The Piedmont Chronicles

Until next time, friends.

MBM

28 March 2018

A Letter to the Editor by Samuel Hay: Fixing Newton & the Role of the Local, Traditional Press

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Samuel Hay

For quite sometime now, two years or so, the citizens of Newton County, Georgia have waited for results from the ‘forensic audit’ to be used to prosecute any persons who were shown to have acted questionably, irresponsibly and possibly criminally.

The citizens of Newton County, Georgia spent nearly $300,000 to have this information analyzed and put down as evidence for the prosecution of any individuals who may be guilty of any crimes related to their connection with the government of Newton County, Georgia.

So far nothing has happened or if it has, good or bad, it has been kept a secret. Quite simply, this information could have been turned over to a Grand Jury when it was received as they are the sole determiners of whether to bring charges or not to bring charges.

This newspaper, “The Covington News”, has been negligent, derelict and irresponsible in not reporting on this issue at all over the past years. The subject of “When is something going to happen” circulates daily around the County. The conversations also elude to such comments as, “Since that newspaper is the Legal Organ, why don’t they feel a sense of responsibility to report important news about the County, of vast importance to the citizens?” “Is the lack of investigation and discovery and publication of these issues a ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours deal?”

More than just talk these days is a move to have the three elected officials who select the Legal Organ, give it up to the other local publication, “The Newton Citizen.” Three votes decides this issue. It has been questioned for years already why The Covington News has always had ‘control’ of the legals and additionally why The Covington News does little to report on issues with any depth whatsoever concerning the local government.

The people want to know who is keeping the forensic audit from reaching a Grand Jury. They also want to know who is responsible for not moving ahead on prosecutions. Is it the Newton County District Attorney or is it the Board of Commissioners, or someone else? From almost any standpoint this appears to be a case of ‘selective prosecution’.

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People have commented on Tommy Craig’s legal liability insurance stating it is only for a million dollars and he created over $20 million in debt and we are still finding things he did wrong that are being added to that total. The question becomes, “Why don’t we go after him and that million dollars and if that is all we get, its better than nothing?”

It seems the citizens are facing a number of problems here. This newspaper is in the mix to report the facts on these delays. In the event it is not done, and done right away, the citizens are going to be asking for the legals to be given to their competition. Something that should have been done long ago. A few people are beginning to talk about finding candidates to qualify against these officials if they don’t start to take these issues seriously.

The Covington News has claimed they don’t have to abide by the laws that have changed over the years because they are grandfathered in. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each new appointment yearly is a new contract. The Covington News has allegedly refused to have an independent audit of their circulation for years and out previous County Attorney and the three officials who make the appointment have gone along with that story. Again, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. I have been in that situation on both sides. I don’t play games. Here is what goes on; An official informs the current Legal Organ that if they ‘play ball’ ie; lay off the tough stuff, they will continue to be the Legal Organ. On the other side, an official informs the competing newspaper, if you ‘play ball’ then we will do everything we can to get your newspaper the legals. Both newspapers are conned into not investigation the ‘tough stuff’ and this has caused more grief to our community that anything I know of over the years. Sheer protectionism. Its going to stop. Whatever it takes.

###

27 March 2018

Newton Dems Meet; Two Congressional Candidates in Attendance

The Piedmont Chronicles

Your Source for the REAL Story

[State of GA]

[Newton Co.]

(Covington, GA | 3/27/18) -

Newton Dems' Chairman Phil Johnson preparing to begin the meeting

The Newton Co. Democratic Committee held its regular monthly meeting Monday night, the 26th, at NewRock Academy with several members in attendance. The group had a busy agenda, including covering qualifications of candidates of the local party, most notably the much discussed & highly anticipated 4-man race for the 2nd District of the Board of Commissioners.

Juan Parks, candidate for GA-4

Also in attendance were two candidates for federal office.

Juan Parks, as nice a guy as you'll likely meet on the campaign trail, is a declared candidate for representative of Georgia's 4th Congressional district. In what is probably an uphill climb to unseat Mr. Guam himself, Hank Johnson, I think Juan has a legitimate shot. He's a military guy, has a strong work ethic, is very personable & knows the issues. Plus, he's pretty similar to yours truly in terms of political philosophy. First off, he's pro-2nd amendment, and he does lean libertarian on some issues. I will gladly vote for him come November if he makes it, and honestly, I'm contemplating pulling a Democratic ballot in a primary for only the 2nd time in my life, basically, solely, because of him. I've been following his Facebook page for a bit now. He's legit, y'all.

