Thursday, August 6, 2020

Martha Randolph Stevens Park

Jimmy Smith
McIntosh Community
            May 14, 2020
                                   
Jeff Whitten Editor
Coastal Courier

Dear Mr. Whitten

Please allow me to shed some light on a long ago happening on our beautiful Liberty County Coast. 

Way back in the old days of our county only a handful of people lived on or near our waterfront. 

I have heard of the Legendary story, about forty acres and a mule  of what happened to our coastal property after the War Between The States. War. Allegedly after the Federal Army defeated the Confederate  Army a condition of the peace was to award the former Slaves with forty acres and a mule for each family. Something along this line is our history. 

As time progressed and eventually advalorem  Property Tax was imposed land ownership actually became a burden to those less fortunate land owners. Gradually over time most of our property ownership transferred to those among us who were more fortunate. The more well to do amassed ownership of most of the property.

As Liberty County developed thru and after the great Depression years dirt trails became roads and eventually they were paved by local  and State governments. Liberty County had two beautiful Islands named St. Catherine's Island and Colonels Island. St. Catherine's Island was separated from the mainland by the Inter-coastal waterway  and therefore to this day it is only assessable by boat. In the twenties until the  early forties Colonels Island was separated from the mainland by a few hundred feet of Marsh which was under shallow water for a short period of time at high tide. 

When the local officials erected a causeway to Colonels Island and later built a road to the southeastern side of the Island  Mr. Hammond Eve deeded a beautiful parcel of land on the bluff of the North Newport River at Halfmoon to the people of Liberty County. Along about the same time large landowner Mr. John Porter Stevens gift deeded a parcel of the eastern most tip of the mainland  to the African Americans of Liberty. It was accepted belief by all that the the Eve property was for the white people only and whites were excluded from the Stevens property. This remained accepted until I became Chairman of the County Commission in 1999. 

During my campaign of 1998 it became an issue that we needed to capitalize on our beautiful coastal property.  Our county had approved every single Sales Tax revenue Proposal to come before the voters. However there were only three commercial operations east of I-95 in our county. Those business owners all combined only collected and reported minimal amounts of sales tax. During my campaign I became committed to changing that. 

During my Administration,1999-2002 we in cooperation with the Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) erected a fishing pier and enhanced the boat ramp at Sunbury. About the same time we erected a facility for social gatherings at Halfmoon on the Eve property which had been given to the county many years ago. 

I have seen the Stevens deed to the county for the Martha Randolph Stevens Park. There is a condition in that deed which instructs that if the property ever ceases to be used for public recreation: "The Superior Court Judge should hold an auction and sell the property to the high bidder". It also says that the proceeds of the sale should benefit our African American people. 

The property ceased to be used by anyone and remains behind a locked gate with virtually nobody using it for anything. I hope Chairman Donald Lovett or his opponent Graylin Quarterman (whoever wins) along with the new Board of Commissioners will abide by Mr. Stevens wish and sell this property to be used as commercial only for the betterment of us all. A waterfront restaurant and boat ramp would generate much tax revenue and create a substantial payroll for employees.  

Sadly we remain the least developed coastal county and the Fire Protection and others services such as road maintenance etc on the east end is a heavy burden on the rest of us who own property in this county. 

