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Text Size08/02/2004 Cobb Chamber of Commerce
Prepared Remarks of Governor Sonny Perdue
Cobb Chamber of Commerce
(Note: The Governor sometimes deviates from prepared remarks)
Thank you, Rich. I appreciate you warming up the crowd for me.
And thank you all for inviting me to breakfast this morning. It is good to be with all my friends in the Cobb Chamber of Commerce again. It's a good way to start the week.
Do we have any duck hunters here?
I'm just curious. Well, I'm sure even those of you that aren't know the number one rule of duck hunting. You hunt ducks where the ducks are.
I follow a similar rule as Governor. I hunt leaders where the leaders are. And there are plenty to be found here in Cobb County .
This is one of the largest, best organized and most active Chambers of Commerce in the state.
Cobb County is an optimistic community, a growing community, a community with a strong vision of its future. And a strong commitment to faith and family and meeting the needs of our citizens.
Those are the same values I want to uphold throughout Georgia and I'm proud to work side by side with Cobb Countians to do that.
Cobb has a history of producing strong leaders. Like Rich Golick and the other members of the Cobb delegation.
Like Sam Olens, doing an outstanding job as your Commission Chairman.
And Cobb has a history of sharing your homegrown leaders with our state and even nation.
I know you're proud of Cobb's own Johnny Isakson , who has represented this community well for many years and is now offering his service to all Georgians in the United States Senate.
With that record, I haven't been shy about recruiting Cobb County leaders for important jobs in state government.
I appointed Sam Olens to the Board of Community Affairs, where he is a strong voice for local governments across the state.
Anna Cablik and Robert Moultrie are helping to create jobs and expand our economy as members of the Board of Economic Development.
Lindsey Tippens , from the Cobb County Board of Education, is helping increase access to higher education by serving on the Georgia Student Finance Commission.
And, oh yes, my Chief of Staff, John Watson , commutes from Cobb County too.
I emphasize “commutes.” I want you all to know, John Watson is my daily reminder of Cobb County 's transportation issues – even when we're talking about something else.
Like all of his Cobb neighbors who make that daily commute up and down I-75, John wants to spend less time sitting in traffic and more time at home with his family.
I want you to know this morning … John, this means you too … help is on the way. My Fast Forward transportation plan is focused on congestion relief, both short and long term.
And a major portion of that relief is targeted where a major portion of the congestion is … right here in Cobb County .
In the short term we are expanding our HERO coverage and improving incident response to clear congestion causing incidents from the highways quickly and safely
We're spending $286 million on new transit services on the Northwest Corridor and the I-285 Cumberland/Galleria to Doraville corridor. The buses are already running.
A little longer term, we're spending over $1 billion to accelerate HOV lane extension on critical congested roadways, like I-75 here in Cobb.
And we're upgrading critical arterial roadways and intersections, like:
- SR 120 at the SR 120 Loop and at Roswell Road
- Work on 8 intersections along SR 176 and nearby roads and 11 intersections on SR 5/Austell
- Atlanta Road at the Chattahoochee River and the Fulton/Cobb line.
Many of these projects will be completed ahead of earlier schedules.
We're taking advantage of low interest rates and Georgia 's excellent credit rating to issue bonds that will help fund a $15 billion transportation program
Under Fast Forward, we'll complete in 6 years a list of projects that would otherwise take 18 years. And Cobb County will be a major beneficiary of that.
It is important that folks in one of our largest and busiest counties be able to get to work and get home to their families.
And I want to share with you this morning that there will soon be another voice from Cobb County helping make critical transportation decisions.
I am pleased to announce to you this morning that I'm recruiting from Cobb County once again to appoint Kessel Stelling to the board of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, better known as GRTA. Kessel, please stand up.
So, you see, not only do I appreciate breakfast, I appreciate Cobb County 's contributions to making all of Georgia safer, smarter, stronger and healthier.
Those are really the watchwords of my administration. I've made caring for Georgia's children and creating jobs in a growing economy my top priorities as Governor.
I want to talk about some of our accomplishments in those areas. But, before I do, there is another subject I really want to talk about this morning.
It might seem a little unusual but … well, it's my speech, isn't it? So I'm just going to do it.
I want to talk about cowboys.
Willie Nelson recorded a song a few years back where he sang “My heroes have always been cowboys.”
I feel the same way. Those were my childhood heroes, the silver screen cowboys. Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, and, best of all in my book, Roy Rogers.
They called him the “King of the Cowboys.” Roy Rogers was the All-American hero. He was the cowboy I most wanted to be.
On a Saturday afternoon, I liked nothing better than to plunk down my dime at the picture show and watch Roy and his horse Trigger and their latest adventure. There was never a better horse than Trigger.
And then there were Roy 's sidekicks, Pat Brady and Gabby Hayes. And let's not forget Dale Evans.
