Don't forget: Concerned taxpayers' meeting Monday night at J's English Pub across from Pickren Heating and Air, downtown St. Marys at 6:00 PM.

I'm taking the day off Monday to run up to Woodbine to file my own homestead exemption and "Taxpayer's Return of Real Property" and to see what they are assessing mine at. One would think the price I paid for it new on December 1st, 2008 would be the fair market value, but I'll let y'all know. Be there Monday at 6:00 PM. Oh, and here's the link to that tax return you must have filed in Woodbine NLT April 1 if you are to be able to contest your new assessment. http://www.etax.dor.ga.gov/ptd/adm/forms/pt50r/LGS_TAXPAYERS_RETURN_OF_REAL_PROPERTY_PT50R.pdf

Shining the light on more ignorant mistatements of fact.

No - student teachers are NOT on the payroll. Student teaching is the capstone course in the college program to become a state certified teacher. One actually pays the equivalent tuition of 5, 3 hour courses and an additional $250.00 fee to help offset the expense of the Armstrong professor who makes repeated trips down to the school to observe your teaching. My last professorial visit was earlier this week. He cancelled any further trips because he was that impressed with my teaching ability. So, no, I am not now nor have I ever been, on the payroll of the Camden County School Board. As to Sandy's wife: she is now a RETIRED para-professional from the BOE. Incidentally, I designed and taught an excellent course all this week on "Personal Finance." The state standards required this this year for the very first time for sixth graders. There was no text book available for it. Fortunately, by virtue of my twenty years in the insurance and financial services industry, I was able to write the course myself and publish all of the needed handouts, worksheets, lecture notes, the final exam, and the lesson plan to cover an extensive Personal Finance Vocabulary, Smart Shopping Guide, How to Buy a Car, Credit, Insurance (to include auto, homeowners, life, health, diasability, dental, SSDI, and Workers' Comp.) It went quite well. By e-mail, I made the course materials available to all other sixth grade social studies teachers in the county. The point is, I am VERY good at this. Yet, there are people who, because they disagree with me politically, would deprive their kids of a way above average teacher. How stupid.

Dispelling more ESPLOST ignorance.

http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2009/02/27/opinion/letters/02letter2.27.txt Take a look at the last sentence in the above linked letter-to-the-editor. I should have known ignorance was at the root of the opposition to ESPLOST. Opponents, if you will take the time to research it in the O.C.G.A., you will find that the ONE cost associated with more roofs which, BY LAW, CAN NOT be paid for by impact fees is EDUCATIONAL EXPENSES of any kind, to include new schools or operational funding for school systems. Please people, do your homework. P.S., Someone commented the other day that they had only just recently built another wing onto the Camden Middle School, ergo they hardly needed any more space. I went back and checked the plaque on the wall of that "new" wing today. It was dedicated in 1993 - 16 years ago. And we all know there has been little to no growth in the number of middle schoolers in Camden for the last 16 years!

Georgia leg of ICW gets $1 million in federal dredging funds.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-27/story/coastal_waterway_to_get_federal_aid

Oh, they're working their way down to you, Bill!

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-27/story/ex-sheriff_faces_fate_in_fraud_case_sentencing

Restoration of Savannah's winged lion begins.

http://savannahnow.com/node/679236

More post-Chunk fallout in McIntosh.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-25/story/mcintosh_sheriff_missing_files_might_jeopardize_drug_prosecution

I wondered what was taking you low down dirty bastards so long.

Hidden Agenda Saint Marys, GA Reply » Report Abuse Judge it! #87 33 min ago Well I have been curious as to why Mr. Integrity (Jay Moreno) has been silent about the upcoming E-SPLOST proposed by the school board. Then today I learned that he is doing his student teaching at Camden Middle School. How nice! it appears that it depends on which side Mr. Integrity's bread is buttered as to his opinion regarding issues. Wow! he's already got this elected official thing down pat and he hasn't even been elected to anything yet! No, you filthy, low-down dirty White trash - you haven't been wondering. You've known for quite some time, but hoped to bait me into coming out in favor of the E-SPLOST and THEN revealing that I have in fact been going back to college for the last three years to become a certified teacher -and will, effective May 1st. The next step will of course be for you to recruit the other vermin like yourself to start a whispering campaign to deprive me of a livelihood. I have wiped things from the soles of my shoes that I had more repsepect for than vile miscreant human garbage such as you, Sir! Oh, and I WILL vote for E-SPLSOT and would have irrespective of my desire to teach. It makes sense.

St. Marys "Tea Party" a 6:00 PM tonight.

