Howdy, friends. Hope it's all good out there. Well, I just returned from a week on the Emerald Coast of Florida. I'm tanned up, well rested, and ready to go!
Right quick, I'd like to give thanks and another shout-out to you, fearless reader. My last write-up here covering the hospital authority and the ambulance service here in Newton Co. completely shattered my previous high number post, which, as some of you may remember, was "Bad News Bear Creek," an article talking about how Newton Co. was set to deed back approx. $1.5 million dollar's worth of land. More on that in a bit...
Between Facebook, and the unique views here at TPC, upwards of 5,000 people viewed,
The old line in the press biz is to never oversell the lede, right? We always strive to do that here at TPC, friends. Regardless, the interest in this is appreciated, and it's proof, in this writer's estimation, that the people of the home county are rallying and ready to effect real and positive change and do away with the business as usual that we've seen for...what, a couple of generations now?
Someone mentioned to me today as to whether or not I felt vindicated about the hospital authority. After all, for approx. 15 years now I guess you could call me Ahab, and that perhaps that state-sanctioned authority was maybe kind of a Moby Dick for me. Well, like I told this person - yeah...maybe, but whatever. I just want it to get fixed. I go back six generations in Newton, and this is where I intend to stay. I just want things to get right. That's all I care about. Truly.
As a quick aside, I've had a couple folks ask me about the IDA, the Industrial Development Authority. Well, I know that there's a lot of noise in the system about that as it relates to the Three Ring Circus deal, and maybe there's something there. It hasn't really been on my radar. There's only so much time in the day. But just like the hospital authority, I think there needs to be a serious accounting and reconciliation of all the monies flowing through that authority, but not just here recently. I'd go back several years. And for the record, to properly file an ORR with the IDA (or any governmental authority in Georgia), you have to actually file it with the authority's authorized and listed agent/secretary.
Going back to the second paragraph in this piece, talking about the mitigation property off of Hwy 11, if you remember, that land was set to be quit-claimed back to the original owners on July 15th of 2017. That was Saturday. I put in a call to Phil Johnson, Atty-at-law, to see if he went to the 3rd floor of the Judicial Annex and filed those bad boys. Knowing him, I'm sure it was done. We'll find out and report back to you.
So, let's get down to brass tacks.
Per two sources, the Hospital Authority apparently made history this past week. For the first time ever, they actually sort of followed state law and responded to an information request. As you may remember from previous articles, they'd apparently, for years, just always ignored those requests when they came from private Citizens. Perhaps it coming from the Newton Co. Board of Commissioners may have played a role; however, per multiple sources, the information they gave was not, really, what was requested. At all.
I'm of the opinion that they Newton Co. Hospital Authority is stonewalling, and I'm not the only one who is thinking that.
I also think they're playing an old-fashioned game of "Chicken." As a couple folks have pointed out, the optics of the Newton Co. BOC having to sue the Authority in order to get this needed information might look kind of bad. But, then again, this is Newton Co. This is Covington. We had a sitting mayor make CNN for stealing costume jewelry in the 90s. We had a mayoral candidate make state and national news for stealing the yard signs of his opponent just a few years ago...
"They won't fit, Mr. Bobby!"
"Nah, they'll go! They'll fit in there!"
For the last few years, we seem to be a mainstay on the Atlanta news stations. The bizarre and curious case of Wm. Thomas Craig. The former fire chief getting arrested and thrown in jail. The intentional lowering of water levels at Lake Varner. The rotating carousel of county managers. The catastrophe that was the BOC Chairmanship of Keith Ellis. John Douglas. JC. The list just goes on and on, people. Hell, folks, this is just a part of who we are. Might as well just embrace it. Buy the ticket and take the ride, no? If it helps to get things fixed, then what the hell! That's what I say...
In any case, just know that we're on it, and we're here to get the full story. We'll be in touch soon.
- MBM
