Green or not, put brakes on tax breaks

Big congratulations are in order for our local company that makes little vehicles.

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Complete with stage lights and fog machines, Club Car last week celebrated the construction of its 2 millionth vehicle.

Know how many golf cars that is? Parked bumper to bumper, they would stretch, literally, across the United States - all the way from the Evans manufacturing plant to Oregon.

Gary Michel, president and CEO of Club Car, wrote a guest column for The Augusta Chronicle celebrating the Earth Day rollout of that milestone vehicle.

Michel had me cheering through his opening comments: Celebrating the 2,000 Club Car workers producing those vehicles, noting the company's value to the community and applauding the "clean" nature of their low-speed electric vehicles.

Sure wish he'd stopped there, though. After the good stuff, Michel segued into a plea for a government crutch: "We also need the legislature to create tax incentives that encourage consumers and businesses to purchase electric vehicles, as well as incentives for manufacturers to create green' jobs."

Argh! No! What we "need," as taxpayers, is for the government to be less involved in picking winners and losers in the free market, not more. Georgia's Legislature has created a BRAC-like committee to study the state's tax structure. Free marketers and conservatives fervently hope they recommend fewer "tax incentives" of the sweetheart sort that riddle the state's tax code like Swiss cheese, and more "incentives" in the form of eliminating those special exemptions in favor of across-the-board tax cuts for everyone.

The state certainly should allow more electric vehicles to safely operate on the highways. That isn't even arguable. But more tax breaks for businesses just because they fly a "green" flag? No way.

Welcome, Justin

Donnie Fetter has been pulling double-duty for the past few weeks, helping to keep up with sports coverage since the departure of former News-Times sports writer Stephen Fastenau.

To Fetter's relief, Justin Williams stepped up to the plate Monday - exactly one month since Fastenau headed for the coast.

Williams is a graduate of Evans High School who maintained his team colors throughout college by also earning a degree from Georgia Tech. Among other things, he has previously worked as a sports copy editor for The Chronicle.

We're glad to have him on board. And we very much appreciate the patience and understanding, at least from most people, as we've tried to keep up prep sports coverage in the interim.

Garnet Brickey

Our community suffered a sad and largely unheralded loss this past week with the death of Garnet Elizabeth Brickey at age 88.

Our nation's "Greatest Generation" often is defined by its participation in World War II, and Mrs. Brickey played more than her part: When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, she visited an Army recruiter.

Mrs. Brickey thus became one of some 150,000 women to enter military service in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. She eventually rose to the rank of sergeant.

"I had the best time of my life when I was in the service," she once told a reporter. "I had the idea of helping America, doing what I could do."

Many years later, from her home in Grovetown, she set to work forming the Womens Veterans Club CSRA, an organization that meets on the first Saturday of each month, like this coming Saturday, at Ryan's Steakhouse in Martinez.

Members of that organization, fondly calling themselves "Brickey's troops," say they plan to continue strengthening the organization in her memory. She would surely approve.

Rest in peace, Sgt. Brickey.

(Barry L. Paschal is publisher of The Columbia County News-Times. E-mail barrypaschal@newstimesonline.com. Follow at twitter.com/barrypaschal.)