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Senate passes smoking ban
Posted at: Thursday, March 4, 2004, 02:15 PM
A statewide ban on indoor smoking, including restaurants and bars, overwhelmingly passed in the Senate Thursday.
“It’s time to take action to allow every Georgian the right to breath smoke-free air,” said Sen. Don Thomas (R-Dalton), sponsor of the bill. Thomas, a doctor for more than 40 years, argued the bill would help all Georgians by reducing the state’s Medicaid costs for smoking-related illnesses and perhaps encourage current smokers to light up less frequently.
The ban passed 45-7, with relatively little debate.
Some amendments to the bill’s original language also passed, including a provision that excludes small businesses that are not restaurants or bars from the ban. As a result, private businesses with seven or fewer employees, such as small offices, could allow indoor smoking.
— Sonji Jacobs, Staff writer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Permalink | Categories: Today's update
Payday loan bill approved
Posted at: Thursday, March 4, 2004, 01:45 PM
Both the House and Senate today approved a compromise version of a bill designed to shut down already-illegal “payday loans.” The legislation, which would take effect May 1, goes to the governor for signature.
After weeks of intense lobbying, the bill that was passed would give law enforcement the tools to prosecute those who issue short-term loans of $500 or less at interest rates that sometimes top 1,000 percent.
Payday loans already are illegal in Georgia, because they violate the state’s usury cap of 60 percent a year. But prosecutors have had little incentive to bring cases to court, because the offense is a misdemeanor and any punishment would be light.
The proposed law allows for prosecutors to charge violators with racketeering, which could mean as much as 20 years in prison.
Also, victims of such predatory lending practices could file class-action lawsuits and potentially recover substantial sums of money.
Under the proposed law, all lenders must be licensed, and those permits will be granted based on the needs of the community. Such lenders may not charge more interest than the law now allows, which is 5 percent a month or 60 percent a year.
Payday lending has proliferated in Georgia, particularly around military bases. The practice is to offer loans of a few hundred dollars until the next payday. The fees, however, translates into the high interest rates when borrowers cannot satisfy the debt on the next payday and have to roll over the loan and pay more fees.
Critics have described the practice as a financial treadmill for recipients but a lucrative practice for lenders.
Supporters of the industry argue that the payday-loan business meets a demand of the working poor, who do not qualify for loans from banks.
— Rhonda Cook, Staff writer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Dem’s counter with own gay marriage ban bill
Posted at: Thursday, March 4, 2004, 01:12 PM
The House and Senate both convened at 10 a.m. today for Day 29 of the 40-day session of the 2004 General Assembly.
In the House this morning, Rep. Jeanette Jamieson (D-Toccoa) introduced another constitutional amendment against gay marriage, House Resolution 1470.
Jamieson is one of the House members who voted against the Republican version, Senate Resolution 595, last week, when it failed by three votes of passing on the House floor.
Jamieson and many House Democrats are worried that the language in the Republican resolution would deny some existing benefits offered by some companies to domestic partners.
The Senate resolution is pending in the House Rules Committee.
On the other side of the Capitol today, the Senate is debating a bill that would ban smoking in public buildings across the state.
Restaurant associations have said they support the measure, because it would standardize such restrictions and they would not have to deal with a number of different local ordinances.
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff
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General Assembly to reconvene Thursday
Posted at: Wednesday, March 3, 2004, 04:39 PM
The House and Senate are in recess today for committee meetings and constituent work. The 2004 General Assembly resumes Thursday with Day 29 of the 40-day legislative session.
Permalink | Categories: Today's update
Flag flap ‘finally over,’ says lawmaker
Posted at: Wednesday, March 3, 2004, 12:42 PM
Boosters of Georgia’s current red, white and blue flag, which sailed to an easy referendum victory Tuesday night, declared a two-decade fight over the appropriate use of Confederate imagery on the state flag over.
Confederate history enthusiasts who want to restore a banner dominated by the Rebel “X,” said they have not yet begun to fight.
“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning,” said William Lathem, spokesman of the Southern Heritage Political Action Committee at a rally on the steps of the state Capitol Wednesday morning.
Members of this group, which fought unsuccessfully to include a flag dominated by the Confederate battle emblem in Tuesday’s referendum, said they will now take their fight to the summer and fall elections, where they will attempt to unseat lawmakers they blame for lowering a flag that had flown over Georgia from 1956- 2001.
But supporters of the current flag, which is modeled after a Confederate flag that did not include the Rebel battle emblem, said Tuesday’s vote has put an end to this fight. With 96 percent of the vote counted Wednesday, almost 80 percent of those casting votes chose the current flag over the temporary blue and gold banner that flew over Georgia from 2001 until last year.
