Breaking an arm to pat myself on the back

The Chamber of Commerce annual banquet is a venue to announce community awards. I have one of them and share the second with the awesome people who work at the paper. I'm only eligible for one more.

As I exited the 2025 event, Sarah came up to me. She asked if I had a minute. Yes, always, always, yes.

"I just want you to know you were nominated for Citizen of the Year," she said. "You are (something - have now forgotten the exact word) at the Mastrario house." 

Damn allergies.

As I continued to back out and then head out, I remembered something else Sarah told me. When Wyatt was a munchkin, one day he ran through the house screaming "Ben Baker! Ben Baker!" "Kids," she added.

This week I found out I've been nominated for COY every year for about 10 years, possibly more.

whoa.

The selection committee is made from previous years' recipients. A few of the past recipients were/are hell bent on making damn sure I never get the award. 

I get that. When you tell the truth, people get upset. Some people get violently upset. One person, in 2012, got upset enough to try to have me killed. Yeah.

Lemme tell you this again - If the truth hurts, yer living wrong.

A few are almost equally determined to make sure I do get it. To those, thank you. I will try ever harder to live up to who I need to be, You inspire me.

The Hurt Locker

Anyway, part of me is living wrong. I have parked part of myself in the hurt locker. Part of me wants that award. Part of me wants to scream - HEY. LOOK AT EVERYTHING I DO! WHAT THE ARE YOU DOING THAT COMPARES?

I look over the list of past recipients and consider what they did to received the award.

Because I am flawed, imperfect and yet corrupt, I think about everything some of them did. I wonder why they got the award. I know it is a matter of politics, jealously and hatred.

In other words, the reasons excuses decisions the awards committee has are exactly the same reactions I had when I left the annual event irked that I did not get the award yet again.

That's wrong. I should not be doing this for the attention and praises of man. I should be doing it because it needs to be done. Period. Who gets the credit is irrelevant. Well, to God be the glory and thanks to the Great Maker. I'm just doing what Jesus said we should do.

I should celebrate those who did receive awards, regardless.

I'm trying. I really am. I will do so from now on. 

When things like this begin to grind on me, I go back to the Stoics (thanks Mike!) and the Bible to find peace. Both remind me these things are not something I need. Whatever it is, is not something I can control. Instead of marinating in my own bile stew, I should take a breath, look around and find something that needs to be done. Then, go and do it.

That is who I want to be.

Hulk Smash

A while back I went to Canada and visited the White Clan. The visit made a fundamental change in who I am. Wrote a book about it (email for the link if you want one).

Among those lessons from the Great White North is that I can do a better job of appreciating what I have and letting go of what I do not have.

Up there when I started to turn back to thoughts of what the future would bring, I recalled the Incredible Hulk, the strongest being in the MCU. Hulk has no upper limit on his strength. I imagined my own Hulk taking those thoughts and Hulk Smash! them into oblivion.

It works for me. I need to use that more often.

Unexpected Messenger

Yesterday (today being Tuesday, Feb. 4), I was attending business. I got out of my truck and a gent in a car pulled up next to me. He wanted to talk. This itself is not unusual; being the newspaper editor I get this frequently.

His message was most unusual.

"Thank you," said this man who is also church pastor. (I forget his name and church, if I ever knew it. He did not give me his name.) "Thank you," he said, "for what you do for this community." He said my work makes a major difference in the lives of so many people.

Damn allergies.

Then, he did his own Hulk Smash and brought me right back to the ground.

"You will get your reward there," he said, pointing skyward. The conversation continued in that vein for a few more minutes. With each of his comments, I stood a little taller & straighter and bowed & knelt a little more.

By the time we parted, I was both immoveable and a vapor on the wind.

It took me a while to grasp exactly what this unexpected messenger did.

He gave me exactly what I needed and exactly what I wanted and exactly what I asked for. Literally. Since the banquet, I was asking for something to remove the resentment I harbored. I cried out from my soul that my foolish and idiotic fascination with someone's opinion of me would be removed.

