Building Castles in the Sky...A Bureaucrat’s Dream

Our Commissioners are again seriously considering funding themselves a new Administration Building.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


If you are a Jackson County Taxpayer and you consider yourself a fiscal conservative, then you need to join in an effort to stop a proposal which will come to the forefront at the next County Commission meeting, which is set for January 12. We have some “home grown pork” which the commissioners are considering for enactment. The costs for this example of local pork legislation will be paid by you and your children, if the Commission approves funding for the proposed new county administration building project. The actual cost of the structure is currently being reevaluated, but I feel it will cost between $15,000,000 and $20,000,000 to build in its current location and design. In my opinion, this action would be excessive, unnecessary, wasteful, and inappropriate, especially at this time in this uncertain economy.

I view this project as a self serving, “porkish” proposal being made by some of our county’s leaders at a time when many of the citizens of Jackson County are struggling to pay power bills and put food on the table. Of course, if you have always been in some secure, “fat cat’ bureaucratic position living from government checks, and have never had to worry about really earning a living in the real world….you would not appreciate the reality of the struggles some families are facing.

There is a group organizing to appear at the January 12 meeting to voice “support” for building the new facility. They are the bureaucrats who wish to sit in a shiny, new, expensive office and look out their windows over downtown Marianna. These “crats” are being joined by a few merchants organized by “Main Street Marianna” who fear that their businesses would be somehow injured if the administration building was located a few blocks away at one of the existing vacant shopping center buildings. In my opinion they, too, are self serving, and have no regard for the wastefulness of the venture or the burden it would impose on all others who reside in Jackson County.

I feel the relocation of the county admin functions to a location a few blocks away would have a negligible impact on downtown commerce. In fact, the lessening of strain on available parking in the downtown area could result in more people deciding to venture there for lunch and perhaps shopping there instead of rushing out to Malloyville, where there is plenty of parking space. These downtown merchants may be working against their own best interest by backing an action which would worsen the downtown parking situation.

The commissioners are currently going through the “smoke and mirrors” routine of having an “unbiased comparison” of the options of building the new downtown three story structure, vs. remodeling of the old Wal Mart facility prepared by Ajax Construction, the company which would do the work, in either case. I feel this comparison should be made by a totally uninvolved third party, not the company which has more to gain by the more expensive project. It is like asking a car dealer to do a study to see what you should buy from him, a $30,000 new car or a $10,000 used car.

Other county and municipal governments in Florida and neighboring states have renovated existing empty retail space for government buildings. The costs of these renovations, the satisfaction of the involved employees and the public, and the suitability of the renovated spaces should be included in any meaningful study which is made to help our Commission evaluate this decision. You can bet a representative sampling of these comparisons will not be included in this study. They will most likely paint a “worse possible” scenario to enhance the option to build new space.

Personally, my advice to the Commissioners at this time is….WAIT! I feel the best course of action at this time is no action at all. Those who want the building and those who oppose the building can argue the issues at another moment in time. Other financing opportunities will come along, so the existing loan proposal should not be pursued now. To undertake a new major project for the county,…during the middle of the most severe recession since the depression combined with the uncertainties which exist within our nation’s sputtering, sagging economy, and the potential for international economic melt down,…would be an ill conceived decision. Now is no time to be considering encumbering our citizens with a new long term debt.

If you feel this project is a bad idea, and the Commissioners should not proceed with a new admin building construction project….then you need to come to the Commission meeting and be prepared to take part in the dialogue. In the meantime, you can be contacting your commissioner and voicing your feelings prior to the public meeting on January 12 at 9:00 AM.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● In this time of national economic peril we need Patriots, not Politicians. The methods which were used to pass the Health Plan in the Senate was a great example of the dirty politics and self serving tactics which are commonplace in Washington, and to a lesser degree at the State and local levels. I say it is time to oust them all, and regain control of both parties by filling their spaces with patriotic, conservative, ethical, and moral citizens who will put the good of the nation ahead of actions which only favor them personally or only benefit their constituencies. ‘Bringing home the pork for the folks back home”, is a wasteful, worn philosophy which has no place in today’s struggle for national economic survival. Patriotic citizens should neither support nor encourage this type of political thinking.

● I wish you all a wonderful 2010, and a great new decade. I resolve during the coming year to say at least one nice thing in my column each week, no matter how hard it is to find.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

A Conservative Battle Plan For 2010 & 2012

The Conservative Tea Party Effort Needs a Focused Plan of Action
This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


The “Tea Party Movement” has become a national political force which is continuing to grow as more and more Americans become very concerned about our faltering economy and the direction our nation is taking on many issues. This party is non denominational, containing both Republicans and Democrats. The common bond is a belief in a conservative, constitutionally based government….and patriotism before personal gain.

In my opinion, the current declining, depressing situation which has evolved and enveloped our nation is the result of some twenty-five years of corrupt, ill conceived, inept management. The finger of blame can be pointed in many directions, involving both parties and many, many of the leaders who comprise these organizations. I believe the tea party movement should embark on a concerted effort to remove these individuals from office during the next two national elections.

Formation of a third party is not a good solution. Instead, this new political force should muster its resources, both money and manpower, to identify a slate of good, conservative candidates in both parties, at all levels. They should then work helping these candidates defeat the standing liberal loonies which now occupy positions of power, and to thus force both parties to evolve into conservative led entities. With this accomplished, those like minded newly elected officials can begin in a bi-partisan effort to reverse the course of our nation, to begin to restore constitutional principals, to begin wise, frugal fiscal policies, and to reduce the size and level of intrusion of government into our lives and our professions.

The blame for our current economic, social, educational, political, health system, banking, environmental, energy dependence, international, and religious problems lies with those career politicians and the herd of bureaucrats who cling to their coat tails. We see this group of incompetents regularly on television news. They should all be held accountable for our national problems. They created this situation and It is time to get rid of them! If the Tea Party Movement can be the force which accomplishes that much needed result….They will be “Getting It Right”!



Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● God must be taking a position on the “Global Warming” issue. Copenhagen has not had a white Christmas in thirteen years. This week that host city to the Global Warming Conference was blanketed with a heavy snowfall.

• Our County Commissioners and Administrators have resurrected the proposal to construct a shiny, new, expensive County Administration Building on the old jail site and existing Farmers Market lot. The original cost estimates for 55,000 sq. ft. multi-story building were between $15,000,000 and $20,000,000 tax dollars. An already severe parking problem would be worsened, and this structure leaves little opportunity for future expansion. County Administrator, Ted Lakey and Commissioner Willie Spires are strong advocates for the project, while other Commissioners are waiting for cost estimates to be finalized. A comparison of the cost of the new building vs. renovation of the old Wal-Mart building are being made. In my opinion, for the Commission to spend this kind of money in today’s economy would be an example of local officials emulating the destructive spending frenzy which is underway in Washington.

Main Street Marianna has sent a letter to selected members, asking them to contact Commissioners urging them to vote “for” the construction and to not move the Admin offices away from downtown. If you have an opinion on this issue, I urge to also contact your commissioner. Unless we react now they may push this project forward. Personally, I do not feel a single downtown restaurant or retail store would be impacted if these people were located a few blocks away. The impacted workers will still get in their cars and discuss where to go for lunch….just as they do now.

• Even though times are rough for many families in our community I am amazed at the community spirit which is so well demonstrated during the Christmas season. The numerous civic organizations and churches, combined with hundreds of volunteer workers, and thousands of donators demonstrates what a great County we live in. I hope those who benefited from these efforts are truly grateful. Even better, these people give of themselves because of a caring, Christian spirit. They give because they want to…..not because some bureaucracy says they must give. That is the real American Spirit!



MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

The Longer We Go...The Worse It Seems to Get!

Washington just doesn’t seem to realize what is happening out here in the REAL world!
This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subjects of the week:


 There’s Something Rotten in Copenhagen

The delegations from the undeveloped nations walked out of the Copenhagen Global Warming Conference on Tuesday in protest, voicing their feelings that the developed nations are not doing enough to repay these nations for the damages they have done to the planet. They want billions. Of course most of these nations are led by corrupt, greedy governments and dictators, so very little of that money would go to eliminate pollutants in those nations even if we gave it to them as they wish. None would go to ease the human miseries which exist in those nations from extreme poverty, disease, and malnutrition. It is all a greedy scam, using the green movement and concerns about global warming as a means to exhort monies from developed nations through use of the UN.

 Watch Out!....The EPA Is Coming!

The gigantic, powerful, and unregulated bureaucracy known as the “EPA”, has become so powerful it functions apart from the scrutiny of the congress. This federal agency is comprised of a huge tribe of ultra-liberal, single purposed, environmentalist who have little regard for the impact their actions has on the national economy, on personal and property rights, or anything else which might be unfortunate enough to incur the all consuming power of this bureaucracy. It is a personification of a “bureaucratic monster” which has been unleashed upon the private sector by our government.