Watch Dog Saint Marys, GA Reply » Report Abuse Judge it! #1 2 hrs ago For those of you who have not gone to camdencountymaps.com and determined what your new St. Marys tax assessment is going to be, be sure you have a change of under wear.You are going to be shocked into reality. I have been advised there is a meeting tonight at the English Pub on 40 in St. Marys across from Sam Pickrens. The meeting is to be at 6 p.m. The purpose is to show the tax payers what they have to do. If you don't care don't come. If you don't mind taxation without representation don't come. If you have more money than sense don't come.If you are tired of being screwed over by the tax and spend politicians and their hired tax assessors you should be there to organize. Remember TAD. That was a tax plan tanked. This can be the same if you care enough to have a TEA PARTY. This should be interesting. Update @ 7:22 PM: Your humble reporter has just returned from the meeting. It ran for about 55 minutes. It was attended by 50 people. As you no doubt knew, Doug Vaught was the MC. The featured presenters were attorneys Bert Guy and Jim Stein as well as local mortgage broker, Tom Cyphers. Also in attendance were Mayor Eskridge and Councilmen Bird and Johnson. Former Mayor and Mrs. Jerry Brandon were there. Sandy Feller was there - and much to my surprise, he not only did not put the event together but did not say a word. The gal who replaced Dave Smith was there for K-Bay as were Emily Goodson for the T&G and Gordon Jackson for the GTU. Some real estate investor who has helped raise rates by buying 48 properties in town was there. "Winston" somebody. Of course, Teddy Lockhart was there. As was Rosemary Rillo. Frank Saffold was there. So were the Doninis and Jay Lassiter. That Barbara somebody or other who publishes a magazine in town was there - naturally. Apparently, the organizer of this thing was Rindy (Mrs. Sidney) Howell. There was some good info passed out. If you have not filed for homestead exemption (regardless of your age) it is imperative that you do so NLT April 1st. I knew that. if you have filed already but have subsequently turned 62, you should call the tax assessors office and make damned sure they have picked up on that fact in order to insure that you get your $25,000 property tax exemption at 62 and older. Moreover, you need to check in with them again at age 65 to make sure that you are no longer billed for ANY taxes from the school board. I knew that. However, here is something I DID NOT KNOW. If you want to preserve your right to contest your next tax bill it is IMPERATIVE that you fill out and file a "Taxpayer's Return of Real Property" NLT April 1, 2009, and every year thereafter. This form is your opportunity to tell the tax assessors what YOU think your property is worth. Apparently, in past years, the county did not enforce the law requiring you to have filed this by April I. Now, they DO. I will scan a copy here in a minute. Hold it: way better yet, here is the site where you can go to type in the tax return, then print it and take it to Woodbine:

http://www.etax.dor.ga.gov/ptd/adm/forms/pt50r/index.aspx There will be another meeting of this group on next Monday, at 6:00 at the same place. It does in fact appear to be worth your time if you are a property owner. By the way, Mayor Eskridge stood up and said - as usual, in his barely audible voice - that it is his intention to introduce a city council resolution to apply the city's millage rate to the assesses valued that were extant in 2006. Interesting concept, but it sounds highly dubious in terms of legality. I'll believe it when I see it take effect.

St. Marys requests $3.5 million in state & federal aid to move airport.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-24/story/st_marys_starts_process_to_move_city_airport

Shorter Georgia public school years in the offing?

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-24/story/bill_could_shorten_school_year

Local thespians to tap dance through mine field.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-23/story/play_details_navys_effect_on_camden

Camden Commentary turns 1 year old.

Camden Commentary turns one year old this week. In the first year, the blog was viewed nearly 115,000 times by several hundred different people (counter does not provide a precise figure as to how many discreet visitors). I appreciate your readership. I've certainly enjoyed bringing it to you. I hope that I can count on you to bring Camden Commentary to the attention of potential new readers in the coming year. You do not have to remember the rather cumbersome www.camdencommentary.blogspot.com. If you run into a friend, just tell them to Google Camden Commentary. It will come up. Oh, by the way, I hope you will find the new, expanded list of blog and web site links useful. Thanks again, Jay.

Sunday Funnies; Volume 52

The photo below captures a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect wildlife in the U.S. After only one month of the Obama administration, animals that were formerly self-sufficient are already modifying their behavior to take advantage of what they expect to be a new set of societal norms in the next four to eight years.

This black bear from Montana has ceased hunting for a living and is sitting outside the US Fish & Wildlife Service office in Kalispell, apparently waiting to be fed and to have his winter den dug by government employees. The residents of Kalispell are calling him 'Bearack Obama'.

Oops! Never mind.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aIe9swvOqwIY

Airport move back on council agenda.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-21/story/airport_move_is_coming_up_again That's right, Councilman Bird - it would help Sea Island sales in the Woodbine area, AND, it would also be a huge boon to St. Marys when the old airport property was FINALLY developed to its highest and best use and put back on the tax rolls. Moreover, that developemnt would likely generate far more permanent jobs than the few needed in your personal airport business and a few others to support the few highly tax subsidized week-end flying hobbyists it caters to now.

Glynn County School Superintendent Bull fired after idiotic professional suicide.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-21/story/glynn_school_chief_fired_for_accessing_porn_site

Misanthropic, class-envious, ignorant, miscreant denizens of TOPIX now attacking county manager: credentials and salary questioned.

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/kingsland-ga/TEHCOH18SMJIK0A98 http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2007/09/19/news/business/1business9.19.txt http://www.lacrosseuniversity.com/mast/pubadmin.html http://www.co.camden.ga.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=414 http://www.co.camden.ga.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=900

District 2 poll has closed.

Mrs. Zell - a very nice lady - has told me that she reads my blog regularly and enjoys it. I would hope that she would find these results useful in contemplating the remainder of her first term and taking her descision on a run for a second term. Twenty one months or so is a long and ample time to turn things around. My fear is that a three candidate (or more) race for District 2 will put BTW back on the public payroll. Your thoughts?

