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Letter to The Editor
The Banks County News
December 12, 2001
Maysville resident demands tax audit of Jackson County finances
Dear Editor:
Just look who is crying—Cathy Johnson. Complaining about the so-called equalization board members for going against her wishes. I certainly did not hear of any complaints from her about the equalization board when she tripled my taxaes in 1999 and 2000.
From 1998, $56,700, to 1999, $70,029, to 2000, $97,167 and 1.72 acres tract land 1998 and 1999, $5,160 to $21,176 in 2000.
In my opinion, all this came from hearsay from a mortgage company out of Marietta in 1999, and 2000 from a bank out of Jefferson. I called in an oral credit application and they asked what was my total assets. When I answered, I gave my home and land and my company business, truck and trailer. I assume they don’t know the difference from a double-wide trailer and a utility trailer.
I never did anything to my property for all of those years until this year when I added three sides to my front porch in September and October.
The equalization board did what she wanted them to do—and made a statement.
I don’t work for Jackson County. Wonder who pays them?
I quote Willie Hughey kept saying my double-wide trailer was a Modular Home. How can anyone give a true appraisal when they don’t know the difference between a double-wide trailer and a Modular Home? When we attended the Board meeting, they all looked like a cat that swallowed a yellow carney.
The homeowners of Jackson County should demand an audit as to where all this money is going and demand an auditor not associated with the Jackson County tax office.
President George W. Bush gave tax refunds to the people to help with the slow economy and to have the county and city to take it back for higher taxes instead of cutting their budgets.
Now about all the dogs running loose on everyone’s property, especially in the city of Maysville and nothing being done. Why don’t they vote a policy in and start charging each person that can’t control their dogs: first complaint should be $1,000; second complaint should be $2,000, and so on. The city would make all the money for all the extras they need instead of raising taxes.
People get tired of chasing other people’s dogs from their property. All because the owners won’t to keep them on their own property.
If any of you homeowners agree with my statement, I can be reached by writing to PO. Box 241, Maysville, Georgia, 30558.
Sincerely,
Edna Chambers
Maysville
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Column
By: Kerri Graffus
The Banks County News
December 12, 2001
 Whatever happened to the ‘cool’ Christmas gifts?
Remember when you were a kid how excited you were throughout the night on Christmas Eve? With visions of countless toys, new video games and possibly even a new bike, you were so excited the night before the grand unveiling of presents that your parents had to practically lock you in your room just so you would go to sleep.
Or, they probably gave you that line, “If you don’t go to bed soon, Santa won’t come and then you won’t get any presents.”
That was usually enough for my sister and me to race up the stairs and quickly stuff ourselves into bed—waiting for that sound in the middle of the night that would indicate someone was putting presents under the tree.
Now look at me. I’m so blasé about Christmas that nothing really excites me like that anymore. Sure, it’s great to get together with the family, but after 10 or 12 years of waking up before dawn to unwrap presents, I much rather prefer to just sleep in for a few more hours.
And why shouldn’t we sleep in longer? When you’re no longer a kid, the Christmas presents get outright boring. There’s no more toys; no more video games; and if you get something involving wheels, it’s usually a gift certificate to get your oil changed at Jiffy Lube.
Face it, you’re no longer a kid. So now you’re getting all that boring stuff that your parents got when you were opening those awesome presents. Coffee mugs, reference books, closet-organizing gadgets, whatever—they’re all things you dreaded getting, but now that’s what people can think of to get you.
Quite honestly, I hate shopping. And as horrible as this sounds, I hate shopping for other people because I have no idea what anyone wants. So, I find myself in the generic aisles at stores, desperately trying to figure out if my mom would like some new pajamas.
A few weeks ago, when I started my Christmas shopping early (I wasn’t going to start on Dec. 23, like last year), I found myself wandering around the mall trying to pick out the perfect Christmas gifts for my family. I managed to knock out some of my family members pretty easily, but for others, I had a hard time finding even a “logical” gift.
Grandfathers (and men in general) are the hardest people to shop for. They say they don’t want anything for Christmas, but you know they want something really cool that you can’t afford.
What do you get an 80-year-man who served during WWII, loves antique cars and camping that he hasn’t already received for the past eight decades? I don’t know either. After a few hours of shopping, I ended up at the automotive section at a discount department store. I love those stores that package gifts for people who are gift-giving-stupid (like me); they somehow manage to find the gifts that dads like and even wrap them in Christmas wrapping now.
As I stared at the car accessory aisle, I tried to find what I thought grandpa would like. After picking up a few items, I thought I would get him an automatic car windshield defroster—then I realized how uneventful that would be for my grandpa.
“Wow, an automatic car windshield defroster. This is great...too bad we rarely get ice in this part of Texas.” No, that wouldn’t work.
When I asked my mother what grandpa and a few other people would want for Christmas, she couldn’t think of anything either. Then, she said the most frightening words of the whole gift-shopping process:
“You know, for your sister, she really likes these panties at Victoria’s Secret and your step-dad needs some new underwear, also.”
Oh my god! Underwear for other people? I’m not buying them underwear as a gift for Christmas!
“Mom, I’m not doing that. You’re a mother and that’s your job—to buy underwear for everyone, it’s not my job.”
When that mess finally cleared up (and she still doesn’t understand why I refuse to buy them underwear), she asked me what I wanted for Christmas.
“Well, my car needs some new tires soon. I guess a subscription to Newsweek would be OK. And, oh yeah, we need a new cooking pan—you know, something deep enough to make Hamburger Helper in.”
No wonder Christmas gifts are so uncool for adults. When you determine what gifts you want by how much Hamburger Helper you consume, I guess Christmas day can be pretty boring.
My grandmother also has this thing about making our Christmas stockings useful: i.e., she includes Post-it-Notes, razors, toothpaste, deoderant and Tick-tacks every year. It’s helpful, but it’s certainly not worth anything to come racing down the stairs for. Oh well. Maybe someone will get me a cool Nerf gun this year.
Kerri Graffius is a reporter for MainStreet Newspapers.
Her email address is kerriuga@yahoo.com
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