Dear Editor,
You kindly wrote an article about me and my 20/20 for 2024 hats ( The Eatonton Messenger, Sept. 7, A3). I first came up with the hat idea to voice my concerns about our government in D.C., aka “The rich men north of Richmond.”
How we as a nation have become so complacent while so many of the institutions we take for granted are being compromised by apathy on the part of “We, the people,” is hard to understand.
Then, lo and behold, it’s happening right here, in Putnam County! The latest issue is short-term rentals (STRs), and the improprieties of our Putnam County Board of Commissioners. Mr. Foster, the commissioner representing the third district, said that meetings were held without his involvement.
So he soon resigned, pointing out in an ad right here in The Messenger that the bylaws were modified without his involvement. He resigned that week. (Sounds like the signing of Federal executive orders and we, the people, don’t get to know what is in them!)
This past Friday the Putnam County commissioners voted to have an increase of over 70% of short-term agreements that truly affect only District 3. It was as if they didn’t care what happened to our neighborhoods!
Nineteen people complained and one assented at the city commissioner meeting. The committee cut the difference, going from 200 rentals to 350 rather than the 400 they were initially going for.
Why does this bother some of us? It is common knowledge that people with short-term rentals of a week or less have blow-out parties, don’t care about the real estate, change the tone of a neighborhood, and not in a good way.
I have a friend who never went to school board meetings for her now-26-year-old because she didn’t have to worry about what was going on in schools then. Now she goes religiously for her 10-year-old because she says so many negative changes are being implemented that she needs to know exactly what is happening in the school.
Which brings me back to my famous hats. We need, as voters and citizens, to keep our eyes and minds open. My 20/20 Vision for 2024 hats are strictly nonpartisan. Left & Right, Black & White.
We cannot be apathetic or we may find ourselves waking up in a country and neighborhood we didn’t expect to be in. Let’s make a wave starting right here in Lake Country!
Randall Harman, Putnam County