Newspaper Page Text
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SATURDAY,
• SEPTEMBER 2, 2006
Local
theatre..,
Warner Robins Little
Theatre opens
Exorcism on Eletson
Friday at 8 p.m. with seven
evening performances. In
addition to the shows on
Friday and Saturday, there
will be performances on
Sept. 14-16, Sept. 21-23,
and two Sunday matinees
(Sept. 10 and 17) at 2:30
p.m.
This play was written
by local playwright Peggy
Vesely and is directed by vet
eran Warner Robins direc
tor, Jerry Reppert.
For reservations, call 929-
4579, beginning Monday
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets
are sl2 for adults, $8 for
seniors (Sundays only), and
$8 for students.
Auditions for Romantic
Comedy are Sept. 11 and
12 at 7:30 at the theatre on
Pleasant Run Drive. Emily
Carver will be making her
directing debut, and she
needs four women and two
men to fill the roles, so ya’ll
come, ya hear.
Perry Players opens
On Golden Pond Sept. 8.
Performances are at 8 p.m.,
Friday and Saturday with
further performances Sept.
13-16.
The one matinee perfor-
mance is
Sept. 10
at 2:30
p.m.
Todd
Wilson, an
acclaimed
local
actor, the
announc
er for the
Macon
Knights
□
Jane Winston
The Left Rail
and an accomplished direc
tor, is at the helm of On
Golden Pond.
Movie and book
I recently went to see
the movie The Night
Listener, reminiscent of a
Hitchcochian thriller. The
movie was good but a bit
difficult for me to follow.
The draw for me was Robin
Williams as I am a Williams
fan.
He was good in the role of
Gabriele Noone - the late
night radio storyteller who
has risen to national fame
in San Francisco - but, to
me, he was in some ways
merely an extension of Sean
Maguire from Good Will
Hunting.
The movie is a psycho
logical thriller based on the
internationally best selling
novel by Armistead Maupin,
and I have now added the
novel to my virtual stack of
books to read.
Perry High School golf
tournament
Perry High School is host
ing a two-person scramble
golf tournament to benefit
the Perry High School var
sity girls’ basketball team
at Waterford golf course on
Highway 96 Sept. 23. The
SSO per person tournament
includes lunch at noon,
range balls, 18-holes of golf
and two mulligans.
For further information
contact Coach Bradley at
900-6298.
Totally Tubular
The first telethon was a
cancer fund in 1949.
The first toy ad was Mr.
Potato Head in 1946.
The first network soap
opera was in 1946.
The first wrestling was
seen on TV in 1945.
The first color ad was Jello
pudding and pie filling in
1951.
The first show in reruns
was “The Lone Ranger” in
1953.
Until next week
“Yesterday is a canceled
check: Forget it. Tomorrow
is a promissory note: Don’t
count on it. Today is ready
cash: Use it” - Edwin C.
Bliss
facLie Cooper lo sign IdooLs at P erry Li or ary
Wednesday Afternoon Book Club will
host events and serve refreshments
By CHARLOTTE
PERKINS
Journal Lifestyle Editor
There’s good
news for Jackie
Cooper fans.
The Perry
author’s newest
book, “The Bookbinder”
is hot off the press and
readers will have a chance
to meet the author, buy
a book and have it auto
graphed on Sept. 9 at the
Perry Library. The event,
hosted by the Wednesday
Afternoon Book Club, will
be from 2 to 4.
“We would like to invite
everyone to support our own
Houston County author,”
said Dawne Watson of the
Book Club.
Refreshments will be
served.
Cooper, is well-known
in this area as an enter
tainment writer and radio
personality. His three ear
lier memoirs, “Journey of
a Gentle Southern Man,”
“Chances and Choices,”
and “Halfway Home, “
2)ot Pouykton; Perry leyerJ, leader cmd frieJ
K&
;j r 1
i I fflp
I I
Dot Roughton
One person’s Monet, is another person’s Manet
I have come to the con
clusion that you can tell
a lot about a person by
how they paint a room.
My husband and I have
been hard at work on the
project of fixing up a school
room for our new home
schooling venture with our
sons. Part of that project
included painting some
dark wood-paneled walls.
The fun began with the
primer. Oh, the joy of it all.
Is there anything more dif
ficult and frustrating to do
than apply a coat of primer
to paneling? I wonder.
Our 6-year-old son begged
to help paint his “school
house” so we put him to
work on a small section
hidden away under a shelf
and we tackled the rest of
the room. Or I should say
I tackled the tedious trim
and my husband tackled
Lifestyle
Sr
s'
COOPER
have been a hit with read
ers as well being critically
acclaimed by other writers.
“The Bookbinder: More
Stories from the Road,”
is published by Mercer
University Press, and is a
collection of memories of
both small town life and
journeys to big cities for
preview showings and cast
the rolling.
My son tackled his job
with gusto, and made some
won
der f u 1
designsof
dripped
primer
on the
floor and
shelves
as he
painted
away.
The floor
would
□
Sherri Martin
The Front Porch
eventually be covered with
carpet; the spotted shelves
will remain a reminder of
his hard work.
I also attacked my job
with gusto, and soon found
myself leaving matching
drippings to my son’s. I
cringed, for I knew my hus
band would roll his eyes at
the mess.
interviews.
Cooper’s radio show is
aired on Georgia Public
Broadcasting radio stations
at 6:35 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.,
and can be heard online at
www.gpb.org/public/radio/.
