GEORGIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
ROOM 505, LOB 30334
404-656-5082     1-800-282-5800

Daily Report Number 22
February 20, 2004

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As is the custom, House members took time out from their Friday schedule to pay tribute to a number of distinguished guests. This Friday brought a special treat as Lieutenant Colonel Charles W. Dryden of the Tuskeegee Airmen appeared before House members.

The Tuskeegee Airmen were the first African-Americans who were allowed to serve their country as pilots for the armed services. These brave men overcame the ignorance and prejudices of many in the Armed Services as well as the U.S. Congress to prove that African-Americans were capable of such complicated and technical service to our country. More than that, these gentlemen excelled to the extent that during World War II no Allied bomber escorted by the Tuskeegee Airmen was ever lost to enemy fire.

The House Clerk read a resolution honoring Lt. Col. Dryden who was the first African-American pilot in U.S. Army history to engage in aircraft combat. The resolution thanked Lt. Col. Dryden for a career which spanned 21 years and included combat missions in both WWII and the Korean War. Lt. Col. Dryden has adopted Georgia as his home, and in 1998 was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame.

Along a similar line, House members voted 142-0 to pass two resolutions which honor Georgians who have been wounded in combat. HR 398 would designate State Route 232 in Columbia County as the “Purple Heart Highway.” HR 1191 would give the same designation to a stretch of Georgia Highway 354 which runs through Pine Mountain Valley. Both resolutions praised the men and women who serve this country by participating in the armed forces, especially those who were wounded or killed in the line of duty.
Finally, House members voted 145-1 in favor of legislation providing a tax exemption on land used for river and stream buffer zones. Previously, the General Assembly passed legislation establishing buffer zones for all Georgia’s rivers and streams. Construction or other development projects are not permitted within these areas. HB 1107 seeks to extend a break to the property owners along these buffer zones by allowing any property which falls within state mandated buffer zones to qualify for the conservation use exemption from ad-valorem taxation. This exemption allows property owners to pay substantially reduced tax rates on property they agree not to develop.

Other items passed by the House today include:

• HB 1147 (139-1)– seeks to establish process guidelines and filing requirements for review and/or appeal of orders issued by the State Commissioner of Agriculture.
  
• HR 1193 (131-18)– changes the rules of the House of Representatives to ban smoking in the South ante room. This ante room is typically used for access by honored guests, and other groups that visit the House floor.

Georgia House of Representatives
Public Information Office

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