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Football season brings hope, but concerns as well
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the best seasons of the year arrives this month when the high school football season begins.
The professionals have the show biz, the college game has the passion but the high schools have hopes and dreams. For some boys this will be the pinnacle of the athletic part of their life, for others it will simply be a chance to be part of something.
But the sad thing is that these days it seems there is a story about another kid dying either during practice or right after. And I don’t think this is a case where we can say it just seems like it is happening more because it’s getting reported.
I played one undistinguished year of high school football back in 1973. I was slotted behind a kid who was so good he earned a full scholarship to Furman University. I started one game when another lineman was hurt and played on the kickoff return team. Trust me — the cute girls did not stop what they were doing to check out my downfield blocking.
Back in ‘73 the prevailing attitude was that water made us weak and part of getting “football tough” was to gut it out in the heat. We got one paper cup of sports drink during practice and if we were allowed to take our helmets off it was a great day.
Yet back then you didn’t hear about boys dying. We never even had a kid suffer a heat-related malady. I don’t know how we did it.
Today everything has changed. Kids still work hard, but there are plenty of water breaks and helmets are only worn when in drills and scrimmages. Some teams even have those massive fans to cool the players. Yet the heat keep taking its toll.
I do not think we were tougher in my era or that today’s players have gotten soft. It is true that most of the kids who grew up in Sandy Springs in the 60’s and early 70’s lived in homes without air conditioning, so we might have been more used to the heat. And we did not have video games, the Internet and our TV only had three channels — maybe we played outside more.
But today’s kids are better fed, better trained and have access to better medical care. Our pre-football physical back was getting our blood pressure checked and having the doctor listen to our hearts. It took two minutes - maybe. That was it.
When the games kick off this fall we should be watching young boys living one dream and perhaps chasing another. We shouldn’t be holding and breath and crossing our fingers.
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Public officials and freebies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The city has put a cap on the value of gifts that police officers can accept after a recent incident that culminated in the resignation of Police Chief Gene Wilson. Story
As best I can tell this was more about a lapse of common sense by some in the police department than a far-ranging scandal that will rock the city to its foundation. But it also points to the fact that perception can override reality when it comes to certain jobs and items with high price tags.
Where does being a booster of the city stop and impropriety start? If I buy the police department 25 bullet-proof vests am I being a friend to the police department or am I trying buy some influence should I ever get pulled over?
If I host a dinner for the mayor and city council at a high-ticket restaurant in Buckhead am I showing gratitude for all their hard work or laying the foundation for something a little less altruistic down the line if I need zoning variance?
When I was hired to write this column I first had to agree to abide by the company’s rules on the acceptance of gifts, which is essentially one word - don’t. Understandably they don’t even want to deal with the appearance of impropriety. And neither do I.
But no one should have to wait until someone higher up in the food chain scripts an ethics policy. Whether you write a newspaper column, run a police force or hold elected office it doesn’t take a genius to know that your career can zero out with just the appearance of something suspicious. If there is a grey area, declining is the safe answer, if for no other reason than preserving present and future employment.
A former editor of mine gave the newsroom a good rule to follow that I would pass along to anyone in public office anywhere. If you’re offered something and you’re not sure accepting is a good idea where your reputation is concerned, think about how it would look if it was splashed across the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper.
If that makes you cringe, well, just say no.
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Teachers are casualties in budget plans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The slumping economy has state legislators looking for places they can trim the budget and one of the areas is teacher pay raises. This comes a week after an Atlanta Hawks player signed a deal to play in Greece for $20 million over three years.
Something is out whack in the universe.
I don’t begrudge a pro athlete taking what the market will offer, but where is the tipping point where we start making is economically desirable to be a teacher? We have all this poetic talk about how no one teaches for the money, and what a noble calling it is to teach. Some times I think we do that so we don’t have to state the obvious - they are going to work long hours and short pay.
Once a child toddles off to kindergarten they begin a 13-year odyssey where their teachers will see them more during a weekday than their parents will nine months out of the year. We expect them to establish the foundation of our kids’ academic careers and then nurture it.
Our two kids went to public school from K through 12 and they had some great teachers. They had teachers that pulled great work out of them, inspired them and made them want to learn. Of course there were some along the way that were less than wonderful, but that does not diminish those who were good.