“This is a great victory for Georgia,” said state Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta). “The long debate over our state flag is finally over.”
Gov. Sonny Perdue, who had pushed for a referendum, hailed the outcome while noting that he proposed including the 1956 flag.
“While I recommended that an additional choice be available to the people, the Legislature came to a different conclusion and I respected their decision.
“I believe the people chose a beautiful banner, which reflects our history and heritage and I will be proud to see it continue to fly over Georgia.”
— Ben Smith, Staff writer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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What they’re saying at the polls
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 05:37 PM
Mick Boxer, 45, a video producer and Renee Daniel, 38, a private tutor, both from Virginia Highlannd, cast Democratic ballots.
Both said they “angry” about the Bush performance, though Boxer preferred to call himself “extremely dissastified…..Bush has been a disaster, but anger implies a loss of control. You can evaluate his performance dispassionately and still realize it’s been a disaster.”
Daniel sees opposition to the war in Iraq as the issue most on her mind in voting for president, though both said they support the troops in Iraq.
“Bush has polarized this country in how wealth is distributed,” Daniel said. “He is so blatantly iin the pocket of big business and the military industrial complex.”
Boxer and Daniel said they voted for Kerry.
“I initially liked Edwards,” said Daniel. But she felt the Democrats need to unite behind Kerry as the probable nominee and “a candidate who can beat Bush.”
Metro reporter Bill Montgomery
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Turnout slow in Fayette County
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 05:28 PM
Turnout in Fayette County was low, several precinct mangers said.
The voting precinct at Heritage Church in Fayetteville, is one of the largest in the county with about 2500 voters. The typical turnout is about 75 percent. But only about 300 people had voted by 4 p.m. precinct manger Exa Bryan.
“I don’t know where everyone is,” Bryan said.
Turnout was slow, yet steady at the United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.
Precinct manager Tom Zaworski wondered if the early voting that occured last week was the reason.
The mangers said there have been few problems with the new touch-screen voting machines.
“We’ve had nothing but favorable reactions from the voters,” Zaworski said. “It has been a real joy.”
Bryan said some people were anxious and hit buttons too fast.
“The problems have not been with the computers,” Bryan said. “You could say the few problems we’ve had are with the people using them. People just seem anxious today. But overall things have gone smoothly.”
Fayette reporter Laura Diamond
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Ballot confusion reported in DeKalb County
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 04:58 PM
Some DeKalb County voters complained they didn’t get to vote in the Democratic presidential primary, said DeKalb Democratic Party chairman Don Brothers.
Brothers said he raised the issue with state election officials after hearing about it from the Kerry campaign. He commended both state and DeKalb election officials for swiftly spreading word to poll managers to try to help voters avoid getting the wrong electronic ballot.
Linda Lattimore, DeKalb’s election supervisor, said DeKalb election workers try to avoid problems by allowing voters to choose for themselves which application to fill out. And she said notices are posted at each voting machine advising voters to stop touching the screen if they suspect a problem.
“Don’t just keep hitting around on the machine,” she advised. A poll manager can cancel any ballot and get a new one — until the voter hits the last button to cast the ballot. After that, the vote can’t be changed.
“We couldn’t go in the ballot box before and get it out, and we can’t go in that machine and get it out,” she said.
Brothers said he blamed the problems on the uniqueness of having a special election coincide with a presidential primary. He took a swipe at Republicans for engineering the timing: “They did it because George W. didn’t want this flag issue on the general election ballot.”
DeKalb reporter David Simpson
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What they’re saying at the polls
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 04:53 PM
Virginia Highlands resident Katy Morrisey, 35, brought her children, Natalie,3, and Andrew,1, to the precinct at Grace Lutheran Church on N. Highland Avenue where she voted Tuesday morning.
A political independant, Morrisey said she was “somewhat satisfied — something between satisfied and disatisfied” with the Bush administration’s performance.
However, she cast a Democratic ballot for Edwards, “probably the strongest choice for the Democratic party.”
The last presidential election, Morrisey voted for Bush; she was living in Nashville and did not vote in the last Georgia gubernatorial election.
The most important issue to Morrisey is “national security”, ecompassing the war in Iraq and terrorism. “The way America is seen in the world right now … there are people who want to harm us, and I don’t want my children to grow up with fear.”
Morrisey did not vote on the state flag. “Having been here only a year, I didn’t feel like Georgia is my home yet.”
Metro reporter Bill Montgomery
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Some Fulton voters get wrong ballot
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 04:23 PM
Voters in Fulton County complained today that they were not able to cast a ballot in the Democratic presidential primary.
Some voters apparently filled out the wrong voter certification form and received the ballot that allowed them to vote only between two choices for the state flag and not for any presidential candidate.
