more author-
ity to a small
group of deci-
sion makers,
despite scant
evidence this
approach has
been work-
ing and much
evidence that
it hasn't. The
high-water
mark for this
kind of thinking is the Af-
fordable Care Act.
At least, so far it is. Now
there's a move under way
to scuttle even the small
opening Georgia and
other states see as their
only chance to bring some
sanity back to their bat-
tered insurance markets
for individuals and small
businesses.
To understand what's go-
ing on, first recall the hu-
bris of the ACA s authors.
They thought they could
wrest regulatory authority
over insurance from the
states, mandate a slew of
coverages, crimp the ability
of insurers to differentiate
the prices of their products
for riskier or more fre-
quent users ofhealthcare,
subsidize it heavily for a
segment of the population
- and end up with some-
thing besides a market
with less competition and
higher prices, one rejected
by many
Americans
even though
they faced a
tax penalty for
doing so.
Predicting
these prob-
lems required
no orescience
on the part of
ACA critics,
just an under-
standing of
how markets
actually work.
Despite all
that, the law did include
a provision all but ac-
knowledg'mg the authors
might not have it all right.
Section 1332 of the ACA
allows states to propose
innovative ways to reform
their health-insurance
markets. The states do this
by applying for waivers, as
the General Assembly this
year authorized Gov. Brian
Kemp to do.
The problem was the
initial guidance for imple-
menting this flexibility, is-
sued by the Obama admin-
istration in 2015, allowed
no real flexibility. It was
like bringing someone a
broken-down car, and tell-
TAKING A LIKENS TO YOU by Date Likens
AbS a young boy I
played plenty of
asketball. My
rothers and I
hung a bushel basket 10
feet high on our barn wall
and far away from any
neighbors.
Living far
out in the
country
we could
play basket-
ball until
bedtime
and yell and
complain all
we wanted.
I used to
drive to
stood frightened to death.
During practice our coach
screamed at the older
players and grabbed them
when he deemed neces-
sary and screamed again.
During a game he became
angry at a player
and turned to
me and told me
to get into the
game. I shook
my head and
said, "I don't
want to go in" I
wasn't asked to
play anymore
that year.
A few years
later a new coach
the bucket,
whip the ball appeared and I
felt more confi-
around my dent. I became
back and lay the captain of our
the ball high above and team. Once again I began
into the basket, whipping the ball around
When I was in the eighth my back and driving to
grade I was sitting in class the bucket. "Quit showing
when our high school off!" the coach who was
coach, who taught this much milder than the first
class, announced basket- coach yelled. "Just pass the
ball practice would begin ball!" Once again I froze
the next Tuesday and "I up. Although I was the
want you, Dale Likens, to best shooter on the team,
come to our high school I would steal the ball from
basketball practice." This opposing players, pass up
was unheard of! An eighth good shots and feed the
grader being asked to play ball to other players.
high school basketball! Lou Blaney, the grandfa-
I was totally proud as a ther of Ryan Blaney who
peacock, but embarrassed now drives the number 12
as well. car in NASCAR, was our
Two of my older brothers starting center at 6 foot 3
were starters on the high inches tall. I was a mere
school team. During one 5 foot 8 inches tall. Each
of our first practices I met time I went to the foul line
our coach and another Lou would pass me by
older player on the steps and say, "Make your shots
leading from the dressing fall to the left of the rim,
room to the basketball and I will get the rebound
court. They were argu- and put it back up for two
ing terribly when I heard points instead of one" It
the coach scream at the worked. We were winning
other boy and shove him games;all 13 that year
down the steps. The boy and became the league
went rolling past me as I champions. Our coach
If
ing them they could use as
much paint and duct tape
to fix it as they wanted - as
long as they didn't actually
work on the engine.
Late last year, the Trump
administration changed
course. It offered states four
explicit ways to innovate in
their markets, and encour-
aged them to find others.
Certain legal guardrails
remain in place, mean-
ing the states still have to
work within the ACA'S
parameters. But each of
the four ways gives states
a real chance to fix some
of what's a
markets.
