July 11, 2018 Page 5A
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ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Don Dan
O
el
LeaSt week the Forsyth City Council, without hesita-
tion, voted ,4,-0 to approve it. What was it? Under
agenda ',A, pproval of Req sitions Greater
an $5,000 was the item Calibration Controls-
--floccuUator shaft repair $8,613.24". No discussion and
no council member questioned nor asked what a floccula-
tor was/is. They just approved the taxpayer expenditure
without any discussion.
At the end of the council agenda there is the item for
Public Comments. Since I had never heard of a floccula-
tor and had no idea what it was, I asked ffthe mayor, any
council member or city manager knew what the gadget
was that they just approved $8613.24 to repair. None spoke
up to admit their ignorance. "Just pay it" was the vote.
Coming to the defense of the mayor and council, the city
manager said she would find out what a flocculator is, sup-
ply me, the mayor and council with darification and what
the item does and she did. Here is a very brief synopsis of
what it does: The flocculator is the second stage of treat-
ment in our process. We have what's known as a mechani-
cal horizontal paddle wheel flocculator Meaning, that it
is a motor driven, center shaft, with horizontally placed
paddle, much like a paddle boat.
Long story short, the shaft got broke, the flocculator
didn't work and the shaft had to be repaired to the tune of
a $8,613.31 taxpayer cost. The moral of the story is don't
let you flocculator get broke because it is expensive to
repair.
Next time you see the mayor, city council member or city
manager, just ask them how the flocculator is working.
Here are some unattributed council member comments:
"By far the cheapest option";
"I had a frog in my throat";
[ "I don't do anything";
"I'll be your assistant";
"People are not using common
sense";
"One more thing I have
heard";
"Tech guy needs whatever";
"One more thing I have heard".
OKV[ pro football fans! If the
Jacksonville Jaguars are known
as the "Jags" and the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers as known as the
"Bucs", what does that make the
Tennessee Titans?
I AM carrying on a family tradition every Fourth of
July. First, I had an uncle who landed on Omaha Beach
the day after D-Day and he fought in WWII until the day
the peace treaty was signed and he came home. Uncle
Billy was a total patriot, honoring the American Flag, The
National Anthem, you get the idea.
I don't remember when public television began airing 'A
Capitol Fourth" but it became an "Uncle Billy Tradition"
to watch the live show with patriotic renditions of many
songs and honoring every branch of our Armed Forces.
He didn't get a chance to see the show being broadcast
live from Washington but was intently engrossed in the
celebration from his chair in front of the television without
interruption from anyone. We understood.
The other night, there was the informal television news
poll asking 10 people the significance of July Fourth. The
answers were disgusting and I stick my nose out and
say a failure of our educational system when there were
"no idea" and stupid answers by over three-quarters of
those asked.
HAD several correct responses to "The Question" a
couple of weeks ago, identifying a new inductee into the
Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame. Wesley Pope was the
first naming Peppi Zellner. James Webb named Charles
Dumas and Sandi Williams named Rhonda Griffin Hardy,
coming in second and third. Wesley gets a certificate for a
dozen Dunkin Donuts, Whistle Stop fried green tomato
appetizer, Jonah's cookie, Dairy Queen Blizzard, slice of
Shoney's strawberry pie, Forsyth Main Street t-shirt, sand-
wich, drink and chips at The Pickled Okra.
Here's The Question for this we& Name the person who
just retired after 54 years and was known as "Mr. School
Bus". First correct answer after 12 noon on Thursday gets
the certificate.
A FRIEND sent me this and even if you have heard it
before it is worth repeating: Jews do not recognize Jesus
as the Messiah; Protestants to not recognize the Pope as
leader of the Christian faith; and Methodists do not recog-
nize each other in the liquor store or Hooters.
PROBLEMS at Forsyth's public showers, better known
as The Splash Pad, have been fixed, according to the city.