“There’s a lot of confusion,” said April Pye, administrative chief for the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections. “They’re saying, ‘I didn’t come to vote for the flag. I came to vote for president.’” Pye said several people had called Fulton elections offices to complain.
Permalink | Categories: Super Tuesday
Plenty of time for reading, chatting
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 04:13 PM
Voting at the Kedron Fieldhouse and Aquatic Center precinct in Peachtree City, like most precincts around the metro area, was light.
Fifteen to 20 minutes passed between voters, precinct manager Jackie Barr said. By 12:30 p.m. only 130 of about 2,400 registered voters had cast their ballots. And Barr said she wasn’t expecting her 10 election workers to be any busier later on today.
“This is definitely a Republican area and this is definitely a Democratic primary.”
They were prepared for a heavier turnout, Barr said. The voting moved from a small community room to the center’s gymnasium this year. Ten voting machines were sent out. But the workers have spent most of their day chatting with each other, reading, and waiting.
Barr said many of the voters are crossovers from the Republican Party.
One of them was Coy Perkins, 49, a showroom manager at the Atlanta Gift Mart.
She voted for Sen. John Edwards.
“I like him a whole lot better than [Sen. John] Kerry,” Perkins said. “I will vote for Bush” in November.
Fayette reporter Rochelle Carter
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What they’re saying at the polls
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 04:02 PM
Retired librarian Martha Hughes said she voted for John Kerry in Tuesday’s Democrat primary. She feels anger toward President Bush, she said, because Bush has “done a lot of damage” to the environment and is “pitting the rich against the poor.”
Hughes, a Democrat who votes in the East Valley precinct in East Cobb listed taxes, education, the war in Iraq, health care, the economy and jobs as priorities and she doesn’t think Bush is doing a good job with any of them.
Bob Camp, 61, a Republican who voted at the Power Ferry Precinct 01, believes Bush has done a good job.
Cobb reporter Kristina Torres
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Low turnout in West Cobb
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 03:58 PM
At Dowell Elementary School in West Cobb 114 Democrats and 45 Republicans had cast ballots by early afternoon. Five voters opted to take ballots for the flag vote only. Poll manager Diane Huie said she expects a very low turnout of 10-12 percent of the 2,685 registered voters in the precinct.
Cherokee bureau chief Tom Opdyke
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Low turnout continues into the afternoon
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 03:24 PM
From staff reports
Few people were casting ballots as Super Tuesday dragged into the afternoon.
At the Heritage Precinct in Woodstock, only 91 voters had cast a ballot in the presidential primary and state flag referendum by 2 p.m.
“It’s very slow,” said poll manager Kaye Thrasher. We were told to expect a 30 percent turnout. A rush for us is three people.”
Thrasher said a few people are apprehensive about using the machines for the first time. “But we showed them what to do and they came out smiling, saying ‘That was so easy.’”
Statewide, there was “light turnout” as of mid-afternoon, said Cara Hodgson, public information officer for the secretary of state’s office.
Secretary of State Cathy Cox, who oversees elections, had earlier predicted that 26 percent of Georgia’s registered voters, or slightly more than one million citizens, would participate in Tuesday’s Presidential Preference Primary and Special Advisory Flag Referendum.
As of Feb. 1, Georgia had 3,919,403 voters on its active voter roll.
The special referendum on the flag caused a little confusion early this morning at some precincts, said Hodgson, but the matter was quickly resolved.
Hodgson said there were three ballots voters could choose; Democratic, Republican and one listing just the flag referendum.
Many voters wanting to vote in the presidential primary mistakenly used a “special election ballot,” which listed just the flag question, said Hodgson.
“Normally we do not have [a statewide special referendum] in a presidential preference primary” and that contributed to the confusion, said Hodgson.
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What they’re saying at the polls
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 03:11 PM
Turnout was low at the East Valley precinct in East Cobb County where only 180 of 2,327 registered voters had cast ballots by noon.
Airline pilot Chris Franklin cast his ballot for George Bush “with reservations.” Franklin said Bush hasn’t addressed problems in the Middle East.
“He’s got an opportunity with his administration in place to deal with issues that will be critical.” A “new guy,” he said, wouldn’t have a chance to react as quickly.
Nancy O’Neill also was more enthusiastic about voting for the president.
A graphic artist, who lives in East Cobb, O’Neill said she supports Bush because he cut taxes and the economy is improving.
East Cobb Realtor Carolyn Llorente, 56, was also enthusiastic about supporting Bush because, she said, “Things are turning around.”
Llorente said she hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter because there hasn’t been a candidate she liked. “I think the Democratic Party has changed tremendously.”
