Update: Driver waits 8 hours to renew license in Cobb County, Ga. and told to try again tomorrow

Even with a mandatory appointment, the state agency location on County Services Parkway had an unimaginable wait time to service customers. We had an appointment to wait! 

When an announcement was made that "The System" was down again which would worsen wait times, one customer went off and began to curse, saying she needed to get her car insurance and couldn't because she was unable to get her driver's license renewed.

Of the inside stations available to take customers, only 20% were manned. The manager said they didn't have enough people because they were out sick.

Three officers from the Sheriff's department were called in to stand at the front entrance around 5:30p.m. They said county and state tag and driver's license offices had been plagued with outages all day but couldn't explain why this office was claiming outages due to problems with the system which is not connected to county offices or why they had the same problem last week. It was unclear when "THE SYSTEM" would be repaired or if it was tested before being put into production.

One elderly gentleman who showed up at 9:30 a.m. was told after waiting 8 hours to go home and schedule another appointment because he probably wouldn’t be served due to the system being down. After I told them I was not leaving without my license and would sleep on the floor overnight if I had to, I was moved up in line. I was charged $32 for an 8 year renewal.

After waiting five hours, a 10 second eye test netted a 120 day paper renewal. After the wait, I was given a form that could have been used by my optometrist stating that I had vision good enough to drive. I took the vision exam without my reading glasses on and passed, but my renewal states that B-Corrective lenses required.

Form: DDS-MR 287 - Medical Report latest 102019.pdf

The media relations number I was given - Susan Sports at 678-413-8657 - had a busy signal each time I called to get an update on what to expect from "THE SYSTEM" moving forward. I was told by one customer standing in line that in her native France, you only have to get a driver's license once, and there is no renewal.

The ineptitude of state government shown at drivers license building

Drivers 64 or over have to get a vision screening in order to renew a license, but the wait for that could take hours if you are planning on getting the job done at the County Services Rd. location in Marietta, Ga., even if you have an appointment. 

But my renewal notice didn’t say I needed an appointment, but I found out when I got there that getting on the schedule was mandatory.

And even if I did have an appointment, I would have to wait hours outside in the cold during Covid because they “just started a new system today, Sweetie,” I was told by the attendant at the front door.

And if you don’t have a computer to schedule an appointment, “you can call 

678-413-8400, but I can’t guarantee anyone will answer the phone,” she said.

“My daughter’s been in there since 9 a.m. , and it’s now 12:13 p.m.,” said one mother sitting in the car with her grandson. “We just moved here from

Tampa, Florida where it’s an in and out process down there.”

I called the number to get help scheduling an appointment but got a message saying that high caller volume wouldn’t allow my call and to go to the website.  If I don’t have a computer or the Internet, I’m screwed.

“People are in line, some without masks, most not six feet apart, and some elderly on walkers. I don’t think they care if folks get Covid or not,” one woman waiting said.

I tried to get a response from the state, but they’re not answering the phone. I guess if we really had a state or national emergency, the SYSTEM would not work. Hope that doesn't happen.

On MLK Day and everyday, witness truth and praise God’s mercy

Get your shoes on and your mind fixed on our mission.

  
Our marching orders:

( taken from the MLK Commemorative Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga.)

Lift up God’s good mission and be your brother’s keeper.

Dwell together under God.

Overcome the world.

Entreat God’s power with your voice and actions.

Distain hate but continue to protest injustice.

Image a peaceful world.

Extremes should not be allowed to defeat us.

Watch what you say and how you say it.

Be introspective to save souls.

Shift focus and priorities.

Don’t be too late. Take the chance to promote a peaceful, sustainable world.

Eliminate violence and truly care for one another.

Harness your drive for power, racism, and militarism.

Preserve our civilization.

Shirk off the chain of violence.

Shift from chaos to community with love.

Become love-centered instead of power centered.

Speak truth to power in love.

Be free at last.

Praise God and bless His name.

Be summoned by holy men, even in virtual spaces.

Stand up for righteous, even in the face of death.

Have the faith of your forefathers.

Stand together. Pray. Let’s stay together.

Do everything in God’s name. Don’t live in vain.

Unite for equality.

Link peace and justice together.

Be inspired by John Lewis, Ralph Bunche, and MLK.

Move on to make our world what it should be, and don’t rest.

Charge ahead.

Be hopeful.

Don't be deterred by obstacles.

Triumph over fear and hatred.

Subdue revenge and aggression.

Have goodwill as your righteous stand.

Men are powerless without God, so seek God’s help.

End racial discrimination by non-violent means.

Have one heart in love and humbleness.

Have the same mindset of Jesus and others who follow God’s laws.

Know that nobody is safe unless everyone is safe.

Be empathetic.

Be connected to the world and its problems.

