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DEL.ICIO.USPublic must get a voice on Jekyll’s future
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For 92 cents a day, a sum that has not changed in 57 years and won’t change for 42 more, the People of Georgia rent some of the most desirable real estate within its borders to 623 homeowners on Jekyll Island.
The rate, for parcels that average about a third to a half-acre, was fixed for 99 years — a period now set to expire in 2049. A bill now before the Georgia General Assembly would extend the general oversight and management of Jekyll to the 9-member Jekyll Island Authority for another 50 years beyond that. The authority could then decide whether to extend individual leases for residential or commercial property for up to another 50 years, to 2099.
When the current 99-year leases on individual parcels expire, the authority could decide on its own whether to extend them and at what rates.
The Georgia House of Representatives last week agreed, 130-35, to extend the authority’s control over the island, which correctly markets itself as “Georgia’s Jewel,” for 50 more years. With it comes a license to develop the island and impose lease rates as the authority sees fit. State law, passed in 1971, limits development to “not more than thirty-five percent (35%) of the land area of Jekyll Island which lies above water at mean high tide.” Most of that has been utilized with existing residential, hotel, golf and commercial development.
Jekyll now has 10 hotel leases, said Bill Donohue, executive director of the authority. Of those, eight exist as hotels, six on the beach, one across the street and one in the historic district. The hotels generate about $2 million per year in revenue to the authority. Lease payments are subject to negotiation when properties change hands. The 623 residential properties generate $209,315 per year — a sum that does not escalate when properties are sold and is not adjusted to inflation.
The General Assembly in 1950 decreed that Jekyll should be affordable for “people of average income.” That’s certainly no longer the case with residential properties, most of which were built prior to 1970. A 35-year-old, three-bedroom, two-bath house on Jekyll now sells for $450,000, said Donohue, while the authority collects an average of $28 per month. If residential leases are extended when they expire in 42 years, “the idea would be to get them to pay market-based rates immediately,” Donohue said Monday.
The plain fact of the matter is, however, that questions about how to develop — or not develop — a Georgia treasure over the next 92 years should never be left to an unelected authority, whose members serve four-year terms. Nor should it be decided by a single governor or a General Assembly making decisions on the fly.
There’s no inherent reason to distrust the authority’s board or its stewardship. But if it’s granted a 50-year extension now, there’s nothing stopping five scalawags from calling a meeting on a Sunday afternoon 20 years from now and extending sweetheart leases over a valuable public asset for another half-century. Once it’s done, the public has no recourse. They can’t throw the bums out because the bums aren’t elected.
The fact is that two things should happen. Three really. The first is that the state Senate should defeat this bill to extend the Jekyll Island Authority’s management and oversight another 50 years past 2049. The reason is not because of bad management or because its board hasn’t shown responsible stewardship. It’s simply because decisions made now have consequences for the next five generations, at least.
The second thing that should happen is that a state commission be appointed to take recommendations from the Jekyll Island Authority and pull together a 92-year plan that spells out what percentage of the island is to be developed, what the phrase “affordable for people of average income” means, what density is to be allowed and where, and that makes clear to current residential leaseholders that a public asset will revert to public use in 2049. The property of 9 million Georgians is too valuable to assign to 623 individuals.
The third thing that should happen is that a state constitutional amendment should be drafted to reflect the will of the people of Georgia on how they want the island developed for the next five generations or more. It is far too consequential to be left to a single governor’s appointees or to a 40-day session of the General Assembly where legislators are shoveling words into law.
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By Mid-South Philosopher
March 27, 2007 8:16 AM | Link to this
Good morning, Jim,
I find that I am in agreement with you in regard to Jekyll Island. However, I feel, this morning, that I must change the subject and address the latest national boondoggle out of Washington.
Until yesterday, I could not imagine why Republican Senator Chuck Hagel and, to a much lesser degree, Republican Senator Arlen Specter would raise the “impeachment” word. I realize that both of these Republicans are not banner carriers of conservatism, but then, again, neither is Georgie Bush. However, a president can be as “politically seedy” as our present chief executive has been, but that does not rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors” which is required for impeachment.
Now, comes another “Monica” (how is that for poetic justice?). Monica Goodling, Justice Department liaison with the White House and aide to Attorney General Alphonso…excuse me…Alberto Gonzales, has announced that she will invoke her 5th Amendment protections and not testify before that “big, bad Congressional committee” that has already made up its mind and is out to get her.
The spirit of the Nixon White House lives.
My recommendations are as follow:
The committee should grant Goodling immunity for any crimes that she may have committed while being a part of this idiocy, put her sweet butt under oath, and see what she knows. If she still refuses to testify , hold her in contempt andlock her up. She is no better than Judith Miller or Susan McDougal. Georgie can pardon her the last week of his administration.
Second, the committee should subpoena Senator Pete Dominci and Representative Heather Wilson and hear their tales.
Better yet, Alphonso…excuse me…Alberto Gonzales could come clean.
I spent over 35 years seeking the truth from people. I may not always know when one is telling the truth, but I can almost always tell when one is lying. Alphoso…excuse me…Alberto is lying like a rug!
I still do not believe the President has committed an impeachable offense. However, some of his minions may have crossed the line. That being said, I would rather have Georgie there just swaggering along, totally oblivious to reality, and reeking of ineptitude until 2009 than to have “Shotgun” Cheney in the Oval Office.
By jbmlaw
March 27, 2007 8:19 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. The “model” in the Senate bill looks a lot like the the board that controls University of Georgia. I am unimpressed with the performance of that model, and I think most of Richard’s description of potential problems (at Jekyll) actually exist in the university model.
I have not visited Jekyll in the past 40 years, and I am thus incompetent to offer a positive suggestion on the island management. I anticipate reading informed analysis here today.
By Realist
March 27, 2007 8:44 AM | Link to this
Just dialing it in today Jim?
By HAROLD
March 27, 2007 8:59 AM | Link to this
WHY NOT LEAVE IT TO THE BAPTIST PREACHERS TO DECIDE ON A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ABOUT JECKYL ISLAND? VOTING IS FOR COMMUNISTS, AND EVEN WITH THEM IT’S ONLY FOR SHOW.
By Redneck Convert
March 27, 2007 9:03 AM | Link to this
As a real Libraritarian I think the state needs to keep its nose out of Jekyll. We need to let business be business. More hotels. More stores. More gas stations. And more things for us rednecks to do. I’m in favor of a yearly Redneck Games to let us show off how good we are down there. With cash prizes.
