ON THE PORCH: Will BOE relax guidelines? | Free – Monroe County Reporter

Let me say something nice about the Forsyth city council. They recognized that their mask mandate, written and pushed by the Georgia Municipal Association and not their constituents, was worthless. And so after imposing it on Sept. 8, they let it expire after 30 days. Its a waste of time, conceded councilman Julius Stroud, noting in his visits around stores in Forsyth, no one is complying. After six months of governments using this pandemic to overreact and exercise arbitrary powers as if government action can stop a virus we will take small victories where we can get them. So now, in Forsyth, if you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. If you dont, dont. This is almost sounding American and sane. Progress!

Sadly, were unlikely to have any such reasonableness at our Democrat-controlled Monroe County school board. In a fit of sanity, Bulloch Countys school board voted unanimously on Oct. 8 to end its healthy quarantine policy. School officials faced mounting parent anger at the policy since 900 students had been quarantined for being exposed. Yet only 13 of those 900 ever wound up showing any symptoms, i.e. runny nose or fever. Bulloch County school officials said some teenagers had been forced into 2-week quarantine on three separate occasions, meaning they had six weeks without school or activities. School officials there said they recognized that the health of children encompassed more than just COVID-19. They noted that social, academic and athletic development are also important and must be considered in health policies. Hallelujah! But within a week, they got an ugly letter from Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the head of Georgias Department of Public Health, warning them that allowing students to violate DPC guidelines was a misdemeanor offense. Who the @#$# elected her?!? Gov. Brian Kemp has leaned on Doctor Too-Me, as he says in his Clarke County twang, during the virus. And Kemp, derided as a serial killer by the left-wing media when he re-opened the state in May, has actually led better than every governor except Govs. Ron DeSantis in Florida and Kristi Noem in South Dakota. Georgia now has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation and hasnt suffered the massive deaths that the fear-mongers promised. But Kemp now needs to rein in Toomey. She has no authority to impose laws on Bulloch County schools that have never been voted upon by our elected representatives in the legislature. Thats why theyre called guidelines and not OCGA dash whatever. Nevertheless, the Bulloch County school board allowed Toomey to bully them into postponing some implementation of its relaxed policies. I wonder if Dr. Toomey sleeps better at night knowing that her actions are forcing perfectly healthy teenagers in Statesboro to be stuck in their rooms for two weeks learning nothing, doing nothing and left vulnerable to unsupervised down time with only the bilge on the world wide web to entertain them? Idle hands are the devils workshop, and our government officials have tried to put us in that workshop for six months now. Which brings us back to the Monroe County school board. Our school officials have resisted calls to relax the ridiculous healthy quarantine guidelines saying that no other school system in Georgia has done it. When Bulloch County did it, some hoped they may reconsider. But if Bulloch Countys BOE cowers before Dr. Toomey, Im sure that will mean the four Democrats on our BOE wont budge and relax the guidelines. For shame.

As south Monroe County continues to grow, both Monroe and Bibb counties are under increasing pressure to resolve their long-standing county-line dispute. Developers want to build subdivisions in the disputed areas off New Forsyth Road and Zebulon Road. But both are in limbo by uncertainty about the county line. In response, now Monroe County commissioners plan to send tax bills to every property owner who falls in Monroe County under the county line drawn by surveyor Terry Scarborough. Will landowners be shocked to get tax notices from both Monroe and Bibb counties next summer? Yes. Perhaps theyll be angry enough to call secretary of state Brad Raffensperger and tell him to record the Scarborough survey, the only legitimate line. Its unacceptable that the two counties have spent $3+ million in attorney fees and still dont have an answer. It is the job of the state of Georgia to set county boundaries. Were giving Raffensperger time to get through the election. But after that, he needs to keep his word and resolve the dispute.

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ON THE PORCH: Will BOE relax guidelines? | Free - Monroe County Reporter