Recent editorials from Georgia newspapers:
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March 17
The Daily Citizen-News on the COVID-19 vaccination:
Georgia expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility on Monday, and health officials are imploring the state’s residents who are eligible to make an appointment.
Unless you like living in a country that is a shell of its former self because of COVID-19 and its impact on our economy, our way of life, businesses, schools, leisure opportunities and pretty much everything else, if you are eligible you should make an appointment to get a vaccine.
One of the biggest questions in this era of misinformation and disinformation, paranoia and fear of government and our fellow man, is are the vaccines safe.
The Associated Press has reported:
“While demand for vaccinations still far outstrips the available supply in most parts of the country, there are already signs in some places of slowing registration. And the impact is expected to grow when supply begins to surpass demand by late April or early May, said Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
”‘This is going to be the big issue,’ he said. ‘And if we get stuck at 60 or 65% vaccinated, we are going to continue to see significant outbreaks and real challenges in our country, and it’s going to be much, much harder to get back to what we think is normal unless we can get that number higher.‘”
The wire service notes that “Ron Holloway is an example of the hurdles facing health officials. The 75-year-old Forsyth, Missouri, resident and his wife, who is 74, are at a higher risk of contracting the virus. But he was steadfast in insisting that they ‘don’t do vaccinations.’
”‘This whole thing is blown way out of proportion and a bunch of nonsense,’ he said of the virus. ‘We still haven’t lost 1% of our population. It is just ridiculous.’”
Well, that 1% reference equates to more than 533,000 deaths in the United States, each of whom was somebody’s loved one, perhaps a father, child, grandparent, sibling. Someone irreplaceable.
We can’t afford that kind of cavalier approach to COVID-19. Not if we want our way of life back.
So are vaccines safe?
The Georgia Department of Public Health declares the COVID-19 vaccines “Safe. Tested. Effective.”
The department notes, “Vaccines are a safe and effective way to limit serious illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. In fact, vaccines have been so successful at combating some infectious diseases, many of us don’t know much about the diseases vaccines prevent, because we’ve never known someone who has had them. To ensure the continued success of vaccines in the United States, public health professionals are committed to making sure that vaccines are safe.
“Most people do not have serious side effects from vaccines. Most side effects from vaccines are mild and go away on their own. Many common side effects after vaccination, like muscle aches or mild fever, are signs that our bodies are building a healthy immune response to protect us from disease.”
The scientists have spoken. Vaccines are the way to go. We encourage you to listen to them, not fearmongers who have their own agendas that do not involve public health.
The North Georgia Health District, which includes Whitfield and Murray counties, is urging residents who are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine to register for an appointment by calling the call center hotline at (888) 881-1474 weekdays from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
If you are eligible, please do so.
Online: https://www.dailycitizen.news/
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March 16
The Valdosta Daily Times on Open Government laws:
Open government is the law in Georgia.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, in the forward to Sunshine Laws: A Guide to Open Government in Georgia, wrote, “Openness and transparency are vital to upholding the public trust and maintaining an efficient, well-functioning government and bureaucracy. As your Attorney General, I am pleased to continue a long tradition at the Georgia Department of Law of ensuring our Sunshine Laws are understood and observed.”
If fact, open government is the strong public policy of the state of Georgia and under Carr’s watch the state has launched its first criminal investigation and eventual conviction for a violation of the state’s Sunshine Laws.
The state’s Open Records Act says, flatly, “All public records shall be open for personal inspection and copying, except those which by order of a court of this state or by law are specifically exempted from disclosure.”
The state’s Open Meetings Act says, “The public at all times shall be afforded access to meetings declared open to the public.”
The exceptions to both the Open Records Act and the Open Meetings Act are narrow and limited.
The vast majority of records held by local government agencies are public records and nearly all government meetings must be held out in the open.
Officials must not abuse the law by trying to stretch the application of the few exceptions. The law is very specific about what records can be withheld from public inspection, and when a local government withholds a record from the public, it must give the specific legal exemption that allows it to withhold that record.
In a similar way, the law only allows executive sessions, or closed door meetings, for very specific reasons and those exceptions to the meetings act must be interpreted narrowly.
Government transparency is not a partisan, Republican or Democrat, issue. Open government benefits all the people of Georgia, regardless of political ideology or party affiliation.
All local elected and appointed officials, along with agency records custodians, must take Sunshine Laws seriously. Those who violate either the Open Records Act or Open Meetings Act can face hefty fines and even criminal prosecution for denying, or attempting to thwart, the public’s right to know.
This week is Sunshine Week and the week-long designation shines the light on the public’s right to know.
We remind the public that open government laws are not just for the benefit of government officials or the media. These are your laws.
The records government holds are your records, and the business government deliberates in its meetings is your business.
Online: https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/
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March 11
The Brunswick News on expanding the duties of a local sheriff’s office:
It is good to know that the Glynn County Commission is finally getting around to acknowledging the asset the sheriff’s office can be to law enforcement in this community. Commissioners have agreed to include in the sheriff’s budget an additional $164,000 - the amount needed to fund six deputies to cruise for traffic and other violations along the county’s portion of Interstate 95 and its rest stop until the end of this fiscal year.
Limiting deputy patrols to I-95, however, should not be the only use of additional law enforcement power. Their area of concern ought to be expanded to include the entire county, where the majority of vehicle vs. vehicle and vehicle vs. pedestrian accidents occur due to reckless driving. Posting a single patrol at any traffic signal on a major highway in this community would net the county a fortune in fines and maybe even save a life or two.
It has been mentioned that the sheriff patrols on I-95 would particularly be obliging to the state. The Georgia State Patrol is short-handed and could use the extra sets of eyes and vehicles along the six-lane corridor. While that may be true, the major focus of the Glynn County Commission and the sheriff’s office ought to be the safety of the taxpayers of this community. The lack of GSP patrols on state highways in Glynn County has been an issue since the days of county police Chief Matt Doering.
That Sheriff Neal Jump is offering the services of his department to help out with law enforcement is commendable.
His office has a lot on its plate and will have even more with the recently announced return of jury trials in this state. Deputies are responsible for courtroom security, just one of many duties that include keeping the jail.
In the majority of Georgia’s 159 counties, the sheriff’s office is the chief law enforcement officer. The Glynn County Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency here, but its officers can’t be everywhere all of the time. It could use more officers, or lacking that, the eyes and help of the sheriff’s office.
It is OK to monitor traffic on I-95, but the safety of the residents and guests of Glynn County should be first and foremost. Always.
Online: https://thebrunswicknews.com/
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