The Albany Herald is quoting “sources” as saying that three Dougherty County School System principals have opted not to cooperate with the state investigation into alleged cheating on Criterion Referenced Competency Tests. Instead, they are “pleading the fifth”.

To that we say this: If the newspaper article is accurate, the principals should be fired on the spot. In other words, if they still have their jobs, their boss – the superintendent – should be fired. Or are we missing something?

Sure, the Fifth Amendment protects witnesses from being forced to incriminate themselves. Certainly, that’s the option of public educators or anyone else. But not if they want to keep their jobs!

             If the newspaper report of principals pleading the fifth is untrue, the schools superintendent and the principals should have spoken up and set the record straight.

They haven’t.

So let’s find us three new principals and, perhaps, a new superintendent.

Vote no on T-SPLOST

Are local elected officials playing a cruel joke on us?

They won’t let us vote on whether or not we want to merge the City of Albany and Dougherty County governments, but they do want to put yet another new tax on our plate.

That’s not even funny; but it’s true.

The latest tax-and-spend scheme confronting us is for transportation. If a referendum is approved next spring – and somehow new taxes have an abundance of success in Georgia – consumers in the Dougherty County region will be taxed 8 percent instead of 7 percent.

We oppose this measure for two primary reasons:

1. It is well-documented that much of government is corrupt and/or misspends our money. The City of Albany does both. Indeed, we feel that if state and local government were good stewards of public funds, the proposed transportation projects could be funded under the current tax system with money to spare.

2. The public has not been adequately educated or asked to provide input on the anticipated use of the transportation tax proceeds.

We urge our community and business leaders, including the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, to stop the proposed tax in its tracks. If that doesn’t work, we hope voters will carefully review the implications of the additional tax and reject it.

Meanwhile, our politicians should put the consolidation issue back on the table, if only for the sarcasm of it.

By Kevin Hogencamp