This is not random.

This is not isolated.

This is not just one more headline.

It is part of a larger scheme, an international campaign to manufacture doubt, flood the zone, and then claim that the only solution is takeover.

They want Georgians exhausted.

They want voters confused, and they want the public so overwhelmed that people stop asking the most important question of all.

Who benefits from keeping Georgia in chaos?

Because when you can't win an election fair and square, you try to control who runs it.

Democrats unleashed their anger today over the FBI raid on the Fulton County election offices yesterday.

Good evening, and welcome to Lawmakers on Georgia Legislative Day nine.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta.

More on the reaction to the raid in Fulton County in a moment.

For years, Terry England served Georgia by helping to shape budgets as the powerful chair of House appropriations.

But long before he spent time under the Gold Dome, and even while he served, England was first and foremost a farmer.

Whether in the legislature or on the farm, he faced plenty of challenges, but nothing like the battle he faced after a devastating accident.

Tonight we bring you his message of perseverance and hope.

Then talk with England and the producer of the story.

First, as always, it's time to learn what happened at the Capitol today.

From correspondent Sarah Kallis.

Donna, today at the Capitol, lawmakers reacted to news out of Fulton County that the FBI had conducted a search warrant and seized hundreds of boxes of ballots from an election warehouse.

In an early morning press conference, Republican Senator Brian Strickland spoke about a new bill, SB 433, also called Rio's Law, that would create a special license plate to help law enforcement identify vehicles that have passengers on the autistic spectrum.

These plates will not only continue our effort to create more acceptance for those living with autism and developmental disabilities, but they will provide a resource for our law enforcement and entire first responder community to be more equipped when they encounter these individuals with conditions that aren't immediately identifiable on our roads.

Strickland has a 6-year-old son with autism in the Senate.

The day started with a visit from U.S.

Congressman Rich McCormick, who brought a message of conciliation.

If you want to have influence, instead of trying to win an argument, win a friend.

Anybody who gets on on the internet knows that you don't see minds changed because of somebody great and eloquent argument on the internet.

It doesn't happen.

The more I try to convince you you're wrong, the less you'll believe me.

But if I can convince you that I love you, which isn't a one time investment, it's a multiple endeavor.

If I can convince you that I love you, you might just believe what I have to say next.

But the seizure of 2020 Fulton County election ballots by the FBI yesterday was first and foremost on the minds of Democrats this morning.

And they had little conciliation to offer.

The federal government seized 2020 Fulton County election ballots, not 2020, for because that was an election that Donald Trump already won in Georgia.

They weren't securing an election.

They were revisiting the past to control the future.

We still don't know where these ballots were taken, and even more disturbing, we don't know how this information will be used.

What we do know without dispute is that this action was taken without the consent or knowledge of Georgia election officials.

Secrecy is not law enforcement.

Secrecy is intimidation.

This is not about 2020.

This is about 20:26.

This is about who controls what comes next.

Because nearly six years after Georgia voters made their choice.

Some people are still trying to keep the state trapped in a permanent argument about the last election so they can justify rewriting the rules for the next one.

Republicans say that there are still many unanswered questions about the 2020 voter rolls of Fulton County.

Insisting that the numbers didn't add up then don't add up now, and that the seizure was necessary.

Ultimately, 84% of the votes that of the eligibility that Somerville and Davis challenged, were proven to have been invalid.

Voters in the 2020 election.

So let's stop this charade of the most perfect, most secure election in history.

But more importantly, and I would agree with my colleagues on this, let's look forward to the future elections.

And it's darn near past time for Fulton County to clean up their voter rolls.

Meanwhile, in the House, lawmakers also had plenty to say about the ballot seizure.

Democrats said the search was an overreach.

This is a full on attack on democracy.

This kind of federal interference with the state election function is completely unprecedented.

The Trump administration has been trying to get this information on Fulton voters through civil lawsuits.

They have been trying to get this information through their pit bulls on the web, and they have been trying to get this information through their lackeys on the Fulton County Board of Elections.

They kept losing.

So they are bypassing the civil justice system.

With this highly questionable and likely statute of limitation barred criminal investigation.

Y'all, it is 2026.

It has been more than five years since Trump lost Georgia, a fact that has been verified time and time again.

