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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. 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