Rockdale Citizen

"Has anyone heard anything about Newton County Commissioner Mort Ewing's proposed SPLOST pork barrel project, the $1.2 million-plus Agricultural Center building? It was proposed with no business plan, no certificate of neead, no building plan, no location proposal, no land purchase plan, no continuing operation plan, so how in the world did it get passed by the people? Ooooo, I forgot. Mort wanted the Agricultural Center for all his Farm Bureau friends from when Mort was the Georgia Farm Bureau president and Mort wanted all of us non-farmers to pay for it. To that end Mort threatened the old folks with additional property taxes if he did not get the SPLOST and scared old folks passed it. What a guy old Mort is. He should be long remembered."------"By comparison, our Newton County commissioners and county (co-conspirator) manager John Middleton make our school system look well managed."------"What kind of company do you wish to work for? Do you want to work for a company that treats its employees as valued assets? Do you want to believe that the harder you work, the higher you will rise and the more you will be rewarded? Do you believe that your company's employees are the key to raising your company's productivity, increasing customer service, and raising your company to higher levels of excellence? Then do not work for Newton County, they do not care about any of that."------"Let me get this straight. Newton County is strapped for cash. They are to the point they fired a number of employees and have cut the remaining hourly employees pay by over 6 percent every year for the past three-plus years. Yet these same Newton County Commissioners voted to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a walking trail, 80 percent of which was in the city of Covington? The families of all Newton County employees hear the message loud and clear. You care nothing about us and you never have. You have spent tens of thousands, upon tens of thousands of dollars to spend on walking trails 99 percent of Newton County residents will never use, yet there is nothing for the people that actually do the work."------"The regular worker can never ever hope of getting ahead if he or she works for Newton County. The worker never gets any respect from the current Newton County commissioners because they know it all and you know nothing. Morale is so low you cannot find any anywhere anymore."------"Drivers beware while driving in Porterdale. The Porterdale Police is now sitting at the four-way intersection at Hwy. 81 and Crowell and citing drivers for turn signal violations. The fine is about $138. The traffic is backed up so far during rush hour that most people forget where they were going by the time they make it up to the intersection. The new solicitor requested eight hours community service or one day in jail in addition to the fine for one driver. The judge denied the request. The new mayor is trying to generate new business in Porterdale while the PPD is running people out of town."------"Is Hawaii no longer a state all of a sudden? Why is the president's birth certificate such a big issue after he's been in office? Have we verified Mitt Romney's birth certificate? And I'm curious if any other president's origin has been questioned in our nation's history. Of course, no one will suggest that it is because of his skin color, but when all of this 'controversy' is considered, one must begin to wonder ... Would an American born from Hispanic roots be questioned of their place of birth in the race for president? Would a Hawaiian or American Native? Just something to ponder over."------"I appreciate Dr. King's opinions on marriage, but I don't see why his views should sway my own. And to say that he didn't support it because he was 'a man of God' isn't a valid reason I think; there are plenty of spiritually devout who also support the freedom to marry."------"We would like to applaud the Covington Police Department; specifically Capt. Malcom and Lt. Miller for taking time to come and instruct the women of our community on potential dangerous situations to their safety. Members of the Covington First UMC were taught to recognize, react and how to prevent hazards to their safety. We are so fortunate to live in a community with such a strong police presence with men and women committed to the safety of all its citizens who are willing to educate their community."------"Three times last week I received emails with the same photo critical of President Obama for standing on a stage with hands folded while three officers are looking forward and saluting. There are other similar photos just different occasions floating around the urban myth circuit. These people seem to believe the President is not saluting the flag. I guess people are easily manipulated into believing what they want to believe. At the moment this particular photo was made a military band was playing 'Hail to the Chief.' If would be highly inappropriate for any President to have his hand over his heart or to salute during this occasion. This photo was made at the Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Day celebration in May 2009 and it is still making the rounds. I first received this same photo in November 2009 and the caption indicated it was made at a 2009 Veterans' Day service. When I asked the sender why then was the saluting admiral