Filling the hole at the top

of this page

With the sudden death of my

friend and colleague Dave Hamrick, this page has a huge hole at its top.

It falls my lot to fill it.

For several years now, Dave

has anchored this page, in more ways than just the obvious. The front

page and the editorial and letters pages have been my responsibility.

Dave, among many duties, wrote a weekly column and laid out the inside

pages of the A-section.

We had developed such an easy,

predictable rhythm for Wednesday, our flagship paper. Now, change has

intruded.

Dave wrote every week, almost

always well-reasoned, thoughtful political columns dealing with major

issues facing the country. I would write only when stirred up about some

local situation.

Dave was by far the more disciplined

columnist. Rain or shine, week in, week out, Dave wrote. I would just

jump up and down every couple of months or so, flail my arms, raise some

sand, then subside. I suppose it could be said that I wrote only when

I felt I had to and kept quiet otherwise. Some would say they could have

done without even those occasional soliloquies.

So, what now, with our cofounder

and strong right arm gone?

Well, we go on. We get the

paper out.

Please pardon us for a few

weeks as we try to parcel out Dave's many duties among those of us remaining.

Forgive us if some things fall through the cracks. We'll get straightened

out soon.

Dave is irreplaceable. A couple

of days after Dave's death, special sections editor Monroe Roark asked

me what I was going to do about filling the empty editor's slot.

"I don't know," I

said.

"You know you'll have

to hire at least two people just to do Dave's job," Monroe said.

"And that still won't

cover what he did for us," I said.

So, I'm looking for editorial

talent. If you know anybody with some news experience, point them in my

direction. We need some help. E-mails are best to start with: [email protected].

In the meantime, what's up

with

State Rep. Kathy Cox thumbing

her nose at a majority of the Peachtree City Council? Council voted 4-1

to ask Cox to introduce some local legislation and she countered with

the demand that the vote be unanimous.

Leaving aside the merits of

the proposed legislation, Cox has created a standard for local bills that

may be impossible to meet. I wonder if Cox, one of Fayette's many office-holding

RINOs (Republicans in name only), thinks her sudden anti-majoritarianism

will help her in her quixotic bid for state school superintendent? Somehow,

I think not.

Fayetteville Council's insatiable

appetite for more annexations? The city looks like it wants to suck in

more land next to the Pavilion, already the shopping center for the Southside.

And this is the same group,

largely, that rode an anti-annexation revulsion into office back in the

1980s. Now, the once-anti-annexation rebels have become the pro-annexation

establishment. How the leopard doth change its spots.

To the developer any developer

annexation means immediate higher density or higher intensity for whatever

zoning, immediate access to sewer and more money. More money for the developer,

more tax money for the city. But it remains to be proved whether the increased

tax income comes close to paying for the increased city services required

for the newly annexed areas.

For example, the Pavilion is

the scene of more crimes than any other commercial or residential area

in the county. More vehicles are stolen from this one geographic area

than the rest of the county combined.

The area cries out for an increased

city police presence. But, that takes tax money, and the council has many

spending priorities. Police protection is just one of them.