My great-great-great-grandfather and his two brothers joined a group of right wing radicals that became a group of clandestine rebels who believed it was wrong for the governing authority (Britain) to levy a tax on every implement they bought, any food or drink they bought, any spices, cloth, or land they bought, and for the privilege of having a business.
At that time 90 percent of the people thought it was wrong for those rebels to revolt and 35 percent of that 90 percent were devoted to that governing authority and the other 55 percent thought that even though they didn’t like paying those taxes they were obliged to pay and would not think of questioning their right to do so.
These rebels had a leader who was so bold as to sit down with another group of like-minded men and designed, wrote and sent a letter stating that they would no longer accept this abuse and considered themselves and everyone else in the original thirteen colonies free from Britain’s authority and were ready to be their own authority. This created a war between these two bodies that lasted many years.
Taxation is a good thing not a bad thing, but too much of a good thing can sometimes be a bad thing, and when the tax is to pay for a need that does not exist, it is not only bad but should be unlawful. In the second town hall meeting Mr Brown said “all politicians lie and I’m a politician.”
We wrongfully accept this from politicians, but we should not accept it from the people we pay to do a specific job for us. All county and city employees are paid to do a service for us. We are not there to serve them. If the county manager and the department directors and county and city engineers do not understand that they are there to watch over our well-being, then they need to be dismissed and we need to hire personnel that know their job, know who they work for and do not flinch every time they meet a conflict.
Both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War resulted in our governing system securing some fundamental rights both for people and for states, counties, and cities. In light of those fundamental rights does the federal government have the right to tell states, counties and cities, for example, that they must have a stormwater department? I don’t think so! If these departments are the result of a federal mandate I want to see that piece of paper, and I want to see a name and date when it was issued.
Stormwater management programs cannot manage storm water; God alone can do that. If you watched the news the last month you saw many floods and related deaths due to storm water and the EPA, EPD, and the stormwater management departments have not apologized for failing to do their job: managing the storm water.
What is the BMP (best management practice) for diverting a storm, stopping the wind, hail and excessive rain? The EPA doesn’t have one. In Mr. Brown, Mr. Rapson, and Ms. Birrell’s second town hall meeting two or more land owners asked if they could have a tax credit for having a pond on their property. Mr. Rapson could not give an answer and passed it on to Mr. Brown, who also could not give an answer but passed it on to Vanessa Birrell, who quietly asked her assistant who then gave her the answer that the pond is always full of water so it doesn’t count. How misleading and how deceitful.
The pond is one of the best BMPs in the book. It dissipates the force of the water in the stream and allows sediment to fall out. It also acts as a reservoir for the next three feet in height of water flowing into the pond before the water can breach the dam. The question should not be, “May I get a tax credit?” but “When is the EPA and EPD going to reimburse me for the cost of installing this BMP on my property and helping to stop the erosion that could have happened if I had not installed it?”
If the county manager does not want to order the repair of the spillway at Lake Peachtree, then the Board of Commissioners should call for his resignation and hire someone who knows how to handle the job. Remember that Lake Peachtree and this spillway have withstood one 500-year flood and two 100-year floods. How is it possible to do better then that? I don’t recall any deaths down stream on those occasions and no one can tell us how long the void has been under that spillway. I think it has been there for a number of years and no one has done their inspection job. Fill the void then fill the lake!
Charles Phillis
Peachtree City, Ga.
