We’ll turn the calendar for a new year in a few days and with that annual occasion comes the need for some change and improvement in various areas in Barrow County.
It’s not that everything is broken locally. However, only those who wear rose-colored glasses will try to convince you that we are living in paradise and nothing needs changing or fixing.
Let’s hope 2012 brings about some positive inroads for:
•Our crime problem. We have a crime issue in Barrow County. There’s no denying it. No corner of Barrow is immune from it. There are many factors which contribute to it from drugs, unemployment, underemployment, those who drop out of school and a cycle of crime which is passed on from generation to generation.
Our local law enforcement does a good job of arresting the criminals for the most part. However, in many instances the sentences given to criminals is not harsh enough. We often see the same names in our newspaper of those arrested time and time again. The punishment is not strong enough of a deterrent for the action. Until that happens then the cycle of crime will continue.
Some on the outside (and some on the inside) refer to Barrow County as the “Crime Capital of Georgia.” Is there more crime here than any place in our state? Probably not. But we do have our share. Probably more than our share. It’s nothing to be proud of. In fact it’s an outright embarrassment. It will take the effort of leaders who work in the school system, law enforcement, municipalities and the Chamber of Commerce to change it. It’s not easy. It won’t happen overnight. In fact, it’s probably something that can’t change in just one generation.
However, it must change. Crime is something that can easily get worse. Unless we work together to change it I dare say it will only continue to go downhill in the new year and beyond.
•Winder’s traffic problem. With each passing year, traffic in downtown Winder has only gotten worse. It borders on dangerous now, not just a matter of inconvenience. Nothing has changed in decades in terms of the traffic setup and that’s where the problem lies. The setup was fine four decades ago. It is not fine now.
We can only hope with a new mayor set to take office in 2012 that something can be done. In the past, we’ve gotten lip service at best. Some previous leaders have ignored the problem concerning traffic or even contributed to it by allowing uncontrolled growth in the downtown area.
You can continue to ignore it if you’d like, but if you do then only more accidents and deaths will occur. That’s the choice we face.
•Blight. A new code enforcement officer has been hired for Winder and let’s hope the officer is allowed to do the job without fear or favor. For too long, certain property owners have been given a free pass because of a last name or because they were friends with the right people.
Like the crime and traffic issues, blight has long since been an unaddressed issue in downtown Winder. I’ve inquired about it and am always given the right answers but in the end the right solution is never taken. The problem continues to persist. I’d like to think 2012 would be the year something — anything — is done.
•Open government in Winder. The outgoing mayor was not a fan of open government. As a result he is in his final days as mayor. The new mayor says he will conduct business in an open manner and I take him at his word. If nothing else, he knows we’ll be watching.
Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
Back in the early 90's, Barrow County and the City of Winder had an opportunity to have a by-pass built around the downtown business section. DOT and the county were to construct the project. The county's share was 4.5 million to be paid from a Special Purpose Sales Tax and DOT was to spend the extimated amount of 12.5 to 20 million to construct the road.
The Winder city council came out against the by-pass two weeks before the vote. It was defeated by 105 votes. Your man of the year Sonny Morris was on the council at the time and voted against the by-pass..along with Ridley Parish. Two great council members that put the screws to the citizens.
Can't just blame those two, however, Howard Langford had a laundry mat on May Street at the Highway 11 interchange. He was highly opposed to the path of the by-pass. Larry Jones, Larry Evans and a number of other downtown businessmen were opposed to it stating that "It would take business from downtown"...yeah, right. How's that worked out for them. The traffic has absolutely killed business downtown because of the traffic. The city was warned what would happen if the vote was defeated...traffic would remain downtown.
Since those are State routes that go thru downtown, the city can't do much with them without the permission and help from DOT. HUGH TANNER was the regional director at the time and only recently retired a few years ago and since has passed away...stated, "THERE WILL NEVER BE A BY-PASS BUILD AROUND WINDER AS LONG AS I AM DIRECTOR". Guess what, look around, every small town around up has at least one by-pass...but not Winder. DOT and Tanner were so mad at the self centered city council vote, today, they still refuse to do anything about the traffic. They of course, would say, that is not true, however, the facts speak for themselves...where is our by-pass. We keep hearing every year from every administration that it is on the drawing board and there is always a problem with the path or some other excuse...just BS.
Yup! If you want to blame somebody for the traffic problem today, blame the city of winder council and the mayor (Bill Landress) at that time and your newly elected councilman, Larry Evans.
As to the crime, it won't change until the attitudes or our neighbors change. The "I don't want to get involved" mentality needs to change. We have got to start looking out for our neighbors property. Tell a neighbor if you are going to be out of town for a day or so...let them know if anybody is suppose to be around your property while you are gone..who it is and what they would be driving. If someone is seen on the property not meeting the descripton left by your neighbor, get all the information you can from the color or the car, tag number if possible, number of people...etc...call the law enforcement folk. If we start doing that, the criminals will go somewhere else.