Sincerely yours
Jimmy Smith 

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Butch Beaver July 4th, 2020

Jimmy Smith shared a post.
(This is rather long, and I honestly expect it to be fully read by no more than maybe 15 or 20 people, and that’s okay. I’ve said before that I look at FB as a small town newspaper that publishes my opinion pieces. Most of my FB friends, I believe, lean to the Right although I don’t know, or actually care, how far they lean one way or the other. Freedom of expression without the need to attack those with whom one disagrees appears to have become an anachronism. Arguments about America’s grand experiment were the stuff of the Federalist Papers. It was their eloquence and brilliance that were fundamental to our government structure and its responsibilities/authorities. As we approach what may be the most contentious election in modern day history, I am drawn to reflect on certain things. The following is my reflection on America today and it’s “big picture” future.)
Failure And Irony
The failure of America
during my lifetime is the desegregation of our public schools. Brown vs the Board of Education was decided in 1956, but it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Act of 1968 that desegregation became hard and fast law. As a HS senior in 1968, I was a fly in the wall in my HS guidance counselor’s office. In preparation for integration, both the white HS and the Black HS took the
same achievement test. The results were jaw dropping. The white school was comfortably above the national norm; the black school’s scores were abysmal. White eighth graders were easily ready for HS; the black eighth graders were at the fifth grade level in verbal scores and at the fourth grade level in math. The disparity was too great to overcome immediately, but instead of leadership at the federal and state level coming to grips with what I believe was a nationwide problem, the inertia of such a huge undertaking resulted in taking the path of least resistance and and that meant rounding down. Seeing this decline as inevitable, the economically comfortable white middle class began to establish local private schools as a counter response. This essentially re-separated many American school districts back into “separate but equal” systems. This failure marks the beginning of America’s inevitable decline on the world stage.
The irony of America in my lifetime has been the Fourth Estate and its fall from grace. As a student of the Soviet Union and its propaganda machine in the early 80’s, I was justifiably proud of our free press. The evening news and the morning paper were held in enviably high esteem by the American public, regardless of political leanings. I watched that freedom sullied and contaminated with self righteous journalists intending to influence through their “reporting. “ And I drew the obvious observation that this influence was increasingly Left leaning. The media’s increasing lack of candor led to finger pointing and allegations regarding objectivity. (William F. Buckley, Jr was a brilliant wit who was among the first to make astute observations of journalism’s decline.). Today’s MSM is viewed with a healthy skepticism from the Left and Right. Throw in the internet, and journalism has become a Spaghetti Western.
Our modern day adversaries, the Soviets/Russians and the Chinese, have long taken advantage of both declines.
The Russians have taken the tack of fomenting distrust of the media. As a student of Soviet propaganda back in graduate school, I was always proud that America had a free and open press. I have watched as the media’s freedom has devolved into defiance and dishonesty. Nowadays, we don’t quarrel; we argue heatedly and actually dislike those whose opinions differ.
The Chinese have taken the tack of economic influence. They have invested in America through loans and acquisitions of American companies. Because the Chinese exercise great control over their population, they have created the world’s most vast manufacturing structure. Not only do the Chinese make just about anything, they have slowly made themselves the sole source of too many manufactured goods. They have also successfully demanded access to our intellectual property and have inundated our colleges and universities with “students” sent to America to learn and to steal. And because they pay full tuition costs, we actually compete for those student thieves.
And “now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
Are we at a point in American history where we no longer have the wherewithal to overcome our disadvantages and disagreements? Can we elect a government of, by, and for our people ever again? Can we trust the fourth estate to inform us? Can we move our manufacturing capabilities back to American soil?
The Right says we must try.
The Left says we must instead embrace globalism as the means by which to establish a world order dedicated to making all humans equal. With equal education, equal healthcare, equal income, and equal civil rights.
The former faces the reality of human foibles and the competitive nature of human behavior. The latter is steeped in idealism and the hope that all humans are willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
It all boils down to the mantra of Marxism-Leninism, postulated by Marx and put into effect by Lenin:
From each according to his ability; to each according to his need.
It doesn’t work and nothing under our sun will make it work until humans lose their competitive nature. We ain’t there yet. If you disagree, then you are marching to the wrong drummer.
The failure and irony I described at the beginning are my opinion and nothing more or less. I’ve put a lifetime of thought into the two, and they are my conclusion to draw.
The hard way out is to roll up our sleeves to make America great again. The easy way out is to ignore our history and pretend we can make it go away by giving money to everyone who wants some and erasing our past with paint and explosives.
This opinion piece is full of things that I didn’t discuss. It is hugely incomplete, but I went to the trouble to explain myself vis-à-vis the threat posed by our biggest adversaries exploiting our fractured society.
I encourage all to do the same.
If nothing else, vote, vote, vote. (Only once and in person)

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Carole Lufburrow's post about Gen'l. Flynn

Now that’s an interesting summation
Comments

Monday, December 30, 2019

Tommy's letter to Old Lions.

Dec 29, 2019


Dear Lions,
    Another year has passed and it saddens me that we lost Tommy Downs and Joe Underwood this past year. Each year the number of old lions is reduced, making the reunions that much more important.
    I would like to once again thank the class of "69" for selecting me Grand Lion of 2019. I still feel this honor should have gone to someone else, namely Clifford Johnson. Mr and Mrs Johnson will always be Mr and Mrs Bradwell Institute. Also Barbara Martin will always be our Homecoming Queen. All three have given so much to Bradwell through the years.
   It has also been great to see people that I thought I would never see again. Gail Leveritt, Dave McCoy, Butch Beaver, Dennis and Kathy Duke, Jimmy Moore, Karl Brimmer and Angie Wells just to name a few.
    I can only say "I love you", you have brightened my life. Thank you.
    The student body of Bradwell has produced many Educators, Military Service Men, Police Officers, Public Servants and Business People but most of all Family People who I am sure have become wonderful Parents and Grandparents. I hope all of you have a wonderful year.
    I would like to thank Bonnie Brett, Jan and Beverly Beard and Julie Browning Martin for the new items to the Lions Den. And continued thanks to Kenny Fussell, Clay Sikes, Rodney Riley, the Williamson family, Angie Clark and all those who have contributed to this project.
   May the God of Love be with you all forever.
Sincerely
Tommy Davis