But, you know, not only was Roy Rogers a cowboy, he was a singing cowboy. He could outwit rustlers, capture desperados, and still find time to croon cowboy songs to Dale around the campfire.
I got to thinking about all this not long ago when a friend sent me a link to a web site I'm sure many of you have seen.
It talks about cowboys as the good guys and gives some great descriptors of why they were so wonderful and why we could use a dose of their character again today.
As another song asks: “Where have all the cowboys gone?”
My cowboy heroes never started a fight … they weren't looking for trouble. But they didn't back down from trouble either. And if a fight started, they sure finished it.
Cowboys knew right from wrong and they stood up for what was right. They defended the weak and helpless. They helped people in trouble.
Cowboys always told the truth … they had high morals. They were kind to children. They tipped their hats to the ladies.
And while I know it was the make believe of the movies, in the cowboy world, the good guys always won. The hero in the white hat always beat the villain in the black hat. He always got his man.
Oh, I know there are folks who will be glad to tell you that it wasn't really that way out West.
They'll tell you “Home on the Range” is all a myth and that the real world cowboys weren't so grand or as noble as the heroes I admired on the silver screen.
But that's not the point. These are the same folks who'll tell you George Washington didn't chop down the cherry tree. It's the principle that matters.
Those cowboy films weren't documentaries … they were parables. They were stories about right and wrong.
They were stories that reinforced for youngsters like me and my generation the values that make this country great.
That's a far cry from the message coming out of Hollywood today isn't it?
I give most of the credit for shaping my character to my parents, my teachers and my faith.
But, you know, I don't think it hurt any that Roy Rogers was teaching the same lessons and endorsing the same bedrock American values.
My parents knew when they dropped me off at the movie house that they were leaving me in safe hands.
And, as a matter of fact, as I grew up I found even more reasons to admire Roy Rogers.
Off screen, he and his wife Dale Evans – were strong advocates for adoption. Over the years, they led many efforts to help disabled children and the homeless.
And they were outspoken, committed Christians too. Today I believe Roy Rogers was more of a hero in real life than he was in the movies.
As far as I'm concerned, he's still the King of the Cowboys.
You know, some around the world, and even here in our own country, like to call President Bush a cowboy. They said the same thing about President Reagan.
I wonder if they even understand that, in my world, calling someone a “cowboy” is a compliment.
I don't think they do. But I, for one, am grateful that America has been blessed with leaders who live by the cowboy code. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are just two good examples.
I'm grateful we have a President who doesn't back down from trouble, who will do what it takes to defend our homestead, and who will chase the bad guys to the ends of the earth to bring them to justice.
I'm not ashamed to tell you, I still admire the cowboy way and the heroes of yesteryear.
Roy Rogers once said, “When my time comes, just skin me and put me up there on Trigger, just as though nothing had ever changed.”
In many ways, the world has changed since those days.
But what hasn't changed is the truth of those old Western virtues – truth, fair play, knowing right from wrong and choosing right.
As I think about it, I learned a lot from Roy Rogers and the other cowboys—
I learned that a real cowboy is honest in his dealings and can't be bought off by the bad guys . Is it any wonder that I feel so strongly about setting the highest ethical standards in our state government?
And even though my ethics bill has been bushwhacked in the Legislature two years in a row, I promise you I'm going to keep coming until it passes.
I learned a deal is a deal. That's why I acted to keep the promise of the HOPE Scholarship to Georgia students and families. We've preserved HOPE for future generations.
I learned about defending those who need protection . The Child Protection package that I signed into law this year does that. It protects children from reckless caregivers, drug dealers and kidnappers.
These are values we should not only live by, but pass on to the next generation. The best way is by example. But we've also got to set high standards and insist that they be met.
That's what we're doing by insisting on accountability with flexibility in education. And that's exactly what we're doing with my school discipline bill.
It sends a message to disruptive students that they are expected to meet certain standards of behavior. They must respect their teachers and fellow students. And if they don't there will be consequences, which can include losing their driver's license.
Now, I don't want to take the cowboy thing too far. Don't expect me to start showing up for work with jangling spurs and a ten gallon hat. Well, at least not the spurs.
Again, it's not so much about the cowboys themselves, as the principles they stood for.
Some may scoff at those straightforward stories of good and evil, white hats and black hats, heroes and villains.
Maybe they're something from a simpler time … those thrilling tales of yesteryear.
But I don't think it is simpleminded at all for us to reach back and embrace those silver screen lessons today.
Because the truth is, the cowboys haven't gone anywhere.
They're still with us and they still ride … so long as the values they represent remain a part of the American character.
Well, I've had my say about cowboys. Thanks for giving a listen.
And I'll just close by borrowing from Roy Rogers one more time: “Happy Trails to you … until we meet again!”