|
May 14, 2005
Thank heavens the Jennifer Wilbanks flap has eased off a bit. People from all over the place were asking if that was my neck of the woods and if I knew any of those folks. The short answers are yes and no. The mayor of Duluth, Georgia,
Shirley Lasseter, is a friend of mine so I was interested in the situation because of her connection to the mess. This was surely the worst nightmare for a lot of people! To have the popular press get hold of the story and toot the thing nationwide was just awful. I was in Florida listening to
Geraldo Rivera talk about the “Runaway Bride” and her shoplifting past. Awful!
In my opinion a great deal of money has shot down the old sluice, wasted over a wedding that hasn’t happened yet. Many of the pre-planned expenditures could not be cancelled at that late date. I do hope the city of Duluth is able to recoup at least some of the cost that was expended in the futile search for this woman. City budgets of small towns are not running over with extra funds. City councils constantly wangle over opportunity costs: If we do this, we can’t do that.
Aside from the apparent acute personal “issues” that Jennifer Wilbanks is claiming, this whole deal was an exercise in supreme excess of self. Personally, since everybody seems to be weighing in with their opinions on the matter, I hope that nice
John Mason drops her like a hot rock as I think a marriage to her, with all her baggage and steamer trunks, has little chance of success.
Somewhere along the line folks have ceased to think of others and have become heavily focused only on themselves. You can see it when drivers are inconsiderate on the road, not only with their lack of driving skill, but with over-modulated car stereos that can be heard in the next county. You can see it with cigarette smokers who do not give a rip about anybody else who may be breathing their stinking smoke-polluted air. You can see it with parents who do not provide guidance or discipline or babysitters to their children. We are a self-centered society so we ought not be surprised at the selfish fallout from it.
You know, of course, that there is nothing new under the sun. In 1930 Agatha Christie published these words in
“The Murder at the Vicarage.” Her character, Mrs. Price-Ridley, says, “Ever since the war there has been a loosening of moral fiber. Nobody minds what they say, and as to the clothes they wear-“
If she were alive today, it would be fun to hear what Agatha Christie would say about the extremes to which society has lurched.
* * *
Gwinnett County, Georgia has tipped the scales of balance on its tax digest ratio. According to the analysts at the Gwinnett County Board of Education, the lopsided ratio now reads 60.6 percent residential to 36.7 percent commercial. The problem with something like this is that the residential component requires much more infrastructure from county government than does the commercial component. It used to be that the rule of thumb was for every one dollar in tax received from residential property owners, it cost the county $1.25 to provide the services that people expect, such as water, sewer, schools, law enforcement and fire protection. That figure may be even slightly higher by now. Commercial businesses use significantly less of the infrastructure so it costs the county less than one dollar for every one dollar of property tax received from that side of the equation. If a county is too over-balanced with residential, property taxes are in danger of going up and up to cover the costs. There needs to be enough commercial property in the design to help shoulder the tax load for homeowners. Commercial property in the county has been relatively flat for the last four or five years. Let’s hope the county is working to beef up that component.
* * *
The Gwinnett Hospital System Foundation’s black-tie Ball is coming up on Saturday, May 21, 2005 at the Gwinnett Place Marriott. More tickets have been sold this year than ever before at $150 a pop. It is spectacular among the fundraisers in the county because it has the best silent auction of them all.
Kathryn Parsons Willis is always the chair of the silent auction and for great reason. She is owner of Parsons Cumming, the largest gift and collectibles store in Georgia, and she takes lots of donated money to the merchandise market and buys wonderful stuff to be auctioned off. Many thrilled folks have furnished their homes from accessories they have claimed at this Ball. You really shouldn’t miss it. Call the GHS Foundation office if you’d like to attend at (678) 442-4634. This Ball is something you ought to see at least one time! It is also possibly the best place to keel over outside of the hospital because there are so many doctors in the crowd. Some of them are fabulous dancers, too.
* * *
My deer friends have left my garden alone so far, for the most part. Better knock on some wood here! They did snatch a few purple petunias. The cool Spring we enjoyed brought robust growth to my perennials and the resident weeds, which I am still trying to pull. After seeing several baby snakes I’m trying to eradicate some of the wilder growth patches so the garden is not such an attractive habitat for reptiles. Working in Wellingtons will wear you out! There seems to be an abundance of songbirds this year when compared to the last few…it’s a delight to awaken in the morning to birdsong.
* * *
If you have never participated in a
volunteer citizen trash pickup along a big road,
there is a learning experience in store for
you! Volunteers from the United Peachtree
Corners Civic Association (UPCCA) set out this
morning with bright vests, gloves, and trash bags to
rid the road shoulders of litter along a stretch of
Peachtree Parkway, the main thoroughfare through
Peachtree Corners. I put a hubcap, somebody's gas
tank lid, and about a ton of other nasty junk in my
personal trash bag that finally got so heavy I could
only drag it. We cleaned up fast food wrappers, beer
cans, and Caribou Coffee cups. We also cleaned up
about a thousand cigarette butts, all thrown out of
vehicles by selfish and stupid people. It was an
aerobic exercise, my friends, with lots of bending
and stooping and lifting a weighted trash bag. This
trash pickup work was performed amidst the most
luscious crop of poison ivy that I have ever seen.
* * *
Hope all is well. Thanks for reading and sticking with me.
051405
Archives
|
