Code Words

[Johnny Post]

I think the ties a person has to a community are an important part of their qualifications to serve that community in public office. Having connections, through generations of family in some cases, to a community should not be viewed as a negative in any way.

Now, does that mean we should only elect 5th generation locals to office? Not at all. Each candidate should be evaluated based on their qualifications. A candidate who is qualified only because of who their family is should no sooner be elected than a candidate who has only recently moved to the community, and believes wholesale changes are appropriate because thats how it was in their past community.

The idea of a "good ole boy" network that actually controls the county is laughable. Not because there is no truth to the statement, but because it ignores how all politics work. No matter where you are from, family ties, social organizations, and other affiliations play a large role in politics. Why should we expect Walton County to be different than say Chicago, with the Daly family, or any other "political network".

Please, let's put this idea that we in South Walton must rally against the "good ole boys" aside, and focus on improving our county as a whole.

 

[GoodWitch58]

Thank you Goddessgal for an on point post; the comments you mentioned are just rude IMO and completely unnecessary.

You are correct that we can do better than this.

 

[ShallowsFuzz]

I'm very proud of being a native of Walton County.
And we look forward to all of you who are moving here in diluting our family tree.

 

[rapunzel]

Excellent points, all of you.

I have to say, honestly, I don't remember hearing these words much before. In Columbus, Georgia, where I could have said my family has been here for a hundred years and I graduated from Columbus High, I may have heard them and not noticed them. I didn't hear them in Atlanta, or Shreveport, or New Orleans.

I am not trying to imply that I have a problem with born and bred locals, not by any stretch. However, when I hear those words, I do sometimes feel that my views aren't as important, my vote not as desired, as those of someone who is "from here." I may not have been born here, but I care more about the future of Walton County than I do Muscogee County. I intend to live here, and God willing someday have a little native Waltonian of my own. SoWal is my home.

Frankly, the words sometimes make me feel a little excluded.

 

[Matt J]

I think it's just a phenomenon in small towns that are growing. Personally I prefer someone with the attitude of "hey I am from someplace else, but I enjoy this area so much I'm staying and want to improve it". In addition I mean improve in the sense of bettering the community and the services that it receives. NOT DEVELOPMENT.

 

[Alicia Leonard]

All great comments. I think it can be a double edged sword type of statement. You may get one groups vote at the expense of another.


Personally the code words that worry me are, "The eagle had landed"......"The stork drops at midnight"...........and of course......"The cookies outta the jar." And this last one strike terror in me......
"Aisle 4, we're outta tin foil again."

 

[Here4Good]

Frankly, the words sometimes make me feel a little excluded.

I agree, Rapunzel, and it seems to me that this is the plan. I find a hard-core attitude in the government and school district which seems to imply that if you moved in here in the last 5 years, you could move right back out again and so you aren't "real". There are a lot of bright and talented people moving here, and the county does not take advantage of this fact. Contrast this to the talent pool at Sacred Heart, where they have embraced "outsiders" and recruited medical staff who want to relocate to the area.

I lived in Atlanta, also, where the population is extremely transient, and the politicians out in the suburbs had to accept newcomers, since the newcomers outnumbered the "natives". In the city of Atlanta, though, they still want that "pedigree".

Newcomers won't outnumber the pedigreed folks anytime soon here - we still are a "part-time" location for too many new homebuyers, and it's hard to get involved in politics when you are a newcomer. So many of the "new" folks are business owners and just too darned busy to make the commitment.

I think, also, that this was frankly a little hardscrabble corner of the world for a long time. The people who lived here and stayed, and raised their families, had to work a lot harder at it to be able to live in "Paradise" since there are no major employers and little real economy. I understand the attitude that their home is being "ruined", but I also think they ignore the fact that this is being done with the explicit permission of their elected officials, who seem to want to be sure that every property owner (many of whom were those old-timers) can eke the maximum profit out of their stake.