10th Congressional District Democratic Candidate Chalis Montgomery

Chalis Montgomery, candidate for GA 10, is also an impressive candidate. While I may not be as similar to her on the issues as I am with Mr. Parks, I can, however, appreciate the convictions she has in her beliefs, not unlike the way I maybe feel about Auburn fans. She's likely what some might describe as a true progressive. I am, actually, in agreement with her on certain issues. As many of you know, I am a Freedom & Liberty guy, and there IS an intersection of overlapping common ground there. I'll never forget taking one of those presidential tests in 2016 that showed, naturally, Rand Paul as my number one pick, but had Bernie as my second.

Like Parks, Montgomery is facing an uphill climb, at least as it relates to the general in November & I would be shocked if she doesn't advance in the primary against Richard Winfield. A Bethlehem, GA resident & piano teacher, Ms. Montgomery is a very nice & intelligent woman, and a good candidate. I swapped contact info with her press director & hope to have an interview with her in this space sometime soon.

Montgomery on the Trail

So now let's talk about that exciting BOC 2 race here in the home county. A crowded field, no doubt, the smart money seems to be on former NCRC member, fellow Newton Ram & middle school coach & teacher Steven Rhodes being a lock for what most certainly will likely be a run-off. Rhodes is good people, and he seems to be racking up a lot of endorsements, including, per the word, the 2nd district incumbent, Lanier Sims. But who else will make the cut? Former commissioner Earnest Simmons might seem to be a pick, but perhaps there is a reason why he is, after all, a former commissioner. Never heard of Demond Mason. I have no clue who he is. And what of Antonio Ross? A member of the Tonto Network claims that Ross is the WTC candidate. I honestly have no idea. But can we all just agree that this fella looks like Rocky & Apollo Creed's trainer/manager, Duke?

And I'm still planning on breaking down the Governor's race on the Democratic side - The Battle of the Two Stacys, as it were. So stay tuned for that.

Till next time, friends.

In Liberty,

MB McCart

The Porch: Chapter 3. A Piece by Ellis Millsaps

Here is the much anticipated 3rd installment of Da's serial novella, "The Porch."

Read Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 if you haven't already.

The Porch: Chapter III

“Hello, friends. I noticed there was a lack of seating on our last visit. My name is Leonard Cohen. I recognize Messrs Dylan and Springsteen, but you sir, may I assume this is your porch?”

“I’m Ellis Millsaps and this is my porch. Of course I know who you are Mr. Cohen and I apologize for my rude dismissal of you on your earlier visit. We were kind of weirded out by your appearance.”

“No offense taken. I understand entirely.”

Leonard and his friends unfold their chairs and settle. Bruce, it seems, has a pocketful of Cubans. I, thanks to the Social Security System, have alcohol.

It looks like a party, and the Cubans, well it’s like Huck Finn said of the dead captain’s stash, “Them cigars was prime.”

“My friends and I were wondering,” I say to the dead at large, “how and why you dead musicians appear on my porch.”

“S’up Petty?” I add.

Leonard, apparently the spokesman for the group, he having been the only one to have spoken thus far, says “It’s the magic triangle.”

Dylan, encapsulating the sentiment of the porch’s living, says “What the fuck’s a magic triangle?”

“It has to do,” says Cohen, “with the juxtaposition of you, Bob, Mr. Springsteen and our host here on the same porch.”

“And how is that possible?”

“I spent two years in a Buddhist monastery, but I’m not the Buddha. Something you just have to accept. It is what it is.”

“Yeah, Buddha say,” Bob injects, “spend two years in a monastery and you manager steal all your money.”

“What y’all talking about?” the King wants to know.

“It’s a Jewish thing,” Bob says.

“Y’all keep this up and me and Millsaps gonna start talking foot washing Baptist voodoo on you. Make you wish Moses had left you in the bulrushes.”