His words have done that. He brought me peace. 

I needed it. I have again closed the hurt locker and embraced the truth. Now, I just gotta hang on to that.

Good Job

To those who have received awards of whatever kind, good job! I am proud of and happy for you. Honestly. It is good to be recognized for what you do. People, me included, need positive reinforcement. Take that award and use it as a base to grow and do better things.

You can do it.

As for me? If I ever get the COY award, it will not be me getting it. I'll just be the person holding the plaque.

The real award will go first to God and then to the people who pushed me, lifted me, carried me, inspired me, worked next to me and helped me.

Without God and these people, I could not. Could not what? Pick something, anything. I couldn't do it.

If I ever get the award, yes, I'll hang it somewhere. I will use it as a reminder that I have so much more to do. It will be a marker to tell me, every time I look at it, that I cannot stand on the past. I must live in the present and prepare for the future.

It will be a goal I will work toward, not for the accolades, but because I want to make where I am a better place for everyone. That work has to start with me.

Carpe Diem. Amor Fati. Memento Mori.

UPDATE

5 Feb 2025. I just officiated the marriage of William to Eunice. William is the pastor above.

Confirmation.

Speechificationing

 Whose speech should be protected? 

Seriously.

Then, why should it be protected?

Whose speech should not be protected? Why?

Whose speech should be banned? Why?

I ain't in favor of protecting or banning anyone's speech. 

Protecting means safeguards for that speech. I object to that. If you have something to say, then say it and be prepared to deal with the repercussions.

If you say something and you get physically attacked, that is not OK. The attacker needs a suitable reply because that person's actions also have repercussions.

If you say something and get shouted down, oh well. Find somewhere that wants to hear what you have to say.

It is a nothing

This thought came to me as I was driving somewhere. I may be wrong.

Those who support abortion rights should be delighted by the SCOTUS decision to hand abortion decisions over to the states. The SCOTUS decision has effectively rendered an unborn fetus parasite person collection-of-cells nothing. 

Not exactly "nothing" in reality but nothing as far as the federal government (FG) goes. If the FG does not regulate it or is barred from regulating it, then it does not exist.

The SCOTUS decision says that whatever may be growing in a woman's womb is not a person. Whatever is growing is now, under federal definition, nothing.

This runs to the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Follow the link and come back once you understand the ICC.

In order for the federal government to have a say in anything, that decision has to be rooted in the Constitution. Over the decades, the ICC has been warped out of all logic as it is used to say Congress has powers well beyond the original scope of the Constitution and the Amendments. That is a blog for another day.

MOVE FROM ONE STATE

People are free to move from one state to another. Generally. People on parole or probation are special cases.

When some "thing" crosses a state line, the feds can get involved. They do get involved. 

A pregnant woman crosses a state line, state A to B. The feds cannot do anything about this, see the Right to Travel in the Constitution (and disregard what sovereign citidiots tell you about driver's licenses, insurance and tags).

The woman has an abortion in state B. She returns to state A no longer pregnant.

2 REQUIREMENTS

The feds cannot do anything about this. If the feds could do something about that, it requires one of 2 things:

1) The feds recognize what the woman was carrying in her womb was a human being. Abortion is then murder.

2) The feds recognize that what the woman was carrying was a thing. As she crossed a state line and left said unborn fetus parasite person collection-of-cells in State B, this is interstate commerce and subject to federal regulation. The ICC says if something (not humans) can cross a state line, it is subject to federal regulation.

Important note here: The unborn fetus parasite person collection-of-cells has the potential to be left in State B. That is enough for ICC regulation, IF those cells are a thing. Leaving that unborn fetus parasite person collection-of-cells in another state is no different than leaving behind some hair, the skin cells we constantly shed, a gall bladder after surgery, etc.

SCOTUS effectively said what is/was in the womb is not subject to federal regulation, ergo it is a nothing.

