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♦ SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2008
4A
OPINION
Scattered mind, random thoughts
We’ve been moving from
“our” house on Northside
Road in Perry where we
lived for almost 34 years. Everything
we own is scattered - like my mind.
So, here it is: random thoughts.
• I’ve been interested in politics
all my life (actively involved for a
number of years), and I’ve never seen
any candidate with as many signs as
Sheriff Cullen Talton. And, most of
the signs are not on public property or
rights-of-way, but in folks’ yards and
in front of their businesses.
You’ll know the outcome by the time
you read this, but I’m writing this on
July 13 and I’ll have to predict. Cullen
will win, big (70 percent or more) and
will continue as the popular Sheriff of
Houston County.
• Pretty good reaction to my last
week’s article, “Daddy Had His Rules”.
But, Mother pointed out an important
one that I omitted: We were going to
Sunday School, church, and the night
service, every Sunday. No questions
asked. No excuse given. That’s just
the way it was.
Different, today, isn’t it?
• Signs of the economic times:
Friday, a week ago, Janice and I drove
down Sam Nunn Blvd. about 7 p.m.
We looked at the cars at some of the
restaurants on the north side of Sam’s
road. This was the count: Subway -0;
Captain D’s - 2 or 3; Kentucky Fried -
3or 4; Waffle House -1; and, Wendy’s
- 6 or 8. How long will this keep going
on?
• Another economic indicator, based
on my observations. People have
slowed down, considerably, on 1-75.
This massive roadway is not nearly as
4 l W
,41153? iii
Getting 'back' into tlw groove of skating
u “TIT That size,” the young
\l\l man behind the coun-
Y V ter of Olympia Skate
Center asked.
I was oblivious.
I was remembering the time my old
est daughter talked me into riding the
Batman and other “heart-stopping”
roller coasters at Six Flags.
This was like that. She had said the
same thing: “Oh, it’ll be fun.”
Fun? Hmm. Let me see. The
Superman ride was “fun”. The Mummy
at Universal Studios was “fun”. Riding
the lift at the Georgia National Fair
- where I, in the throes of a panic
attack discovered for the first time I
had grown to be afraid of heights, was
“fun”.
“I’ll pass on the ‘fun’”.
“Please,” my 10-year-old daughter
added with those eyes, you know the
ones.
“Aw man.”
Don’t get me wrong. There was a
time. I was 13 and I was a skating
machine. Every time that silver disco
ball was spinning and Tom Jones was
singing “She’s a Lady,” - this was back
when another rink was open and well
within walking distance of my home in
Warner Robins - I was on the floor.
Speed skating. Limbo. Backward.
“Couples only” ... I liked the couples
only ... I could and did it all. There were
a few better but I eameji a reputation
as a man ... er, “boy” who knew his way
around four wheels. Even today I can
see myself striking the infamous John
Travolta Saturday Night Fever pose
(even though it had nothing to do with
skating).
Alas. That provided little comfort as
Larry
Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgb-lpw.com
crowded as in the recent past - even in
Atlanta. Fewer accidents, less fatali
ties.
Reminds me of the saying, “it’s an
ill wind that blows no good”.
# When I was a youngster, I was in
a “science club” - bugs, worms, etc., in
jars under our big fig tree. And, I was
an honorary member of Jimmy and
JoNeal Lee’s Blackhawk’s Club. I was
always trying to organize something.
Janice is that way, too. She always
has a project, or several of them, on
going. Well, my grandson, Wade, has
taken it up. Wade, age 12, has orga
nized a Wiffleball League. Here are
excerpts from his invitation to partici
pate. He wrote all of it himself.
This is going to be like a real league.
The last couple of weeks we will start
a tournament and then have a cham
pionship. After every game swimming
at my house is optional. During the
games we will have plenty of drinks
The number of teams depends on
the number of people we have sign up.
There WILL BE AN UMPIRE and he
can eject you if you argue. So please
get off the couch and come have fun
It is a $3 charge for supplies that
“Greett...even the Olympics have been outsourced!”
Don
Moncrief
Managing Editor
donm@evansnewspapers.com
I stood at the window Sunday think
ing: It’s been nearly 40 years! (While
visions of a broken arm or leg danced
in my head.)
“What size?”
“s#%*! Size 10.”
The only advantage I had was I had
a crutch in my daughter. Or rather
she had a crutch in me. She took to
skates like those two new puppies we
now have, have taken to walking. (ES.
Anybody want to give a good home to
an absolutely beautiful Aussie? Just
give me a call.)
She hung on me. She hung on the
rail. She even hung on one little girl’s
pigtail (jio kidding) at one point when
her arms started flailing, reaching
grabbing for anything they could find.
But that allowed me to put on a
front: “Oh, I’m just here to provide
support for my daughter.”
“Daddy, I’m ready to get off now.”
“What!” (And leave me out here by
myself.) *
Well, I guess it’s do or die time.
And you know what. I found I hadn’t
lost it at all. It was slow coming back
but by about the third or fourth trip
around, I was moving pretty good.
About 30 minutes in I was flying,
weaving aad bobbing in and out of
people (“Oops. Sorry.”) like I had been
doing this all my life.
m * 'jf
A
'■IXJT" Mmii
m 1
Bp
has to be bought. . .
