August 2, supporters of candidate Daniel Yearwood will host an all-day bake sale and yard sale in downtown Winder. Yearwood has said he will be on hand to answer any questions supporters might have about his candidacy.
Incumbent Doug Garrison is also answering questions from voters. After accusations regarding his real estate license and dealings with the airport authority were posted on BarrowJournal.com, Garrison responded.
"I have devoted myself to fulltime duties as Chairman keeping regular office hours of 8 to 5 and attending meetings and working for the County after hours," he said. "Yes I have a real estate license however I have not had any listings in the past four years and only continued to represent one property that did close. I have not been offered nor have I received any 'Finders Fee'."
Garrison also addressed concerns regarding the recent opening of a line of credit by the airport authority.
"Neither the Board of Commissioners nor I was involved with the Airport Authorities establishing a letter of credit. This was done solely by the Authority which has the right and power to do so," Garrison said.
(see comments below)
The public's last opportunity to hear both candidates was at the July 21 meeting of the Barrow County Republican Party. Yearwood and Garrison were allowed two minutes each to make a final pitch for votes from the GOP faithful.
Incumbent candidate Doug Garrison took the opportunity to remind voters of his record as chairman and reiterate his platform as chairman of Barrow County.
“I pledge to keep Barrow County taxes low,” he said. “I support economic development and economic growth. I support public safety.”
Garrison, whose experience includes service as the chairman of the Barrow County Board of Education; president of the Barrow County Farm Bureau and member of the Barrow County chamber of commerce, said he wants to continue to serve as chairman of Barrow County.
“I think leadership is what’s important in this position. I think that’s what I offer,” Garrison said.
Challenger Daniel Yearwood’s first order of business was to address rumors that he would lay off county employees.
In an interview published in the July 11 special election edition of the Barrow Journal, Yearwood said surrounding counties were cutting back while Barrow County continued to hire new employees.
“Everybody else is cutting back, we’re still hiring,” he said. “This has got to be, I hate to say approached from the standpoint of a cutback, but we can’t continue paying the debt that we pay and keep the people we’ve got employed there.”
When asked if cutbacks included layoff of county employees, Yearwood replied: “If it has to come to that. You know I hate to say that, but all the other counties around us are doing it. I don’t know why we should have to be any different.”
During his address Tuesday night, Yearwood denied that layoffs were part of his plan to cut spending.
“I would like to assure all the employees of Barrow County that I am not in favor of any job cuts,” he said.
Yearwood said his main concern was to get county spending back on track.
Yearwood repeated his campaign slogan that he intended to see that tax dollars were spent on “what we need, not what we want.”
Promising to run the county like a business, Yearwood said Barrow County needed to control its spending.
“In order for our county to grow and to protect its employees, we have to get back to basics and solve basic problems,” he said.
Barrow County voters will decide between the two candidates during the August 5 runoff.
Mr. Garrison has ignored the Barrow Charter which specifically states that he is not to hold another job while he is the chairman. He continues to hold, and profit from, his commercial real-estate license, even though that is contrary to the Charter! The arrogance of this is unbelievable. It shows his lack of integrity and his attitude that he will do what he wants to do, not what is best for Barrow County!
Saturday, August 2
next to Elder's Cleaners on N. Broad St. Winder
8am to 3pm
Come and meet Danny and ask him your questions.
donations welcome. send email to:
YardSaleForDanny@yahoo.com
Thanks!
Budgeting
The Atlanta area real estate index has fallen by almost 7% in home values in the last twelve months. Why has your home value assessment, as computed by the Barrow County tax office, not been adjusted downward accordingly? Every year our home assessments are readjusted upward, but never downward. The reason this happens, is many members of the current Board of Commissioners establish the county budget by first looking at the tax digest and spending more tax payer money rather than adopting a zero based budgeting procedure which requires every department to work from the bottom up and correspondingly offering suggestions for cost savings in their departments. If this had happened in Barrow Co., the sheriff’s department would not be hiring forty- two more deputies before the new jail opens. Are we expecting a full jail day one? Mr. Garrison stated that the re-assessment is mandated by the State of Georgia. Governor Perdue has stated that the re-assessments do not have to take place “every year”.
