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Habersham Central honors ‘top gun’ Lt. Col. Preston McConnell with Lifetime Achievement Award

By
Joy Purcell
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HCHS alum Lt. Col Preston McConnell has been selected to receive the school's lifetime achievement award.

Preston McConnell graduated from Habersham Central High School in 1991. Since then, he’s been flying high (literally).

After attending the United States Air Force Academy, where he earned a civil engineering degree and lettered in football, McConnell built a successful career in the United States Air Force. He became an A-10 fighter pilot and instructor and earned the elite status of “top gun” in the A-10 Air Force community.

McConnell left active duty in 2008 and joined the Air Force Reserves. He now serves as the 442nd Deputy Operations Group Commander.

Deployed to stations and assigned to missions around the world, McConnell has logged over 400 hours of combat time, more than 3500 hours of A-10 flight time, and over 1000 hours of instructor time. He was named USAF Reserve Command’s Safety Officer of the Year in 2021.

442d Fighter Wing Commander Brigadier General Stephen Nester calls Lt. Col. McConnell “a legend in the A-10 community.”

Now, this HCHS alum is being honored by his alma mater.

READ McConnell’s full bio here

Lifetime Achievement Award

McConnell has been selected to receive the 2023 HCHS Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes not only his service to the country but also his contributions to his community.

A-10 fighter pilot and USAF Academy grad, Lt. Col. Preston McConnell (photo submitted)

Lt. Col. Stephen Chappell, who has worked with McConnell for the past 15 years, supported his nomination for the award. He describes McConnell as “a great example of someone who blends in his family, friends, and faith to recharge his busy work life.” Chappell also noted McConnell’s “ability to spiritually lift people during stressful periods by sincerely listening and providing tangible advice.”

In addition to pointing out that McConnell’s “top gun” status puts him among “the best of the best and top 1% of all A-10 pilots in the Air Force,” BG Nester says McConnell excels in other areas of his life, including faith, family, leadership in his community, and professionalism in his career.

Preston McConnell and his wife, Michelle, live in Lees Summit, Missouri. They have six children: Zachary, Joshua, Madelin, Savannah, Noah, and Hope. McConnell serves as a leader for AWANA Truth and Training at Summit Woods Baptist Church. He is also the offensive coordinator for the football team at Summit Christian Academy.

Habersham Central High School will welcome McConnell home to Raider Stadium on May 26th for this year’s graduation ceremony. He’ll be the featured guest speaker.

The high school has honored three other alumni with its Lifetime Achievement Award since the award program began in 2020. Past recipients include Dr. Stacy Nicholson (Class of ’77), Dr. Emily Foster Howell (Class of ’96), and Marlan Wilbanks, Class of ’79 (2022).

The dye dilemma

By
Tracy Backer, RN
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With Easter approaching, many of us will be participating in the time-honored tradition
of dying Easter eggs (evolved from the early practice of staining eggs red in remembrance of Christ’s blood) and consuming brightly colored Easter candy.

Our brains are hardwired to recognize brightly colored foods as healthy. This is certainly true in nature but not necessarily in the lab.

Let’s take a look at the latest data on food dyes and their potential effects on our health and well-being.

Red, Yellow, Blue

We have known for years that certain food dyes, such as petroleum-based additives like Red 3, Yellow 5, and Blue 2, are linked to hyperactivity, ADHD, and other neurological problems in some children. The most comprehensive study to date was released in 2021 by the California Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and it reinforced these findings.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CPSI) has been fighting for decades to get the FDA to ban synthetic food dyes that pose health risks. Food dyes, unlike many additives, do not keep food from spoiling or fend off bacteria. They mostly help food companies make food, especially junk foods like sugary drinks, candy, cereal, and snacks more appealing to children and even trick our adult brains into thinking that some foods look healthy due to the bright colors resembling healthy vegetables and fruits. (Think artificially colored bagged veggie sticks, granola, and brightly colored vitamin water).

With no real benefit to consumers, why is any level of risk from food dyes acceptable?

Red 3, for example, which has been banned by the FDA since 1990 for use in cosmetics and topical drugs, has been proven to cause cancer in lab animals since the 1980s. The FDA stated in 1990 that it would take steps to begin banning Red 3 in foods, but 30 years later, it is still present in lots of candies and baked goods, as well as supplements, vitamins, and medications.

Other non-petroleum-based dyes, such as titanium dioxide, were recently banned in the European Union. It adds a bright white color to coffee creamers, baked goods, chewing gums, frostings, sauces, and more. The tiny nanoparticles in so-called food-grade titanium dioxide may accumulate in the body and cause DNA damage – one way that chemicals cause cancer.

What to do?