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

From Lew Rockwell An apt description of our Federal Government

The United States Government is a Criminal Racket Writ Large

A certain type of person strives to become a master over all, and to extend his force, his will to power, and to subdue all that resists it. But he encounters the power of others, and comes to an arrangement, a union, with those that are like him: thus they work together to serve the will to power. And the process goes on.”  
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
The political class is made up of those that seek to gain power over others due to either an attitude of superiority, an inflated ego, a desire to advance a personal agenda, or a misplaced concern for the wretched majority that they believe through power can be molded to their way of thinking. These political types are of many stripes, but among them rest an evil core, that group that will go to any lengths to not only gain power and control over others, but to keep it at any cost. Politicians of this ilk are the most self-serving of all.
But these groups of politicians who make up the governing class, those with false illusions of grandeur, soon awaken to the fact that they are not the actual rulers, but instead are serving a higher power. This higher power of elites actually controls the political class, but does so in many cases with anonymity, and with the use of illegal payoffs, blackmail, bribery, extortion, or threat of harm. The politician soon comes to the realization that government is but a racket that is based on collusion with a criminal element that holds a monopoly on power. It is similar to the hierarchal structure of a mafia underworld where the heads of the family, the bosses, remain in the shadows, while their lieutenants, the politicians, carry out orders handed down from above.Against the State: An ...Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.Best Price: $4.99Buy New $8.56(as of 05:00 EST - Details)
I will preface my next statements with an apology to the mafia. While it is a criminal organization, it is certainly much more exposed and honest than any elite controlling entity or political class of individuals who work together to achieve dishonest ends. The mafia does not pretend to be a moral and caring ruler over others, and does not claim the high ground in any intellectual exercise of power. It simply has a business agenda to profit and gain control within its own element. Actually, it is able to use the political class in its illegal efforts, due to the fact that most politicians are more corrupt and self-serving than mafia members.
According to the FBI’s “Mafia Organization Chart,” it is a top-down hierarchy led by a boss and underboss, and advised by a powerful Consigliere. In the U.S. political structure, these bosses might be the banking magnates and corporate heads, advised by powerful committees like the Trilateral Commission and the Skull and Bones Order, all working along side the U.S. Intelligence “Community.” The next layer consisting of captains and lieutenants who command the mafia’s soldiers, are mirrored in politics by the president, the rest of the executive branch, Congress, government bureaucratic agencies, and the state governing systems. This group makes the laws necessary to control the people, and manages all the agents of force in the military and police. With this control, aggressive foreign policy and war can be affected by the military against any that stand in the way of the elitist’s global agenda, while all domestic policy is controlled from within by police and other state agents of force. The bottom of the pyramid is of course the general populace, some of whom work hand in hand with the system, while the rest of society funds and supports this criminal gang called government due to measures affected by the state that include theft, welfare, fear, manipulation, individual and intellectual destruction through contemptible education, and psychological brainwashing. The results of this nefarious system are evident today in what is now an almost fully controlled society.
The United States government then, is simply a criminal racket, subordinate to the real power structure, and is not representative of the common people as has been falsely sold to the gullible public. Government is little more than a puppet regime under the direction of a more dominant ruling authority, one that has an agenda of total power and control.
When speaking in a general manner such as this, it is important to point out that not every single politician can be described as I generally paint the group. There have always been a few members of government and other suspicious organizations that were or are truly sincere in their efforts to make a better world, and to examine and expose the failings of the system in which they chose to participate. But these few have not had the capability to repair or improve what has turned out to be a perverted and contaminated ruling system, and in some cases, they have been marginalized or eliminated due to their efforts.
In effect, the corruption of the ruling class is of such magnitude, that only a mass of individuals working together can stop the onslaught of this elite power growth. I am not speaking here of a meaningless voting public, of any civic consensus, or any collective political action group. I am suggesting that a rebirth of thought at the individual level of society as a whole has to occur in a manner not seen in modern history.
Strength must replace weakness in order to achieve freedom, as liberty cannot survive in this current environment. Solutions are evident, but cannot be implemented by political force, as that technique would necessarily destroy the solution itself. What is required is a conscious awakening in the individual soul, and a desire by large numbers of the oppressed majority to break the chains of the unmistakable tyranny that is now ever-present in our lives.