Cobb reporter Kristina Torres
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What they’re saying at the polls
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 02:39 PM
“It’s been a bad few years,” said stay-at-home mom Christy Myrick, 35,, who lives in the Atlanta neighborhood of Kirkwood and voted at the Boulevard Precinct. “I’d like to see a good few years, if not more, economy-wise.”
A Democrat, Myrick voted for Kerry.
Myrick also voted for the Perdue flag. “I had heard — and I might be wrong — that if that flag is chosen, there won’t be any more discussion, and it will be over finally.”
Michael Perry, 42, a postal worker who also lives in Kirkwood, also voted for the Perdue flag. “Only because — only because — I’m of the understanding this will be the last time this issue would be debated.”
Perry, a Democrat, also cast a vote for Kerry. “I like the fact that he seems to listen to all sides. … A president has to be decisive in a final analysis, but you have to pull all sides together.”
Metro reporter Jill Young Miller
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How slow was it? Three people considered a “rush” at Woodstock precinct
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 02:27 PM
The turnout was low at the Heritage Precinct in Woodstock, poll manager Kaye Thrasher said.
Only 91 had showed up as of 2 p.m..
“It’s very slow,” she said. We were told to expect a 30 percent turnout. A rush for us is three people.”
Thrasher said a few people are apprehensive about using the machines for the first time. “But we showed them what to do and they came out smiling, saying ‘That was so easy’.”
At Canton “C” polling place at Teasley Middle School poll manager Charles Cash, about 140 of the 2,553 registered voters had showed up as of 1 p.m.
“It’s been a slow steady pace,” Cash said. “Everything’s been trouble free.”
Cherokee reporter Doug Payne
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Bill would relax lawyer, bail bond rules
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 11:40 AM
The House voted 152-9 Tuesday for a bill that would allow attorneys to have a financial stake in a bail bonding business.
The bill would prohibit attorneys from managing the company and representing clients who obtain bond from a bail bond business in which the attorney has an ownership interest.
House Bill 1206 takes out a previous section of the current law that made it unlawful for any elected official, officer of the court, law enforcement officer, or attorney to engage either directly or indirectly in the bail bond business.
— Ernie Suggs, Staff writer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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What they’re saying at the polls
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 11:35 AM
Willene Mitchell, a 58-year-old unemployed grill cook said she voted for Kerry.
“I think he’ll make a better president,” said Mitchell, voting at the Boulevard Precinct in Atlanta. “Plus he’s got that Kennedy look to him and I always was fond of the Kennedys.”
Metro reporter Jill Young Miller
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What they’re saying at the polls
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 11:23 AM
At the Dixie Precinct in Cherokee County, John Snipes, 55, cast his vote for Democrat John Edwards, “because he’s more in touch with the South and the country as a whole.”
Asked what issues are important to him, Snipes said, “A conglomorate that includes the economy, the war and jobs.”
Cherokee reporter Doug Payne
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Kirkwood goes to the polls
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 11:22 AM
Daryl Johnson poll manager at the Boulevard Precinct in Kirkword said turnout was steady but “not overwhelming.”
By 10:45 a.m. there had been 214 voters, said Johnson.
“It’s a strong community for voting,” Johnson said, adding that about 70 percent of voters in the pricinct are are African-American. “They take voting very seriously in this area.
Metro reporter Jill Young Miller
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Gay marriage ban bill stays in committee
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 11:01 AM
As expected, the House Rules Committee passed on re-introducing Senate Resolution 595 to the full house this morning.
The controversial bill, which would only recognize the union of a man and a women, was thrown back to the Rules Committee Monday after the House voted 127-48 to reconsider.
Last week, the Republican-sponsored bill missed passage by only three votes. Rules Chair Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) did not give a timetable of when the bill would be discussed.
Smyre said that other pressing issues, including budget cuts, need to be dealt with first.
— Ernie Suggs, Staff writer, Atlanta-Journal Constitution
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A (good) shot in the arm for voting
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 10:59 AM
Voters were lined up outside Liberty Baptist Church in northeast Fayette County before 7 a.m. waiting for the polls to open this morning. Shortly after 9 a.m. 120 people had already voted out of 2,147 registered voters who live in the voting district, precinct manager JoAnn Bailey said.
“We’ve had steady turnout,” Bailey said, adding that she expects another rush at lunchtime and at the end of the work day.
Bailey said voters approached the electronic voting machines with trepidation, much like a child anticipates getting a vaccination shot at the doctor’s office. But they realized their fear of the machine was over nothing, she said.
“They love these machines,” Bailey said. “They just love them!”
Fayette reporter Rochelle Carter
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What they’re saying at the polls
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 10:50 AM
Will Terpening, 27, of the Kirkwood neighborhood in Atlanta, said he voted in the Democrat primary for John Kerry.
