Our Chain Got Jerked Once More, Time To Revolt!!!

"Our Chain Got Jerked Once More"

It looks like we have been doubled talked once again by those sitting on the Board of Commissioners.  These people have said time and again that they would not increase our property taxes.  Well, this is over on the BoC website and this was posted over a week ago.  Nothing has been seen in the paper yet.  This is another shaft the citizens will have to carry upon their backs.  For some, the increase would not affect them much, but for the elderly and disabled it will because every penny is needed just to survive.  We are getting the proverbial screw in the back this time.  Since the tax digest has risen considerably in Henry County they stand to make quite a haul.   This leads to further mistrust of those elected to serve the people and this is not good service.  The citizens should revolt at tax time and not pay their property taxes.  Withhold them from the county.  You would see something change dramatically overnight.  It looks like the only thing they have on their minds is money.  When you get a selective few who garner and broker the funds generated by taxes in the County and Municipalities that have agendas not in keeping with the public trust, then you have a serious problem.  And Henry County has a big problem that runs deep.  There are too many power struggles right now in the county that are not helping with this matter at all.  Smoke and mirrors that have been used widely over the years by the county and cities.  Look at the debacles in Hampton, the fights in Stockbridge, the undertow in McDonough and the slow consumption of Locust Grove.   The Board of Education has already got the millage rate maxed out and the appraisals being higher they will garner a vast amount of money from your paycheck.  If you like what you see and are living with, then by all means just let the status quo continue, but if you want to see a change vote those who would rather deal away their honor out of office in November.  The future of the county is riding on the next few elections and it is teetering on a disaster in more ways than one.

July 10, 2018

NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX INCREASE

The Henry County Board of Commissioners has tentatively adopted a millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes by:

County Unincorporated      4.25% increase

McDonough                         3.11% increase

Stockbridge                          4.48% increase

Hampton                              4.72% increase

Locust Grove                        3.79% increase

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the County Administration Building, 140 Henry Parkway, McDonough, GA on the following dates:

July 24, 2018 at 9:00 am

July 24, 2018 at 6:00 pm

Times and places of additional public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the County Administration Building, 140 Henry Parkway, McDonough, GA on the following date:

July 31, 2018 at 9:00 am

The Staff

More Bad Press For Henry County

"Boo--A Spook Will Get You or At Least Someone in Your Wallet"

It looks like McDonough and Henry County have hit a new low.  There was another paranormal investigative team back in McDonough saying that there are ghosts from the train wreck of June 23, 1900, that are still plaguing the city.  Strange that all the longtime residents of the town have had no problems with ghosts until a few years ago.  The problem with a lot of what was said in the report is laughable.  They don't realize that most of those buildings they were inside of were not there in 1900.  Most of them at that time were made of wood and they have been torn down and rebuilt in the early part of the 20th century.  There were also two large fires on the south side of the square area in 1903 and 1910 that destroyed much of the existing structures that had to be rebuilt.  If people would take the time to look at the county site for the buildings in the area of town they will find some of them weren't even there then.  Another thing not thought about was the fact that the new courthouse was finished in 1897.  The old courthouse stood where the square is today.  They sold it and it was torn down for the bricks.  Now, it was barely cleaned up when the train wrecked.   The square was not developed yet, but the lot was empty.  Bunn's Funeral Home and Carmichael's Funeral Home prepared the bodies from the wreck and put them in boxes and those boxes were also filled with ice to keep those corpses cold until they were removed.   The one big laugh of the show is the guy who owns the old bank on Macon Street and has a restaurant there now.  He said there was a funeral home upstairs.  Wrong building and wrong time.  There was no funeral home there.  And those men talking to a doll made it even more laughable.   The thing that bothers so many people about this is that there are some well-educated people, well thought of people and generally good at heart people who believe all this is really happening.  The investigation team said they couldn't film from the trestle because of a city ordinance.  It isn't a city ordinance it is a Rail Road Law that they are trespassing on their property.  They went there anyway and filmed.  Most that are watching this unfold are knowing what is happening.  They are preying upon people for money.  They are using those who died in that accident to make a buck for McDonough.  That doesn't look good either morally or anything else.  One thing about it though it seems every year around Halloween this pops up and it is making McDonough and Henry County look foolish once again.

The Staff

"What do you think? You decide." 'Stockbridge City Council Member Makes light of serious situation'

"What do you think? You decide."

'Stockbridge City Council Member

Makes light of serious situation'

In the days leading up to the visit to the Henry County area by Irma, the storm that was a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Basin and was one of the strongest in recorded history, the City of Stockbridge council member Mr. Alexander who has annointed himself Mr. Atlanta South made fun of and ridiculed the Henry County Board of Education and many citizens of the county. He was saying that people were in a panic, but reliable sources said they witnessed no panic just people stocking up on supplies just in case things got bad here. Of course he was saying that the news being reported about the coming storm was "Fake News." There will be screen shots provided of all that has been said by this gentleman prior to the event. By him saying these things it could have caused some people not to be prepared for the coming storm. The National Hurricane Center issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the area and Governor Deal placed the whole state under a State of Emergency. That was all done after the Henry County Board of Education said that schools would be closed for Monday and Tuesday. They had gotten the word that it would be bad from Emergency Management. They cancelled an event on Saturday that can wait. He made a point of ridiculing the BoE for cancelling the event. Many people made comments on his facebook page about this matter. Then, he had posted on his Progressive Henry Page that Schools would be closed and when you opened to look at it the inside was a joke. This is no joking matter. When the BoE did call the schools to be closed he made the comment that, "This is exactly why 35 out of 51 Henry County schools are underperforming. Our kids need to be in school and so does the staff improving our schools." He went on to say, "The kids are out of school all the time, break after break and classes cancelled for snow storms that never materialize." He also said, "I have never agreed with the overreaction closings crying Safety to justify overreacting to what could be a simple wind or rain storm." This sounds like someone who doesn't need to be in a leadership position of any kind.