And let me speak directly to the voters of Georgia, who need to understand the significance of this moment.

Yesterday's raid on Fulton County is not about the 2020 election.

It was never about the 2020 election.

This is all about the 2026 election and beyond.

Meanwhile, Republicans said to trust the judicial process.

What we saw yesterday was the lawful execution of a lawfully obtained federal search warrant that was signed by a U.S.

Magistrate court judge.

Members also gave final approval to Senate.

Changes to a House resolution dealing with the State Water Council, which manages Georgia's rivers and waterways.

The amendment includes Renee Good reduce the number of government appointments 13-7.

Reduce the number of lieutenant governor appointments 6-3.

Reduce the number of speaker of the House.

Appointments 6-3.

Remove the alternate Council members.

Increase the length of appointments from three years to six years.

I'll say that again.

Increase the length of appointments for three years to six years.

Now we're doing it every three years.

And so require each council to have at least one representative from each of the water and wastewater demand forecast sectors.

And the House gave a shout out to Spelman College in Atlanta for Spelman Day.

Today we proudly recognize Spelman College, an institution that continues to push boundaries, open doors for women of African descent, and set the standard for academic excellence and community impact.

The House also honored Doula Day.

Today.

Lawmakers will not return to the Capitol tomorrow, but they'll be back on Monday for Legislative Day ten.

That's my Capitol report, Donna.

Thank you.

Sarah.

We often hear about farmers facing tough times in Georgia, mainly due to weather related setbacks or the catastrophic effects of natural disasters on their crops.

However, tonight we share a different story.

One of perseverance from a farmer who fought back after experiencing a devastating accident.

This farmer is well known under the Gold Dome.

Terry England served as the longtime chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

He later became the chief of staff to the House speaker.

Above all, he's a Georgia farmer at heart.

Here is the story from the Georgia Farm.

Ray Dalessio.

They say the soil doesn't forget the hands that tend to it, that hear in the stillness of morning and the rhythm of the fields.

A person can find purpose.

For Terry England, it's always been that simple.

A farmer, a lawmaker, a public servant who walked the halls of the Georgia Capitol for nearly two decades, chairing the House Appropriations Committee, then stepping into the role of chief of staff.

You know, you wind up as you as you serve.

You have things that you never had a dream when you started serving that would become important to you.

And I was very fortunate that there were a lot of things that became important to me, and there were a lot of things that I was able to to have a hand in helping with.

Yeah.

And of course, you were a farmer before you became a politician.

What does the farm mean to you personally?

I'm not just talking about the work aspect of it, Terry.

What does the farm really just overall mean to you?

Well, it's just a great place to to live.

I mean, you know, and where we're at today in northwestern Bexar County is not nearly as rural as it was 25 years ago.

But still, you still know your neighbors when you have something happen and something like my accident happened, the first person, the two first people there at the accident was my dad and my next door neighbor.

February eighth, 2025.

It was supposed to be just another day.

Like countless mornings before it, but Terry's relentless work ethic, his deep love for the outdoors collided with something no one saw coming.

A routine task, a familiar piece of heavy machinery and in the blink of an eye, everything changed.

A freak accident, violent and unforgiving, left Terry fighting for his life with a devastating spinal cord injury that would alter his world forever.

If you cut everything else out of this interview, the one thing that I want you to make sure is in the interview.

If you're on a piece of equipment that's got a seatbelt, there's a reason that seatbelt is on.

There.

Buckle it with yourself in it because it's there for a reason.

One of my favorite things was to get on my skid steer and do do work clean up, and we had pine beetles hit us.

And so we had a lot of trees that that we'd laid down on the ground.

And, and some of them still were Good saw logs.

So I was I was out there, had the forks on the front of the skid steer, moving them from one stack to another stack.

And you know what happened with me?

The load I raised up, the load caused the machine to tip forward a little bit.

I went to let it down, and as anybody that's running skid steer knows, they go into this little bucking routine.

And it was throwing me against the steel roof of the machine.

I bounced back, hit the seat, bounced back, hit my head on the roof again, did it four or five different times, and when when the machine finally stopped, I'm sitting there.

I can't feel my hands can't move, my hands can't move, my feet, my legs.

When I woke up, I realized I've got to make myself breathe because I'm not breathing.