Really. Pollution can cross a state line (and does), hence the volumes of federal environmental regulations. Lots of other stuff crosses state lines and is subject to the feds.

But not whatever is in a woman's womb. It is outside the purview of federal regulation, despite crossing state lines one way and not coming back on the return trip.

Tell me about daffodils

As one of his last official acts, President Joe Biden pardoned some people.

These people were not convicted of a crime. Yet.

These people were the target of President Donald Trump. Trump famously said he was gonna use the Justice Department to go after his political enemies. https://www.npr.org/2024/10/21/nx-s1-5134924/trump-election-2024-kamala-harris-elizabeth-cheney-threat-civil-liberties

I do not expect Trumpers to believe this, despite plenty of evidence, even though it appeared on Fox News as well. https://www.foxnews.com/video/6355810503112

Anyone really doubt that? Do you honestly think he would not try to use the federal government to go after those people?

Sadly, someone out there is exactly that delusional.

Y'all keep them rose colored glasses on. Better yet, get you some Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses.

Daffodils

We, or I at least, shall apply daffodils.

The Cantservatives are having mental breakdowns over this pardoning. As I write this, I am stuck at home as my driveway is ice. The Cantservative breakdown has flooded my yard, town, county, state and the Southeast in a literal storm of Cantservatie snowflake tears.

Yes, I blame them for the snow flake storm that shut everything down.

How am I then applying daffodils?

Because Trump did the exact same thing, with the same exact result (just less of the frozen stuff in my yard because I live in a very Cantservative community). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_by_Donald_Trump

Trump pardoned political allies, some of them anyway, to let them escape the long arm of the law. Liarberals freaked out and went on the same rampage the Right is doing now.

What is the different between Trump and Biden? The spelling. What is the difference between their actions? The names of the people pardoned and when it took place.

Lest ye forget, pre-emptive pardons are not new. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. They were a Cantservative administration.

Furthermore

Furthermore, this is not new. Cantservatives are crying this has never happened before. When Trump did it Liarberals cried it had never happened before.

Y'all are the textbook example of "those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.

Pre-emptive presidential pardons date back to George Washington. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-history-of-the-pardon-power

It has happened repeatedly throughout this nation's history. It has also engendered the same ballistic response from the opposition.

It's gonna happen again. It will get the same response.

How you feelin?

H: Are you happy?
M: Yes.
H: <mutters> I'm not.

D: She was a bitch to you.
M: At times, yes.

Still happy. Happier, in fact.

Moanday Moaning Musings

Sometime tomorrow, Stefan and Nicole will head back to Switzerland. Switzerland is in the middle of Europe and has the Alps, cheese, chocolate and watches. Sweden is a Nordic country on the Atlantic Ocean and has surstromming, a world-famous bikini team and an immunity to snow.

They came to Ashburn at my request, extending a business trip stay in the US. I am so glad they did. I love meeting people from other countries and dearly wish I could visit where they are from.

Mark Twain famously said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." If you can't travel, you can read books about other places. If you can't travel and you have the chance to meet people from other countries, do it.

Travel has changed many people's lives. The late comedian Richard Pryor changed his routine after a visit to Africa. He no longer used a certain word in his stories and jokes because of how African changed him.

You will find we are all people. Our governments, whatever they may be, do not fully represent who we are, what we believe and what we do. On the person-to-person level, hate is hard to come by. On the nation-to-nation level, well, hate sometimes seems to be the default mode.

Talking with Stefan and Nicole online and with text messages, we discovered we have so much in common. We're pretty much the same, just living in different countries. Stefan says they are the Swiss version of rednecks. Yep. They would, if they chose, fit right into South Georgia if they moved here.

My (our, this, depending on where you read this missive) little community has welcomed people from around the world regularly. Our visitors are overwhelmed by the Southern Hospitality. They leave with memories and friendships to last a lifetime. 

In Stefan & Nicole's case, they are coming back for the Fire Ant Festival, bringing their daughter Victoria with them. If you are at the FAF, I hope you get to meet them.

