Opinions

Have you had the opportunity to watch the movie Courageous? If not, I encourage you (especially fathers) to go rent a copy from a video store or purchase a copy of this fourth release from Sherwood Pictures, a ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany. [Full Story »] 

I just today finished a very pleasant interview with a Bacon County historian. As we talked of genealogy, traveling to famous places, and passing plants along to other people, I thought again of the interconnectedness of generations. When I was younger, I never thought much about history in a personal way. I always liked to read about it, but then I’ll read almost anything, including the cereal box. Now that I’ve aged a bit, I see the past in a different light.

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My family has lived here on the land for seven generations. I have several of the original land grant deeds dated in 1820 and ‘ceded from the creek and Cherokee Indian Nations’. My next door neighbors are a black family, the Eady’s, that has been here almost as long. They are in every sense, my neighbors. We do for each other because we trust each other and we each know how the other feels about life situations. We see each other on a deeper level than skin color. This is not to say we do not each have our own distinct cultural leanings because we do and nothing I know can change that, or should. [Full Story »] 

B. J. and I wanted to get the New Year started right so on Sunday evening we donned some warm clothes and B. J. threw together a fundelicious picnic dinner consisting of BBQ pork loin and chicken sandwiches, potato salad, chips and hot chocolate and we saddled Big Red and reined him to our friend’s deck right smack dab on St. Simons Beach. Although it was still one night away from being full, the moon was awesome. The nice cozy deck is an ideal place to spread a meal and enjoy an unobstructed view of the glorious moon over the Atlantic. Big Red was nickering happily. [Full Story »] 

Dear Editor,

When this first came to my attention, I thought that it was a Solid Waste Recycling Center to be located here in the 4th district area and who would really care because it would produce about 20 jobs. We began to research and try and discover exactly what they were talking about. It concerns all of Appling County, because right now Landfills or DUMPS are blocked in Appling County. Moreover, the recycling center is only 60 percent of what we are talking about with the other 40 percent being materials to be placed in a dump on the site. [Full Story »] 

At a called meeting held on Tuesday, Jan. 10, members of the Appling County Board of Commissioners voted to do something a little unusual. On a split vote the commission voted to hire a second public works director. Tommy Davis currently holds the position and the county expends approximately $50,000.00 on his annual salary. It is understood that both positions would have equal authority. [Full Story »] 

Never let people tell you that wildlife is rapidly disappearing from South Georgia. Wildlife abounds here in Pine Grove. One morning last week I was driving to town and saw at least ten cats out in a field. A black one ran across the road in front of me. Apparently it wasn’t very smart or was trying to work some black magic on me. I did not allow myself to mark an invisible X on the windshield, even though I admit to thinking about it.
“No,” I assured myself, “I will not succumb to the superstitious rites of the ignorant.” [Full Story »] 

I had to think of something fast so, under duress, I made a bet with our preacher last November 1st, right after he killed his sixth deer to my nary a one. I bet my stand against his I could lose 20 pounds before Christmas. I’ll say this for the man, he drives a hard bargain. Sensing my desperation, with a sly smile he upped it to 40 pounds and if I win we swap places with deer stands but if I lose he gets to keep the hot spot all season. In my distress, I agreed. [Full Story »] 

B. J. and I have been close friends and worked with Laurie Jo Upchurch for over twenty years. We keep in touch via e-mail, telephone, visiting, eating out etc. She and her faithful hubby Ken are great fun. [Full Story »] 

Dear Editor,

It’s a new year, what will we do now? Will our attitudes, feelings, thoughts or concerns for one another change? We talk about what’s happening in America. We need to look in the mirror at ourselves. We need to change. God didn’t plan it this way. It is our entire fault; why we can’t move ahead and leave the past behind us, forget race, creed, color and gender. [Full Story »] 

Did the headline get your attention? It should. I watched a video on ABC news last week that simply has my head spinning. The video report shows how three road and bridge projects across the country are being built by Chinese government-owned agencies. The projects include: [Full Story »] 

In last summer’s unbearable heat, I was riding along with the lawn mower’s engine roaring when I heard a voice in my head singing, “Ice cold milk and an Oreo cookie , , , ,” The voice of course was directly from the old television commercial. I cut a swath and tried to change the channel in my head. Deliberately, I started singing “Rock of Ages, cleft for me” as loudly as possible. [Full Story »]