 Cap and Trade

The current administration, as part of the appeasement process for the “Green Wing” of their constituency, has devised another scheme for getting their “Cap and Trade” requirements into effect. They are openly stating, if we can’t “legislate”, then we will “regulate” the system of carbon emissions controls into being. On the very day of the beginning of the Copenhagen Conference, the US Environmental Protection Agency proclaimed that it had jurisdiction over national regulation of carbon emissions, stating that they were an “endangerment” to human health. This statement is not based on proven scientific data. It is instead based on the quest for bureaucratic power and financial gains special interests hope to realize.

If the Cap and Trade Bill, which has already passed the House of Representatives, can not be passed in the Senate, then it is purported that the administration plans to use the powers granted under the “Clean Air Act” to allow the EPA to put into place the emissions controls that would have been created by the Cap and Trade Act. The EPA has identified five “pollutants” which now fall under their realm of control and Carbon Dioxide is included in that list. I would not be surprised if they eventually regulate how many breaths per day we are allowed to exhale, since what we breathe out contains carbon dioxide. Do your part as a citizen….hold your breath!



 Another Shipment of Juicy Washington Pork:

Our astute crowd of representatives in Washington just passed another huge $447 billion Omnibus bill to fund government activities in the coming months. Of course they had to also load it up with mounds and mounds of “political pork”. They attached over 5000 special interest amendments to the bill costing $7.7 billion, along with granting all federal workers a 2% raise, and giving hefty increases in the budgets of every federal function. Some of these increases were in excess of 15%.

In their cloistered environment of corruption, greed, and extravagance in Washington, they just do not get the real picture of the sacrifices which common citizens are making in order to survive. Some of the wasteful spending attached to this bill included:

 $665,000 for a study on “Irritable Bowel Syndrome”

 $400,000 for maintenance of pot and liquor abusers journals.

 $220,000 for study on rats and birds sex drives

 $2,200,000 for a golf course in San Francisco

 $950,000 for convention center in Myrtle Beach

 $190,00 for Buffalo Bill Museum in Wyoming

 $143,000 for Las Vegas Museum of Natural History

 $238,000 for Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii

 $381,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center

 And on, and on, and on……Your tax dollars at work!

So, while you are struggling to buy your children a Christmas present, or are sitting wrapped in a blanket because you don’t want to use electricity to heat your house, or while you are eating left over’s of left over’s….remember, in Washington Big Brother is “looking out for you”.



It is time we “Got it Right” and put a stop to this kind of bull crap. Let’s start in 2010!



Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

 ACORN found a liberal judge in New York who ruled that Congress could not single out ACORN for non funding. Our legal system at work!

 Unemployment is expected to go down further in early 2010. Of course they aren’t saying it is primarily because of 790,000 temporary federal census worker jobs which will be created for a few months.

 A recently published study revealed that the average income in the private sector is just over $40,000 per year, and for federal workers it is $71,000 per year….and that doesn’t count all of their beautiful benefits and the double dipping they are allowed to do.

 The same study stated that 19% of the federal employees make over $100,000 per year.



Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Do We Still Meet the Necessary Qualifications to be Free?

Our forefathers decided our populous met the necessary requirements. History shows how governments can intentionally mislead and misdirect their national population’s attitudes and direction.


This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:




Requirements For Self Government

As our new nation was about to win its independence from the oppressive rule of the British Monarchy in 1775, our nations leaders of the day pondered over what form of government should be created for the new nation. They had all experienced the ills and benefits of living under a Monarchy in Europe prior to their migration to the new America, and they were also familiar with the many Dictatorships which prevailed in other nations. But what kind of government should be created for this fledgling nation and the thirteen colonial governments which were previously managed by Governors appointed by the British Royalty?

The climate and spirit of freedom which prevailed among the leaders and the citizenry created a desire for a Democracy based on self rule of the citizens. But could this approach work? What conditions must exist if this approach to government was to succeed? Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, and many other statesmen corresponded and met to ponder this decision prior to the convening of the Constitutional Convention.

Collectively they determined that the general population had to have three prominent characteristics to successfully be able to perpetuate a self governing Democracy. The population had to be; (1) Well Educated, (2) Virtuous, and (3) Moral.

Education-A significant portion of the population had to be educated well enough to understand the principles and operation of the various elements of the government, to properly represent the new nation in the world community, and to be able to make wise operational, monetary, and legal decisions.



Virtuous – The population had to be will able to demonstrate an appreciation for personal virtues. This valuable personal attribute is the willingness to subrogate personal or local interest and gain to the benefit of the common good. This is the element of national patriotism which is required in order to be a good leader or citizen.

Moral - The general population had to be of good moral character which followed the philosophies of social behavior prescribed by the bible.

After deliberation they finally determined that in general, the population of the new nation did indeed have these qualities, and should be able to successfully launch and maintain the new government. There should always be an adequate supply of candidates for positions of power within all levels of government which had these needed attributes. The population could thus always elect representatives who had these needed qualifications.

This leads us to the obvious question of the moment for the reader to ponder…….Does our population, and do our elected officials, still have these attributes? Personally, I question the significant presence of virtue and morality.



Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning

● Examples of A Lack of Virtue: There is a prevailing philosophy which exists at every level of government which creates billions of dollars in wasteful spending and mismanagement every year throughout the nation. This philosophy negates most of the benefits which management should realize through good budgeting practices and through the competitive bidding concept for public expenditures. This is the idea that once monies have been authorized for a department, project, or purchase…all of those authorized funds MUST be spent and should never, never be returned to the authorizing body.

As a result of this management practice, every federal, state, county, and city department is forced to waste valuable taxpayer dollars. Why try to manage your department under budget if you are going to come up with an excuse to spend up to the budgeted amount anyway? Why go through an elaborate smoke and mirrors bidding process for a project if you plan to throw away any left over funds on unnecessary add-on’s or unjustified additional projects?

I see this happening over and over at all levels of government. The action approved by the Marianna City Commissioners to not turn back the left over $340,000 in funds from improvements in the airpark roads as needed by the new industry, Ice River Springs. Instead the staff decided it would be “nice” to four-lane the entrance road to the park with the $340,000. This was presented to the Commissioners as a suggestion to prevent turning the funds back to the state, and the Commission approved it.

In my opinion, this is an unnecessary, unjustified, wasteful expenditure. It is an example of a NON VIRTUIOUS action by government officials. I see this type of self serving, non-patriotic, decision making occurring regularly at all levels of government spending. Taken in total throughout the nation it amounts to billions and billions of wasteful spending and bad management because of a flawed concept.

Their argument is always, “If we don’t spend it…someone else will”. To me, that is no excuse for waste and inappropriate action. If all of our officials were virtuous and DID always turn in monies they had saved through astute management, then our national financial deficit would not be as deep.

● Example of Level of Ethics in Congress - It is my understanding that as the Senate struggled with the health care bill this weekend, an amendment which limited the pay for executive salaries for insurance executives to $400,000 was passed……yet another amendment which would have limited legal fees on malpractice suits to $150,000 failed. Could it be because most of them are lawyers? Another proof that we must oust all of those in Washington who have been part of this corrupt process for far too long.



“The potential loss of our freedoms is always only one generation away,”- Ronald Reagan.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“Un-Truth” in Government

History shows how governments can intentionally mislead and misdirect their national population’s attitudes and direction.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


To Believe or to Not Believe-

A nation’s population has a natural tenancy to believe their leadership, to accept as truth the news and views the national media feeds them (no matter how tainted), and to become motivated and inspired for movements which offer promises of improved conditions for all. By exploitation of this approach, through recorded history, individuals and governments have led their populations of followers into unbelievable, inhuman, and often self destructive actions.

In some instances these actions were created by misdirected religious influences, in others by acting on behalf of the ‘collective good’, and in others because of the quest for power and wealth. In all instances the public obediently followed their leaders, forming a powerful, unstoppable movement against which individual protest is easily swept away.

Kill the Witches! :

In New England, here in the good ole North America, in the early days of our new land, the Salem witch trials of 1692 demonstrated how misdirected religious leadership can inspire a local government and a population into believing that illegal witchcraft practices by some non-conforming citizen warrants public execution. At the time, those who followed their leaders felt they were engaging in rightful and justified actions.

Kill Your Children!

I am God. I command you to join our entire congregation in a display of unity and belief in our religious principles by collectively drinking poisoned kool-aid as we all move into the next dimension together. This includes all women, men, and children of our flock. And upon the command in 1978 of cult leader Jim Jones, 912 loyal, unquestioning, believers of the Peoples Temple congregation committed suicide.

