Letter to the editor: The Upson County Beacon
The letter to the editor submitted to the Upson County Beacon, and the story behind what came of it.
Doing our best to inform the public of matters that unquestionably effect them, we contacted the Upson Beacon and inquired if we could write a letter to the editor. We asked about what was desired in a good letter to the editor, and were upfront about not actually living in Upson County, but instead resided in Lamar. The response we recieved was warm and encourageable. The largest obstacle we faced was reducing our story down to the desired target length of around 400 words. Nonetheless, we went to work writing up what is the most condensed account of events we could, and submitted it on time to have it published in the following weeks paper.
The next monday, we recieved an email informing us the letter needed to be ran by the editor for final submittal due to the inclusion of the junkyard name. We explained it was long defunkt and there was no liability in it’s use, but regardless it’s exclusion would not subtract from the actual story, and were flexible.
The next day, which was the day our story was supposed to be published, we recieved another email informing us that they would not be publishing our story because it had “absolutely nothing to do with Upson County”, and suggested we try the local barnesville newspaper. Which was strange to say the least. As the location of the subject matter didn’t appear to be a problem when we started out, before time and effort were invested in writing the article. After all, we were upfront about not living in Upson County.
We probably should have ended it there, but writing an article to not have it published, is like doing work and not getting payed for it. You feel cheated, which considering what we have been through should be a fairly familiar feeling by now. So, we responded with informing the paper of our previous attempts to have our article published in the local news papers, then we gave further elaboration on our story, and ended with an inquiry as to how on earth our story didn’t effect their readership? To which, no response was given.
In reflection, what it sounds like, is someone got to them and told them not to publish the article. Which is another one of those all too familiar feelings, being blacklisted, that is.
The article submitted is included below, it is one of our better composed pieces.
Dear Editor,
Beginning in 2019 our family faced an unprecedented injustice. Our only crime was that we stood up to defend our home from a problem neighbor and several officials of Lamar County. We were to be harassed for years. And, the land around our home was to be destroyed by crooked, illegal real estate schemes. Our land was all we had left of our family, they destroyed it, tried to run us off of it, and took pleasure while doing it. To say the least, the hell they have put us through should not be wished upon anyone. They simply went too far.
What is important for everyone to know is that they violated the law to build a subdivision on a junkyard and robbed the taxpayers of millions doing it.
The McCollum Bros Junkyard is on the south side of Lamar Co. It has been abandoned since the 1950s. It is a toxic waste site full of heavy metals and carcinogens. This is where they built the subdivision. We doubt buyers are being informed of what they are buying into. Which is real estate fraud.
The land for this subdivision was bought through a crooked, if not illegal, real estate sale. Construction on the subdivision began without a permit. Two months later, one was issued, but it was void due to existing violations. The contractor ignored federal, state, and county law on nine parcels. This should have resulted in the prohibition of further operations in the county.
Penalties for these violations vary from 2500 per day. The statute of limitations is one to two years. Excluding three of the nine parcels, the penalties are between 13,140,000. This is money owed to the county by law. It should have been used for county operations, not used taxpayer money.
It is a foregone conclusion. A few corrupt local officials did political favors for friends and out of spite. As a result, the county ignored the law. They refused to collect on millions. As a result, local taxpayers must make up the difference to fund a county that doesn’t care about them or the cost.