Clearly, some poor, deluded, bought-and-paid-for souls will never come to grips with Bill Smith's true thuggish nature and self-serving motivations.

http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2009/02/20/opinion/letters/05letter2.20.txt

Georgia Senate bill would make school transfers easier and immediate for military dependents.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-19/story/bill_would_help_military_children_transfer_schools Does anyone know what Camden County School Board policies are in this regard?

Superior Court judges' pay back on the agenda?

Just moments ago, I had a call from someone who had heard that the CCBOC not only put the county supplemental to the Superior Court judges' pay back on the agenda at last night's meeting, but may well have passed it. This is as yet third hand and unconfirmed. Were any of my readers there last night and able to confirm or deny this?

More on ESPLOST.

http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2009/02/18/news/top_stories/2topstory2.13.txt And thank you to the regular reader who alerted me to this story in today's Brunswick paper. http://tbn.live.mediaspanonline.com:80/story/FACILITIES-2-18

Big Thug Willie: Camden's gift that just keps on giving.

http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2009/02/18/news/top_stories/1topstory2.18.txt

Camden County Board of Commissioners' regular meeting tonight at 6:00 PM in Woodbine.

I will not be able to attend due to a prior commitment. Here is a link to tonight's agenda. http://www.co.camden.ga.us/Archive.asp?AMID=30&Type=Recent

Proposed land swap to be aired at next Woodbine council meeting on March 2nd.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-17/story/members_seek_land_swap_to_keep_site

It turns out that Angel Food Ministries shares the "love offerings" (cash) with the local "sponsoring" churches.

http://onlineathens.com/stories/021209/new_387279000.shtml ----- Original Message ----- From: Angel Food Ministries To: Angel Food-Camden Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 11:11 PM Subject: FW: Ministry Watch Dear Angel Food Customers, Volunteers and Supporters: The headquarters of Angel Food Ministries got some negative press today due to a warrant that was issued at the ministry. We do not know all the particulars as to the why and what in this situation. However, in light of this news, we have decided to share with you correspondence Lucy had with Pastor Joe Wingo in December 2008 regarding the salary issues being discussed in the articles. If you read from the bottom up, you will see that Lucy contacted him directly regarding some negative information put out by Ministry Watch. We wanted his response to what they were saying. Pastor Wingo responded quickly and shared information that helped us understand the situation with his salary. You may read that for yourself below. We do not know what the outcome of this legal matter will be, but we do know that Angel Food Ministries is an outstanding ministry that meets the food needs of people without taking away their pride. It also donates money back to the host sites monthly, allowing us to be self-sustaining and to provide further ministry in our community. We remain passionate about Angel Food Ministries and the difference it has made in families in our community! Blessings! Lucy Mary Gail Lucy Hunter, Co-Coordinator Mary Gail Lindsey, Co-Coordinator Missions For Camden, Inc. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ From: Pastor Joe [mailto:Pastor.Joe@angelfoodministries.com] Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 11:54 AM To: Lucy Subject: RE: Ministry Watch Ms. Lucy, My heart is like yours, I want to serve God to the best of my ability and in the end, all I want is to hear, "well done my good and faithful servant". Happy New Year and God Bless, Pastor Joe Wingo From: Lucy [mailto:lucile@tds.net] Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 11:35 AM To: Pastor Joe Subject: RE: Ministry Watch Pastor Joe, Thank you for your immediate response. This provides information that I can provide to those who ask about it. As always, I appreciate your ministry and the impact it has made on our community. Blessings! Lucy ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ From: Pastor Joe [mailto:Pastor.Joe@angelfoodministries.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 11:23 PM To: Lucy Subject: RE: Ministry Watch Dear Ms. Hunter, I appreciate your asking for my response. I was notified recently about this and did my own investigation of the same. AFM does take in very little donations and is approximately .001 of our P&L statement. However, I believe you will find that AFM is maybe the only ministry that actually sends monthly donations to its host Churches. I believe the figure is over $4,000,000 just for 2008, I believe the figure is over $14,000,000 since 1994. The Wingo family salaries they used was a one time situation where we took it as a bonus to repay debt that accumulated since 1994, the reason for this was I did not take a salary from 1994 to 2006. Our salaries are handled through a compensation committee and then voted on by the board with all Wingo's abstaining from the vote. Our salaries are also reviewed by the renowned Mercer Group, located in Los Angles, California, that has the expertise and knowledge of compensation for leadership in the workplace. (The Mercer Group, eh? You're gonna love this. Jay http://www.the-mercer-group.com/006.php ) I assure you that I personally take less than what I have been approved to take. I believe with all my heart and soul to tithe and give and I believe you can ask those that I pastor and lead that giving is part of my very being. I hope that I have answered your question. Too bad Ministry watch judges before they have fact and knowledge and never gives the opportunity to hear from the other side. I guess AFM will continue to feed over 500,000 families per month and continue to make a difference wherever we can. In His Service, Pastor Joe Wingo From: Lucy [mailto:lucile@tds.net] Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 4:58 PM To: Pastor Joe Subject: Ministry Watch What is your response to this Ministry Watch Donor Alert published this month? http://www.ministrywatch.com/pdf/MWDA_list_of_30_2008.pdf Lucy Hunter Missions For Camden, Inc. Host Site #7439 Saint Marys, GA 31558 lucile@tds.net No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.10.23/1948 - Release Here's the website for the national organization - where the Wingos are raking it in. http://www.angelfoodministries.com/ Here's the website for the local sponsor: http://www.missions4camden.org/ While the local sponsors appear to be doing a good thing, it is too bad that they are utilizing the services of and enriching what appear to be typical televangelist type sleazeballs.

