nDeclare among the notions, and publish, and set up standard;
_(_)__
ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
Illegals welcome?!
onroe County is known for zero tolerance of
non—county residents attending our schools.
The school system has for years sent family
rvices coordinator Gwen Byrd out to inspect
the homes of students if it questions their Monroe County
residency ‘
“Where’s his tooth brush?“
“Where does he sleep?” “Where
does he keep his clothes?”
Those are some questions Byrd
may ask as she tries to determine
whether students are honest—to-
God Monroe County residents.
Sometimes Byrd even has to take
a deputy with her, just to be on
the safe side.
Perhaps such tactics are neces-
sary. It’s true that lots of Middle
Georgia families want their
children to attend our highly-
acclaimed schools, and Monroe
County housing is more expen-
sive than our neighbors. The story
on page 3A of this week’s edition
is yet another example of how our test scores lead the region.
Some counties simply charge a fee to non-local families
who want to attend their schools. Perhaps those counties
don’t have the demand that Monroe County schools have.
But last week, the school board decided that while we sub-
ject area families to a veritable proctology exam if we suspect
a student doesn’t really live in the county, we will at the same
time roll out the red carpet for non-Americans who want to
attend our schools.
The board voted 4-3 to adopt a head-in-the—sand policy
whereby we will not check the immigration status of any
student The policy was recommended by the Georgia School
Board Association (GSBA).
This is the same Atlanta-based lobby group that persuaded
our school board recently to just claim every exemption pos-
sible when it closes meetings to the public. Georgia law allows
local governments to kick the public out of meetings only
for three reasons: to discuss litigation, personnel or the sale
of real estate. The law says the board must identify which of
these reasons they’re locking the public out Members must
also sign an affidavit swearing that it was the reason. But the
GSBA convinced our school board recently that they could
just cite all three exemptions as a giant, sweeping CYA, even if
it doesn’ t discuss two of the three options. The move violated
the letter and the spirit of the open meetings law. Thankfully
our board recently reversed itself and halted that practice.
On the subject of immigration, the GSBA may be right that
enforcement is supposed to be a federal or state responsibility.
But as school board member Greg Head argued, it’s clear
that’s not happening.
. “Somebody has to start doing something,” said Head
Board member Stuart Pippin pointed out that the school
system on one hand is requiring citizen parents to provide
gobs of forms proving residency and vaccines, yet on the
other hand won’t even bother checking a student’s immigra-
tion status.
Kudos to Head, Pippin and board member Eva Bilderback
for opposing the don’t-ask—don’t—tell policy.
And kudos to them for having the courage to at least start
a debate in the school board chamber. This is what has been
lacking for so many years. School board meetings, not just
here but around the state, have often devolved into dog and
pony shows empty of any meaningful discussion. School
leaders go to great lengths to avoid anything controversial or
interesting. only with great resistance did the board recently
begin allowing taxpayers to address them publicly without
days of advance notice. Self-govemment is necessarily messy
and involves debate. That’s healthy and it’s how our school
board should be run.
Thankfully, Monroe County voters have made enough
changes in the board that we now have debates. But we still
have work to do. We apparently need at least one more new
BOE member to get positive results, at least on this issue. If
we vote well, perhaps we’ll get a school board that operates at
the pleasure of the taxpayers of Monroe County, rather than
QWQ‘R
the big shots at the Georgia School Board Association
the Monroe Corinty
porter
www.MyMCR.net
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, President - Robert M. Williams .lr., Vice President
Cheryl S. Williams, Secretary-Treasurer
OUR STAFF
Will Davis
Publisher/Editor
publisher@mymcr.net
Trellis Grant
Business Manager
businesséimymcmet
Diane Glldewell
Community Editor
. news@mymcr.net
Richard Dumas
News Editor
forsythomymcmei
Amy Haisten
Creative Director
giaphics@mymcr.net
Official Organ “Monro. County and tho City of Forsyth
50 N. Jackson St, PO Box 795 Forsyth, GA 31029
Periodicals Postage Paid at Forsyth. GA 31029
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
THE, MONROE COUNTY REPORTER - 478-994-2358
SUBSCRIPTION RATE: In County: $40 - Out of (ounty: $48 - Single Copy: :1
Wmfmfiflaypflammmmfemmdmopinbnpagesmmeaeauonof’
tinwfltnsttiedonotnecassamymflemfeophbmofmefieportermmgam
Publication No. USPS 997-840
' 'ons
EDITORIALS
PEACH STATE POLITICS by Kyle Wingiielcl
Obamacare’s end would be boon
he first time The ACA’s heavy-handed if the lawsuit succeeds.
