Outlook Archive

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Past time to scrap the sign ordinance

– March 19, 2012Posted in: Outlook

 

 

Tom Gieryic doesn’t seem a likely poster boy.  He’s a mechanic by trade, and a small business owner in one of the poorest communities in the nation.  However, when Code Enforcement cited him over an American flag, it reignited a firestorm that has surrounded Albany’s controversial sign ordinance for years now.

The current sign ordinance is the result of an alleged effort to tweak the old law to be more business friendly.  This effort was sparked when Bo Henry’s Harvest Moon was cited for having two ground signs in front of its Dawson Road building. The sign predated Henry moving his restaurant to that location, but it didn’t matter.

City Commissioners launched a “sign ordinance task force” to come up with a plan to fix the law.  After weeks of meeting, a few changes were crafted.

We now can see that there are still problems with the law.

Yes, Gieryic’s flag is on the right of way.  However, that’s only a small percentage of the issue here.  You see, there are regulations over how big a flag can be in relation to its flag pole.  There are regulations dictating how big a flag pole can be.  This might have some bearing on things if the flag was advertising a business, but it’s not.  It’s our nation’s flag.  How is this remotely right?

It’s simple.  It’s not.

The sign ordinance is one of the most anti-business regulations in Albany.  It has been for years and years.  Wendel Grace was cited for having one of those inflatable “Gumby” looking wind dancers.  Why did he have it?  Oh, just to let people know that his new store, the Doughnut Factory, was open.  Henry was cited for having a sign that had been there before two ground signs were illegal.  Gieryic is cited for our nations flag being in a place he says it’s been for 30 years. Really?

Our community has some very real problems.  Many of those problems can be solved by a vibrant economy.  However, you don’t get a vibrant economy by creating an environment where businesses are being cited for simply trying to advertise their business.  It’s even worse when patriotism is the reason for being cited.

I suspect that we’ll see another version of the sign ordinance task force.  Maybe even this time, people like Bo Henry will actually have a vote, rather than just be sitting there to make things look legitimate.  However, a better move would be to just scrap the current law and take a long, hard look at what is really needed in this town.

They’ve tried fixing it multiple times, and the result is still an absolute mess.  If you asked Tom, Gieryic he can tell you that there comes a point with a car where it just doesn’t make sense to try to fix it, but instead you look into something new.  That also applies to this ridiculous sign ordinance.  It’s past time to just kill what we have, and start over.  Only this time, let’s make something that doesn’t hurt business.  How does that sound?

 

 

Tags: Code Enforcement, Flag, ign ordinance task force, Outlook, sign ordinance, the right of way, Tom Gieryic, Tom Knighton
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Quit blaming the citizens

– March 13, 2012Posted in: Outlook

 

 

I’m getting tired of it.  I’m getting rather sick of the attitude some officials espouse, blaming the people of Albany – and often times their “attitude” – for Albany being in its current state.  The most recent incident comes via a WFXL report where EDC head Ted Clem is quoted as saying, “Our biggest challenge in Albany is ourselves. Sometimes we have such a negative self image of who we are as a community that we lose sight of the fact that we do have competitive advantages over many other communities in the state of Georgia and around the country.”

He was joined by Equinox Chemical chief Mark Grimaldi who said, “It’s human nature to focus on the negative side or the bad things about where you live and the grass is always greener on the other side and everybody always wants to leave Albany for a better place.”

First, let me say that I respect what Grimaldi has accomplished at Equinox.  Their success is an inspiration for all business owners in this community.

Of course, when Clem opens his mouth to tell people in Albany what they should think, all I can hear is someone who has fallen asleep at the wheel, then trying to blame the kids in the back seat for the accident.

Our community has some very serious problems. We have crime, a lack of jobs, a dirty city, and corruption at various points within the system. For better or worse, that is a fact.  Most who have issues with our community know this, and they don’t want to look the other way.

Clem, and those like him, argues that our perception equals reality.  That’s not entirely incorrect either.  However, the inverse is somewhat true as well, since our perception is shaped by our reality as well. What so many in the community think isn’t some dark conspiracy to hurt Albany.  It’s their heartfelt impressions, and concern over where Albany is and where it’s going.

Every time an official acts like perception, or media reporting, is the problem they are turning their backs on the root of the problems in this town.  Willie Adams, as mayor during the Don Buie fiasco, tried to deflect attention onto media reporting by claiming that the negative press was hurting Albany while forgetting that the problem wasn’t the reporting.  The problem was that there was corruption to report.