HERE are a couple of interesting checks that have been
approved by the Monroe County Commissioners: The
Backlot Players $675 (wonder if the commissioners get
complimentary tickets to performances); $609 to Custom
Stuff for summer camp shirts; $7,030.12 to Georgia De-
partment of Labor delinquency charges 2017 taxes; $675
Hubbard Alumni Association; $39,375 to Mauldin and
Jenkins; $209,188.90 to Monroe County Hospital which
included two $100,000 appropriations; $675 to Mon-
roe County Historical Society; $96 for portable toilets;
$19,055.48 for fuel from Walthall Oil Company and then
$1,586.30 to Watts Service Center because the fuel depot
was dosed.
GOT A COMMENT or a suggestion? Contact Donald
Jackson at tullaybear@bellsouth.net and listen to The
Reporter On The Radio on Majic 100 on Sunday morn-
ings at seven and watch Will. Richard and Don on Forsyth
Cablevision.
Don Daniel founded the Reporter in 1972. Email him at
TO
THE
To the editor,
is a reply to Marilyn
Langford editorial pub-
lished in the Monroe
County Reporter on June
27.
You have kept up a steady stream
of comments on President Donald
Trump, most of it bad. And we live
in a society that allows for freedom
of speech good or bad. But I've never
seen as many bad things that people
say about any President, especially
our current one, but this
constant bashing is unheard
of, all because the other
candidate didn't win the
election. And I realize that
you can't believe 50 percent
of what can be read on
social media
FACT: The law that calls
for family separation was
enforced by the BUSH &
OBAMA administrations
and you say that this is "Trumps
heinous crime against humanity"
and he is the one that ended it. But if
you read the details of this law then
it becomes apparent of why this law
was written in the first place, and
properly endorsed by the previous
administrations.
There is a lot of talk about the sep-
arations of families at the border, but
what about the separation of families
of our great troops that serve our
country? They volunteer for this
when deployed to a foreign land
to fight for our freedoms and may
return wounded or dismembered
as a result of an IED or not return
alive, and the wives and children
never seeing their loved ones again.
What about those people? And
think about the Sailors and other
Service Warriors that are deployed
around the globe, all 1.3 million of
them, 15,000 in Afghanistan alone.
America needs to salute these brave
men and women that serve our
country.
Upon entering Military
Service, I took a solemn
and binding obligation to
support and defend the
Constitution of the United
States against all enemies
foreign and domestic, the
same as any President of
our great nation and this
obligation is until DEATH.
I may not always agree
with the decisions made by
our leaders, but I support them
as they were elected to serve as such,
and I am not going to bash them on
social media as have a lot of so called
celebrities. Anyone that talks about
causing harm to the President or his
family should be locked up.
I don't have all the facts on what
you said about what President
Trump pulling out of the different
treaties. But I did read an artide
written by Tom Fitton of Judicial
Watch that noted President Bush
boycotted the United Nations Hu-
man Rights Council and President
Obama put us back in so Trump is
doing the same thing that Bush did
because the council is a joke.
What about the efforts of our
President to unify the Koreas and
bring peace to nations that have long
been at each other's throats since the
50's? That may even stop a war that
would see great loss of life, ours and
theirs. And maybe being able to pull
our troops out of South Korea and
not have to guard the 38th Paralel
anymore wouldn't that be great.
It is written that all legal immi-
grants have the right to apply to
become a naturalized citizen of the
U.S. and then have all of the ben-
efits as any other citizen. All illegal
immigrants should be deported and
returned to then" countries. Any and
all welfare should be directed at the
citizens first and legal immigrants
second - iUegals should get none.
I said the pledge of allegiance to
the flag and morning prayers in all
of my 12 plus years of school all of
this should be returned to teach
the children what a great nation we
have and that there is a GOD. I can't
imagine people that go through
life without a supreme being. The
ACLU needs to be abolished and
proper teachings and common sense
returned to the school system.
If you don't support this country,
leave it.
Sonny McDonald
Juliette
TAKING A LIKENS TO YOU by Dale Likens
Tl ve to write articles of past
ltimes; times of joy and fam-
lilY fun. I remember my life as
,L.a child and enjoy sharing my
family life with others. I love my wife
and family and wish to share stories
of our lives together.
However, today I am
quite concerned with
the turmoil hap-
pening in America.
Today's article is about
my concern for
America.