Terpening said he voted Bush in the last election.
“I was a Democrat and I swung over to vote for Bush. I’ll never make that mistake with that party again,” he said.
Terpening said Kerry seems to know important issues.
” I think he has a more responsible view of foreign relations, which is my main concern about George Bush.”
He voted for the new flag.
“I just felt like it is a more assertive symbol,” he said. “To me a flag should not be a history lesson. It should be a part of history. It should be an artifact.”
On electronic voting, he said, “I think it’s great. It’s easy to use; it’s a lot more voter friendly.”
Metro reporter Jill Young Miller
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Flat Shoals voting steady
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 10:46 AM
At the YMCA on Flat Shoals road in Decatur about 130 people had voted as of about 10 a.m. poll manager Viola Vaughen said.
She said turnout had been steady but not overwhelming. Vaughen said voters had no problem using the touch-screen voting machines.
Metro reporter Etan Horowitz
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Glitch in Fulton flagged
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 10:17 AM
Glitches were reported in Fulton County, where some of the electronic voting machines would allow voters to only cast ballots on the nonbinding state flag referendum, but not in presidential primary.
“We had machine problems when we first started,” said John H. Watson, poll manager at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Peachtree Street.
“Wouldn’t anything turn up on the computers, nothing but the flag,” Watson said.
He said the glitch was remedied after a call to the elections office, and only two of the approximately 90 voters to cast ballots by 10 a.m. encountered the problem.
Metro reporter Mike Morris
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Early turnout is steady
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 08:57 AM
Poll managers at several metro Atlanta precincts reported a steady stream of voters during the early stages of Tuesday’s presidential primary.
Voting at DeKalb’s Little Five Points Community Center had been “really, really steady,” during the first hour and a half, said assistant poll manager Jackie Grier.
Grier said about 20 voters were waiting when the doors opened.
“Usually, on a presidential election in November, we see a pretty good turnout, but for this to be March, it’s real good,” Grier said.
At Morris Brandon Elementary School in northwest Atlanta, 10 voters were in line when the polls opened at 7 a.m., and about 40 people cast ballots during the first hour, said poll manager Jarvis King.
“Our precinct is a precinct in which the constituents generally come out and vote, so for us, this is kind of normal,” King said.
At Medlock Elementary School in DeKalb, 46 Democrat and four Republican ballots had been voted by 7:30, according to Patricia Warren, the poll manager.
She said the precinct traditionally has a higher then average turnout.
Warren said there were some initial problems with the access cards for the voting machines. She said that two or three times, the machine wouldn’t take the card because it wasn’t encoded.
By 7:30, she said the problem had been worked out.
At Cobb County’s Hollydale precinct, 100 out of 2,200 voters had cast ballots by 8:30 a.m.
Poll manager Jerrie Davis said that no one had reported any problems with the voting machines there.
“Everybody’s just as happy as they can be — no questions. They’ve done great,” he said.
While light rain was falling in Lawrenceville, Cartersville and Gainesville when the polls opened at 7 a.m., dry conditions prevailed over most of the state.
However, the election day forecast calls for 40 to 60 percent chance of showers across the northern half of the state.
— Metro reporters Mike Morris, Bill Montgomery and Doug Payne
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Electronic elections, almost
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 08:33 AM
Nine people lined up at Midvale Elementary School in Tucker before polls opened at 7 a.m., much to the surprise of poll workers, who were still setting up.
But while voting is electronic, the process of getting a ballot is still done by hand. So when the polling place opened, the congestion was, well, not as bad as the outer Perimeter at rush hour, but almost (well, at least it seemed that way at 7 in the morning).
The initial bottleneck came at the first table, when voters had to fill out the form asking for their name, address and in which election they were voting. The second backup was in the line to verify that they were registered to vote so they can receive an electronic ballot card. In a fit of logic and optimism (and no doubt probability), there are two lines for such a purpose, one for voters whose last names start with A-K and another L-Z. Only thing was, nearly all the voters had last names starting with L-Z.
Still, the actual voting on the touchscreen computers was so fast it more than made up for the minor, upfront delays.
Permalink | Comments (106) | Categories: Super Tuesday
Man crows virtues of Big Chicken flag
Posted at: Monday, March 1, 2004, 03:57 PM
One man’s love for Georgia … and the Big Chicken, is unflappable.
While hundreds outside the state Capitol hooted and hollered for, or against, a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, Johnny D’Farmer tried to scratch up support for a new state flag featuring Marietta’s famed oversized hen.
Dressed in overalls, green-and-white striped shirt and yellow bandana, the two-time unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Marietta passed out fliers displaying the Big Chicken Flag alongside standards he labelled “The Early Georgia Flag,” “The Roy Barnes Flag,” and “The Sonny Perdue Flag.”
