Blakely GA News Commentary and Reading Recommendations

I don't know about you, but I find it kind of unfair that the man's name was given in an article titled 'Accused rapist...' when it was found by the court that he wasn't guilty.

From http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledge...cs/10877008.htm:
 
[The] attorney told WALB-TV that his client had been taking a number of prescription pills for years because of health problems, and a side effect of the medication was impotence.
There also was no physical evidence of rape because the woman waited eight days to report it, Murrah said.
"He cried," he said. "He did not like to tell the world about his condition."
[The man] and his accuser were both married to other spouses and attended the same church. They had been having an affair that did not involve sex for a couple years, and when [the man] tried to break it off, the woman responded by accusing him of rape, Murrah said.

One could also question the term 'affair' if sex was not involved. (Why not call it an 'intimate friendship'?)
 
Usually I'm on the side of the 'victim' when I read about court cases, but this outrages me. The circumstances seem highly dubious. I don't think the man deserved this kind of public humiliation.
 
Maybe he can take comfort in the fact that the majority of men his age could use the same defense... or why would pharmaceutical companies clog our airwaves with all these commercials for 'enhancing the quality of the experience'?!

09:53 AM   

The Post-Searchlight features an opinion piece of Sen. Dan Moody (R-Alpharetta) on improving Georgia's infrastucture. Well worth a read.

From http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2...9&PAG=461&rfi=9:
 
With five of the nation’s 10 fastest growing counties here in Georgia, our population is surging and so are our infrastructure demands. Water systems are straining to serve more people while meeting increasingly stringent federal water-quality mandates. Many roads are simply overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, we face new demands on state funds, as our growing and aging population fuels the need for social services. Today, three-fourths of Georgia’s budget goes to education and health care, and the battle for the remaining 25 percent is intense.
Increasing taxes is certainly no solution. With taxes claiming 27 cents of every dollar earned in Georgia, tax hikes would threaten our economic health. Already, our state and local tax take is 18th highest in the country. That’s worse than Massachusetts — and up from 41st in 1970.
Instead, Georgia should use public-private partnerships, as appropriate, to supplement infrastructure improvement plans. It’s an idea whose time has come—but it’s not new.

It's always nice to read about ideas 'straight from the policitian's mouth.' The article outlines an interesting possible solution to Georgia's infrastructure problem.

09:05 AM   

Blakely men, how about this: You invite your Significant Other to a romantic weekend at the Blakely Hotel in New York?

From http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/travel/artic...3520839,00.html:
 
The Blakely Hotel in New York has a recipe for love. The St. Valentine's Day package includes champagne, caviar, chocolates and deluxe one-bedroom suite. This midtown Manhattan boutique hotel coddles couples with Egyptian cotton bed linens, Frette cotton robes, down comforters, in-room English tea, and European coffee and marble bathrooms with deep-soaking bathtubs. (800-735-0710, www.blakelynewyork.com)

Not exacly Blakely news but interesting nonetheless...

07:18 AM   

Alabama attorneys are claiming the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is illegally storing water for Georgia, and causing harm downstream.

From http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsi...id=439676&rfi=6:
 
That put the dispute over the Alabama, Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers back in court.
"The corps has made repeated decisions to sacrifice water quality, hydropower, navigation, downstream recreation, fish and wildlife during times of low flow in order to give undue preference to upstream recreation and water supply," the complaint states.(...)
The state sued the Corps in 1990 over the use of rivers that begin in Georgia and flow to Alabama and Florida. The Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint river system is also part of the suit.
North Georgia interests (...) state they need additional water to handle population growth. Downstream interests, including the cities of Eufaula, Columbus, Ga, and Bainbridge, Ga, state if Georgia receives the amount of water it desires, downstream cities would suffer. (...) According to The Birmingham News, Alabama claims about 25 endangered species of fish, mussels and snails could suffer from "illegal management of the reservoirs." The state also claims downstream residents may pay higher electricity bills because the Corps holds water that is needed for hydropower.

Essential reading for all residents of Alabama, Georgia and Florida. It's a tough call: who owns how much of a natural resource that flows freely across state lines?
 
What do you think? Leave your comments below.

07:55 AM   

Tornadoes and tropical storms didn't just damage a local peanut shelling plant here in Blakely, but also caused major losses in the peanut harvest by dumping a lot of rain in the Florida Panhandle and Southern Georgia.

From http://www.gwinnettdailyonline.com/GDP/a...A990C9BAAC2.asp:
 
"Jeanne brought us more water than we needed," said John Baldwin, a University of Georgia peanut specialist in Tifton. "You cannot ... get into some fields without getting stuck. We have lost some yield," he said.

A sad situation. Hopefully, next year's weather will be perfect...

