The skunk came in contact with two dogs Oct. 31. The skunk was shipped to the Georgia Public Health Lab, Virology Section in Decatur and confirmed positive for rabies on Thursday. A man then came in contact with a raccoon in the same area later that week. The raccoon was confirmed positive for rabies on Tuesday. The man started rabies treatments immediately.

These are the 11th and 12th confirmed rabies cases of 2011.

Alert signs have been posted in the area where the rabid skunk was found. If you live in this area or you see an animal acting abnormally, contact Hall County Animal Services at 770-531-6830 or during nonworking hours call Hall County Dispatch at 770-536-8812.

Animal owners are encouraged to vaccinate their pets and livestock for rabies. Vaccines are available for $10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at the Hall County Animal Shelter at 1688 Barber Road in Gainesville and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Humane Society of Northeast Georgia at 845 W. Ridge Road in Gainesville.

PAWS (Pet Animal Welfare Society) and TLC (Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Humane Society) are being offered an opportunity to work with a veterinarian to create a low cost North Georgia Spay Neuter Clinic.  Both are 501(c)3 organizations that would qualify for numerous grants for such a project.

State law requires that animals passing through shelters be altered to keep unwanted pets from becoming a burden on taxpayers.  Lumpkin County has legally circumvented the problem by requiring adoptive owners to sign a contract that makes them responsible for the procedure.  County employees have not followed up on enforcement of the contract; consequently, many shelter animals continue to reproduce exacerbating the over-population problem.

Vouchers provided as part of the adoption process are inadequate to cover the cost charged by many local vets.  The reality is that a lot of folks simply don’t have money for the kind of care offered by local veterinarians.   A  low cost clinic for spay/neuter appears to be the only humane way to stop animals from reproducing and their offspring being euthanized.

No matter how much we love our pets, there is a limit to the number we can have.  Most residents of our area already have as many as they can manage.  Although volunteers transport hundreds of pets to rescue groups and adoption opportunities in other parts of the country where spay/neuter laws are actually enforced, our shelters continue to euthanize many healthy pets.  We have not solved the problem.

A low cost spay/neuter clinic is the only thing that can help us eliminate unwanted pets, come into true compliance with state law, and reduce the burden on local taxpayers.

There has been reluctance on the part of PAWS CEO Dan Bowers to allow the PAWS name to be used to solicit funds for this project.  It would be a great travesty if we lose this opportunity.  We cannot expect Dr. Land’s offer to last forever.

If you support a spay/neuter clinic that will save taxpayers money, reduce the numbers of unwanted animals and eliminate unnecessary euthanasia, please, let your voice be heard.  Contact PAWS and TLC members, write letters to The Dahlonega Nugget and post your comments on this website.

DOT sets Dahlonega traffic study meeting
Public information session planned for Thursday, March 24 from 2-4 p.m.
An information session has been called to discuss the “needs analysis” portion of a traffic study concerning Ga. 52/Morrison Moore Parkway in Dahlonega.
The meeting is set for 2-4 p.m. Thursday at Dahlonega City Hall, 465 Riley Road.
Georgia Department of Transportation engineers, planners and other transportation experts will be available to answer questions about the study.
Key findings from the needs analysis show that Lumpkin County’s population is expected to grow by 60 percent and employment by 40 percent in the next 25 years and that new growth within Dahlonega is expected to be primarily nonresidential, including redevelopment and construction on now-vacant land.
The study also has revealed that one half of Lumpkin workers travel outside the county to go to their jobs, traffic in and out of the study area is expected to grow 77 percent over the next 25 years, and that growth at North Georgia College & State University in Dahlonega will continue to drive steady but modest growth in Dahlonega’s population.

Also, Ga. 60 from Ga. 400 to and from East Main Street is the busiest two-lane corridor in Lumpkin, and Morrison Moore at South Chestatee Street is the busiest intersection in Dahlonega.
The DOT is conducting the study with Dahlonega, Lumpkin County and NGCSU.
The traffic study is expected to be finished by Aug. 31.

Government can only be truly accountable if the citizenry regularly learns what our elected or appointed servants are up to. That’s a concept celebrated during national Sunshine Week, which begins today.  Friday, March 11, 2011

The opposite of that ideal is a secretive government — one whose unseen hands have liberty to pursue actions that may not be in the best interests of the governed.

Georgia Senate Bill 159 would make this undesirable outcome much easier to achieve by tossing a larger cloak of confidentiality over the economic development deals governments often negotiate with private interests. This legislation should die in its tracks before it moves any further around the Gold Dome.

The bill, whose sponsors include Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, decrees that “information relating to a private person or entity’s economic development project … shall not be subject to any mandatory public disclosure requirement, and no document or record containing information about such private economic development project shall constitute a matter of public record.”

This outrageous blanket grant of anonymity would not be lifted until such time that said “private person” or entity “announces to the general public” that a decision good, bad or indifferent to Georgian interests has been reached.

If passed, this legislation could enable bad or costly ideas to be foisted onto the public after it is too late for their outcry to affect outcomes. So much for government of the people, by the people and for the people.