Submerged French and British SSBNs collide in Atlantic depths.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,493545,00.html

Navy to mark 1,000th Trident patrol on Thursday.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-15/story/navy_to_toast_trident_submarines_on_1_000th_patrol

I see I'm now the subject of not one, but two TOPIX polls!

Have you voted yet? http://www.topix.com/forum/city/kingsland-ga/TRTEPM4M2IGO7BN73 http://www.topix.com/forum/city/kingsland-ga/TVALVKI00HJUQCC5T

Sunday Funnies; Volume 51

Posted to Craig's List Personals: To the Guy Who Mugged Me Downtown (Downtown, Savannah) Reply to: pers-982078099@craigslist.org [ ?] Date: 2009-01-06, 3:43AM EST I was the white guy with the black Burrberry jacket that you demanded I hand over shortly after you pulled the knife on me and my girlfriend. You also asked for my girlfriend's purse and earrings. I hope you somehow come across this message. I'd like to apologize. I didn't expect you to crap your pants when I drew my pistol af ter you took my jacket. Truth is, I was wearing the jacket for a reason that evening, and it wasn't that cold outside. You see, my girlfriend had just bought me that Kimber 1911 .45 ACP pistol for Christmas, and we had just picked up a shoulder holster for it that evening. Beautiful pistol, eh? It's a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head, isn't it? I know it probably wasn't a great deal of fun walking back to wherever you'd come from with that brown stinking sludge flopping about in your pants. I'm sure it was even worse since you also ended up leaving your shoes, cellphone, and wallet with me. I couldn't have you calling up any of your buddies to come help you try to mug us again. I took the liberty of calling your mother, or "Momma" as you had her listed in your cell, and explaining to her your situation. I also bought myself some gas on your card. I gave your shoes to one of the homeless guys over by Vinnie Van Go Go's, along with all of the cash in your wallet, then I threw the wallet itself in a dumpster. I called a bunch of phone sex numbers from your cell. They'll be on your bill in case you'd like to know which ones. Alltel recently shut down the line, and I've only had the phone for a little over a day now, so I don't know what's going on with that. I hope they haven't permanently cut off your service. I was about to make some threatening phone calls to the DA's office with it. Oh well. So, about your pants. I know that I was a little rough on you when you did this whole attempted mugging thing, so I'd like to make it up to you. I'm sure you've already washed your pants, so I'd like to help you out. I'd like to reimburse you for the detergent you used on the pants. What brand did you use, and was it liquid or powder? I'd also like to apologize for not killing you and instead making you walk back home humiliated. I'm hoping that you'll reconsider your choice of path in life. Next time you might not be so lucky. If you read this message, email me and we'll do lunch and laundry. Peace! - Alex

Bill Smith for county commissioner?

Someone on TOPIX is floating a trial balloon in which they claim that Bill Smith is contemplating running for the county commission seat now held by District 2 Commissioner Katherine "Nisi" Zell. What are your thoughts on the possibility of a Camden County Commission composed of Steve Berry, Sandy Feller, Charlene Sears, David Rainer and Bill Smith? See poll in upper right corner (where "country" commissioner, should of course, read "county" commissioner.) Once a vote is cast, you can no longer edit these polls. Sunday, 2/15/@1322 HRS. I wondered how long it would take the usual Thuggie suspects to discover the poll and start queering the results in favor of Smith. Honest readers should know that before they did, there were no votes for Smith and 2 out of three were expressing a preference for a third, qualified candidate.

FBI investigating Angel Food Ministries.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/18702729/detail.html Doesn't some church here sponsor that organization?

Camden County School Board seeks an ESPLOST in March referendum.

http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2009/02/13/news/top_stories/1topstory2.13.txt Here's the official school board pitch for the ESPLOST from their web site: http://www.camden.k12.ga.us/esplost/index.htm

Entangled whale calf rescued near Savannah.