So I was able.

Thankfully, my core still had enough use that I could make myself breathe.

Airlifted to Northeast Georgia medical center, Terri's fight began even before he opened his eyes.

First there was emergency surgery, then silence.

But not surrender.

In time, he was transferred to Atlanta's world renowned Shepherd center, a place where possibility is rehabbed just as much as the patient.

For 2.5 months, Terry lived that mission.

He worked.

He struggled.

He refused to yield.

And beside him, two therapists, Kelsey Lee and Christopher Ready, refusing to let him fall.

They weren't just rebuilding a body.

They were rebuilding a belief that this wasn't how his story would end.

Then came May 9, a quiet Thursday just after 10:00 A.M.. No headlines, no parade.

But a moment that needed neither.

Terry England once told he might never walk again.

Step through the doors of the Shepherd center to return home.

No walker, no wheelchair.

Just two feet and one unshakable will.

Again.

We don't know why we were there, but we know that we were there for a reason.

And, you know, it's part of the reason why we're sitting here talking about today is what we experienced.

And the reason that that in these machines that have a seat belt, put the seat belt on.

So right now I'm standing where it all happened.

This spot right here where a simple day's work turned into something unimaginable, a place Terry England has walked across thousands of times, until the one time that nearly cost him everything.

And yet this location doesn't trigger fear or bad images.

It brings clarity.

Because what Terry carries now isn't just the memory of the accident, but a new perspective, one rooted in faith, lifted by family and strengthened by the hands of neighbors, fellow farmers, and folks who know what it means to show up when it matters most.

Knowing that our Farm Bureau family that that we had, you know, made years ago, 30 plus years ago when we were on the old Farm Committee, knowing that the ag teacher network, that the Four-h extension agent network, all of those folks put out the word that night or the morning after when they heard about the accident and all of a sudden there were people everywhere praying for you.

You don't come through those kind of things and not be a changed person and not have a little bit better outlook on life, especially when you're able to walk out and you know that it's because miracles happened and because prayers worked.

And, Terry, I would not be doing my job if I didn't bring up one of your biggest supporters.

It's not a former constituent.

It's not a fellow public figure.

It's your wife, Cindy, your high school sweetheart.

Could any of this been possible without her?

No.

Absolutely not.

She was there all the time.

During the whole three plus months that we were not home.

She was home one day, and that was while we were still in Gainesville.

She needed to come home and get some clothes.

And then she was back at Gainesville.

Day by day, he's reclaiming movement, rebuilding strength.

But maybe more than anything, Terry England is rediscovering the meaning in the smallest of victories.

You see, a farmer doesn't quit when the crop fails.

He replants waters and waits.

Terry England is doing the same with a spirit that refuses to yield.

A beautiful story of optimism and strength.

Coming up, we continue the story we'll hear from Terry England and the program producer, Ray Dalessio.

Stay with us.

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It's not a mountains thing or a coastal thing, it's a Georgia people, places and stories thing.

Morning edition on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

It keeps Georgians everywhere dialed into home.

Tune in to GPB.

It's a Georgia thing.

Welcome back to Lawmakers.

I'm Donna Lowry you watched the story.

Now let's learn more.

Joining me is Terry England, farmer, agribusiness man, former legislator, former chief of staff to the House speaker and an inspiration to those who know him.

Also on set is the person who brought us that beautiful piece of journalism, Ray D'Alessio, senior producer and co-host of The Farm Monitor, which is associated with the Georgia Farm Bureau, and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Welcome to Lawmakers.

Welcome back to Lawmakers for you and welcome so much.

Good to be here.

Didn't know I'd ever be back.

I know so so let's start with that.

How are you doing?

Doing good.

Yeah.

So explain are no pain, nothing.

Still still some pain.

Still some.

I'm probably 85-90 percent on mobility and everything.

Still have some challenges.

But, you know, for the most part, as I've told everybody the point I'm at today in healing, if the good Lord said that's all you're going to get, I'd be happy with it.

I've been very blessed.

Incredibly blessed.

And, you know, the support network you mentioned, Cindy, a while ago.

My dad, and, you know, the incredible team at Shepherd Chris and Kelsey that were in the picture there.

And the physicians and surgeons at Northeast Georgia, they were they were great.

