Wednesday, March 20, 2002
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Wednesday, March 20, 2002 |
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Filling the hole at the top of this page By CAL BEVERLY Filling the hole at the top of this page With the sudden death of my friend and colleague Dave Hamrick, this page has a huge hole at its top. It falls my lot to fill it. For several years now, Dave has anchored this page, in more ways than just the obvious. The front page and the editorial and letters pages have been my responsibility. Dave, among many duties, wrote a weekly column and laid out the inside pages of the A-section. We had developed such an easy, predictable rhythm for Wednesday, our flagship paper. Now, change has intruded. Dave wrote every week, almost always well-reasoned, thoughtful political columns dealing with major issues facing the country. I would write only when stirred up about some local situation. Dave was by far the more disciplined columnist. Rain or shine, week in, week out, Dave wrote. I would just jump up and down every couple of months or so, flail my arms, raise some sand, then subside. I suppose it could be said that I wrote only when I felt I had to and kept quiet otherwise. Some would say they could have done without even those occasional soliloquies. So, what now, with our cofounder and strong right arm gone? Well, we go on. We get the paper out. Please pardon us for a few weeks as we try to parcel out Dave's many duties among those of us remaining. Forgive us if some things fall through the cracks. We'll get straightened out soon. Dave is irreplaceable. A couple of days after Dave's death, special sections editor Monroe Roark asked me what I was going to do about filling the empty editor's slot. "I don't know," I said. "You know you'll have to hire at least two people just to do Dave's job," Monroe said. "And that still won't cover what he did for us," I said. So, I'm looking for editorial talent. If you know anybody with some news experience, point them in my direction. We need some help. E-mails are best to start with: editor@thecitizennews.com. In the meantime, what's up with
State Rep. Kathy Cox thumbing her nose at a majority of the Peachtree City Council? Council voted 4-1 to ask Cox to introduce some local legislation and she countered with the demand that the vote be unanimous. Leaving aside the merits of the proposed legislation, Cox has created a standard for local bills that may be impossible to meet. I wonder if Cox, one of Fayette's many office-holding RINOs (Republicans in name only), thinks her sudden anti-majoritarianism will help her in her quixotic bid for state school superintendent? Somehow, I think not. Fayetteville Council's insatiable appetite for more annexations? The city looks like it wants to suck in more land next to the Pavilion, already the shopping center for the Southside. And this is the same group, largely, that rode an anti-annexation revulsion into office back in the 1980s. Now, the once-anti-annexation rebels have become the pro-annexation establishment. How the leopard doth change its spots. To the developer any developer annexation means immediate higher density or higher intensity for whatever zoning, immediate access to sewer and more money. More money for the developer, more tax money for the city. But it remains to be proved whether the increased tax income comes close to paying for the increased city services required for the newly annexed areas. For example, the Pavilion is the scene of more crimes than any other commercial or residential area in the county. More vehicles are stolen from this one geographic area than the rest of the county combined. The area cries out for an increased city police presence. But, that takes tax money, and the council has many spending priorities. Police protection is just one of them.
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