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The ADVANCE, January 27, 2021 /Page 5A
OPINIONS
“I honor the man who is willing to sink
Half his repute for the freedom to think,
And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak,
Will risk t’other half for the freedom to speak.”
—James Russell Lowell
editorials
Friendly Neighborhood
Rec Departments
From the Porch
By Amber Nagle
Last year after
our big Thanksgiv
ing day celebration,
my family walked
over to the ball
fields of Ted Wright Memorial Park for a
holiday kickball tournament that pitted
family members against familymembers —
from the youngest (at six) to the oldest (in
their eighties). As I rounded third base and
headed for home plate, it hit me. Not only
was I running toward home, I was at home.
In that moment, I realized how much that
little park, the recreation department, and
rec league sports has meant to me through
my fifty-something years, and will always
mean to me.
I was just a little shadow of a girl when
I followed my siblings into the wonderful
world of sports in Warner Robins in the
late Sixties. One of my earliest memories is
of my brother, Andy, five
years my senior, wearing
a Raiders uniform and
playing recreation league
football on Saturday
mornings on fields not far
from our house. My older
sister, Audrey, grabbed
her pompoms and pulled
on a green corduroy skirt
that matched my brother’s
uniform. She turned cart
wheels and cheered our
brother’s team to many
victories.
I became the team’s
little mascot adding a dash
of cuteness to the side
lines. I was too young to
memorize the cheers and
moves, but I loved stand
ing in front of the crowd
and trying.
I had a little rooster; and I sat him on the
fence.
He crowed for the other team, ‘cause he
had no sense.
Cock-cock-a-doodle-do. Cluck. Cluck.
Cock-cock-a-doodle-do. Cluck. Cluck.
Being a cheerleader was my first en
counter in a childhood of recreation league
sports and activities.
I followed my siblings into the world of
high-top tennis shoes, onto the basketball
courts of the city recreation department. I
was six or seven when I played on my first
rec ball team coached by Margie Gutierrez,
whom I adored. We played a strange varia
tion of the game of basketball, where the
black line in the center of the court divided
the teams into offensive and defensive play
ers. One player, the rover, moved freely
across the court, but the rest of us were
stuck on one side or the other.
L to R: Amber and her older sister
Audrey.
I loved playing basketball in that smelly,
old gym with the ice-cold water fountain
and pool tables in the lobby. I made friends.
I learned how to follow instructions and
work with others, and I learned how to give
it my all, even when I was dog tired and
thought I had no more in the tank to give.
After my parents moved our family to
Bonaire, my siblings and I played baseball
and softball for the Houston County Rec
reation Department. I spent many hours
standing in the red clay infields at Ted
Wright Memorial Park. It was known back
then as Moody Road Park and only a ten
minute walk from our house. As I waited to
catch a fly ball or scoop up a grounder with
my glove, the summer sun baked the freck
les on my face and bleached out my hair to
the color of Georgia cotton.
Hey batter, batter, batter, batter, SWING!
I learned how to take a few deep breaths
to calm my nerves; the
benefits of practice; how
to work on skills to im
prove performance; how
to never give up even in
the face of impossible
scores; how to endure
mean comments and
banter; and how to en
courage and support oth
ers no matter what. When
a teammate stood at the
plate, we yelled, “You can
do it,” and if a teammate
went down swinging, we
welcomed her back to the
dugout, patted her on the
back, and said, “That’s
okay. You’ll get a hit next
time.”
No matter what sport
we played, each game
ended the same way —
with both teams meeting in the center of
the field or court to shake or slap hands
and tell the other team members, “Good
game.” Our parents and coaches expected
us to exercise good sportsmanlike conduct.
If we refused to exchange pleasantries with
an opposing team member, well, there’d be
hell to pay on the sideline and at home. Win
or lose, the most important aspect of sports
was the way we handled ourselves as win
ners, and as losers.
As a teenager, I was fortunate to be in
vited to work for Houston County Recre
ation Department as a scorekeeper, game
official, concession stand worker, and secre
tary to the ever-so-even-keeled James Dod
son, who is one of the kindest people who
has ever walked the face of the earth. That’s
a story for another day. I worked there for
Please see Amber page 9A
LETTER TO THE EDITOR...
Ode to Oxford
and Donald
Dear Editor,
This letter is an ode to Oxford and
Donald.
Donald graduated from Toombs Cen
tral in 1986 when it was a high school in
the dark ages and at that time Oxford was
probably the largest employer in Toombs
County. Some may even remember those
ancient days.
To be kind, Donald, who is a wonder
ful person but somewhat moderately in
tellectual, needed a job.
Through the auspices of Pineland
Mental Health, he was able to get on
with Oxford. Pineland asked him where
he would like to work, and he knew his
neighbor worked at Oxford and reasoned
if something happened he could ride to
work with her, so he chose Oxford.
