Garden Club of Georgia Legislation

The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc.
Mission: Beautification … Conservation … Education
Legislation & Governmental Affairs: Mary Lovings, Chairman; Marian Hill, Advisor; Helen Grogan and Johnnie Berry, Committee Club Representatives


Thank you; THANK YOU to all who contacted their Legislators from home on Monday. Thank you; THANK YOU to all who came to the Capitol Monday with its quirky sense of time and action and who weren't rattled by the process and procedures they encountered there. That there were 50+ of us there, especially on an extremely cold day, made a significant statement. Thank you, THANK YOU, Betty Grimes, for leading us and being there with us and to Sara Lanier and to Joy Stuart for their sustained supportiveness ofthe garden we call Georgia. Thank you, Marian Hill and Helen Grogan for your help and support and for being there.


What was especially important was that most of us who came to the Capitol hadn't been there before. The effort spreads. Members came from across Georgia including Atlanta, Gainesville, Macon, Decatur, St. Simons Island, Stone Mountain, Augusta, Avondale Estates, Hiawassee, Sandy Springs, Rochelle, and Milledgeville. Great going, everyone, for helping to Flourish Our Future! The " .... Conservation ..." part of the GCG Mission continues. The air and water and trees and wildlife can't speak for themselves: GCG can and does speak for conservation. As Dr. Seuss wrote,"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." GCG will need to continue to speak for conservation and to speak for it often and from everywhere in the state. Atmosphere at the Capitol is changing, and a fresh breeze is flowing along its halls and into its chambers. A new House Speaker and Speaker Pro Tem as well as a new Majority Whip who are willing to listen are welcomed.


GCG's since 1928 effort to plant trees and reduce the number of billboards will continue until Georgia's General Assembly realizes the importance of pines and butterflies and air and rabbits and soil and native wildflowers and rivers. If you don't remember GCG's FLOW~, use http://coastgis.marsci.uga.edu/summit/whatbasin.htm as a starting point and move ahead to our partner Georgia River Network http://www.garivers.org/garivers/river_info.html.


Georgia has to be a prime target for those who want to remove beneficial trees.
It's the largest state east of the MIssissippi;
It has three major Interstate Highways that run through it: !-20, I-85, and !-95, and that's a lot of right of way territory to be used.
It has what has been an outdoor advertising dream - a General Assembly that allows unlimited gifts to its members.
Among the many migratory birds that head to Florida for the Winter and then back North in the Spring are the snowbirds that pass along Georgia highways, stopping along the way for rest and food, to replenish their supplies, and to see the sights in a state with mountains, a rolling piedmont, coastal plains and marshes, and a glorious seashore.
Those who understand the benefits of trees on highway rights of way have been successful for three consecutive years. Those who want to remove the trees to use public land for private profit try to convince those with a 3-O winning record to compromise. To continue with words from another classic children's book with a message so simple that even an adult can understand it, "Curiouser and curiouser."
Wednesday, I attended a meeting of those who try to protect Georgia's waters - more on that later and separately. Thursday, I talked with Becky Kelly, State Parks and Historic Sites Director, who appreciates our support of and becoming Friends of State Parks; she and I have known and respected the work of each other since 1978.


The General Assembly will be in recess next week for the MLK birthday and to work on the budget. If anyone took a photo of the group in the House Gallery, please email or post it to me and to Victoria Chandler for Garden Gateways. Please also send Victoria and me your photos of GCG members at the Capitol. I've discovered at least one GCG member who arrived a bit late and who therefore did not get a ticket for the Halcyon box drawing. If there are others, please let me know ASAP.


Most appreciatively,


Mary Lovings