Saturday is the Christmas parade. After the parade, lunch is served in my office. All are welcome. Bring a dish if you like.

I am bringing my famous, or infamous, chili. Every year it has a secret ingredient, which I announce after people eat. I do not remember every secret ingredient from over the years. A few are: rattlesnake, gator, bison, fallow deer, buffalo and black ants. Staple ingredients are ground deer, ground wild hog and ground beef. Some years I add bacon, some years I don't.

The exact spice and herb mixture changes every year.

The only thing I promise with my Christmas Parade chili is, it is not hot. I bring peppers so those of us who want to feel the burn can. Aside from the physical temperature, the hottest thing in the Parade chili is black pepper and not much of that.

My rights are not your lefts

Define rights. G'head, but I'm not going to wait for you.

In the United States, we have the Declaration of Independence that enumerates a bunch of rights. The list is not 100% complete, but it is pretty comprehensive. The Constitution adds to the list.

I realize some people believe the DOI is a document that should be considered when legally reviewing rights. The United States Supreme Court disagrees with that and does use the DOI in its opinions and rulings. Unless you sit on the High Court, your opinion is therefore next to worthless.

MILLENIAL DISCUSSION

Let's roll this discussion back a few millennia. The Code of Hammurabi is the oldest detailed written record of laws and codes of behavior we have. May be older ones and likely are, but we don't know about them.

So much of modern western law is based on this code. The Mosaic laws in the Old Testament are echoes of Hammurabi. Hammurabi is pretty intense and has elements of socialism, capitalism, Marxism and other forms of governments and economies. But that is a discussion for another day.

What Ham, Moses, the DOI, Constitution, Magna Carta, etc etc etc have in common is they spell out restrictions on government or those in charge. They all lay out a set of rights individuals have.

WHAT ARE RIGHTS

So what are rights anyway? A right can be something:

You have inherently by simply being human
Granted by the ruling authorities; I am not positive about this, but include it anyway.
A combination of the two above

Inherent

What inherent right do you have as a human being? 

There is no universal answer to this. We cannot get a universal answer because some people are dictators, some are slaves and some are individualists. In N. Korea for instance, the subjects there are pretty much property of the current dictator. That people are property of the ruler is an idea that goes back as far as human history is recorded. Feudal Japan is a great example. People under such rulers live on the ruler's sufferance.

In anarchy, such as Somalia, it is every man for himself with warlords popping up and seizing control by force of whatever territory they can control. I've heard it argued that Somalia is a failed state and not anarchy. I can't tell the difference.

Since this is my blog here is my list of inherent rights:

Body autonomy

Yep. That's it. Body autonomy. You have the absolute right to do whatever you want to do to yourself until it impacts someone else without their permission. This means the other person is mentally competent to give permission. If the person is not mentally competent, then someone else needs to be appointed to make the hard decisions.

About that impact...

Physical absolutely. Cannot intentionally hit someone without their permission unless you are defending yourself or someone else. If defense is the issue, end it as fast as possible and lethally if necessary. As for hitting someone outside of defense, lots of people enjoy getting spanked, flogged, etc. That is not my business and it ain't your business unless you are participating.

If what you do impacts someone without their permission, then a sliding scale of retaliation comes into play. Hurt somebody's feelings? Maybe apologize, maybe not. Circumstance dependent, but I do favor sincere apologies. Bump into somebody in a store? Apologize. Run over somebody with a vehicle? Sliding scale again. If you are drunk when you do it, serious jail time.

I hope you get the idea.

It is called being accountable, something this world is seriously lacking.

Granted Rights

So what are granted rights? Voting is a good one. I think anyone of the age of majority should be allowed to vote based on where their home is. The age of majority in the US is 18. Whether it should be lower or higher is another matter.

Convicted felon? Vote. Live in Alabama and want to vote in Georgia? Nope.

Wanna run for office? Meet the residency requirements and age requirements as listed in the Constitution, run. Convicted murderer? Run for office. Let the people decide, not government.