He went to work with Oxford and af
ter a short period noticed he was treated
different than other employees, not bad,
but probably as a temporary, rather than a
regular employee.
He asked his super could he be an
employee like everyone else. The super,
who is still there this day, replied, “Will let
you know,” and he was put on as a regular
employee and has now worked there 31
years.
He cares for his bedridden mother
and every now and then has to leave work
to see about her. Oxford will often let an
employee go with him to help.
This is a rich story of good where
virtue prevails. Not for reward but altru
ism, good for good in itself. To know this
story is like a wave that rushes over us and
cleanses our minds and souls. We believe
this is what the Gods intended.
There was a black man who was be
ing arrested for a crime, the cameras were
there and he with voice full of emotion
said, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Oxford and Donald got along.
Duston Tapley
Vidalia, GA
Can Trump Supporters
Identify the Real Enemy?
Democrat
Joe Biden is now
President of the
United States.
Two Democrats
defeated two
Republican
incumbents to
represent
Georgia in the
U.S. Senate,
swinging the
balance of power in the Senate to the
Democrats who already control the
House of Representatives. Therefore,
you would think Georgia Republicans
have figured out by now who the enemy
is. Chances are you would have thought
wrong.
To quote the sage of the Okefenokee
Swamp, Pogo the Possum, “We have
met the enemy and he is us.” It seems
that once again Republicans are showing
their penchant for eating their dead.
This one you can lay at the feet of
Donald Trump. He has split the party as
wide open as a coconut. Angry
Republicans who believe the election
results were fraudulent write me and
avow they intend to get Gov. Brian
Kemp defeated should he seek a second
term next year. Not to mention Lt. Gov.
Geoff Duncan and beleaguered
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger
— all Republicans. Trump supporters
hold them and Attorney General Chris
Carr responsible for the president’s
defeat.
They seem to be assuming their
actions won’t create such a rift among
Republicans that they will be handing
the governor’s office on a silver platter to
Democrat Stacey Abrams, who will have
her party solidly behind her should she
seek the job. Bad assumption.
For the angry Trumpsters vowing
revenge, I will let you in on a little secret:
The governor of Georgia, whoever he or
she might be, has a lot of political clout.
They have a big say in who gets what
plum appointments on various boards
and state agencies, how state monies get
allocated and whether or not potholes
are going to get fixed in a certain state
legislator’s district. All of these translate
into loyalty and votes.
Over in the state Senate, Lt. Gov.
Geoff Duncan in his role as president of
that body has shown some muscle of his
own, stripping Sens. Brandon Beach of
Alpharetta and Burt Jones of Jackson —
both of whom vigorously pushed
Trump’s claims of election fraud — of
the chairmanship of two very influential
committees. Beach will no longer lead
the Transportation Committee, and
Jones is out as chairman of the Insurance
and Labor Committee.
Duncan also removed Sen. Matt
Brass of Newnan, who likewise claimed
election fraud as head of the influential
Senate Reapportionment and
Redistricting Committee that will have
a major role in redrawing Georgia’s
political maps for the next decade.
My point is if you plan on taking
these guys out, good luck with that.
They can play hardball, too.
I would recommend instead that
Republicans put the past behind them
and look at broadening their base by
appealing to more young people and
minorities before next year’s elections in
By Dick Yarbrough
our state. Like it or not, the presidential
election is over. Time to get over it. Do
you spend your time and energies
defending Donald Trump and his claims
of election fraud or do you move on?
No less an authority than former
three-term conservative Republican
Georgia Congressman Bob Barr said in
a recent column that Donald Trump’s
leadership over the past year, “was
clumsy and unclear, as Democrats and
media gadflies baited him into
distracting squabbles.” He adds that the
president “never appeared able or willing
to stop his emotions from getting the
best of him and in so doing allowed
pivotal moments to be defined not with
rising rhetoric and strong resolve, but
with tweets and ultimately unhelpful
symbolic stands.” Like the Capitol Hill
violence?
Barr says, “Such antics may be
excellent for whipping up a political
base but not for achieving long-term
victory.”
The GOP “must demonstrate
clearly and consistently its values to
voters by showing true leadership,” Barr
suggests, “that eschews emotional
reactivity and childish theatrics in favor
of calm, deliberate and uncompromising
focus on the values that made America
great — not the slogan, but the
substance.” Where is Ronald Reagan
when we need him?
In the meantime, Georgian
Republicans had better get their act
together quickly and decide who is in
fact the enemy. Hint: It is not state
officials who did their duty as they saw it
and had their decisions upheld without
exception despite being bullied and
harangued as well as being threatened
by anonymous scumbags.
I would suggest it might just be the
Democrats who are rubbing their hands
in gleeful anticipation at watching a
bunch of angry Trump supporters
winning an ideological battle and losing
the political war.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough
at dick@dickyarbrough.com; at P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/
dickyarb.
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