Kill the Jews! :

During the 1930’s and into the 1940’s Hitler had the entire population of Germany brainwashed. He had them believing they were part of an Arian master race that deserved to rule the world. He convinced them that the Jewish element of their society was evil, dirty, and was restricting the development of their economy. He convinced them that they should seize the personal properties of the Jews and ship them all off to “camps”. Then these were changed into “death camps” to exterminate the Jewish vermin. Simultaneously they supported a program of invading Poland, France, and other European nations. At the time, these things were done with the full support and faith of the German population…….and they almost succeeded.

The land of the Rising Sun!:

During the same era the Japanese government convinced a docile Japanese population that their Emperor, who was revered as a deity, had instructed the nation to conquer all of Asia since Japan was the “Rising Sun” of Asia. In reality, they were seeking new sources of raw materials and energy for their island population. This thrust them into the midst of WW II with enough conviction to devise a surprise attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The loyal, obedient, believing Japanese citizens were willing to follow their government leaders to death.

Kill the Infidels!:

“All who do not believe in the teachings of Mohammed and are followers of Allah are infidels, and should be killed.” That is the portion of the Moslem teachings which incites radical Muslims to engage in Jihad, a religious war against all infidels. To kill infidels and simultaneously achieve martyrdom through self sacrifice is the ultimate achievement. These beliefs and the cradle to grave brainwashing from multitudes of revered religious leaders incites an element of this population to engage in acts of cruelty and self destruction which our society can not understand. They are convinced they are doing something which is necessary and correct, because their leaders have told them so.

Are You a Believer? :

At the present time our population is being told many “truths” by our leadership. Each of these “truths” has a constituency of believers who are dedicated to the enhancement of their belief. Among these “Truths” are:

● Socialism is good and fair. Redistribution of all wealth is needed.

● Capitalism is bad. Employers and industry exploit the workers.

● Government has a responsibility to provide housing, food, safety, medicine, health care, repairs of homes after storms or floods, weatherproofing of old homes, parks and entertainment, education, transportation, and even cell phones.

● Man is destroying the planet. Become a believer in the “Green Movement”. Man is causing our planet to overheat through carbon emissions. Carbon emissions must be eliminated regardless of costs or impact on the population.



Are we going to allow our nation to blindly, obediently accept and follow the leadership these elements of our society and governments are providing? I say NO!! We must all stand united against these “changes”! If we are sincere, and all devote our resources to the effort….hopefully there is still time to “Get it Right!”



Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Thank God We Live in Jackson County (It may not be as good as it once was….but it is better than a lot of other places.)

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


Good Ole’ Jackson County-

There may not be as many industries here as there once was, and the farmers may not be making as much as they used to make off of peanut crops, and the price of gasoline may be much higher than we would like, and our electric bills may be making us not use our air conditioners and read by one light, and our taxes may seem outrageously high, and our home values might have slipped downward somewhat, and there may be far too much drug activity around the county than we would like, and our car licenses, trailer licenses, boat tags, and all other fees may be way too high, and the state troopers and many city police forces may be writing tickets because the legislature has steadily multiplied all fines for infractions so that more revenues could be generated, and too many businesses may be closing, and insurance costs may be busting our budgets, and our life savings may now be worth a fraction of what it was once worth, and the banks may be ripping us off with fees, credit card interests, and lack of willingness to extend credit when it is needed, and there may not be as many oyster bars in the county as there once was……..but it is still MUCH better than many other parts of our nation.

If you don’t believe me, just take a trip to South Florida, or to Michigan, or to bankrupt California, or almost any place in the Northeast. Their job situations are much worse since they depended on our national industry base (which now relocated and is creating prosperity in China), and they are left with worthless properties, very high taxes, no job opportunities, and a bleak future. That condition is some of what Ernie Padgett saw on his trip to Boston and wrote a column about in our last issue.

So, here in Jackson County things might not be as bright and rosy as they once were…but we are still doing much better than most other areas. This is further demonstrated by the fact that our unemployment rate is only 7.2% instead of over 10%. (Did you ever think we would be feeling good about a 7.2% unemployment level?)

On the good side, our farmers had a fairly good crop year, and there were no love bugs or hurricanes to contend with.

The Education Solution –

Some of our national leaders have proclaimed that one part of the solution to our national economic problems can be solved if everyone upgrades their skills and acquires more education. Since there are no job opportunities for our graduates, many more are staying in school and obtaining higher degrees in the hope that conditions will be better in a few years.

This reminds me of a phenomena I encountered about ten years ago when I was working as an interim Director of Manufacturing for a large New York based apparel company. I was helping them source their product line in several Caribbean, South American, and Asian countries as they closed their domestic plants in Virginia. I was approached by a representative for an apparel manufacturing company in Jordan. He explained that Jordan has a trade agreement with the US which allows them to bring their finished product into Israel, and then to ship from there with no duty or restrictions. He also mentioned the fact that 90% of their sewing operators were college graduates.

I couldn’t imagine why they would have a factory full of well educated college graduates sewing zippers, flys, and collars. Then he explained, “In my country there are very few factories. There are no jobs outside of Government jobs. Thus, our young people stay in the education system as long as possible, and when they finally graduate….they have to take any work that is available. My factory is one of the few places available to work, so my operators are all college graduates.”

At the time, I thought is was unique and sad for those college graduates.

Now I hear our politicians stating that education will help our population, and I hear that students are staying in school because there are no job opportunities. Could we be evolving into a condition similar to that which exists in Jordan and other deprived nations?

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

• Sharon Cox, Property Appraiser, has informed me that all of the 23 appeals to the property appraisals for this tax roll, which were to be reviewed by the “Value Adjustment Board”, were from out of area, commercial tax appeal services. There were no local, residential value appeals. “We begin working with residential appeals when they are filed, and often have the issue resolved before they get to the Value Adjustment Board,” Cox explained.

• At the encouragement of the City Commission, Main Street Marianna has purchased screens to place in the show windows of empty downtown retail buildings to beautify the downtown.  These screens prevent those on the street from seeing into the empty store and seeing the ugly, desolate, abandoned interior.  I think a better way to beautify these buildings would be to create incentives and a business environment in downtown Marianna which encouraged businesses to locate there.....and thus fill these empty stores with merchandise and customers.

• Main Street Marianna is also involved in a program to encourage area shoppers to "buy local" instead of going out of town.  I'm not sure exactly what their definition of "local" is.

• For the Christmas parade on December 5, Main Street Marianna and the City Commission have designated our home town sports hero, Jeff Mathis, as the “Grand Marshall” of the parade. In this matter, they “Got It Right”. We should all turn out to recognize this young man who is doing such a great job representing Jackson County on national television as he plays for the Los Angeles Angels. It is our understanding that autographed balls will be available.

• I hope everyone has a great, family style Thanksgiving.





Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Rudiments, Rudiments, More Rudiments

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

Let’s put a few facts together and then do some deductive reasoning…or would it be inductive? Anyway, First Fact…the President of the SEIU, (Service Employees Union) has met with the President 22 times since he took office. Second Fact….health care workers in unionized hospitals constitute approximately 50% of the SEIU membership. Third Fact….the SEIU was a huge donator and supporter of the President during his campaign. Forth Fact…. the health bill passed by Pelosi and her band of followers is replete with conditions which help the SEIU. For example, one provision involves criteria for a hospital to receive funding for special training for nurses requires that only unionized hospitals are eligible for federal funds. Now, can you logically deduct that this is one small “payback” to the unions for those donations and not really a health care issue?

Once again the Jackson County Value Adjustment Board met to process complaints from citizens who had disputed the values used on their property tax bills. This year there were more citizens appealing for relief than normal, with 23 local property owners entering appeals. Once again, none were recognized as valid, and no adjustments were made. It has been this way year after year. They should change the name of this Board to “The Property Tax Appeals Denial Board”…or just drop the meaningless procedure.

All property owners in Jackson County should have their 2009 tax bill in hand by now. We were one of only a few counties in the state to have property values somehow go up instead of decline in this terrible real estate market. Please pay the bill in peace and harmony….the bureaucracy needs your hard earned money.

Marianna Police Chief Baggett and his men reaped over $6000 for the bureaucracy last weekend by giving out tickets to 52 hardened criminals who dared drive their cars with their seat belts unfastened while driving around the city at 35 MPH. Oh well, the city needs the extra money they will gain from this rigorous enforcement. If they get enough, maybe they will lower our outrageous sewer rates….Nah, they won’t do that!

I have decided to sell my bass boat. I am disgusted with the cost of fishing with the new truck tag, trailer tag, and boat decal fees. And then when you do finally go fishing the Fish and Wildlife Commission has made the limits so low and the size restrictions and seasons so complex, that you have to be a marine biologist and a lawyer to determine if you are breaking a game law or not. And if you happen to have an empty beer can in the boat…you are really sunk. Big Brother has made it so expensive and so over regulated ….it just isn’t fun anymore!

