March 11, 2011
Dick Yarbrough
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YARBROUGH: Dalton mayor mulls primary run against Gov. Deal
David Pennington, the mayor of Dalton, is making noises about challenging incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal in the 2014 Republican primary. Say what?. I visited the mayor a couple of weeks ago at his office to see if he was truly serious. He tells me he is and that he will
YARBROUGH: LaGrange College senior triumphs over life-altering experience
This is the story of courage. This is a story of tenacity. This is the story of Hill Daniel.. Daniel, a 21-year-old senior at LaGrange College, will be graduating next week with a degree in psychology after a distinguished college career in which he served as president of
YARBROUGH: GPB deals with an unhappy big bird and talking frogs
RING! RING!. "Hello, this is Teya Ryan, president of Georgia Public Broadcasting. I am calling to ask you to consider a donation to GPB. If you donate $250, we will send you a talking frog.". KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!. "Please excuse me a moment. Yes, Wanda? What is it?"
YARBROUGH: Boston attack brings back memories of Atlanta bombing
When the terrorist attacks occurred in Boston during the running of the Boston Marathon, memories came flooding back of our own dark days in Atlanta.
YARBROUGH: Outstanding equestrian team is UGA's best-kept secret
They are the best University of Georgia athletic team you have likely never heard of. They have won five national titles and go into next week's national championships one of the favorites to win it all again. Their home record is 44-1.
YARBROUGH: Skeeter Skates not impressed with ethics reform legislation
When the phone rang, I knew who was on the other end: Skeeter Skates, owner of Skeeter's Tree Stump Removal and Plow Repair in Greater Metropolitan Pooler. I can't tell you exactly why but the phone always sounds more urgent when Skeeter calls.. One thing about Skeeter Skates. He gets
YARBROUGH: Going into the lion's den for a worthy cause
I have a good idea what Daniel felt like when he was tossed into the lion's den way back yonder. I found myself last week on the floor of the State House and the State Senate, looking eyeball-to-eyeball with
YARBROUGH: If not for our natural resources, we could be Iran or Detroit
It is a theological fact that God really likes Georgia. That is why He put mountains in north Georgia and the Golden Isles smack up against the Atlantic Ocean and added a bunch of lakes and parks and historical sites in
YARBROUGH: This judge has earned his place at the head of the table
Let's face it. Judges can be pretty scary folks to We the Unwashed. But m intent today is to let a good man know that he has made a positive difference in more lives than he can imagine.
YARBROUGH: For ethics reform, the party isn't over yet
The Georgia House of Representatives has passed an ethics reform bill and has sent it on its way to the state Senate for its consideration and action. But don't get out the confetti just yet.
YARBROUGH: Thanks to humor-impaired, the state of this column has never been stronger
My fellow Americans: (Yea! Clap! Clap! Clap!) I come to you today to report on the state of your column.
YARBROUGH: Speaker Ralston discusses proposed ethics legislation
Are you sitting down? I had a meeting with House Speaker David Ralston last week at the Capitol. Got your breath yet? There's more. It was a good meeting.
YARBROUGH: Walking away from public schools is not a solution
As many of you recall, I opposed the recent charter school amendment, not because I oppose charter schools -- I don't -- but because I thought the wording of the amendment was duplicitous. But the voters have spoken and I am ready to move on.
YARBROUGH: Chip Rogers gets started at his new job
Yarbrough takes a look at Chip Rogers' new job with GPB.