http://savannahnow.com/node/672079

Georgia house votes for 2 year tax assessment freeze.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/18702853/detail.html Here's the beef: Paragraph IV. Limitations on assessed value increases for real property. (a)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this Paragraph, the rate of increase of the assessed value of real property for state, county, municipal, or educational ad valorem tax purposes shall not exceed an aggregate of 9 percent for each three-year period of successive ownership and, except as provided in this subparagraph, shall not exceed from one taxable year to the succeeding taxable year the lesser of 3 percent or the percent change in the rate of economic inflation on individual taxpayers as determined by the state revenue commissioner. For such purpose, the state revenue commissioner may use the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor and any other reliable economic indicator determined by the state revenue commissioner or such other designee as specified by general law to be appropriate. Within such three-year period, such 3 percent limitation shall operate in a cumulative manner so if an increase in one year is less than 3 percent, the 3 percent cap for the next succeeding year shall be increased by an amount equal to the difference in the actual percentage increase in the preceding year and 3 percent. Nothing in this Paragraph shall be construed to prohibit the assessed value of property from decreasing. (2) If real property or interests therein are sold or transferred, such real property shall be valued for ad valorem tax purposes in an amount not to exceed fair market value. Substantial additions or improvements to such real property shall be valued for ad valorem tax purposes at their fair market value and shall be added to the owner's valuation amount under this subparagraph. (3) In addition to any general law authorizing error or omission correction by local tax officials, the state revenue commissioner shall be authorized to correct any manifest, factual error or omission in the valuation of real property. (b) The General Assembly shall be authorized by general law to further define and implement the provisions of this Paragraph, including, but not limited to: (1) The establishment of classes or subclasses of real property and methods of assessment and taxation, including percentage limitations applicable thereto; (2) The definition of a sale or transfer of real property or interests therein under subparagraph (a)(2) of this Paragraph IV; (3) Other circumstances that shall require a revaluation of the real property, including, but not limited to, rezoning; (4) The timing of the reassessments as a result of sale, transfer, additions, or improvements and the establishment of phase-in periods of assessment increases due to sales or transfers of property at such rate or rates and in such manner as determined by general law; and (5) The definition and methods of determining fair market value as applied to nonresidential real property under subparagraph (a)(2) of this Paragraph, such methods may include, but shall not be limited to, a formula based on current use, annual revenue, and real property sales data. (c) The General Assembly shall be authorized to provide by local or general law for base year assessed value homestead exemptions that freeze the assessment of property with respect to any or all ad valorem taxes. Any local or general law providing for base year assessed value homestead exemptions that freeze the assessment of property with respect to any or all ad valorem taxes enacted prior to January 1, 2011, shall be ratified expressly; provided, however, that such ratification shall not be interpreted to imply that such laws were invalid at the time they became law. The provisions of this Paragraph shall not apply to any homestead's ad valorem taxes which are the subject of any such general or local law exemption unless such general law or local law is repealed. In the event of such repeal, the initial valuation amount of the homestead property for purposes of this Paragraph shall be the taxable value of such property established as the initial base year assessed value of such property; provided, however, that in the case of an adjusted base year assessed value homestead exemption, the initial valuation amount of the homestead property for purposes of this Paragraph shall be the taxable value of the property established as the most recent adjusted base year assessed value applicable to such property. (d) This Paragraph shall not apply to homestead real property in any county or consolidated government for which a local constitutional amendment has been continued in force and effect as part of this Constitution which freezes ad valorem property taxes with respect to such homestead real property unless such local constitutional amendment is repealed. In the event of such repeal, the initial valuation amount of each parcel of homestead real property shall be the most recent taxable value of such parcel as established under such local constitutional amendment. (e) This Paragraph shall not apply to real property in any county for which a local constitutional amendment has been continued in force and effect as part of this Constitution which imposes millage rate limitations regarding ad valorem property taxes with respect to real property in such county or county school district unless such local constitutional amendment is repealed. (f) The General Assembly shall be authorized to provide for procedures to discontinue the limitations under this Paragraph conditioned upon approval by a majority of the qualified electors residing within the limits of a county voting in a referendum thereon which shall discontinue such limitations for ad valorem taxes for such county and each municipality and each county or independent school system located in such county."

Aunt B's traffic light.

I guess y'all read in the T&G where Aunt's B's patrons will soon be able to get back out onto Kings Bay Road with the help of a traffic light. Word is that the DOT approved that after the intersection qualified under their "six dead citizens or one wrecked county commissioner, whichever comes first" rule.

Camden Middle School science teacher, Mark Lang, named state finalist for Georgia teacher of the Year.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-12/story/teaching_7th_grade_science_one_gummi_bear_at_a_time

Poor, poor Fairley Cisco pleads with Georgia Supreme Court to get his stolen money back!

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-11/story/cisco_case_goes_to_high_court

What gives with the GTU website?

Every time I go to the GTU website, I comes up with the news from Monday, 2/9. Is anyone else having that problem? http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/georgia/ Update, 2/12: Many thanks to the reader who gave me this other link! It works fine. http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia

St. Marys "greens" emerge as a new power to be reckoned with in Lilliput on the St. Marys.

Monday night, the city council came to the realization that the St. Marys greens, spearheaded by the St. Marys Earth Keepers, now control more potential incumbent-ousting votes than do members of the St. Marys Downtown Merchants Association. The council, which was obviously considering cutting down trees and paving that lot in front of the cemetery downtown, did a quick retreat when they did a quick count of the potential votes of vengeance. Now they claim they never really had any real intentions of doing it to begin with. Obviously, the memory of the annexation massacre has not faded from their memories. So, to date, the greens have forced cost-ineffective recycling on St. Marys, poo-pooed Naval sonar exercises, defeated the wishes of the DMA, and established a city sponsored, Oakland California -ish "community garden." I wonder if it has a tree big enough to hold Darryl Hannah? Can a city sponsored outreach to the homeless with compassionate camping permits in Howard Gilman Park be far behind? Stranger things have happened: Jerry Brandon spoke out against the cemetery parking lot! Update, 2/12: GTU coverage: http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-11/story/st_marys_abandons_plans_for_parking_lot

From the "But MY pet python would never do that!" files:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2009/02/11/ryan.parents.charged.python.ktnv

Congratulations, Sandy!

Congratulations to Sandy Feller on the fourth anniversary of his blog "Camden Georgia News," Camden County's first and oldest politically oriented blog. In the unlikely event that you are not familair with it, here is a link. http://www.camdenganews.com/blog/

KPD catches three Camden teens in the act of burglarizing CCHS.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/18675097/detail.html

St. Marys woman arrested; accused of two murders in Palm Beach County.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/18672871/detail.html Update, 2/12: GTU coverage http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-02-10/story/system_failed_double_murder_suspect_from_st_marys

So where is District 4?

http://www.co.camden.ga.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=219&DL=1 See the checked patterned area which encompasses parts of both St. Marys and Kingsland. If you will blow it up to 100% and scroll around, you can see details fairly well.

