Georgia Patriot Files

Nydia Tisdale Regarding the case of Nydia Tisdale presently under trial in Dawson County, the US Constitution protects individuals from governmental arrest under the color of law. IOW, there are no laws that can bypass the freedom of the press protections cited and guaranteed under the 1st Amendment. Any law enacted or invoked to make such an arrest would be null and void on its face. I expect the prosecutor will try to invoke the private property rights of the owner of the facility, who when asked to do so by certain Republicans at the event, instructed Captain Wooten to have Ms. Tisdale removed. As a property owner, the prosecutor will argue, he had that right. I looked into this at the time, and here is my body of research from three years ago: The question is not whether the event is on private property, but whether the event is held at a place of business with an open invitation inducing the public to attend. In this circumstance, because it is a business, normally ope...

Marc Morris (L) Judge Roy Moore (R) This has been a provocative special election season, hasn’t it?  Here in Forsyth County, we had our own special election to replace a Georgia House member who relinquished his seat.  Now the 26th District welcomes a new state Representative, Marc Morris. We wish him Godspeed as he represents the good people of his district. But now we turn to the special election to replace Senator Jeff Sessions in Alabama, who took the job of Attorney General in Trump’s cabinet, an election which affects us all in many ways.   Practically everyone has an opinion on candidate Roy Moore, until fairly recently the odds-on favorite, and perhaps still might be, to win the seat.  Folks either feverishly support Alabama’s former Chief Justice, or vehemently attack him, very few in the middle.   Feeding the attacks on Judge Moore are the obligatory allegations of sexual misconduct against candidates who dare seriously challenge the establis...

Sarah Palin When Sarah Palin resigned her job as Alaska Governor, I lost respect for her. I’m very sorry; but I did. She offered no particular hardship. She ran for a four-year term, accepted it, but one day decided she no longer wanted the job and quit, with very little explanation, to do something else.  Okay, Fine.  But I call a person who does that a “quitter.”  Quitting a public office one campaigned for, elicited contributions for, and indeed swore an oath before God to execute, is not a trait I admire.  Now that does not mean I don't like Sarah Palin or that I don’t agree with her on certain other matters. But on that matter, plainly she violated the public trust and her highest oath. Her supporters and voters were entitled to expect that she would fulfill the term of the public office she sought, her promise to do so she necessarily implied by running. Hunter Hill Now we have both Hunter Hill running for Georgia Governor, and Geoff Duncan running...

Now that the campaigns are over, hearty congratulations are in order for the winners, but also for the voters who equitably decided the elections.  I would like to congratulate the Mayor-elect of Cumming, Troy Brumbalow, who has a vision for the city, which if successfully implemented will upgrade the image of Forsyth’s county seat to one he assures will attract commerce and provide an increasingly pleasing streetscape.  Best of luck with those efforts.  The Cumming voters have chosen change, and they will likely get it. I would also like to credit outgoing Mayor Gravitt for the good things he has done for Cumming for the past decades serving as its leader.  It was Mayor Gravitt, not the Forsyth County Commission, who years ago took the initiative and pursued the rights to draw water from Lake Lanier.  It was Mayor Gravitt who upgraded the City of Cumming water plant capacities to provide water for not only the city, but also the entire county....

In an open letter published on a local Facebook page, Republican candidate for the Georgia House from the 26th District, Tina Trent, wrote of her “disappointment,” accusing people in the Forsyth County Republican Party of “hypothesizing wildly,” and “misrepresenting…[her] record.”  She expressed additional “disappointment in the behavior of several people at the Forsyth GOP meetings.”  She accused the GOP presiding officer of inappropriately permitting her Republican opponent to “blurt out campaign ‘folderol’ (her word) prior to [her] scheduled presentation.”  She accused the people at the Forsyth GOP of a “willful, orchestrated decision to not learn more about [her].”  She accused them of “insincerity” and “whining.”  She accused the GOP Executive Committee of treating her “inhospitably.” Finally, she accused her Republican opponent Marc Morris of trying to take over her time to speak, and in the process chided the GOP president for offering no intervention. ...