Past, present offer glimpse of familiar future

This column was supposed to be titled "Out With The Old. In With The New," but in looking back at 2005 I realized there is no dividing line to the things that happen in politics, or in life for that matter. The past is ever-present.

And as Amanda warned her son, Tom, in The Glass Menagerie "... the future becomes the present, the present becomes the past, and the past turns into everlasting regret if you don't plan for it!"

Even as we speak this New Year's Day, Augusta commissioners are planning how they will vote on the mayor pro tem job after new commissioners-elect Calvin Holland, J.R. Hatney, Joe Bowles and Jerry Brigham are sworn into office Tuesday.

Mayor Pro Tem Marion Williams wants to remain in that exalted position, and as fate would have it, his former buddy, Commissioner Andy Cheek, wants to dethrone him. Last year, during the voting, Mr. Cheek provided the sixth vote for Mr. Williams. Mr. Cheek also provided the surprising sixth vote for Willie Mays to become interim mayor last year.

So now the question is, will turnabout be fair play?

There are all sorts of considerations and possible scenarios. For example, the mayor pro tem makes committee assignments, and commissioners have been known to trade their votes for plum chairmanships in the blink of an eye.

Larry Sconyers learned that the hard way one year. After the votes had been lined up in the back room to make him chairman of the old Richmond County Commission, commissioners came out and immediately elected someone else.

Some people say the commission might not have the six votes to elect a mayor pro tem Tuesday, in which case Mr. Williams will continue to serve until a successor is chosen.

If the commission hadn't approved Mr. Cheek's motion last year to do away with the tradition of having a black mayor pro tem when the mayor is white and vice versa, Mr. Williams might have a better chance of holding onto his job. But that was when everybody thought Mr. Mays would be mayor.

2005 IN WORDS:

"Do I have a terminal illness? Am I under investigation? What do I not know? These people know something I don't know."

- Then-Mayor Bob Young, concerning resignation rumors two weeks before he resigned to take a job with HUD

"It was as interesting as one of those old-fashioned occasions when everyone sat up with the corpse all night. Dave's going to have to lighten things up; maybe he can get Tommy King to come next month and talk about embalming."

- Sonny Pittman, District 7 Augusta Commission candidate, after attending a local Republican Party meeting led by Dave Barbee

"A mosquito does not know the difference between a new and used tire."

- Mr. Williams, in his quest to make tire companies cover all tires stored outdoors

"Let's get the Titanic reinvented so that it doesn't sink. The Titanic is a bad reference. Scratch that."

- Mr. Cheek, when commissioners were putting together a sales-tax package

"This is the first meeting I've been to since I retired, and all I can say is, 'God help Augusta.'"

- Former Augusta Fire Chief Bill Maddox, after a commission meeting

"I concur with what Chief Maddox says."

- H.K. McKnight, the pastor of Bible Deliverance Temple

"Now I know why they name public projects after dead people."

- A city official after the dedication of the Max Hicks Water Treatment Plant and Pastor Hicks' remarks

"You've got to leave home to find out something. The Bible talks about the prodigal son. He left and went off. He came back and he was a different person because he had experienced some things. But the son that stayed home was still complacent, still mad, still fighting, you know. So you have to leave home and see what else is going on."

- Mr. Williams, concerning the trip he and commissioners took to Hawaii

"Life is like a vapor. It will soon vanish away. We never know the time or the hour. That is why it pays us to be as good and kind as Greg was all the time."

- Commissioner Bobby Hankerson, at the memorial service of WGAC radio reporter Greg Patin, who died in September

"I pledge to work hard, to be ethical in every way, and to be open and aboveboard in my service as state senator."

- State Sen. Ed Tarver, after winning the District 22 seat

"I've made a lot of mistakes."

- Former state Rep. Robin Williams, after he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison

"He was kind, loyal and loving. They called him 'Daddy,' and when I was around him, I called him 'Daddy,' too."

- Deacon Demus Lenard at the funeral of state Rep. Henry Howard, who died in October

"Until all the candidates spend every dime they've got and their message is out, and the people go to the polls Nov. 8 and vote, these polls don't amount to a hill of beans."

- Richmond County Republican Party Chairman Dave Barbee, over a dispute about the validity of mayoral poll results

"This is not a whodunit. The question is how much he did it. How much did he steal?"

- U.S. Attorney Richard Goolsby, in opening statements at state Sen. Charles Walker's federal conspiracy and fraud trial

"You figure out what to do with it since you don't have a quorum. Sit here and play the games the rest of the night."

- Mr. Mays, former interim mayor, to his white colleagues and Mr. Hankerson before walking out of the commission meeting on the eve of the mayoral runoff

"It's a mandate for change in Augusta. I firmly feel there are brighter days ahead for Augusta, and we will move forward together as a united community."

- Deke Copenhaver, after winning the Dec. 6 mayoral runoff

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com.