When do we start to place a greater value on these people than those who put a ball through a hoop, or hit a ball with a stick, or drive a car over 200 mph. When do we realize that teachers deserve every penny they can get. When, at very least, do we call our state representatives and tell them to leave the teachers’ pay raises alone.
And where do they make up the money? Starting with the governor they could cut their salaries, benefits and perks. They could stop taking fact-finding trips to exotic locales, or attending seminars in places that just happen to be near beaches and golf courses. Maybe a few less receptions funded by tax dollars. The money is there - they just have to look for it and be willing to eliminate some pork from their legislative diet.
And if they claim they can’t I know a few math and civic teachers who would be happy to help.
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Get out the checkbooks, it’s back to school
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the second consecutive year my wife and I are out of the back-to-school business in our house - but this time around I think I’m fully appreciating what that means more than I did last year.
Our son went off to college in the fall of 2005 and our daughter fled the nest last year. Because we were so busy with our final child heading for college I wasn’t able to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.
I always dreaded back-to-school time as it signaled the end of summer and the beginning of the annual cash drain that comes with putting a kid back into school. If we could recover the money spent on glue sticks, folders (with pockets and holes to fit into binders), binders, pencils, pens, calculators, tape, paper, index cards, colored pencils, gel pens and various sundry other things we’d live in the south of France, albeit with uneducated children.
I truly do not begrudge the money as both our kids got great educations. But it’s just strolling into a store and seeing an entire wall of book bags that says the clock is ticking down on summer and there are no timeouts left. Especially with school starting earlier and earlier. The message was clear - fun’s over, get your checkbook.
Not that sending kids to college doesn’t have its share of expenses, but somehow it doesn’t feel the same. Sending a child to college is a right of passage - a sign that an exciting new chapter has begun. They are stepping out into the world, not moping toward the bus stop.
Back-to-school just means a shopping cart packed to the gills with things that are going to have to be bought again 12 months hence. For example, I still don’t know were all the mechanical pencils went, but it seemed like they had a shelf life of one school day before they had to be replaced.
But I blame myself for the great pencil drain. There was a period where I traveled a lot for business and I always brought home the disposable pen from the hotel room. I reasoned that way when one of the kids needed a pen - voila - no trip to the store needed! Of course as soon as my desk drawer began to sag under the weight of all those pens, mechanical pencils were all the rage and pens were as welcome as a Barney lunch box.
So for you intrepid parents out there taking a second mortgage to load up for another year of school supplies - we won’t mention the PTA, booster clubs, annuals, parking passes, t-shirts, lunch tickets, locker fees, gym suits, etc. - I salute you. I have been where you have been and I feel your pain.
And if you need a pen, call me.
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Cityhood movements send strong message to counties
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The folks over in Dunwoody voted last week to become a city, following our lead. Those in favor tallied around 80 percent of the vote, meaning they didn’t vote “yes” they voted “Hell yes!”
It was three years ago June that we Sandy Springsteens overwhelmingly voted to incorporate as a city, and we were followed by Milton, Johns Creek and Chattahoochee Hill Country. And more will follow, I’m sure.
There is no doubt in my mind that becoming a city was a good thing. We had been ill-served by Fulton County for decades. I have since wondered whether we would be a city today if 10 years ago the Fulton County Commission realized the discontent they were creating and started making moves to clean up their act.
And I’m more amazed that other county governments, like DeKalb, haven’t seen the number of cities that have escaped from under the thumb of county rule in the last three years and tried to make an effort to make life better for the communities in their borders.
This is not advanced government we’re talking here. It doesn’t take a genius to see that metro Atlanta counties have suddenly become vulnerable to losing millions is tax revenue by seeing communities incorporate. Some have estimated that cityhood for Dunwoody will cost DeKalb $15 million. That’s going to be a very bitter pill to choke down.
I once posed the question in this space, is there anyone out there willing to offer an argument that we were better off under Fulton County. I had no takers then and I doubt I’m going to find one this time out.
There is no measurement by which I can see that becoming a city was a bad idea. Has it cured all the ills here in our little town? Of course not. But problems that have been years in the making are not cleaned up in two or three years.
But, by becoming our own city we at last had our own mayor and city council representatives to attack those problems, instead of the absentee landlord that was the Fulton County Commission.
Which begs the question - are county governments learning a lesson here or are they on their way to becoming irrelevant?
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