on the stage inappropriately wearing his summer white dress uniform, the sender was very offended. Please people, this is the year 2012. It is time to get over the fact that the country elected a black man. At least when you receive these silly, negative, obviously erroneous emails just delete them. Or better yet, if you haven't come to the full realization that none of them are valid, just research it yourself. The volume and substance of these emails should be your first clue. I still receive 'birther' emails. By the way, you do know that Mitt's father, George, was born in Mexico. George Romney's father emigrated to Mexico before Utah or Arizona, where they resided, joined the Union. So how could George Romney have been an American citizen as he claimed when he ran for the Republican nomination in 1968? Did George Romney immigrate to this country illegally? Does this make Mitt Romney an 'anchor' baby? This could start a whole new more relevant 'birther' scandal."------"I was surprised to read Jack Simpson's heavily biased editorial on campaign financing in which he only mentioned President Obama's fundraisers. He failed to mention any of Romney's many $50,000 a plate fundraisers and apparently he did not hear about Romney's whirlwind fund-raising swing through Florida just this May. These dinners included a $50,000-a-plate dinner at private equity mogul Marc Leder's Boca Raton home. Leder is the co-founder of Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Boca Raton. (Don't you feel great when you hear how politicians cozy up to big money?) Romney visited the Tampa home of Dick and Cornelia Corbett one afternoon, then headed to Coral Gables for a reception at the Biltmore and a dinner at the home of Phil and Pat Frost. There was also a Romney reception and private lunch in Jacksonville. In each city, Romney's schedule included a general reception for $2,500 donors, a separate VIP event with a photo opportunity for $10,000 contributors -- and finally for the top one percenters in Romney's income bracket a private meal for those who pony up $50,000. Mr. Simpson finishes his editorial with a critique on the President about housing, jobs, and the deficit. The facts show that Republicans have blocked anything put forward to help the economy. In the Republican-controlled House, something happened on the way to creating jobs: 46 bills on abortion; 113 bills on religion; 73 bills on marriage; 72 bills on firearms; 604 bills on taxation; 467 bills on government investigation, but Republicans scuttled the American Jobs Act. The huge deficit is caused by Bush putting two wars and the unfunded Medicare prescription plan on the American taxpayers credit card while he cut taxes for those in the top one percent. Federal revenues haven't been keeping up with spending due to the struggling national economy (which was held back by the lack of tax revenues) and Republican insistence on the continuation of tax cuts. Each year there's an annual deficit, the national debt grows. You won't hear this on Fox News, but President Obama has overseen the lowest annual increases in spending of any president in 60 years. What is a Republican Party to do when their eight years in power caused the Second Great Depression? It seems their game plan is to hamstring the Democratic Party from doing anything meaningful, whine about how slow the economic recovery is, and then convince voters that they can do better. God help us."------"'The School Lawsuit' -- I'm not a legal eagle by any stretch of the imagination but it seems obvious to most of us laypersons the defendants are covered/protected by the Federal Whistleblower's Legislation. This law protects people who report potential wrongdoing in government are not able to be prosecuted, much less put out of their jobs! And, in the event the remarks were in fact, defamatory, but can be proven, there is no law broken. The remarks, in a general sense, appear to be related to the Newton County School System. It seems the individual in this case filing such action, as simply an employee, does not have status to do so. In order for the suit to go forward, all these points must be addressed by the plaintiff at hearing and in order to have status in this lawsuit, it would have to have been brought by the Newton County Board of Education. Although it is said that 'anyone can sue anyone anytime for anything,' the courts will see this suit as nothing but a vain attempt at retaliation without legal merit and the plaintiff will be assessed all costs, plus those expenses suffered by the defendants, hopefully. If you look at the recent poll in this newspaper you will see that at present the persons responding will reach over 1,000 who believe it has no merit and may reach 200 in support of the plaintiff. Comments aired about the attorney handling the suit for the plaintiff speak of their wishes to have voted for this attorney in the upcoming election for Newton Superior Court judge but now have a different view of this candidate handling a suit against the citizens' right to free speech. Didn't someone tell the plaintiff that all her dirty laundry is going to be aired in this trial? Hopefully she doesn't have any but the consensus/poll shows otherwise. Can anyone say, 'Ooops!'"------"I wanted to congratulate Georgia Tech for winning the ACC Championship. Oh guess good guys don't always finish last."