Recent editorials from Georgia newspapers:
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March 25
The Augusta Chronicle on violence in society:
This is the very definition of mob violence. And it happened right here.
Ten people have been charged with murder, and lesser charges are expected, after a Hephzibah brawl March 18 that left one youth stabbed to death.
Tragically, authorities say the knife-wielding suspect - Demetrius Lamont Harris Jr., 21, of Hephzibah - was allegedly fending off others when he accidentally stabbed a friend, 18-year-old Demajay Deshawn Bell, who died from a wound to the neck.
While they did not wield that particular weapon or personally strike Bell down, the others were charged by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office for having committed crimes in the melee - assault, weapons-brandishing - that foreseeably could’ve been expected to result in injury or death.
It’s been said that 30 to 50 people were involved in the fracas, which reportedly was the outgrowth of a dispute between two 15-year-old girls at Glenn Hills High.
A criminal justice expert we talked to said all 10 suspects may not be convicted of murder in Bell’s demise - but that the charges are reasonable based upon the evidence, including videos of the fight. And either way, the expert said, the community has sent a strong message in charging the 10.
If only parents and other adults in such situations would send strong messages as well. About restraint, civility, nonviolent dispute resolution, morals - and, of course, mom’s time-honored question “If someone told you to jump off a ledge…”
Instead, one mother was said to have even helped arrange the initial fight between the girls. Nice role-modeling!
Shame on any adult who either had a hand in this mob clash - or should have had a hand in preventing it but didn’t.
It’s also instructive to note how quickly the knives and baseball bats came out. More than two were spoiling for a fight.
In what civilized culture is this kind of battle royal in any way acceptable?
This society has a great deal of soul-searching to do - about its parenting, its music, its movies, its video games, its television and its lack of manners, civility, class and coping skills.
Is this really the kind of life we want for our kids?
Online: https://chronicle.augusta.com/
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March 26
The Macon Telegraph on the legislative session:
The 2016 session of the Georgia General Assembly is now history, and while two very controversial measures sit in limbo on the governor’s desk — the so-called religious freedom bill and campus carry bill - that he may or may not veto, the most disappointing measures in our estimation are two proposals that didn’t get a fair hearing. One was eventually successful, but the other was not.
First, the bad news. House Bill 722, sponsored by Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, originally sought to do two basic things: allow medicinal marijuana to be grown in Georgia to keep those who need the drug from violating federal law to acquire the drug, and to expand the pool of people with certain maladies who could use the drug.
After the in-state growing was deemed impossible to pass due to opposition from the governor and resistance from law enforcement, Peake proceeded with part two. Eventually that effort proved futile as well. Those with HIV-AIDS or PTSD and other illnesses will just have to endure their pain.
As egregious as that slight was, another bill that proved successful in the waning minutes of the session after midnight was House Bill 827, sponsored by Rep. Scott Holcomb, D-Atlanta. It was discovered there were uncollected, yet-to-be-tested rape kits all over the state that had not been picked up by law enforcement agencies. According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation, Grady Hospital had 1,400 untested rape kits. The hospital believed it couldn’t release the kits due to federal privacy regulations. Holcomb’s bill would clear all that up by requiring law enforcement to find untested sexual assault kits and count them.
The bill passed the House unanimously. But it hit a snag in the Senate in the name of Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford. She wouldn’t let it out of her committee for some inexplicable reason she tried to explain. But in the face of withering pressure, she stepped away from the cliff, but the House and Senate had to do some legislative gymnastics to get the bill approved before sine die.
It was victorious for members of the General Assembly and a show of real bipartisanship and prevailing over the odds, but it was sad, too.
If those kits had been tested, some victims may not have had to be victims at all, because their attackers might have been in jail and not on the streets. It’s sad because one of the members elected to serve her constituents - Sen. Unterman - was willing to allow that situation to continue.
And for what?
