With changes in the city limit borders of Winder, one cannot help but wonder when these annexations will end. There is no doubt that Barrow County is on the move and the years ahead look good with continued projected growth in business, industry and residences. After seeing empty land for so many years along the 316 corridor, we are beginning to see growth occur. Some people welcome the growth, while others respond in a negative way regarding any type of growth. Growth brings change. With new businesses, retail, restaurants and smaller specialty shops opening we will have new people moving …

Judging from the decorations in most shopping districts and seeing the street light poles decorated with bright lights gives a hint of this being a special season. All of the retail outlets and most online shopping venues are running specials designed to entice shoppers to spend money for special gifts during this season of the year. The news is filled with events that will attract people to enjoy special programs depicting the events that celebrate this season of the year. Much is being written about towns, cities, hamlets and states that conduct a special tree lighting ceremony during this …

Several people complained that before Halloween this year the Christmas sales were already being promoted in stores. Now that Thanksgiving is over and Black Friday has passed, we are in the middle of what is known as Cyber Monday. This is the day when more sales will occur on the Internet than in years gone by. In the midst of a time when the economy is bad and many people are unemployed or under employed, it is no surprise that retail merchants would do everything possible to entice people into their stores and to try and lure as many people as possible to make purchases on their Internet …

This week, many people will be on the road driving to be with family and friends for a special day of remembrance and thanks. It is suggested more people will be driving to join others for the festive celebration known as Thanksgiving Day than in the last few years. That remains to be seen. As families gather for the big day on Thursday, there is always lots of good food and family time in which to celebrate the day. Looking back over many Thanksgiving Day meals, the most remembered thing is the fact that after lunch one is stuffed full of food and needs to find a relaxing place to take a nap…

It seems every day, week and month is set aside to highlight an organization or cause. Recently, I missed National Donut Day and felt guilty later when I realized I had a free day coming not to feel bad about enjoying donuts. The range of awareness issues are kept before the public in order to call attention to certain needs and causes in our culture. I see the positive side of that type of promotion. Many people would never think about certain causes if there were not a day when it would be designated as such. In no way would I ever suggest we need to rethink the way some of the events are …

Being intimidated into silence may be another way around allowing for freedom of speech. This nation, above all others, has the greatest record regarding freedom of speech. With the open use of the Internet, media reports from every side of almost all stories and personal freedom of expression now available to every segment of society, we enjoy freedom of speech. Even with all the guarantees going back to the first amendment to the Constitution, we find people who think it would be best if we could somehow find a way to silence people and their beliefs. In Schenck v. United States, 1919, the …

Peggy Noonan, columnist for the Wall Street Journal has had much advice for Mitt Romney up to this point in the presidential campaign. Her tone changed, however, following the debate last week. Noonan declared Romney the winner, and further explained that the winner had taken all the air out of President Obama in the debate. A line of media experts waited with glee for the first debate, leaving that night trying to find common ground on which they could stand to explain why their chosen champion had lost. Of all the sound bites and video clips previewed from the response of the media in …

Mona Charen’s column appearing in Real Clear Politics chronicles reporting of the so-called mainstream media as they continue to show their bias in support of a second term for President Obama. Someone has reminded that not only is President Obama our current president but a candidate for a second term as president of the United States of America. Some might be wondering why being so detailed in the description of the president and his run for a second term is necessary. There should never be a time when anyone thinks because I write about any person in elective office that I do not respect …

There is a phrase in the business world, “putting out fires.” These words usually refer to an event that if left alone will spread throughout a company and could potentially destroy the business. General William Sherman, a Union General during the Civil War, was successful in pulling off the strategy of literally setting fires across Georgia that could not be put out. In 1864, General Sherman marched with his men from Atlanta to Savannah, burning everything in sight. Sherman’s strategy proved to be one of the major turning points in seeing the Union troops win against the Southern troops in …

Running the risk of beating a dead horse concerning the issues we are facing in our nation, I believe it is necessary to remind all who read this column of a day when our nation was a leader in the free world. That is no longer true. There was a day when the leaders of our nation would speak on international issues and their words were heeded. That is no longer happening. The opposite is true, as our leaders are mocked and the issues facing the global markets dictate to our country rather than our country setting the standard for international exchange. We know from the study of history that …