It's again called accountability. It is also called making your own decisions and not relying on the nanny state.

Combination Rights

Republican-form governments are a good combination right. You have the right to elect someone who then operates on your behalf in the government. You are ceding temporary body autonomy and decision making to that elected person who should (and sometimes does) operate in your best interests.

We should have the right to recall these buffoons from office and replace them with someone else. We do have that right and it has happened around the nation. The right of recall should be immediate and go all the way to the President, Congress and the Supreme Court.

This idea also makes me nervous because in the US, the people have a long history of making the wrong decisions. I point you to most any election of your choice for the past few decades and beyond.

Right and Left

In this divided world, those on the right and the left feel there is no room for compromise. Count me on that one. There is no room for compromise if you feel my decision to live my life as I choose without harming another is subject to your oversight.

Government control over you and me and that guy who just ducked around the corner so you won't see him is one area where the Left and Right are in lock step sync. They agree on a lot more, but this is the one point on which all other platforms and policy hang.

My rights are not what you think I should have. My rights are not leftovers to be doled out at your whim. If you feel a need to run my life, then please excuse yourself from it.

Hunker down

In the wake of the the nation electing Trump for the second time, my far left friends are in a panic. They are literally arming themselves in preparation of being attacked and possibly killed. Hunker down, in other words.

I say arming. They are not buying guns. That is too much hypocrisy even for them. But they are enrolling in self defense classes, renewing their training, etc etc etc.

These are the exact same people who told the far right to calm down, quit overreacting and be sensible when Obama was elected and again when Biden was elected.

"We survived Bush/Trump. You'll survive Obama/Biden," was the chanted mantra.

Now? Chicken Little ain't got nothing on them. The sky is not just falling, the entire universe is falling into a black hole.

Calm down much? Quit overreacting much? Be sensible much?

Yeah, that shoe is awfully uncomfortable now, eh?

The problem is both sides want to impose their version of order on the rest of us. I object to that, strenuously object.

If you are not gonna take your own advice, quit giving it to other people. That's something neither side is willing to do.

If the truth hurts, yer living wrong.

Here, for my leftist friends - You'll survive Trump. You did it the first time.

Eugh. I don't like saying it. I ain't sure either side is gonna come through this unscathed. But I do believe in parity.

Y'all got it wrong

I really did not want to write this. But it is burning in me and I have to get it out.

Some years back I wrote a post about how I was laughing at 99%+ of the people who voted in the presidential election or wanted to. The same column also said I was crying. I cried and laughed for the same reason.

I'm doing so today as well. I'm laughing at 99%+ of the people who voted for president. I'm crying because no matter how you in that 99%+ voted, you voted for the very things you said you did not want.

Not digging that old column out for a link, but it's here somewhere. Instead, I tell you something different.

In my little county 3,828 people voted. 3,818 people voted against their own interests. They voted for more government, bigger government, more nanny state and less control over their own lives. They voted to have elected officials, bureaucrats and judges make decisions for them

10 people voted for freedom and a restoration of the all the rights that were taken away from us over the last 2 centuries,

I know who 3 of those people are. Yes, I am one and I ain't telling you the other 2.

We voted to let you decide how to live your life. Y'all didn't.

You voted to sign away your ability to make your own decisions.

I am not surprised. The Bible calls us sheep for a reason.

NO COMPLAINING

I am not going to tolerate complaining from those of you who did not vote or voted to abdicate responsibility. I simply do not have the patience for it.

It is that simple.

You had a choice to get your rights back, whatever you see them as. You said no.

Whatever comes from this, it is what you asked for, if you are in that 99% or did not vote but could have.

DON'T CALL ME

I generally listen to anyone and everyone. The only restraints I put on discussion are no ad hominem. That gets you blocked, banned and excluded online and in real life. The second is once you have complained enough about what you see as problem and still refuse to change so the problem is ended, I'm done with that matter.