Obamacare sup- regulation of insurance Eliminating the ACA
porters had their plans led many Americans would amount to a big do-
day in court, the to conclude they were over. The actual number of
law largely survived. Could better of paying the tax people who truly
can’t get
another lawsuit to over— penalty than to buy a plan insurance because of
their
turn the law prove more with both a high premium medical conditions is
quite
successful? And would and a high deductible. small: as low as 2% to 3%
that be a good thing, at this That’s moot now. The of the population
accord-
point? Republican- ing to some estimates.
Texas v. led Congress They can and should get
Azar is the in late 2017 direct help with their cov-
latest legal reduced the erage. But the authors of
challenge to penalty for the ACA instead decided
the Afford- not comply— to remake the market in
able Care Act, ing with the hopes of helping them.
commonly mandate to That has wreaked havoc
known as $0. That led for a larger number of
Obamacare. to the cur- Americans. Millions have
The state of rent lawsuit, learned just how hollow
Texas — joined which argues was President Obama’s
by 17 others, the ACA infamous promise that “if
including must not be you like your plan, you can
Georgia — is 734 constitutional keep your plan.” For many,
seeking to anymore now receiving a notice that their
have the law that the tax is current plan is being dis—
declared unconstitutional gone. continued has become an
because of the very legal A federal district judge unwelcome annual ritual.
reasoning that allowed it to earlier this year ruled in Even those who can
find
be upheld in 2012. Texas’ favor, and this past a plan they like, or at
least
In that first case, a week the Fifth Circuit U.S. deem acceptable, have
5-4 majority of the US. Court of Appeals heard the been paying unacceptably
Supreme Court led by case. However the appeals high premiums for them.
Chief Justice John Roberts court rules, it’s possible And while Democrats
ruled the ACA’s individual the case will make it to the circa 2009-10
derided
mandate passed consti- Supreme Court. cheaper insurance as “junk
tutional muster because Predicting how that plans” that didn’t provide
it amounted to a tax, and might go — and whether many benefits, now con-
Congress has wide latitude Roberts would view this sumers in the individual
to impose taxes.
lawsuit as springing a trap
and small-group markets
That was the crux of the he laid seven years ago, or are faced with
expensive
lawsuit because the man- as a cheeky poke in his eye junk plans that
require
date was seen as crucial to — is a fool’s errand. But we them to also
pay large
making the rest of the law can calm some of the fears deductibles before
receiv-
function. That proved false:
about what would happen
ing many benefits. This is
20l9, 2018, 10”, 20") winner: ldvrrrinl l'uge extellenr‘e
20“}, 2018 winnorifies! Headline Willing
2°l9 winner: Best (iomnwmly Service
2019 winner: Res? lOyOul and Desrgn
20W winner: Bes‘ Serious Column Dow Daniel
-» publish, and conceal not." Jeremiah 50:2
a direct result of the law’s
attempt to help those with
pre-existing conditions
by making other insured
persons pay more for their
own plans. \
To the extent state ,
governments were asleep
at the switch prior to the:
ACA, they’ll have no such
excuse this time. Many ,
states are already work— .
ing on proposals to waive
certain aspects of the ACA;
if the law goes away, they’d
be able to implement many
if not all of those changes
without asking for Wash-
ington’s permission. ,
Georgia in particular is
knee-deep into that Work
Much of the uncertainty.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s admin-
istration faces concerns
how far federal bureaucrats
will let them go. Take away
the ACA framework, and
the Kemp team can make
those decisions for them.-
selves, based on what’s best
for Georgians.
Odds are, the ACA isn’t
going to be thrown out
by the courts now. But on
the off chance it is, don’t 1
believe all the scare stories
being told about what ,
would happen next. '
The president and CEO:
of the Georgia Public :,
Policy Foundation, Kyle 3
Wingfigld’s column runs iii
papers around thestate of
Georgia. ‘ l
,1
TAKlNG A llKENS TO YOU by Dale likens
Democrats have. a“ God‘gp‘rob‘lem
few years ago my wife and in America were very emotional for
I were traveling the long a few, brief days. “Congress even did
and sometimes tedious the unheard of and sang the song
trip home from our son’s ‘God Bless America’ on the Capitol
and daughter—in—law’s house in
Arizona. Since most of the trip home
was traveled on Route 10 and since
we would be passing through San
Antonio, Texas we decided to stop
and visit Pastor John
Hagee’s church in
steps,” he reminded us.
In his 2012 article, Pastor Hagee ‘
mentioned that 53 million ba-
bies had been aborted since 1973.