We could have a ladder-stacking contest with our panel trucks. The one that can stack ladders the highest wins. We could have a road-blocking contest to see who can spill the most ladders over the most lanes of a highway. We could have beer-chugging contests and a 4-wheeler race and all the good stuff we like. Instead of the sissy stuff there now.
I never went back to Jekyll after I learnt the only thing to do there is play golf and drink tea and eat and watch the sharks out in the water past the big rocks on the beach. And having to pay to get on to the island just stinks. If I wanted to pay to use a highway I would just stay on GA 400 toward downtown.
Anyway, it’s pretty clear Wooten’s time at the librul AJC is about up if this is all he can think to write about. He seems to have nothing else to do but walk down to the capital and watch house members and senators jawing. Pretty soon his life will be as useless as TFTT’s or Van’s or JohnD’s or Dusty the Housecoat Woman’s. Bitter old people that hate the world and want today to go away and become yesterday. He better put in for that warehouse job we got right quick. That way he can do something useful.
By JK
March 27, 2007 9:08 AM | Link to this
Hello Mr. Realist. Yes, Mr. Wooten is opting for a tame discussion today, but it is pertinent nonetheless. I’m somewhat surprised that he favors (if I’m not misreading his message here) tempering the tide of unbridled greed in favor of preserving the beauty of, and common man’s access to, this precious, limited coastal resource. Unlike the pricey resorts to which successful, well-married suburbanites take their families, Jekyll remains affordable to working folks because it hasn’t been fully raped by developers implementing the means to exact profitable returns on their rapes, I mean, investments.
Once tainted and spoiled, like virginity, the island’s innocence and simplistic natural beauty cannot be restored. Conserving the natural environment is REAL conservatism. Yay, Mr. Wooten!
By Jack
March 27, 2007 9:16 AM | Link to this
“will of the people”
What a joke. Politicians are in for 2 reasons: money and power. The hell with what the people want.
By DebbieDoRight
March 27, 2007 9:16 AM | Link to this
By Mid-South Philosopher — Good morning, Jim,I find that I am in agreement with you….
What a surprise!!
By Aquagirl
March 27, 2007 9:21 AM | Link to this
Let’s see…Jim can write once more about Bush good/Liberals bad, Iraq war good/peaceniks bad, etc. Or he can write about a relatively new subject that is germane to the residents of the State of Georgia, complete with financial figures and statistics. Why would anyone think that’s dialing it in? Just because it’s not the usual softball question to start the free-for-all on Dusty or TFTT vs. the libruls. doesn’t mean he’s “dialing it in”.
And you don’t have to visit Jekyll to know about this issue. Just go visit Hilton Head to see how developers can rape natural resources.
By Realist
March 27, 2007 9:25 AM | Link to this
zzzzzzzz
By Watta Load
March 27, 2007 9:33 AM | Link to this
This is a back burner issue that doesn’t really affect many Georgians…it’s no different from the alcohol sales issue which Jim said didn’t deserve a vote, even though a majority of Georgians desire that.
Jim, your journalistic credibility is fading faster than Bush’s popularity.
By Dennis
March 27, 2007 9:43 AM | Link to this
I do not recall who he was, but one state representative recently said that “there are some powerful people behind wanting to develop Jekyll Island”, or words to that effect.
Maybe Mr. Wooten would be so kind as to identify these “powerful people”.
Let’s see who the money grubbers are who want to build expensive condos that the average person cannot afford.
But if the folks under the gold dome cave-in, (and in some cases the urge to be re-elected will be the impetus to do so) “Georgia’s jewel” will be just like the north Georgia mountains, with houses and condos (mostly ugly) built on the crests and upper hillsides, and your neighbors from Atlanta, whom you wanted to get away from, will still be looking at you.
The unbridled development of the Georgia mountains is a disgrace.
And you folks in Atlanta are past the time when you should be thinking about just where your fresh drinking water is coming from.
People want to visit Jekyll because it is mostly undeveloped.
Let’s leave it that way.
You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
By Dusty
March 27, 2007 9:58 AM | Link to this
Aquagirl,
How thoughtful of you are to mention Hilton Head and its loss of natural resources and beauty.
Once it was a pleasant place of marshlands, ancient live oaks, little stores and homes still owned by descendents of original black families. Their voices would sing with the accents of ancient origins.
You could walk to the beach and wiggle your toes in the sand while watching shrimp boats in the distance with the soft sound of lapping tide.
The old tabby remains were there and an ancient crypt still stood under twisted oaks with doors open from the vandals that come with time.
You could dream with untouched lands of seabirds, fiddler crabs, saltwater creeks meandering though the backwater flats with the occasional flap of a jumping mullet. Oh yes, I remember how Hilton Head was before…before…….
SAVE JEKYLL!!! SAVE IT NOW!!!
By Gary Thomas
March 27, 2007 9:59 AM | Link to this
I grew up in Waycross and have spent a lot of time on Jekyll. There is more to do there than play golf, drink tea and watch sharks. It is a great place to bicycle, swim and fish. Why politicians think developers have to be turned loose on every inch of the coast is beyond me. There are plenty of places along the coast to stay in luxury hotel rooms, to drink in bars, to bungee jump, to see wet T-shirt contests. Jekyll is not broke, but Glenn Richardson’s developers will sure “fix” ie ruin it. Let him take his girlfriends to St. Simons.
By Realist
March 27, 2007 10:06 AM | Link to this
Best post you’ve written Dusty. Continue, please!
By MCoolick
March 27, 2007 10:16 AM | Link to this
Jekyll Island needs to stay undeveloped,however the hotels must be forced, in some way, to upgrade - The golf courses are fabulous and Johnny Paulk does a wonderful job there - the island is peaceful and quiet and serene and unpretentious - not so St. Simons, Hilton Head, etc.- leave it as it is !!!!!!!!
By getalife
March 27, 2007 10:30 AM | Link to this
Put some casinos there.
Strip clubs.
Porn shops.
For the tourists.
Geez.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 10:49 AM | Link to this
Inbred rednekkk’s compulsive doltish hate speech oozes out again, like a yellowbellied cut and run semi-literate racist (soon to be just road kill) possum on crystal meth moonpies. Cheers inbred for being such a preDICKtable sad socially inadequate leftist dogturd.
As for todays topic, whilst hardly the most pressing of subjects in these times of cowardly Congressional hate America leftists who gleefully demand we cut and run and spit on the military. Surely few folks would begrudge a topic that focuses relatively rare media attention on state natural resources that are “held in trust” for all of us. American socio-economic culture being what it is arrangements such as last century’s for Jekyll Island are all too rare and should not be dismissed, disregarded or worse just cynically abrogated on a political whim to simply enrich developers.
