Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The Braselton News
Page 5A
Other V ie ws
Culture of 80s
remains close to heart
Guest column
Chris Bridges
I guess most of us
have a time period that
we associate with fond
memories.
The reasons often are
silly, but that doesnft
change the fact that we
have nostalgic feelings
for a certain time in our
life. For me, that time frame involves the decade of the 1980s. The rea
sons are simple. Those were the prime years of my youth. Indeed, those
were my formative years.
Often times I find myself thinking that everything was better in the
80s. Realistically, I know that’s not true. All years, and all decades, have
both good and bad associated with them. The 1980s are no different. Yet,
the more time that goes by from the decade of big hair and parachute
paints, the more I paint a rosy picture of them.
Still, it’s fun to look back and remember my favorite decade even if I
do gloss over the not-so-pleasant memories and put the good ones on an
even higher pedestal. Earlier this fall when I was at the Banks County
football game at Union County, I heard an interesting thing that caught
my attention. It was Union County’s Senior Night and one of the students
being honored said one her interests was “anything from the 1980s.”
“Now, there’s a person after my own heart,” I thought before realizing
that this high school senior really only knows about that decade from
television flashback shows and TV show sets on DVD.
So, I figured maybe a test was in order to determine if you were really
around during the 1980s. See how many of these questions you can
answer with a “yes.”
•Do you remember that at one time MTV showed nothing but music
videos? There were no reality shows and no shows that have nothing to
do with music. There was nothing but music videos, 24-7.
•Do you remember that a video game in the mall meant playing Pac-
Man, Frogger and Centipede?
•Do you remember that a video game on your television meant the
Atari 2600?
•Do you remember when radio stations had live DJs 24-7 instead of
voice tracked shows or DJs who did the show from five states away?
•Do you remember when you could call a radio station, even the big
ones, and request a song and then hear said requested song played?
•For guys, do you remember the switchblade comb? Now you would
be suspended for a month for carrying ia deadly weapon! to school.
•Do you remember Velcro wallets and opening them in class just to
annoy the teacher?
•Do you remember Trapper Keepers and the colorful designs they used
to have? (See wallet for previously mentioned item about Velcro.)
•Do you remember Panama Jack T-shirts and being able to wear them
to school without violating a dress code?
•Do you remember when there were independent television stations
that would show “great” movies late at night? The later you could stay
up, the better the movie would be.
•For sports fans, do you remember Brent Musburger, Irv Cross and
Jimmy the Greek on the CBS pro football kickoff show “The NFF
Today?” with Musburger introducing it by with the classic opening,
“You are looking live....”
•Do you remember when CNN was the only 24-hour news station?
•And do you remember when cassettes fazed out records as the No. 1
music option?
Chris Bridges is a reporter for The Banks County News. Con tact him
at 706-367-2745 or e-mail comments to chris@mainstreetnews.com.
Grandparents are special
We recently celebrated
the 81 st birthday of my
grandfather with a family
get together and one of
those legendary chocolate
cakes. His house was full
of family members assem
bled to congratulate him
on his many accomplish
ments and thank him for his love and affection over the years.
As I sat on the sofa watching the celebration, I was overjoyed that
my children have the opportunity to know their great-grandfather, or
in this case, “Great-Papa.”
I am one of the fortunate ones. I knew many of my great-grandpar
ents; we suffered the loss of the last of my great-grandparents just this
year.
I still have all four of my grandparents, as well as two others gained
from my husband. (It was Bucky’s grandpa who recently reached the
birthday milestone.)
Grandparents foster memories of great times in the minds of all who
have them. They are the family members who allow cookies before
dinner, summer dips in the creek, fishing trips that last all day and
building of amazing forts - with Grandma’s best sheets, outside. They
seem to always have time to listen to stories and color in books.
I had a blessed childhood, having all of my grandparents close
enough for sleepovers and frequent visits.
I will never forget Saturday morning cartoons with “Ginky,” or the
trees Papa would cut down and then sprinkle with magic dust to turn
them into broccoli. Dances with Pop, my then much smaller feet on top
of his, have a special place in my heart. An impromptu trip on spaghetti
junction in the Fincoln is conjured up each time I smell burnt toast.
Cane poles, stringing beans, berry picking and tractor rides are my
memories of the farm owned by my father’s parents. A trip to the dump
with my Grandpa that yielded a bouquet of flowers collected from
many stops along the way remains one the nicest things anyone has
ever done for me. Grandparents are very special people.
As I grew-up, the special times changed. The Grandma who used to
serve the “usual” biscuit-and-gravy breakfast is now passing down the
recipe and a memory of cooking together.
The Grandpa who used to let me play in the dirt is now building a
swing set for my children.
Saturday morning cartoons were replaced with Saturday morning
coffee and long talks about life with Ginky.
Nighttime stories with Papa developed into a love of literature we
continue to discuss today.