(*Today’s total is much nearer 60
million, according to
LifeNews as of January
San Antonio. We had 2018 while Bound4Life
watched Pastor Hagee claims abortion by black
for a number of years women is almost 'four
on television and times greater than white
decided now wag the women.) Homosexual
time to take a short marriages had suddenly
stop, rest for the night become endorsed by the
and visit him and his president of the United
church personally. States and ordained by
It certainly was a . many churches. Currently
worthwhile stop be- , . (*in the year 2019) one
cause we not only lis— V of the candidates for the
tened to Pastor Hagee ‘ Democratic Party is a
give an eiglightening “Dd/e 8’75 hongsexual “married” to
sermon, ut we were one er man.
blessed and honored I cannot truly sit here
to meet Pastor Hagee in person and
spend a few minutes speaking with
him. Needless to say, he Was very
cordial and treated us as old friends.
Recently I was going through some
old papers and newsletters I had One
day tucked away on the corner of my
desk when I came across a newslet—
ter from Pastor Hagee dated October
x 2012. As I read the newsletter I was
astonished to be reminded of the
points of interest Pastor Hagee had
brought to light seven long years
ago. One of his first questions was,
“Were you there on 9/ 1 1?” Then he
proceeded to ask if we had watched
the endless newsreels recording the
actions of a few radical Muslims as
they flew commercial airliners into
the World Trade Center. V
The truth is I don’t remember ex-
actly where I was at the moment this
atrocity first appeared on television.
Of course I remember the planes
' crashing into the World Trade Cen-
ter. I remember people jumping out
of windows to their deaths below. I
remember the smoke that billowed
out of those buildings and I remem-
V her the shock I felt when the total
number of people murdered that da
was nearly 3,000! '
Pastor Hagee pointed out that we
and report that abortion or homo-
sexuality is any worse than any other
sin. I cannot say that I am not a
worse sinner than they are. I person-
ally know many of those who are
homosexuals and some of those who
have aborted babies. Some are very
close to me. I truly love these people
and pray for them. But to simply say
that because I am also a sinner, who
will someday answer to God, justi-
fies the lifestyle they live is just as
wrong as saying since they sin it’s all
right for me to sin. We are all guilty
in God’s eyes and we all must repent
Of our sins. It is not a horrible thing
to cry out to GOd and ask for His
forgiveness. It is not a‘ horrible thing
to repent. We must all repent. But
God is forgiving!
In regards to the horrible incident
Of 9/ 11 where a few radical Muslims
murdered nearly 3,000 Americans
on American soil, U.S. Represen-
tative Ilhan Abdullah Omar (a
present~day Muslim representa-
tive from Minnesota), simply says,
“Something happened by .sOmebody
that day! That’s all we know!”
You may correct me if I’m wrong,
but a few years ago my wife and I re-
. member very well when the Demo-
crats assembled together and asked
It};
4"..3'1’
for voices to be raised if they wanted
God to be acknowledged in their ;‘
party or not. The speaker, whoever
he was, asked for a voice of approval
from the crowd. As we listened ‘2
closely my wife and I heard the
speaker ask for those who wanted to
keep God in their party. The crowd
softly voiced their acceptance to‘ *
keep God in their party. Then he ‘
asked for those who wished that
God be left out of theig-party. Sud-“l
denly their voices boomed across 7
the airwaves. However, the speakef
commented that the majority were;
in favor‘of keeping God in their J
party—even though it was not the?
way my wife and 'I heard the votinJ .
I certainly would not have believer?
my ears if it were not for the fact that
my wife heard the voting the same)
way I did.
Let’s suppose it was only a night—
mare my wife and I each had one ‘1
night and woke up to discover it was
not truelthat the Democrats voted.) ‘
God out of their party. we might be
relieved until we take a good look I
at their party today. ,It appears they
may have shoved God out of their
party without taking a vote.
As for the Republican Party, I am
excited to say many are proudly ‘1
speaking for the American people’
and strongly acknowledging God as
our true leader; However, many have
sadly become RIN OS quietly hiding
in the dark halls of our goVernmen’t
buildings, cowardly waiting to see
which way the wind will blow
Sadly, since I have been on this I
earth I have watched God being ‘
thrown out of our schools, out of our
government and out of many of our
churches. I have watched Christians
accept the sins of our society rather
than standing up and defending ‘3
biblical principles that once ruled
our country. ‘v
I Corinthians 6:9 says, “Do you not
know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the Kingdom of God?”
Psalm 33:12 ’says, “Blessed is the {
nation whose God is the Lor .” And
Psalm 9:17 says that “All nations that
forget God are turned into hell.” The
last time I looked up the word ‘ALL’
it meant ‘ALL’! God bless! ‘ .
Dale Likens is an author who lives‘in
Monroe County.
+4-
