Re: The Biggest Scam of All

Published in the Towns County Herald September 9, 2026 

Dear Editor,

Starting a tit-for-tat “Dear Editor” string is unlikely to change opinions, but in the case of the letter last week “The Biggest Scam of All” (Towns County Herald, Sept. 2, 2026) a response is required.

In it, the writer makes salacious claims about Democratic Party positions on voting, apparently because he disagrees with a prior letter’s use of the phrase “voter suppression measures in the controversial Save Act.”  Whether or not you disagree with that description is inconsequential to the need to correct mischaracterizations that follow in the rest of the letter.

First, I would point out the misnamed SAVE America Act is opposed by a bipartisan collection of Senators.  Hence it has been bottled up without sufficient votes for passage.  The opposition to it is based on its shortcomings, not some conspiratorial desire to allow illegal voting.  Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) calls its one-size-fits-all requirements federal overreach which will disenfranchise American citizens in remote areas of her state.  Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) opposes it on constitutional grounds because it nationalizes election administration, long a state responsibility.  Neither Republicans nor the Democrats opposing the SAVE America Act are supportive of illegal voting by ineligible voters and undocumented aliens.

The Letter From Sept. 2

Opposition to the bill is substantive and proper.  The bill is so vague on important points and so poorly drafted it is guaranteed to be challenged in court and probably thrown out.  For that reason, if not others, it is more about political messaging rather than election integrity and should be more properly named: “The Election Rights Attorney’s Full Employment Act” and set aside.

The bill invents a problem to which it proposes to be the solution.  Undocumented aliens are already forbidden to register and vote, convicted felons are already forbidden to register and vote, voter rolls are regularly purged to remove dead or inactive voters.  As every voter knows, voter ID is the standard in Georgia.  These steps all occur at the state level.  So, what is the SAVE Act doing?

When Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) made the statement quoted in the letter, he was speaking of American citizens being disenfranchised.  He was talking about you and me and anyone else who changes their name, moves, loses their identification, gets married, turns 18...  These are matters that are currently handled by the states with little inconvenience to voters.

Of course, the real issue the letter writer distracts from is warning voters against a sham voter registration mailer from Ready to Register.  Please don’t fall for Ready to Register’s attempt to harvest your personal and contact information.  Ready to Register isn’t interested in your right to vote.  It is building a database of voters for its own commercial and political use.

Keep your voting information safe.  If you are worried about your registration status go to Georgia’s My Voter Page at https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/.  You only need to enter your first initial, last name, date of birth and county of residence to find out if you are registered, review your voting history, check on your voting location, find the status of an absentee ballot request, or update your registration.

David W. Plunkett
Young Harris, GA

"Ready to Register" Election Scam Targets Voters

Published in the Towns County Herald August 26, 2026

Dear Editor,

During the past year I have been a victim of both scam and fraud. The first was a scam over the telephone by a person posing as a Medicare representative requesting my card number in order to issue me a new plastic card. This scam was averted by reporting the incident to Medicare, and thus I learned to be more vigilant. Most recently I have experienced fraud attempts on my credit card by discovering unauthorized purchases on my monthly bill. The credit card’s fraud department will investigate and resolve this issue but, once again, it pays to be vigilant. 

I have learned of a new scam, “Ready to Register,” which is designed to interfere with voting rights. If a “Ready to Register” mailer is received in the mail, do not complete or return it. The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the FBI are actively investigating the scam. These mailers are a back door attempt to justify the voter suppression measures in the controversial Save Act and collect voter data that several federal judges have ruled against. Remember, it pays to be vigilant!

It is troubling to live in an era where scam and fraud are rampant. By staying informed and reporting dishonest behavior, the tide can be turned.

Jennifer Cordier

Towns Democrats donate hundreds of school supplies to Family Connection

Standing with Family Connection Executive Director Angela Hunnicutt, second from left, in front of shelves and boxes filled with the hundreds of items donated by Towns County Democrats to Towns County Schools Family Connection are county Democratic Party officers, from left, Tammy Bates of Hiawassee, vice chair; Suzanne Carter of Young Harris, secretary; and Kate Bennett of Hiawassee, treasurer. 

State Senate candidate to address Towns Democrats

At their monthly meeting on Thursday, Aug. 13, Towns County Democrats will hear from Dave Cooper of Rabun County.

Cooper is the Democratic nominee for Georgia State Senate District 50 in the Nov. 3 general election.

The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Towns County Senior Center, 954 North Main Street in Hiawassee. 

The group also will hear a report about the recently held Democratic Party of Georgia state convention in Savanah. Tammy Bates of Hiawassee, the county party's vice chair, represented Towns Democrats at the convention.

Towns County to be represented at state Democratic convention

 Tammy Bates of Hiawassee will represent Towns County when Democrats from throughout Georgia meet in Savannah this weekend for the party's annual state convention.

Tammy Bates

Bates is vice chair of the Towns County Democratic Committee and the local party's representative to the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Convening on Saturday, Aug. 1, the state convention is where Democrats from all 159 Georgia counties come together to organize, connect, and build the future of Georgia.  Elected officials, candidates, activists, organizers, labor leaders, community advocates, and grassroots Democrats will be in attendance.

Delegates will have the opportunity during the various caucus, council, and committee breakout sessions to hear from the Democratic candidates on the Nov. 3 general election ballot and learn about the diversity that makes Georgia strong.