A few weeks ago we wrote about the stump which is in a county drainage ditch off of Lake Seminole Road which is causing water to divert into a fashionable home located on the lake shoreline when we have a heavy rain. In order to be sure there was no problem with taking this stump out of the ditch, the county first got the permission of two federal agencies (EPA and Corps of Engineers), two state agencies, and the County Commission before this lonely stump could be removed. Well, the stump is still there. The property owner, Karen Strong contacted us and said the county lawyer, Frank Baker, now wants her to sign a release from any damages the county might do to her property as they remove the pesky stump. Well, she feels that if their trucks mess up her yard or drive they should be willing to restore it back to original condition….so the “Saga of the Seminole Stump” continues while they struggle to “Get it Right”.. Isn’t the bureaucracy great!

From Walt Spence:

“Due to the rising cost of gas, oil, and electricity, we regret to inform you that THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL HAS BEEN TURNED OFF!!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Unproven Theories Cost US Billions

Global Warming, Climate Change, Greenhouse Emissions, Carbon Emissions, Holes in Ozone Layers, The Abominable Snowman, and UFO’s…All Unproven Theories


This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Subject of the day…..

“The extreme stupidity of the ‘Green’ Movement ideology”.

Take This Nuclear Rod and Store It Where The Sun Doesn’t Shine -

Is our President really throwing away a 13 billion dollar facility which is about to be opened for use for disposal of spent rods from nuclear power plants? Are we really shutting down our nuclear power industry (as small as it is), while plants are under construction with funds from private industries?

For several years an elaborate $13,000,000,000 underground storage facility has been under construction on federal properties deep under a huge mountain in Nevada, Yucca Mountain. While this needed facility has been under construction, nuclear power plants across the nation have been stockpiling spent nuclear rods, waiting for this site to open.

Recently President Obama spoke at a political rally in Nevada. During his speech the President promised the citizens of Nevada that no nuclear rods would be stored underground in Nevada. This announcement shocked all of the nuclear power industry, and left many important questions unanswered. We will have to wait to see the outcome of this one.

The Dirty Americans -

Last week there was a UN meeting in Barcelona to decide how much developed nations, mainly the US, must pay third world governments for the damages we have done to the planet as a result of our industrialized economies. This is a form of that familiar concept of reparations in which those without resources attempt to place blame on those who have succeeded in order to stimulate enough guilt to cause them to give money as atonement.

The biggest danger to the concept of the sovereign governments of nations following the edicts of the governing panels within that great, corrupt bureaucracy of the United Nations, is that it could mark the beginning of a world government with authority over all countries and their governments. Just imagine the level of corruption and mismanagement that concept could foster!

Income redistribution on an international scale! Worldwide Socialism, what grand concepts! All founded on false planetary fears created intentionally by those who would gain financially from this “mother of all green movements”.

The part of this which I can not understand is why nations throughout Europe and North America have accepted the concepts pushed by the environmental zealots without question or examination. Since their guru leader, Al Gore, presented his dialogue “Inconvenient Truth”, the concepts of global warming, and the dangers created by carbon emissions which thus make industrialized man the cause of this change, have been solidly accepted as truths by a huge part of the political establishment. They seem to ignore the other half of the scientific community which offers proof of the errors in the supporting statistics, and those who present other, natural causes for the warming trend.

It is this same group of “Chicken Little” scientists who twenty-five years ago were proclaiming to the world that a “cooling trend” was underway, and we would all soon be freezing to death. Personally, I believe global warming is occurring at the present time, primarily due to changes in the sun’s activities and volcanic action on earth. One volcano eruption puts more hydrocarbons into the atmosphere than man has since Adam and Eve.

Also, that cooling period occurred between 1930 and 1970, was a period in which our carbon emissions were at all time high levels. This directly contradicts the data in Gore’s presentation. If carbon emissions cause heating of the atmosphere, there should have been significant warming trends underway at that time….instead of a fearful cooling trend. I feel the green movement has now become so entrenched it has become an industry unto itself. It is an industry based on scare tactics and distorted data, which costs our national economy uncountable dollars each year. And the citizens end up paying for all of this unnecessary foolishness in the end.



County Things-

At the county commission meeting on Tuesday our commission approved a new ordinance which takes away your ability to choose what ambulance service you might want to use if you are ever sick and need to be moved from a hospital to another location. The new ordinance has so many bureaucratic restrictions that no outside service will attempt to comply for the little bit of business involved in Jackson County. You now are forced to use Jackson County Fire and Rescue, which has what amounts to a monopoly here….and we know how monopolies work from our experiences with our electric utilities.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● Remember, Socialized Medicine is another huge welfare program. Instead of just having a “Great Society” as envisioned by Lyndon Johnson, we will now have a “Healthy Great Society”!

● The problem which has arisen with the budgeting practices in our Property Appraiser’s office has reportedly been going on for many years in that office as well as in several other constitutional officer functions. I was recently asked if falsifying payroll figures constituted an act of fraud. I did not have a good answer. I do know this has occurred through the process of “lump budgeting” for payroll figures as defended by the Tallahassee based lobbying groups for constitutional officers. This hides the real data from the County Commissioners who are charged with approval of the county budget each year.

● Our nation is a little better now. On Tuesday they executed the DC Sniper who killed ten innocent people with sniper fire. Of course there were some liberal loons at the site protesting killing this fine human being.



WALK NAKED IN AMERICA DAY (Provided by Richard Kranker)

Don’t forget to mark your calendars.  As you may already know, it is a sin for a Muslim male to see any woman other than his wife naked. He must commit suicide if he does. So next Saturday at 4 PM Eastern Time, all American women are asked to walk out of their house completely naked to help weed out any neighborhood terrorists. Circling your block for one hour is recommended for this anti-terrorist effort. All patriotic men are to position themselves in lawn chairs in front of their house to prove they are not Muslims and to demonstrate they think its okay to see nude women other than their wife and to show support for all American women. Since Islam also does not approve of alcohol, a cold 6-pack at your side is further proof of your anti-Muslim sentiment. The American government appreciates your efforts to root out terrorists and applauds your participation in this anti-terrorist activity.

God bless America!

● Bumper Sticker Snickers:

o If you think health care is expensive now…….just wait until it is free!

o The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money!

o Please! Don’t tell those guys in Washington what comes after a Trillion!

Unemployment is now 10.2% in the USA. The real, effective unemployment is around 17.5%. If you have a job, be thankful, and you will be “Getting It Right”.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Enough is Enough: It is time for us to begin reclaiming our nation!

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:


“I am tired of being Politically Correct!”

I vow to not use the term “African American” to describe a person of color. You are either African, or American. If I want to use racial description, I will use “person of color” for the Negroid race, “Asian” for the Mongoloid race, “White” for the Caucasoid race, and “Indian”, for the Capoid race.

If a person is mentally retarded, I am going to use the term “mentally handicapped”, and if they are somehow crippled, I will use the term “physically handicapped”. Those working for a company and being paid for their work are employees, not “associates”. Welfare is “social welfare”, not entitlements, benefits, social obligations, or reparations. “Welfare” includes all social programs which GIVE public tax dollars to individuals who give nothing in return for the payment (except a misdirected vote). This includes food stamps, subsidized housing, child care benefits, earned income credits from the IRS, and hundreds of other programs for “qualified” low income citizens. And I do not want to add full health care insurance to this list.

I favor giving of social welfare only for those who have handicaps which prevent them from earning a living, or temporary assistance for those who have some problem for which they need time to recover. If you are capable of learning or working, you should not receive permanent social welfare. We need to enact laws which prohibit politicians from using Social Welfare programs as a means of buying votes and creating a “bribed” constituency which perpetually keeps them in office.

Enough is Enough!!

`I was motivated to write a column on this subject because of something I read recently relating to the “Weatherproofing Program”, which is a nation wide “green movement/ social welfare” combination program designed to use tax monies to pay for adding new, energy saving windows and weather stripping to existing homes of “qualified” homeowners. The article said that the program is spending millions across the United States at a rate of $4000 to $10,000 per home, and the average savings in utility bills for the “qualified” low income residents is only $300 per year! Just compute the return on investment on that brilliant program. No industry would engage in such a stupid program….only our liberal, vote buying politicians. The ROI is averaging over 25 years, if the old house lasts that long. Jackson County is administering this program, and many of these homes are among us.