My children are already learning that grandparents are a little differ
ent than everyone else. The 81-year-old Papa gives dollars. He enjoys
how excited she gets when he hands over the bill and she stuffs it in her
pocket, gives it a little pat with her hand and says, “Thanks.” (Annika
began collecting the money early on, and because he lives next door,
we are now considering mutual funds.)
She has her other papas wrapped around her little finger too; pouting
her lips out and crossing her arms to ask for a longer visit, or tossing a
smile to gain a few more M&M’s.
My children are blessed with three papas, two nanas, one Nan, one
Grandpa, one Grandma, a Pepaw, Billy, Bobbie and, of course, a Ginky;
that is 12 “elders” to gain wonderful memories of family from.
I hope as they grow, their hearts are filled with as much love and
pride as mine is for these special people.
Grandparents give gifts, give time, give knowledge, but most impor
tantly give love unconditionally and memories that last a lifetime.
April Reese Sorrow is a reporter for MainStreet Newspapers Inc. She
can be reached at april@mainstreetnews.com.
Guest column
April Reese
4 A
ift 'fr
Sorrow
Solutions needed for drought
Dear Editor:
Georgia is having a major
drought. We need to restrict the
amount of water we are using.
Fake Fanier loses about 1-2 inch
es of water a day and about 1.5k
feet a week.
Fake Fanier is a good place
to hang out, go wakeboarding,
boating, tubing, and tons of
other activities. With the recent
decrease in water, it has become
dangerous to do anything on the
lake. There are tons of trees on
the bottom of the lake and you
have to be careful of the depth at
all times.
We should do something about
the water usage and try to pre
serve the water that we have left.
Sincerely,
Eric Krawulski
Dear Editor:
The ‘no sag’ law is ridiculous.
People should be able to wear
what they want to be comfortable.
In the United States, we do have
freedom that our ancestors gave
us. Saggy pants are not hurting
anyone. Today, in society, police
and adults associate sagging with
gang activity or thugs. The fad is
to sag your pants. Society needs
to be less judged and blamed for
stupid reasons.
Sincerely yours,
Amanda Turner
Buford
Getting caught up
“Mom, can we
please go for a
walk?”
This was the fifth
time that my daugh
ter had asked the
question. We had
only been home for
an hour. I sighed a
little, stopped what I was doing and replied, “Sure, let’s go!” After
all, the mounds of laundry would still be there when we returned.
The details of daily living can sometimes be a little overwhelming.
Somehow, there just never seems to be enough hours in a day, nor
enough days in the week. The months go by quickly and before you
know it, another year has passed.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. As long as we wear
clothes, there will be clothing to wash. As long as we cook and eat,
there will be dishes to clean. As long as we track in dirt, there will be
dirt to vacuum. Dust will always somehow magically reappear, and
paperwork piles will grow.
Like most people, I usually have to play catch up on weekends
when it comes to housework, sorting through stacks of mail and run
ning errands. Last weekend there was a sense of fall in the air. I had a
long to-do list, but didn’t necessarily want to spend the valuable time
trapped inside of the house or car.
I came up with a plan, then sat the family down and made them an
offer that they couldn’t resist. They agreed that they would cooperate
and we all got to work.
We spent a couple of hours folding laundry, then as a reward
popped a big bowl of popcorn and sat in the driveway and talked.
Next, we emptied trashcans and cleaned bathrooms. After finishing
those two tasks, we took a long nature walk. We collected brightly
colored leaves, acorns and pinecones.
Next, we vacuumed, mopped and then dusted the furniture. When
finished, we made candied apples, roasted marshmallows over the
grill and sipped hot cocoa.
As the weekend came to a close, the house was clean, the paper
work was done and the laundry was all put away. Working together
as a team allowed us extra time to all enjoy one another’s company,
as well as the beautiful surroundings that nature had to offer during
the change of seasons.
I am happy to say that not only did we do a little catching up on
the housework, we got caught up in spending a little quality time
together.
Sherri Stephens is a South Jackson resident. She may be contacted
at charmbug5 @ hotmail. com.
Hoschton police chief
thanks supporters
Dear Editor:
On behalf of all the officers
and staff of the Hoschton Police
Department, I would like to thank
everyone who had participated
in the “Blue Fight Auction” on
Saturday, Nov. 10.
From all reports that I have
received a dollar amount of over
$12,000 was made off of this great
event. There are some very special
people that I have already thanked
personally who gave much of their
time and money to make this event
a success, and once again I thank
you. I would also like to thank
all the other businesses and indi
viduals who donated items for the
nights auction, you are all great
assets to this community.
The police department has not
had time to formally decide what
will be done with the funds, howev
er we are leaning towards keeping
the account open at the Hamilton
State Bank in Hoschton (if pos
sible), asking the Blue Fight
Committee to remain in tack, and
the when items are needed for the
department, we would write let
ters of request for the committee
to review and in order to keep up
with what the funding is used for.
Sincerely,
Dave Hill
Hoschton police chief
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