Recently two young
black men sat in a
Starbucks restaurant
without purchasing
anything. Because
they did not buy a
coffee or food the
two young men were
asked to leave the
restaurant. Immediately this story
hit the news and a national outcry
was sent out to Starbucks. The next
day Starbucks apologized to these
two young men and set a date to
dose their restaurants across the
nation while training centers would
be set up in each restaurant to teach
their owners and workers to con-
duct better concern for non-paying
customers.
Soon after this incident Kirstjen
Nielsen, our Secretary of Home-
land Security, was sitting alone in
a restaurant in Washington, D.C.
when hecklers began screaming at
her. ' bolish ICE!" They chanted
"Shame!" The screams and heck-
lers were video-taped by another
customer and sent across the nation.
of the United States and their stand
on immigration. This time Kirstjen
rose from her table and left quietly.
It seems our media did not concern
itself with a paying customer who
was quietly eating her supper
Later hecklers gathered
outside Ms. Nielsen's
home blasting the sounds
of crying migrant chil-
dren who were separated
from their families at the
U.S.-Mexico border Signs
and banners were raised
above the gatherers read-
ing "Child Snatchers!"
"2,000 Children Ripped
from their Families!" And
"No Justice, No Sleep!"
Meanwhile, Sarah
Sanders, Press Secretary
to President Donald
Trump, and her party of
seven family members were asked
to leave "The Red Hen" a Virginia
restaurant, while enjoying a family
supper Why? Because of her affili-
ation with our "immoral" President
Donald Trump. Needless to say,
Sarah Sanders and her family quietly
left the restaurant.
Unrelated to any of the incidents
mentioned above, Peter Fonda wrote
a tweet about President Trumps
young son that is far too horrible to
mention in this artide. Still the na-
tional media picked up on this tweet
and soon it was aired across our
nation. Google explains that most
of those responding to Peter Fonda's
tweet agreed with his tweet.
Presently, those of us who may
have voted for President Donald
The hecklers, it seems, were shouting
out their complaints to Kirstjen for
her connection with our President
Trump are now being called Nazis!
Why? Perhaps you can explain this
accusation better than I.
Politics and the media can often be
vicious. Perhaps I'm just a little too
old to understand the world today.
Perhaps I need to ' et with it" as
some say. Through it all, I still agree
with our First Amendment which
states, "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of reli-
gion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech. Or of the press or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for
a redress of grievances."
Yes, I believe in free speech. I
believe in the Constitution of the
United States of America. But I do
question the right to harass an in-
dividual in a restaurant or the right
to inform a lady and her family they
are not welcome in a certain restau-
rant because of this woman's beliefs
and position in our government.
Is this not similar to the individual
who refused to bake a cake because
of his biblical beliefs? Am I not
allowed to vote for anyone with-
out being labeled a Nazi? Do these
people have any understanding
who the Nazis truly were? Should
our Christian churches continue
to ignore politics while our nation
tumbles? God help us when we as
a nation refuse to stand up against
those who close their restaurants
to those of us who may speak a dif-
ferent voice. God help us when we
don't speak out against such vile and
wicked remarks!
My prayer today is that Americans
will wake up soon. Let's let God
know we truly care for our country
before it is too late. God bless.
Dale Likens is an author who lives
in Monroe County.
Austin (not long in) City Limits
Monroe County's congressman Austin Scott (R-Ashburn) held
his last Town Hall with his constituents in Forsyth (at right)
on Aug. 20, 2014. Scott did attend a chamber of commerce
event this spring but did not take questions from Constituents
and therefore cannot be considered a town hall meeting. If
you want an opportunity to let Scott know what you want
him to do in Congress, call his Washington office at (202)
225-6531 and let him know.
When Brian Kemp became secretary of state on Jan. 8, 2010, Terr) h's
survey of the Monroe-Bibb county line was on his desk. The law says ifs his job
to do something with it. He announced on Aug. 23, 2011 that he was rejecting the
Scarborough survey. Unfortunately, the law gives him no such option. So on March
10, 2014, the Supreme Court ordered him to set the line. That was four years ago.
The Reporter is devoting this space each week to counting the number of days Kemp
has been on the job, and yet not done his job. If you want Kemp to do the job which
he's sought three times before he gets a promotion to governor, call his office at
(404) 656-2817 and let them know.
