Wednesday, January 17, 2001

No news is usually good news when we're talking about people who serve in elected office and the job they do taking care of their responsibilities.

Recently, we've had a situation like that. As we're all aware, last year Georgia continued to suffer from drought. News stories from around the state talked about the dangerously low water supply levels in many of the areas around us. Sometimes counties and towns were down to a water supply that was measured in weeks. They had serious concerns that they would literally run out of water. Think about what a personal, economic and public health problem that would be.

Fayette County was never mentioned in these stories, did you notice? Water stories mentioning Fayette were about the fact that we had an adequate supply of water. Do you know what was different about us? It was Lake Horton. Over a period of years, several Boards of County Commissioners did the job they were elected to do. Lake Horton was built for us on time and under budget and we had it when we needed it. We owe our thanks to them and to those whom they selected to manage the project.

I think we see the same pattern with the new county jail. We've had articles about the location of the jail, how the jail will be financed and who's going to pay for it. We won't see articles in the future about the lack of a jail. It will be a non-issue because the problem will be solved.

This should be our main consideration when we elect people to public office. Can they manage the job, will they spend our tax money wisely and will they do what is necessary (as a conservative, I generally prefer that they only do what is necessary)? Anything else we get, such as eloquent philosophical expressions or a great personality should be a secondary bonus.

We've been selective, or lucky, with some of the individuals we've elected to serve on our Commission. When elected officials do a poor job, we usually let them know it. But, what do we do when they do the job they were elected to do and, they do it well? Usually, we are quiet. No news is good news for them, too.

While I don't think most of them expect a great outpouring of public praise, I wanted to express a "thank-you" from one citizen and voter to those who have done well for us. I appreciate the water and will appreciate having an adequate jail that won't be in the news in the future.

Peter Pfeifer

Peachtree City

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