I’ve been down to Hilton Head a few times. Sadly I could only afford to camp out in a cheap Big Lots sleeping bag in the hidden by the trees from the road trash can area behind the much needed gleaming Krystals restaurant, which now happily provides everyone with the finest breakfast on the island. Thus I have seen all too starkly the sobering, selfish effect of pricing out poor uneducated, unsophisticated folks - like aborted foreskin and crackpipe debbie. I vividly remember one really rainy, stormy, wet night when hitchhiking back to the metro area was just impossible, I stood outside the awesome Hilton Head Hampton Inn, cowering outside under their lobby roof from the beast of a storm, raging with equally thunderous, barely repressed anger at not being able to afford to get into such an expensive upper middle class playground for the rich folks.
Hilton Head is in all honesty nothing special, even though its been highly developed, with loads of newly planted trees, few actual “truly” public car parks and very unobtrusive paint jobs on buildings helping to conceal the usual garishly camouflaged corporate America ‘boxes’. It would be a shame to ruin Jekyll Island and turn it into another upper middle class tourist trap, just to feed the corporate profit drip.
I say keep the unspoiled Jekyll Island as it is, reminding us of simpler, more honest and socially advanced patriotic times. Before the sick drug crazed military hating hippies and their unfettered, unsupervised brattish demon seed spawned the deranged thuggish, anti-globalist lemmings and screeching lying global whiners.
By marketing guy
March 27, 2007 10:54 AM | Link to this
Jim, You missed the fact that any update to the Jekyll Island Master Plan must go before the public and the state legislature before it is adopted, and I believe a wholesale change to lease rates would be in a master plan. To address this in a constitutional amendment is really a ridiculous idea.
Because the Jekyll Island Authority Board members and the Executive Director are appointed by the Governor, any monkey business falls on his (or her) head.
The Jekyll Island Authority is doing the right thing!
By Jim's a Cherry Picker
March 27, 2007 10:56 AM | Link to this
Yawn. Developers will win. Jekyll will become Myrtle beach.
Jim, why don’t you do a story on the current situation with the State Department and their troubles getting passport requests fulfilled?
It’s the biggest story in the country that’s not being reported…this is your chance!
Literally millions of Americans are being left flapping in the breeze with no word whatsoever about the status of their passports…for months. I’m one of them. I applied for a renewal in January…and nothing. I’m now in my 11th week of waiting. Will I be able to go on my trip in May? Who knows?
I’d like to see your opinion of how the GOP has streamlined that process for the better. It must be better if Republicans are doing it.
You know, they’re all smart and all.
And if there’s a problem, it’s either Bill or Hillary’s fault. Or just the Dems in general. They’re evil, bad people.
The dems are going to ruin Jekyll too. Just you wait.
By Truthsayer
March 27, 2007 10:58 AM | Link to this
The true irony about Jekyll Island is that as long as it was the private preserve of the rich Yankees (Rockefeller et.al.) then it was preserved because it kept the tourists and all of that traffic and urge to develop out. The state is seeing dollar signs in a place where development should be kept to a minimum. Equal access to all is a great idea on paper, but in the end it RUINS a great natural resource.
I am usually on the side of letting business be business, but certain things need to be preserved. The same thing may be happening to one of the Jewels of North Carolina, Chimney Rock Park, a private preserve that has functioned well and profitably and perserved the ecology and beauty of a unique spot for well over sixty years. Some in the state want to take it under imminent domain because some animals on the preserve are endangered. They are well protected as things stand. The Socialist/government motto on these things usually is if it is not broken, then BRAKE IT!
LEAVE JEKYLL ALONE!
By Jim's a Cherry Picker
March 27, 2007 11:09 AM | Link to this
truthsayer,
I was going to only make one comment today, but then I read yours.
You can’t have it both ways. Either government protects the property or it doesen’t.
If it doesn’t, developers develop it and you get putt-putt, water slides, quick-e-marts and traffic.
If government does protect it, then access may have to be restricted in order to preserve some level of natural beauty.
Singling out a privately held preserve in North Carolina as an example of widespread abuse of natural beauty by government entities is just stupid. I’d refer you to either Federal or State park services systems. They’re the only reason that Starbucks hasn’t set up shop within the ropes at Old Faithful, and why the Okefenokee swamp hasn’t been filled in for a mall.
Idiot.
By getalife
March 27, 2007 11:12 AM | Link to this
Of course it will get developed.
The hate party is all about green.
Money that is.
Geez.
By Dusty
March 27, 2007 11:15 AM | Link to this
test
By Barbara
March 27, 2007 11:19 AM | Link to this
Dusty, that was an amazing post. I have never been to Jekyl, but I remember when Sanibel Island in Florida was just like you describe. We went there all the time. It is so overdeveloped now that you can’t even set foot on the beaches.
TFTT, you seem to have some interesting experiences in your past. I never imagined you camping out or hitch-hiking.
I certainly support any efforts we can take to preserve our coastlines. I hope that my grandchildren will be able to glimpse scenery that I once had the pleasure of living in. That which Dusty so eloquently describes above.
By Jim's a Cherry Picker
March 27, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this
Now that I read back through all of these posts, it’s very funny to see the same folks who routinely cry about government strangling business hollering that they want it to save.
And if it’s not government, it’ll be some kind of private trust, a’la the Nature Conservancy…another “wacko eco-liberal” group.
I can promise you it won’t be Wal Mart or Tom Cousins though.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 11:26 AM | Link to this
It’s a very sad day to see that Tony Snow’s cancer has returned. Hopefully its not spreading aggressively and he’ll swiftly beat this again. He’s easily been the best White House Press Secretary for many a decade!
The glaring contrast between Snow’s handling of this sad news and the Edwards’ of their equally sad news is that Snow made not the tiniest attempt to cynically exploit this for personal/political gain. Nor did Snow pompously and arrogantly bleat about a “legacy”. Mrs Edwards’ only “legacy” is being married to a failed oily ambulance chasing shyster who was so unpopular he couldn’t even hold his own state in a general election!!
Hopefully Tony and Mrs Edwards will both beat their cancers and live long happy lives!!
By Truthsayer
March 27, 2007 11:31 AM | Link to this
Cherry Picker - My point is, childish name caller, that the government has already messed Jekyll up by taking it over and changing it. So far, the damage has been kept to a minimum. Altering the deal further would be typical of government. Again I say:
LEAVE JEKYLL ALONE!