With a heavy heart, I just removed the brightly colored Yellow #5 and Red #3 containing Peeps from my niece’s Easter basket. But here is some good news. CSPI’s online guide, Chemical Cuisine Ratings, contains information about which additives they have rated as “safe,” which earn a “caution,” “cut back,” or “avoid.”

And I found a recipe on allrecipes.com for lemon bar peeps!

Perhaps, this year, I will start a tradition of baking peeps and naturally dying some eggs with my little niece. I found some great tips on thekitchen.com.

Have a blessed and healthy Easter season!

__________

Tracy Backer, RN

Tracy Backer is a Registered Nurse with 39 years in the medical field specializing in critical care nursing. Her health columns appear regularly on Now Habersham. She may be reached at [email protected]. For more health-related content, click here.

The teacher: Our most valuable human resource

By
Lynn Walker Gendusa
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Recently while attending a memorial service for a friend in LaGrange, Georgia, I met Sarah Funderburk, a retired teacher. What a delightful, bright, spirited soul to encounter!

Teachers always remember exceptional students or the ones who gave them a tad of trouble. Sarah discussed the mutual friends we know who were her pupils. One was my mentor, Lee Walburn, an award-winning editor, writer, and author.

“Please tell Lee I am so proud of his accomplishments in writing.”

She recalled entering a classroom where Lee was busily typing a paper in a corner, probably for the school newspaper. “He was so immersed in his work; he never noticed me watching him.” She continued, “I never doubted his God-given talents.”

Ms. Sarah is 98 years young and still adores her students.

We talked about another friend who also taught at the same high school. A teacher who, like Ms. Funderburk, believed in a student more than the teenager believed in herself. Mrs. Lorraine Smith changed my life.

When your mother is intellectually gifted, your brother is a student at Georgia Tech, and your best grade is a whopping average, sometimes the family might conclude some potential is lacking. I realized in first grade that I could never match the brain power of those closest to me.

Mom was very concerned my senior year that I would not be accepted to the college of my choice. Even though my mother was never one to meddle in school affairs, a note accompanied me the day I registered for my 12th-grade classes. She knew I needed to raise my GPA and wanted to ensure I opted for the less challenging courses offered. The note was a list of her preferred choices.

As a sophomore, Mrs. Smith was my biology teacher. I did well in that class because I adored her and my brilliant, helpful lab partner, Sally. When I saw her registering the seniors, I approached her with a broad smile and handed her Mom’s list of classes. “What’s this?! She exclaimed after reading it. She tore it into tiny pieces when I answered and threw it in the trash.

I didn’t close my mouth for a full minute.

“Lynn, you will be enrolled in my chemistry class and government, English, sociology, and economics.”

“Mrs. Smith, I can never pass chemistry. I have met the required sciences to graduate, and your class is well-known as the toughest in this high school! I will fail, and Mama will kill me!” I pleaded.

“Let me talk to your mother and Lynn, you can do anything you put your mind to, but you must first believe you can.”

After their conversation and with much hesitation, Mom left me in Mrs. Smith’s hands. I was doomed.

“Here’s what we are going to do,” Mrs. Smith began, “you will stay after school with me in the beginning for tutoring. After speaking with your other teachers, you will sit in the front of every class to avoid distractions. We will develop proper study habits, and soon, you will see yourself as I do.”

At first, I thought she needed better mental glasses, but after working with her, I began to change, and so did my grades, attitude, and belief in myself.

Mrs. Smith believed in me and taught me to believe in myself.

Years passed, and when I returned for a class reunion, Mrs. Smith was an honored guest. She was in her 80s by then, and once I saw her, I ran to her chair, kneeling to clasp her hands.

“Mrs. Smith, there are not enough words to express my appreciation for you. I doubt I could raise my children, succeed in any job, and be self-reliant if it weren’t for you. You spent your time, energy, and skills on me and countless others because you cared. I will always love you.”

Teachers are America’s most valuable undervalued, unappreciated resource because they help shape our children into productive adults. When an educator is free to teach instead of worrying about unruly parents with undisciplined children, lives flourish, and a person’s purpose is revealed.

As a society, we fail our teachers in many ways. With students carrying guns to class and parents and children abusing and disrespecting educators, it is a wonder that any teachers remain. Dedicated and determined educators paying out of their pockets for school supplies when they earn far less than other college-educated professionals is abysmal, shameful, and inane.

We must provide our children with smaller, exceptional, safer schools with abundant equipment and resources to lessen youth crime and death. Give a child something to believe in, like themselves.

The future of America can change by giving priority to the very thing that will shape it, education.

In memory of Mrs. Lorraine Teaver Smith 1907-1991

Suspected drunk driver charged after driving into trees, spitting on deputy

By
Joy Purcell
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A Cleveland man with a prior record was put back in jail this week after he wrecked and assaulted a deputy, investigators say.