“Thousand of Georgians love the Big Chicken,” proclaimed D’Farmer, chairman of the board of the Friends of the Big Chicken Association.
“We all live in the shadow of the Big Chicken,” D’Farmer pressed to passersby, his dyed-red hair burning as brightly as his desire to honor the Cobb County landmark.
“We can all learn from her. Her flag would unite us, not divide us,” he crowed, loud and as proud as any Georgia rooster.
— Patricia Guthrie, ajc.com
Permalink | Categories: Georgia flag
Capitol rally winds down
Posted at: Monday, March 1, 2004, 02:27 PM
As the Georgia General Assembly reconvened Monday afternoon to reconsider a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, more than a thousand Georgians vigorously exercised their right to free speech.
Though the invective was heated at times, police reported no major incidents or injuries.
Police officers used Washington Street, and about 10 police cars, to divide the protesters and supporters of the proposed amendment that gathered. Reporters at the scene estimated estimated the gay rights crowd as numbering about 700 people and the pro-amendment gathering at 1,500 to 2,000.
The crowd was not shy.
“This is not just a gay issue. It’s about amending a constitution. That is a drastic action and shouldn’t be taken lightly,” said Beth Kirch, a placement director at the University of Georgia Law School. “It shouldn’t be taken lightly. It shouldn’t be a symbolic act. It shouldn’t be a political strategy to bring out a certain group of people to vote.”
“There are a lot of Christians here today who say no to this amendment … real Christians,” added Kirch, who said she was heterosexual.
Zack Baxter, of Marietta, had a different opinion.
“I am here to support God,” Baxter said. “I want to make sure the sewers of sodomy don’t get in my yard.”
Baxter, on the Capitol side of the street with other supporters of the amendment, yelled, “You hate God!” at his opponents. A nearby sign said “Homo Sex is a Sin.”
A 13-year-old girl told gays they were going to hell. Two Boy Scouts held signs railing against gay marriage.
“Look at them,” said Robert Janssen, of Atlanta. “They look like Hitler Youth.”
Marianne Seggerman said she was disturbed by all of the religious vitriol.
“I came into the gay rights movement as a result of my faith,” said the Roman Catholic. “I’m sadden by the young people that they are bringing down here.
Across the street from the Capitol at Talmadge Square, Katheryn Preston and Freda Bonaparte snacked on fast food while watching the demonstrations. The two women work for the Georgia Coalition to End Homelessness and were at the Capitol to meet with the Cobb County delegation to discuss funding issues.
“We’re sitting here taking notes,” said Preston, 52, of Marietta. “It’s an incredible movement. We wish we could get our folks so organized around homeless issues and concerns.”
Shortly before noon, several busloads of church groups from across the state arrived at the Capitol, unloading conservatively-dressed Christians who immediately encountered gay-rights activists as they approached the Capitol steps.
Ann Goff and several of her neighbors from Waycross traveled 240 miles to attend the rally in support of traditional marriage.
“I believe God instituted marriage between a man and a woman,” Goff said. “Those are His laws. I don’t think it’s in man’s place to change those laws. We’re making a choice here to either follow God’s way or man’s way. God can not bless a nation that is not obedient to Him.”
Goff, who attends Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, said her view is not intended to be hateful or discriminatory toward gays and lesbians. Goff said she believes that “recognizing homosexuality as a sin is not equivalent to discounting the person’s worth.”
At other times, however, the showdown between gay rights activists and supporters of the constitutional ban became much more testy.
As opponents of the proposed amendment sang “America the Beautiful,” a supporter of the gay marriage ban waved a sign that said, “Three Gay rights: AIDS, Hell, Salvation.”
Another sign said, “All queers will burn in hell unless they repent.”
A man speaking with a microphone and loudspeaker ended the pro-amendment portion of the rally.
“If God is going to let you into heaven, he is going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah for burning those cities to the ground. Do you think God is going to apologize? … It makes him want to vomit when he looks down here and sees that,” he said as he pointed across the street at the anti-amendment contingent.
Chris Graham, pastor of Church of the Savior in Roswell, while listening to the closing remarks, said the issue was not a religious matter, but one of civil liberties. “The constitution should not be used to enshrine or codify discrimination,” he said. “This issue has already been decided in Fortune 500 boardrooms.”
— Cameron McWhirter, Milo Ippolito, Ernie Suggs, Etan Horowitz, Mae Gentry, Steve Visser, ajc.com
Permalink | Categories: Gay Marriage Ban
House votes to reconsider gay marriage ban amendment
Posted at: Monday, March 1, 2004, 02:22 PM
The House voted overwhelmingly this afternoon to reconsider Senate Resolution 595, which would amend the Georgia Constitution to add a prohibition of gay marriage.