If folks like Clem want people like me to think “happy thoughts” about Albany, then give me a good reason to think them.  Bring in new jobs, something the head of the EDC should be doing, and then I can think more.  Clean up our community.  Make Albany the kind of place we can be proud to show off, and I promise you that the “happy thoughts” will take care of themselves.

The reality is that the rank and file community member doesn’t need to feel good about our advantages as a community.  Those who are responsible for luring good jobs to this town need to know them, and they need to sell them.  If they do that, things will work out just fine.

 

 

Tags: Albany, community, corruption, crime, dirty city, Don Buie fiasco, EDC, Equinox, lack of jobs, Mark Grimaldi, Outlook, perception, Ted Clem, Tom Knighton, Willie Adams
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How ‘Going green’ could lower electric bills

– March 6, 2012Posted in: Outlook

 

 

 

I’m a free market kind of guy.  While I’m sympathetic to the environmental movement in a lot of ways, I find much of what they want is borderline ridiculous at best.  One thing we’ve been hearing for years is that “conservation” is a good thing.  Well, the good folks at Water, Gas & Light have made many in the community question that.

You see, after we had less revenue was generated, which is what happens if you use less electricity, WG&L officials announced that utility prices would increase.  Essentially, we did what they’ve been saying for a large chunk of my lifetime, and we’re getting the shaft over it.  It can certainly look like “being green” just isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.

However, there’s a quirk in state law that is at least partially the cause for this one.  You see, by law, there can only be one company that can provide you power.  That company is Georgia Power.

As a free market kind of guy, I’m not big on government mandated monopolies, especially when there are ways that you and I could, theoretically if nothing else, lower our power bills.  For example, imagine if a company wanted to set up solar cells on your roof to offset your expenses?  As things stand, it’s illegal.  However, Senator Buddy Carter has proposed SB 401 which would make this kind of deal perfectly legal.

The fact of the matter is that I really don’t see huge solar farms being the future of power creation. Instead, I see people’s homes serving as the source of their power and the idea of contracting with a company to set up and service the solar cells – to say nothing of selling any excess power to power companies or other customers who need more power – may just be the key to clean, efficient energy.

I have no illusions that my readers here are environmentalists.  You’re not, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  However, this is a rare circumstance when the free market and pro-environmental measures stand side by side.  It’s actually kind of an unusual alliance really, but a logical one.

I do believe that a significant percentage of this paper’s readership believe in free markets.  I believe in competition, and I think competition ultimately makes things better.  We don’t have any competition in the realm of power creation in this state, and I can’t envision any circumstance in which that is actually a good thing.

I’d like to urge all of our readers to contact your state representative and state senators to ask them to support this new legislation.  If conservation will not keep our power bills lower, then there needs to be alternatives.  In a free market, that’s how things work.  If you aren’t happy with your service or current rate, you are free to find someone else to provide your service.  All I’m suggesting here is that we should be free to be able to do the same.

While it’s entirely possible that we will hear arguments from Georgia Power and its supporters that prices will increase, I ask so what?  After all, it’s clear that prices are going to increase regardless of what we do, so why not make the playing field open for competitors so that we can find someone who will provide service for a price we can live with.

Tags: conservation, Gas & Light, Georgia Power, Outlook, Tom Knighton, Water
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Hard times requires us to pull together

– March 5, 2012Posted in: Outlook

 

Anyone who thinks this economy isn’t so bad is a complete moron.  I’m going to go ahead and say that right there.  To say it’s not bad for them may be a different matter entirely, but for the vast majority of Americans, it’s pretty bad.  Albany is getting hit harder than most, and the vast majority of business owners are feeling the squeeze.  I know I am.

However, in troubled times, we need to pull together more than ever. I’m not talking about politics this time, which is what folks usually mean when they talk about “pulling together”.  Most times, it’s just a euphemism for “shut up and do what I say”, but not this time.  I don’t care about your politics, and neither do the local businesses that are struggling.  They need your dollars.

All over town, there are tons of stores that are owned and operated by local folks.  Some of those stores and other businesses may not be here next year.  Some might not be there next month.  They need our support, and they need it bad.

Locally owned businesses are a key factor for any community.  They are run by your friends and neighbors.  They’re the people who aren’t going to have a corporate decision to shut the doors of your local store so a stockholder on the other side of the world can get an extra half cent a share.  No, these businesses and the people who own them are vested in our community.