And, I mean, I tell them I'm actually in less back pain today than I was before the injury.

No kidding.

Seriously.

Wow.

So they did.

They did a wonderful job.

They did.

They did.

Well, we're going to get back to you about that.

I want to I want to talk to you about what led you to this story.

You know, there's so many layers to this story, Donna.

And.

You know, really.

And I had heard about Terri's accident, you know, pretty much the next day after it happened, because, you know, Terri's a long time supporter of Georgia Farm Bureau.

He's a family member.

Really?

Because if you've been with Georgia Farm Bureau for a long time, you're part of that fraternity.

You're part of that family, part of that family.

So when I heard about his accident, the first thing I said to myself was like, you know, we need to keep an eye on this monitor.

This first of all, you know, let's pray for him.

And then once you know, if everything, you know, once he's recovered, we definitely want to, you know, get with him, talk to him about his recovery and things.

And sure enough, when he was ready to tell the story, you know, he reached out to us and you know, put his faith and trust in the farm monitor and everybody at Georgia Farm Bureau to do it.

And again, there's like I said, there's just so many different layers.

It's it's, you know, his recovery the support staff that he had, the people that saved his life up in Gainesville, the people that saved his life at the Shepherd center, that helped him get where he is now.

So there was just so many different layers to this story.

And it's really as, as, you know, a journalist.

It's just it was it was a dream to actually in a huge honor to really be a part of the story and actually to, you know, to do the story.

Yeah.

And he's he's a good storyteller himself.

He is he's doing an interview with him is a good thing.

It was.

Yeah.

It absolutely was.

And, you know, we had talked about it earlier.

I of course, I knew of Terry.

You know, through all his involvement with agriculture and everything, but I had never met him before this story.

And then the first 5 minutes that I was in his office there it immediately hit me.

Now I know why.

Now I know why everybody loves Terry so much.

And honestly, since them, him and I have forged this friendship.

And, you know, when we talk on the phone now, it's it's like we've been friends for for years and years.

And he's he's an easy person to like.

Yeah, that's absolutely true.

I love that Terry talk about you talked about it in the story a little bit.

But talk about what feelings you experienced when you realized what had happened a little bit about coming, coming, coming to terms with it emotionally, even.

You know, it's very odd or unusual.

It really never panicked.

I knew I we I've really messed up.

Not the first time I've messed up, but this time I really messed up.

But didn't panic.

You know, as, as everything kind of set in the day after the surgery, I. What what is the new normal going to be?

You know how I don't want to leave.

Sending my wife, my dad to have to deal with, you know, figuring out what to do with all my stuff in the shop and with the place and all this sort of stuff.

So you start thinking about that.

But then Cindy kept saying, look, it's going to be good.

It's going to be good.

We're here for a reason.

It's everything's going to be fine.

You know?

And and she was bound and determined.

We rolled into Shepherd and we walked out.

And, you know, it's just her mindset keeping me amped up all the time about it.

The great folks there, good Lord, just gave me a peace and comfort about it as well.

And it just, you know, I didn't know what it was going to be.

Still don't know what it's fully going to be, but just knew everything was going to be okay in some way.

And they always say your emotional state is a big part of that healing.

And it sounds like yours was positive.

And that helped a lot.

It sounds.

Well, we you know, we at Shepherd, we were placed on adolescent floor.

So why are you putting an old man on the floor with 18-25 year olds?

But we got made friendships with a lot of the the young folks that were there.

And, you know, I would actually egg them on when we'd be playing games and stuff to try to get agility back.

And I'm like, are you really going to let an old man beat you?

And, you know, just playing back and forth with them and and just tried to, you know, they're sitting there worried about what's going to happen for the rest of their lives.

And I'm just trying to, you know, we were both trying to be as positive as we could for them to let them know.

Look, there's a reason you're here.

There's a reason all of us are here.

We just got to figure out what it is.

They needed.

Somebody who was young at heart with them.

I think that's.

What they.

I don't know.

So, Ray, lay out a little bit how you approached the story.

I know there is one of the toughest aspects of telling a story is getting the buy in.

And it sounds like you got that pretty early and and then figuring out how to tell a story where you don't have video of what happened, of course.