Then, make matters worse when he finds that the storm is bad he puts himself out there like he is the god send of all. He is praising the Lord which is fine, but just a few days earlier he was denouncing this storm and God was looking out for people by warning them. He was blind to it. And saying he was the person putting out information on social media that the south side depending on. That is thinking of self and wrong. In truth, he was trying to cover for his words and inaction that came earlier. His main reason for attacking the BoE like did was because his choice for school superintendent was denied. He has been on a crusade since to attack them and to cause them trouble.

If he wanted to be a true leader in the Stockbridge area why didn't he organize a place for people to go that needed a safe place to stay? The city of McDonough provided such a place and so did the people of Locust Grove. Other areas provided food and shelter during the storm. But the largest city in Henry County sat on their thumbs. Yes, the work crews of the City of Stockbridge did an excellent job clearing streets from debris. But he was not a work crew member. He was running around pretending to be a reporter. Remember before the storm he said it wasn't going to be bad yet there were thousands without power, roads blocked, homes damaged and people in fear because of the high winds. In the Stockbridge area alone the following roads were blocked by trees: East Atlanta Road, Rustic Road, Glenloch Lane, Jodeco Road, multiple roads in Swan Lake, Old Conyers Road, Mays Road, Scott Blvd, Charlotte Street, Millers Mill Road and Selfridge Road all within the Stockbridge area. The school buses could not have run so the BoE made the correct call to cancell school.

By him calling the storm a small wind storm and rain before the event shows poor judgement and leadership skills. The people of Stockbridge need to let the other leadership and city know that they disapprove of his actions and to not let him get away with after the fact saying that the storm was bad and He thanks God for helping him. That is so self centered and truly mocking that this person should step down from his job and let someone with the proper skills take over.

The Coalition for a Better Henry County

Was the temporary ban on admitting refugees a self-inflected necessity?

Was the temporary ban on admitting refugees a self-inflected necessity?

If one can step away from emotion and political affiliations for a few moments and look at the story history tells through the use of data, one might see another point of view. Unlike the media, I am not going to spin the data to tell you what the data means. I make no apologies, because you are going to have to figure it out for yourself.

I will share with you two sets of cumulative data on the admittance of refugees for the last eight-years and three-months. The documents used (links provided at the end) are; the FY 2009 thru 2015 Refugee Admissions Statistics, and the Excel Spread sheet, Summary of Refugee Admissions which includes both FY 2016 and the first three months of FY 2017 ending 31-December-2016.

Cumulative totals for Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia as reported by the Department of State:

FY 2009
Iran 5,381
Iraq 18,838
Syria 25
Yemen 47
Total 24,291

FY 2010
Iran 3,543
Iraq 18,016
Libya 1
Syria 25
Yemen 15
Total 21,603

FY 2011
Iran 2,032
Iraq 9,388
Libya 1
Syria 29
Total 11,450

FY 2012
Iran 1,758
Iraq 12,163
Libya 5
Syria 31
Total 13,975

FY 2013
Iran 2,578
Iraq 19,488
Libya 1
Syria 36
Total 22,103

FY 2014
Iran 2,846
Iraq 19,769
Syria 105
Yemen 3
Total 22,723

FY 2015
Iran 3,109
Iraq 12,676
Syria 1,682
Yemen 16
Total 17,485

FY 2016
Iran 3,750
Iraq 9,880
Libya 1
Syria 12,587
Yemen 26
Total 26,244

FY 2017
Iran 1,061
Iraq 3,624
Libya 3
Syria 3,566
Yemen 4
Total 8,258 (1)

(1) Three months into FY 2017 Iran was on track for 4,244; Iraq on track for 14,496; Syria on track for 14,256. These three countries alone could have totaled about 32,996 refugees.

Of the approx 79 countries 25,671 refugees, were admitted in first three months of FY 2017 ending on 31-December-2016. If the current pace continued, 102,684 folks could have been admitted.

Looking at both the 'Ceiling and Admitted' figures for the same years:

FY 2009: 80,000 and 74,654
FY 2010: 80,000 and 73,311
FY 2011: 80,000 and 56,424
FY 2012: 76,000 and 58,238
FY 2013: 70,000 and 69,926
FY 2014: 70,000 and 69,987
FY 2015: 70,000 and 69,933
FY 2016: 85,000 and 84,994 (2)
FY 2017: 110,000 and 25,671 (3)

(2) In FY 2016 the Ceiling was raised by an additional 15,000 individuals. Not accounting for government holidays that was approximately an additional 57 to 58 refugees processed and possibly admitted every day.

(3) In FY 2017 the Ceiling was increased by another 25,000 refugees to 110,000. Raising the two-year total to 40,000 additional potential refugee's each year from FY 2015. Allowing a potential daily increase of 154 to 155 additional refugee's to be investigated, processed, and admitted.

The numbers above do not include an unknown number of refugees who applied, were processed, investigated, and then refused entry.

Commentary:

My concerns.

What I have not found yet, is evidence showing where the government hired additional qualified personnel to adequately process the additional 40,000 possibly admitted refugees, and provide a reasonable minimal level of public safety.

At some point, and I do not know if we have reached that point, or gone beyond that point, yet. The Government is going to fail to do its job, and the public is going to pay a price because of it.

I hope, we have not passed that point.

Bruce Kendall