However – and we’re all guilty of this – most of us tend to swing towards the larger operations.  Economies of scale make the prices difficult to resist in some cases, and in others it’s just a lack of understanding.  The thing is, each time you buy at a chain store, a percentage of that profit may stay to pay local wages, but the rest goes away from Albany.  That doesn’t help anyone really.

Now, let’s say you purchased that same item from a local vendor.  While a similar percentage may go for wages as the chain store, the fact that the owner is local means that his percentage is more likely to be spent locally as well.  In addition, small businesses often want to expand.  That means more jobs for your friends and neighbors who are out of work.

Every dollar that leaves the community is a dollar we will never see again.  While I have argued that we need outside dollars coming into Albany, it’s also important that we keep as many dollars in this community as humanly possible.

Take a look at the businesses you trade with.  How many them are really locally owned?  You can’t even go by the name, since many franchises can be locally owned while less recognizable names may be owned by someone in Valdosta.

Here at the Journal, we’re taking the “shop local” seriously, in part because we are a locally owned and operated business as well while there are other papers in town that can make no such claim. While I have a reputation for blasting the local government, it’s because Albany is my home, just like it’s yours.  This isn’t a stop in my career path, this is home.  If I ever have to leave Albany, it’s because I failed here, not because I’m “moving up in the world.” I’m saying this not because I stand to gain, but because it’s right.  I just also happen to stand to gain…and in this economy, everyone could use some gain.

We all need to look at the businesses we deal with and find out if Albany is really in their best interests as well.  While the workers are obviously friends and neighbors as well, the ownership may not be.  They get the lion’s share of our dollars, and then do little to make our community a better place.

It’s time for us, all of us, to step up and begin to ramp up our locally owned businesses.  It’s time to trade with folks who actually care about the same local economy you do.  It’s time to deal with folks who won’t shut down a location if things get tough, but who will lose their livelihoods.

Come on Albany! It’s time for all of us to stand together and keep our local businesses strong.

Tags: buy local, Locally owned businesses, Outlook, shop local, support local business, The economy, Tom Knighton
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BABIES FOR SALE IN ALBANY GA…I.R.S. IS THE BUYER!

– February 29, 2012Posted in: Letter to the editor

 

I have just been shown the secret to LEGAL BABY SELLING and it’s so easy that any taxpayer can do it. One of my most trusted friends is among the working class poor. My friend has two legitimate jobs and has the many taxes and fees, conveniently withheld from his paycheck, much like most honest hardworking poor people. And like most of his countrymen he keeps very little of his hard earned money. But don’t feel sorry for him because every year at tax time he has found a way to get the last laugh. Every year he sells us (The US) someone else’s children to make ends meet.

It goes like this: Being a taxpayer he receives an earned income child credit (approx $1900/child) for every child he can produce. Apparently, produce doesn’t mean biologically anymore, because my friend simply finds a day-laborer with children, who gets paid “under the table”. As the man gets no taxes with-held and files no claim his children should go unclaimed by anyone. However, my friend (and many others like him) claims the stranger’s unclaimed child in order to receive the thousands in credit from the I.R.S. Of course he splits the money with the non-taxpayer, essentially selling kids to the government. “Find more kids; Lather; Rinse; Repeat. My friend does most things honestly but for 20 yrs he has learned to see nothing wrong with this process since it has been tolerated for decades by both Republican and Democrat Administrations.

 

Lane Rosen

Albany

 

Tags: Babies for Sale, illegal tax deductions, IRS, Lane Rosen, letter to the editor, Tax cheating
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Combating Postal Service Closings: The Wrong Battle

– February 23, 2012Posted in: Headlines, Outlook

 

If you don’t subscribe to your elected official’s newsletters, you should. It’s very educational. In Congressman Bishop’s most recent email, there was an article titled, “Combating Postal Service Closings and Service Reductions”. Here it is in its entirety;

“Over the last several months, our congressional office has been aggressively fighting proposals from the United States Postal Service (USPS) to close approximately 3,700 postal facilities nationwide. Such a widespread closure of postal facilities could disproportionately harm Georgia’s rural communities, small businesses, seniors, and others, who rely heavily on the Postal Service to receive their mail, pay their bills, send correspondence, and obtain their prescription drug medications.

