“cold and timid souls”

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt

“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Vote No To SPLOST

Why I am voting against the SPLOST

Over the past few weeks, I have seen several articles, and heard many speakers covering the SPLOST that is on the July 18th ballot. There has been mass misinformation leaving the public confused and unclear about what is really going on. I intend to vote NO for the following reasons.

My primary reason for voting NO is the $87 million allocated to the building of a new jail. While Sheriff Miller and the Board of Commissioners tout the need for a new jail, overcrowding, and grand jury statements; the fact of the matter is there are NO independent studies that have assessed the situation. Are there safe cost effective alternatives available that are underutilized by our current administration? Are the courts the bottleneck that causes our supposed jail overcrowding? What are the demographics and statistics on our jail population? Without thorough and independent studies, the people of Douglas County have no true facts to base their opinion. We may very well need a new jail; however, we need a fair study to prove it.

Secondly, while the Sheriff is asking for $87 million, the actual construction costs can exceed this estimate. Currently, the location of the jail is in question. There are no estimates for the increased operational costs once the jail is built. Using SPLOST funding, allows unbridled spending, without oversight to protect the peoples money that comes with general fund projects. Without proper oversight, you can be assured that questionable expenditures will abound; especially when given an $87 million blank check without a comprehensive plan.

SPLOST funds have become the drug of choice for county officials. By continuously depleting every dime the general funds have available, county officials are now dependent upon SPLOST money and threaten to raise property taxes to feed their never ending hunger for more spending. The mere thought of losing out on a few weeks worth of 1% sales tax revenues, has prompted the aggressive push by county officials to pass this SPLOST extension as soon as possible. This irresponsible SPLOST proposal has been rushed to the ballot without public input, detailed plans, or clue as to the location of the jail. The current SPLOST doesn’t expire till next summer. If you vote NO, the county will have to wait till next summer to propose the SPLOST again, and will miss out on 2 weeks worth of pennies.

By voting NO, I am sending a clear message to the ‘leadership’ of Douglas County to stop trying to mislead the public with vague, biased, and blatantly incorrect statements. If we are successful, and this SPLOST fails, be rest assured county officials will return next summer with a more detailed comprehensive plan. After all, an addict will always come back for their fix.

Brad Forschner
Lithia Springs

Tax Group Concerned Over Electronic Ballot Accuracy

The Douglas County Taxpayers Coalition (DCTC) is concerned that there is no way to confirm the accuracy of the vote tally in next Tuesday’s Primary Election and SPLOST vote and fears the ballot results could be manipulated.

James Bell, head of DCTC, said he is concerned that regardless of how the SPLOST goes, the public will never know if the vote count was accurate. Bell said his concerns are valid after observing the last SPLOST vote in Cobb County.

“In Cobb, the SPLOST was failing by 2% until there was a ‘technical glitch’ in the system,” said Bell. “They were unable to count votes for an hour and a half and when the vote count resumed the SPLOST was leading by 2%.”

Bell points out Cobb’s election results showed the SPLOST vote passed by only 114 votes out of 40,000. In addition, 285 votes were recorded as “non-votes”, a margin of error that could have won the vote.

This week a group, www.voterga.org, filed a lawsuit asking a judge to stop the State of Georgia from using any electronic voting system that does not produce a paper ballot and a system for hand-counting at least some ballots to ensure the accuracy of the machines.

Bell said he does not believe our election officials would attempt to manipulate the election results but the chance of a “technical glitch” is a grave concern.  “Voters need to be confident their vote is counted accurately and that results are verifiable,” Bell noted.

DCTC will be watching the results closely.

Read more about the Voting Machine lawsuit