White County deputies arrested John Lowrey on Sunday, March 26, while responding to a report of a wreck with a possible intoxicated driver on Goat Neck Road at Rainbow Circle. Deputies arrived at the scene to find the 40-year-old Lowrey sitting in a wrecked Toyota Camry with its engine running.

“Deputies approached the vehicle, and Lowrey began driving in reverse, then turned and drove past the deputies,” says Capt. Clay Hammond of the White County Sheriff’s Office.

The deputies were able to get out of the path of the fleeing vehicle. It didn’t go far. According to the incident report, Lowrey “struck another tree” a short distance away. Deputies then removed him from the vehicle and handcuffed him.

After his arrest, Hammond says Lowrey “was still uncooperative and spit on a deputy who was attempting to identify him.”

The deputies charged Lowrey with DUI, aggravated assault on a peace officer, and felony obstruction of law enforcement officers. In addition, they charged him with the following:

  • Open container,
  • Fleeing/attempting to elude,
  • Failure to maintain lane,
  • Duty to notify the owner upon striking an object,
  • Seatbelt violation, and
  • Interference w/gov’t property (felony).

Jail records show that Lowrey has a long list of priors including home invasion and drug violations. As of Wednesday, March 29, he remained in the White County Detention Center on a $51,000 bond.

Flowery Branch teen charged with child porn possession, distribution

By
Joy Purcell
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A 17-year-old from Flowery Branch has been arrested after investigators say they found sexually explicit videos involving children on the teen’s cell phone.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) sent a cyber tip on March 9 to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), notifying investigators of the alleged crime. NCMEC said a video depicting child pornography was being shared from a Snapchat account linked to a Hall County address. Investigators traced the account to Rocco John Dodero.

“The initial investigation determined on Dec. 2, 2022, Dodero shared the video, which contained images of children believed to be between the ages of 4 and 13, engaged in sexually explicit activity,” says HCSO Public Information Officer B.J. Williams.

HCSO personnel, along with members of the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes (CEACC) Unit, went to Dodero’s home on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, to serve a search warrant. They seized Dodero’s cell phone and CEACC located additional child sexual abuse material on the device, Williams says.

Dodero has been charged with 14 counts of felony sexual exploitation of children. The suspect remains in the Hall County Jail with no bond at this time.

USDA secretary battles with U.S. House Republicans over costs of federal nutrition programs

By
Adam Goldstein
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U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack testifies during a U.S. Senate Ag Committee oversight hearing March 16, 2023. (Committee video screenshot)

WASHINGTON (GA Recorder) — U.S. House Republicans tussled with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Democratic committee members over work requirements in federal nutrition programs as well as spending levels for those programs at a Tuesday hearing.

Republican members of the House Agriculture Committee charged Vilsack with evading bipartisan oversight in the USDA’s 2021 redesign of the Thrifty Food Plan, one of four food plans that the department creates and which is directly tied to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for low-income Americans.

Republicans during the lengthy hearing also criticized nutrition’s “outsized” proportion of farm bill spending as they lobbied for tightened allocations to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is the predominant federal nutrition safety net for low-income Americans. The program, formerly known as food stamps, cost $233 billion overall in 2021 and 2022 while serving more than 41 million people nationwide, according to the USDA.

Let us make this farm bill sing into the night with a song for our veterans, our poor, those who need our help – Georgia U.S. Rep. David Scott

The USDA’s update to the plan is expected to increase meal benefits by 40 cents per meal for every enrollee. The update, authorized in the 2018 farm bill, is also expected to add roughly $250 billion in spending to the USDA budget over the next 10 years, according to a recent CBO report. 

Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson said Vilsack and his department authorized a revision that “upended congressional consensus” and didn’t account for its effects in relation to record farm sector debt and a diminished safety net.

“When parties begin to act unilaterally, trust begins to erode,” Thompson said. “Unfortunately, this administration has consistently upended congressional consensus through a series of unilateral executive decisions that will resonate for decades.”

Democratic members, in contrast, spoke to the moral imperative to support needy populations through expanding access to SNAP.

They credited the department’s redesign of the Thrifty Food Plan as a long-overdue update to a tool that lifts communities out of poverty and upholds democracy.

Democratic Rep. David Scott of Georgia, the ranking member of the committee, said in his opening testimony that he is worried about a nutrition work requirement bill introduced by Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota. Scott said that would put the SNAP benefits of an estimated 10.5 million people at risk.

The bill, if passed, would require able-bodied adults without dependents ages 18 through 65 to work or participate in a work training or education program for at least 20 hours per week to receive continuous SNAP support.

Johnson’s legislation would also remove states’ ability to request a waiver for the work requirement from USDA if states lack enough available jobs to hire enrollees.