And so, let the full mastery begin!

Click on images to enlarge. Kindly review the entire contents then tell me this: Do you still think that a seat on the Camden County Board of Commissioners is a job likely to be best performed by a candidate armed ONLY with all-too-common "common sense?"

What are they thinking!?

With the age threshold for violent crime creeping lower and lower, the state wants to reduce juvenile rehabilitation sentences as a cost saving measure. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020909/geo_386102176.shtml

Red hot tourist attraction now playing in St. Marys!!

RED ALERT! Gather up the kids; start the car. You don't want to miss this limited engagement! Five minutes ago,I saw this at the intersection of Hwy 40 and Kings Bay Road. Standing in that little concrete triangle at the middle of the intersection is a 6 foot plus black man. He is standing under a huge, black umbrella that is strapped to him. Strapped to his back is a 5 foot long, three foot wide piece of plywood. It is painted white and has black stenciling on it. As near as I could tell in the seconds before the light changed, it says something about Ronald Reagan being wounded then healed, then has several Biblical quotations and a bunch of end of the world, repent stuff. Now the piece de resistance. Strapped to his chest is a large, professional ventriloquist's dummy. Picture Charlie McCarthy, only in white face. While the dummy's (the wooden one's) mouth is constantly moving, the other dummy is hiding behind the wooden dummy and yelling some sort of doom's day message at the top of his voice. Apparently, you no longer have to leave Camden and go to the big cities to see this. Hurry - no telling how long he'll be there. Update, Monday, 2/09/09: When I passed by that same intersection this morning at 7:25 AM, the poor fellow was back at his post, hollering as strongly as ever.

Birds for breakfast.

About 6 weeks ago, I took delivery of a nice bird feeder from Amazon.com. Surprisingly, none of the local merchants had the model type I wanted. This thing is about 24" tall and features 3 different seed tubes, each about the diameter of a Campbell's soup can. I had my house keeper install it on a metal poll built for that purpose (from Lowe's) about 5 feet from my dining room window. For the first week, it got no action that I saw. Then, just after New Years, I looked out of my kitchen bay window and saw that my neighbors across the street had placed their natural Christmas tree - a five foot blue spruce - out on the curb. I had my house keeper retrieve it and stake it upright about three feet from the feeder. Moreover, I had her sprinkle seeds all into the foliage of the tree. Bam - the very next morning, there were birds feeding in the tree. Within a couple of days, they had caught on to the feeder itself. At first, I had the blinds just barely open. Over a few days, I opened them just a little more each day to habituate the birds to my presence at the dining room table. Now, I have the blinds pulled up half way. The birds tend to ignore me, so long as I move very slowly. Here's the list of birds that frequent my feeder so far. Mourning doves - about 12 to 20, morning and evening. They feed off of the ground below the feeder. There is always plenty for the ground feeders, compliments of a pair of voracious red-bellied woodpeckers who frequent the feeder all day long. Apparently, the act of pecking away bark to get at beetles and grubs is so hard wired that they will invariably stick their long beaks into the seed holes and vigorously kick out several seeds onto the ground for every one they take. Occasionally, they will actually eat the small, round seeds at the feeder. But more often, they grab a black sunflower seed in their beaks, then fly off to the nearby pulp pine border (about 6 feet behind my back fence) and wedge the seeds into the bark of various trees for later consumption. Right now, there is a flock of some small member of the finch family that looks like a compact model of a house sparrow. Having found this steady source of food, they have delayed their farther southward migration and fattened up for a couple of weeks now. There is a pair of cardinals every day. Blue jays show up several times daily - usually four at one time. Boat-tailed grackles occasionally swoop in and run all the other birds off. Of course, when the neighborhood murder of 6 crows pop over the fence, the grackles bug out too. I once saw an eastern blue bird perched atop the pole. They don't eat seeds. I think he was intrigued by the holes in the tubes. I went out after that and bought a nice cedar blue bird house ($10.00 at Lowe's) and attached it to the fence at the other end of the yard. No tenants so far. Now and then, a pair of red-winged black birds show up. I had robins one day, but they continued on south the next day. I don't think they were after the seeds so much as looking for worms and insects in the grass. I came home one afternoon and found the bird feeder absolutely mobbed by a flight of migrating cow birds. They are about the size of a red-winged black bird. The female is a uniform, mousy brown. The male has that same brown on his head, but his body is black with shimmering blue-black wing feathers. There must have been 50 of them. They virtually cleaned out the feeder then flew on farther south. Strangely, I have not seen any of the several other varieties of finches that migrate through here. At any rate, I enjoy watching them up close. It's really quite inexpensive to maintain a good bird feeder. Try it - you'll like it.