Naturally, this horrifies
those who pretend the
broken-down car is just
fine, and don't want anyone
touching the engine.
This past week, House
Democrats approved a
bill that would go back to
the paint-and-duct tape
method of improvement.
The bill claims to protect
patients with pre-existing
conditions, but that's non-
sense. The ACA specifi-
cally prohibits states from
waiving those protections.
So what's really going on
here?
The bill refers to patients
with pre-existing condi-
tions because Democrats
know Americans over-
whelmingly support those
protections. In fact, only in
its title does the bill even
mention pre-existing con-
ditions. That's because it
was satisfied with the way
things were going and
never encouraged me to
shoot more often.
A number of years later
my wife and I were visiting
our son and daughter-in-
law in Gilbert, Arizona.
One day our granddaugh-
ter and I were out for a
walk and passing Danny
Ainge's mansion, which
is just beyond a park that
separated our son's house
from his. (For those who
may not know, Danny
Ainge played for BYU and
the Boston Celtics a few
years later. Today Danny
Ainge is the General Man-
ager of the Boston Celtics.)
A young man was shoot-
ing a basketball inside
a gated area. 'Are you
Danny Ainge's son?" I
yelled through the bars to
the young man shooting
some hoops.
"Yes, I am!" The young
man called back with a
friendly tone.
"May we come in and
shoot some hoops with
you?" I asked
"Sure!" He smiled in
return.
After shooting some
three pointers for awhile
Danny's son said, "I play
for our Junior High team,
you should know. Would
you like to play a game of
PIG?" He asked.
"I would love to!" I joy-
fully answered.
We shot three pointers
and I won the game of
PIG and another game
of HORSE. He truly was
trying to win, but I was
hitting a high percentage
of my shots. As we left
the young Ainge boy, we
shook hands and smiled.
"You're pretty good!" he
said as we left. "Thanks for
would ban all of the Trump
administration's guid-
ance on these innovative
reforms, even things like
allowing people to collect
their ACA subsidies in ac-
counts to use for healthcare
expenses beyond insurance
premiums.
Fortunately, the bill ap-
pears to be dead on arrival
in the Senate. At the root,
however, this effort is about
ensuring no state gets a
chance to enact reforms
that prove a more market-
oriented approach can
work better for patients,
" After years of ar gu'ing
against repealing and
replacing the ACA, many
Democrats are now ready
to do essentially that. Only,
instead of getting away
from a Washington-centric
approach, they would go
all-in on it with a single-
payer plan.
It won't work. We'll see
a further reduction in
choices and competition.
We'll see a further increase
in prices - and that may
come in the form of higher
taxes, more debt and lon-
ger wait times.
This engine needs a
total overhaul, and not by
Washington.
The president and CEO
of the Georgia Public
Policy Foundation, Kyle
Wingfield's column runs in
papers around the state of
Georgia.
stopping in!"
As we got around the
corner of the street, away
from Danny Ainge's house,
I proudly called to my
granddaughter, "I just beat
Ainge in two games of
basketball! No one needs
to know it was his son and
not Danny!" We laughed
together.
The year I retired from
teaching I was honored
to play a basketball game
against our Girls Junior
High basketball team in
Stockbridge. Among our
players was a man by the
name of Scott Woerner
who played extremely well
for the Georgia Bulldogs
during their national
championship football
title in 1980. Before our
game began I was hitting
my three pointers with
extreme accuracy. Soon I
heard the players from the
Junior High team call me
over. "Who are you?" They
asked. "You're the best
player out there! Seriously!
We've been watching you
shoot your three pointers!
You're great!"
I didn't play much that
game, but when I did Scott
Woerner kept calling for
me to pass the ball to him.
I did. Just like I did in high
school!
I never became a star
basketball player during
my lifetime. But I sure
ended on a high note!
Thanks to the young ladies
on the Stockbridge Junior
High basketball team!
You made my da ; ladies!
You made my career and
a pocket full of wonderful
memories! God bless!
Dale Likens is an au-
thor who lives in Monroe
County.
