The primary elections are over and run-off elections are imminent. I hope you were one of the about 20% who voted in the primary, and I encourage you to find someone you can support in the run-off election. The go to the polls and VOTE! A twenty per cent turnout isn’t something to brag about.
I’ve heard more than just about any other election in my memory, and still we only get 20% of the registered voters to vote. Wow! By the time you read this we may have settled who will be our state leaders, our congressional representative, and our county commissioners. Let complaining be proportional to your vote. By the way, I noticed that Judge Fuller threw out the recall petition against Chairman Bannister. No election there.
Economic development in the Dacula area seems to be strengthening in some segments of the economy while getting progressively weaker in others. Foreclosures of residential properties continue, but some new housing stocks are being built. Commercial foreclosures loom, but entrepreneurs continue to begin and strengthen new business in our area. In this economic downturn, I wish them well.
By the time you read this, the suit by Gwinnett County against her Cities may well be complete. We go to judicial trial beginning August 2, 2010. As you may be aware, the intergovernmental agreements among Gwinnett County and Gwinnett Cities expired about 3 years ago. Rather than negotiating in good faith and creating the agreements required under Georgia’s Service Delivery Strategy Act, the Board of Commissioners sued each City and is attempting to rely on laws passed prior to the SDS Act to maintain funding sources for providing services within Gwinnett County.
If you have been following this judicial opera, you will remember that Judge Barrett ruled early on that without the required agreement, the SDS Act provided the default funding mechanisms for delivering services. Gwinnett County attempted to counter the ruling by appealing to the Georgia Supreme Court which refused to hear the appeal.
At the heart of the case is the manner and nature of funding local governmental services covered by the SDS Act. The SDS Act is a piece of tax reform legislation designed to help eliminate double taxation and to provide tax equity among unincorporated and incorporated taxpayers within the same county. Gwinnett County and all the Cities are spending your money to see if the law is really the law, and if the law is really the law who must abide by it.
Such is the joy of living in a constitutional republic. Remember all this when it’s time to vote again. Maybe you’ll be one of the 20 per cent who will.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Please Take Time to Vote
The Georgia Primary is July 20th. Early voting at satellite polling places is underway. Please take the time to find candidates that mirror your desires and then take the time to vote in the primary.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Supreme Law of the Land
The supreme law of the land is the Constitution of the United States, along with federal laws made under constitutional authority, and treaties of the United States.
Why then do we have five Supreme Court justices who cannot read the supreme law of the land, "...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." and decide that gun control laws are unconstitutional, void and unenforceable? Obviously, because these Supreme Court justices, who should be the brightest and best, have their own agenda, and it ain't the agenda of the people.
Just another reason not to appoint lawyers to the Supreme Court. What we need is not liberal, northeastern university ivy-league lawyers or ex-judges, but we need people at the supreme who have common sense and understand it is their job to determine the CONSTITUTIONALITY of laws and not to make law.
I'm all for a constitutional amendment that limits the terms of Chief Justice and Supreme Court justices to not longer than 10 years or when they reach the age of 79.
Why then do we have five Supreme Court justices who cannot read the supreme law of the land, "...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." and decide that gun control laws are unconstitutional, void and unenforceable? Obviously, because these Supreme Court justices, who should be the brightest and best, have their own agenda, and it ain't the agenda of the people.
Just another reason not to appoint lawyers to the Supreme Court. What we need is not liberal, northeastern university ivy-league lawyers or ex-judges, but we need people at the supreme who have common sense and understand it is their job to determine the CONSTITUTIONALITY of laws and not to make law.
I'm all for a constitutional amendment that limits the terms of Chief Justice and Supreme Court justices to not longer than 10 years or when they reach the age of 79.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Who reads Dacula: On Track
I've attached a web link to a very short survey in this blog. Please take about 10 seconds to open the survey and respond.
Click here to take survey
Click here to take survey
Monday, June 14, 2010
US Rep. Bob Etheridge (D) Dist 2, NC goes wild
Check out US Representative Bob Etheridge manhandling a student. Just what we need in Washington, another dummy who should be in jail for assault--but is making laws that he will not repect nor obey. Check it out on the web.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Father's Day, Mentors, Change in Dacula
First let me thank all the folks who made Memorial Day 2010 special in Dacula. Thanks to the sponsors of the beauty pageant, the 5K, the parade, and the festival. Special thanks go to the Gwinnett County PD for their assistance, and for each of you who attended. I hope you were as amazed at the outpouring of feelings for our young men and women who gave their lives for the Nation. Thanks parents for bringing your children to the Memorial Day celebration. They need to know that freedom is not free; it is bought with a price--sometimes an ultimate price.
As I was thinking about Dacula, I wondered at the way thing have changed---and yet they stay the same. The street layout of Dacula hasn’t changed much. Sure there are more houses and businesses, but if you visited after an absence of say fifty years, I bet you would know about where you were on any of our major routes. The historic downtown area hasn’t changed much. Yes the depot is gone, some buildings have been renovated and other spruced up, but essentially it is the same as when the buildings were built. If you were on your 50th anniversary visit, you would recognize downtown because it has been resistant to change because it is cramped between the railroad, schools and residential areas.