We need to eliminate this greed driven environment where half of the population is working as hard as it can to get something for nothing from the government through qualifying for some liberal “give away and vote for me” program. This creates a divided nation in which those who are greedily trying to beat the system are resented by those who earned some wealth and resent having it taken from them. We need to forget all of this bull crap and begin to focus on being productive, patriotic Americans. Welfare should only be for those with a real reason for the assistance.

The liberals who promote these social welfare programs tout the “social responsibility of our nation” as the justification. I propose we begin to include some new terms in conversations about welfare. These terms would be “personal responsibility” and “personal accountability”. Somehow these concepts have been lost in the rush to shovel public money into the pockets of a vote eligible horde of underachievers.

Most of those on welfare are in that condition because of their own lack of willingness to improve themselves. They were all given the opportunity for education, in fact, for most that opportunity still exist through retraining and adult education programs. They can learn some craft or administrative-computer skills which will enable them to earn for themselves. The problem is that the existing social welfare systems enable them to live comfortably without working. Our poverty level in the US is above the average earnings level for over 80% of the nations in the world.

Receiving social welfare should be a temporary condition…not a permanent, lifelong gift. Even worse, in many, many instances welfare existence is passed on from generation to generation, with the social burden growing as the family tree expands. We are doing those families caught up in this lifestyle no favors. They would be much better off if they were forced to develop their abilities and become self-sufficient.

Those caught cheating on any social welfare program should automatically be sentenced to one year in prison and should then forever lose eligibility of all social welfare for the rest of their life.

Question:

When the white, Anglo Saxon portion of our population is no longer the largest group within our national, social and genetic make-up, will they then be referred to as “a minority”? Will we then be eligible for all of the “minority” social welfare programs which our liberal government has been creating over the past forty years? …or will they merely change the name and qualifications of these programs to be “majority programs” for the “majority” only? Also, should we then refer to ourselves as “Anglo-Saxon Americans?” We are approaching these decisions.

Another liberal, politically inspired law is the immigration law which automatically gives any child born within our national boundaries American Citizenship. This only encourages abuse, such as the motivation of pregnant Mexican women to sneak across the border to “create” another citizen. Citizenship to children should only be bestowed when at least one of the parents is a legal citizen of the USA. Conservative politicians should work to repeal the existing law. This law was enacted in order to increase the numbers of future low income citizens who can go onto welfare and thus vote for the liberal politicians who promote and protect these programs. It is wrong!

It is time to move away from these concepts which are destroying the work ethic and the economy of our nation. It will take huge “Changes” to the right to recover from the huge push to the left the existing “Change” programs are instilling into our faltering economy. If and when conservatives regain control, we must show them what “CHANGE” really means!

We should make the motto “We’re Mad As Hell, And We Are Not Going To Take It Anymore!!” our standard. It will be a step towards our nation finally “Getting It Right.”



Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

• Corruption seems to be so rampant in Washington they can’t form investigative committees fast enough. And these are just the cases where they did not have enough power to keep the stealing from becoming public. Those with power are protected by those around them….like Charlie Rangel.

• Our Commissioners are busy building a system which provides a monopoly for the County Ambulance system. I am not sure whether our Commissioners are working for the betterment of the citizens of the county or for the betterment of the bureaucrats who work for Fire and Rescue as they deal with this situation.

• Who has the ear of the Administration in Washington? Data recently released showed that the President of the SEIU (Service Employees Union) leads in visits with 22 private sessions.

• I recently read where over $92 million in Medicare claims were processed from claims entered by doctors who had been deceased for several years. This is the same government management that wants to take over the entire medical system.

• Swine flu vaccine was promised to be ready by the time the flu season arrived this month. They first promised to have 200 million doses ready, then this was cut to 160 million, then 80 million was the number, and now they are saying the actual number is 16 million. Undoubtedly thousands of unnecessary deaths will occur across the USA because of this mismanagement. Again, this is the same government system that wants to take over all of our national health processes.

• As the House vote nears on the proposed health bill, pressure is mounting from Pelosi and the liberals on our Allen Boyd. Let’s all watch carefully to see how he votes when the time comes.



“The virtues of men are of more consequence to society than their abilities....In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look to his character.” ~ Noah Webster



Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“These Are the Days Which Try Men’s Souls” Socialism Vs. Free Market Capitalism…You Decide

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


I find it increasingly difficult to comprehend the thought processes of some of our national leadership when I hear them express their attitudes and opinions on network television. The very elements of our economic system which have made our nation the envy of the world have suddenly become evil and socially distasteful. Examples of their attitudes are reflected in the following statements:

● “Businesses are evil and exploit their workers…”

● “Profits are obscene. Profits should be controlled and held to a minimum through

● Government regulation…..”

● “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ‘fronts’ for thousands of businesses…”

● “Redistribution of wealth is a worthwhile social objective….”

● “Corruption and waste in the national medical system can be created through enabling our

● Government to manage and operate the system…”

● “We should cede regulation of our international trade and banking to a world government order chartered through the United Nations….”

If these concepts are valid and are really a better way to run our economy, then let’s take it to the next level in the natural evolution of these ideals. Let’s get rid of those greedy, abusive oil companies through nationalization of the oil industry. Replace “Exxon Oil” with “U.S. Oil”, and hire bureaucrats to locate, drill, transport, refine, and sell our oil and gasoline. Then instead of greedy oil executives we would have greedy government bureaucrats and politicians to blame when we pay high prices for this increasingly scarce resource. I am sure the government workers would be more productive, less wasteful, and less corrupt than the private companies and their incompetent managers and employees.

Look at how well managed and controlled the existing Medicare and Medicaid systems are. I read last week where over $92 million dollars was spent in bogus payments made to claims processed from doctors who have been dead for many years. Another story demonstrated how Medicare is paying outlandish charges for medicines and equipment in response to favoritism and “special agreements” engineered through lobbying our politicians. Among these were paying over $6,000 for oxygen tanks and systems which sell for $1200 on the public market. This is just one example of thousands where improper purchasing controls is creating billions in waste.

Socialism is one of those theories which might look good on paper, but it doesn’t work in the real world. Socialism has proven itself to be a failed social and economic approach through history. The reason for these failures is the fact that socialism de-motivates businesses and workers by removing the potential of enjoying any benefits and rewards for bringing extra efforts and skills to the task. It encourages low productivity, corruption, and only doing the bare minimum in order to get your share of the common ‘entitlements’. Under Socialism, only the bureaucracy succeeds, since it is controlling and dispensing all wealth.

However, there is still hope. I see people speaking out, taking an active role, and expressing real patriotic concerns. These are people who never before have stood up to be heard. They have always worked hard, paid their taxes, and only complained privately in conversations with friends and relatives. They are now prepared to become activists if that is what is required for us to reverse all of these negative trends which are about to forever change our nation. My only concern is that they may have waited too long…..they may no longer be the majority.

There is a growing movement to throw out all existing elected representatives and to replace them with new, energetic people who have pledged to restore our nation, to lessen the size, intrusions, and cost of government, to eliminate abuses and corruption, and to return to a system where the public does not depend on government for things which they should do for themselves.

We should return to the realization that we are a nation under God, based on Christian principles, and the desires and needs of the majority should always take precedence over the few.

If we do not reclaim our nation now, the opportunity may be forever lost.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-



● We recently traveled to Kentucky. As we went up Hwy 231 to Montgomery I
noticed how visible the economic decline was as you look at buildings and businesses. We went past four empty sewing factory buildings which once employed a total of over 1000, we passed three empty auto dealership buildings who did not survive the bail out, we passed at least a dozen empty and decaying filling station properties which were no doubt victims of the EPA regulations in their “green” movement, and billboard after billboard was blank and empty, a sure sign of low economic activity. New construction was rare and scattered.

● Thank heavens for talk radio and Fox News! Without these voices we would be pawns for the liberal brainwashing programs of the traditional networks. I was pleasantly surprised when these other networks stood up for Freedom of the Press when the Administration tried to remove Fox News from the White House Press Corps.



● Our County Commissioners are enacting stronger laws to create a local monopoly for our publically funded Fire and Rescue Ambulance system, which will prohibit private ambulance services from serving Jackson County. I hope the Commissioners are doing the citizens of the county a service instead of a disservice.

● Breast Cancer Awareness Month is over. Ladies, please heed the lessons presented by this paper and by the Breast Cancer Symposium…and engage in personal early detection programs. Do this and you will be “Getting It Right”.



Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Should We Reevaluate the Cost of Fire and Rescue? Would Privatization be more cost effective?