St. John Flynn of GPB
has said of the new book,
“There is a wise man in
Georgia by the name of
Jackie K Cooper. His wis
dom stems from his fervent
humanity which is embla
zoned across every page of
‘The Bookbinder.’
Set forth in these pages
are the simple things that
make us human and bind
us together as we weep or
as we laugh, as we regret
or as we rejoice. Jackie K
Cooper is indeed the book
binder, and he has learned
his trade well.”
Bestselling author Jeffrey
Deaver has also praised
Cooper’s new book as “a
truly moving look at life in
the South," and compared
Cooper’s writing with that
of Walker Percy and Shelby
Foote.
By Billy Powell
Journal Contributing Writer
I am proud to call Dot Roughton my
friend. HJ is importance to this commu
nity is difficult to quantify in words, but
Mayor Jim Worrall came dose when he
said: “It is difficult to think of Perry
without Dot Roughton.” The Lord called
Dot home Aug. 24, at the age of 86.
I could speak long about Dot’s big heart
and his generosity. Dot would give you
the shirt off his back. I could go on and
on about what he has meant to people
like me and others whom he took under
his wing when we were youngsters grow
ing up in Perry. I could tell you about
his being a caring city councilman who
always put the citizens first. But what
can I tell you about Dot that you don’t
already know?
I will start last February when the
old Perry school was named after Coach
Eric Staples. Dot wanted so badly to sit
on the stage with the other Perry bas
ketball greats, but was too ill. The first
thing I told Sen. Sam Nunn when he sat
down beside me was that Dot was ill and
unable to attend. I instinctively knew
the senator would be taking inventory
of the players being honored and would
wonder why Dot wasn’t among them. You
see Dot was the senator’s hero, too. Dot
was a great basketball player and start
ing guard on one of the greatest quintets
in Perry basketball history - the highly
acclaimed 1940 team. Many of Dot’s
teammates had gone on before him. They
were awaiting his arrival at the old gym.
Why the old gym? You see, the old gym
burned down in 1969 and now resides
at 101 Pearly Gates Boulevard. As Dot
stepped inside the portals of heaven to
I admit, I let him think
more of them were courtesy
of the 6-year-old, than of the
35-year-old. Hey, what good
are children if you can’t
blame some of the mess on
them?
Before long, I had paint
all over my hands, on my
T-shirt, on my shorts, in
between my toes and on
my heel. My son had paint
on his shirt, his shorts,
his hands and his legs. My
husband had paint on the
walls.
After a while, my son’s
and my attention spans had
about had it. He left to go
play with his little brother
and Ma and I begged my
husband to swap and let
me do the rolling. Happily,
I painted away, humming
and rolling, rolling and
humming.
Then I heard my hus-
The
Bookbinder
-J “ r
Submitted
Jackie Cooper, Perry author, will sign copies of his new
est book, “The Bookbinder.”
begin his first 10,000 years with the Lord,
he was met at center court by teammates
HdSclaw; Bill Himjfc^ph^or^nd
mentor, Eric Staples.
The big fight on the county line in
1937 has always stirred everyone’s imagi-
Fort Valley girl. As a result, Webb and
the other suitor had a fight on the streets
of Fort Valley. Webb soundly whipped
the Fort Valley boy. That made the Fort
Valley folks as mad as wet hens. They
sought revenge, so a few days later a Fort
Valley gang assembled near Bay Creek
and issued a challenge for a showdown.
Dot was minding his business, watching
a movie in the old Roxy Theater, when
the Perry boys came to get him. When
the Perry group arrived at Bay Creek,
so many boys were assembled that both
sides feared someone would be seriously
hurt. The decision was made to select a
fighter from each town. The Peny crowd
selected Dot.
The Fort Valley contingent sent an
emissary to town and brought back the
state golden gloves champion, Rudolph
Cannon, to represent them. It was mutu
ally decided that a boxing match would be
held; not a nasty brawl, but one embrac
ing all the rules. A referee was chosen
who happened to be the Fort Valley police
chiefs son. The two boys fought for 32
minutes with neither boy giving any
quarter. Rudolph Cannon sustained a
deep cut and was bleeding so profusely
See ROUGHTON, page 4B
band’s sigh of exasperation.
I glanced up in time to see
him looking at the walls I
had rolled, then comparing
them to the walls he had
rolled. “I thought this was
what you majored in in col
lege,” he joked, referring to
the nickname for the early
childhood education degree
I earned at Georgia.
“Hey, that was Cut and
Paste, not Roll and Paint,”
I protested.
We finally had to quit for
the evening, as the paint
fumes had us both feel
ing lightheaded and dizzy,
and slightly nauseous.
No chance of either of us
becoming drug addicts, I
thought.
Also no chance of either
of us painting again with
out being sure we have ade
quate ventilation.
The next day we finished
SECTION
B
up and made quick work
of the lovely shade of blue
we painted over the primer.
Paint is so much more coop
erative than primer.
Throughout the project,
my husband never got a
drop of paint anywhere on
him.
I still have primer in my
cuticles. As I said, I think
you can tell a lot about a
person by how they paint a
room. I learned I don’t like
the tediousness of it, while
my husband does well with
the methodical approach.
And I learned I am very,
very good at making a royal
mess.
Beyond that, I’m not sure
what else I learned.
Except that its handy to
have a 6-year-old and some
heavy paint fumes around
on which to blame the
mess.