Late last year, our office joined other congressional offices in sending a letter to Postal Regulatory Chairwoman Ruth Goldway, expressing our concerns that closing thousands of postal facilities nationwide would adversely impact millions of Americans.

In a further effort to try to protect our nation’s post offices, I also co-sponsored H.R. 1351, the USPS Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011. The goal of the legislation is to help put the Postal Service back on track to fiscal solvency so that it does not have to close post offices in order to cut its budget costs.”

The very first sentence tells you all you need to know about the dysfunctional mess we call Washington DC. The Congressman’s staff feels it is important for you to know that they are “aggressively fighting proposals” from USPS. All the postal service is trying to do is be more efficient in their mail delivery service, and stay in budget. But they are taking on USPS in this fight because as it states, the constituents “rely heavily on the Postal Service to receive their mail, pay their bills, send correspondence, and obtain their prescription drug medications”. Forget the fact that USPS cannot continue to provide those services unchanged, without going further into debt. Forget the fact that there are several private postal companies out there offering most of the same services, or that much of what use to transpire through the mail is now done online. Forget all that. The people have come to “rely” on this service, and budgets be dammed, we are going to make sure they keep relying on it because elected officials rely on those votes. We know this dance.

Here’s a thought; instead of “aggressively fighting” USPS for trying to work within their budget, why not spend the same time, energy, and resources fighting to get Congress to do the same? Maybe that’s too close to home for most elected officials, or maybe that seems like spitting in the ocean, and it’s easier to target something specific like mail service to look frugal with the people’s money. Back in the 90s I was making more than I am today. I went out to eat more, took vacations more often, and splurged on my kids more. Today, with the budget tightened a bit, those habits have been unlearned. It’s call living within your means. If our elected officials want to slay the real dragon in the cave, stop preaching to others about cost savings, and boasting to the voters that you are going to save their Saturday mail delivery, until you’ve managed to come up with a practical budget for the government to operate on. It’s hard to take someone serious on money and budget matters when they seem unable to deal with their own.

But what is the government’s answer to the postal service problem? Why more government, of course. To quote Gomer Pyle; “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” They’ve offered up H.R. 1351, the USPS Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011. They can couch it all sorts of verbiage, but there is only one way to maintain the current level of services now offered by USPS; you have to pay for it. And by “you” I mean anyone paying taxes. So subscribe to your representative’s newsletter and stay in the loop as best as you can. When you get your first email from them, you can reply and use it as exhibit one in the debate over why the postal service has to change with the times.

 
Lon McNeil is an independent marketing consultant in Albany and can be reached at lonmcneil@gmail.com.

 

Tags: H.R. 1351, Lon McNeil, Outlook, politics, Postal Service Closings, USPS, USPS Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011
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Endorsement for the GOP Primary

– February 21, 2012Posted in: Headlines, Outlook

 

 

As we get closer to time for the Georgia GOP Primary, I’ve decided to issue a formal endorsement.  It might not mean a whole lot to some folks, and I have little doubt many of you will disagree, but I’m throwing my support, and my vote, behind Ron Paul.

Ron Paul is kind of a unique candidate.  Most folks I talk to agree with him on at least 85 percent of his platform.  However, the other 15 percent apparently is so horrible in some minds that he simply can’t be allowed to be president.  I’d like to address some of the comments I’ve heard about Dr. Paul.

If he’s elected, the United States will be destroyed…literally.  Really?  Now, I accept that a lot of folks don’t agree with Ron Paul’s non-interventionist stances, but to say the nation will be destroyed? This is usually in response to Paul’s stance regarding leaving Iran alone and the thought seems to go that if we leave Iran alone, they’re still going to hate us and will eventually nuke us.

Well, I’m not in complete agreement with Paul that if we leave Iran alone, they’ll suddenly like us. I just don’t see that happening.  However, I also don’t think they’ll suddenly nuke us when they have no cause to do so.  Not only that, but does anyone seriously think that Iran would have the means to destroy the entire nation?  No.  Not only that, but an attack on the U.S. also calls for an immediate response…and that isn’t intervention.  I have little doubt that Paul would order a response should that happen.

He’s a hypocrite because he puts earmarks into the budget and then votes against it so he can say he doesn’t approve of them.  Now, earmarks are an issue and I can understand a voter not liking earmarks.  And yes, Ron Paul has put his fair share of earmarks in the budget…but so has every other GOP candidate.  However, Paul is also the only one who actually votes against those earmarks.  The people of his district expect some of their tax dollars to come back to them after all, but he’s also never hidden what he does from a living soul.

