Author: Neely Young

In Southeast Georgia’s Fiber Belt, the pulp and paper industries are strong. There and elsewhere in the state there’s a real need for a well-trained and well-educated workforce.

A massive property dispute culminated in a sensational murder trial that was widely covered in the national press.

The late Eugene Patterson, founder of Georgia Trend, won a Pulitzer Prize for his writing on Civil Rights.

It’s time to take a look at Georgia’s outdated 16-year-old school dropout age, a remnant of our agricultural past.

A little holiday cheer in the form of more wise words from friends, family and some famous folks.

Alec Poitevint ran the convention, state Attorney General Sam Olens spoke and lots of other Georgians turned up to watch and listen.

Many people still in the newspaper business today raised their families together going to the island for the Georgia Press Association annual convention.

All eight regions of the state are reporting encouraging news that indicates Georgia’s economy may finally be ready to take off.

Henry Grady’s speeches were widely reported and helped change northern people’s perception of the South for the better.

The two new Georgia Trustees, Andrew Young and Tom Cousins, are not just strong leaders, but icons of civility.

Why should individuals trying to make a living in Georgia and providing jobs for other Georgians have to prove, year after year, that they are U.S. citizens?

A holiday tradition: More quotes and quips and a few church bulletin bloopers.

Surely all the members of the new commission on immigration enforcement have used illegal workers in some way. Maybe they should fine themselves $5,000.

Georgia’s own version of the OK Corral occurred in Cedartown after the Civil War, when John Prior sought revenge for his father’s killers.

Many people were disappointed a few years ago when AT&T acquired BellSouth and moved its headquarters out of Atlanta. Here is some good news for those who have missed having the telecommunications giant based here.   AT&T is in the…

During this political season, four Geor-gians are dancing prominently on the national political stage. One is running the 2012 Repub-lican National Convention in Tampa; two are announced candidates for the office of Presi-dent of the United States on the Republican…

My friend, Randy Jones of Americus, has often wondered why so little has been written about the Reconstruction period after the War Between the States – as others have. So, as part of the sesquicentennial commemoration of Georgia’s role in…

It’s been a long time since I thought of the old “Dress for Success” trend that was so popular in the 1970s. But I have enjoyed reading several recent books on this subject, one given to me by my newfound…

Our Georgia Legislature has concluded its 2011 session with our elected lawmakers having passed what some call racial, anti-immigration legislation. The target of this punitive legislation is primarily Hispanics because they are a minority and some have broken the law…

Are the phones ringing again? Yes! In this April issue we publish our annual Economic Yearbook for Georgia, traditionally one of the best-read features of the year. We interview economic development professionals from all eight regions of the state to…

The great historian Thomas Carlyle once commented, “The history of the world is but a biography of great men.” Carlyle believed that by studying history’s heroes, one could not help but uncover something about one’s true nature and add to…

“The budget should be balanced, the treas-ury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again…

Our new governor, Nathan Deal of Gaines-ville, will soon be sitting in a comfortable chair in his new office at the state capitol. Here is one humble citizen’s recommendation for a few things he could do to quickly fix some…

I have long enjoyed collecting clever quotes and quips, those one- or two-liners that show a little bit of whimsy and truth. My wife, Kathy, and I visited the Texas hill country last spring, and I found a few funny…

I want to recommend a book called Lighting the Way by my friend Harry Gilham. It is a warm reflection on his career at the company he founded in 1960 called Georgia Lighting. For our readers who might want to…

Could it be that the two Georgias are now one? Let’s hope so. Recently some 250 leaders and stakeholders from all across the state got together in Macon to try and dispel the notion of two parts of our state…

Welcome to Georgia Trend Magazine’s 25th anniversary edition. In this issue we decided not to look back over the magazine’s past history, but to look forward. For your enjoyment, we interviewed 25 Georgia leaders in various fields – including Andrew…

On a recent “guy trip” to visit cousins Archie and Scott Griffin near Pensacola, I was able to see up close the damage being done on the Gulf Coast by the BP oil spill. As I completed this column, there…

Why don’t we have a visitors’ tax? More about this later. First, it is good to report that our Georgia Legislature finally accomplished something in 2010! After six years of treading water, the Georgia Republican-run House and Senate moved forward…

Georgia’s antebellum capital, Milledge-ville, is chock-full of history. From 1806 to 1868, the old capitol building in this middle Georgia city witnessed many important events. One was the 1860 vote to secede from the Union, which passed by a razor-thin…

We have had tough times in Georgia, yet have you ever noticed how some of our citizens handle adversity better than others? Science has identified what is called a resil-ience gene in people who have the ability to survive and…

Rep. David Ralston, the new Speaker of the House who replaced Glenn Richardson, is a breath of fresh air. “New wine drinks fine” as the saying goes. Richardson surrounded himself with people who despised local government. Some say Ralston must…

One wish I have for the Georgia legislature is that they give city and county governments grants to help them with economic development. The new leadership in the house is trying to find new monies to make up for the…

Georgia is in crisis over the use of its waterways and dams, thanks to a ruling by federal Judge Paul Magnuson last summer. His ruling declared that Army Corps of Engineers dams were not built for water supply. Congress intended…

Every December I write a Christmas column full of quips and quotes. The late Jimmy Townsend, the famous sage of Jasper, got me started about 40 years ago when I was editor of the weekly newspaper, The Cherokee Tribune, in…

This past year can be characterized as the worst in Georgia’s economic history, except for the Great Depression. Yet our state has had a surprisingly good run in terms of attracting new companies and new projects for economic development. The…

Despite the devastating floods in Sep-tember, we still have a water crisis in Georgia. Just last summer a federal judge issued an opin-ion in the 20-year dispute with Alabama and Florida and ruled Atlanta’s use of water from Lake Lanier…