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♦ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2008
4A
OPINION
Jumping around on a
Saturday morning
This “jumping around” is not
about Carlene’s Boot Camp.
It’s about my ‘jumping around’
mind. It’s 6 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 27,
and I don’t have a single coherent
thought long enough for my required
Saturday column.
So, I’ll give you bits and pieces
which should suffice for my editor,
Don Moncrief, and, hopefully, will be
of some interest to you, my readers.
Here it is: .
■ Friday was Halloween. There were
lots of tricksters and treatees. Some
looked old enough to serve in the
military, and others were brought in by
adults by the van load.
Still, it’s better than it was, years
ago, in Perry. There was a time when
the “tricks” were pretty rough and
destructive, like: graffiti on the water
tank, goats in the school, and “soaped
up” cars. I’ll take the older “kids” as
long as they don’t roll my yard.
■ Most of you will read this on
Saturday morning. While you’re
reading, my thoughts will be on the
Georgia-Florida football game which
“airs” (now isn’t that a quaint word)
at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. This game
is probably for the SEC East Division
Championship and, conceivably,
could foretell the eventual National
Champion.
Georgia got the breaks last week
against LSU. They will need breaks,
today, to beat a talented and deter
mined Florida team. Last year, Georgia
made Florida mad with their “little”
demonstration, and Florida will be
smoking, today!
■ Speaking of “airing”, I miss Larry
Munson, long-time voice of the Georgia
Bulldogs. Heck, I even remember
Larry’s predecessor, Ed Thelenius. Ed
was good, too! I remember that Ed
started every game with, “Now get
"Looks like I'll need that extra hour this weekend
to figure out how to reset my digital clocks!"
Words that haunt: 'I can't, dad'
A 1 is the man!
# 'ion Williams?
M a Ew. Country music singer
Don Williams? I do not like
Don Williams. How to break it to him
gently.
“I can’t dad. (I can’t be bothered to
stop and listen with you for awhile.)
I’ve got to go to the bank.”
Don Williams.
Funny how it’s even the little things
that stick out in your mind when
they’re gone; even some four years
later.
I still remember that day I stood
in his living room, now a living room
owned by somebody else, so foreign, so
distant, and said those words or any of
a number of others that now haunt my
thoughts.
“I can’t dad. I’ve got to get home for
dinner.”
“I can’t dad. I’ve got a lot of work to
catch up on.”
“I can’t dad. I’m taking the family
out.” ,
“I can’t dad.”
I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.
I didn’t have time for Don Williams.
I didn’t have time for funny man Jerry
Clower. I didn’t have time to watch
the Braves with him, NASCAR, Fear
Factor or any of those other silly little
TV shows he liked.
“Silly.” Not so silly now.
Larry
Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgb-law.com
the picture. Imagine your radio as a
football field, from left to right ...”
He painted a world picture, and when
Georgia was playing a team like, say,
Villanova, I wondered where in the
world that was.
Truth to tell, unless I look it up, I
don’t know where Villanova is, today. It
was all quite exciting to a little Middle
Georgia boy.
■ Our government says we’re not
officially in a recession. You could’ve
fooled me! Gives you lots of confidence
in our government, doesn’t it? Speaking
of “our government,” we’re going to
make some changes next Tuesday. We’ll
have a President-elect and soon a new
President.
Regardless of the winner, I hope he’ll
do good and be good. I intend to try and
support all of our elected officials. They
need our encouragement and prayers.
It’s Biblical, you know.
■ I’m still on elections. I remember the
first time I voted. It was in a Presidential
election year and the choices were John
Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Wow! I
wonder if I knew what a significant
election that was. I recall that someone
determined that if Richard Nixon had
gotten one additional vote in every pre
cinct in the country, he would have won.
‘Reckon that was true? Regardless, it
was a razor-thin victory for JFK, and an
exciting way for me to start a life-time
of voting in almost every election.
■ I was using dental floss the other
Don
Moncrief
Managing Editor
donm@evansnewspapers.com
What I wouldn’t give for five min
utes. Five minutes. Five minutes I
couldn’t afford before. Five minutes
for the things I knew he loved.
No, I was too busy with the things /
loved.
I didn’t have time. I had my own
family. I had my own life.
Busy. Busy. Busy, don’t you know.
Ring. Ring.
“Hey son. Your mom and I were
wondering if you could come to church
with us this Sunday?”
“I can’t dad. I’ve got to work.”
Ring. Ring.
“Hey honey. We haven’t seen you in
awhile. We miss you. We were wonder
ing if you might stop by one day.”
