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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2008 BARROW JOURNAL PAGE 5A Did you get the calendar, Ma? Got your new calendar yet? You know the ones: the advertising cal endars that include reminders to buy your rheumatiz medicine or the latest liver pills. At City Pharmacy, Daddy carried the Cardui calendars and the Grier’s Almanac. About mid-December each year, we would have a steady stream of getters come through our doors looking for their next year’s diary. For the life of me, I don’t know who all those folks were. We only saw some of them once a year. They got their calendar and we wished them Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and sang God Bless America. We knew it'd be another year before we saw them again and didn’t want to miss an important occasion. We were glad for folks to have a calendar and almanac even if we didn’t see them any other time. God bless ‘em, if they were healthy enough to never go to the doctor, buy vitamins or need any Preparation H, we wanted to say “thank you’’ for hanging our calendars at their house. Healthy or not, you gotta have some thing to keep up with all the birthdays and anniversaries throughout the course of the year. And let’s not forget the traditional events of the Winder and Barrow County social scene. When I was growing up here back in the 60s and 70s, the mantra of my contemporaries was “there ain’t nothin’ to do in Winder.” So we’d hop in somebody's car and hightail it to Athens - where the college boys were... We didn’t go over to Gwinnett County - too redneck. After all, we were from Winder. We had our stan dards. So some three decades after heading off to my four-year paid vacation at the University of Georgia, I’ve come home to Winder where the kids are still complaining that “there’s nothin' to do.” Lo and behold, I have discovered a cor nucopia of events to fill the boxes on my Cardui calendar. Until now, it just had never occurred to me that Winder does, in fact, have lots to do - it was just all for my parents and their friends. Now I'm the parent and I'm taking a good look at me and my contemporaries: gray hair, no hair, potbellies, cellulite, baggy clothes and bifocals. I guess folks figure we need somebody to plan events for us. We don’t look like we’re capable of planning something for ourselves. Not long ago, I became aware that some imports into Winder - none of whom have been here less than five years - were feeling some what ostracized from Winder society. They heard us natives talking about people and places that haven't existed in years, but to whom/what we all refer as though they were still among us. I realized these folks were in a dilemma and needed a sort of Newcomer’s Guide for Those Still Trying to Break into Barrow County Society After Five Years. After church recently, Carole and Ridley Parrish suggested that a col umn on the events of our local society might be helpful for the newcomer wishing to assimilate into the commu nity. Notable see-and-be-seen events like The Ham & Egg Supper at the Winder First UMC the first Wednesday in November and the various Chicken Stews around the county came to mind right away: Bethlehem First UMC the second Saturday in November, at Winder First Christian the first Saturday in December, Midway Christian, Corinth UMC, and Nazareth UMC and many more. Don't fret if you've missed one of these. There are Chicken Stews around the county throughout the winter. (Psssst — If you don’t know what Chicken Stew is, just realize it is a local delicacy for which no self-respecting Barrow Countian would fail to become a connoisseur. There are finer points to Chicken Stew you must be able to discuss in detail at the next Bridge Club or civic organization meeting. How well someone can expound upon the attributes of various brands of Chicken Stew is the telltale sign of whether one is a true Barrow Countian.) When your freezer is full of chicken stew, there’s the Black Diamond Gala: A Novel Affair in January, the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce Banquet in February, Easter Cantatas at the churches in March or April (depending on how Easter falls that year), the Relay for Life every May. These are events one simply must attend to assimilate into local soci ety, the Parrishes reminded me. Additionally, you’ll want to watch these pages for notices about festivals and bazaars at the local churches or those sponsored by the various municipalities. Late summer and throughout the fall are good times for craft fairs, holiday bazaars, and the fall festivals. Looking for a calendar? Well, City Pharmacy isn’t around anymore, but check with your favorite drug store. If they have a calendar with the big boxes for each day and will throw in an almanac, you've hit pay dirt. Grab a pen and start making notes. If you're dedicated, diligent and determined, you can pull off naturalized Barrow Countian status in just over a year. Wishing you and your family a safe, joyous, and prosperous New Year! Helen Person is a product of Winder having been born and raised here. She did a 21-year exile in Gwinnett County from which she and her family returned in 2006. She loves being back home and can be reached at HelenPerson@ windstream.net. Sheriff Appreciation RETIREMENT CEREMONY Barrow County sheriff Joe Robinson is retiring following the completion of his term at the end of 2008. The veteran law enforcement officer was recently honored with a retirement