Sunday Funnies; Volume 50

Atlanta Airport Atlanta ATC: 'Tower to Saudi Air 511 -- You are cleared to landeastbound on runway 9R Saudi Air: 'Thank you Atlanta ATC. Acknowledge cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R - Allah be Praised.'Atlanta ATC: 'Tower to Iran Air 711 --You are cleared to land westbound on runway 9R.'Iran Air: 'Thank you Atlanta ATC. We are cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R. - Allah is Great.'Pause...Saudi Air: ' ATLANTA ATC - ATLANTA ATC'Atlanta ATC: 'Go ahead Saudi Air 511.'Saudi Air: 'YOU HAVE CLEARED BOTH OUR AIRCRAFTS FOR THE SAME RUNWAY GOING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS. WE ARE ON A COLLISION COURSE. INSTRUCTIONS, PLEASE.'Atlanta ATC: 'Well bless your little hearts. And praise Jesus. Y'all be careful now and tell Allah 'hey' for us -- '

We've lost another great one!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/07/obit.whitmore/index.html It just so happened that back in 1976, when the movies version of his one-man play, "Give 'Em Hell, Harry?," I had not long before that not only finished reading the book by the same name but had visited the Harry Truman Presidential Library and grave site while on a summer active duty to Camp LeJuene. That was a great performance. If you haven't seen it, get the video. Oh, by the way, I took a gal to see it. She was maybe 3 to 4 years younger at most. As we were walking out afterwards, I said something like, "Wow, was that a great performance or what!?" She replied "Well, it was okay - but I could tell that you really liked it. I guess I would have liked it more if I had been around then too." I was born in 1947, but my hair started receeding at about 16. The first president I actually remember - like from movie newsreels - was Ike.

Tell us more, Joe!

joe Kingsland, GA Reply » Report Abuse Judge it! #9 1 hr ago "District 4 needs to lead by example." Joe, just what specificly did you have in mind, or did you? I hope that was not just an empty, gratuitous, rhetorical platitude. Seriously, how should one commissioner from District 4 lead the county goverment by example. Perhaps Charlene will read your comments. I certainly will. Never let it be said that I was unwilling to listen to the people. You have the floor.

Do y'all notice any psychopathological similarities?

Anonymous said... So Jay, you plan to run for a BOC chair right? Then I guess you will only represent the "damned outsiders"? I guess we "indigenous tribesmen" are not good enough for you on your blog. How will we ever be good enough for you to represent as a commissioner? More locals live in that district than you give credit to. And even if they arent born and raised here, many feel as if they are local from the amount of time they have devoted here. By the way Jay, what qualifications do you posses to be a commissioner? What have you managed? What have you done that will make you a good candidate besides run your mouth? Have you any experience in dealing with the masses and taking what is good for the people and not just good for you? (not from the sounds of it on this blog) Have you any experience in handling budgets and the effects of possible cuts in areas that are already struggling? Have you any experience in negotiations to reach a good middle ground that can possibly meet goals from different sides of the table? From reading your blog, most of these answers are a no from what I see. I encourage anyone to go back into your old posts and comments from this blog and read and research this would be candidate for the BOC. You will find plenty of arrogance, pomp, and no ability to think or feel for anyone but Jay. Jay is concerned about Jay, and not another soul on this planet. Jay just wants to be on the board for his namesake, not to do anything to help anyone or this community. Jay, your just a free lance journalist that cant sell an article. An old, grumpy fart that couldnt even keep a girlfriend. No wonder you resent the world and anyone in it. You turned your world into a big pile of shit, and wish to make everyone else as miserable as you. February 3, 2009 11:53 PM Now. today, this appears on TOPIX: Young and perpetually angry (especially at older and wiser males (an unresolved Oedipal thing, or what?), Thomas Green "Tripp" Casey, III, wrote this: http://www.topix.com/forum/city/kingsland-ga/TC176CN756RHFCP1E Tommygun3 14 min ago "Sandy, I am not in your district but I would love to see you run again. I think you would have a better chance than anyone at winning, and at representing the people. The other guy that plans to run is not a good choice for representing all the people of that district. He claims to be smarter than any local, says common sense is "overrated" and even says he will not compromise with anyone. Not someone I want to make important decisions about the future of the county. There are many that I know that would help you financially, and any other way possible. I would, and I am a district 1 voter. We need better for this county than the likes of a Jay Moreno. Just read his blog, research old posts and new alike, and you will clearly see that this man does not have a mind for the people or a desire to help. I know many who strongly oppose him and are willing to do whatever to make sure he isn't elected, (fellow "Thuggies" still smarting over my role in the defeat of Ol' Bill, perchance?)but we need a good candidate to run besides him. Will you run? I certainly hope so." Young Tommy, though you are not in my district, you should know that if elected, I would support the county participating in bringing a free-to-highly-subsidized mental health facility back to Camden from Brunswick, like we used to have. Old friend Sandy, if you would like to undermine my potential candidacy on my blog as well, you are always welcome. I can certainly understand why you would want to run again, after being ousted for no good reason by Bill Smith. Here's hoping that my health and yours will both hold up to the task for the next five and a half years or so, at least. I would be 63 when I took office and 67 at the end of my term, but, so far, I'm feeling fine. The certain knowledge of how much my demsie would delight certain folks will keep me going for many years to come. That and the fact that I'm actually enjoying life quite a bit. Surprize!!

Another case from the "Oh, but MY pit bull would never do that!" files.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/02/05/fanjul.fl.pit.bull.attack.wpec

Chunk and Thug: future cellmates?

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020709/geo_385520154.shtml

Three more north Jax savage thugs arrested in Kingsland triple homicide.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=130678&catid=3 Thanks to reader who alerted me to this news flash.

Arrest made in Kingsland triple homicide!

http://www.news4jax.com/news/18650114/detail.html

CCBOC denies $1,000 per month pay raise to superior court judges.