Make peace, lay down arms, construct the peace through reconciliation and patience. Heal wounds.

Avoid war through an ongoing process of peace and prevent individual atrocities.  

Remember we live in One house, on One planet, and are One human family. Have empathy for others.

Shirk trauma and drama.

Have clear mission and vision in the midst of fear. Don’t be distracted but love one another.

Practice non-violence.

Have a stirred conscience.

End racism, economic exploitation, and militarism. 

Lift your eyes to the hills, to God, our strength and help.

Have an ecumenical revolution of values.

Shun bitterness. Demand better.

Expand the walk for justice to include everyone.

Reform the criminal justice system.

Reimagine the church. Leave the sanctuary. Go to the streets.  Don’t just support movements started in the church. Repent. Live out a new day of righteousness.

Learn the facts to demand justice in all areas of human activity.

Strengthen the backbone of the nation. Livable wage, student loans, and gentrification need to be resolved.

Don’t be complacent. Lead with truth.

Don’t be silenced by the ungodly.

Be rededicated to create a better world for ourselves and our children.

Don’t bend before tyrants.

Hold up all civil rights leaders - past, present and future and their views on moving forward.

It will take not one of us but all of us to make positive changes.

Heed the call of a challenging cause.

There will probably never be another MLK, so all of us must continue the cause collectively.

Opposition is not fair and often we face insurmountable odds.

We are stalked by giants, but work it out.

House the poor and promote social and economic justice.

Thanks, Donald Trump, for helping us re-examine the underbelly of this nation!

 

OPINION

When you take a second look at something, it gives you the opportunity to fix it, to check it, to use a microscope. Perhaps it was not his intent, but Trump has hastened us to fix the hate, vitriol, health, and history of our country. He has exposed the hidden, seamy, shithole side covered by a suited, pseudo-millionaire costume flanked by hat wearing, flag toting extremists. 

If we don't take this chance, we doom ourselves.

In order to help myself do this task, I'm looking inside the thoughts of Trump's loyal, violent supporters, starting with the KKK. Now reading The Ku Klux Klan: or, Invisible Empire (https://books.google.com/books?id=1YMfAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) by Laura Martin Rose, a copy which was put in every southern school library by the Daughters of the Confederacy in the early 20th century and now can be read free online.

Next, I'm gonna take a look at Ku Klux Klan Secrets Exposed: Attitude Toward Jews, Catholics, Foreigners and Masons; Fraudulent Methods Used; Atrocities Committed in Name of Order (https://books.google.com/books?id=cSzDDwAAQBAJ) by Ezra A. Cook. Then  The Ku Klux Klan Unmasked, by W. C. Wright. 

The Turner Diaries explained (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311760245_The_Turner_Legacy_The_Storied_Origins_and_Enduring_Impact_of_White_Nationalism%27s_Deadly_Bible) and interviews of Timothy McVeigh would be two other examination spots. All these give an idea of what white supremacists believe. 

And we can't stop there. We've got to read what Trump has said and done, as well as his Father Fred and his son, Junior, and his unpaid this week lawyer, Rudy. Someone smarter than Trump will replace him at the head of the white supremacist bandwagon, and we've got to be ready.

You may say that reading and researching white supremacy is a little extreme, but I run into folks that have been indoctrinated by this garbage, and I need to know what I'm up against. While in a grocery store shopping line which a white woman was breaking, when I confronted her, she yelled, "Survival of the fittest." 

If I investigate where "these people" are coming from, some who have been described by Capitol Police as "foaming at the mouth... with pitchforks," maybe I can protect and defend myself. They won't be able to hide anymore. Knowledge is power!

Again, thanks Trump for moving me to check white supremacy out.

Breaking News: Trump second impeachment resolution passes the US House of Representatives

Checkmated Trump, who sheltered mob, should follow Nixon and resign, for pardon’s sake

Trump’s wall has fallen down.

OPINION

In chess, the king or supreme leader is protected by pawns, religious men and military strategists. If they fall, he is held in a hopeless position, or checkmated. 

If the king is not in check because he has sheltered his minions but has no legal move, then it is a stalemate, and the game immediately ends in a draw. But Trump is not a king, and insurrection in a democracy is not a board game. 

To save the nation, Trump should resign. Even if the House impeached him, the Republican Senate will not remove him from Office because the Party would face indictment, according to the Constitution: Article 1, Section 3.

Let’s be clear: During a pandemic, Trump focused on his losing fairly but denied the outcome. During his four years in the White House, he did not administer his office to help the people of the United States. Instead he deflected from real issues like healthcare, tax and campaign finance reform, affordable housing, environmental protection, energy sufficiency, mass transportation and incarceration, and infrastructure improvements, international relations, education improvements, unemployment, police brutality, educational debt, predatory banking, poverty, racism and his tax returns, to name a few.

