Opinions

I was in a Subway restaurant recently ordering my customary lunch with extra Chipotle sauce when two gay men came in to grab a couple of sandwiches. But the guy in the clear plastic gloves behind the counter refused to serve them.
“I’m a Sandwich Artist,” he said, “and I object to gay relationships because of my religious beliefs. Therefore, I can’t in good conscience use my sandwich artistic skills to make your sandwiches because that would be denying me the right of freedom of speech by forcing me to participate in speech that I disagree with.”
(“Sandwich Artist” is a registered trademark of Subway and is the official title of the position as outlined in Subway’s job applications.)

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No, that incident really didn’t happen, but it’s perhaps illustrative of the issues that surround the controversial “gay wedding cake” lawsuit which was recently heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. [Full Story »] 

Get ready for the annual December controversy. In the coming two weeks, we will be bombarded with specious allegations that some anonymous “they” have declared a “war on Christmas.”
Much of this comes from extreme social media memes where danger is always lurking. Former Fox commentator Bill O’Reilly made the alleged “war on Christmas” the centerpiece of his annual December tirades for over 15 years (until it was discovered that he was kissing too many maidens under the mistletoe and he was fired).
President Donald Trump amplified that conspiracy view recently when he declared that he would end the “war on Christmas.”
I hate to disappoint those who have donned ubiquitous Christmas sweaters and braced themselves to do battle in this annual Christmas conflict, but there isn’t any “war on Christmas.” [Full Story »] 

According to Jackson County School System leaders, this year’s bus transportation has been a mess. Every day, parents have to check online postings to see what bus their child will be riding on, or why their child’s bus may be running late.
There’s a lot of reasons for that problem: The system saw a huge jump in riders after it split the bus routes to keep elementary students off buses with older students; the system has an aging fleet of older buses that break down more frequently than newer vehicles; and because the local economy is booming and has low unemployment, the system has had trouble attracting part-time bus drivers who can easily find full-time employment elsewhere. [Full Story »] 

A loud message was sent to local governments last week — don’t abuse public money.
That message came courtesy of a 14-member jury that found in favor of two former City of Pendergrass employees in their eight-year whistleblower lawsuit against the town. The jury awarded the two over $1 million in lost wages and damages. The judge may later award the plaintiffs’ large legal expenses for their multi-year battle, too. [Full Story »] 

Another week, another mass shooting of innocent people.
Texas, Las Vegas, Orlando, San Bernardino, Newtown, Aurora, Sandy Hook — and those are just the double-digit mass shootings since 2010. There were at least another 19 mass shootings of less than 10 victims each in the same time period, including nine victims at a church in Charleston.
Is this now the new normal? [Full Story »] 

Last month, you received your property tax bill.
Last week, Congress unveiled its plan for a large cut in federal taxes.
So let’s talk taxes: [Full Story »] 

BY MIKE BUFFINGTON AND ALEX PACE
Some local school leaders were unhappy with our recent coverage of the high school graduation rates for 2017. At a recent Jackson County Board of Education meeting, an official said they were “disappointed” in our news story about the graduation rate and that it lacked “detail.”
BOE chairman Steve Bryant was more critical.
“We’d certainly like to see that (the graduation rate story) in the headlines rather than the Waffle House being smothered… that just didn’t cut it for me,” he said about a Braselton News story.
County system officials were apparently upset that we didn’t make a bigger deal of the graduation rates since one of their schools, East Jackson Comprehensive High School, had the highest graduation rate in the county and for the first time, beating rival Jefferson High School for that position. [Full Story »] 

I don’t like it when public officials mislead their constituents. Of course, that happens all the time. From city hall to Washington, politicians often lie or distort the truth. Honesty in politics seems to be at an all-time low.
That’s true in the City of Jefferson as well. During the current election campaign, there’s been some back and forth about whether or not the city should have cut its property tax millage rate this year (it didn’t.) [Full Story »] 

Does anybody really care about local city elections?
If the past is any indication, not too much. [Full Story »]