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 11:34 AM | Link to this
Barbara
I was actually just joking. I stayed in the Hampton Inn down there on both trips as they always reliably have Fox News on their cable system.
The English National Trust owns a great deal of the English coastline and its open to all folks - even liberals - to enjoy. Development is strictly controlled, which means facilities are often not too modern but better the unspoiled, unmodernised state than turning it into a FL style over commercialised sh!thole!!
By ron
March 27, 2007 11:34 AM | Link to this
Big pockets comes down from New York and builds a big bunch of hotels on Jekyll,that’s development business.People come down from New York to stay in the hotels,that’s tourist business.People in the surrounding area get a bunch of low paying jobs at the hotels,that’s economy business.The state gets a whack of money from everyone,that’s tax business.So you sacrificed your island for what?Monkey business?
By Dusty
March 27, 2007 11:42 AM | Link to this
Realist,
Thank you for your kind comment. It is always a pleasure to remember happy vacations on the coast.
My family would rent a rough cottage along the May River which runs besides Bluffton and then down to the Calibogue Sound that ripples to the sea behind Hilton Head Island.
My father and I would jump in an old bateau and crank up the outboard motor. We’d head down river and stop outside Broad Creek. I would drop my hand line weighted with “leads” into the river. My father would throw out to the edge of the marsh with a line complete with floats and live shrimp bait.
Oh the beautiful fighting silver trout he would reel in. Their shiny backs gleamed with glistening black spots. I, in the meantime, was proudly presenting my less lordly catch of croakers. The tide would change and then we would make a roaring return upstream in the sultry perfume of marsh air.
My sister and I would have a special day at the beach on Hilton Head. Our feet would burn in the sand as we raced for a dive in the waves. We didn’t worry about sunburn, sharks or jelly fish. Just fun.
I will write no more. I commend Jim Wooten for bringing the future of Jekyll Island to our attention.
By DebbieDoRight
March 27, 2007 11:42 AM | Link to this
Sybil is back — talking to all its personalities today. Good Sybil Good dog. Woof!
By Jim's a Cherry Picker
March 27, 2007 11:43 AM | Link to this
TFTT,
Florida is the way Florida is because of Capitalism. Plain and simple. Old fashioned, unhinged greed.
What are you socialist?
Truthsayer,
Who’s going to enforce “leaving Jekyll alone”? Wal Mart? Exxon? Halliburton?
And if you’re interested in some real childish name calling, I’d refer you to TFTT. He’s the pro.
By Ben G. Porter, Chairman, Jekyll Island Authority
March 27, 2007 11:46 AM | Link to this
Wooten’s opinion on Jekyll Island should be sent out to sea
It pains me to disagree with Jim Wooten, but if the Legislature followed his advice on Jekyll Island we might as well board up the Island and dismantle the causeway, because his recommendations are a recipe for more of the same – disrepair (“Public must get a voice on Jekyll’s future,” 3/27/2007).
In 1950 the Legislature had the wisdom to grant a 99-year lease to the Jekyll Island State Park Authority to enable it to develop portions of the Island for recreational, residential and commercial use. Some nice, affordable hotels, homes and commercial facilities were built as a result, many of which are now showing their age and are in need of investment. With only 42 years left on the state lease, serious investors are looking past the Island. House Bill 214 simply adds fifty more years to the lease to send the message to investors and lenders that the state encourages revitalization of this precious resource. Three public hearings have been held by the Legislature and not one member of the public voiced opposition to the bill.
If lawmakers followed Wooten’s advice, they would be put in the unenviable position of having to serve as planning commissioners deciding land use matters, density, architectural design, and negotiating leases. Under the watchful eye of a legislative oversight committee established in this bill, a nine member Board appointed by the Governor will embark on an extensive master planning process already set forth in state law. We will be guided by three principles. First, this Island shall serve all Georgians. Second, we will respect the legislative mandate passed in 1971 that 65% of the Island will remain undeveloped. Third, we will carefully weigh all ecological considerations in deciding any new development. The only alternative to extending the state lease is the status quo, and that is not acceptable. A quick window tour of Jekyll Island confirms that Georgia’s Jewel needs polishing.
Ben Porter Chairman, Jekyll Island Authority
By getalife
March 27, 2007 11:59 AM | Link to this
Ouch.
Geez.
By Barbara
March 27, 2007 12:04 PM | Link to this
Has anyone yet noticed that this article is not written by Jim, but by a guest writer named Richard Matthews? What’s up Jim?????
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 12:08 PM | Link to this
Jim’s an arselicker
Obviously I am NOT a soCIAlist (funny how CIA pops up in that odious word). But it is perfectly honourable and reasonable not to simply allow greedy grasping bastards to ruin every possible place they can by crass over development of tourist traps. A balance is needed. In England even the biggest of the most popular long established tourist trap towns have not trashed the whole seafront with American style trashy garbage and massive high rise hotels etc. Blackpool, Scarborough and the much smaller Southend on Sea being the only three slightly trashy sea fronts in the whole country. Pre-existing development (from say Victorian/Edwardian times) co-exists pretty well with recent modern development.
I spent one night in PCB in FL a few years ago - just to see it in all its vile peasantish “glory” on the way back from a trip to NOLA/MObile etc - as far as I’m concerned Katrina should have wiped that trashy worthless sh!tehole off the map too.
It isn’t just unhinged greed in FL - its self absorbed, nasal whining ageing liberal yankkkees who don’t know how to vote properly/legally infesting the place with their putrid little yap dogs, blue rinse wigs and endless poxy golf kkklubs etc.
Retirement by the seaside in this country in many places has its periodic catastrophic seasonal climatic dangers and its attractions. In England there is little in the way of similar seasonal dangers.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 12:17 PM | Link to this
HA HA HA HA HA HA
thuggish hippety hop scum like this should be excluded EVERYWHERE!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6498155.stm
I see the racist betch crackpipe has been talking about dogs again … had your annual rabies shot yet this year crackpipe???
By Jim's a Cherry Picker
March 27, 2007 12:17 PM | Link to this
TFTT,
Again, that’s Capitalism. From the folks who brought you pronography, Paris Hilton, super size meals and Fox sitcoms. Make as much as you can, as fast as you can. Lie, cheat, steal, hire a good lawyer and don’t look back.
There is no balance or moderation in capitalism…if there is, it’s either a losing business strategy or government intervention.
