Newspaper Page Text
gfre Aiiuancg
The ADVANCE, December 29, 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
Christmas Love
A few years ago,
I interviewed a man
named Courtney
Taylor. Courtney
is the Emergency
Management Sys
tems (EMS) Direc
tor at the local hos
pital, and during my interview, I asked him
about his job, his background, his interests,
and his family
I’m no Barbara Walters. People seldom
tear up or cry during my interviews, but
during my interview with Courtney Taylor,
something he relayed to me caused him to
get emotional and made my eyes well up,
too. The moment came after I asked him
about his father and an annual Christmas
toy drive.
“Gordon EMS always has a toy drive
before Christmas,”
Courtney told me.
“That community
project is very im
portant to me. I look
forward to it every
year.”
He got quiet,
cleared his throat,
then shared a power
ful memory with me.
“My parents
were always involved
in the community,”
he said. “My dad par
ticipated in the Elk’s Club toy drive every
year. When I was about nine or ten, he al
lowed me to go with him and the other men
to help deliver Christmas gifts to needy
families all around Gordon County.”
It was a few days before Christmas and
the Elk’s Club entourage drove up to a clus
ter of rusted-out mobile homes and started
offloading toys and gifts and taking them in
side one of the mobile houses.
“On our way back out to the truck, my
dad and I noticed a little boy sitting off to
the side of the yard crying, so we walked
over and talked to him,” Courtney said. “We
asked him why he was crying, and he said
that Santa had forgotten him — again. My
dad said, ‘No, no, we are just helping Santa
with his early deliveries. Christmas isn’t for
a few more days, and so Santa will come
with your gifts then.’”
There was another pause in Courtney’s
story.
“The little boy looked up at us and said,
‘But Santa never comes to my house. He
never remembers me.’”
Courtney said that his dad processed
the comment for a moment, then turned
and walked over to the truck and retrieved a
slip of paper. He returned to where the little
boy sat crying with the paper in his hand
and pretended to read it.
“My dad asked him, ‘What’s your name,
son?’ And the little boy told him his name.
And my dad said, ‘Oh, here you are. You’re
on the early delivery list, too. Right here.
We’ve got you down for tomorrow. We’re
delivering your toys tomorrow.”
The little boy’s face lit up, and Court
ney, his father, and the other men left.
After the encoun
ter with the little boy,
Courtney’s dad was
a man on a mission.
He raised more mon
ey that night for that
one child than he had
all month for the oth
ers. They shopped
the following day
and purchased doz
ens of great gifts and
delivered them to the
little boy — the boy
Santa Claus forgot.
“That’s what I remember about my fa
ther,” Courtney said, choking back tears.
“That’s the kind of man he was. That story
says it all. He was full of compassion for oth
ers. He helped people. He gave them hope.”
Each year, as I purchase toys and other
items for needy children in my community,
I often think back to Courtney’s story. I
think it signifies the Christmas spirit — giv
ing love to family, friends, and total strang
ers — and making sure no one feels forgot
ten or left out.
I bet the little boy from Courtney’s
story still remembers that Christmas — the
year Santa didn’t forget him.
I hope all of you had a lovely Christmas,
and most of all, I hope all of you had an op
portunity to brighten someone else’s day.
Happy New Year!
From the Porch
By Amber Nagle
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
Inmate Apologizes A Heartfelt Thank
to Citizens of You for Help in
Toombs County Time of Need
My name is Simon Dixon, I am an
inmate that is incarcerated in Valdosta,
Georgia.
This letter is to apologize for the
crimes I committed on May 25, 2014, in
Vidalia. When I committed these crimes,
I was living an evil and selfish life, not
having any compassion and sympathy
for anyone, not even my family and real
friend. No one’s feelings mattered to me
but my own. It took losing my family and
my freedom for life to realize that I needed
to change my life and my ways of acting.
It took me 6 years to make a change, but
on December 8, 2020, I gave my whole
life/self to Christ. I asked Him to please
forgive me and to take control of my life
and my actions. Now, one year, December
11,1 have been living by the Word of God
and showing my love for others around
me. God is using me to help other men
to find their lost salvation, by praying and
reading the Bible to them in a little group
each evening at 6 p.m. God has put this
letter on my heart to write and to ask all
of Toombs County men and women to
please accept my apology and forgive me
of any and all wrongs and crimes I com
mitted against your loved ones and you.
May God bless you all.
Truthfully and Respectfully,
Simon Dixon
I want to extend my heartfelt thank
you to the gentleman who stopped and
helped to get my car out of a ditch.
On Friday, December 17, about 6:15
p.m., I turned into a driveway too sharply
and my right front tire went into a shallow
ditch where it lost traction. I was stuck!
Several folks stopped to insure I did
not have an injury but did not have the
type of vehicle needed. This gentleman
in a large Ford FI50 stopped, said he had
a chain and would get me on the road
quickly. Indeed he did. I thank this good
Samaritan for this much needed help.
I also thank the Toombs County
Deputy who gave assistance with traffic
control as the road was dangerous with all
the traffic.
Again, THANK YOU to all those
who stopped, inquired if I was injured,
if I needed assistance to get me back on
the road safely. I do not think I adequately
thanked the gentleman sufficiently for his
help.
Sincerely,
James H. “Jim” Harrell
Vidalia, GA
A tribute to a good friend
and a great statesman
This is a
column I wish
I didn’t have to
write. It is
about my
friend, Johnny
Isakson. You
have seen, read
and heard a lot
about Georgia’s
senior senator
who passed
away on Dec. 19 after a long and
courageous battle with Parkinson’s
Disease. He was 76 years old.