When I was growing up here during the late 1940’s and early 50’s, one of my favorite things was visiting the local barber shops. Back then there were only two in Dacula and both were in the historic downtown area. The proprietors were George Lee Tanner and Will Walls. Tanner’s barber shop was a men-only shop, but Mrs. Walls also provided care for the ladies in the Walls’ shop. Now we have about six barber shops or hair salons, one of which is located downtown in the old Tanner’s spot.
When I was a youngster, my grandfather went to the barber shop every other day to get a shave. I suppose it was easier than soaping up, stropping your straight razor, and trying to keep from nicking yourself. I learned a political lesson early on—Granddaddy always alternated between shops.
I enjoyed the preparation for his shave. First came a hot damp towel wrapped around his face. Then Mr. Tanner or Mr. Walls would strop the straight razor on a long leather strap (I might mention that my father had such a razor strap—but he had quit using it for its designed purpose—though he had another use for it.). Then came the lather and the careful use of the razor. Finishing off was with some kind of after shave preparation—maybe witch hazel, as I recall. All this service for a single quarter dollar. Wow!
Now we’ve gotten away from using straight razors for shaving. I shave every day, but I use a safety razor and only go to a barber shop for a hair cut. We also have gotten away from the barber shop as community central for men. I think women’s hair salons are better at that, from my experience in carrying and waiting for my mom to get her hair done.
As I waited for my grandfather, there wasn’t a TV set playing. There were no magazines or newspapers (except maybe once per week). But there were people from the community. They were sharing farming news, politics and other things. Yes, let’s face it there was also lots of gossip. Don’t believe that men don’t gossip. They do or at least they did at the barber shop. A young lad could learn a lot from the men at the barber shop.
Now, we go to the barber shop. Sometimes they are called salons, and “GASP” some of the barbers are ladies! The sad part is that sometimes we don’t know anyone else but the barber. The TV is playing, or you can lose yourself in a magazine. There isn’t much interaction among the customers. A young lad today may not learn anything at the barber shop. Sad!
I think I remember paying thirty-five cents for the first hair cut that I paid for myself. The last hair cut I have paid for was $15. That’s a big change.
Still things change, and they stay the same. Put down you magazine and join in a conversation with you neighbor. You never know what a young lad may hear and learn about being a man. Be a role model. That’s what my grandfather, Mr. Tanner, and Mr. Walls were.
As I was thinking about Dacula, I wondered at the way thing have changed---and yet they stay the same. The street layout of Dacula hasn’t changed much. Sure there are more houses and businesses, but if you visited after an absence of say fifty years, I bet you would know about where you were on any of our major routes. The historic downtown area hasn’t changed much. Yes the depot is gone, some buildings have been renovated and other spruced up, but essentially it is the same as when the buildings were built. If you were on your 50th anniversary visit, you would recognize downtown because it has been resistant to change because it is cramped between the railroad, schools and residential areas.
When I was growing up here during the late 1940’s and early 50’s, one of my favorite things was visiting the local barber shops. Back then there were only two in Dacula and both were in the historic downtown area. The proprietors were George Lee Tanner and Will Walls. Tanner’s barber shop was a men-only shop, but Mrs. Walls also provided care for the ladies in the Walls’ shop. Now we have about six barber shops or hair salons, one of which is located downtown in the old Tanner’s spot.
When I was a youngster, my grandfather went to the barber shop every other day to get a shave. I suppose it was easier than soaping up, stropping your straight razor, and trying to keep from nicking yourself. I learned a political lesson early on—Granddaddy always alternated between shops.
I enjoyed the preparation for his shave. First came a hot damp towel wrapped around his face. Then Mr. Tanner or Mr. Walls would strop the straight razor on a long leather strap (I might mention that my father had such a razor strap—but he had quit using it for its designed purpose—though he had another use for it.). Then came the lather and the careful use of the razor. Finishing off was with some kind of after shave preparation—maybe witch hazel, as I recall. All this service for a single quarter dollar. Wow!
Now we’ve gotten away from using straight razors for shaving. I shave every day, but I use a safety razor and only go to a barber shop for a hair cut. We also have gotten away from the barber shop as community central for men. I think women’s hair salons are better at that, from my experience in carrying and waiting for my mom to get her hair done.
As I waited for my grandfather, there wasn’t a TV set playing. There were no magazines or newspapers (except maybe once per week). But there were people from the community. They were sharing farming news, politics and other things. Yes, let’s face it there was also lots of gossip. Don’t believe that men don’t gossip. They do or at least they did at the barber shop. A young lad could learn a lot from the men at the barber shop.
Now, we go to the barber shop. Sometimes they are called salons, and “GASP” some of the barbers are ladies! The sad part is that sometimes we don’t know anyone else but the barber. The TV is playing, or you can lose yourself in a magazine. There isn’t much interaction among the customers. A young lad today may not learn anything at the barber shop. Sad!
I think I remember paying thirty-five cents for the first hair cut that I paid for myself. The last hair cut I have paid for was $15. That’s a big change.
Still things change, and they stay the same. Put down you magazine and join in a conversation with you neighbor. You never know what a young lad may hear and learn about being a man. Be a role model. That’s what my grandfather, Mr. Tanner, and Mr. Walls were.
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