Apparently this northward leg of the sewage system that links to the waste treatment plant south of the city now has insufficient flow pressure to push the stuff along ever since large industrial water users (Galey & Lord, Florida Tile) closed. Actually, a lot of heavy-duty water users, such as the Mohawk dye plant, have closed in recent years so why doesn’t the whole city smell this way ... or will it eventually?
Rome apparently has two engineering firms looking for answers, one involving smaller pipes and the other odor control. It probably should be assumed either approach would cost a bundle, although taxpayers have nothing to fear ... but water users do as the entire system is an “enterprise” paid for by rates that already have been leaping upward because of fewer big industrial users making purchases. The bills and bond payments stay the same, so the income must stay roughly equal as well.
Wouldn’t smaller pipes possibly defeat the purpose of the new industrial site north of Shannon? Wouldn’t odor killers add to environmental purification problems at the treatment plant?
Basically, this dilemma is quite simple: There’s not enough liquid going through this pipeline to flush the bad stuff toward its destination. Yet, if there’s one thing Rome/Floyd have in abundance it is water.
How’s about just rolling everyone living north of the intersection back to the average monthly water bill they paid a couple of years ago in return for turning on their faucets on a specific day of the week and letting them run for eight or so hours?
Graves in it for the long runTHERE’S MORE TO THE "SURPRISE" of first-term Congressman Tom Graves, R-Ranger, being named to the powerful committee making all the federal dollar decisions (Appropriations) than his being a fiscal conservative and Tea Party favorite.
He’s a Gordon County neighbor, of course, and it’s been a while since Northwest Georgia had anyone in such a position. There’s a long history of such key members making sure they bring the homefolks bacon even when everybody else has to make do with Spam. Since this region has long been on a comparative starvation diet as regards federal funding that may change. After all, the name of the political game is to get re-elected.
Which may explain his selection, as it is highly unusual for someone this new and young (he’s 39) to land on this panel. Graves represents Gov.-elect Nathan Deal’s old district, already a very safe Republican seat. Deal won election to the House eight straight times.
In the U.S. House, seniority — meaning length of stay in office — is key to moving up the ladder and possibly ultimately becoming chairman. The current “ranking” Republican on this panel has been elected 16 times in a row. That means, if Graves keeps getting back in office, in about 2040, if the Republicans are running things and when he’s 69, he might be holding all the cards ... and pursestrings.
Granting that only real old-timer Georgians will understand the reference: Another Carl Vinson in the making?
Let’s agree they’re very nice ... but they are also pure overhead. Before bashing County Commissioner Irwin Bagwell for suggesting the budget might be balanced by removing pay from the nine holidays county employees receive (they’d still get the time off) it should be remembered that the reason for such a drastic move is all that matters.
Indeed this newspaper, back last January, made the same holiday pay suggestion in warning what “might go” if the heavy, heavy hanging over the economy didn’t disappear. However, it depends on the motive and whether or not alternatives exist.
If the choice was temporarily stripping pay from holidays — no work to benefit the public is being done, of course — in order to keep more workers performing duties on the payroll that’s a logical choice. Nobody wants to lose, say, 5 percent of their take-home pay but do any now thus employed care to risk a 100 percent reduction in pay?
As a way to simply balance a difficult budget in one fell swoop instead of looking in all the nooks and crannies at what is needed, what is not — well, that’s another matter entirely.
If the County Commission determines the only alternative is firing 5 out of every 100 county workers remaining then Bagwell would be correct: A moratorium on pay for holidays would be better.
Just don’t do it because it is “the easy answer.”
Against the background of state legislators moaning and weeping about looming funding woes with HOPE/Pre-K scholarships coming from lottery proceeds, that may be wise to remember.
A recent report by the Southern Regional Education Board found that Georgia leads the nation in percentage of high-school graduates enrolling in college — 72 percent while the national average is 63 percent. The HOPE paying all the tuition for B students, and pieces of other associated costs, doubtless had everything to do with this.
The same study also found that less than half those entering college in Georgia exited holding a diploma.
Some legislators are proposing that the amount of tuition assistance be slashed for all entering college, perhaps only covering 80 percent. The proper approach would be to figure out how to identify those least likely to stick it out while offering 100 percent support to those who are the best investment.
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