Henry School System Commits Child and Elderly Abuse
Early in 2002, a child was born into my family, a beautiful little girl. I helped to raise this little girl I watched her grow into a thriving little toddler going off to school to learn so she can be a great citizen of society. She went through Middle School on her way to becoming a teenager and later on an adult. She started High School and was going to graduate in the year 2020. All of us and the family are so proud of her and her accomplishments that she has made and as the school year was ending we began to prepare for her graduation in 2019. I purchased a four-wheeled walker so I would be able to walk to the stadium at the high school to be able to watch her graduate and receive her diploma. You see I suffer from neuropathy in my legs to the point that they are numb and I must have help to be able to walk and keep my balance not to mention suffering from heart failure which limits my breathing. Everything was going great until the pandemic here in early 2020. Then, everything changed the last part of her senior year. When the school system did not know how to handle this they finally decided on a plan so that they can still graduate and walk across the stage with their diploma. However, they decided not to have it at the stadium of the high school. They decided to have a grand place for graduation. They decided to have the graduation ceremony at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. A very large place that one must have to walk at least half a mile to get to the stadium itself. something that I could not do even with my walker. so I set out to find out if they would have shuttle buses or anything to help the disabled to get to the seats. I contacted the head of the school multiple times without an answer. That is a sad state when a principal of a school will not help a disabled person to be able to see a loved one graduate high school. I tried to contact individuals at the school board, but no one answered my emails or phone calls. Calls to the Atlanta Motor Speedway we're never answered by anybody. it was as if they did not want disabled people to attend the event. This is a sad state that our community is in when the disabled are treated like we are not wanted.
So, on the night of her graduation, I was forced by the Henry County School System to sit at a computer and watch it online and not in person to be there for her. You do not understand how much this hurts. This is an event that I can never get back nor my loved one. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event for both of us and it is gone forever. And in this regard, the Henry County School System committed child and elderly abuse. I ask you if you are reading this please call, email or whatever you can do to get in touch with the Henry County School System and let them know you are very disappointed and they're inactions to assist the disabled at the graduation ceremonies of 2020. As a result of this inaction by the Henry County School System, I would like to see the school system disbanded and restructured with new personnel that hopefully have a heart. I would also like to see the particular principal involved fired on the spot. Hopefully, this will not happen in the future and disrupt other people's lives by missing such an important event.
Schools Announcement of Ceremonies for 2020 PDF
Blog Staff.
JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early '60s when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible. Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"
DeGaulle did not respond.
You could have heard a pin drop.
When in England, at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of 'empire building' by George Bush.
He answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of Its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for In return is enough to bury those that did not return."
You could have heard a pin drop.
There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, One of the French engineers came back into the room saying, "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?" A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from seawater each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships. How many does France have?"
You could have heard a pin drop.
A U.S. Navy admiral was attending a naval conference that included admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French
navies at a cocktail reception. He found himself standing with a large group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks when a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?" Without hesitating, the American admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German."
You could have heard a pin drop.
AND, finally...
Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. "You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked
sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. "Then you should know enough to have your passport ready." The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." "Impossible. Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !" The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."
You could have heard a pin drop.
“Citizens Are Wanting Answers To Some Issues about Nash Farm”
With all the issues that have come before about this piece of land in the 2nd district of Henry County from the way it was purchased to all the other issues that have been connected to this property, here are more questions that need answering. Why would a couple who work for the county be granted a token rental deal on the cottage home at Nash Farm? Why would the local farmer who has had farmers market sales at Nash Farm for a sweetheart deal and sits on a county board be allowed to do this? It legal wranglings this is called nepotism. Also, why should the taxpayers of Henry County be put upon to pay for a company to put an ice skating rink on the property? That company will make money at the expense of the people of the county. They are not paying the county the county is paying them and there are several concerns about the rink itself. The following is a FOIA information by local citizens.
“Caretaker’s Cottage” on the Nash Farms property at 24 Babb’s Mill RD.
According to the Henry County records the house is being rented for $200.00 per month to two Henry County Parks and Recreation Employees, a Supervisor II with a salary of $45,659.83 and a Program Administrator, with a salary of $40,430.00 that is a combined income of $86,089.83.
This lease was implemented in 2008 and it appears to have not been reviewed and adjusted since then.
