There have been several interesting news stories and comments lately. Here are a few that caught our attention:
• Temperatures Up, School’s In –– The idea of kids already reporting to school in exchange for more holiday time later could be a good deal for students. Though they don’t get as much time off in the summer, by August each year it’s so hot kids are probably better off back in the classroom now with time off later.
• Gas Prices Rise, Demand Drops –– You can tinker with future offshore drilling, restrict speculators and fume about Exxon’s record profits, but the quickest, surest way to bring down prices is cut demand. Gas prices rose, and drivers in the United States drove 3 percent less, according to nationwide figures. Last week oil hit the lowest price it has seen in seven weeks. The U.S. Department of Energy said demand for oil in our country dropped 891,000 barrels per day during May. Now that the price at the pump has dropped a smidgen, will demand go right back up?
• Economy Drops, Gambling Rises – The only bright spot economically in Georgia at the moment is our lottery. Officials report the highest sales in state-run gambling’s 15 year history. Last year Georgians spent $97.6 million more on lottery games than the previous year, bringing total lottery proceeds to $3.5 billion. In contrast, those of us here at the Progress report winning exactly the same amount we won last year.
•Problems With Fast Food–– Responding to “epidemic obesity,” the city council of Los Angeles imposed a moratorium on fast food restaurants in some neighborhoods last week. The council hopes eliminating easy access to Happy Meals will lead to healthier alternatives being offered. As one critic retorted in an AP story, “What’s next – security guards at the door saying ‘You’re overweight, you can’t have a cheeseburger’?”
• Problems With Healthy Food – In a disturbing story likely to continue, federal food officials first identified tomatoes, a major south Georgia crop, as the source of a salmonella outbreak that caused 1,300 people to seek medical attention. Then the FDA and CDC said, “Oops, it was actually peppers from Mexico.” This mistake may have cost some south Georgia producers the farm (literally) with people still afraid to stock up on Big Boys and Beefsteaks. Now federal officials are saying, “Hold on. Maybe there were contaminated ‘maters after all.” The uncertainty breeds anxiety when picking out dinner on the produce isle. And this is no unprecedented case. Remember tainted spinach that killed last year?
• Political Creatures –– David Ralston, who once represented Pickens County in the state senate and still represents the Blue Ridge area in the state house has announced he will challenge Glenn Richardson for speaker of the Georgia House. Go Ralston! We need a change at that gavel, as evidenced by our own State Rep. Tom Graves being sent to the legislative doghouse because he didn’t toe a line handed down by Richardson. As speaker, Richardson has failed to accomplish much besides stirring up acrimony.
• Real Creatures – Those chomping at the bit to keep animal control a top priority here would do well to look at recent news from two other Georgia counties. Augusta and Hall County reported last week on splits between animal rescue groups and county animal control agencies over different viewpoints concerning euthanization of animals.
In both places, the reality of space constraints bumped against volunteer groups who are, to varying degrees, opposed to putting animals down.
While the Hall County split appeared peaceful, the Columbia County Humane Society split grew to considerable growling. The Society accused their county shelter of running a sub-par facility. The county responded the group was just mad, because animal control was putting animals down quicker than the volunteers thought necessary. It was noted the same situation had already occurred in Fulton County, where a private animal rescue group asked to no longer work with the county facility over similar euthanization disputes.
Before we jump both feet into animal control here, let’s not only have a solid plan, let’s have realistic goals that are clear cut from the start. |
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