He says this with such a charming snarl of his upper lip I haven’t the heart to point out he’s out of his depth. I’m also surprised he spots me so easily as a fellow redneck.

“Maybe it’s like one of those things where a Baptist, a Jew, and a Catholic walk into a bar,” opines Petty.

“No, this actually happened,” Bruce says, “not the part about the Baptists and the bulrushes, but the part about Leonard’s manager stealing his money.”

“You needed me to watch your money,” Bowie says. “I died really, really rich.”

“Be that as it may,” I, who hasn’t a pot to piss in, assert, “I think we should figure out what we can do with all this talent assembled on one little porch.”

Ellis was an attorney by trade (now recovering) but has worn many hats over the years: father, bus boy, stand-up comedian, novelist, wiffle ball player, rock'n'roll band manager, and at one time wrote a popular and funny column for The Covington News. A Fannin Co. mountain boy originally, Mr. Millsaps now stays at the mill village of Porterdale by way of 20 years in Mansfield. Usually funny and at times irreverent and subversive, he leans left in his political philosophy but can always be counted on for a pretty darn good write-up. The Chronicles are proud to have him involved. You can read his past works at TPC by visiting his Contributing Writer page.

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Thanks for reading The Chronicles

25 March 2018

3/25/18: The Sunday Edition - GA Governor's Race; Go You Silver Britches!

The Piedmont Chronicles

Your Source for the REAL Story

The Sunday Edition: 3/25/18

Howdy, folks. Hope it's nice out there, and welcome back to another Sunday Edition of TPC.

- LOCAL ADVERTISER -

Be sure to check their Facebook Page every Monday morning to check their amazing lunch specials.

Handicapping the GA Governor's Race

I know some of you are thinking that I'm a little early for this, but trust us - we're not. Even though it's been four years since the Gold Dome moved up the primary season in Georgia, a lot of folks haven't wrapped their minds around the fact that we are LESS THAN 60 DAYS from the primary. Yes, that's right. May 22nd is the day, and it's barreling down on us rather quickly.

The Presumed Front-runner

We're talking about Casey Cagle here, folks, and I added the "presumed" only because of what has transpired the past few weeks. Whether it was the unkind news coverage about his full-on moron move with the Delta & NRA situation, or the fact that the state press has been talking about what many of us have known for years (he places political revenge over helping Georgians), Cagle seems intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. On top of that, he's just weird looking, what with those buggy eyes & all, and he looks like the textbook definition of a political hack.

The Second Tier (in order)

Hunter Hill, State Senator & Army Vet, is, at least according to one poll, the number 2 in this race. This actually doesn't come as that big of a surprise to those of us with our ears to the ground of statewide politics. Hill is a very good candidate with little to no baggage & has a statewide structure & framework that's probably the envy of everyone else in this race. Hill is one of two men running that TPC is considering endorsing in this race.

GA Secretary of State Brian Kemp's lack of traction in this race has a lot of politicos scratching their heads. Part of the problem - really, the main part - is that unlike Mr. Hill, Kemp does have some baggage and negative perception problems. Whether it was shipping out the personal data of upwards of 8 million Georgians, or the curious case of the wiped-clean computer servers, whether fair or not, Mr. Kemp is battling that as much as he is trying to get his lackluster poll numbers up. And perhaps those two problems are related. In other news, the sun still set to rise from the east tomorrow...

The Dark Horse

Clay Tippins, the other candidate that TPC may endorse in this thing, and the only candidate supporting expanding cannabis oil. This guys seems like the real deal.

The Also-ran

Michael Williams, the "Trump candidate." No traction; no real poll numbers; no campaign structure. He'll likely finish in a distant 5th place.

Check out 5 O'Clock's Killer Menu

Go You Silver Britches!

* cross-posted at GYSB

Go You Silver Britches!

25 March 2018

And we're back...

A bit of a layoff there, folks. Sorry about that. But the big news is that GYSB is back in action.

Why the long break? That's a good question & I'm glad you asked. The usual suspects. Laziness, maybe. But not really. I've just been really busy. Plus, I pretty much stayed drunk there for a few years, so there's that, too.