“I’m very concerned about the impact that certain pieces of legislation (are) having on SNAP,” said Scott. “Let us make this farm bill sing into the night with a song for our veterans, our poor, those who need our help.”

Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa, said that his department was “excited” to use the updated food plan to increase food security across the country while bolstering the connections between these families and the farm community.

Republicans defend expanded work rules

Republican lawmakers questioned Vilsack about the demographic makeup of enrollees in the SNAP program and expressed concerns over perceived fraud and inefficient spending.

Johnson, in response to Scott’s opening statement, said that “fearmongering” over tightened work requirements in SNAP would not help Americans get the help they need. He added that Scott’s comments “demonized” a past bipartisan commitment to work in SNAP dating back to 1996.

“Work is not punishment; work is opportunity,” Johnson said. “There is no pathway out of poverty that doesn’t include some mixture of work, education, and training. And we want to lift up those families that need that work and that education and that training.”

Republican Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia pressed Vilsack on current spending levels for farm commodity programs and the farm safety net, which represent 12% of the farm bill, in contrast to the roughly 81% spent on nutrition programs.

“I think everybody in America that is watching this is smart enough to recognize that the volume of food, as we’ve seen with eggs, there are supply-and-demand issues there,” Scott said. “No matter how much you give somebody in SNAP benefits, the cost of groceries continues to go up because of inflation and bad policy, and then they have less food to eat at the end of the day.”

Republican Tennessee Rep. Scott DesJarlais asked Vilsack to provide a percentage estimate of the number of “illegals” who were enrolled in SNAP, referring to undocumented immigrants.

“I think that there’s no one in this room that can’t look at the news and agree that we have a problem at our southern border, with illegals flowing in,” DesJarlais said.

“I’m not sure that illegal people can qualify for SNAP,” Vilsack responded.

“There’s about 11 exceptions to those rules, and I’m sure you’re aware of them,” DesJarlais said.

“I would say that there may be exceptions to this rule,” Vilsack responded. “But for the vast, vast, vast majority of those 41 million, you’re probably talking about American citizens or people who are getting those benefits legitimately.”

“There’s estimates of 20 to 30 million people living here illegally, and the Center for Immigration Studies shows that 45% of non-citizen households are on SNAP benefits, and 21% of citizen households are on SNAP benefits,”  DesJarlais said, citing a group that advocates for lower immigration levels.

“I think that it’s fair to say that anywhere between 10 and 20% of the SNAP benefits are going to people here illegally, and no one’s given me the information I’ve asked for yet to disprove that.”

Republican Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama asked Vilsack if USDA is attempting to track undocumented immigrants enrolled in the program and why roughly 81% of the farm bill went to SNAP with only 20% going to producers.

“Let me ask you a question, Congressman,” Vilsack replied. “What do you think about the fact that there are working men and women with children who require SNAP because they’re working for $7.50 an hour? Do you think we should increase the minimum wage?”

“No, you can’t increase the minimum wage,” Moore responded. “It doesn’t work. When you increase the minimum wage, everything else in the economy goes up. Every time we print dollars in D.C., basically, we are creating inflation. And that’s the problem the American farmers are facing right now.”

Democrats decry ‘beating up on poor people’

Democratic members of the committee stood firm against cuts to SNAP, saying they target the nation’s vulnerable populations and access to nutritious food is a fundamental human right.

“I don’t know why, but as we’re getting to do a farm bill here, we have people coming out of the woodwork again beating up on poor people,” said Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. “If we want a farm bill, we ought not to screw around with SNAP.”

McGovern said that recent studies have shown work requirements do not positively impact the employment or income of program enrollees.

Democratic Connecticut Rep. Jahana Hayes said that increases in SNAP benefits from the reevaluated Thrifty Food Plan kept nearly 2.3 million people out of poverty last year.

She pointed out that undocumented immigrants are not eligible for SNAP benefits, and people who have received asylum are here in the country legally.

Rep. Jonathan Jackson of Illinois asked Vilsack what the benefits of SNAP are that Congress should be aware of.

“There’s data that indicates obviously that SNAP is one of the most effective poverty-reducing programs, if not the most effective poverty-reducing program, we have,” Vilsack said.

Democratic Ohio Rep. Shontel Brown added that spending in SNAP does not have to be offset by cuts to other programs.

“It is misguided to suggest that investing in families comes at the expense of our investing in our farmers,” she said. “No one is exempt from the call to feed the hungry.”

Members of U.S. Senate panel press financial regulators on massive bank failures

By
Ashley Murray
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A worker tells people that the Silicon Valley Bank headquarters is closed on March 10, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. Silicon Valley Bank was shut down on Friday morning by California regulators and was put under control of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (GA Recorder) — Financial regulators promised a full review of Silicon Valley Bank’s massive failure as members of a key U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday interrogated the officials about what led to the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history.