Tributes have poured in from both
Republicans and Democrats. To my
knowledge, Donald Trump has not
issued one of his tasteless statements
about the passing of Johnny Isakson.
That is a surprise given that the senator
gave Trump a verbal butt-kicking for his
incessant attacks on the late Arizona
Sen. John McCain, who died of brain
cancer in August 2018. Most
Republicans don’t have the guts to take
on Donald Trump. Johnny Isakson
wasn’t most Republicans.
“It’s deplorable what he (Trump)
said,” Isakson told an interviewer. “I just
want to lay it on the line, that the
country deserves better, the McCain
family deserves better. I don’t care ifhe’s
president of United States, owns all the
real estate in New York or is building
the greatest immigration system in the
world. Nothing is more important than
the integrity of the country and those
who fought and risked their lives for all
of us.” That is what made Johnny
Isakson who he was - a man of principle.
During the runup to the 1996
Centennial Olympic Games, Cobb
County made international news with
the passage of a so-called Family Values
resolution which was a basically a
declaration condemning the gay
lifestyle.
I was the point man for the Atlanta
Committee for the Olympic Games
trying to get the matter resolved. We
had to make a decision either to spend
the next year dealing with protests
across the country - including the real
chance that our Torch Relay would be
targeted and continually harassed - or
move a preliminary volleyball venue
somewhere else.
Extremists ruled the day, including
many of the churches in Cobb County.
Given the over-the-top rhetoric from
the Christian right, I thought them
neither Christian nor right.
While most of the local politicians
were telling us privately they supported
our efforts, in public they blew with the
political wind. Not Johnny Isakson.
Then a state senator, he saw the damage
the controversy was doing to the
county’s image. He issued a strong
statement calling the resolution a
mistake. He went against the political
grain and said what he believed.
When we couldn’t find a middle
ground and decided to move the venue
to Athens, House Speaker Newt
Gingrich, who represented Cobb
County, went ballistic and called it the
“worst decision in history.” It was not
long after that Gingrich flamed out and
left the House to be replaced by - guess
who? - Johnny Isakson. God does have
a sense of humor.
By Dick Yarbrough
In another of God’s coincidences,
Johnny died one year to the day after
the Woman Who Shared My Name.
She loved him better than buttered
bread, which was quite a compliment
because she cared little about politics
and even less about politicians. Johnny
Isakson was the notable exception.
Her favorite story was about the
day he called the house. She answered
and they got into a lengthy conversation
about a bunch of stuff having nothing
to do with politics. As they finished up
she said, “I guess you want to talk to
Dick now.” His reply? “I didn’t call
Dick. I called you.” End of conversation.
I don’t know how many times she told
that story, but it was a lot.
The fact that at Christmastime he
plied her with poundcake he made
from his grandmother’s recipe didn’t
hurt, either.
I never took advantage of our
friendship, but in June 2017,1 asked if
he could meet 8-year-old great-
grandson Cameron Charles Yarbrough
and have their picture taken together.
Just a quick in-and-out in his office,
knowing how busy he was. He not only
met Cameron, he took him out on the
balcony at the Capitol and spent 45
minutes in conversation with him about
Washington, our system of government
and the U.S. Senate. What we did not
know was that later that day, he was on
the floor of the Senate getting a
landmark piece of legislation passed,
concerning the Veteran’s
Administration.
There is so much more I would like
to tell you about Johnny Isakson, but
suffice it to say, we will never see his
likes again and we are poorer for it. The
Republican Party that he helped build
into the majority party in Georgia has
turned into one of threats, insults and
headline-seeking bozos. In my opinion,
the whole crowd is nothing but a bunch
of RINOS. Johnny Isakson was the real
deal. A great statesman. I will miss him
very much. May he rest in peace.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@
dickyarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, At
lanta, Georgia 31139 or on Facebook at www.
facebook.com/dickyarb.
^Ainianre
(The Advance Publishing Co., Inc)
PO Box 669, 205 E. First Street,
Vidalia, GA 30475
Telephone: (912) 537-3131 FAX: (912) 537-4899
E-mail: theadvancenews@gmail.com
The Advance, U. S. P. S. #659-000, successor to The Advance and The
Lyons Progress, entered weekly at Vidalia, GA Post Office. Periodical
Postage paid at Vidalia, GA 30474 under Act of Congress, March
4, 1886. P.O. Box 669, East First Street, Wm. F. Ledford, Sr. Publisher.
Subscription Rates per year: $40.00 in county, $55.00 out of 304
zip code. (POSTMASTER: send address changes to The ADVANCE,
P.O. Box 583, Vidalia, GA 30475).
Copyright © 2021, Advance Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. The design,
concept and contents of The Advance are copyrighted and may not be
reproduced in part or whole without written permission from the publisher.
R.E. "LID" LEDFORD, PUBLISHER
1924-1976
WILLIAM F. “BILL” LEDFORD SR., PUBLISHER
1976-2013
Publisher & Managing Editor:
WILLIAM F. LEDFORD JR.
Vice President:
THE LATE ROSE M. LEDFORD
Regional Editor:
DEBORAH CLARK
Pagination/Typography:
LEANNE RICHARDSON
Quality Control:
MILLIE PERRY
Staff Writer:
MAKAYLEE RANDOLPH
Contributing Writers:
JOE PHILLIPS, JOHN CONNER, DICK YARBROUGH & AMBER NAGLE
Graphic Design:
MATTHEW WATERS
Sports Editor/Graphic Design:
MIKE BRANCH
Director of Advertlslng/Sales:
DANIEL FORD
Office Manager:
BONNIE BAILEY
Financial Manager:
CINDY LAWRENCE
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
ASSOCIATION
Member of the Georgia Press
Association and the National
Newspaper Association