Georgia Democrats — including in Towns County — are currently engaged in "Ground Game Georgia," a statewide grassroots campaign and voter outreach program organized by the state Democratic party for the 2026 election cycle. It focuses on field operations, expanding voter registration, and mobilizing communities to vote up and down the ballot. 

A three-time published author, Bates is a retired senior merchandising director with extensive leadership experience at a Fortune 500 company where she oversaw strategic merchandising initiatives.

Locally, Bates supports local non-profit organizations and civic-engagement efforts, bringing her professional background in leadership, strategic planning, and organizational management to bear to inform her work as an advocate for issues affecting the residents of Towns County and the state of Georgia.  She is committed to strengthening the Towns County community through public service and citizen involvement.

A Response to Re: "Broken Promises"

 Published in the Towns County Herald and North Georgia News June 17, 2026

Dear Editor,

A writer last week challenged part of an earlier letter to the editor (“Broken Promises,” May 27, 2026) that stated Trump broke his promise not to start wars (“Re: Broken Promises,” June 10, 2026).  Of course, Trump has used the qualifier “Forever Wars” in his more recent speeches as the writer claims, but he also made the same promise without the qualifier when running for office as he did in June 2024 when he proclaimed his election was a choice between “war or no war.”  

In July 2024 at the Republican National Convention he said, “With our victory in November, the years of war, weakness, and chaos will be over.  I don’t have wars.”

In August 2024 at a rally in Pennsylvania he promised, “Under Trump, we will have no more wars, no more disruptions, and we will have prosperity and peace for all.”

In his victory speech in November 2024, after a win predicated on those earlier promises, he included this statement: “I’m not going to start a war, I’m going to stop wars.”

Trump has a habit of dodging accountability by adding modifiers to earlier unambiguous promises so they seem to fit with his current and contrary actions when he breaks those promises.  The writer picks up on his later statement about “forever wars” while ignoring the times he did promise no wars under his presidency.

Of course, the other problem with the argument presented by the writer is that it is an example of cherry picking one aspect of the earlier letter to undermine the entire point being made, which is that Trump has broken other promises.  Trump’s promise to lower prices mentioned in the earlier letter is obviously broken given inflation is running at 4 percent and the letter writer does not defend Trump on this point.

This other broken promise also finds echoes in the promises above.  Under his presidency we have had nothing but chaos and weakness (Iran has us by the Hormuz).  We see nothing but disruptions and a loss of prosperity in his handling of the economy.  And, if the stories are true about the most recent peace agreement he is making with Iran, he will pay Iran for that peace and earn nothing but a vague promise to deal with whatever nuclear threat the Iranians pose in future negotiations – the very thing the writer accuses Democrats of doing.

Finally, as far as Trump confronting the threat of a nuclear Iran, I remember in his own words he “destroyed” Iran’s nuclear program in June 2025.  Apparently that was one more lie he had to modify to fit his current and contrary actions.

David Plunkett
Young Harris

Towns Democrats to hear about "Roadless Rule" proposed repeal

MountainTrue's Callie Moore will focus on the proposed cancellation of the "Roadless Rule" when Towns County Democrats meet Thursday, June 11, for their monthly meeting at the Towns County Senior Center, 954 North Main Street in Hiawassee.

The meeting will begin with the Democrats' biennial caucus at 5:30 p.m. to elect six members to the 12-member Towns County Democratic Committee. Anyone who is registered to vote and identifies as a Democrat is invited to participate as a candidate or voter in the caucus if they meet the residency, registration, and affirmation requirements of the state party bylaws.

Ms. Moore's program will begin at 6 p.m.

Callie Moore

A U.S. Forest Service proposal would remove protections from Inventoried Roadless Areas nationwide, opening these lands to road building, commercial logging, mining, and other development. In north Georgia, Inventoried Roadless Areas are located exclusively within the Chatttahoochee-Oconee National Forest, totaling up to approximately 64,800 acres of ecologically sensitive ecosystems, iconic hiking routes, and native trout habitats. Tray Mountain Roadless Area is the largest contiguous tract that would be affected, spanning roughly 36,300 acres in Towns, Rabun, Habersham, and White counties.

In western North Carolina, affected areas include South Mills River, the Black Mountains, and Tusquitee Bald. That includes more than 150,000 acres in Pisgah and Nantahala national forests alone. 

The Forest Service adopted the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in 2001 to protect nearly 59 million acres nationwide of national forest lands from road building, logging, and industrial development. The rule safeguards clean drinking water, wildlife habitat, and back-country recreation opportunities.

In June 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to cancel the Rule. If finalized, the rollback would affect nearly one-third of all national forest lands in the United States. This potential repeal threatens up to 88% of Georgia's roadless areas, which could open them up to new road construction, commercial logging, mining, and other developments.

Ms. Moore served as director of the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition for 17 years until the organization merged in 2019 with MountainTrue, where she is southwestern regional director.  She has a master's degree in water resources from Indiana University and is a graduate of West Carolina University's Environmental Health Program.

Ms. Moore previously worked with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources as a river basin planner for the Division of Water Quality, during which time she worked extensively in several regional river basins, including Hiwassee, Little Tennessee, and Savannah. Other prior work experience includes water quality monitoring, sediment/erosion control compliance inspections, and environmental education for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Tennessee Valley Authority.