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Thursday, December 18, 2008
On the Nichols trial, pet adoptions, DNA samples
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
If Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard had chosen to pursue Brian Nichols’ murders one at a time, he’d have three more shots at getting the right jury decision on the death penalty.
Northern states give us people who are kind enough to show and tell us how to drive on snow. We give them our unwanted dogs and cats for adoption.
The Cobb School Board was wise to avoid the temptation to bring construction management in-house, something it considered in response to guilty pleas in Mississippi by three executives of the Facility Group, a Smyrna-based project management firm. A now-sold division of that company managed Cobb school projects for a decade. The outsourcing concept is the right one; the challenge always for government is to make certain that business relationships are transparent and at arms’ length. Don’t put people on the public payroll unnecessarily — especially those needed for gyrating workloads.
How could anybody object to a new Justice Department rule that federal law enforcement agencies will now collect DNA samples from all detained noncitizens and from all people arrested for federal crimes for the FBI’s National DNA Index System? But, to nobody’s surprise, some do. Take a photo, take a saliva sample. Move on.
No, not on a dare should the General Assembly change the formula for spending the one percent local sales tax so that MARTA can spend more on operating costs. The original formula was 50 percent expansion, 50 operations. That’s temporarily raised to 45 percent expansion, 55 operations. According to State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), MARTA’s done expanding. It’s “built-out the system,” he said. In that case, make it 0-100, and await MARTA’s certain return to ask for a second penny of sales tax.
U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob orders the state to find more foster homes for 500 difficult-to-place children in Fulton and DeKalb. That’s the ticket: Order government to be — or find — better parents. It’s far easier to order a government fix than it is to use that activism to change the culture that brings children into the world without a mother and father in the home.
Clayton County schools have lost 3,000 students who took flight because of its accreditation troubles. So it’s gone begging. President-elect Barack Obama is the latest target. Here’s a suggestion: Reduce staff by, say, the number needed to service 3,000 students.
Obama campaign supporters vow to stay organized in Georgia. That’s change. Once a campaign was a year, then two and now they may be up to four.
Two noteworthy examples of judicial restraint: U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton declined in Washington to order the Veterans Affairs Department to impose quicker deadlines on handling disability claims. While sympathetic, he noted that it’s up to Congress and the VA secretary to set rules for processing claims. Noteworthy, too, is the restraint of judges on the Illinois Supreme Court who refused to force Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office. That’s the legislature’s job.
Haven Trust Bank in Gwinnett County failed, but the story of the immigrant founders’ business triumphs through this land of opportunity — buying and selling hotels, real estate development and commercial insurance — makes you want to stand up and cheer for the free enterprise system. Brothers R.C. Patel and Mike Patel helped found Haven Trust in part to help other Indian entrepreneurs buy and run motels.
Holiday cheer, too, for Georgians like Richard Brimfield of Duluth who, though laid off since Sept. 30 and living off his home equity, shows his gratitude for the blessings he does have by sending his annual donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
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