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


Local Items:

40 Years of Steady Growth and Intrusion of Government-

When I first moved to Jackson County thirty-eight years ago, the entire county budget was just under six million dollars, and almost every county function was housed inside the space provided by the existing county court house. Our county population was around 40,000 non-inmate residents, as compared to the 46,000 estimated population of today. (+15%)

Since that time, programs, functions, requirements, regulations, more programs, more requirements, and on and on and on, have been added through those years as the county bureaucracy steady swelled and the system dug deeper and deeper into the public pocket book. Add to this a steady barrage of new fees, fines, permits, and licenses requirements with steadily increasing costs….and you have our impossible situation of today. Much of this was caused by the State Legislature, and much was also caused by local officials.

And more looms on the horizon as the bureaucracy seeks more “revenue streams”, with impact fees, and a state mandated system which is steadily being put into place cleverly named, “County Comprehensive Plan”. This program will take away many, many of the few property rights we have left. When fully enacted and enforced, I predict a huge public uproar from property owners, but by then the noose will have already been tied by our officials.

County Fire and Rescue….Could Better Approaches Be Used?

When we first moved to Jackson Co in 1971, Jackson County Fire and Rescue did not exist. If someone needed help you called the neighbors, loaded them into a vehicle, and rushed them to the emergency room. Additionally, every community had a proud, well trained volunteer fire group.

I realize I am attacking what has become a “sacred cow” when I make any statements which might diminish the condition of our fine fire and rescue personnel. In my opinion, however good and professional they are, their presence in our budget structure must be justified by necessity and cost justification.

This leads to two questions. (1) Could these services be provided to the citizens of Jackson County by private services more cost effectively? (2) Can the population of Jackson County continue to support the $2,800,000 budgeted cost of these functions in today’s strained economic environment?

This issue was brought to the forefront at last weeks meeting of the County Commission when Fire Chief Wesley complained before the Board about the fact that Jackson Hospital had entered into a contract to use a private ambulance service from Alabama to perform patient transfers, instead of using Jackson County Fire and Rescue.

“This is taking money away from our Fire and Rescue Budget”, Wesley stated. “We are supposed to have exclusive rights over any ambulance deliveries within a hundred miles, and they are violating that rule.”

This leads to several obvious questions. Why has the hospital chosen to use another means of transferring patients to Dothan, or other locations, instead of using the Jackson County Fire and Rescue. Is it convenience? Is it because our county services cost the patient more? Are the citizens of Jackson County being forced to pay more than they should for these services, just to support the function and its budget?

It is my understanding that there is more administration and bookkeeping involved under the existing system. It appears that the County Fire and Rescue bills Jackson Hospital, who in turn bills the patient and any involved insurance providers. Each month Fire and Rescue gets approval from the Commissioners to “write off” many thousands of dollars for uncollectable charges. If a private system is used, that company merely bills the insurance companies and the patient, with no involvement for collection or administration on the part of the hospital.

As to costs, that is a matter which warrants more investigation. I plan to examine this matter and will report in a later writing. Meanwhile, the Commission is preparing a new ordinance to enact a monopolistic advantage for our Fire and Rescue, which may cost the citizens of Jackson County more money than other available options.

The basic question remains….Would it be better if local ambulance services were provided by a private firm and paid for by those who use the service instead of having all county property owners pay for the system each year, even if they do not use the service?

In my opinion, if Fire and Rescue isn’t competitive in its charges, other options should be considered.

National Issues:

Years ago I was a huge NFL football fan. However, when all of the players joined a union, and eventually went on strike and ruined an entire season, including the Super Bowl, and thus destroying the meaning of many career records….I quit watching. I decided that if belonging to the union and making money meant more to the players than the game and the competition, then it wasn’t worth my time to follow the sport. I have since turned my total attention to College and local football.

They have confirmed the wisdom of my initial decision this week when they used their union, led by oratory from Al Sharpton, to pressure the NFL owners into disallowing Russ Limbaugh the right to participate in partial ownership of one of the teams. This means the union is now deciding who can and who can not own a franchise. It has added the ugly truth that the union is now making these decisions based on racial acceptance and political philosophy. These issues have nothing to do with the sport, and in my opinion, the personal liberties and rights of Limbaugh have been violated.

The primary reason stated in his omission was that he was a “controversial individual” and should not be considered. This is coming from a group which welcomes participation by player felons such as Michael Vick and many others. In baseball, I guess Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, who are traitors as far as I am concerned, are acceptable as owners. Political ideologies and personal philosophies should not prohibit a person from purchasing a business.

This is another example of the distorted, sick, liberal led society we have allowed to form in our precious nation. I vow to never watch another NFL football game. If you do the same I think you will be “Getting It Right”.



Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning

• We are neck deep in two wars, our unemployment is at 10%, the economy is crumbling as more and more businesses fail, the banking system remains frozen due to recently imposed over-regulation and unreasonably stringent rules, …..and we are wasting our time arguing over the “Health Care” system. Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

• I encourage everyone to get a flu shot as early as possible. This may be an exceptionally bad year since we are apparently going to get a “double whammy” from two strains at once.

• We are in the middle of “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”. If you know a lady who has suffered from this terrible problem, please take time to give her an affectionate hug. If you do this, you will be “Getting It Right” for sure!

• The Breast Cancer Symposium is scheduled for Thursday, October 22. Two nationally recognized experts involved in “cutting edge” research (no pun intended), are scheduled to speak. I encourage every woman to attend.

• “If you consider that there has been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theater of operations during the past 22 months, and a total of 2112 deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers.
    The firearm death rate in Washington, DC is 80.6 per 100,000 for the same period. That means you’re about 25 per cent more likely to be shot and killed in the US capital, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the US, than you are in Iraq.
   Conclusion:  “The US should pull out of Washington.”



Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

County System Encourages Illegal Dumping ---Sink Holes are a logical alternative

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


Local Items:

In my opinion, Jackson County has a terrible system of trash collection and disposal. The existing system encourages locals to illegally dump the trash which routine household collection refuses to pick up. The lack of reasonable alternatives for many citizens results in their trash being left in places which worsen our local area’s appearance, environment, and ecology. The system needs to be improved if our community leaders are really serious about our environment.

Let’s assume you live in a small house somewhere in the extreme southeastern corner of the county, around Hickory Hill on Highway 286, and you replace the roof on one of the sheds behind your house. Now, how do you dispose of the building and roofing materials that are piled up in your yard?

To dispose of these materials legally, as intended by existing systems and laws established by our County Commissioners, you would first have to locate a trailer large enough to carry the items. If you do not own such a trailer, you would either have to borrow one from a friend, or go to a dealer and rent a trailer. (Hopefully your vehicle has a trailer hitch.) Then you take the trailer to the site and load the materials into the trailer.

Next, you pull the trailer some fifty miles to the Spring Hill Landfill near Campbellton and Graceville. You enter the landfill, get weighed on the way in by a very personable and happy clerk, spend a dollar on a stupid green safety vest, and drive up a slick, stinking mud pile to wait your turn to unload. When your turn comes you get out and wade in the gooey, putrid slush and kick out the materials to be shoved away by a waiting bulldozer. Then, after getting the interior of your vehicle good and muddy with your caked boots, you return to the gate where you pay the fifteen or twenty dollar fee to the happy clerk at the landfill, and start the fifty mile trek back home.

Of course, if you happened to have any empty paint cans or a water heater in the load, you were told you could not dump them, and you still have them in the trailer on the way home. As you drive along, you try to figure out a way to make lawn ornaments out of these items when you get back home. If you are unfortunate enough to have more than one trailer load, you can look forward to doing it all again.

In the process you have wasted over a half day, spent over $100, and have ruined a pair of boots in the process. And you end up very angry.

The scenario I describe is for those docile, law abiding, rule following, citizens which would never do anything out of bounds. Now let me describe what many people would do.

Most local citizens know where remote, unattended sites exist which invite an easier method of getting rid of these materials. These numerous locations are within a few minutes drive of their home. These sites are usually unfenced wooded land with small dirt trails winding into the forest, or even better, trails which lead to gaping “sink holes” waiting to welcome the materials. If they can not find any such spots within easy access, the roadside bar ditch offers a last resort solution. After all, why shouldn’t the county road crews take care of the refuse, it is the county which is making the disposal system such a traumatic experience?

So the dumping continues, environmentalist hold seminars about the problem, and the County Officials act as if they have no responsibility in the matter.

Recommended Solution:

The best public system I have seen is the system used by Marion County in the remote areas of the Ocala National Forest. At strategically locations they have a well managed, fenced, and very clean, refuse compacting and sorting collection station. An attendant is on duty to monitor and assist citizens as they bring items to the collection point. In the center of the circular drive is a large industrial compactor which crushes your trash after you place it on the conveyor. Periodically a huge trash truck comes to the site and picks up the compacted trash which has accumulated.

Our county is considering having fuel depots in outlying areas in order to make fueling of road equipment more efficient, so why not combine these fueling stations with these types of trash collection centers? One attendant could operate two sites by spending alternating days on a 2 ½ days per week operating schedule.