YARBROUGH: Legislators may finally be getting the message on lobbying limits
Voters' voice on lobbyist gift limits sticking. Don't look now, but I think you are beginning to have some impact on the issue of unlimited lobbying expenditures in the Legislature.. Our politicians seem none too happy about having to derail their gravy train. They have tried to ignore you (and
YARBROUGH: Local newspapers provide information that empowers us
I have the privilege of being with a group of newspaper publishers at the Georgia Press Association's winter gathering in Atlanta this week. It is one of those times I wish my momma and daddy were still around to see the crowd their little boy is hanging out with these
YARBROUGH: To Cameron: Thank you for reminding us what really matters
Dear Cameron Charles Yarbrough:. Over the years it has been a tradition at the first of the year to impart some words of wisdom in this space to your father, uncle and cousins, who double as my grandsons. Perhaps some of my observations were useful to them. Maybe some fell
YARBROUGH: Goats could be the answer to Georgia's economic issues
My work never ends. Not only do I have to deal with compound verb forms each and every week, the editors insist I throw in some commas along the way for reasons I don't fully understand. I think commas are a nuisance and only serve to get in the way
YARBROUGH: Sorry Mayans, but there is a new year coming
I was hoping that for once the Mayans would be right about something and that the world would have ended on Dec. 21 as they had said it would. That would have taken care of the fiscal cliff and all the politicians that caused it. A little fire and brimstone
YARBROUGH: I wish I could have been there in Bethlehem
How I wish I could have been there in Bethlehem. This column was a favorite of my friend, Otis Brumby Jr., publisher of the Marietta Daily Journal and Neighbor Newspapers, who passed away earlier this year. It is dedicated to his memory.. I wish I could have been there. In
YARBROUGH: Vince Dooley talks about football, family and UGA history
I called Hall of Fame football coach Vince Dooley this week to get his perspective on UGA's heart-breaking loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship game.. There are few people more qualified to comment than Vince Dooley. Let's start with the fact that he won 201 football games, six
YARBROUGH: Some random thoughts on some random subjects
Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss is catching heat from right-wingnuts for doing exactly what he should be doing -- trying to help the federal government find a way out of the financial morass the country is in. The wingnuts want him to honor a 20-year-old no-tax pledge
YARBROUGH: If at first you don't secede, why try, try again?
In case you have been busy doing mundane stuff like eking out a living, you may have missed the news that there is a petition going around that would allow Georgia to secede from the union. As of this writing, there have been 24,579 signatures to the petition.. The impetus
YARBROUGH: A salute to the hero that made it home and to those that did not
Because of the timing of my column deadline, I will have to defer comment on the elections until next week. I can say this much, however. We cast our votes freely and with no tanks in the street.
YARBROUGH: Ten reasons to vote 'no' on the charter school amendment
The charter school amendment will be decided Tuesday. If it doesn't pass, it will be the greatest upset since David conked Goliath with a rock.
YARBROUGH: Charter school amendment is more about 'how' than 'what'
If the charter school amendment is such a good thing, why do its proponents seem to be using deceptive tactics to promote it?
YARBROUGH: Pro-charter amendment forces try to bully opponents
If the pro-charter amendment people are trying to win friends and influence voters to pass the measure in November, they have picked a bad way to do it.
YARBROUGH: Special school has positive impact on special needs children
Just when I think that maybe this world and those that occupy it are beyond redemption, I run across someone like Ava White and I am reminded that there are good people quietly doing good things for all the right reasons.
YARBROUGH: Junior E. Lee says UGA tops on his bugs list
Junior E. Lee, general manager of the Yarbrough Worldwide Media and Pest Control Company in Greater Garfield, Georgia, just called me with what he said was an exciting development.
YARBROUGH: School superintendent association head refutes pro-charter claims
GSSA head refutes claims on charter schools. With the vote on the charter school amendment just over a month away, the heat is getting intense. I know. I have felt it. I wrote a column a few weeks ago giving the pro-charter folks an opportunity to make their case
YARBROUGH: For the Legislature, this party may be over
When the gavel bangs to open the 2013 session of the Georgia General Assembly, I would suggest the first order of business be to have Willie Nelson serenade them with "The Party's Over."
YARBROUGH: Charter amendment advocates present their case
Rep. Edward Lindsey, (R-Atlanta) majority whip of the Georgia House of Representatives asked me if I would talk to the proponents of the upcoming constitutional amendment on charter schools and get their side of the story.