If you bring it up again, I will tell you to stop talking or I will leave. You had many chances to fix the problem, but persist in the same course that put you where you are now.

That is the definition of insanity and truly insane people cannot be helped.

Conduct yourself accordingly. 

It is not about politics. I'm happy to talk politics with anyone. Complaints, only to a point unless you are willing to stand up and make needed changes.

RIGHTS

Make this clear. I support your rights. I'm gonna continue to do so, even when you oppose my rights and want them eliminated. The left is having conniption fits over some of my rights. The right is having conniption fits over some of my rights.

Reality says they both want to eliminate rights. Reality is based on the voting record of those in office. Reality, not sound bites, press releases and press conferences. They can say whatever they want. Watch the actions and you know what they really want.

What rights? Pick. I support the right of consenting adults to make decisions that affect their own life so long as it does not harm another. What is harm? Working on that blog, so check back periodically or follow this blog.

Briefly, here's a modified tired trope that does a fair dinkum job of 'splainin'

I support the rights of adult couples, throuples, quaduples, whatever to protect their opium crop with full auto Ma Deuces.

Dad's day

Amanda Neisent's post this morning on FB put me in mind of this.

The US celebrates Father's Day in June. 

For me, Pa's Day is always mid-October. This year is Oct. 19. That's the opening day of deer season. The only thing Pa loved more than his kids was deer hunting and fishing. When deer season came around, it was time to load the truck and head to the camp in Stewart County.

Damn allergies.

Just a few stories.

Pa wore an insulated flannel shirt as his jacket if it was cold enough. That's it. He wore jeans, red suspenders and blue button-up shirts with a shirt pocket he never used. He had his wallet, his snub nose .38 and a knife. Sometimes, he wore a blaze orange vest, sometimes not. If he was sitting in a tree stand, no vest. Walking behind the dogs, vest.

Deer season meant it was time to see Miz Pate and get BBQ sandwiches. She remembered everybody. If one of the Buck Hill Hunt Club members had not checked in for the season, she was quick to ask someone about him. If you ever went around Lumpkin, GA, in the 70s and 80s, you know who I am talking about. Pa, while I'm here, tell Miz Pate I'm OK and I get my BBQ sandwiches these days from Keith's place.

One cold winter evening, I got down from my stand about dark and went to get him. He was standing at the edge of the road. I didn't realize until he got in the truck, but he was shaking, hard. Hypothermia was within reach. I was a bit scared about that, but knew we had heat in the truck and he'd be all right in a moment.

One cold morning, a doe and buck walked out on my stand. I shot at the doe. Did I miss? Dunno. Maybe. She ran anyway. The buck went another way. I knew it was a buck because of the antlers.

A few days later, Pa went by himself. He shot the buck, an 8-point that he put on the wall. I was irked, accusing him of killing my deer. Some years later, he shot another Stewart County buck, a 4-point that just came walking out of the underbrush. We were running dogs that day, but the dogs did not catch the scent of that buck. Pa said he was just as proud of the little buck as he was of his 8-point. That one only got the rack on the wall.

He had to come get me one night. I have the navigational ability of a brick. I was lost. So, I got up on a hill and turned on the CB radio. I called for help. Someone, not sure who, got my message and relayed it to Pa. A short while later, headlights crested a hill. 

I knew then everything was gonna be all right.

He led me out of the woods. He said I did the right thing by waiting.

Pa, I still get lost. Don't have a CB any more. I try to send a message, but I don't know if it gets through. This damned smartphone doesn't have your current number. Somehow, I manage to find my way sometimes, so maybe the messages are getting through. In so many ways, I'm still lost in the woods.

Pa, I'd love to see those headlights one more time. I could sure use you to lead me out of these woods I'm lost in. I need to know everything is gonna be all right.

Maybe I need to wait a little longer. I can do that. 

Breaking down the Homestead Property Value amendment

by Ben Baker

The Wiregrass Farmer

If House Bill 1022 as a Constitutional Amendment passes, it will change property value increases for homesteaded property. This is something many people have wanted for years.

