LETTERS


D’Antignac opposes proposed utility authority

Dear Editor:

Tax payers of Jefferson County should stand up and give a hand, plus three cheers to Senator J. B. Powell (D-23) for using the brain God gave him. Most of the people that don’t keep up with what their elected Reps. are doing will cry foul later when it’s too late. I say wake-up, tax payers of Jefferson County. If it had not been for Sen. Powell, you might have had something called (Utility Authority) shoved down your throats, that you would surely want to have a (tea-party) for. Check this out below, just in case you missed it last week:

Jefferson County Board of Commissioners had hoped to have a bill passed in the General Assembly allowing the county to establish a utility authority. Rep. Mack Jackson (D-142) had introduced the bill in the House; however, Sen. J.B. Powell (D-23) would not introduce the bill in the Senate. Why?

(1) First, let me thank Sen. Powell for good ole common sense. (2) In a recent telephone interview, Powell said there were several reasons he did not introduce the bill in the Senate. He called around throughout the community, and a lot of people said they didn’t know anything about it, and he had some concerns with that.

(3) He said the legislative council of the Senate said there were some issues regarding constitutionality, plus he had to go on what the lawyers up there tell him, and he also mentioned the letter from Gov. Perdue, that he was not going to sign this type of legislation or bills, that are going to bypass the citizens for revenue bond funding. He said he was going to veto them and that’s where we were on that. Powell said, “I asked the county commission to give me some more public hearings and they didn’t act.” (4) Senator Powell said the commissioners could do anything the utility authority would be able to do. The only difference is the public involvement part.

Jefferson County, here is the section you should pay close attention too. (5) If they want to come and condemn your land, they can do that. And they can do it under the authority powers rather than the county commission doing the condemnation. “This bill is real broad, and it has the potential that it could be a major problem if it’s not done correctly and before I do it, it’s going to be correct, and it’s just something that we need to exercise a lot of caution on.

(6) Later in the week, Powell said he had reviewed the bill again. “I looked at that bill a little bit more,” he said. This bill authorizes an authority or franchise to provide the following services: distribution, sale and making contracts to users and customers on the following services: storm water, water and sewerage. Then this bill provides for distribution, sale and granting of franchises and making contracts to users and customers for the following services, cable vision, natural gas, internet, telecommunications, which is telephone, and wireless mobile phone. Powell said the authority would be governed by a five-person board appointed by the commission. “And what this does is add another layer of government that may not be as responsive to the citizens of Jefferson County,” he said.

(7) Last but not least, if you Tea-Party people are reading, you should be up in arms. You should read this next section real slow: The authority could finance projects with revenue bonds that do not require voter approval like general obligation bonds that they would have to use now. (The debt would ultimately fall on the citizens and they wouldn’t have a say so in it.) This bill would also set up an authority in competition with current service providers or would allow the authority to collect franchise fees (and this is potentially increasing the cost of services to Jefferson County citizens). Sen. Powell said that’s why I asked to have some more public input on this,” and that’s why I had some concerns and felt like we needed more public comment instead of just pushing this through. Ok tea-party-people, lets hear three cheers, and a stand-up applause for Senator J. B. Powell (D-23).

Clyde D’Antignac

Dear Editor:

Chrysler is in bankruptcy, billions of tax dollars were spent to keep Chrysler afloat. Most of this money was funneled thru Chrysler and went to the United Auto Workers Union, not the union members, but the union. The United Auto Workers Union now owns 55 percent of Chrysler. How does a union own the majority of a company that was bought with tax dollars?

This multibillion dollar theft was a practice run that’s about to be repeated with General Motors. Before it’s over the United Auto Workers Union will own controlling interest in General Motors and the taxpayers will have paid for it. This is Chicago style community organizing at its sleaziest. It’s the same Ponzi scheme they used to give mortgages to millions of people who couldn’t afford a mortgage, then shoved the mortgages thru Fannie Mae and let the taxpayers pay the bill. The nextnail in the coffin will be universal health care.

Everyone with a job will be required to buy health insurance and pay a surcharge to provide insurance to unemployed, underemployed, millions of illegal aliens, millions of prison inmates and probably captured terrorists.

The United Auto Workers Union, Fannie Mae and Acorn donate millions of dollars to the Democratic Party every year, most of it obtained from tax payers. The beat goes on and they’re just getting warmed up. Whenever a prominent democrat creates a self-inflicted dustup, it’s just a diversion to deflect from the real scam.

Dan McDermott
Stapleton