Which brings me to several questions:
1. Why hasn’t the rental rate been adjusted to today’s market values?
2. How is this house marketed for rent?
3. Who determines who qualifies to rent?
4. Who sets the rent value? (BOC)
5.Why are we renting to these County Employees with a combined income greater than $86,000.00 annually? In my opinion this creates a conflict of interest due to the fact not all Henry County employees have the option to rent this property.
6. Why isn’t this property with rent this low offered to a person on Social Security with an income level of less than $12,000.00 a year?
It appears to me that this is an unrealistic rental rate to County employees with their income levels is political motivated in nature.
Let me state, if the current rental price remains the same for 2020, my sister that has lived in Henry County in a trailer park for 30 years and has an annual income of $12,000.00 in social security has a desire to rent this property for $200.00 a month upon the renewal of the lease in 2020.
Since, obviously you have not checked into this issue, I will supply this information I have checked and found for an average house rental in Henry County is approximately $1,299 for 3 beds and that's $170 below the national average rent of $1,469.
So, $200.00 rental a month is $1,099.00 below the fair market value. That is a $145,068 savings for the tenant over the eleven years as a tenant. (sweet deal no wonder we have a Corvette in the carport).
Now the issue of the Ice Skating Rink
1. Henry County entered into a Contract with Ice Days LLC to erect an Ice Skating Rink at a cost of under number 5 of the Contract Header Terms. “The initial term of this Agreement is for the 2019-2020. County agrees to pay Company the sum of $35,000 due upon contract acceptance for the first season. Each consecutive season up to 4 pending approval by the Board of Commissioners will cost $20,000. Each consecutive season must be approved no later than 45 days after the completion of the previous season and payment made by August 1st to guarantee our ability to return at that rate.”
My question is: Who was appointed to make the decision to negotiate this terrible deal for the citizens and why? Why aren’t they paying us?
2. Contract Header number 10 Rental Fee. “County and Company agree no rental fee is to be paid by Company for use of the premises for the duration of this contract. In exchange Company agrees to provide 4 dasher wall spaces for advertisement to the County.”
My question since, the Board of Commissioners has no product or business and is not in the Advertising business, what would we be advertising? Who would be authorized to advertise and by whom? Who with the County will review the Advertisers ad to make sure it is not Political advertising? Who will get all the proceeds from all the other advertisers on the walls? The most important question of all why aren’t they paying us?
I was on site and observed the installation of the floor for the rink and have some serious question concerning the safety of this installation. The floor deck consists of 4X8 sheets of plywood panels with concrete block support for leveling. I observed no interlocking devices connecting the panels together to keeping them from separating during peak usage by the public.
Was the installation inspected by any Professional Engineers? If so, where can I get a copy of the report?
Before any public us of this platform and due to the high liability, it should without question be inspected by a Certified Registered Professional Engineer to certify the safety of this structure.
I was on site Friday November 22, Saturday 23, Sunday 24 and the construction of the structure was still not complete, nor where there any installation personal on site. That breaches this contract by violating paragraph “3” in the agreement grand opening date for the term shall be Friday, November 22, 2019”. The power Company had made their connection to the new 3 phase electrical panel that cost the citizens $8,000.00 on Friday.
Why didn’t the Vendor pay for this installation? Who will pay the additional power bill associated with the extra power usage?
Contract Header number 3 “Use of County Property by Company for Ice Skating Rink. County shall make available to Company the use of the Premises consistent with the Operating Agreement for installation and operation of the Ice Skating Rink on the Premises during the Season in which this Agreement is in effect. County shall make such space available to Company for installation of the Ice-Skating Rink Twenty Eight calendar days in advance of the agreed upon opening day of the term. Barring unforeseen weather and or construction delays out of Company control the grand opening date for the term shall be Friday, November 22, 2019”
These are just a few of my concerns and ask that the BOC reexamine and cancel this contract. Please respond with any resolution that you will take to rectify my safety concerns for the citizens that will be unknowing use the venue without knowing if it is safe or not.
No real answers have been provided by the BoC in these matters which continues the pattern of past BoC members.
John Wesley McDermont
“Voter Apathy put through SPLOST V”
Henry County again proved that voter apathy is a virtue in their lives. Of the over 175,000 registered voters in Henry County roughly just over 16,500 voted in the early voting and election day together. This is approximately 9.43% of the registered voters who put SPLOST V through and the Sunday early alcohol sales through as well. This means that barely a handful voted to put these measures through according to the statistics. Over 230,000 residents, 175,000 registered voters and only just over 7,500 approved SPLOST V. This tells a story where most of the people don’t care. For those that do care, the best way to solve this problem is to shop outside the county and online for your merchandise. Take your tax dollars to another county where the taxes are lower. This meager election turnout is a continued sign that people are tired of the same old problems. But don’t complain if you find that you won’t get what you were promised in SPLOST V because a lot of what was in SPLOST I, II, III, and IV didn’t materialize either. Let us know how all this works out for you because those who don’t care to be involved will one day wonder what happened when the tax is so high they cannot afford to live in Henry County anymore.