Wade had about 14 at the first game.
And, nobody was thrown out by the
umpire. Keep it up, Wade. I’m proud
of you!
• Gene Voss celebrated his 80th
birthday anniversary last Saturday,
July 12. It was a surprise party. There
was a resolution read that came from
Mayor Jim Worrall and the Perry City
Council, proclaiming July 12, 2008 as
“Gene Voss Day” in Perry.
Good - Gene is a fine man! And, he
is probably the only man in Perry who
has played on stage at the Grand Ole
Opry in Nashville (possible exception,
his brother, Glenn, who also lives in
Perry).
Let me close by getting back to our
moving. First, we had great neigh
bors for all those years, with the
Bloodworths and Grays being the most
constant. Secondly, we had a great time
raising four fine children in our “John
Houser” built house.
And, lastly, we sold “our” house to
a fine young couple, Kate and Darrell
Lewis. We hope that they, and their
two children, Emma and Ben, have as
much fun at 1905 Northside Road as
we did!
Footnote: We left our basketball
goal for use by the Lewis, Greer, and
Walton children. We hope they enjoy
it as much as we enjoyed watching
the Bloodworth, Thomson, Walker and
other children play ball in our yard
throughout the years. And, thanks
Marti and Stewart for the use of “our”
tennis court and “our” swimming pool.
You were overly generous and great to
share.
Still it wasn’t quite perfect. Back in
my day there were only regular skates,
two wheels side by side, none of this
in-line stuff - four wheels in a straight
line.
I kept getting the feeling I was being
judged by a younger generation.
“Oh yeah old man. Anybody can
skate on those wagons. Why don’t you
tiy a real skate.”
Someone interrupted my daydream
ing by yelling above the music. A
daughter. I have a daughter? Oh yeah.
“Daddy, I’m ready to get back on
again.”
Screeeeeech! I skid to a stop in front
of her.
The master has returned!
I took her hand, my guard now down.
She took one step onto the floor. She
took another. She took a third with her
right foot and zip there went the left. It
hit the back of my right skate perfectly.
My right skate went zip, too, and the
momentum carried my left leg with it.
If this were the Olympics of falling, I
would have scored a 10 for being per
fectly parallel with the ground while at
the same time airborne.
Thud!
At that point, my back taking the
brunt of the fall, the last thing I want
ed to do was create a scene but under
stand I just couldn’t “jump up.”
I was reminded of the time a football
player ran right over me on the side
lines of a game. I got up slowly, turned
around even slower, hoping nobody had
seen. No luck. Pretty much that whole
section of the bleachers was laughing
and pointing.
Ditto this time.
SeeMONCRIEF, page HA
"One voice can make a difference"
FROM THEMANAGING EDITOR
A change in the weather... sirens
Several Perry City Council meetings ago when
the issue of a countywide emergency warning
system - sirens - came up on the agenda some
body said this, or at least this is how I was told
it played out by a staff member who attended:
“They were talking about sirens 17 years ago.”
And then there were a bunch of snickers among
the crowd.
I venture to say somewhere around the year
2025 this same scenario will develop with the
statement again being.
“They were talking about sirens 17 years ago.”
Snickers.
And suddenly I get it.
I get what’s so funny. I understand why they -
not Perry but the rest of the municipalities - were
talking about putting up sirens 17 years ago and
why they’ll be talking about putting up sirens 17
years from now. It became just like the weather.
The hot air rose. A cold front moved in and pretty
soon it was all so unpredictable nobody knew
what to do. So a lack of action on anyone’s part
became no action on anybody’s.
Already it’s begun for us today.
Before, it was all about the “sirens”. Vision 2020
endorsed the sirens, embraced them, along with
their hopes of a supplemental telephone alert
system. A resolution was drafted to that effect. It
was passed through all the municipalities. No real
discussion at the county level. Just: “All in favor”
and a full show of hands. Perry’s response was
as already mentioned. Centerville approved no
problem. Warner Robins City Council approved
it but said “no thanks” to the telephone alert sys
tem. Eventually everybody must, have agreed as
it was whittled down, tweaked to just “sirens.”
It went back through again, originating from
Vision 2020 again and this time calling for sup
port of a more in-depth study - on “the” siren
system each had already voted to support. It was
debated/discussed intensively this time - not on
the siren system itself but who would pay for the
study and who would bear the brunt of payment
for the overall system itself. But it went through
- again on the premise of “sirens”.
And what was the projected cost of this “siren”
system? $1,800,000. And what is the amount the
tax levy of 0.5 mills is supposed to generate?
$1,800,000.
Yet now it’s no longer cool to say “sirens”. They
were “so yesterday” apparently.
And in fact when three people criticized them
Tuesday, the commissioners responded by
See SIRENS, page 8A
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The status quo, election results
The status quo won in our recent primary and the main
reason wasn’t excellent job performance, though I
think our county commissioners do a very good job overall
and are personally nice folks. They love being commission
ers and are not in it for the pension benefits. The exercise
of power and the fun of it all are probably the main motiva
tors.
They deserved to win re-election by uncaring county resi
dents who mostly know and care zero about their actions
See LETTER, page f 4
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