I’m sorry that you have such a naive view of how business works in free markets, but I’d love for you to be a competitor of mine. You wouldn’t last a second.
By harold
March 27, 2007 12:28 PM | Link to this
THE IMPERIALISTS NEED TO INVADE JEKYL AND BUILD IT OVER BEFORE ecoTERRORISTS MAKE TRAINING CAMPS THERE
By getalife
March 27, 2007 12:30 PM | Link to this
Good catch BABS.
Jim took my advice.
Geez.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 12:34 PM | Link to this
jims an arselicker
I don’t need smug doltish lectures from pinkos like you on the nature of capitalism. I see capitalism, its good, productive, socially very useful vibrant side and its more seedy/sleazy warts n all every minute of every waking day living here.
I simply expressed my world view that happens NOT to wholly embrace an unfettered, literal laissez faire snouts in the trough approach to life.
You cited a decidedly selective, more peasantish, low brow, common denominator list of capitalistic “outrages”. Each to their own.
This is NOT literally a true “free market” - otherwise there would be NO controls of any kind on business activity. Its certainly a relatively free market. Like the UK its a mixed economy, although the ‘mix’ is arguably still quite a bit more “free” than the now increasingly EU regulated UK.
Empty ghost silver mine towns out west etc are examples of utterly unfettered anything goes capitalism!!
By Dusty
March 27, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this
Barbara,
I don’t know whether this article was written by Richard Matthews or not. Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago they had put Luckovich name on Thinking Right and then corrected it later to Wooten’s name? If it stays, maybe it is Matthews whom I think now works for AJC.com.
And thanks for your pleasant comment on my post today. I’ve always loved the “Low Country” and hope we can save some of it.
By Jim's Busy
March 27, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this
Jim is busy researching Captain Freedom’s post from yesterday.
By Jim's a Cherry Picker
March 27, 2007 12:50 PM | Link to this
TFTT,
Capitalism is now, always has been and always will be about the lowest common denominator. Ultimately, capitalism is pornography.
If you don’t show it, I will, and I’ll make the money you could have made by showing it.
Fox’s sitcoms are the best example, but there are plenty more. Myrtle beach is one, Florida is another. Bratz dolls are another. Viagra, When Animals Attack, Max X, Simon Crowell, any kid’s cereal, the Drudge Report, Lunestra, Disney, candy, papparazzi, ect…
What you are describing doesn’t work in a competitive market. Restraint only occurs at the behest of enforcing agents like government. The free hand doesn’t work because us WASPY Western Christain Capitalists like to wallow in muck. The nastier, the better.
By getalife
March 27, 2007 12:54 PM | Link to this
Screw New Orleans but save Jekyll Island.
Mmmm, were there faulty levees that caused a flood there?
Geez.
By Redneck Convert
March 27, 2007 12:56 PM | Link to this
Sister Dusty brung back a childhood memory for me. This one of going to Jekyll as a kid. We stopped going when Daddy couldn’t set up his still no more because of so many cops and people.
We would wake up in our tents and eat grits, fatback, and gravy and polish it all off with corndogs. Daddy would break out the beer around 10 and us kids and Mommy would all get soused. We didn’t have to empty no trash because we could dump it right in the ocean that was close by. Same for the bathroom.
Anyway, the old days are gone. Now we have grouches like TFTT, jbmlaw, Sister Dusty and Van going there. Sissy golf courses and fancy hotels and bike trails have sprung up and ruint things for good rednecks like us. I say the state should take Jekyll back and made it a redneck Riviara like Panama City. Let the rich folk stay at Sea Island and such. Anyway, GA should belong to rednecks. Why did we elect Sonny and Casey and the Republicans if they are going to do the same thing the libruls done?
Sorry to see TFTT is off his meds again. He will be back in rehab by the weekend. He must start slobbering about a hour after he gets up. It’s a shame England sends us their crazies.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 1:22 PM | Link to this
jims an arselicker
NOPE … wrong again … SOME capitalism obviously is blatantly about the lowest common denominator. Although clearly such a subjective evaluation/designation is fraught with potential dangers of chimerical subjectivity … one peasant’s “trash” may well be another peasant’s aspirational (consumer) life goal.
There is clearly a market “limit” or “saturation” point for most goods and services, TV programmes, music etc. Determined by price, quality and availability and the impact of industrial practices - such as the availability of raw materials, factory space, supply lines etc. PLUS ACTUAL DEMAND!!
The tensions between brands and brand loyalty and similar products - eg kids cereals need a PhD dissertation to do justice to the subject.
You smugly ignore the FACT that this is NOT a “true” free market … there are all kinds of market restrictions i.e. economic variables here: govt/EPA type regulation, federal employment regulations, consumer contracts, safety issues, supply chains, tarriffs or no tarriffs, customs duties, access to capital etc. Its simply NOT literally laissez faire.
So what is “produced” is controlled … within that controlled market various goods and services compete - but market segmentation also kicks in … as well as disposable income … and many other factors … companies don’t make anything like as much - OVERALL - as just one volume sales example shows from the sale of Jaguars or Range Rovers or Hummers as you do from Camrys, Accords or Ford Expeditions … volume of sales PLUS massive repeat servicing/parts are a huge part of total profits for car manufacturers/dealers … plus of course financing etc. Different products have very different sales cycles and ongoing or just one off income generating opportunities.
By Cassie
March 27, 2007 1:28 PM | Link to this
Mr. Porter -
Respectfully, I have to disagree with you. The average Georgian - people who are turned off by the nastiness of Panama City Beach, or Myrtle Beach, or even Virginia Beach - want a safe and non commercial place to take their children.
I do agree that the island’s hotel/infrastructure needs an overhaul. I was there in September and was quite delighted with the work done in the Millionaire’s Village. However, I don’t see the need to expand the commercial aspects of the island to encompass a larger footprint. The island’s problem with lagging tourism isn’t lack of attractions - the island’s problem is that the hotels haven’t been properly maintained or updated since I was a small child. Additionally, the first thing a resident sees (outside of the tollbooth) is the convention center and the shopping plaza - both of which desperately need an update. You want more shops? Why can’t you go two stories? More hotel rooms? Go up to a max of ten stories per hotel?
I write this as a native Georgian, and as woman who spent every summer of her childhood on the beaches of Jekyll. If the redevelopment plan goes through, I will never go there again. What I, and the other 22 members of my family treasure about the island, is that the island is one of the few places where man and nature can live in harmony.
So let’s put this on the ballot and let the people vote.
