Opinions

It’s a special week in Appling County. Seniors from two local schools will receive high school diplomas and prepare for a new journey. Enjoy this special time in your life and we know that Appling County will be well represented by the Class of 2013. [Full Story »] 

I hate to fly but my wife and I walked into Jacksonville International Airport last Thursday morning at 3 am. It was 73 degrees. I checked our luggage and told the handler I had a pistol in one bag, all legal, of course, unloaded and in a locked box and all that. Then we had to go through the body scan and Anne went through first, then me. I shut the place down as buzzers and bells went off. They took me aside and swabbed a white cloth patch across my hand. I knew I was in trouble right then because I had test fired the pistol earlier that morning. Sure enough, more buzzers went off. When I finally got out of wrist bracelets and leg shackles, I was allowed to proceed. When I finally found Anne, she pretended not to know me, even going so far as to swap seats with someone else so I could not sit with her. That is until we got to Sioux Falls later that day. Then she was proud to know me again. [Full Story »] 

As I listened to retired U.S. Army Staff Sargent and member of the singing group 4Troops Ron Henry share his testimony at Mayor Steve Rigdon’s annual Prayer Breakfast, held last Thursday on the National Day of Prayer, it was evident how God has worked through this soldier’s life. Henry shared an emotional experience of how he and other soldiers came under fire from insurgents with AK-47s at close range while traveling in a vehicle. As the shots rang out Henry stated he immediately began to ask for God’s protection and added that not one soldier in the military vehicle was harmed. To me, that’s evidence enough that God hears the prayers of the righteous. [Full Story »] 

I was in the grocery store the other day when I felt the presence of a Spirit from my youth. I turned around and caught Jerry Lee Braswell sneaking up on me. He started laughing and grabbed my hand and we embraced like the friends we are. Jerry Lee is only one of the many black men this white man respects and knows well. [Full Story »] 

Expectantly, he sat on the examining table gazing at the door with steady, unblinking eyes. The smell of antiseptic hung in the air, and a male assistant stood beside him to make sure the elderly patient didn’t fall. A scale waited directly in front of him to report on his eating habits. A variety of pill bottles, some horse-sized and some much smaller, sat on a shelf beside the roll of gauze. He could hear the receptionist who’d greeted him as he came in talking on the phone down the hall. [Full Story »] 

Twenty-one hours of daylight in Alaska makes it difficult for a south Georgia couple to discern between “early” and “late.” However, B. J. and I excitedly rolled out of our comfortable king size bed at the pleasing Fairbanks Westmark Hotel at 5:00am. We pulled back the heavy smut black drapes to observe the sun shining outside. [Full Story »] 

By Jim Zachary

The newspaper belongs to the community.

Your friends and neighbors who work at your local newspaper believe what we do everyday is more than a job. We believe what we do matters. That is why we love what we do and that is why we love newspapers.  [Full Story »] 

Dear Editor,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Christmas In Action crew that came to my home and re-covered my roof. Special thank you to Leon Russell, his brother and cousins and every person that came and helped. I pray God will richly bless each of you and your families. Thank you for a job well done. You will never know how much this means to me.

Sincerely,
Louise Boatright

By Charles N. Davis

Buried somewhere in my parents’ house in Watkinsville is a stack of aged newspapers – copies of the Athens Banner-Herald, The Oconee Enterprise and the dearly departed Athens Observer. You see, in my family, community newspapers have always been the chroniclers of family lore, of scholastic achievements, of the fleeting fame of youth. [Full Story »] 

I was walking to the mailbox yesterday to see if the IRS had any more requests to make of me. The Postal Service is having a row about mail delivery on Saturday. I was wishing Saturday was the only day they did deliver. I was barefooted. I had been in the garden pulling the newly sprouted thistles of whatever part of Hades they come from. When I tired of that I started to the mailbox. As I was slowly and painfully making my way across those gravel rocks I saw a small pickup coming, pulling a small boat. The truck pulled up and stopped right next to me. An elderly gentleman leaned toward me and started right in giving explanation why he stopped. [Full Story »] 

Frequently, my husband broaches the subject of chickens—not just as a conversational tidbit, but as in raising them, feeding them and collecting their eggs, protecting them from the packs of wild dogs that roam every path and by-way of Pine Grove. Larry’s eyes take on that longing look as he gazes backward to his farm-boy childhood. He sees the farm fresh eggs of free range chickens. He smells the big platters of fried chicken on his mama’s Sunday dinner table. My eyes, on the other hand, take on a panicky look as I gaze back to my more urban youth. [Full Story »]