And, you know, Donna, as a journalist, you know, one of the biggest challenges when you approach a story is, okay, it's the basics, you know, of who, what, where, when you approach stuff like this, the first thing that you ask yourself, okay, who is this going to affect?

How is this going to affect them?

What good could come out of the story?

And I think, you know, Terry made it.

So he was adamant when I first met with him.

And the first thing he had said to me, he had said, if you leave anything out of this story and you heard it there.

Leave this in.

People need to understand.

Do not, you know, take anything for granted.

Buckle that seatbelt.

And that was the first thing that so much could come out of this.

That farm safety.

You know, that was one aspect.

And again, I told you there were so many different layers to it.

Do you approach it from the standpoint?

Okay, this you know, here's a person that nearly died.

He's making his comeback.

He's you know, he's recovering.

He had this huge, you know, support staff farmers in general.

You know, of course, Georgia you know, agriculture is Georgia's you know, number 1 industry.

But really and Terry will agree with this.

It's a very small, tight knit community.

Chances are, a farmer up north knows a farmer down south.

And everybody knew who Terry was.

So it was my job to make sure that I did it.

You know, justice to where some good could come out of this.

Some people could, you know, look at Terry and take inspiration from him.

And they could also say to themselves, the next time they get in that piece of farm equipment that, well, remember what happened with Terry England, it's time to buckle this up and you see why the man is sitting here right now is because his sheer determination.

And that was the other aspect of it.

A lot of people would have given up.

They would have just said, I'm done.

Whatever happens, I'm not going to walk again.

And he walked out of that hospital, you know, and that's because of that sheer determination in that mindset that he had in there.

So and again, there was just so many we were sitting there talking earlier.

It was like a dream story from a journalist standpoint, because everything was there and it was just a matter of putting words, pictures.

Once you got those pictures and, you know, listening to his interview and making sure that, okay, you're getting that story out there, that Terry wants you to get out there.

And because he was well known, you had the pressure to to be able to tell that story right to.

Yeah.

You wanted to be able to do that too.

So let's talk about this cautionary tale that you have here.

You know, not putting on your seatbelt.

How often did you do it before the accident?

Probably 50% of the time.

Did you?

I mean, I had a tractor I bought brand new in 1995.

I had never buckled the seatbelt on.

Every time I get on that tractor today, the seatbelt is on the skid steer because it does bounce around and it is a very dangerous piece of equipment to operate just by its nature.

About half the time I'd put it on, half the time I wouldn't, because you just think, well, I'll just hop in here and do this and that.

You know, that's the other message to come out of it is that half second you think you're saving that accident happens in about that same length of time.

But if you're fortunate enough to survive it, you're going to be recovering from it for the rest of your life.

And so that's what I've been trying to tell people is, look, you're not saving any time.

Just go on and take the 2 seconds, literally to buckle and and buckle.

I love the fact that you said for any vehicle, you know, you've got to think about it.

You know, we get kind of lazy and maybe sit on the on that seatbelt.

Well, I mean, I've always had the habit of buckling up in a vehicle.

Just never think about it.

Its natural habit.

But in a piece of equipment, never have.

But I do now.

Yeah.

Well, Ray, I know your job is to tell the stories of agriculture in the state.

And I just want to say, for those who want to watch Farm Bureau, it airs on Georgia Public Broadcasting Saturdays at 8:00 A.M.

And Sundays at 6:00 A.M.. And that's, that's where you'll see Georgia Monitor in your stories and stories like this.

Right.

Exactly.

And that's that's the nice thing about it.

You know, you could if you want to sleep in a little bit on Saturday, you can sleep in on Saturday.

Watch it at at 8:00.

But as Terry will tell you, farmers, they don't ever sleep in, so they're up at 4:30.

5:00 early.

So you have a lot of, you know, different viewing options.

Yeah.

The last word like 10 seconds something you want to say?

Prayers, work and miracles still happen.

Well, you're proof of that.

Yes, ma'am.

Yeah, I'm sure you're still praying.

Thanking God for this.

A lot of people prayed for us.

Yeah, well, thank you so much for coming on the show.

And thank you for joining us.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

That does it for Lawmakers.

Today.

The General Assembly is off tomorrow.

Join us on Monday for day ten as we discuss legislation on zero based budgeting.

And data centers.

Have a good evening.