Members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs asked if the Federal Reserve could have done more to prevent the collapse and whether the government’s quick decision to insure all deposits — even above the $250,000 limit — was fair and could negatively impact smaller banks in the future.

Officials from the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Treasury Department defended their joint decision to prevent panic from spreading through the markets and pledged that a comprehensive review — that will include policy recommendations — is underway and will be available by May 1.

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank in early March, quickly followed by Signature Bank of New York’s collapse, roused Democrats who blamed regulation rollbacks and Republicans who pointed to a Fed that they accused of being preoccupied with “a social agenda,” as ranking member and Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott characterized it.

In a matter of hours on March 9, SVB’s depositors pulled $42 billion out of the bank. By March 10, bank executives anticipated outflows would reach $100 billion — an amount that the bank could not meet after the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes began tanking SVB’s investments in the bond market.

Stress tests

Some Democrats are calling to restore regulations that were repealed in 2018, exempting midsize banks — like SVB at the time — from certain required financial stress tests.

But not all agree those rollbacks triggered the record-setting run on SVB.

“I’ve got real questions,” said Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia. “Was this a regulatory and bank management failure or was it, as some on my side of the aisle have indicated, a statutory failure? If it was a statutory failure and an additional test or activity was needed, I’m all for putting it in place.”

“But my operating premise at this point is if this had been not a $200 billion bank, but a $5 billion bank, that management’s mistakes — not having a chief risk officer or other items and failure of basic prudential regulations — (management) should have caught this,” Warner said.

The Fed’s Michael Barr, the Board of Governors’ vice chairman for supervision, told Warner that the rapid failure was a “textbook case of bank mismanagement.”

“The risk the bank faced, the interest rate risk and liquidity risk, those are bread-and-butter banking issues,” Barr said. “The firm was quite aware of those issues. They had been told by regulators. Investors were talking about problems with interest rates and liquidity risk publicly. And they didn’t take the action necessary.”

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana placed the blame on regulators, who witnessed SVB’s rapid growth and warned the bank as early as November 2021. The bank more than tripled its assets from $71 billion in 2019 to over $200 billion in 2022.

“For over a year regulators were saying to this bank ‘Straighten up and fly right’ and they never did a damn thing about it,” Tester said. “And the regulators didn’t make it so damn miserable — which my understanding is regulators are pretty good at that when they want to be — that these folks would adjust their business plan to take care of the risk that was in their bank.”

Sen. Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican, argued that even with the 2018 amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act — a law put in place after the 2008 global financial crisis — the Fed still had the authority, at its discretion, to stress test SVB.

“Was there any statutory restriction faced by the (Fed) as it issued its regulations on tailoring that would have prohibited them from applying the strictest standards they could to address the prudential needs of our banking system?” Crapo asked.

“I agree with you, there was substantial discretion under that act for the Federal Reserve to put in place (rules) that were different from the tailoring rules it put in place in 2019,” Barr said. “… That’s one of the areas we’ll be looking at in our review.”

Fairness and clawbacks

Senators on both sides of the aisle questioned the fairness of the government quickly shelling out the money to protect uninsured deposits.

Costs to the FDIC for SVB’s collapse totaled $20 billion, and Signature’s clean-up totaled $2.5 billion, according to hearing remarks prepared by FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg.

Any losses to FDIC’s deposit insurance fund will be repaid by a special assessment on banks, Gruenberg told the panel.

“I think it’s important that we use the term bailout, and I know that some of you don’t like that term, but I think it’s the only term that applies fairly here because we — using excess fees on community banks all across the country — effectively chose to bail out the uninsured depositors of Silicon Valley Bank,” said Ohio’s Republican Sen. J.D. Vance.

Barr defended the decision: “We were thinking about the risk to the broader financial system, not to the particular depositors at one or two institutions … We were hearing concerns from bankers and depositors around the country.”

But Vance pressed further.

“What I worry about is the fundamental unfairness here, that we’ve drawn a line — and I don’t know whether it stops at SVB, maybe it goes much further — where if you’re systemically important, which is a term impossible for anybody here to define with confidence, your uninsured deposits are effectively unlimited in their insurance” Vance continued.

“Whereas if you’re not systemically important, if you’re a regional bank in Ohio, there’s a very good chance that your uninsured depositors will not receive that bailout, and I think that uncertainty is a really, really big problem with what you guys have done.”

Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock recalled the bailed-out bankers of 2008’s crisis who “played games with our economy.”

“Not only did they not go to jail, they got to keep their jobs and their multi-million-dollar salaries. I feel that in a particular way as someone who pastors and moves in communities where poor and marginalized people have the weight of the law come down on them for the smallest of infractions,” he said.