Violation of County Charter
The Barrow County Charter, Section 11a (1) states: “The Chairperson of the board shall receive a base salary in the amount of $53,000.00 per annum. Such compensation shall be paid in equal monthly installments from funds of Barrow County. The Chairperson shall be on a full-time basis and shall devote himself or herself solely to the duties of his or her office.”
Our current Board Chairman was the recipient of a real estate “Finder’s Fee” as reported by the Barrow County News on March 2, 2008. A real estate finder’s fee is usually one percent of the total purchase price. This is a direct violation of the Barrow County Charter. Why did Mr. Garrison accept this fee? Mr. Garrison told The Barrow Co. News that he had this listing before he took office. Almost four years? This is the question you should ask of Mr. Garrison.
Follow the “Money Trail”
In politics you have to follow the money. In the Clinton’s case, it was real estate and commodities trading. In Bush’s case, many claim oil as his money trail. In Barrow County follow the real estate transactions. Many citizens cannot get real estate timely comps in order to determine the current value of their property. A commission, appointed by the County Board Chairman, can recommend the purchase of land as the Airport Board and Development Boards has done on a regular basis. The vast majority of these
transactions are handled by one real estate firm in Barrow County. This firm was the one who paid the “Finder’s fee” to Mr. Garrison according to the Barrow Co. News article on this land transaction.
Airport “Letter of Credit”
After stating the airport issue was dead, why has the Board of Commissioners established a “Letter of Credit for $1,250,000”? Ask your Mr. Garrison why before you vote.
We have a county which most citizens are proud. I feel we need a change of leadership that helps further the county without the usual politics for personal gain that is prevalent in most politics from local through Washington, DC. A change has to be grass roots and we must hold all politicians accountable for their actions and judgments. Ask the right questions and weigh the answers carefully. We have to live with these people for another four years. If you vote for a popular candidate rather than vote an issues candidate, you will get just another happy face instead of a citizen who wants to serve their county in order to improve for all citizens not just a few people who are the “Power behind the Power.”
Danny Yearwood will get my vote! His opponent seem let a nice person, but we need to get back to sound fiscal management in Barrow County and I believe Mr. Yearwood along with the two new Board members will provide that leadership.
Len Ebersberger.
I would like to present my own list of Mr. Garrison's "accomplishments", which are the reasons I will not be voting for him:
1. Mr. Garrison has ignored the Barrow Charter, which states that he is not to hold another job while he is the Chairman. He continues to hold his commercial real-estate license -- a definite conflict-of-interest in a growing county. He has been asked repeatedly to retire that license and he has refused. See www.barrowcitizenswatch.com
2. While Barrow County officials "WAITED for financial help from the state DOT", Oconee County officials were praised for aggressively pursuing scarce DOT funds to build another connector from Watkinsville to 316 (Athens Banner-Herald 7-24-2008 and 7-21-2008).
3. Jimmy and Elaine Smith lost the land their family had owned since the 1940's, to eminent domain, for purposes that are controversial at best. How safe is your property?
4. The right to free speech is alive and well in the BOC meetings, as long as everyone that wishes to speak can get it done in the alloted 10 minutes. That's 10 minutes total for all speakers and all agenda items. This limitation was imposed by Mr. Garrison.
5. The Convention Center has been turned over to the private sector (where it should have been all along) instead of on the backs of the taxpayers. This is good news, but the change was announced fourteen days before the runoff. A political ploy? Certainly. If Mr. Garrison truly had a change of heart about this, it would have been announced long before the July 15 election.
6. "There will be no runway extension." Again, good news. Again, only announced because a runoff is required. However, there is the little matter of the letter Mr. Garrison wrote in support of the proposed Bio-Terror Lab in Athens, inviting them to use our airport and boasting about forthcoming improvements... go to
http://www.concernedbarrowcitizens.org/index_files/barrow.pdf
These "changes of mind" are clearly for the purposes of gathering votes. They show that Mr. Garrison does not stand for what he believes in, but he stands for whatever he thinks will gain votes. Do not be fooled!