Otherwise, I’ll see you guys on the Isle of Palms.
By Jim's a Cherry Picker
March 27, 2007 1:45 PM | Link to this
TFTT,
I’m not wrong. I’m exactly “spot on” as you might say.
Regulations exist to prevent a complete breakdown of social norms due to capitalistic tencencies gravatiating towards the worst parts of our instincts. That’s why Libertarians are living in a dream world. In an unregulated society, liquor on Sunday would pale in comparison to the filth that would be peddled in broad daylight to our children.
And that’s why the government, that you and Jim are so quick to bash, is an integral part of protecting assets such as Jekyll Island. Without some form of government placing restrictions on who, what, were and when, that environment would look more like everyone, everything, everwhere and all the time.
Unfortunately, creating laws and regulations is a complicated business -especially when the politicans vend out the business of regulating to the buiness that is regulated. As Rush and all the other professional whiners prove, it’s much easier and profitable to sit back fat and happy in one’s comfy chair and run down government than it is to actually do something constructive with your time, or perhaps even serve society.
You’re nothing but a drag on our culture. Whine, whine, whine. Cry, cry, cry. Filth, filth filth.
Jim has a hard enough time making valid arguments without you dragging him down constantly with your hypocritical filth.
Loser.
By Curious Observer
March 27, 2007 1:56 PM | Link to this
I was last on Jekyll Island in January 2006. While the golf courses are wonderful and well-run, I see signs of decay everywhere, even at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. All the establishments need a major overhaul.
The island struck me as seedier than it was in the early 1970s, when I first visited. Clearly, the status quo cannot prevail if the island is to continue to serve Georgians and other visitors. While I, too, would deplore development that would make the area look like Panama City or Myrtle Beach, I do not believe that leaving Jekyll Island to the tender mercies of the Authority is feasible. Maybe there needs to be an infusion of some state cash to bring the place up to reasonable standards. The cries of “leave it alone” are a path to further decay.
By Babe Crockett
March 27, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this
Jim, you are right AND wrong. Yes, you are right that decisions made today must reflect the needs of the future… we can buy that.
And you are wrong in the perception you convey about what lease holders pay for the privilige of living on Jekyll Island. First, you are in error regrading the amount of all leaseholds. I personally pay over $1,700.00 per year for my leasehold, and it is not beach front. Secondly, you convey the impression that that is all we pay. You fail to mention that we pay Glynn County property and school taxes on both the value of our houses and the lot lease (fair market sales values that have increased each year). So, we pay property taxes, AND lot lease taxes. We purchase from prior leaseholders (like you purchase from prior title holders) the lease/title to this property. What do you, and other residents of Georgia pay for the “use” /ownership of that land within the commonwealth - only property taxes. Is your purchased land any different in “ownership” than any other land in Georgia… subject to the same domain of the people of the State of Georgia? Do you pay a “use” fee to Georgia?
The real question you and others should be asking is … Why is it that only Glynn County gains the property taxes and sales taxes from this state owned, and state maintained state park? Glynn county is sucking millions of dollars from this park for it’s own benefits, yet paying nothing to support the roads, infrastructure, water/sewer services, police service, etc. Glynn County also sucks up all the sales takes and hotel/motel taxes raised on the island, and had to be forced by the legislature to begrudgingly contributl a minor share of the SPLOST tax revenue to support some projects on the island. In addition to the Glynn County property taxes, the leaseholders also pay the Shool Tax in support of schools, yet has less than 50 school age children on the island.
What services Jekyll Island gets from Glynn County is the same exact services that any non-property (lease) holder tourist gets, nothing more and nothing less.
Jim, ask yourself, who is the real “thief” in this issue of Jekyll Island needing to generate revenues to maintain first class state park services.
By Cassie
March 27, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this
If the Authority has been operating in the black for several years, as I have read previously, why do they need cash from the government? Spend the money they have already socked aside.
Remember in the 70’s that the Millionaire’s Village was a shambles, and we all thought that washed driftwood look was cool. :-)
By Dusty
March 27, 2007 2:07 PM | Link to this
If Jim Wooten is absent, I would guess that he is down at the Capitol covering “Crossover Day”. That day being the 30th day of the 2007 Legislature, the day by which a bill must have been approved by at least one chamber to have a shot at final passage this year.
For the most part, it’s do-or-die day for legislation.
This information comes from the AJC. I would guess that Jim is very interested in the outcome. We will probably get some good insight when he writes his next column.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 2:08 PM | Link to this
jims a petulant lying PIG IGNORANT moronic arselicker
I offered quite reasoned and reasonable points for your long overdue edification. Distilling such arguments/points into a few brisk paragraphs that even simpleton leftist vermin can understand isn’t hard for us better educated and more articulate conservatives.
If you actually bothered to read my earlier post on Jekyll Island you’d see that I am NOT at all in favour of it being trashed or ruined by developers.
I do NOT believe in an unregulated society - as all my posts to you very obviously convey. In such a huge complex, illegal immigrant infested society as this one some often quite robust govt regulation is clearly needed.
Unscrupulous selfish capitalist pigs and scam artists need to be regulated and punished - as do liberal vermin who wish to impose socialism or viciously expensive and worthless, futile, one sided global whining costs on the rest of us.
Clearly you’re such a sad stupid liberal kunt you don’t even understand the meaning of the word hypocritical!!
I agreed with Jim’s (or whomever it was) post today!!
YOU MUST BE A FOOKING YANKKKEE … now p!ss off back up north … and take witless scum like inbred and crackpipe with ya!!
By mayretter local
March 27, 2007 2:20 PM | Link to this
I’ve been going to Jekyll since I was a baby in the late 60’s. I have always enjoyed the beach and the island’s laid back feel. It would be a shame to see tall condos and such ruining the natural beauty that is so hard to find these days. People who want a 4 or 5 star experience can go to nearby St. Simon’s / Sea Island or Amelia Island. Condos will be owned by people who are only there a handful of nights a year at best, it’s just wasted space.
The hotels do need work to be sure. Some have become downright threadbare. Surely there’s money to be made by running those operations, even if they don’t own the land. They seem to have stayed open this long, why can’t they invest in their operation and then promote the new renovations?? Some of the problems seem to be lack of proper maintenance on the buildings, which in coastal areas can cause huge problems very quickly. That’s the fault of the people running the place. They should be held accountable for such problems. People who choose to purchase $450k houses on land they don’t own knew what they were getting into when they bought it. Don’t whine about not owning the land when you realize you paid too much for the house to begin with.