Warnock pressed the officials to “claw back” any financial benefits SVB executives reaped just before the bank collapsed.

A current proposal from Democrats would recoup profits and bonuses from bank executives within a 60-day window of a bank’s failure.

“It was mentioned earlier, and I think it’s appropriate that we do not have explicit clawback authority in regard to compensation. We can get at that issue through our existing authorities,” including civil penalties, Gruenberg said.

Georgia Supreme Court justices hear arguments in challenge to state’s 2019 anti-abortion law

By
Jill Nolin
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Georgia Supreme Court justices listen to arguments in a case over whether the state’s six-week abortion ban should be considered void from the state since it was passed before Roe v. Wade was overturned. (Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder)

(GA Recorder) — Some Georgia Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of the argument that the state’s six-week abortion should be tossed out because it passed while Roe v. Wade was still standing.

That’s one of the key arguments plaintiffs made when they challenged the law last year in Fulton County Superior Court, where Judge Robert C. I. McBurney called the provisions of the law “plainly unconstitutional” because they were enacted in 2019 – three years before Roe v. Wade was overturned – and temporarily blocked the law. The law is now in effect.

McBurney ruled that lawmakers should have to pass a measure in the wake of last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.

Georgia Supreme Court Justice Charlie J. Bethel. Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder 

The state appealed McBurney’s decision, which put the question before the state Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments Tuesday on the eve of the final day of the 2023 legislative session. The panel will issue a decision “as soon as possible,” said Chief Justice Michael P. Boggs.

“The entire theory of the case from the plaintiff’s perspective is that the LIFE Act was void in 2019 because of federal judicial decisions,” said Stephen Petrany, solicitor general with the Georgia Attorney General’s Office. “And so the notion that somehow Dobbs does not undo that – it would be incoherent.”

The state is arguing that the 2023 ruling did not change the U.S. Constitution but rather offered a different interpretation of the text that should be applied retroactively. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling now famously called the 1973 decision “egregiously wrong from the start.”

“Dobbs expressly says the prior precedent was wrong and – whether anybody agrees with that – it says that, and it’s the last word on it,” Justice Charlie Bethel said during Tuesday’s proceeding.

Justice Sarah Warren more pointedly poked at the plaintiffs’ position.

“When you have judicial precedent that is applied retroactively, I do not think you can artificially separate them as you have tried to do here,” Warren said.

But Julia Stone, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the health care providers and abortion rights advocates challenging the law, made the case Tuesday that lawmakers knew in 2019 that the six-week ban would run afoul of Roe v. Wade, which protected access to abortion services up until the point of fetal viability.

Atlanta Party for Socialism & Liberation Protesters outside the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective v. State of Georgia hearing. Aaleah McConnell/Georgia Recorder 

Passing the law anyway amounts to legislative overreach and makes the law void from the start, Stone argued.

“This is not a case where there was gray area in this in 2019. This was a case where there were 50 years of Supreme Court precedent,” Stone said.

While arguments were being heard inside, a small group of protesters sounded off their disdain for the six-week abortion ban outside the Nathan Deal Judicial Center in downtown Atlanta. They held signs bearing messages like “right to abortion is not negotiable” and chanted phrases like “my body, my choice” and “repeal the ban.”

Many of the advocates said they protest because they know firsthand the mental and physical health risks women are faced with – whether they choose to have an abortion or carry the pregnancy to full-term.

“The power to control your own body should be something that everyone has,” said Natalie Villasana, an organizer for Atlanta Party for Socialism and Liberation. “But instead, that’s in the hands of just a few conservative politicians in Georgia, like just a few people are able to take away this fundamental right from millions of people. It’s not acceptable.”

Post-oral argument reaction

Stone acknowledged after Tuesday’s hearing that some of the justices who asked questions appeared skeptical of the argument. But she said the public “can’t read ever too much into questions” and said she remained hopeful the panel might block the law.

“There are 125 years of Georgia Supreme Court precedent that says you look at the constitutionality of the statute at the moment of its enactment. So when you do that here, it’s a pretty straightforward application,” she told reporters after the hearing.

But if the justices do decide to reverse McBurney’s ruling, the legal challenge will be far from resolved. For example, the plaintiffs have also argued that Georgia’s law violates the state constitution’s right to privacy. Stone said she expected more appearances before the state’s highest court as the constitutionality of Georgia’s law is tested.

McBurney held a two-day trial to hear arguments and testimony back in October and has not ruled on other parts of the case.