Like many other voters, I’d love to see earmarks as a quaint remnant from the past, chatted about over drinks after dinner while pondering way-back-when.  I don’t see that happening in the near future regardless of who gets elected.  I’m not thrilled about his playing the game, but I find it far more tolerable than how his opponents have done it.

Going to the gold standard is crazy talk!  I’ve heard this one more than once, and I’m not sure I understand where the vehemence comes from.  Right now, the only thing backing our money is faith; faith that the United States government will do what’s right.  Unfortunately, for many of us, we’re not exactly filled with faith in our government.

However, the gold standard is an objective standard that would mean faith in the government wouldn’t matter nearly as much as faith in gold.  There are more and more people who believe that our money should be backed by some form of commodity rather than simply faith, and with good reason.

Ron Paul isn’t a perfect candidate for me.  I disagree with him on several things.  My ideal candidate was former Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico, a two-term government with real small government credentials as a background as a successful businessman.  However, Johnson was excluded from most polls, which kept him from being included in most debates, so he dropped out of the GOP primary and is now seeking the Libertarian Party nomination.

Ron Paul, however, is the only candidate I can bring myself to vote for come November.  I’m tired of picking fights all over the world, watching the White House tout “spending cuts” which are really just cuts in projected increases over the next few years, and generally getting in people’s way. While many people voting in this year’s primary claim they value liberty, they seem to be siding with candidates who have a track record of restricting that very liberty.

Maybe it’s me, but I’d rather have a guy who’s voting record is consistently pro-liberty rather than just count on election year rhetoric.

Tags: Endorsement, Georgia GOP Primary, GOP, Outlook, politics, Ron Paul, Tom Knighton
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We need a bad guy here

– February 13, 2012Posted in: Headlines, Outlook

 

 

I love this town.  I’ve tried for years to not love it, but I really do.  I have hopes and dreams that all revolve around this town.  I have a son who was born here.  I have a daughter on the way that will be born here.  My wife was born here, just like I was.  I hope that they grow to love their town as much as I do.

The problem is, loving Albany almost seems to require me to just ignore reality. It requires me to look past the sky high poverty, they racism stemming from more than just one ethnicity, the poor opportunities for employment, and a whole host of other things.  However, the biggest thing I have to overlook is the division in our community.

When Albany was named the fourth poorest community in the United States, I sent an email to all the members of the Dougherty County Commission and the Albany City Commission.  I got back a lot of answers for what the answer was.  Some, like Commission Bob Langstaff held up Strive 2 Thrive as the answer, while others like then-mayor Willie Adams said simply that he thought Albany was a great place to live.  No one is even on the same page.

What we need is to unite.  As Americans, there is nothing that unites us like a bad guy.

Americans like to team up to take on a bad guy.  World War II, the Cold War, post-9/11, all had us setting aside differences to pull against a common foe.  That’s not to say that there weren’t any battles, because there were.  That in inevitable.

However, we ultimately stood together.  It was like a group of brothers who fight all the time.  However, as soon as someone from outside the family decides to get into it with one of the brothers, he now has to face all of them.

What Albany needs is an enemy of sorts.  We need someone to compete against.  Having that “bad guy” will give us something to unite against.  Then, we will have a reason to set aside differences and do whatever it takes to make Albany thrive again.  Imagine different sides sitting down and working together to make things happen, rather than just sniping at one another?

Oh, I think there should still be battles to be fought.  Those battles are what make this nation great.  We fight for what we believe in.  However, it would help to have that common enemy at the end of the day since it would help people to bury the hatchet a little quicker.

Frankly, this town has been divided for so long; I can’t help but wonder what else could possibly help us move out of the malaise this town has been in since Firestone closed its doors.  Personally, I’m desperate.  Aren’t you?

Tags: Outlook, Tom Knighton
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So close, and yet so far away

– February 8, 2012Posted in: Headlines, Outlook

 

 

Monday night, I heard a political official come as close to the truth of what the problem is in Albany than any other time in my life.  Mayor Dorothy Hubbard came oh-so-close to putting her finger on the problems in the Good Life City, but still was able to miss it by miles.

In an interview with WALB on Monday, Mayor Hubbard said, “What we have learned from all of this, is we may be part of the problem, you know the way we see it, so if we see it in a different light then we can display it in a different light to other people, or express it in a different way to other people.”  The phrase “we may be part of the problem,” is possibly the greatest and most truthful phrase I’ve ever heard from a politician in all my life.  The reality is, they most definitely are.