The vote was 127-48. SR 595 has now been placed on the House general calendar.
The House Rules Committee must now place the resolution on its calendar in order for it to come up for a vote before the full House again. The Rules Committee meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
The resolution failed by three votes Thursday to get the required 120 of 180 votes in the House. Rep. Bill Hembree (R-Douglasville) gave notice Thursday immediately after the vote to have the measure reconsidered, a fairly common procedural move.
Shortly before 2 p.m. today, Hembree rose and asked that SR 595 be reconsidered.
Rep. Nan Orrock, the House Majority Whip, objected to the reconsideration. Her objection required a vote to be taken on the reconsideration. The vote was immediately taken with no debate.
— Carlos Campos, ajc.com
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Democrat blasts ‘gun barrel’ politics on gay issue
Posted at: Monday, March 1, 2004, 01:16 PM
State Rep. John Noel (D-Atlanta) has announced that, even though he opposes gay marriage, he will not vote on the proposed constitutional amendment to ban it, in large part because of the pressure to take a stand on the issue.
“I am opposed to gay marriage,” the District 44 lawmaker wrote in a statement faxed on his House of Representatives letterhead. “I also oppose the partisan, at the barrel of a gun, attempt to embarrass Democrats nationally with this issue.”
On Senate Resolution 595, which is scheduled to come back before the state House today on a motion for reconsideration, Noel wrote: “I have decided to abstain from the vote in protest of gun barrel partisan politics. We don’t need to be forced to spend precious time on this explosive but unimportant issue that is already law in Georgia.”
On Thursday, Noel had an excused absence and did not vote when the resolution calling for an amendment failed by three votes to pass the House. The measure already has passed the Senate.
Noel was one of 12 representatives not to record a vote on the issue, although the lone Republican in the group said his machine malfunctioned and asked the House clerk to record him as a “yes” vote.
The reconsideration motion, which needs a simple majority, or 91 of the 180 House members, is expected to pass this afternoon.
If so, the anti-gay-marriage proposal would be eligible to come back before the House, possibly Tuesday. Proposed constitutional amendments require two-thirds approval in both chambers of the Legislature, or 120 House votes.
Noel, who is a white man, represents a majority-black district in northwest Atlanta and southeast Cobb County, after defeating 30-year African-American incumbent Billy McKinney in the 2002 Democratic primary.
— James Salzer, ajc.com
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Crowd moved out of Capitol
Posted at: Monday, March 1, 2004, 12:36 PM
Hundreds of protesters both against and for gay marriage crammed into the Capitol Monday were ordered out into the street at noon, because police said the crowds violated fire safety standards.
Proponents and opponents of a proposed amendment to the Georgia constitution banning gay marriage gathered on each side of Washington Street carrying signs and chanting.
Estimates are that there are 500 supporters of the Christian Coalition on hand and about 150 Georgia Equality activists. The two groups are being kept apart by police. There have been no major incidents or arrests, police said. Two gay rights protesters briefly sat down in the street to stop traffic, but they went back to the sidewalk and they were not arrested.
Senate Resolution 595, which narrowly failed last week in the state House of Representatives, is expected to be debated and voted on again this week, possibly Tuesday.
A House vote last week on the proposed amendment fell three votes short of passage. State law requires a constitutional amendment pass the House with a two-thirds majority or 120 votes. Gay marriage already is illegal under state law, but the ban is not codified in the constitution.
— Cameron McWhirter, ajc.com
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Protesters rally at Capitol
Posted at: Monday, March 1, 2004, 10:15 AM
Political foes gathered Monday morning for a show of force at the state Capitol, where legislators will vote on whether to reconsider a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.
Senate Resolution 595, which narrowly failed last week in the state House of Representatives, is expected to be debated and voted on again this week, possibly Tuesday.
A House vote last week on the proposed amendment fell three votes short of passage. State law requires a constitutional amendment pass the House with a two-thirds majority or 120 votes. Gay marriage already is illegal under state law, but the ban is not codified in the constitution.
As noon approached and the sun came out after a morning of cold, gray skies, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Capitol. Supporters of the amendment were placed by police on the sidewalk along Washington Street north of the capitol steps. Several gave speeches about the Bible and homosexuality using megaphones. Amendment opponents were gathered south of the steps with signs.
Bill Adams, a street preacher in a navy suit, gripped his Bible and prayed for the amendment to pass.
Adams said that he “did not come down here to preach at people,” but homosexuality “is a destructive lifestyle in addition to being prohibited by the Bible.”
Bill Ball, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in the west Georgia town of Primrose, stood on capitol steps with two other men carrying a sign declaring, “I now pronounce you pervert and pervert.”