I've been concentrating on my main writing project, The Piedmont Chronicles. It's an online newspaper that covers the glorious Georgia Piedmont, and the city of Covington & Newton Co. in particular. Originally just a personal blog where I concentrated on local history & people, it has now became a full-blown thing with local advertisers & everything. I've told my readership there that a relaunching of Go You Silver Britches! was imminent as the main part of the new Sports Division of TPC. We're really excited about it & hope you are too!
The Sunday Treatment

New UGA Hoop Dawgs Head Man Tom Crean

This is typically kind of a slow time of the year for UGA athletics, but this year is a little different for a few reasons.

The biggest of which, naturally, is that while we're not talking about UGA Hoops in the NCAA tourney, as usual, we are definitely talking about UGA Hoops in the month of March. That's because we've got a new head coach that most everybody is pretty pumped about. Tom Crean, by all accounts, is truly a top-tier coach. With a high level of success at his previous two stops - Marquette & Indiana - there's a palpable sense of excitement surrounding the UGA B-ball program that we haven't seen in the Classic City since...well, probably since we hired Mark Fox in 2009.

With the level of talent we have in the great state of Georgia & now with a coach of Crean's caliber, there should be no reason at all, in our estimation, for the Hoop Dawgs not to make it to the Big Dance almost every year and to advance at least a couple of rounds on a fairly frequent basis.

Diamond Dogs Skip, Manager Stricklin

Switching gears to baseball, the UGA Diamond Dogs have been impressing folks so far this year. A 17-6 regular record with a 4-1 conference mark approx. a third of the way through the season has some wondering if AD McGarity was right to bring Scott Stricklin back after three underwhelming seasons at the helm. Although we're just underway in conference play, it does look like this edition of the Diamond Dawgs has the potential to do something this year. We'll keep an eye on it.

And enough with the filler stuff, the UGA football spring game - G-Day - is less than a month away. April 21, 2018 can't get here soon enough for a lot of us. Many are anxiously awaiting seeing some action from some of the players of the consensus top recruiting class in the country. And Justin Fields, though! Very exciting.

A Trip Around the Dawgosphere

From the Senator: the return of Bacarri Rambo!
From the Senator: Elijah Holyfield is a bad man, man!
GA Sports Blog: T. Dawgden is pumped about Crean taking over the Hoop Dawgs.
From DawgSports: Sad news out of Spring Camp

Welp, that'll do it for this go 'round, gang. Thanks for reading. No promises moving forward than this: you WILL be able to count on the Sunday Treatment every Sunday, and hopefully a few other write-ups here & there. Til next time.

Your Pal,

MBM

23 March 2018

The Die is Cast

The Piedmont Chronicles

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Greetings & Salutations, beautiful readers, and it's looking to be a glorious day in Georgia's Piedmont w/ highs flirting with the mid-60s today & then pushing into the 70s on Saturday. Rain then moves in & it's looking like we'll be dealing w/ at least one more cold snap. Hey, that's March, right?

I was talking w/ someone yesterday & we both just kind of chuckled at the level of comprehension, or lack thereof, of current events with some of our fellow citizens regarding the NCRC situation. Both he & I had had prior communications with different folks the last two days & there was a common theme:

"What's going on with the Rec Commission? What happened with Josh?"

Yeah...

I guess they've been under rocks for the last four months. Who the hell knows? I actually told one person this: "go back to November on the TPC website & then just read until now..."

Egad & Selah

It's Always a Great Time at Five O'Clock.

- LOCAL ADVERTISER -

Oh well, those of us who know what's up, know what's up, and that's all that matters. Josh McKelvey is a true champion of Freedom & Liberty & is a good, good man. There are people in this county who are playing a game that they're just arrogant & ignorant enough to think they can win. It's been seen here a few times the last few years. But playing checkers when others are playing Chess is not a recipe for victory. And by ringing a bell that can never be unrung, they've initiated a chain of events that will reach resolution, and remedy will be justly had. And I know directly for a fact that at least one of these players has at least talked themselves into believing that this is all about a pursuit of justice, but Natural Law clearly states that no matter the intentions or perceptions, that a violation of the order is a violation. But that's freedom, yes? The ability to, as PJ describes it, do as you damn well please, but also the duty to take the consequences.

To that point, you will see what some may describe as metaphorical Molotov cocktails being thrown by this publication over the next few weeks.

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