How messed up does a person’s thinking have to be when they sit at their computer and make plans to travel to another state to engage in immoral sexual behavior? The better question might be, how much further into the quagmire of immoral behavior is this nation going to fall? As I read the report concerning the charges made against a person who designed a plan online with someone, not known to the person, to travel a long distance into another state in order to participate in a sexual tryst with a woman and her minor daughter, I thought of how sad the life must be for a person to have fallen …

The process is well laid out as to how the education system works in our county. We have an elected school board charged with the responsibility of overseeing the work of the superintendent of schools and other personnel in the school system. The people of Barrow County have the opportunity in each election to select the people who have offered to run for the various open seats on the school board. It is assumed, at least by me, that none of the elected school board members hold the qualifications to actually be the superintendent of schools but have the role of evaluating and supervising the…

It is said that all politics is local. While the issue with the bus routes in Barrow County is not a political one, it brought out parents to be involved to express their dislike for the way the issue was handled. There are several lessons to be learned from this episode as school started back for another year. The first lesson is the need for an evaluation of the way decisions are communicated from the BOE to the public. Many, not all, people have computers. Having a website is one way of getting a message out to the people. Many, but not all, people have cell phones capable to receive text …

The new rules concerning bus routes in Barrow County proved to be harder to implement than had been thought by the Board of Education. Tuesday night’s meeting found the board room full with parents concerned about the safety of their children. Following a tense meeting, the BOE announced they would backtrack on the plans to change the bus routes and go back to the older system. With cuts being made in funding, hard decisions are necessary. We are accustomed to bus transportation for our little ones to assure their safety in being transported back and forth to school; we have learned to depend…

The biggest losers in the election last week are those people who decided not to vote. Once again, we watched the returns last Tuesday night across our state to discover many people who are registered to vote but who did not exercise their freedom to vote. Often people tell me they do not vote as a protest against those who are already in office. That type of thinking makes no sense. There are other people who express their displeasure with all of the candidates by saying they do not like any of the people running, so therefore, they stay home and do not vote. Once again, that makes no sense …

Tomorrow is Primary Election Day in Georgia. There have been many days of advance voting, and those who needed to vote absentee have had their chance to do so. Citizens living outside of Georgia as part of their work or service in the military were given time to receive their ballots and have it returned in order for it to be counted once the poll votes are counted tomorrow night. The airwaves, print media and online news sources have been filled with ads for candidates. There have been debates, forums, receptions, fundraisers, “meet and greet” times with the candidates. To say that this …

The issue of life has been pushed upon the American scene again. Last Friday morning, breaking news screamed out there was another mass killing of human beings. People gathered to watch a movie were gunned down as if they had no worth, value or reason to live. One person, according to the early stages of the investigation, carried out plans to assault other humans. There was no plan other than to kill as many people as possible without regard for age, race, sex and human condition. This heinous assault on life brings to stark reality that there are people living among us who place no value on…

Almost lost in the ruling by the Supreme Court, recently, with all the news of the upholding of Obamacare, was the ruling allowing for lies about military service if one is running for elective office. When I first heard this ruling, given by the Supreme Court, I was sure it was a ruse. Someone trying to be funny was my first impression of the reality of the Supreme Court ruling that when a person is running for elective office, they can make speeches filled with lies about military service, including medals they received (which turns out to be false) without fear of being prosecuted for …

I learned many years ago as a public speaker that a misspoken word can come back to haunt a person. For many years, I was responsible for planning and implementing a major annual convention, where everything was audio- and videotaped from beginning to end. As I worked with the video and sound technicians, I learned they seldom turn off all the microphones. We learned to work and live as if there was always an open microphone recording every word. In recent years, with the 24-hour news cycle, some news outlets have started gathering bloopers of politicians and celebrities. We have seen gaffes …

The news is filled with road rage incidents and evidence of disrespect being shown to adults by minors. An example of the highest level of disrespect is seen in the video of the bus monitor in New York being bullied by middle school children. Another news video shows a fight between drivers erupting on a California highway and leaving one of the men in serious physical condition after a beating from two men. The stark reality of seeing this level of violence and disrespect displayed on television causes us to realize that at some point we have lost our sense of dignity and how to treat other …