banquet at the Winder Community Center. Robinson finishes his career with almost a quarter century in law enforcement. In recent years he oversaw a grow ing sheriff’s office which will soon move into a new facility. Georgia’s political winners and losers for past year IN ANY election year there will be roughly equal groups of winners and losers. Here are the Georgia political figures who can feel good (or bad) about their wins and losses of the past year. Winner: Saxby Chambliss. It’s incredible that a politician who did so much to alienate his supporters could still win reelection, but Chambliss did. During the 18 months prior to the 2008 general election, Chambliss appeared to go out of his way to annoy GOP vot ers: he was booed at the state Republican convention for his immigration reform bill, criti cized for sponsoring an expen sive farm subsidy bill, attacked on talk radio for negotiating with Democrats on an energy bill, and denounced for voting to spend $700 billion on the Wall Street bailout. Those positions pushed Chambliss dangerously close to defeat in the general elec tion - the mere fact that he was forced into a mnoff against a poorly financed Democrat has to be a major embarrass ment. But Chambliss’ support ers came home in the runoff and enabled him to coast to victory. Winner: the Georgia Republican Party. A Democratic wave in other states swept Barack Obama into the presidency and gave the party firmer control of Congress. Georgia’s GOP, however, was able to keep the state’s electoral votes in John McCain’s column and retain a hammerlock on the General Assembly. The party still looks like the best bet for victory in the 2010 governor’s race. Loser: the Georgia Democratic Party. You would be hard-pressed to name a state political orga nization that squandered a bigger opportunity than local Democrats did in 2008. They could have exploited the surge of black voters energized by Obama to win back some seats in the Legislature but Democrats failed to even put candidates on the ballot in sev eral competitive districts. Loser: Gov. Sonny Perdue. k # R Styles by Jackie Family Hair Care Announcing our new location at: 1141 Atlanta Hwy., Auburn 770-868-4474 Open: Mon., Thurs. & Fri. 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Late evenings by appointment Tues. & Wed. - Massage by appointment Saturdays 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. • Cuts • Foils • Shampoo & Sets • Color • Perms • Senior Specials Perdue’s sup porters hoped he would be picked as McCain’s vice presidential running mate or at least get an appointment to a McCain cabinet - but neither of those prospects worked out. He had also been seen as a can didate for the U.S. Senate in 2010, but that went by the wayside when Johnny isakson decided to run for another term. After a reelection campaign in 2006 where he boasted of saving Georgia from a $600 mil lion budget deficit, Perdue was forced to pull $600 million out of the state’s reserve fund in 2008 to erase a similar deficit. Under the Perdue administra tion, Georgia’s schools also continued to rank in the bottom 10 per cent while the state’s highways are among the most congested in the nation. With a record like that, why would he even want to serve out his last two years as gover nor? Winner: Glenn Richardson. Even with a well- publicized divorce, shouting matches with Perdue and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, and the collapse of his tax reform plan, Richardson was still able to fight off a challenge for the House speaker’s position from Rep. David Ralston. After all the huffing and puffing was over, House Republicans voted 75-25 to give Richardson anoth er two-year term as speaker. Winner: Johnny Isakson. Georgia’s senior senator, who had been mulling the 2010 race for governor, announced this year he’ll just run for anoth er Senate term instead. By not getting into a governor’s race he probably would have won, Isakson made sure he won’t have to spend four years dealing with legislative tem per tantrums over budget and tax issues. That’s a win right there. Loser: Jim Martin. Martin did what many thought was impossible by pushing heavily favored Saxby Chambliss into a runoff elec tion for the U.S. Senate. In the runoff, however, Martin performed about as poorly as he did in his 2006 race for lieutenant governor, draw ing less than 43 percent of the vote. Even in losing, though, Martin still earned the gratitude of Democrats both in Georgia and Washington. They will be eternally grateful that he at least prevented Vernon Jones from winning the Democratic primary. He could have been a win ner: Roy Barnes. If the former governor had been the Democratic nomi nee for the U.S. Senate this year instead of Martin, Barnes might well have knocked off Chambliss. Barnes is also seen as the party’s best hope for winning back the governor’s office in 2010. But will Roy run? He’s been asked the question but he won’t commit to a statewide race. Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report. His column appears each week in the Barrow Journal. He can be reached at tcrawford@caDitolimDact.net. Inventory Clearance Sale continues... Huge mark-downs on our China, Silver, Crystal and Giftware! We are closing out our Bridal and Giftware Department. SHOP NOW AND SAVE! 20 % tO 40 °' 0 ff all Diamond Jewelry, Watches, Earrings, Bracelets, Cultured Pearls, Honora and Lorenzo Evans Jewel Box 55 N. 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