LETTERS
To the Editor:

In the March 21 edition of the North Ga News in the commissioners column was a response from the commissioner in regards to a letter I had written to the Union Sentinel and The North Ga News. The following is a letter I sent to the commissioner in response.

In your column of the Ngnews regarding tax increases you stated with an average assessment of 50% higher the tax numbers you put forth should fall within the 4.72% tax increase. The actual tax increase for a 50% higher assessment will be 17% over the 2005 tax even with the lower millage.

The 4.72% increase you quote only comes with a 34% increase in assessment. A re-assessment of 29% higher is equal to 2005 taxes. Any less than 29% is a lower tax bill. Any over 29% is increasingly higher as the percentage goes up..

If you use a commercial calculator, (not a government calculator), the numbers will be right.

So with an average re-assessment of 50% higher as you stated, the increase is 17%, just a little under the 20% increase in the total budget and not any where near the 4.72% you continue to insist upon. Also everyone who saw an increase shares the pain of higher taxes and not just the new homes.

The whole point of the letter I sent to the editor was the total county budget increase of nearly 20% for local government and 52% for schools. Any way a person looks at it, the increase shows a lack of concern for the taxpayer and apparently no ability to handle the financial affairs of the county, although I must say you didn't do as bad as the school board.

And yes, I am the one who sent in the letter to the Ngnews.

As to your comment in your column about moving out of the county, it was a childish and petty remark and reminded me of the school bully!

Mike Sims

To the Editor:

The EDP and the 21 County North Georgia County Coalition have reached a compromise on stream buffers that is now in DNR'S hands. This purported compromise apparently allows for the expropriation of private property and places the burden of enforcement upon the backs of the local taxpayers, again. White, Lumpkin and other north Georgia counties not only may be liable for the costly expropriation of private lands and resources, it leaves the door open for further abuse and oppression by agencies and their partners who do not recognize limitations, prohibitions and boundaries. These secretive dealers have already decided to commit the property rights of others to their plan and the owner is not to be consulted and the owner's permission is not required.

The 21 North Georgia County Coalition is apparently being advised that the stream buffers would be upheld in a court challenge based upon a previous Georgia Supreme Court ruling and that a "compromise" is advisable. The attorneys have missed and failed to address another core issue which is the fact that the State of Georgia entered into an interagency agreement to implement an international treaty and agreement. That is at the undisclosed foundation of this "expropriation" and is now being craftily disguised by the word "compromise." "Sustainable development" has indeed "hit the ground" in North Georgia and the consequences are being imposed over the rights of the citizens as they are being conditioned to accept the edicts of a new aristocratic master and are finding themselves to be little more than servants on the carpet baggers' modern plantation.

The fact that "No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation" has not entered the minds of the high paid counsels and advisors, or they may simply find that all of the turbulence and contention that "sustainable development" brings is highly profitable to themselves. The Georgia Supreme Court is generally known for its liberal rulings and for stealthily eroding the laws and the constitution. This same court ruled that giving notice for property taxes is purely a matter of choice and is not mandatory as the law would indicate. Expropriation of lands and resources is illegal from a broader perspective. Expropriation violates the law of nations, and has been prohibited since the tyrant Kind John met up with the Magna Charta, and Forest Principals in 1215. It is wholly improper and deceptive to mask the same activity with cheap words such as "compromise" or "consensus." The productive use, resources and wealth of the land is being expropriated and no amount of twisted language can mask the odor.

Teresa Stansel Cleveland, Georgia