In short, this amendment caps property tax increases on homesteaded property, said Rep. Beth Camp from Concord, Georgia. She sponsored the Amendment.

"We need a YES vote on this for taxpayer relief. Vote yes in early voting beginning in October and Yes on Nov. 5 if you vote on election day," she said.

She said this is a way to give residents more control over their property taxes and property values.

"Millage rates are not being rolled back. There is no transparency and not a lot of voice for property owners. This will give more voice to individuals," she said.

She said this is especially necessary as parts of Georgia are seeing skyrocketing property values.

"The reality is we have so many people, especially seniors, being priced out of their homes. They bought their home 30 years ago for $40,000. Now it is worth $250,000, which is great, but they cannot afford the taxes any more," she said.

A LOT MORE

The Amendment covers a lot more than that. However, that "lot more" is not part of the Amendment. The extra items are things the General Assembly must approve and the governor must sign for them to take effect.

Rep. Camp went over these other items, which are just proposals at this point. The State Legislature could approve them as proposed, modify them in any way or reject them outright.

Also, these extra items are subject to change each year when the General Assembly meets. Every year, lawmakers modify many existing Georgia laws.

EXAMPLE

Rep. Camp gave this example of how the idea can work.

A homestead property has a value of $50,000.

Rep. Camp used the Consumer Price Index as an example of what could be used to set the cap. The Legislature has not decided what the cap is. For this example, the CPI  is 2.4%. 

The CPI is how much the price for a basket of goods, like grocery items, increases over time. 

If the basket costs $10 on Jan. 1, with a 2.4% increase, the same basket costs $10.24 on Dec. 31.

Using a real estate example, a home has a taxable value of $50,000 on Jan. 1, 2024. On Jan. 1, 2025, that home now has a taxable value of $51,200.

If property values across the county rose 5%, homesteaded property values could only go up that 2.4%. On that $50,000 home, a 5% increase is $2,500.

Over the course of years or decades, those increases can really add up, the Rep. said.

Using the CPI is just an example of an inflation index that can be used. Rep. Camp said some other measure can be used. The General Assembly will decide that.

Also, this cap and the percentage apply statewide. If the increase rate is 2.4%, that is the increase for homesteaded property in every county in the state.

A LOT MORE

The Amendment covers a lot more than that. However, that "lot more" is not part of the Amendment. The extra items are things the General Assembly must approve and the governor must sign for them to take effect.

Rep. Camp went over these other items, which are just proposals at this point. The State Legislature could approve them as proposed, modify them in any way or reject them outright.

Also, these extra items are subject to change each year when the General Assembly meets. Every year the lawmakers modify many existing Georgia laws.

OPT OUT

The Amendment covers every County Commission, City Council, School Board and the few consolidated governments in Georgia. If any of these boards do not want to participate, they have to opt out.

Opting out requires 3 public hearings.

It is also an all-or-nothing venture. If the county commission, a city or school system opts out, the entire property tax-limiting program goes away for the entire county, cities and school systems in that county.

"If anyone opts out, the penny is off the table in that county," she said. "Opting out will be politically pretty hard to come back from."

FLOST

Since local governments can expect to lose some tax revenue from this, Rep. Camp's idea also calls for a Floating Local Option Sales Tax.

"This will help them recoup some of the loss," she said.

*IMPORTANT*IMPORTANT*IMPORTANT*

EDITORS - REVISE THIS PARAGRAPH TO FIT YOUR COUNTY'S TAX RATE

In Turner County, the FLOST would put the Sales Tax rate a 9%. In Turner County, more than half the collected sales tax comes from people passing through. Turner County regularly collects more than $80,000 on each of the 1 cent sales taxes. Months with collections over $100,000 are not common but not rare either. Wilcox County just to the east averages less than half that.

Only time will tell if the FLOST is enough to cover any perceived property tax losses.

