There is no question about it. This is a bill introduced for the benefit of one private, out of state firm and has nothing in it for the welfare of the citizens of Georgia. It needs to be buried forever in some sub-committee.
ATLANTA ---- It seems like an innocuous foray into the digital age, but a turf war is brewing over a Senate bill that would require legal notices to be posted on a Web site.
On one side is an Internet company that says forsaking courthouse bulletin boards for online notices of sale, probate and government actions and meetings brings government in line with an increasingly Web-based society.
On the other side are government agencies, who say the plan is a burden, and newspaper publishers, who say the pages of a local newspaper are the best way to get notices before the public. Publishers fear the bill would open the door to online posting of required legal notices, a revenue stream that keeps many local newspapers profitable.
Somewhere in the middle stands Sen. Cecil Staton, R-Macon, who introduced Senate Bill 391.
The editorial page of his hometown paper, the Macon Telegraph , took him and his co-sponsors -- Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock; Bill Heath, R-Bremen; Ronnie Chance, R-Tyrone; and John Douglas, R-Social Circle -- to task for the bill and accused them of doing the Web company's bidding.
Mr. Staton rejected the Georgia Press Association's claims that he was working on behalf of the Web company and called the allegations a "clear and obvious attempt to protect" newspapers' revenue streams.
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