GREAT: I oppose GREAT 100% and will fight it with everything in me, period!  Our money will stay in Columbia County to fund our schools...I do not support sending our money to Atlanta with the hopes and prayers that it will be sent back. 
Legal (this is a lot of information, but very informative and worth the space): As of March 05, 2007, the Georgia Department of Corrections, Office of Planning and Analysis, reports to us that there are 2,094 felons in our prisons who claim citizenship in another country. I went through the entire listing and did the math; the total sentenced years for these felons is 20,951.8, plus the years of the 205 felons serving life sentences, plus the years of the 9 serving life without the possibility of parole, plus the (Lord only knows how many) years of the 5 who have been sentenced to death. Of the 2,094, 1,239 are wanted in another jurisdiction. Of the 1,239, 104 are serving life sentences, 6 are serving life without the possibility of parole, and the death sentence was given to Joaquin E. Arevalo who was convicted of murder in Gwinnett County and who calls El Salvador home. The people of Georgia should not pay for this (or be exposed to this), and those wanted elsewhere should be sent there. By the way, 19 were convicted in Columbia County (aggravated assault, 2 aggravated child molestation, 2 burglary, 4 child molestation, enticing a child, false imprisonment, 2 methamphetamine, 2 murder, racketeering, robbery, statutory rape, terrorist threats and acts) and 43 in Richmond County (3 aggravated assault, aggravated child molestation, 5 armed robbery, 5 burglary, child molestation, cruelty to children, enticing a child with an indecent proposal, escape, fleeing/eluding police, forgery 1st degree, kidnapping, miscellaneous sex offense, 5 murder, obstruction of a law enforcement officer, 4 possession of cocaine, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during a crime, possession of marijuana, racketeering, rape, shoplifting, theft by taking, trafficking of cocaine [201-400 grams], trafficking of methamphetamines [28-199 grams], 2 voluntary manslaughter). Under the heading of "FY2006 costs of adult offender sanctions" made public in January 2007 by the Georgia Department of Corrections, construction costs per bed that we pay to build facilities are $31,675 for a minimum security prison, $60,700 for a medium security prison, $79,200 for a close security prison, and $109,400 for a maximum security prison...we also have a $3,500 "startup cost per bed for a new or expanding facility". Now we can open the doors and house people, and depending on the type of security a prison has, the annual cost per offender ranges between $14,016 and $18,582. You do the math; it's sickening.  Ask yourself this; "How long do I have to work to bring home enough money to house one of these people for one year?" Often overlooked are the VICTIMS of the crimes, and I cannot and will not put a price on their lives and well-being, but they must be treated and there are costs involved. For those who say that we must rehabilitate the offenders and educate them in order to prepare them for release, I say that we have such services and they are known as elementary school, middle school, high school, junior college, technical college...student loan application. Do not provide the luxuries that many honest law-abiding citizens have difficulty finding the funds for. No television. No weight room. No ping-pong. Sit in an 8'x8' cell and reflect. Prison, as I understand it, is part of the criminal justice system...so where's the justice and where's the deterrent? Friends, I am not talking about the person who bounces a $20 check or does not pay a parking ticket. Send me to Atlanta to address this and get some meaningful reform.
Educated: Some within Georgia's Department of Education have told me that prison officials forecast future prison construction based upon...how 3rd/4th grade students perform on their standardized reading assessment. Frightening isn't it? Before anything else, children must learn to read, for reading is what makes most learning possible. You do not simply send a child through the system; you teach that child to read. Why send a child to science class if s/he cannot read the textbook or read close to grade level? I will enthusiastically support reading/literacy programs and the funding for them. However, parents must do their part and take their role of parent seriously as many do, but there are those who do not. Those who do not must be held accountable; give each child the tools and support to succeed!
Empowered: All residents must have the resources to be self-sufficient, or care for themselves as best as possible. Many people with disabilities need the rehabilitative services necessary to empower themselves to the maximum extent possible. Bureaucrats in Atlanta have far too much say in this!!! Why should a bureaucrat decide how much of the therapy services recommended by a medical doctor is given to the injured and disabled? Give the injured and disabled the services prescribed by a doctor (minus the services provided via health insurance) so that they can have the best life possible. For the bean-counters, for many of those in need, if we don't pay now, we will be paying forever. Georgia gives prisoners free everything (or next-to-free). If we do it for the child molester, we're darn sure going to do it for the child! Put the hardened criminals in tents or quonset huts, take away everything but food and watch the word get out. It may make those pay more attention and put forth more effort in school. Doing so will make funds available to provide services for those who truly need and deserve them. For those of us who received student loan checks, think back to when they arrived; how many of us thought that we had more to do with the earth spinning than we actually did? Empower all with the tools necessary to have financial freedom...or finances for that matter so that they can be as independent as possible. Disabled does not mean unable. Among other things, I support a Medicaid buy-in program for those with disabilities. 

"When men are employed, they are best contented; for on the days they worked they were good-natured and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good day's work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were mutinous and quarrelsome."
                                                                                Benjamin Franklin

"Employment gives health, sobriety and morals.  Constant employment and well-paid labor produce, in a country like ours, general prosperity, content, and cheerfulness."
                                                                                Daniel Webster