If the Amendment passes, FLOST is automatically included. Voters will not vote on the FLOST.

VALUE AFTER A SALE

If you sell your home, the value resets to the sale price. So the new buyer could pay a lot more in sales tax than you do.

"It does protect a surviving spouse. But when you sell the property, it resets at that point to whatever the sale price was," Rep. Camp said.

ONLY HOMESTEAD PROPERTY

This Amendment only applies to homestead property. In Georgia, you are only allowed to homestead one house.

Rep. Camp said the Amendment does not apply to "income-generating property" like rental homes, commercial and industrial properties. It does not apply to second homes either.

"Specifically homestead," she said.

HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION

Georgia has a homestead exemption for property taxes. If you own a home, you can apply for this exemption. Application is free and done at the Tax Commissioner's office. 

The exemption lowers the taxes you pay on that house.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

People who know me pretty well will gladly tell you I don't make some decisions easily or quickly.

Ask me where I want to go to eat? You should ask me about 24 hours beforehand. That way, I can literally sleep on the idea and spend my waking time thinking about it.

Does it literally take me that long to decide where to eat? Well, I can decide immediately if I have to. I just don't.

When it comes to a lot of small decisions, I waffle more than the South's most popular all-night diner. It is not that I have a problem making decisions. Like you, I make decisions constantly throughout the day.

Unlike you, I make decisions on a regular basis that can affect a person's life for the rest of their life. I am not a judge (except for food contests) and I do not want to be. Yet I wield a lot of power and, as Stan Lee wrote, "with great power comes great responsibility."

It does keep me up at night.

MEET VAL

You do not know Valerie, this one at least. She and I worked together for a while at a newspaper. She wrote a story and the main source in that story committed suicide shortly after the story came out. Was Val's story the main reason, the proverbial straw on the camel's back or it had no effect at all?

The only person who knows exited this life intentionally.

Val was torn up. 

While the details are obscured by decades, what happened sticks with me. 

Every day I make decisions on what to write, how to to write it and so forth. Frequently, I am conscious of what Val went through. I do not want that to happen to me.

So yeah, it keeps me up at night.

MAKING A DECISION

Over the past couple of weeks, I made a decision. It was finalized around 7:30 a.m. Sept. 16, 2024, when I typed the last period into The Wiregrass' editorial for the week. That editorial was not a matter I took lightly.

In fact, the whole matter started in Jun 2023. I sued the local City Council and won. Going to court kept me up at night; some of the Council are people I truly call my friend. I appreciate the Council and the hard decisions they have to make. But dammitall, right is right. Gotta stand for something or fall for anything.

As of the last period on the editorial, some individuals on the Council did not do some of what the Judge ordered and the whole Council did not do at least one thing the Judge ordered.

In the editorial I gave the Council until Noon Friday to comply. Then, I'd file papers to go back to court. I called out by name the 2 Council members who defied the Judge's orders. Gonna hear about that one.

That part I can handle. Bring it on. I'm justified and have the Judge's order to prove it.

Still, it was not fun. Fortunately, it was not a decision that required instant action. I sat back and waited for a while. I even wrote a news story the week before saying 2 Council members, unnamed at that time, refused to comply.

INSTANT DECISIONS

I am not one who is paralyzed by the need to decide instantly. I can. If lives, damage, pain and so forth are on the line, I am moving.

I can make decisions when they have to be done.

IMMA PASS

But I keep going back to the decisions I make as a reporter, editor and newspaper publisher. I make calls that can change lives. So, when it comes to the little things, Imma pass.

The pen is mightier than the sword; it is an old axiom that still holds true.

The late Sheriff Lamar Whiddon told many people, don't worry about the ones that attack you physically. You can get over that. Worry about the ones who come after you with barrels of ink. 

I buy ink by the barrel.

So grant this cynical old reporter some relief. If I want to pass on making a decision, please let me. I have enough weight on these pain-wracked worn-out shoulders and even a straw is more weight I'd prefer to avoid.