This is Viewpoints for Friday, Feb. 24, 2017

Fee is a tax

Macon-Bibb is on the verge of altering the manner by which it collects the fee charged for solid waste collection and disposal at developed residential premises. It will start adding the Solid Waste fee to property tax bills sent to the owners of any developed residential property, regardless of the premises’ occupancy status. The Macon-Bibb County Commission justifies this levy against unoccupied homes by arguing that vacant homes still have fallen leaves and grass clippings that the county’s Solid Waste Department must collect and dispose of. But that is a specious claim.

Leaves and other vegetation have been falling to the earth for hundreds of millions of years — long before we were around to use rakes and blowers to gather them and put in plastic sacks. It is a fundamental process of nutrient recycling and it has sustained forests and grasslands for eons. Does Macon-Bibb intend to “repeal” that basic law of nature and require that all bio-degradable vegetation, such as leaves, be collected and hauled off to a landfill?

Solid waste (i.e. garbage) is the result of human consumption. A vacant residence has no human occupants so no post-consumption waste is generated. If there is no waste there is nothing to collect and dispose of. Levying a Solid Waste fee on a vacant residence is, in truth, an additional property tax, a tax that will be imposed without following the legally required procedure. Additionally, it is a blatant effort to remedy a budget deficit caused by ill-advised expenditures of which there are too many to list in this brief letter.

Ready and willing?

Reading about the violence associated with drugs and alcohol in our communities is an ongoing problem. Recently, I read about a mother sharing her pain of losing her son due to a drug overdose. Many individuals start off using prescription drugs and these drugs lead to other much stronger drugs. What can we do to help this generation turn from a life of addiction?

First, pray for your children and grandchildren daily to turn from these self-destructive habits. Second, help them by talking to them about the problem. And last, after doing all, love them through the problem.

Until the individual is ready to change their lifestyle, there isn’t much we can do. While we can express concern, offering loving help when they are ready to accept it will be more powerful than trying to be a changing force when they are not ready or willing.

Remember, taking care of yourself is extremely important. As Jesus stated: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” — Matthew 11:28. You have to take care of your well being first so that you can have a centered and balanced life.

When your child or grandchild is willing to receive help, they are more likely to succeed if they are the driving force in seeking a treatment program.

It’s all of our problem

Recently, I was at a public event and ran into a Macon-Bibb commissioner. I asked him about the public forums, the discussions and the debates that are ongoing within the community with the goal to improve public education. I told him how I thought the efforts to improve the schools led by Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism, The Telegraph and Georgia Public Broadcasting are vital to everyone in Macon-Bibb and vital to all of central Georgia. At that point, the commissioner told me that was a school board issue and walked away. Mr. Commissioner, you are wrong. The efforts to improve the schools are the responsibility of the entire community and especially of city/country leadership. As I said in my Feb. 5 letter, the schools are only as good as the community and the schools won’t be fixed until the community is fixed.

A good example of this is 19-year-old Jacob Miller who was recently arrested and charged with two December shootings and robberies of pizza delivery drivers. One included almost killing Brooklyn Rouse. I contend that young men like Miller are what’s wrong with the community and that carries over to the school system. Let me explain.

How did Miller get to be the criminal that he is? I would wager that if The Telegraph investigated his upbringing we would discover he is the product of a broken home, raised by a single mother, had very little male guidance in his life and was brought up with very little emphasis on education. Additionally, the investigation would probably find that Miller had numerous discipline issues while in school that led to multiple suspensions and that he dropped out long before he would have graduated from high school. There is little doubt that this description holds true for hundreds of young men raised in Macon.

In the case of Miller, I could be wrong. However, I’m sure that most of the young men who get into trouble with the law are exactly as I described. The questions are how do single mothers, how do parents, how do the schools and how does the community intervene to insure that Jacob Millers grow up to be educated and productive instead of life-long thugs and criminals? The answer lies well beyond the scope of any school system and is why parents, teachers, school administrators, local leaders, pastors, commissioners and the school board all must be involved. But out of all these, parents are the most important.

Meet in the middle

The news has been so distressing lately. All the riots, marches, bickering, etc. Galatians 5:15 says, “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” That is what is going on in our country. We are no longer one nation under God. If you don’t agree with a speaker, you shout them down.

Our nation hasn’t given our president one month and people are talking about impeaching him. Are we not suppose to give people freedom of speech even if we don’t agree with their politics? They have a right to speak, we listen and if don’t agree, we don’t have to. We are not suppose to shout them down. Let us all try to meet in the middle somewhere before we don’t have a country.

This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, Feb. 24, 2017."