About The champion newspaper. (Decatur, GA) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2019)
LOCAL THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8 - 14, 2019 • Page 5 History learned from a Southern funeral Perhaps Southern funerals and Northern funerals are similar in nature, but I have never been part of a Northern funeral, and can only comment on those I have experienced. A Southern funeral and visitation, particularly in a small, close-knit town, will often bring out a large portion of the community to greet and extend condolences to immediate family members of the deceased. Family members are expected to stand near the coffin of their dearly departed for hours on end as members of the community pay their respects and share stories about the person whose body is lying just feet away. In no way am I criticizing this decades-old tradition, but only commenting on the impacts these short-lived conversations can have on the ones left behind who hear the stories and somehow are able to retain the information even though it was shared at a time when emotions are elevated. At a recent visitation for my eldest brother, there were an estimated 400-plus who gathered in the local mortuary. The crowd was so large that the adjacent parlor was used as overflow space for floral arrangements and those visiting my brother’s spouse, children and grandchildren. During the course of the three- hour public visitation, a gentleman approached one of my sisters and my other brother and asked if they were part of the Hewitt family. He began telling them details of a story that involved my father-a story most of our family know little of, as it happened more than 75 years ago. As pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place, I became enthralled with the story and the idea that had things gone differently, that it is very likely that neither I, nor my siblings, would have existed. As I delved into researching this story even further, more pieces of the puzzle have turned up that have begun to provide answers to questions that many in our family have pondered for years. After conducting basic research to determine the validity of the claims the gentleman made, I became convinced that he knew details that our family did not. I arranged for a meeting with the gentleman and spent almost three hours with him as we discussed our family’s connection to the history of my hometown. As I learned more of my family’s history, I also began doing additional research on Ancestry, com and have since found a wealth of additional information about ancestors on my father’s side and have become somewhat obsessed with gathering as much information as I can to share with other family members. As is the case for many families who have been in our country for hundreds of years, there have been substantial financial gains and losses through the centuries that have impacted future generations in ways both good and bad. Take the time to listen to the stories of old; we never know what we don’t know until those unknown facts are revealed. “It wasn ’/ a single attempt. They ’re doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign. ...I hope this is not the new normal. I fear it is, ’’former Special Counsel and FBI Director Robert Mueller, regarding Russian election interference attempts, during his U.S. House testimony on 7/24/2019. Robert Mueller wrapped up his nearly four decades of service to our nation with a less than glorious farewell appearance on July 24, before two U.S. House committees, answering their queries about his Special Counsel Report on Russian interference attempts throughout the 2016 presidential election. Some view Mueller as a patriot and war hero, with two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart among many honors from his Vietnam era service in the Marines, or his later work as a U.S. attorney, deputy attorney general and F.B.I. director, appointed and then re-appointed by three very different presidents from both major political parties. Others see a biased partisan tool of congressional Democrats and/or the Democratic Party, and still others see something in between. Regardless, Mueller’s track record, accomplishments and career legacy include the successful prosecution of former Panamanian dictator Gen. Manuel Noriega, the Libyan terrorists responsible for the Pan Am Flight 103 Mulling on Mueller M ‘One Man's Opinion’ Bill Crane bill.csicrane@gmail.com (Lockerbie bombing) and John Gotti, crime boss of the Gambino family. Mueller was unanimously confirmed (98-0) as FBI director, following his nomination by President George H. W. Bush in July 2001, despite a then deeply divided Senate. Mueller also revealed what is a well-known "secret" in Washington, D.C., despite his name being atop the 450-plus page tome delivered to the U.S. attorney general in late March 2019, he clearly didn’t write, or possibly even read every word. In the view of some, he may not have even read his own report closely. But Mueller should have expected questions about the legal meaning of collusion and its similarity in lay language to the legal term of conspiracy, as the special counsel often made points on such finer distinctions in the rule of law, as well as Justice Department standing policy, so that he not conclude his second report -focused on potential obstruction of justice concerns, with a nonlegal term such as exonerate. And based on the ground rules securing Mueller’s appearance and testimony, the skilled lawyer and bureaucrat gave himself a series of outs. Mueller did not answer, replied he did not recall or was unaware, or suggested the answer to a questioning member’s probe was "in the report"...more than 200 times during six hours of testimony. And though I’m not a daily C-SPAN watcher, I’ve sat through a few decades of congressional hearings and can remember no other witness simply saying, “pass,” when encountering a question, he did not like or chose not to answer. For a moment I thought I was watching an old episode of The $64,000 Pyramid. Mueller stuck to his report and seldom veered from its conclusions, and yet despite his long-known preference for the GOP, he clearly does not like the current president. He responded to one congressional query, asked several times, regarding whether a president no longer in office, who has previously committed potential crimes, may later be further investigated or prosecuted. There goes that White House Christmas card list for 2020. But sadly, America tends to focus on the flubs more often than the hard news. When being served up a low-inside softball, to further establish Mueller’s conservative credentials, a GOP congressman, after reciting his sterling military service record, smiled and asked Mueller which U.S. president appointed him assistant U.S. attorney in the hard-left leaning state of Massachusetts. Mueller first hobbled the ball, asking “Do you mean which senator?” Before starring into space and guessing that the answer was President George Bush (without specifying which Bush). The congressman, unprepared for this memory gap himself, swallowed, smiled nervously and said, “According to my records, you were appointed by President Ronald Reagan.” Oops. I was reminded of Reagan’s own troubled video testimony before Congress during the 1984 Iran- Contra hearings, when Reagan’s most repeated phrase was “I don’t recall. ” Hopefully, just as Reagan’s full record, highs and lows, are now more fully viewed in context, Mueller can hope that historians and the long view may later give him similar perspective. But in the near term, he can expect more mockery and comparison to the backbone and consistency of the famed pasta which shares his name, and we all know what happens to overcooked pasta. It devolves into rubbery, sticky mush. Bob Mueller deserves better. Bill Crane also serves as a political analyst and commentator for Channel 2’s Action News, WSB- AM News/Talk 750 and now 95.5 FM, as well as a columnist for The Champion, DeKalb Free Press and Georgia Trend. Crane is a DeKalb native and business owner, living in Scottdale. You can reach him or comment on a column at bill. csicrane@gmail. com.
