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♦ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2007
8A
Lost friend reminds me of what is important in life
Don’t look now, but
Thanksgiving is just
around the corner. It’s a
good time to get things in perspec
tive, to reflect on all the things for
which we have
to be thankful.
In truth, we
should never
let the sun set
without giving
thanks for our
blessings, but
we are usually
too focused on
being nibbled to
death by ducks
to appreciate
how good we
Dick Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
have it. It’s called human nature.
I may be the world’s worst at
keeping things in perspective. I
have spent most of my life grind
ing over matters that history has
determined were of little or no con
sequence, even though I deemed
Playing the politics of racial insult: Who decides?
If there’s an insult to be
milked the professional
victims will rush in, sell
some T-shirts, fire up their
bullhorns, make the media
rounds,
issue their
21-point
demands,
and then
recede
until the
next race
hustling
opportu
nity comes
along.
Thanks
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
to his bipartisan enablers in
politics and the media, lead
ing civil rights charlatan A 1
Sharpton never lacks a stage.
Still surfing on the wave of
publicity over the Jena Six
case in Louisiana, Sharpton
is scheduled to lead an anti
hate crimes demonstration
on Nov. 16 in Washington,
D.C., outside the Justice
Department. He’s targeting
both the Bush administra
tion and Democrats who he
thinks haven’t pandered
enough to him and his small
flock of career shakedown
artists.
Sharpton complained that
the Democrat presidential
candidates didn’t address
his agenda in recent debates.
“Hate crimes and racism
and Jena never came up one
time. Even the Democrats
have not, in our judgment,
raised their voices to the
WALKER
From page 4A
who loved me and whom
I loved. This helps to give
a fellow a good start. And,
now departed, Aunt Lillian.
What a rock! And, a ‘clever
rock’ at that.
■ Hershey. A big, open,
roaring fire. Cool breezes.
Dental floss. Hairspray. The
Antique Road Show. A king
sized bed. College football.
Hal’s on Old Ivy. Charly
Marshall. The seasons of the
year. Sunday School teach
ers. Metamucil. The Good
Book. Music. Shag Music.
Robert E. Lee. Bear Bryant.
Billy Graham. Catalpa
worms. Safety razors.
Toothpaste. Garbage col
lectors. Electricity. A pur
TAX
From page 4A
the issues of taxation
open for public discus
sion and debate, and
there is general support
for tax reform, but the
plan he reportedly plans
to present to the Georgia
House of Representatives
at the beginning of the
2008 session is troubling
to virtually all of Houston
County’s local elected
officials.
The Perry City Council
has voted to stand with
the Georgia Municipal
Association in opposition
to the plan.
Houston County
Commissioner Tom
them the world’s most important
issues at the time. While I was
tilting at windmills, I was ignoring
a lot of things that, in retrospect,
really mattered. Sadly, I am still
inclined in that direction.
Take the case of my best child
hood buddy, Charles Wesley Dobbs,
better known to all as Charlie. We
met on the first day of school in
the seventh grade at Jere Wells
Elementary in East Point and
became inseparable. We went to
the same high school together
(Russell High), attended Georgia
State College (now Georgia State
University) together and double
dated on weekends. As a matter
of fact, his first girlfriend later
became the Woman Who Shares
My Name.
Charlie Dobbs was the funni
est human being to ever inhab
it Planet Earth. He was voted
“Most Witty” by the senior class
at Russell. Nobody else was even
level they should,” Sharpton
complained in an Associated
Press piece on his upcoming
demagogue-a-thon.
Politicians would be wise
to stay away from the Jena
Six case on the debate stage
and campaign trail, however,
because the popular narra
tive of innocent young black
men being victimized by
the bigoted white Southern
establishment is as slippery
as A 1 Sharpton’s hairdo.
Jena Times newspaper assis
tant editor Craig Franklin
demolishes the myths of the
“whites-only tree,” the truth
about the supposed “model
youth” who comprised the
Jena Six, the bogus claim
that the Jena Six gang’s
attack on a white victim was
related to a noose-hanging
incident, the smears against
his city and other falsehoods
at www.thejenatimes.net.
“As with the Duke Lacrosse
case, the truth about Jena
will eventually be known,”
Franklin wrote in a recent
piece for the Christian
Science Monitor. “But the
town of Jena isn’t expect
ing any apologies from the
media. They will probably
never admit their error and
have already moved on to the
next ‘big’ story. Meanwhile
in Jena, residents are getting
back to their regular routines,
where friends are friends
regardless of race. Just as it
has been all along.”
As for the members of
pose. Character. Characters.
Peaches. Family history.
A job. Dreams. Memories.
Santa Clause. Differences.
Tolerance. Sense of Humor.
Love. A covey rising and a
sun going down.
H Egg custard pie. Boiled
peanuts. Parched peanuts in
ice cold “Cocola”. Coconut
Meringue pie. Chocolate
milk shakes. Pizza. Ice
cream. Barbequed ribs,
pork and chicken. Creamed
ham on toast. Boiled cus
tard. Tomato sandwiches.
Hot biscuits (homemade)
and syrup. Fried chicken.
Caramel cake. Fried catfish.
Cheeseburgers. Slaw dogs.
Larry Walker sandwich.
This could go on forever. So,
I’ll say, good food and plenty
of it.
| ‘Fessor Staples. Mr. Glea
McMichael, who is cur
rently chairman of the
Georgia Association
County Commissioners,
has spoken out on behalf
of county governments.
Pam Greenway,
Chairman of the
Houston County Board
of Education, and other
board members have
also been public in their
opposition.
We agree with Dawkins
that Perdue deserves our
thanks for trying to put the
brakes on Richardson’s
plan.