The Staff
"Vote No for SPLOST V"
This idea of a SPLOST V is an ongoing slush fund for those elected officials who do well to shine their seats at meetings. When SPLOST I was initiated so many years ago it was only supposed to last for a specified time and then go away. It was supposed to be used to fix some roads and other facilities. Well, that didn’t pan out too well because there are still projects today that are not finished from SPLOST I, II, III or IV. And guess what, if you vote for another SPLOST V tax then there will be projects to add to the unfinished list. The elected officials found an easy way to garner cash from the taxpayers with this type of money accumulation. If they want something done why not put out bonds or get a loan. They are already taking in a ton of money on property taxes, sales taxes, car tag taxes, fuel taxes and don’t forget school taxes that go to the Board of Education. Yes, the citizens of Henry County are taxed to death and they want to keep on with another tax. They threaten you with your property taxes will go up. Guess what Sherlock, they already have gone up. The millage rate may be the same, but those evaluations on prime properties went up. As long as the voters continue to vote for a SPLOST there will always be one on the ballot whether you really need it or not. How about the traffic in the county? Are you loving it, guess what some of the previous SPLOST projects that weren’t finished were supposed to help with fixing the traffic problems. Some of those funds were transferred to other areas. Why you may ask? To help those in those seats politically. They used to go out and arrest people in the old days for what these people are doing to the citizens. It was called all types of names anything from swindling, bunco, the pyramid scheme, racketeering, and many other names, especially during the gangland days of Chicago and New York. Today it is for the children, the elderly, for physical fitness and for your pets. They want to take your money for a privately owned water park. The county attorney has already seen problems with this whole scenario because he knows it will come back to bite them in the backside. If you want to do something good for yourselves and the county VOTE NO FOR SPLOST V.
The Staff
“The Future Maintenance of Projects”
The SPLOST V project list contains an option that should be handled by a private entity. The aquatic center has been on the dream list many times around and it is yet to see the light of day. Knowing the track record of the BoC these projects have a good chance of not being done so as to transfer the money to other areas that were not voted on by the citizens. Yes, they will ask and promote these things yet cannot fix the parks that they already have in the county. Maintaining the parks is an expensive endeavor and yes you the taxpayer are on the hook to pay for all this, in the long run, many times over. For example, they set aside $2 million for a ball field and park. Then, over the years it will cost far more than that to maintain by hiring staff and the future costs of building materials will go up. That leaves the citizens with bills long after those in elected office have retired to another state. If they are not properly maintained they will fall apart and you then have nothing. Don’t let those in power leave you like a deer in the headlights with a debt they created for their own gain. Whether it is political or monetary gain to friends the money is a bottomless pit for those who pretend to know what they are doing. Get out and vote NO for SPLOST V.
The Staff
“The People Need To Do Their Homework On SPLOST”
The people need to do their homework on the SPLOST V proposal that is on the ballot. Go back and look at the BoC Meeting held on June 18, 2019. In this meeting, the commissioners approved a one-page Resolution 19-163 where they called for a new SPLOST program. Eleven days later on July 29, 2019, the BoC again discussed the projects that would be on the list. The Staff requested a $30 million bond also for the ballot. After they discussed all this, they approved something. You have to look closely to see what type of smoke and mirrors they are playing within this discussion. During the meeting, the county manager said that the resolution had to be to the election board by August 1, 2019 to be placed on the ballot. The strange thing is no written resolution shown or was one offered. Normally these are shown to the public. Then came the August 20, 2019 BoC meeting where the county attorney said that even though the BoC approved a motion that was to be a resolution to meet the requirements of SPLOST law, it was merely a motion and not a written resolution. He requested the board rescind the resolution that was not in writing and approve his 13-page resolution. After some commissioners questioned the validity of the projects it was approved. Now the question begs to be answered is this resolution legally valid for the ballot? Since the resolution had to be done by August 1st and was not done until August 20th. How could it be on the ballot? This is a very good reason to Vote NO on SPLOST V.
The Staff