09:04 AM   

Let's pray for some warm, dry weather or it will be a tough year. Peppers are already expensive enough at the store, where you often pay $1.50 or more per piece of a red bell pepper.

From http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=2376263&nav=5kZQRXjg:
 
More than 15 inches of rain dropped by recent hurricanes has brought diseases that have nearly wiped out the pepper crop in Colquitt County. Bacterial Leaf Spot, which causes the plants' leaves to fall off, and Anthracnose, which causes the pepper to the pods to rot, have attacked this year's crop.

09:11 AM   

Our prayers are with the victims and families of all people affected by the recent storms.

From http://www.cnn.com/2004/WEATHER/09/17/hurricane.ivan/:
 
Four people died in Georgia, including a 6-year-old girl who was swept away by floodwaters. An electrocuted utility worker, a 4-year-old swept away and a person hit by a falling tree also died, according to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
(...) Tornadoes in the Panhandle town of Blountstown, west of Tallahassee, and in Panama City Beach caused six of Florida's eight deaths. A tornado destroyed the Blountstown mobile home of Santana Sullivan and her fiance, Chris Ammonds. They returned home to find "a clear lot," she said

Please respect the victims' rebuilding efforts by not going on "sightseeing tours" through their neighborhoods gawking at the damage.

06:11 AM   

A great list of projects that will be sponsored by the recent $12.5 million distributed by Governor Sonny Perdue in grands and loans, to spur economic development in rural Georgia communities.

From http://theweekly.com/news/2004/May/20/Perdue_Awards.html:
 
"These awards support the creation of 2,175 new jobs for Georgians as well as the retention of 639 jobs in a variety of industry sectors," said Governor Sonny Perdue. "Creating new jobs and growing private investment throughout the state is a top priority of my administration." (...)

The Equity awards, round two of FY 2004 funding, are designed to assist communities and regions build the necessary infrastructure to support economic development. (...) Project awards are given through three competitive rounds annually and are capped at $500,000. Tier 1 and 2 communities, and in some cases Tier 3 communities, are eligible for Authority Assistance. The next Equity application deadline is June 8, 2004.
Equity awards total $4,413,904 including grants totaling $2,722,956 and loans totaling $1,690,948. These awards include...

Read through the list of projects, it's interestesting what they picked.

07:23 AM   

Worth the read, if you like fishing or hunting, or are just concerned with the recent drought and the effects on local rivers and lakes.

From http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2...8&PAG=461&rfi=9:
 
We not only need the rain locally for crops and area ponds, but we also need it for the middle and upper parts of the state to get a lot of rain so that the runoff will flow down the rivers and keep the water levels up.
(...) Turkey season has been going rather well, also. I was afraid that the weather had been too warm for too long before the season, but that doesn't seem to be the case so far.

08:54 AM   

Not surprisingly, the fast-growing counties are in the Atlanta Metro area, not Southern Georgia.

From http://www.news4jax.com/news4georgia/2986234/detail.html:
 
A demographer at the University of Georgia, Doug Bachtel, said populations are moving outward from the central city as residents move to inexpensive areas with better school systems. They're willing to put up with the traffic and sprawl that comes with life miles from the city.
(...) The four counties in the metro Atlanta area are Forsyth, Henry, Newton and Paulding, whose populations have grown from 23 percent to 26 percent from April 2000 to July 2003. The other fast-growing Georgia county is Chattahoochee, where Fort Benning is located.

09:10 AM   

$50 million? That's a lot. I wish less would go to the lawyers and more to the family.

From http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/a...304/03ford.html:
 
Jurors ordered the world's No. 3 automaker to pay just under $14 million in punitive damages for a "conscious indifference to the consequences" by not addressing known safety concerns with its 2000 Lincoln LS luxury sedan.
(...) The jury had awarded the injured child, Kelsey Sasser, 9, and her family more than $33 million Tuesday to compensate them for her pain, expenses and permanently altered life.
(...) Kelsey, a cheerful girl with big blue eyes and freckles, came to court in her wheelchair last week to testify, bringing some jurors to tears.

Kelsey was back in classes at Sope Creek Elementary School this week and wasn't in court to hear either verdict.
(...) Last year, a U.S. Supreme Court decision in an unrelated case against Ford called for an end to massive punitive damages in product liability cases. Instead, the high court wrote that those verdicts should be in line with the victim's economic loss -- not the defendant's deep pockets.

I agree with the last statement. No amounts of money can undo the damage. But too often, jurys are so moved that no amount seems unreasonable to them. How much does the family really need?
 
Another thought occured to me: We hear so much about people who suddenly get rich and end up mis-investing or mis-spending vast amounts. Who makes sure that this doesn't happen in cases like this? Do these amounts to got a fund earmarked for the girl's care?

06:07 AM   

'Ragged growth,' 'complete recovery,' and '1 out of 5 manufacturing jobs lost' don't go together well in my opinion.