For people to say there’s not enough to do so develope more things to do, there’s too many other choices of places to visit if you need flash and trash. They are probably the same people who want tram rides on Cumberland Island. There’s a joy in earning your views sometimes, and if you can’t walk 12 or 16 miles to see it, then I guess you’ll have to look at my pictures. There’s no elevator to the moon…
DO NOT DEVELOP JEKYLL ISLAND - go somewhere else!!
By Jim's a Cherry Picker
March 27, 2007 2:22 PM | Link to this
TFTT,
Then you’re a commie, pinko, f*, socialist leftist liberal tree hugging government loving feminazi? As all your posts convey? Pinko f*?
Is that it? Is that you?
Huge get-you-all-wound-up smirk.
TTFN TFTT
Loser.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 2:31 PM | Link to this
actually Jims a leftist dogturd
I was simply seeing if I could have some fun goading you to go one better in a second magical hissy fit!!
You do urgently need to look up the meaning of the word hypocritical and learn to use it both properly and in context!!
But you are a fooking yankkkee … right???
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 2:35 PM | Link to this
SOME MAGICAL BRILLIANT FABULOUS NEWS …
AMERICANS HATE THE LYING SPITEFUL HITLLARY KLINTON … so no surprise there then!!
HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
LMFAO!!!!
Campaign 2008
Fifty percent of adults would not vote for Clinton
By Kelly McCormack
March 27, 2007
Half of voting-age Americans say they would not vote for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) if she became the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, according to a Harris Interactive poll released Tuesday. More than one in five Democrats that participated in the survey said they would not vote for Clinton. Overall, 36 percent say they would vote for the former first lady and 11 percent are unsure of their top choice.
Forty-eight percent of Independent voters also said that they would choose another candidate over Clinton, the poll, which surveyed 2,223 potential voters, states.
Fifty-six percent of men said that they would not vote for Clinton, while 45 percent of women said that she would not be their pick. In addition, 69 percent of those 62 and older said that they would not vote for Clinton.
Nearly half of the respondents said that they dislike Clinton’s political opinions and Clinton as a person. Fifty-two percent of people also said that “she does not appear to connect with people on a personal level.”
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 2:36 PM | Link to this
SOME MAGICAL BRILLIANT FABULOUS NEWS …
AMERICANS HATE THE LYING SPITEFUL HITLLARY KLINTON … so no surprise there then!!
HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
LMFAO!!!!
Campaign 2008
Fifty percent of adults would not vote for Clinton
By Kelly McCormack
March 27, 2007
Half of voting-age Americans say they would not vote for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) if she became the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, according to a Harris Interactive poll released Tuesday. More than one in five Democrats that participated in the survey said they would not vote for Clinton. Overall, 36 percent say they would vote for the former first lady and 11 percent are unsure of their top choice.
Forty-eight percent of Independent voters also said that they would choose another candidate over Clinton, the poll, which surveyed 2,223 potential voters, states.
Fifty-six percent of men said that they would not vote for Clinton, while 45 percent of women said that she would not be their pick. In addition, 69 percent of those 62 and older said that they would not vote for Clinton.
Nearly half of the respondents said that they dislike Clinton’s political opinions and Clinton as a person. Fifty-two percent of people also said that “she does not appear to connect with people on a personal level.”
CAN YOU LEFTIST SCUM SAY PRESIDENT RUDY GUILIANI??
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 3:03 PM | Link to this
Mohammedans according to various quite explicit passages in the hatefully racist and sexist koran are abjectly fatalistic … for morons like crackpipe this means that everything that happens is predetermined and ineviyable … so clearly this event was the will of Allarrrghh - according to their own belief structure. So its despicably hypocritical (note correct use of word Jim’s a dogturd) and utterly disingenuous for the Hamas mohammedan terrorists to seek to blame this on “infidels”.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070327130407.gdx62jd6&show_article=1
By Cletus Snow
March 27, 2007 3:03 PM | Link to this
I for one would like to see a vote on Jekll’s future, before the rich and unscrupulous carpetbaggers complete their destruction. It seems to me that since we are the ultimate billpayers we should at the very least have a voice in it’s operation. my family visited Jekll many times in my childhood and enjoyed it immensely.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 3:10 PM | Link to this
COME ON YOU GUTLESS LEFTIES …
lets see you puke your way round these hilarious undeniable facts about HiTllary … she’s hated personally and politically by around half the folks … and its campaign has only been going a couple of months … bet she’s hated by nearly two thirds of folks after a few more months!!
LMFAO!!!
By jbmlaw
March 27, 2007 3:15 PM | Link to this
Interesting discussion today. Several of our regulars suggest that Jekyll has become a bit “seedy.” If that is true, some “continuity” guarantee, as suggested by Mr. Porter in his post, will be necessary in order to draw development investment monies.
I am unclear why there is need for a longer investment lease than federal depreciation period plus an arbitrary 5 years or so. Anything beyond that length of time would seemingly create a speculative market for a particular real estate investment, plus create an incentive to allow the property to deteriorate again. Why not redevelop and redevelop, over and over, on a 35 year lease?
By harold
March 27, 2007 3:25 PM | Link to this
White House spokesman’s cancer returns
Harold did not even realize George W was gone! Where’d he go?
By harold
March 27, 2007 3:34 PM | Link to this
well, ppl woudl not vote for mrs clienton unless her opponent was a republican
if she gets on the ticket, ufnortuanelyt she will win
harold likes that even less than two bushes holidng office
monarcy bad
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 3:42 PM | Link to this
COME ON GUTLESS HYPOCRITICAL LEFTIES …
You’re always endlessly telling us how much Bush is hated … now we find out that the betch Klinton - who is just a corrupt carpetbagger senator who won a seat purely because of the thing its supposedly happily married to, not because of its own political achievments - is hated across the board … by independents and old folks and even a good number of demoNcrats …
sound of John Lenin’s INSTANT KARMA playing in the distance!!
BTW harold - expect a stream of righteous outraged leftist abuse to vilify and condemn you for that sick joke about Tony Snow … ooops my bad … lefties only screech about sick jokes when they’re made against them … still at least jim’s a dogturd gets to see another fine example of leftist hypocrisy!!
By Curious Observer
March 27, 2007 3:50 PM | Link to this
I have pointed out more than once on this blog that the only way the Democrats can lose the White House in 2008 is to nominate Hillary Clinton. The public dislike for her has nothing to do with the policies she espouses, at least among the many Democrats and independents who say they won’t vote for her. Rather, there seems to be a visceral loathing of her as a person, and that loathing seems to dominate among female voters as much as among male voters.