Until the county creates a more simple and easy process to get rid of trash, our dumping problems, our sink hole ground water pollution problems, and our county beautification problems, will persist. When I see these ugly, trash filled, sites…..I blame county government.



National Items:

What a mess!!

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

• It should be noted that our Congressman Boyd recently voted against a House Resolution to remove Congressman Charlie Rangel from his position as Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee while he is under investigation for ethics violations and tax fraud. Boyd voted in support of Rangel, along party lines. Thus, a purported tax chief remains in charge of the committee which oversees our tax codes. Ain’t That Special!

• Work is about to begin on our three sidewalk projects which are being funded by stimulus money. The resulting demand for workers will surely put a real strain on our area labor supply.

• I want to thank all of the businesses and individuals who supported this paper’s “Pennies for Pencils” fund raising effort to buy school supplies for needy children in our schools. Those Principals were very happy to get their checks to take back to their schools for this purpose.

• I want to caution everyone to be sure and lock your homes and vehicles at night. Crime is worsening as fees and utility rates go up, making more and more people in our area desperate.

• I see many comments from elected officials around the state and the nation describing the need to discover more “revenue streams”. Regardless of the stream, the source of the flow eventually ends up being from the pocketbook of the citizens. I see few comments relating to significantly cutting costs, unessential programs and services, salaries, and benefits among the bureaucracy. Additionally, they might have to do like the rest of us and begin driving their vehicles and using computers and other equipment until they actually wear out instead of automatically replacing everything every three or four years. If they begin to do these things, they will be “Getting It Right”.



Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“Beware the Ides of March!”

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

After the infusion of unbelievable amounts of public dollars,


I continue to hear rumblings from the foundations of our national banking system.
National:

This week a new report emerged which disclosed that our national banking system was even closer to total melt down than reported by grim faced “moneycrats” when the first infusion of TARP funds was being sold to the public. Even worse, there are some who feel another crisis is coming from the same sources.

These “too big to allow to fail” banks haven’t helped themselves any in the public eye as they continued to hold corporate junkets at expensive locations and to award huge bonuses for performance to executives responsible for the impending bankruptcy of the organizations. This tends to make the public more skeptical and unsympathetic.

The pronounced goal at that time was to “loosen” available credit to enable businesses to operate and to thus retain jobs. This hasn’t happened. It seems they are all either sitting on the money, or are busy stuffing it into dark corners and their own pockets. Instead, in the normal fashion of government overreaction, they have tightened credit rules to the point that few can qualify. Loans are not being lent, money is not flowing, businesses continue to fail, and unemployment continues to rise.

I keep hearing of several local banks that are “on the brink” and that we are in for another year or two of constant business closures, bank failures, and rising unemployment. In my opinion the actual current unemployment level is actually near 20% instead of the quoted 9.8%. If the statistics included those who have depleted their benefits and have given up, as well as the under employed, and the self employed who are now unemployed but are not eligible for unemployment compensation (one of the great benefits of being self employed), the rate would double.

Meanwhile, most governments have refused to lay off any “crats”, they are continuing to give annual raises to their bureaucracy, new fees and taxes are being forced upon the struggling masses, and the utilities are continuing to reap and rape. Also, in the name of the “green movement” the FDEP and EPA are continuing to impose more and more unnecessary regulations and requirements on businesses which either causes them to go out of business because of these costs, or if they can pass the costs on to the public (as in the case of a utility), the struggling families pay for this environmental lunacy. I sense a mounting pressure upon the public, and fear an oncoming calamity…..I hope I am NOT Getting It Right.

Local:

I personally know of two long-time businesses here in Jackson County that will either close or be in receivership by the end of the year. One of these businesses is closing because of continued new requirements levied upon them by the FDEP, and the other business owner will lose his business because of the lack of available financing in today’s banking world of “no money”. We have already lost Beall’s, Swearingen-Lord, Bryant’s Enterprise Gulf Station, and the Great Oaks Golf Course, all of which provided jobs in our community for many, many years. Our government is too busy spending money on sidewalks and fire trucks to worry about business failures and loss of jobs.

♦ Due to continued allegations of corruption, Governor Crist has replaced two of the Public Service Commissioners with new appointees. One is a newspaper executive and the other is a bean counter in government. I hope they are both honest and really look after the interest of the thousands of families across Florida who are struggling to pay their electric bills each month.

♦ A good example of how things work in the dirty game of politics: Political Formula = Auto Workers Union donates huge funds to Obama campaign + Obama gets elected President + President bails out bankrupt auto companies with taxpayer funds and saves union jobs : then, Saturn division is closed and auto jobs lost (just happens to be the only non union plant in the industry) + State of Tennessee loses jobs (Tennessee voted for McCain in election) = POLITICAL PAYBACK! Who said life had to be fair?

♦ I encourage our elected officials to get involved with the local tea party group “Concerned American Patriots”, by at least attending some of their meetings. This group is growing and will have an impact on the outcome of our future elections, locally as well as statewide and nationally. If our local officials are really concerned about controlling the size and cost of government, and want to help get our nation restored to what it once was…they will participate. If they wait until a few months before their next campaign and then suddenly start attending meetings, the voters in this group will see through that ploy. Thus far, Brad Drake, James Wise, and Eddie Hendry are the only ones who have been involved.

♦ The only two elements of our economy where I see growth is in government employment, especially at the federal level … and in the auctioneering business.

♦ At the Marianna City Commission meeting this week they increased the cost of remodeling or building anything within the city limits by $.07 per sq. ft. in a plans review fee for the fire department. How did our forefathers ever get anything designed and built without having all of these expensive bureaucrats around to help them?

♦ The first “Marianna Day Fall Festival” was held last weekend. It featured a re-enactment of the downtown battle which occurred on the streets of Marianna in 1865, and a five band “Bluegrass Festival” at Citizens Lodge Park. If you missed it this year, you need to plan to participate next year. It is a great addition to our annual community agenda, and I thank all who helped make it happen.



Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Festivals Are Fun!! I love the spring and the fall, those are the seasons when communities “show their stuff”

(This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.)


This week Jackson County held the first annual “Marianna Day Fall Festival”, which highlighted a meaningful moment in the history of the city, and an evening of entertaining “Bluegrass”, foot stomping music. Since I was on the organizing and planning committee for this event, I saw it take shape from a concept to a weekend filled with events and fun for approximately 2000 visitors and citizens. Not bad for the first year of an event which will surely grow in fame and participation.

In my opinion, community festivals are great! They pull together the best the community has to offer, create a day of fun and entertainment for locals and visitors, and generate interest and retail business for the area.

The panhandle is full of fun filled annual festivals and events, many of which I look forward to attending each year. Among these are the Apalachicola Seafood Festival, The St. George Island Auction and Chili Cook-off, The Panama City Seafood Festival, The Graceville Harvest Festival, The Pork and Paint Spring Festival in Marianna, The Peanut Festival in Dothan, and of course, the Possum Festival in Wausau. Now we can add the Marianna Day Fall Festival to our list.

In order to be really meaningful, each event must have a theme or themes which draw the crowd and help create the excitement. Our new Fall Festival has two very good themes, (1) Reliving a meaningful moment of our history, and (2) Assembling some of the best “Bluegrass” musicians in the southeast to entertain us.

I am especially pleased to realize that over 700 of our local students had the opportunity to learn first hand about life during the Civil War era through the “living history” exhibits on Friday. I also found it thrilling to see the ‘Battle of Marianna” re-enacted by soldiers in uniforms of the day….on the very site where the battle raged many years ago. We stood where lives were lost defending Marianna, and replayed the event.

If you missed it this year, you need to be sure and come next year. Planning for the next fall festival will begin next week.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

♦ As noted in last weeks issue, a local businessman, Thomas Bower is enlisting Marianna businesses to join in a petition requesting the Marianna City Commissioners to modify the existing city sign ordinances. They feel the existing rules are anti-business in design and enforcement. I support Mr. Bower in his effort.

♦ Hooray! Common sense and justice prevailed in Santa Rosa County where two coaches/teachers at Pace High were being prosecuted at the request of the ACLU for daring to say a prayer at a fund raising banquet. The judge threw out the charges, stating there was no “intent” to contempt the court. I applaud those local citizens, including two church Sunday school groups, who through the drive initiated by the “Tea Party”, Concerned American Patriots, gave almost $2500 to the “Right to Pray” defense fund for those teachers to use in fighting the ACLU.

♦ I believe it is time for us all to stand up and stop these inane “rules” which have been created to stifle our religious freedoms and our freedoms of expression through the courts by the ACLU. First, it is time to reassert the concept that the wishes of the Majority overrules the wishes of the few. Second, the right to have non-denominational prayers at school functions and even in the classrooms should be restored. Courts will react to public pressure….we need to begin to rigorously apply that pressure! Vote only for those who feel the same as we do, and are willing to sponsor bills for this goal.