The citizens do not trust this administration. District 1 and 2 proved that by voting out the incumbents.
Danny Yearwood can restore the public's trust in this office.
Your vote counts! EVERY vote matters on August 5. There will not be another runoff; whoever gets the most votes this time, wins.
Vote on August 5, and vote Danny Yearwood.
Re Budgeting:
On page 3-13 of the Jail Needs Assessment for Barrow County the initial capacity or used bed space of the new jail was estimated at 256. The assessment indicated Barrow County would need 94 persons to operate the facility. The last of the needed personal was proposed to be hired in June of 2008 for a total of 96 persons at the Jail facility. Barrow County is prepared to move in and operate the facility without down time. As to property values and assessments again this is totally controlled by the Tax Assessor and guidelines provided by the State. All properties are not reassessed annually as this would be a tremendous work load. Approximately one third are reassessed each year. The Native Intelligence Report states a two percent decline not seven for Barrow County.
County Charter:
I have devoted myself to fulltime duties as Chairman keeping regular office hours of 8 to 5 and attending meetings and working for the County after hours. My family can attest to this! Yes I have a real estate license however I have not had any listings in the past four years and only continued to represent one property that did close. I have not been offered nor have I received any “Finders Fee”.
As to “Follow the ‘Money Trail’ :
only one land purchase in the past four years involved a real estate firm and this was Maynard & Bartlett Realty. I did not receive any money as a result of this transaction. The statement by Mr. Ebersberger “The vast majority of these transactions are handled by one real estate firm in Barrow County” is simply NOT true.
Airport ‘Letter of Credit’:
Neither the Board of Commissioners nor I was involved with the Airport Authorities establishing a letter of credit. This was done solely by the Authority which has the right and power to do so. In fact, I personally visited with bank officials to confirm with them that the Board of Commissioners was not responsible for nor had been asked to support this “Letter of Credit”.
Doug Garrison
While in office serving as Chairman of the Commissioners, water and sewer was ran to Hwy. 316 and then Faison Development (another developer) purchased the property.
YOU did not have a deal when you became Chairman of the Board. Since a different developer purchased the land while you were in office, why didn't you pay the county the commission? As stated in an Editorial in The Braselton News back in February of 2008, the writer stated, "You cannot serve 2 Masters".
Mr. Garrison for the past four years you have served 2 masters/ real estate and the Barrow County citizens.
We indeed will remember this at the POLLS. Oh, by the way, there is an article in another newspaper stating the facts by you about the Target development land. The truth is on our side.
I especially like how you ran over to the bank to make sure your backside was covered!
After all, it is election season.
Please save your breath. We don't believe you! You never cared before now, about talking to the citizens. It is too late.
Remember the saying, "Ask me no more questions, and I'll tell you no more lies"? If you haven't noticed, we've stopped asking you questions, because we know what we'll get: baloney.
Can you or anyone explain how the Water & Sewer Authority is different from the Airport Authority? Seems Doug will take credit for all the great expansion work of the Water & Sewer Authority, but will quickly distance himself from the recent $1.2m line of credit at the Airport -
"Neither the Board of Commissioners nor I was involved with the Airport Authorities establishing a letter of credit. This was done solely by the Authority which has the right and power to do so. In fact, I personally visited with bank officials to confirm with them that the Board of Commissioners was not responsible for nor had been asked to support this “Letter of Credit”."
So is Doug in charge of all county activities or just the ones he feels will get him the most runoff votes? Please explain the difference in Doug's role in these two Authorities?
Please...while Oconee GETS money to duplicate what they already have, we STUDY the problem...
the difference is "great leadership".