I’m at a loss for words to command from memory what he did of value.

His misuse of money to finance his own businesses, his appointment of his family and not people with experience and credentials, his pardoning of criminals, the enlistment of the Justice Dept. to get him out of legal hot water, his golf course contracts, his phone calls to find more votes and find dirt on Biden’s son, etc., etc., etc.

Impeachment should not be delayed, but the Senate will never vote to remove him because again, it would point fingers at the Republican Party per the Constitution: Article 1, Section 3.

James Madison from the Virginia ratification convention stated, "If the President be connected in any suspicious manner with any person and there be grounds to believe that he will shelter him, he may be impeached." Trump told the mob that stormed the Capitol they were loved, special people. He engaged in a series of public statements and actions designed to incite, to tear up government property, terrorize members of Congress, and stop the votes of the people.

The Constitution charges the President with the task of taking care that laws be faithfully executed. Instead, he sought to overturn electoral college votes. A President is impeachable if he attempts to “subvert the Constitution."

Barbara Jordan asked a great question after she laid out her painful inquiry into the impeachment of Nixon for Watergate based on misconduct of a public man in violation of public trust. She entertained that encroachments and excesses of a tyrannical Executive swollen with power should not be left unchecked. 

Jordan asked the question, “Should a President who has committed offenses, planned, directed, and acquiesced in a course of conduct which the Constitution will not tolerate” be impeached? And removed? It’s time for Trump to go, no matter the consequence, and it would be better if he takes himself off the board himself. Then he will not be considered a martyr by his friends.

  

Warnock wins!

Raphael Warnock has helped turn Georgia blue!

You can judge a man by his actions when he doesn’t know you’re looking. I happened upon Raphael Warnock while he was standing at a Starbucks kiosk in Phipps Plaza in Atlanta years ago. He was dressed impeccably in a suit and tie. He wasn't showing his underwear because he had a leather belt on, tight around his waist. He caught my eye. He didn’t act like a jive Negro, look at me lustfully, or size me up and down. He respectfully went on his way. 

He may not be perfect (nobody is), but he’s believable. Good luck, Rev. Warnock, on your journey to the dirtiest game in town - politics. I’m praying that God will strengthen and protect you.

2020 through the eye of a patient

OPINION:

I must admit that there were several examples where I felt someone I didn't know cared about me, that my life mattered. The healthcare professionals that assisted me with my hip replacement and rehab were awesome. The ones that helped my husband recover from three medical procedures were equally awesome. 

But in the middle of COVID-19, I have to call out the doctors and staff at Marietta Eye Clinic who, in the last week of 2020, showed a total disregard for my welfare and bid me to claim the entire risk of contracting a deadly disease during a pandemic just in order to get a refill on my eye medication. I contend that my life did not matter to them.

Maybe it started with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signing Senate Bill 356 in August (https://www.jacksonlewis.com/publication/georgia-enacts-covid-19-legal-immunity-healthcare-providers-businesses) which leaves healthcare facilities off the hook if a patient contracts COVID-19 while in their place of business. This protects businesses, not the individual who is not responsible for sanitation in buildings, wipe down of equipment, or medical protocols.

Getting back to what happened to me, I had a recurrence of an eye infection that I was treated for in December 2019 and January 2020. I understand that getting a hordeolum occurs frequently in some people and is treated by Zylet or Neomycin. 

When I called my pharmacy to refill my prescription, they sent in a request to my doctor on December 28. The pharmacist informed me that the doctor never responded. So I called Marietta Eye Clinic myself and was told that they could not refill my prescription, even though I have asthma and feared catching COVID-19, had a dry cough and headache - but I was told I had to come in and be seen to get the medicine I needed.

I told them if they could treat me, I would come in after I got my vaccine. They said they didn't have an email for me to send them a picure. When I arrived at their East Cobb facility and was bid to take a seat, I asked them, "Aren't you gonna take my temperature?" They had forgotten to do that. After waiting in my car to be seen, I waited almost 30 minutes in the exam room for the doctor. 

During the exam, I had to place my forehead and chin on a machine. And guess what? I was diagnosed with the same problem and given Neomycin. Go figure! The doctor also told me to use an eye scrub but didn't forward it electonically to the pharmacy. I called from the pharmacy at 12:53 and got a recording that Marietta Eye Clinic was closed due to it being New Year's Eve. It was supposed to be open until 1p.m. So I'm out of luck until Monday. 

Anyways, the problem is that they could have listened to the patient, cared about the risk of a person with pre-existing conditions catching a deadly disease, and given me my freakin' refill. But they didn't because they were protected by Georgia law and probably needed the office visit money from the insurance company. 

No, my life didn't matter to Marietta Eye Clinic, I contend. Hopefully, things will change in 2021.