♦ “The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes” – Thomas Paine





Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Stop Milking!! The Cow is Almost Dead

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


The U.S.A. is in the midst of an economic downturn which threatens to hurl the nation into a miserable condition which would destroy individual and corporate wealth, weaken our nation, and move us into despair and unthinkable lifestyles. As families and small businesses struggle to survive in this faltering economy, our federal, state, and local governments continue to put the needs of the bureaucracy ahead of the plight of the people. At the same time, monopolistic semi-private functions such as utilities continue to dig deeper into the almost empty pocketbooks of the families they serve (misnomer?) as they continue to make profits without sacrificing anything.

We stand back and watch quietly as family homes are foreclosed and those involved lose all they have worked for. At the same time personal and commercial bankruptcies are keeping once starving lawyers busy. These sad results for families and small businesses are being caused as greedy banks and credit card companies continue to squeeze and milk debtors; as City Governments, County Governments, School Systems, and State Governments continue to increase fees, assessments, fines, taxes, and all other revenue flows coming from the pockets of the defenseless public; as greedy utilities exercise their monopolistic advantage to the maximum by steadily increasing rates; and as those industries which have lobbied enough to create corruptly legislated robbery of the public such as insurance companies, oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, and most elements of the health care industry all exploit the suffering public. Meanwhile, the Federal Government outdoes them all by spending at unbelievable levels while they borrow and print money as fast as they can.

As this process continues, more and more failures occur, and with each our nation sinks a little deeper into the mire. We must unite in our efforts to stop this destructive cycle. The old wasteful ways of dealing with public monies by our governments must end, greedy monopolies must be controlled, and legislated advantages for certain industries must be repealed. Our nation must get its house in order, or it too, will soon end in foreclosure.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning -

• I noted where three local citizens in Cottondale have been indicted by Attorney General Bill McCollum for Medicaid fraud. I applaud the officials for taking time from doling out public money to work on stopping some of the rampant fraud occurring in the Medicare-Medicaid systems. However, the information was given to Medicaid fraud investigators in 2004 By the Dept. of Children and Families Adult Protective Services….and it only took them five short years to execute an arrest. During the interim the culprits stole another hundred thousand dollars from the taxpayers. However, they may recoup $40,000 by including a fine in their sentence….speedy work, “Welfaricrats”!

• Please read the short story titled “Rotary Report”. In it is presented information from Attorney Wade Mercer’s speech to the Rotary in Marianna last week. Note the fact that Cottondale is reaping over $150,000 per year (today’s traffic fines rates) from their ‘speed trap” operation on Highway 231. They are giving tickets at a rate 15 times greater than Marianna, which is much larger. In my opinion, Chief Watford, the City Commissioners, and the Citizens of Cottondale should be ashamed of what is going on. It will only give their city a bad name in the long run. Locals should shut this operation down. If they do this….they will be “Getting It Right”!

• There are farmers going out of business, and some 34,000 farm workers on unemployment in California because our “Green” crowd has blocked use of available irrigation water for the crops over some three million acres in the fertile San Joaquin Valley. It seems an endangered smelt minnow is in the lake where the needed water is contained. Some liberal, numbskull judge in California ruled against the farmers and in favor of the tree huggers and their minnow. What a world!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Out of Most Things Bad...Something Good Can Be Found

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Out of tragedy, some good usually emerges:

Eighteen years ago my wife and I lost our sixteen year old son, Les, in a horrible automobile accident. We were hurled into the pit of utter despair, overcome with choking, unbelievable grief. At the time it seemed to be the absolute worse thing which could happen to us, with no logical reason for God to have allowed this sickening event to occur.

Now, many years later, the grief and pain lingers and occasionally rises to the surface. However, I can now see some positive results which evolved from this family tragedy. True, any benefits are trivial in comparison to the loss we suffered, but I can now see that some gains were realized.

First, the act of sharing the deepest of grief between my wife and me, and helping each other through those waves of unbearable pain, strengthened the bond between us. We already loved each other, but the event resulted in a deeper relationship which will endure until one of us dies.

Secondly, having survived the worse pain a parent can experience having gone to the bottom of the pit of utter despair and finally emerging back into the light, has made me into a better, more compassionate person. I now realize that there were times in the past where other friends and acquaintances were dealing with similar personal situations, and I failed to respond to their pains.

I remember feeling awkward and uncomfortable being around them while they were suffering. I felt the desire to help them but could not, so at times I stayed away. I now realize the importance of the expression of sympathy and being there to give comfort. …The mere act of just being there even if you find no useful words, are acts which are very important to the person suffering. As a result, I am a now a much more caring friend, and am able to overcome my own discomfort of the situation with the knowledge I am helping when I give a hug and tell them how saddened I am for them.

So, out of bad does come some good. It made me become a better human being.

Hopefully that same axiom holds true for the trauma now occurring as the United States of America is seeing its economy shudder and sag to a shameful level, while the basic foundations of our faith in a free enterprise, capitalistic economic system, and even our freedoms of religion, speech, and right to own firearms, are challenged. We have evolved into a dysfunctional nation, divided and combative. We are destroying ourselves from within.

With the liberal, left wing elements in control of the Democratic Party, and the Democrats in control of our government, we have created a “dream” situation for the extreme anti-secular, socialistic, and environmental movements. Before the stage had been dismantled from the inauguration ceremony they began pushing their radical agendas through Congress.

In order for our nation to realize its full potentials we may have to first see the way of life which past generations have enjoyed, completely dismantled. We, as a nation may have to enter the dungeon of hell with our economy bankrupted, our liberties consumed by legislation and liberal court rulings, and our wealth transferred to government for redistribution. Our national condition might have to decline to a level worse than the Great Depression of the 1930’s before we awaken and begin to rebuild. We may have to become a third world economy before we can again become the world leader.

When the time of national rebirth comes, we must first rebuild our national moral character. We must restore the family structure, with a Mother AND a Father, who are married! We must create a culture of honesty, self reliance, self responsibility, neighbors aiding neighbors instead of relying on Government, restoration of States Rights, diminishing of Federal Government and its domination of everything, and a common sense approach to life, again recognizing the concept that the will of the majority is more important than the demands of a few. We must reform the government processes to eliminate influence buying, lobbying, bias, and political “money laundering”. We must become a nation where self interests are set aside for the good of the nation.

I pray we do not have to go into total ruin as a nation before this rebirth can occur. I take some hope from what I see happening in the national “Tea Party” movement. This movement has been created out of concern for the direction our nation has take since the new administration took control. Disgust and disdain for the actions of our national leadership has been building for decades. The sudden thrust towards greatly increasing the role of the Federal bureaucracy and the emergence of Communistic and Socialistic ideals among leadership has perhaps finally awakened the sleeping, silent majority of the moderate middle class.

I am thrilled when I see local housewives, farmers, and small business owners who have never before stood up and complained, suddenly attending these meetings and voicing an opinion! I can not recall such a sincere, patriotic, movement in my lifetime. Perhaps there is hope!

If the ramrod actions of this administration results in the beginning of the rebirth of the concepts which created our nation, then I believe this Good Result from their Bad Actions will be the true lasting legacy of their time in power. Help in this effort and you will be “Getting It Right”.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

Local Comments:

● I want to again recognize the wisdom and leadership of our School Board and Staff. When I compare the trauma which many counties are enduring, Bay County included, as a result in the State cuts in educational funding, to the impact on our local school system, I realize that the reason we are not suffering is because instead of spending the geyser of new funds which was flowing for many years, they only spent moderately. They set aside reserve funds for future security. Those reserves are now resulting in few disruptions to the normal function of our schools. However, if the economy continues to suffer, these reserves will eventually deplete, and more drastic cuts to the system will be required.

● I want to note the actions of several individuals and organizations in generously reacting to the “Right To Pray” defense fund for those educators at Pace High who are being attacked in the courts by the ACLU, for daring to say a blessing at a fund raiser. The ‘Concerned American Patriots” leaders are delivering over $2000 to them this week, as support from Jackson County. It is time we created a national organization to combat the evils of the ACLU, take back our rights, and end this foolishness. I would suggest the name R-ACLU, Reclaiming American Civil Liberties Union. If the ACLU is attacking Pace High today, they will be in Jackson County tomorrow.

● I can not help but react with disgust when I see local businesses about to go out of business because of the non-availability of financing and thus local jobs being lost, ….while our government officials proudly come into town to give us big checks for sidewalks and fire trucks. It is political stupidity! I have lost my taste for this kind of “Pork”.

I’ve gotta go! Thanks for reading!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.