The bill’s lead sponsor in 2019, now-Sen. Ed Setzler, talks to reporters after attending Tuesday’s oral arguments at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center. Aaleah McConnell/Georgia Recorder 

“Regardless of what today does or whatever happens here, the fight isn’t over. And that’s what people need to understand that this is just one more step kind of getting ultimately to the answer and hopefully to justice for women in this state,” said former Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan, who stepped down to run for attorney general last year and who attended Tuesday’s oral arguments.

Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis, who also attended Tuesday’s proceedings, predicted afterwards that the justices may side with the state on the one narrow issue before them right now.

“I think they were struggling with this idea that the Legislature should only be doing that which they know to be lawful and not trying to kind of toy with rules on the backend, but at the same time, they should be able to adopt laws that push and test the constitutionality of doctrine as it stands. And so that’s the tension that they had to deal with today,” Kreis said.

Georgia was one of several states that passed new abortion restrictions in light of a new conservative majority on the nation’s highest court. The law also includes personhood language, such as a provision that allows an expecting parent to claim an embryo as a dependent for Georgia taxes.

But the bill’s lead sponsor, now-Sen. Ed Setzler, argues he did not see the measure as a path to overturn Roe v. Wade. Setzler, who was a state representative at the time, sat in on Tuesday’s oral arguments.

“The LIFE act wasn’t written to challenge Roe vs. Wade. The LIFE Act was written to answer Roe v. Wade,” the Acworth Republican told reporters, claiming he always believed Georgia’s law – and its focus on establishing personhood – would be found constitutional through the legal process.

______

Georgia Recorder’s Aaleah McConnell contributed to this report

Jo Kimbrel named head softball coach

By
TFS Athletics
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Jo Kimbrel is Tallulah Falls School's new head varsity softball coach. (Brandi Wood)

Tallulah Falls School has named Jo Kimbrel, the current Middle School Athletic Director, its new varsity head softball coach.

“We’re excited to have someone of Coach Kimbrel’s character, coaching acumen, and love for our kids leading the program,” says Athletic Director Scott Neal.

Kimbrel, who has been at TFS since the 2021-22 school year, has coached in a variety of sports and levels in her short time here. She’s held the head coaching position at TFS in JV volleyball, MS volleyball, and JV basketball and has assisted both the varsity basketball and volleyball teams.

Kimbrel has a solid background in softball, as she was the head varsity coach at Deerfield Windsor from 2012-2019 and the GISA All-Star “Blue” team head softball coach. She also was the assistant varsity and head middle school softball coach at Southwest Georgia Academy from 2005-10.

Kimbrel has coached or played on a state runner-up team, four region championship teams, and four region runner-up teams.

“I’m excited to have been given the opportunity to coach these young ladies on the diamond,” says Kimbrel. “I look forward to watching their growth not only as individuals but as a team.”

Tallulah Falls launched its softball program this past school year, and the high school players took part in an exhibition game against a local club team in the fall.

 

Vivian Chamblee Smith

By
Now Habersham
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Vivian Chamblee Smith, age 80 of Cornelia, Georgia took her heavenly flight home to be with the Lord on Monday, March 27, 2023.

Born in Hall County, Georgia on December 06, 1942, she was a daughter of the late Lonnie Hodge & Stella Belle Reed Chamblee. Vivian was a shop supervisor with Kraft Foods with many years of dedicated service. Following retirement, she and her husband, Virgil made Habersham County their home for the last 22 years. In her spare time, Vivian enjoyed playing cards and slots, trips to the beach, bird watching, as well as feeding her animals, especially the deer. Most of all, she loved spending precious time with her family, especially her grandchildren.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her infant sons, Ricky Darrell Smith & Dennis Scott Smith; brothers, Bill Chamblee, Bob Chamblee, Cline Chamblee, Hillary “Duck” Chamblee; sisters, Annie Garmon & Gwendolyn Belle McClain.

Survivors include her loving husband of 61 years, Virgil Vanderbilt Smith, Jr. of Cornelia, GA; children, Darrell & Brenda Smith of Grayson, GA; Deana & Tim Brown of Suwanee, GA; Sandy Smith & Angela Holley of Douglasville, GA; Randy & Tami Smith of Ball Ground, GA; 10 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren; 1 great-great-grandchild; as well as many nieces, nephews, other relatives, & friends.

Funeral services are scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Thursday, March 30, 2023 at Hillside Memorial Chapel in Clarkesville with Mr. Frank Ferrer officiating. Interment will follow in the Hillside Gardens Cemetery.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 1:00 p.m. until the service hour on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

An online guest registry is available for the Smith family at www.HillsideMemorialChapel.com.

Arrangements are in the care & professional direction of Hillside Memorial Chapel & Gardens of Clarkesville, Georgia. (706) 754-6256

Police body-camera footage shows officers confronting school shooter

By
Staff Report
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Editor’s note: This post contains graphic images and descriptions of violence.  