YARBROUGH: Veracity valuator clarifies my opinions
New tool helps clarify opinions. I got called a "liberal" the other day by a reader in Cherokee County who doesn't think much of my opinions and suggested "Someone should retire his word processor." My word processor, Barney, was elated at the thought. Barney hates this job. When I
YARBROUGH: Charter school amendment debate gets ugly
I knew it was going to get ugly, but I didn't know it would get this bad this quickly. I am talking about the constitutional amendment on charter schools to be voted on in November that asks, "Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended
YARBROUGH: Thanks to you, speaker might be ready to unload gravy train
Are you sitting down, dear reader? House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) has announced that he will propose a full ban on gifts from lizard-loafered lobbyists in the next session. Before you fall over in a dead faint, let me remind you that politicians are crafty sorts.
YARBROUGH: School superintendent's endorsement of Chip Rogers raises questions
What in the world was State School Superintendent John Barge thinking when he endorsed the re-election campaign of State Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock? Chip Rogers, in case you are not aware, is not exactly public education's best friend.
YARBROUGH: Watching Olympics, 16 years after Atlanta
Olympics, 16 years after Atlanta Games. Hard to believe, but it has been 16 years since the Olympic Games were held in our state. As I watch the festivities in London, I remembered the phone calls I had received over the past year from media members in Great Britain, asking
YARBROUGH: Recent trip a reminder to take nothing for granted
I have just returned from a memorable trip to Valdosta. I went there to speak to the Rotary Club. The members laughed in all the right places, which not only was memorable, but downright remarkable. What made the trip even more special were two visits I made while there.
YARBROUGH: Controversial transportation referendum on shaky ground
The 10-county, $7 billion Metro Atlanta transportation referendum is set to be decided by voters on July 31. If passed, the plan will be funded for 10 years by a 1-cent sales tax. Even if your county votes it down, the measure still becomes law if a majority of the rest do.
YARBROUGH: Plum Nelly Pitts says Higgs boson won't fix stupid
News bulletin: Scientists working at the world's biggest atom smasher near Geneva have announced the discovery of a new subatomic particle that looks remarkably like the long-sought Higgs boson. The bigger question is what does this mean to our daily lives? That required a call to Plum Nelly Pitts, of Varnell, Ga., the prestigious and prodigious prognosticator.
YARBROUGH: We the unwashed don't find lobby reform 'silly'
Everyone seems comfortable with the relationship between lawmakers and lizard-loafered lobbyists except We the Unwashed.
YARBROUGH: Calif. law not likely to pass in Ga.
The phone rang the other day and an the other end of the line was Gay Blade, the world’s flaming liberal. Gay spends a lot of time trying to raise my sensitivity toward liberal issues. So far, Gay has not had a lot of luck.
Recognizing our intrepid public servants
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Yarbrough Worldwide Media and Pest Control Company located in Greater Garfield, is pleased to recognize members of the 2011 General Assembly who gave so much so that we could get so little. Please hold your applause until all our honorees have been recognized. Otherwise, we could be here until the Legislature returns in August. Nobody wants that.
YARBROUGH: Digging into the mail bag
Let’s dip into the mailbag today, boys and girls, and see what is on the minds of discerning readers.
YARBROUGH: Tax reform gets raw deal
A.D. Frazier is not a happy camper. My friend and former Atlanta Olympic colleague spent last summer chairing the Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians, a 10-member council appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston.
YARBROUGH: Mark Richt a class act
Over my long life, I have come to realize that college football is not life-or-death. Life and death are life and death. Football is a game. Only a game. Yet, there are those rare times when the sport can tell us a lot about life — and death — and remind us that there is more to winning than the final score.
YARBROUGH: Obama, leave Ga. public education alone
Oh great. Now, the Obama administration is getting involved in public education in Georgia. That’s all we need. The deft touch of an inept federal government.
YARBROUGH: It's time for positive news
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states clearly that nobody can infringe on my right of free speech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States. You can get in serious trouble for that.