Online:
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March 27
The Gainesville Times on medical cannabis oil:
As we assess what the Georgia General Assembly accomplished in its now-concluded 40-day session, one key bill that didn’t get passed was a missed opportunity to help many in our state: The push to expand availability of a cannabis oil derivative for those who endure seizure disorders.
The bill would have allowed for the medicine’s carefully monitored manufacture and distribution to make it available to those who now must break the law to acquire it. It also would have expanded the number of diseases the oil is approved to treat.
A law passed last year was an important first step in decriminalizing possession of the drug, but only for eight specific afflictions. It’s still hard to acquire and limited in who can have it.
In fact, the bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Allen Peake of Macon, has himself admitted breaking the law by transporting cannabis oil across state lines for families who need it. None of these people want to be lawbreakers, but when faced with the option of letting their loved ones languish needlessly, what choice do they have? Why should parents have to jump through the eye of a needle to ease their children’s suffering?
Legislators expressed various concerns. Some have questioned whether the medical science behind cannabis oil’s benefits are valid. These amateur doctors need only to talk to families of children plagued by such seizures to learn how the drug eases their symptoms and helps them lead more normal lives. To those who have witnessed its effects, it is nothing short of a miracle.
Other concerns came from law enforcement officials who convinced lawmakers that loosening restrictions on cannabis oil production could result in expanded use of the drug for recreational purposes. Yet there’s no correlation between the medicinal oil derivative of marijuana, which lacks the THC chemical that creates the “high,” and the plant’s other mind-altering qualities. The law as presented would have carefully limited conditions where the drug could be grown, harvested and manufactured.
Even a scaled-down version of the bill failed in the session’s final hours. It would have expanded the number of medical conditions for which cannabis oil possession would be allowed to include Tourette’s syndrome, autism and post-traumatic stress disorder. Why that couldn’t pass is another mystery, perhaps more tied to procedural issues than substance.
It’s also worth noting that PTSD is a psychological affliction common among returning military veterans. So much for supporting our heroes in uniform.
But nothing is more puzzling than the notion that possessing a medical drug with no intoxicating qualities should be illegal in the first place. You can’t make it here, and you can’t bring it into the state, but it’s OK for a few people to have it for a few select conditions. At some point, state leaders need to clean that up so it makes sense.
The reluctance to allow cannabis oil treatment on a wider scale may be further evidence of how lawmakers are resistant to social change, even by small degrees. To most, marijuana is a drug of choice for stoners and hippies, not a natural substance that can be transformed into an effective medicine like others that have both useful and abusive qualities. Though it’s hard to imagine how approving the use of a drug is going to create more pot smokers.
Meanwhile, legislators passed a law allowing college students to carry guns into classrooms. They passed a “religious freedom” law that could drive a stake through our economy’s beating heart, with corporations from Disney to the NFL and beyond lined up in opposition.
They passed a bill allowing roads and other construction to go forward in some cases without a pause to study the environmental or historical impacts of the project. And they dimmed the light on open government by passing a bill allowing records on certain economic development projects to be shielded from public view, and to allow college athletic departments to withhold public records for up to three months, a consistent effort to put the needs of sports teams on an ever-higher pedestal.
There were some positive late developments, such as a law to expedite the backlog of rape case evidence that has stacked up over the years, giving victims who endured that invasive process some hope of justice. And even that no-brainer barely squeaked through.
As is always the case in election years, legislators seemed more intent on making points to please key constituencies than trying to solve real problems, increase freedoms and help our state grow and prosper. And any action that could alienate many Georgians, harm our economy or safety, or that fails to ease the suffering of sick children doesn’t meet the smell test.
For better or worse, the session is over and the effects are in place. What Georgians think of those efforts will be reflected in the upcoming state elections, at least for those few lawmakers facing opposition. As always, we get the government we choose and deserve.
And for many anxious Georgians in need of cannabis oil, the promise of hope this Easter season offers is tempered by knowing the medicine their family needs won’t be any easier to get than it was before.
Online: https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/
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