Where Mayor Hubbard falls short of the truth is the rest of that quote.  The words she uses – to say nothing of the other quotes she uses with WALB – indicate that she, like her predecessor, seems to think that things are just fine in Albany and more work isn’t really needed.  What we need is simply better salesmanship.

First, salesmanship only goes so far.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Albany is floundering.  We have poverty around every corner.  The solutions we have gotten from the city is simply more housing and social programs, but many of us in town are hearing more and more stories about people moving into Albany to take advantage of our programs for the disadvantaged, thereby actually increasing our poverty level.

There has been little evidence to the citizens of Albany that our benevolent leaders have done jack to bring new industry to town.  Small business owners can only do so much, and even then it’s really just shifting money around town versus bringing in anything from outside of the area.

Mayor Hubbard is right, the commission as a whole is part of the problem.  They have given us wonderful gifts like welcome signs and a blue archway, come to us via their inclusion on a list of other things to be voted on in SPLOST votes, but so far we haven’t really gotten anything of substance from them.

However, she is oh-so-wrong when she thinks that a chance of perception on the commission’s part will enable them to simply change our perception.  Can the commission fix problems like poverty?  Maybe, maybe not.  I’m realistic enough to know that their abilities are limited and poverty is a problem that they just might not be equipped to deal with.  That doesn’t justify pretending that the problems don’t exist.

During her campaign, Mayor Hubbard spoke a great deal about education.  While I was critical of that, seeing as how the mayor has no authority over education in any way, I was hopeful that her platform indicated she at least understood how big of a problem poverty was for this community.

Her words Monday indicate that, just as some in the community suspected, that Dorothy Hubbard first term would really be Willie Adams third term.  It was Mayor Adams who essentially blamed local media for keeping away new business with our coverage of Don Buie and his shenanigans.  Hubbard’s word, while not as direct, hinted at the idea that perceptions matter more than reality.

There are serious problems in this community, and they require serious people who will put forth serious solutions.  B.J. Fletcher and people like her, the people who step forward on a regular basis to make this community better, can’t do it alone.  They need the City to stop being part of the problem, and to recognize just how they actually are part of the problem.  Then, they can just get the hell out of our way as we bring Albany back to greatness.

Tags: Outlook, Tom Knighton
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ASU has plenty to account for

– January 30, 2012Posted in: Headlines, Outlook

 

Albany State University is in a bit of trouble.  The “Historically Black” school apparently admitted students who didn’t meet the minimum standards for the University.  For some, this may not seem like that big of a deal, but with Albany State, it is.

ASU, you may recall, made a pretty big deal out of Darton getting a four year nursing program.  At that time, they argued that Darton was the “white” school and that it would draw students away from ASU.  I said then that their argument was bull.  Those students who wanted to go to ASU would still go to ASU, while those who went to Darton and opted for a four year degree afterwards were generally going to Americus to attend Georgia Southwestern State University.

However, ASU’s actions should really earn the ire of Darton College.  You see, universities in Georgia have minimum standards that students must meet.  These students didn’t.  As such, their recourse should have been to attend Darton until they met ASU’s standards.  Instead, Albany State just admitted them and therefore kept them out of Darton College.

I’m all about the free markets, and think a more free market in education would ultimately lead to better education.  However, until that happens, I think all parties need to follow the rules.  It’s just that simple.  ASU didn’t, and again it’s just that simple.

President Freeman can say all he wants about how these students were just a few points below the level.  It just doesn’t matter.  They didn’t meet the minimum that the state requires.  If they don’t want to meet the state’s standards, then perhaps they should explore becoming a private university and then they’ll be free to set whatever standards they want.

However, the fact remains that the revelation only spurred on the feelings many have regarding ASU.  While few will argue against the economic impact of ASU’s homecoming, many question the quality of Albany State’s graduates.  Without a doubt, there are some quality folks who have graduated from ASU, but they are tarnished by the graduates who have shown themselves to be less than stellar in their respective fields.

With the information that we learned last week regarding ASU’s willful disregard of the state mandated standards, many in the community can’t help but feel that this is clearly part of the problem.  In addition, the fact that apparently faculty feels rather put upon based on a letter they sent to the Board of Regents last year, one must wonder how much real education is happening on the ASU campus.

Tags: Outlook, Tom Knighton
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