YARBROUGH: It's time to fix our borders
The next time the illegal immigration advocates start whining about the poor Mexican workers coming into the United States to “do jobs we won’t do” and to “make a better life for their families,” please inform them that the porous borders between lawless Mexico and the U.S. are also letting in drugs at a scale almost beyond description and that Atlanta is a major distribution hub for the hombres.
YARBROUGH: Georgia needs a champion for public education
In my house, the contest for state school superintendent is as important as the governor’s race. I have a son, son-in-law and now a grandson who are public school teachers, and they — and all the other teachers — deserve a draw-a-line-in-the-sand advocate.
YARBROUGH: A rare chance for me to laud Michael Adams
When I pay University of Georgia President Michael Adams a compliment, you may be sure it is the real thing.
YARBROUGH: Potted plants ruin a good pontification
This isn’t going to please those boys and girls with the dark glasses and hearing aids who are always talking to their lapels, but my column commandos walked right past them the other night to attend the season’s first Conversation at the Carter Center, otherwise known as Jimmy Carter’s Out-of-Touch-With-Reality Pontifications.
YARBROUGH: The great debate in the Ga. pool hall
In all the hubbub over the construction of a mosque at Ground Zero in New York City as a reciprocal gesture of friendship to Muslims who have agreed to build the Ali Khamenei Baptist Tabernacle in downtown Tehran, you may have missed the latest debate between Georgia’s gubernatorial candidates sponsored by the Yarbrough Worldwide Media and Pest Control Company, located in a pool hall in Greater Garfield.
YARBROUGH: There's no place like the Peach State
You can take the boy out of Georgia, but you can’t keep him from swelling with pride while he’s gone.
YARBROUGH: Don't pity the squirrels in my backyard
If you find any dead squirrels in my backyard, it is because they have laughed themselves to death.
YARBROUGH: Even squirrels find it too hot
I love the state of Georgia better than apple butter, but sometimes the place can try my patience. Like right now. It is just too hot.
YARBROUGH: Frazier a great tax reform ally for Georgians
I had considered the recently-constituted Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians just so much political hooey until I saw who was elected chairman of the council: Adolphus Drewry Frazier Jr.
YARBROUGH: As promised, I give you Junior's election analysis
As promised, I have the latest analysis of the recent primary results, courtesy of Junior E. Lee, general manager of the C. Richard Yarbrough Worldwide Media and Pest Control Company, located over a pool room in Greater Garfield.
Yarbrough: Readers respond vouchers
What, you may ask, am I going to say this week about the primary elections? The answer: Nothing.
YARBROUGH: Schools need our support, not vouchers
I am unalterably, unequivocally, and un-any other word you can conjure up opposed to school vouchers. I consider them somewhere south of Gov. George E. Perdue’s beloved horse barn that got tanked earlier this year.
YARBROUGH: OMG, I can't LOL while driving now?
This time of year is referred to as “Dog Days.” That is because state government feels that in appreciation for your tax contributions this is a great time to hound you with a bunch of new laws, regulations and similar irritations that usually become effective July 1. Hence, Dog Days.
Warren Co. schools may join Clayton
Of some 15,000 school systems in the United States only one has lost accreditation in the past four decades. In August 2008, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools denied accreditation to Clayton County.
YARBROUGH: Setting record straight on a not-so-straight interview
A few weeks ago, I interviewed Charles Ector, of Gainesville. I had been told he was a former Tuskegee Airman. He was portrayed as a World War II fighter pilot who came back home from Europe to join the vaunted fighters that had to deal with enemies abroad and racial prejudice at home. When we met, I asked him about his experiences. He said, "I don't want to talk about it."
YARBROUGH: An ode to a wise son from a grateful father
I am not going to tell you how old he is because he might not want you to know. So, I will just tell you that on his birthday next week, the last number will have a "zero" behind it and he was born as Dwight Eisenhower was going out of office and John F. Kennedy was coming in. You can figure out the rest.
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