I don't think that people realize how devasting things could be if our airport were used to transport Bio-Terror items and if there were an accident. What if a plane crashed? What if an automobile accident occured when leaving Winder airport going to Athens. Also, the airport could be potential target for terrorism. ALL, this is not PROPAGANDA, this is for REAL. Please read the letter to Dr. Lee.
It has come to our attention that many people do not know what is meant by
these terms. We will try to explain.
On Plum Island, one mile off the coast of New York, there is a research facility that is getting old and must be replaced. This lab studies various highly contagious, and deadly diseases, attempting to find cures and
antidotes. Athens, GA is one of the choices for this facility to relocate to.
While the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says that only animal diseases will be studied here, it also freely admits that it can change its mind at any time about which diseases it studies. In fact, of the eight
diseases that they want to study here, ONLY three of them are fatal to humans.
The "main man" trying to bring this facility to Athens, instead of rebuilding it on Plum Island, is Mr. David Lee of UGA Research.
You may find Mr. Lee's name familiar. He is the man that Mr. Garrison wrote THE LETTER to, offering our little airport for use by the NBAF, also known as the Bio-Terror Lab. By now, you can see why this facility was given this name.
Mr. Lee, although wanting to bring this lab here, has admitted it would be safest on an island. In fact, EVERYONE, both for and against this facility, has said it would be safest on an island. That is not opinion, it is fact.
Don't you want this lab to utilize the NEGA Regional Airport? Maybe they'll study anthrax next!
They plan to have an "insectary" which is where they will keep INFECTED mosquitoes, ticks, etc. Even the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) says it would be a bad thing in Georgia's climate if one of those buggers got out...
Hoof and mouth disease seems to be the big one they want to study. There have been only 14 "accidental releases" of this disease from laboratories since 1960. Doesn't that make you feel better?
You can see all of these neat facts at a local online newspaper, which we cannot name or this post will not be printed.
go to archives and search for NBAF.
Here's some more: all of the "accidental releases" of deadly agents were blamed on human error. Human error is not something anyone can stop or control. It doesn't matter how secure the facility; it is still run and
staffed by humans.
And unfortunately, the government in all of its studies, did not even consider the possibility of sabotage at a place like this, when they were assessing the risk factors. Remember anthrax from 2001 and 2002? That virus
was CARRIED OUT of its lab.
So, that's the short version of the NBAF, affectionately known as the Bio-Terror Lab.
We can all see why the NBAF would be safest on an island. Plum Island is protected by at least one mile of water on all sides. Athens is not. And, the NEGA Regional Airport surely is not.
Danny says we can't keep borrowing against an uncertain future.
Who's right?
Well....Doug must think we're a stand-alone economic MACHINE! Because
meanwhile in the rest of Georgia...and the REAL WORLD:
From the AJC, 7/29:
"Everything from pay raises for teachers and state employees to tax cuts passed during the 2008 General Assembly session could be on the chopping block if the economy continues to stumble, a key lawmaker said Tuesday.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill (R-Reidsville), said budget
writers are looking at a whole host of options as they try to decide how to address the state's latest fiscal crisis. Among the options are eliminating this year's 2.5 percent teacher and state employee pay raise. Tax collections have been down for months.
The state had to use $600 million in reserves to pay bills for fiscal
2008, which ended June 30. "The numbers are sobering," Hill said. "The $700 million we approved in new spending for fiscal 2009, we're fixin' to go over that with a fine-tooth comb."
A new report out Tuesday by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute says the state could wind up with a shortfall of $2 billion or more this year if tax collections continue to decline. Gov. Sonny Perdue has requested some agencies prepare plans to cut 3.5 percent, but that would only save the state about $200 million."
Y'all tell me: Who's being truthful about our current situation? It's
common sense! Doug keeps using figures from Fiscal year 2007. We're
almost done with Fiscal year 2008!
Doug brags about how educated he is. I bet he doesn't have a Finance
degree! He better have unlimited overdraft protection on his personal
account at the prominent local unnamned bank if this is how he handles his own finances.
Maybe Bill Brown's infamous Beer Plane will save us all!