SB 159 smacks of a “we know what’s best for you” Big Brotherism that should be anathema to the will of a free people. We believe Georgians deserve the chance to apply Ronald Reagan’s oft-quoted adage to “trust, but verify.” That can only happen if taxpayers are clued in on economic development plans as early as prudence allows and while there’s still time to effect changes, if warranted.

That’s less likely to happen if SB 159 drops a concealing cover on economic development in this state.

Georgians should demand better of their lawmakers, and they should do so quickly, given that the bill was voted out of the Senate Economic Development Committee last week.

It will be said that bringing jobs here is the sole motivation behind SB 159. Georgia, the bill’s supporters say, is hamstrung by current requirements that economic incentives be publicized upon request. Competing states can, and have, pried open what should be confidential playbooks by filing open records requests demanding details of incentive packages, some say. “Often, our trade secrets are in the window for everybody to see,” Mullis said during a committee hearing last week.

That reasonably open window hasn’t kept Georgia from luring companies large and small to this pro-business state, even amid the greatest economic decline since the Great Depression. Site Selection magazine this month ranked Georgia No. 5 among states when it comes to drawing businesses.

That said, this editorial board recognizes well that state and local governments aren’t exempt from the forces of a competitive marketplace. That means the practice of using public money to fuel private development will likely be around for a long time as smart businesspeople shrewdly shop for the best possible deal.

That’s the real world. We believe that when taxpayer dollars are used in this way, the details should be made public in a timely manner. It’s the people’s money, after all.

Georgia’s prowess in drawing commerce and jobs shows that existing allowances for secrecy in negotiations seem adequate for safeguarding legitimate business interests.

Even company executives are often quick to say that incentives were not the deciding factor in relocation decisions. To believe that on its face may be naive, but it is beyond argument that many other factors, such as tax rates, quality of life and the availability of a trained work force weigh heavily in these calculations.

Lastly, once companies are lured to Georgia, they become taxpayers with a vested interest in how their money is being spent to lure the next business to town. SB 159 would hinder efforts to learn about deals that could affect their bottom line.

Sen. Mullis told the committee last week that only a pesky news media has so far opposed the bill. That wasn’t the case in 2005 when public heat nixed similar legislation.

Taking Mullis at his word this time around, we believe Georgians should again make their voices heard and help bury this bad idea for a second, and final, time.

Andre Jackson, 
for the Editorial Board

ATLANTA — A legislative overhaul that would have sharply increased the fines for violations of Georgia’s sunshine laws and placed new restrictions on officials who don’t hold meetings in public likely won’t reach a vote this year after the proposal’s backers called for more hearings during the summer.

Attorney General Sam Olens asked the House Civil Judiciary Committee to hold hearings about the proposal after the 40-day legislative session ends after he said he heard from lawmakers who feared the proposal was introduced too late in the session to reach a vote. He said he hoped any issues can be resolved so that lawmakers could vote on the plan early next year.

The measure would increase the criminal fines of meetings and records violations to $1,000, up from a $100 fine for violations of the open records act and a $500 fine for flouting the open meetings law. It also would require officials who close meetings to keep notes that a judge can review in case of a legal challenge.

State Rep. Jay Powell, the Camilla Republican who sponsored the measure, said it is needed so that the law is “readable and understandable by a lay person.”

But he said lawmakers shouldn’t rush through the legislation this late in the session.

Aside from stiffer criminal penalties, it would also for the first time call for civil fines of $1,000 for violations of the sunshine laws. And it would allow government agencies to insist on advance payments for records that cost more than $500 to prepare.

Dahlonega Mayor Gary McCullough interrupted Stacy asking if he was being compensated as an attorney representing a member of the City Council.  Stacy replied that he was appearing as a private citizen, not as a representative of any member of the council.

The Mayor next asked the City Attorney if Stacy should be allowed to speak during Public Comments or if he should be required to get on the agenda for the next City Council Meeting?   The City Attorney said that Stacy should be allowed to continue.  The Mayor then told Stacy to complete his comments within one minute or get on the agenda for the next meeting.  Stacy replied that he would return and be on the agenda.

I understand that after the meeting, council members reprimanded Mayor McCullough for being rude to a member of the public during Public Comments.  Some members of the public in attendance stated that Mayor McCullough did not act in a professional manner and in keeping with the office that he holds.

Only one person, Stroud Stacy, spoke during Public Comments.  To limit the time he could speak just because of the topic is a clear attempt to control public discourse and  avoid hearing from anyone who disagrees.

It looks like the Mayor is using every opportunity to stifle public comment on Council’s attempt to remove one of their members.

Document Destruction Service of Homer, Georgia is donating this service to the citizens of Lumpkin County.  Citizens can bring personal documents for destruction. Suggested documents are any paper that have a name, address and any other personal information such as old tax papers, bank statements, credit card statements or medical records. A certificate of destruction will be provided upon request.

With identity theft being the fasting rising crime in our nation, it is more important than ever that sensitive documents be properly destroyed.  Please take advantage of this opportunity to have these papers destroyed in the most secure manner possible.

Keep Our Mountains Beautiful and the North Georgia Resource Management Authority want to thank Document Destruction Service for working with them on this project.

If there is inclement weather this event will be rescheduled.

For more information, please call NGRMA at 706-894-2785 or Document Destruction Service at 706-677-2779.