From http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/7821433.htm:
 
After two full years of "ragged growth," Georgia's economy will be substantially better in 2004, a state economist said Wednesday.
"Georgia's economic recovery is complete," said George Benson, dean of the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, during a presentation at the Wilson Convention Center.
(...) The state jobless rate will rise to 5.3 percent in 2004 from 5 percent in 2003, he said.
(...) "The outlook overall, I think near-term is for gradual improvement in the economy limited by the continued weakness in manufacturing," he said. "New business location may buffer some of this as well as existing firm expansions."

Buy American-made. Too many jobs have been lost to overseas in the last few years. This goes from customer support departments in India to manufacturing in Mexico, where lax environmental standards allow manufacturing at a fraction of the price. - But the bottom line is not the only thing that counts!

06:59 AM   

Interesting...

From http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1610840&nav=5kZQKLdz:
 
A group of citizens stages weekly protests through the streets, claiming, among other things, that the sheriff forces jail inmates to perform personal work, but Sheriff Jimmie Murkerson says that didn't happen.
(...) As to claims he used some of his inmates for slave labor-- "Yes I helped inmates get jobs, even though some of those were with my family, but everyone got paid a legal wage." Money he says was used to help inmates pay fines to get out of jail.

It doesn't sound like "slave labor" to me. At least, nothing compared to the slave labor back then. Sometimes, using exaggerated expressions distract from the actual suffering that took place. Just like, for example, people nowadays are way too quick to call something a "Holocaust" of this or a "Holocaust" of that.

08:24 AM   

Sad...

From http://www.gwinnettdailyonline.com/GDP/a...BBDF83C643F.asp:
 
WestPoint Stevens Inc., one of the nations largest makers of sheets, pillow cases and towels, will close two plants in the middle Georgia town of LaGrange, a loss of 550 jobs.
(...) The plants will shut down March 9. The state Department of Labor made the announcement Friday.
(...) The company, which was founded almost 200 years ago, filed for bankruptcy last year.

06:51 AM   

Usually you wouldn't think of "Blakely" and "diet products" in the same context...

From http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1599166&nav=5kZQKAbJ:
 
A major ingredient in many diet products and energy bars these days is peanut flour.
(...) The low-fat, high-protein item is making big strides in other fields too, like the candy industry. One South Georgia town stands to benefit from the growing popularity.
(...) Here's the future of Golden Peanut Company, "It's a good product, it's an easy one to deal with, and I think it has got a big future," says Special Products General Manager Ben Houston.
(...) The product is peanut flour. Golden Peanut Company, the world's biggest sheller of peanuts, started producing the high protein flour in the early 1990's as a small side business. According to Houston, that side business is growing, "We hope in the time to come, we will be the shining star of Golden Peanut."
(...) And this is how they hope to do that: with a brand new, $8 million peanut flour plant in Blakely, "We'll over double our capacity from this facility to the next one, and there is room for additional equipment if we need it."
(...) That's a nearly 60% increase in staff at the Golden Peanut Plant-- all because of this popular peanut product.

Yay to Blakely and its peanuts! Living right at the epicenter of wholesome peanut flour, can we expect a huge slimming down of the local population?

06:56 AM   

Parents who let their kids roam around on ATV's, read this sobering article on the WALB website:

From http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1591436&nav=5kZQK4Mt:
 
Colquitt County - A Tifton teenager was buried today after being killed in a go cart. Since his death, two more south Georgia children have died on all terrain vehicles.
It seems it never stops here in south Georgia. Children out to have fun, but never come back home alive.
- In April, five-year-old Matthew Baker died of head injuries when the ATV his father was driving struck a utility pole in Colquitt County.
- In September, five children were buried after riding on an ATV in Coffee County. They were struck by a suspected drunk driver.
- A month later, in October, 16-year-old Sarah Pound hit a dip in the road while driving a four-wheeler in Colquitt County and died. The four-wheeler flipped over on top of her.
- A month after that, on Thanksgiving Day, 13-year-old Blain Cooper died after losing control of his ATV in Mitchell County.
-In December, Dooly County teenager 15-year-old Brandon Royal, died after driving his ATV into the path of a pick-up truck.
- On Tuesday, 14-year-old Javaris Green died when his go-cart went into the path of a car on a busy Tifton road.
(...) Almost all ATV's purchased from dealers do not meet the state definition of road worthy.
However, interestingly enough, no helmets are required while riding an ATV. And one approved for the highway, does not need a license tag, nor is insurance required. The driver must be 16 years old and have a valid driver's license.

The article lists almost a dozen other incidences of children killed or suffering head injuries while riding ATV's. How do you think the parents will live with that, for the rest of their lives? Don't let kids get on ATV's. Period.

09:18 AM