THE WRONG ROAD: A four part series, written exclusively for the Clarion Issue, illustrating how a small community can go down the wrong road. (Part I)

By Richard Frizzell

Prior to moving to Camden County and Georgia, I had searched out many places to make a life-changing move to. I lived in New York State, first in the City of New York and later in an upstate county called Niagara County, located on the shores of Late Ontario. You might say that I got a good education in both lifestyles, one of city life and one of rural life. Another source of comparison was based on my being in the military and having traveled both within the country and abroad and having experienced all manner of different places both good and bad.

My choice of places to move to spend the rest of my life was essentially an educated choice. I was using the best information available and making a choice that would give me the best chance of social, personal and economic happiness. I often joke about something one of my neighbors said to me when he greeted me into the neighborhood, “You’re not from Georgia are you?” My response was, “No, but I got here as fast as I could.” To me this was “Mayberry by the Sea.”

I thought I had died and went to heaven. I loved to sail, hike, swim in the ocean, and fish. I also wanted to live in a place that was small, quiet and friendly. Camden County and St. Marys was just the ticket. There was sense of “Americana” and community here that I had found lacking in other places I had lived in over the course of my life. In Camden County I found a house to live in that was not going to cost a fortune, as well as low taxes, and opportunity for any kind of activity you could possibly want for self-fulfillment or entertainment. It was all just a short distance from our home. I could go anywhere I wanted for enjoyable activities either by a walk, bicycle ride, or a short car ride. Best of all, it wasn’t expensive to live here. There was a sense of calm stability, peace, and safety here in my new found home and community.

Since I have moved here some twenty years ago I have seen my dream world start to erode away by turmoil created by the city of St. Marys Elected City Council government over ideas of economic growth, and expanding city governmental agencies in an effort to mimic larger cities. St. Marys city government’s actions have been more and more confrontational and costly to its citizens over these past few years. Vested interest and personal petty agendas appear to have been promoted by those in power. It is all done, of course, with the promise of bringing opportunity and growth, economic prosperity, and a vast array of all manner of things that will make the city of St. Marys the centerpiece of “Coastal Georgia.”

However, it appears that the City Council of St. Marys has failed to consider what the city residents and the surrounding communities want for their future. We must include the surrounding communities because they too are affected by what St. Marys wants to do or does in the hope of economic growth. The cost of these “pipe dreams” doesn’t stop at the city limits and has an effect on all of the county’s citizens.

Just some of the problems that have sprung up recently that are a direct action of St. Marys City Councils of the past few years and most certainly of the present administration will be the topic of this four part series. Some of you may agree with and some you will strongly disagree with the opinions put forth in these articles. If that is true you most certainly can voice your disagreement by offering your disagreement and opinions to the Clarion Issue without fear of “intimidation by a policeman as has happened in City Council meetings” or called all manner of names by officials because of your disagreement with policies that do not directly help residents of the city.

Spending money on the purchase of a private piece of property located on the water front for 1.3 million dollars of taxpayers’ money and then borrowing from banks that same amount to provide needed lift stations to the city sewer system is just one such topic we will discuss in this four part article. Folks, if you disagree with this article, and some may disagree; you have every right to voice that disagreement without fear of retaliation or intimidation. Nor will you be called “back row buzzards” or “trouble makers”.

President John F. Kennedy once said that he had a sense of history and as President of the United States he would not repeat the mistakes of history. However, that wisdom does not appear to be prevalent among the present members of the St. Marys Council. I close the first part of this series with this thought in mind, “Alas, it is the folly of men that too soon, do they forget”(Le Morte d’ Arthur, by Malory).