Judge Amanda Williams says she and fellow judges were "Shanghaied." http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020509/geo_384836080.shtml

County employees will likely go another year without a pay raise.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020509/geo_384836104.shtml

Is that the smell of a dead Satilla carp coming from Woodbine, or something even more fishy?

http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2009/02/04/news/top_stories/1topstory2.4.txt

Done!

Click on image to enlarge.

See comments on immediately preceeding post for explanation.

Not to be missed!

This was a comment on a previous post. Lest anyone miss this glittering examplar of Jay-hating derangement syndrome, I thought I would bring it to your attention. Anonymous said... So Jay, you plan to run for a BOC chair right? Then I guess you will only represent the "damned outsiders"? I guess we "indigenous tribesmen" are not good enough for you on your blog. How will we ever be good enough for you to represent as a commissioner? More locals live in that district than you give credit to. And even if they arent born and raised here, many feel as if they are local from the amount of time they have devoted here. By the way Jay, what qualifications do you posses to be a commissioner? What have you managed? What have you done that will make you a good candidate besides run your mouth? Have you any experience in dealing with the masses and taking what is good for the people and not just good for you? (not from the sounds of it on this blog) Have you any experience in handling budgets and the effects of possible cuts in areas that are already struggling? Have you any experience in negotiations to reach a good middle ground that can possibly meet goals from different sides of the table? From reading your blog, most of these answers are a no from what I see. I encourage anyone to go back into your old posts and comments from this blog and read and research this would be candidate for the BOC. You will find plenty of arrogance, pomp, and no ability to think or feel for anyone but Jay. Jay is concerned about Jay, and not another soul on this planet. Jay just wants to be on the board for his namesake, not to do anything to help anyone or this community. Jay, your just a free lance journalist that cant sell an article. An old, grumpy fart that couldnt even keep a girlfriend. No wonder you resent the world and anyone in it. You turned your world into a big pile of shit, and wish to make everyone else as miserable as you. February 3, 2009 11:53 PM Psst ... You missed the opportunity to point out that I'm not nearly as pretty as the highly qualified local gal you locals wisely elected to the District 4 seat.

Will county employees soon be buying their health insurance by the pound?

That is to say, they may end up paying more premiums the more they weigh. There was a workshop at 5:30 before the county commission meeting. Unfortunately, I caught only the last 5 minutes of it. As I understand it, there was a consultant there pushing some sort of "employee wellness" plan. The idea was that employees could earn points based upon there BMI (Body Mass Index) (fatness, or, more correctly, their skinniness) and certain lifestyle indices, like not smoking, having normal (low) blood pressure, low cholesterol, etc. If you are healthy (skinny), your deductible could be as low as $200.00. If you're fat, smoke, and have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, you would be looking at a $2,500 deductible. Apparently, from remarks Commissioner Berry made, I missed the part of the PowerPoint presentation where they showed how much higher the premiums would be for "at risk" (fat) people, but it sounds like it was significantly higher. All five commissioners demonstrated that they were acutely aware that no county employees were as yet so fat as to be unable to get through the door of their polling place. They wisely decided to have a workshop on the idea at a future date rather than adopt it tonight as the proponents were pushing for. Oh, and the county administrator presented - via Mike Fender - a PowerPoint presentation of where all $632,000 (shortfall amount) could be cut from various budgets without layoffs. However, this cure included delaying some $750,000 in employee COLAs. They are not yet absolutely certain there will be a $632,000 short fall. Depends on the governor. See T&G for details.

Poor Judgement?

Take a look at this agenda item from tonight's county commission meeting. Click on this link. http://www.co.camden.ga.us/archive.aspx?AMID=&Type=&ADID=532 . Now, look under the PDF for the agenda item concerning $43,000 worth of "improvements" to Superior Court Judge Anthony Harrison's suite. Yes, if you suspect that the judge hired an interior decorator from the Sea Island set to design his office and select the furniture, you are absolutely correct. I heard it from the judge's own mouth right after I got up and spoke against the expenditures. Thanks to out old friend, Main Mole, I had a message om my answering machine when I got home at 4:00 this afternoon alerting me to this. As it turned out, my addressing the commission was superfluous because every one of them had heard from their constituents complaining of the incredible tin ear of this new judge in a time of extreme belt tightening a the county government. They voted it down unanimously. They also voted down an additional funding request from Judge Amanda Williams. Watch for T&G for details. I had hoped to see Gordon Jackson there tonight, but I did not.

Hear ye, hear ye!

The Camden County Board of Commissioners' regular meeting will be held tonight at 6:00PM in Woodbine. Possible employee cuts are on the agenda. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020309/geo_384130774.shtml

Governor pushing for 1 cent sales tax increase state-wide.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020209/geo_383873503.shtml

Throw them a line.

It appears that TOPIX Kingsland is on life support and going fast. I'm sure you will agree that no group of Camdenians could benefit more from exposure to intelligent life forms than the denizens of TK. Would someone please go to this link and post a link to this blog? Thank you. http://www.topix.com/forum/city/kingsland-ga/TRTEPM4M2IGO7BN73

Sunday Funnies; Volume 49.

From Uncle Harry in Adelaide, Australia ....... According to a news report, a certain private school in Brisbane was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips tothe mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenanceman would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses). To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror. There are teachers.... and then there are educators