Defective government

"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world."

New superintendent

Graduates

County budget

The Newton County Board of Commissioners has a tough task in front of them as usual, deciding how to make expenses meet revenues, but we'll say what we've said for each of the past few years - this is still not the time to raise taxes.

Some thoughts

Last week, two young lives were snuffed out on Interstate 20. A 19-year-old and a 7-month-old baby will never know what it's like to grow old.

New superintendent

On Tuesday night, the Newton County Board of Education will choose Dr. Gary Mathews' successor as superintendent of the Newton County School System.

Mother’s Day

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."

Making the grade

In Wednesday's paper, we ran a story explaining what the new state school assessment model means to students and other citizens of Newton County.

Good moves

The Covington City Council has made two practical decisions that could contribute to economic growth in the future.

The morning-after pill

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, 1.3 million babies a year are aborted in the U.S. That is a staggering number.

Social Circle

If you were driving through the main street in Social Circle and blinked twice, you might miss the physical heart of the city.

Rotary

A sure sign of spring here in Covington and Newton County is the sweet smell of Vidalia onions.

Development

There's no question we've had a successful run of economic development deals in Newton County over the past couple of years.

Special Olympics

"Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

Hometown Hero 2012

"I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."

Keeping his word, working with others

Sen. John Douglas promised last year that he would have legislation passed that would help protect school children from sexual predators. He sponsored Senate Bill No. 14, which would prohibit anyone who is on a national or state sex offender registry from serving on local school boards.

Unemployment still rising

Sadly Newton County's unemployment rate has jumped to 11.7 percent, up from 10.4 percent in December. In January, the last report from the Georgia Department of Labor showed that 1,195 people had applied for unemployment benefits in the county.

On volunteerism

The last two administrations under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both recognized the need for volunteerism; they both created new volunteerism bureaucracies. We have civic groups in this country like the Kiwanis, Rotary and Lions that have been the backbone of civic volunteerism in this country and around the world for at least 100 years.

Pure baloney, smoke in mirrors

The president made it clear in his speech Tuesday night that it was his intention in his proposed budget to end the tax breaks given to businesses and people who earn more than $250,000 a year for the contributions they make to charity. The president, for some reason, thinks that the government can take that tax money and provide for the needs of groups like the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs or community food banks better. That thinking by the president is pure baloney.

A bad move

The Democrats in congress, including the president, have been pushing with all of their might to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would amend the National Labor Act of 1935 - a law that helped establish the labor movement in this country. Democrats are pushing this legislation because they owe their elections to the giant labor unions of this country.

Thirsty yards quenched

Area homeowners received some good news this past week as they learned that the watering restrictions for Level IV drought areas have loosened a bit. Residents are now allowed to use drip irrigations systems and soaker hoses to water their shrubs, trees and flower beds for up to one hour, three days a week. It will be nice to see the profusion of colors that should soon be popping back up in folks' yards.

Cheer and support

This Friday, at 2 p.m. many community groups will come together for a farewell ceremony for the troops of Company B of the 1/121st Infantry of the Georgia National Guard's 48th Brigade.  The men and woman of the brigade, after a training stop in Mississippi, will be deploying to Afghanistan in May.

Our Thoughts... Showing our support

While we would much rather attend a welcome home event Friday, we at The Covington News have planned to bid local troops a fond farewell as they depart for training and then Afghanistan.

Our Thoughts... Poor performances all around

 Do you ever wonder how bad things actually got in Rome to cause it to burn while Nero fiddled?

Low turnout, good results

Even though it was extremely sad to see such a low turnout in the Social Circle special election Tuesday - only 12 percent of the town's registered voters turned out on a very nice day - we are pleased the liquor by the drink initiative passed. We believe that it was such a low a turnout because decent people, who don't drink and feel it is morally wrong to do so, decided not to vote ...

Congratulations Mr. Chambers

We are pleased to see that the city council of Porterdale is now back up to its full voting strength. The voters elected Lowell Chambers to fill the vacated spot previously held by Kay Piper.

Working together

The first Remembering Lewis Grizzard weekend must be considered a success, especially for an inaugural event. The Rotary clubs of Covington and Social Circle raised close to $6,000 for their worthwhile community projects.

More scams surface

Last week the Covington Police Department warned residents of a new scam in town. Unscrupulous folks are preying on people who are desperately searching for jobs. They are also blasting out ads to unsuspecting readers for mail sites offering mystery shopper jobs.

Not so fast

It's now more than apparent that the headlong rush by the Obama administration to push our country into socialism is in full swing and apparently unstoppable. The spending bills that have been approved and are in the works are just about ready to break the backs of the hard-working Americans and their families, who have struggled to keep this country afloat during the current economic crisis. There is a point though where one can take ...

Earmarks and wolves

This week President Barack Obama signed a massive $410 billion Omnibus spending bill. This bill contained millions of dollars worth of wasteful earmarks - 8,000-plus earmarks to be exact. President Obama ran on a platform of change, which included trying to stop this wasteful and indiscriminate spending. He had opportunity to veto this bill, even if it caused government, in fact, to shut down. We are sure that the two-headed wolves, who are currently in ...