The Metro Nashville Police Department released body-camera footage from police officers who responded to Monday’s shooting at Covenant School.

The footage is from the body-worn cameras of officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, who police said fatally shot the attacker on Monday at 10:27 a.m. local time. The videos show the officers go into the school and immediately enter several rooms to look for the shooter.

Responding to gunfire on the second floor, the officers rush up the stairs. Officer Engelbert, armed with an assault-style rifle, rounds a corner and fires multiple times at a person near a large window. The video shows the suspect drop to the ground.

Collazo then pushes forward and appears to shoot the person on the ground four times with a handgun, yelling, “Stop moving!” The officers approach the person, move a gun away and radio, “Suspect down! Suspect down!”

MORE

Gun violence and life

By
Rev. Andy Chambers
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A day after a mass shooting at The Covenant School, a woman is overcome with emotion in front of an impromptu memorial. (Photo: John Partipilo)

During one of the recent forecasts for strong storms to move through our area, I downloaded the app of an Atlanta news channel to my phone. I was afraid the power would go out at our home or the satellite tv would be disrupted due to the weather. At least with the app running, I could better keep up with the storm’s path to make sure my family was safe. Notifications have been left in the “on” position for this particular app, unlike most on my phone. Initially, I did not realize this would mean every headline news story would vibrate my phone causing me to look down. My hope was to simply keep up with the weather. Instead, I have been made aware of every mass shooting that has made the news this year.

This morning (March 28, 2023), by the time I had poured my first cup of coffee in my church office, already, another shooting had occurred in our country. This, on the heels of yesterday’s mass shooting in Nashville, TN, at the Covenant School, a private elementary school, which killed 6 people, 3 of which were children under the age of 10.

Research this morning told me that as a country we have long surpassed the century mark of mass shootings in 2023. In fact, we reached this mark two weeks faster than we did last year. We are not even through the month of March and already there have been 130 mass shootings according to Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group which tracks gun violence. Though there is much debate about what exactly constitutes a mass shooting, the nonprofit defines it as one where at least 4 people were killed or injured (www.gunviolencearchive.org).

Where is this abundance amid mass shootings and why are we who proclaim Christ so complicit in allowing these mass shootings to continue to happen?

I write this morning as a pastor, but maybe more so as a concerned father who dropped two of my daughters off at school wondering if/when our community would be next on the list. Would today be the day I join the countless number of grieving parents in our nation who never expected the worst to happen to them?

The pastor in me leans into the scriptures, particularly looking at the person of Jesus who we proclaim boldly as the Prince of Peace. The gospel writer John declared Christ to be the light of the world, the light that was the life of all people. The light that shines into the darkness. Later, John would quote Christ who said he came to give life and give it in abundance. Where is this abundance amid mass shootings and why are we who proclaim Christ so complicit in allowing these mass shootings to continue to happen?

Scripture also paints a vision for God’s people of God’s intentions for humankind. The prophet of Isaiah, maybe most notably, writes:

“for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth” (Is. 65:18-20).

Again, God’s desire for God’s people is life. What is the value, then, that we have come to give life; life that has been created, not by us, but by God, life that has been promised abundance through Christ, and even life that is offered peace by Christ’s reconciliatory act of dying on the cross.

Our propensity towards violence as a nation point to the much larger issue of our propensity to devalue and dehumanize life. Sin has led us to despise and even hate that which is different from us. As people of faith, might it be time we reclaim the value of life and especially the abundant life of Christ and begin living into the more heavenly vision of peace? Might it be time we as Christians live into our calling to help usher in God’s Kingdom through our actions of daily living.

Paul reminds us in his letter to the Philippians that we are to “do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than [ourselves].” He continues by command us to look not at our own interests, but “to the interests of others.” Paul drives his point across by very directly saying, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (2:3-5). Nowhere does Paul or Jesus or anyone in scripture call us to devalue or dehumanize another life–regardless of their political views, ideologies, race, ethnicity, preferred gender, religion, etc. Certainly, nowhere in scripture are we called to take that life. Our faith calls us to proclaim life and with it, abundance.

I know God must be grieving the loss of more innocent lives this morning. I know I sure am.

My prayer today is that my phone will become silent. My prayer is that our community will not be the next on the ever-growing list of mass shootings of 2023 (or ever). Finally, my prayer is that our community will value all life and that we will continually seek abundance for each other. May it be so.

_________

The Rev. Andy Chambers is the pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Cornelia.  He is married to Neile Bruce Chambers, a native Cornelian, and they are the proud parents of 4 daughters.  His interests include baseball, college football, woodworking, and anything that has to do with the beach.  Currently, he is a Doctor of Educational Ministries (DEdMin) student at Columbia Theological Seminary where he hopes to graduate at the end of this year.  

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