Fair or unfair, these voter attitudes won’t change. We already know that most Republicans won’t vote for her. But we also know that a substantial portion of Democratic voters will stay home or vote for the Republican nominee if she is nominated. The Democrats’ only hope is that there be a deadlock at the convention, resulting in the nomination of someone else. Hillary Clinton is the only sure-fire way for the Republicans to maintain control of the White House in 2008.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 3:54 PM | Link to this
time for the truth notes that harold’s poisonous spell checker is also drunk again this afternoon!! (hic!!)
By Aquagirl
March 27, 2007 3:55 PM | Link to this
Ah, Ben Porter’s post isn’t worth the ink it took to write. The only firm part of the lovely three promises he made is that 65% of the island will remain undeveloped. The other two are pretty nebulous…The island will serve all Georgians? Ecological considerations will be weighed when deciding on new development? Sorry, but we heard all the same blah, blah, blah from the Stone Mountain Development authority when they hooked up with the Silver Dollar City Corporation. Now, you have shops in the City of Stone Mountain going under since they can’t compete with the state-supported shops on the park property.
Oh, and check out the great new construction going on near the carving. I’ve seen runners and bike riders choking on disel fumes and dust. Nice way to enjoy one of Georgia’s state parks. And we’re getting ripped off by the way…Silver Dollar City isn’t paying the original amount they agreed to lease the park development rights. They quietly renegotiated the lease after a few years.
Nope, I don’t trust anyone who’s supported by developers who claims to be about responsible maintainance or polishing up. Yeah, right buddy. Before you know it Jekyll will be loaded with multistory condos and it’ll all be perfectly legal and nice-sounding.
They know that the only fuss will be momentary, and that the average Georgian is more like Realist…only happy while yammering about vague notions like Libs vs. Neocons. That’s so much more fullfilling. The fact that the place that Dusty writes about is gone isn’t worth disturbing a nap.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 4:17 PM | Link to this
Aquagirl
Sadly there are fewer and fewer truly unspoiled places in the USA. Maximising local tax dollars and employment opportunities seems to be the most pressing ‘duty’ of all local and state politicos - of both parties.
Georgia is essentially the size of England and Wales but with about 20% of the population, so its not as if there are huge expansionary demands occuring everywhere here. Just (understandably) an eye for the huge bucks to be made at places that folks repeatedly enjoy going to. The balance between having decent modern/updated facilities and keeping an area naturally beautiful and unspoiled is always going to increase tensions as developers eye the next opportunity.
Its worth asking the question though - should an area like Jekyll Island be left (relatively) untouched, as a kind of permanent fantasy holiday place for rural purists who cherish childhood memories but don’t actually visit or live in the area?
I happen to think that overall the answer is yes … there should be one place by the seaside in this state where everyone can go for a quiet seaside experience - however infrequently - and not be confronted by Myrtle Beach type crap or Hilton Head snobbery!!
By JP
March 27, 2007 4:18 PM | Link to this
TFTT..re: “SOME MAGICAL BRILLIANT FABULOUS NEWS” —
I wonder what the number would be if this question were asked: “If GWB were eligible for a 3rd term, would you consider voting for him?”
I’d bet $ (if that were legal..ha!) that the NO’s would be greater than 50.
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 4:39 PM | Link to this
pathetic try JP
the point, as I already pointed out, is NOT about the endless unhinged leftist Bush hate - but about lefties gutlessly and virtually unanimously avoiding the FACT that HiTllary is hated already by so many … and the campaign has barely begun!!
This is just priceless … and I see you are but one of many lefties on here who will simply not admit about HiTllary what y’all keep on and on and on hammering at Bush about.
Typical hypocritical leftie
By time for the truth
March 27, 2007 4:46 PM | Link to this
come on maggot brain … you endlessly quote the polls about Bush … lets see you admit the TRUTH about how hated HiTllary is!!
By Dennis
March 27, 2007 4:51 PM | Link to this
Responding to By Curious Observer March 27, 2007 3:50 PM.
That’s pretty much on target. And here we are again, faced with a choice from either party that no American really wants.
If it didn’t cost so damned much to run, I have no doubt that there are some ordinary Americans (maybe some housewives) who could run this country better and more honestly.
In fact, American women could already control this country - if they weren’t so softhearted with their husbands.
But as it is, the choice is “which one is the lesser of evils?”
You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
By Captain Freedom
March 27, 2007 4:56 PM | Link to this
That TFTT, he’s so cute when a tiny little thought takes form in his aerosol-addled brain. It’s like watching a brain damaged puppy play with his favorite squeaky toy.
And clever? Hooboy, that little pun on the name, linking her to Hitler. He’s funnier than Dennis Miller, I’m telling ya.
Cue huff-boy for his spittle flecked reply….
By getalife
March 27, 2007 5:25 PM | Link to this
I will vote for Hillary to get Bill back into the White House.
Karma.
By JP
March 28, 2007 9:47 AM | Link to this
*pathetic try JP
the point, as I already pointed out, is NOT about the endless unhinged leftist Bush hate - but about lefties gutlessly and virtually unanimously avoiding the FACT that HiTllary is hated already by so many … and the campaign has barely begun!!*
Buddy, have you also noticed that there are more people who are determined to vote against Gingrich than are set on voting against Hillary?
I’m sure you LLOOOVVEEE Newt, the right-wing poster boy he is. Almost as much as the delusional Tom DeLay!
You guys are a laugh riot, really.
By JP
March 28, 2007 9:49 AM | Link to this
TFTT, also - I’m not denying there are a bunch of zealots who are ruling out voting on Hillary. What do you believe that proves?
By Patricia Overholt
March 29, 2007 1:22 PM | Link to this
Mr. Wooten should get all his facts before he writes about residents of Jekyll Island. Besides a lease payment they pay for water, trash pickup, a fire fee and Glynn Co. taxes. Also they staff most of the activities that are held on Jekyll and attended by hundreds of visitors. They staff The Ga. Fla. golf tourmanet, Birding Festival, Art Weekend and decorate the Historic District at Christmas. They volunteer for student activities held on the island, conduct turtle and nature walks and volunteer to sit in Faith Chapel so it can be kept open for visitors. They are active in the five religious faiths on the island, prepaaring the churches so visitors can attend worship services. I am getting very tired of all the articles being written by people who never come down to Jekyll to experience of what it is really like here.