Perdue has pointed out
that both Michigan and
Florida have encountered
problems with broaden
ing their sales taxes, and
in the running. He was also auda
cious to the max. When we gradu
ated from high school, Charlie and
I hitchhiked to Daytona Beach
something that would be unheard
of today. Coming home, we were
flat broke. Fortunately, two guys
headed for Detroit picked us up in
middle Georgia. They were return
ing from Miami where they had
lost all their money gambling,
were low on gas and were trying
to reach Chattanooga to borrow
money from a relative to get them
home. To me, they looked like
gangsters. But not to my friend,
Charles Wesley Dobbs. To him,
they looked like opportunity.
“You are in luck,” Charlie
announced grandly from the back
seat. “I happen to know a shortcut
to Chattanooga.” While I held my
breath, he proceeded to guide them,
up through the state, into the city
of East Point and about one block
from his house. As we got out of
the Jena Six, they seem to
have learned to do the victim
hustle quite well from men
tor Sharpton. The Chicago
Tribune’s Howard Witt
reported this weekend that
some of the defendants are
literally rolling in dubious
dough. Robert Bailey, one of
the Jena Six youths, posted
photos of himself mugging for
the cameras with SIOO bills
stuffed in his mouth and cov
ering his bed. “[CJontroversy
is growing over the account
ing and disbursing of at least
$500,000 donated to pay for
the teenagers’ legal defense,”
Witt reported. “There are
definitely questions out
there about the money,”
Alan Bean, director of a
Texas-based group, Friends
of Justice, told the Tribune.
“I hate to even address this
issue because it inevitably
will raise questions as to all
of the money that has been
raised ... “
Inevitably, those who dare
ask such pesky questions
will be accused of racism
and blaming the “victims.”
Sharpton and company will
continue to deflect tough
scrutiny by hiding behind
rope imagery.
Indeed, they’re invok
ing the recent Columbia
University noose-hanging
incident to promote their
nationwide fight against
“Confederates” - never mind
the lack of suspects and the
suspicious odor surrounding
Gray. Bobby Branch. Shorty
Foster. Herman Talmadge.
Seabie Hickson. Joe Hodges.
Solomon Brown. Amos
Brown. Earl Smith. Wilson
Martin. D. C. Peterson. Dr.
Gallemore. Buddy Tolleson.
Mell Tolleson. Donald
Brand. Mr. “Big Hoss”
Johnson. Frances Johnson.
Dot Roughton. Emmette
Cater. Hentz Houser. Cooper
Jones.-Ruby Hodges. Sarah
Kezar. Elmo Thrash. They
are gone, but they are not
forgotten.
I’ve just gotten started,
and I’ve got to quit. Space
requirements already
exceeded. Isn’t it wonder
ful to have so much to be
thankful for that you can’t
get it in the allotted space?
Thanksgiving: It’s got to be
it.
that Georgia is in good
shape financially. He has
also characterized it as a
tax shift, not a tax cut.
Richardson's proposal
would be to place the
question on the 2008
ballot as a constitutional
amendment, which, if it
were passed and turned
out to be a fiscal mistake,
would make it very dif
ficult to repair.
We hope that the gov
ernor’s unwillingness to
support this plan, in com
bination with the outspo
ken opposition of local
elected officials across the
state will give members
of the General Assembly
good reason not to jump
on this bandwagon.
OPINION
the Columbia case, which
remains unsolved despite 60
hours of security tape and
more than a month of prob
ing. The inexorable rhythm
of the politics of racial insult
is interrupted only when the
insulter doesn’t fit the left
wing grievance narrative.
Which explains in part why
former GOP Sen. George
Allen’s infamous “Macaca”
gaffe was covered by the
national news media like it
was Armageddon, while a
female Louisiana Democrat
who this week called a black
civil rights leader’s mother
“Buckwheat” (after the ste
reotypical “Little Rascals”
character) barely warranted
a blip on the outrage-o-meter.
No pockets to pick, no bribes
to extract from protesting a
case of abject stupidity that
can’t be spun into institu
tional racism for partisan
gain.
Sometimes, a thoughtless
insult is just a thoughtless
insult. Sometimes, the hate
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the car, he informed the Mafia
looking guys that just around the
curve ahead, they would see a
big sign that would indicate that
they were on the outskirts of
Chattanooga. Of course, that was
baloney. Chattanooga was more
than a hundred miles from East
Point. As they drove off, Charlie
waved, wished them well on their
journey, and as they rounded the
curve, he looked at me and yelled
“Run!” We were safely at home
laughing ourselves silly before
those poor guys realized what had
happened. I wouldn’t be surprised
if there isn’t still a contract out on
us to this day.
Charlie left Georgia State my
sophomore year, and I transferred
to the University of Georgia. Later,
we both married and slowly drifted
apart. It has been more than 25
years since I last saw him.
A few weeks ago, I learned that
Charles Wesley Dobbs, my boyhood
is fake. When will we stop
allowing Sharpton and his
ilk to make every single one
of these incidents a federal
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friend, had died. I am ashamed to
say that I had not stayed in touch
with him. I would like to blame
it on how busy I was carving out
a career and raising a family, but
that is not true. I let less impor
tant things get in the way.
That gets me around to perspec
tive. Don’t get so caught up in the
issues of the day that you forget
what is important in life. It is not
politics.
It is not the drought. It is not
the economy or the war or foot
ball games. It is friendships and
not letting them evaporate. This
is a lesson I should have learned
sooner. I won’t ever again have the
opportunity to tell Charlie Dobbs
how richly he blessed my life, but
I will have the memories. That is
more than I deserve.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or
website: www.dickyarbrough.com.
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