“I guess it’s shock therapy because you’ve got three or four seconds for people to go by, and you want to make them think,” he said.
Down the street, gay rights activist Michael Knight, 41, of east Atlanta carried a sign declaring “You call that Christian?”
Some two dozen children from East Side Christian School in Marietta made their way across Washington Street. Cathy Wells, a mother who was among the group’s chaperons, said the children had visited the office of state Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta), who supports the gay marriage ban amendment and talked with the students about government and the sanctity of marriage.
“So they are aware of the issue,” Wells said, referring to the battle over the proposed amendment. “They can hardly avoid it,” she said as the crowd grew outside the capital.
Wells said she, too, has talked with her 10-year-old son about the controversy. “I tell him that marriage was ordained by God as between a man and a woman.”
“We [Christians] don’t hate anybody,” Wells said. “We pray for them.”
Inside, About 300 opponents of the proposed amendment, including 20 members of the clergy, packed into room 506.
Margaret Aymer, a professor on leave from Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, told the crowd she “heard the dangerous sound of history repeating itself.”
“I stand before you a female, Christian, Presbyterian minister [and] … I come from a people who have had their subhuman status inscribed into the text of the Constitution of the United States of America,” she said. ” … I stand with the [Presbyterian] general assemblies of 1978 and 1987 that ruled ‘there is no legal social or moral justification for denying homosexual person access to the basic requirements of human social existence.’”
Jill Chambers, the only House Republican to vote against the proposed amendment, spoke briefly to opponents of the amendment while sharing a Capitol elevator.
“We will vote for liberty,” said Chambers as she headed to work.
The Central Presbyterian Church, across the street from the Capitol, opened its doors to those opposed to the amendment.
John Huss, a church elder, said his church leadership sent a unanimous resolution to the Legislature last month against the amendment. The amendment would serve “not to protect marriage but to institutionalize discrimination,” he said.
“Not all Christians are on the same side of this issue,” Huss said.
Earlier this morning, at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse on the east side of Atlanta, a small group of about 12 gay men and women gathered before heading to the Capitol on MARTA.
“It’s tough having a rally the morning after the Oscars,” quipped Philip Rafshoon, owner of the gay and lesbian bookstore in Midtown.
Rafshoon, wearing a gold band, said he has had a partner for eight years but never had a commitment ceremony. “We’re going to wait until we have the right,” said Rafshoon.
Stoney Stone, 18, from Chamblee, was in agreement. “I think we deserve just as much right to marriage as the heterosexuals. Love is love,” he said.
The Christian Coalition of Georgia placed notices in hundreds of church bulletins encouraging supporters to attend a noon rally today in the Capitol rotunda in favor of the ban.
“We’re still calling lawmakers,” Sadie Fields, the coalition’s Georgia director, said Sunday afternoon. “We believe the legislators will do the right thing and give the people of Georgia a vote on this incredibly critical issue.”
Dozens of Atlanta Police Department personnel will assist Capitol police with crowd control and traffic, said Atlanta Sgt. John Quigley.
“We’re working with the people there to allow them to express their First Amendment rights,” Quigley said. “We only hope that everybody participates in a lawful manner.”
While one drama brews outside the legislative chambers, another continues today inside the House. Republicans will move today for a reconsideration of the failed vote, a common procedural tactic with high-profile issues. That vote is likely to pass because it requires only a majority, or 91 votes. But because of House rules, another vote on SR 595 is not expected to come until Tuesday at the earliest.
It was unclear late Sunday how many people would show up for today’s rallies — estimates ranged from the low hundreds to several thousand. Thornell said he expects “several hundred” gay rights supporters to attend Georgia Equality’s 10 a.m. rally and stay to lobby House members, who return to the Capitol at 1 p.m.
Today’s Capitol rallies were planned before last Thursday’s House vote, but have taken on vastly more significance in its aftermath.
There was some speculation that House leaders fast-tracked last week’s vote to try to get it out of the way before today’s rallies and ease pressure on lawmakers. Many legislators say their e-mail in-boxes and fax machines have been jammed by messages from supporters and opponents of SR 595.
But the heat on lawmakers, especially Democrats who control the House, has not let up. Twelve House members did not vote and have been the focus of massive lobbying over the weekend as both sides try to win their favor. Eleven of them are Democrats.
The proposed ban passed in the Republican Senate three weeks ago, but was stymied in the House by a fragile coalition of African-American and urban, white Democrats. Conservative House Democrats — many from rural areas — sided with House Republicans and voted for the constitutional ban.
— Staff writers Cameron McWhirter, Milo Ippolito and Mae Gentry contributed to this article.
Permalink | Categories: Gay Marriage Ban