“I can’t dad. I’ve got a lot of things
around the house to catch up on, what
with the new baby coming and all.”
Twenty-four years ago Harry Chapin
first sang the words we all know and
love - probably all can sing - back in
1974.
“And the,cat’s in the cradle and the
silver spoon,
“Little boy blue and the man in the
*
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wSgzr JM
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day, and I said to myself: Why didn’t
I think of this? I don’t believe we had
dental floss when I was young. If it
was available, we probably couldn’t
(wouldn’t) afford it. If available, it was
an unneeded luxury.
It’s a good product - especially, if you
have some Grillmaster barbeque stuck
between your teeth! Note: you’ve got
to have a vivid imagination to go from
Presidential elections to flossing, and
all within a few seconds.
■ Now I tread cautiously. I’m going
to make one political prediction. Judge
George Nunn will win re-election and in
a big way. I don’t know Judge Nunn’s
opponent, but I do know George. In
fact, I’ve known Judge Nunn since we
were small boys growing up on Swift
Street. We played high school basket
ball together, and he is now one of my
Sunday School teachers.
George is one of the finest people I
know, or have ever known. He’s a good
judge and deserves the overwhelming
re-election that he’s sure to receive.
Come out to our barn on Marshallville
Road next Tuesday night for Judge
Nunn’s “Thank-You Party”. It starts at
7 p.m.
■ I’m finishing Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen, and I’m looking forward
to John Adams by David McCullough.
In fact, I’ve already read 50 pages,
or so, of the “Adams” book that Jean
and Rudy Bowen gave me. I know I’m
going to like it. And, I’ve ordered Anita
Shreve’s new book. I don’t remember
the name of it, but I like Shreve’s writ
ings, and will get to it when the 651
pages about Mr. Adams are completed.
So, here it is. See, a mixed-bag.
Politics, football, Halloween, reces
sions, books and dental floss. I told
you it would be random.
Thanks for reading and remember to
floss your teeth!
moon.
“When you coming home son (dad)?
‘I don’t know when,
‘But we’ll get together then, dad.
‘You know we’ll, have a good time
then.’”
I love my kids. I love who they’ve
become. I’m so proud of the homes, the
families, they’ve built. I appreciate the
phenomenal effort and time - the pres
sures our society has levied on them
- it takes to keep things running.
But at the same time I worry. I’m
concerned they, along with so many
generations to follow, won’t realize,
just like me, until it’s too late ...
It really wasn’t about Don Williams
at all.
• ••
If ordinary people were a “period” in
terms of punctuation, A 1 Acosta would
be an “exclamation mark”.
A few of his favorite sayings: “Praise
God!” “You’re the man!” “God is the
Man!”
No, A 1 (our youth minister at
Northside Baptist Church). God just
is! But you, you can be the man! You
are the man!
We were leaving from Tribulation
Trail (up north) recently (you’ll remem
ber I wrote about the experience). As
we pulled through the parking lot, A 1
Acosta saw a few people walking.
He rolled down the window.
He yelled: “God loves you man!”
See MONCRIEF, page 6A
"One voice can make a difference "
A worthwhile venture or a
sirens song - time to decide
Well, Tuesday is the big day.
The thing about the presidency is if your guy
doesn’t get it, well ... there’s always “next time”.
And then if your guy does get it, well again ...
there’s always next time.
Neither option is very glamorous but they’re a
sight better than your options regarding the severe
weather warning system. If you don’t vote for it
now, there’s no telling when you’ll get another
chance.
No, this editorial is not about advocating you vote
“yes” for the half mill increase to fund it. This edito
rial is a reminder it’s something you need to think
long and hard about before you turn it down.
You can do so if you want but think it through
first. Let’s just say for instance you get a “scare”
within the next year... or two, or three or four or
five or six ... (this is part of our point), so you call
up your local councilman or commissioner.
“I think we need a severe weather warning sys
tem!”
Councilman or commissioner: “Sorry. The peo
ple voted and they said ‘no’.”
The question at that point will be: How long
before it can become an issue again? And the
number “17” (as in: “you’ve been talking about
it for 17 years and still haven’t done anything ...)
has been thrown out there at a couple of meet
ings.” .
We've heard pros: It has the potential to save
lives. (We’ve also heard pros of a particular sys
tem but that somehow got watered down late
in the game to “options”.) We’ve heard cons: It
See DECIDE, page 6A
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
‘Amendment 3 not a good deal for
average Joe’
Taxpayers should be wary of Amendment Three of the
Nov. 4 ballot. Approval of this amendment is not in
the best interests of the general population as it will allow
any county commission acting on a single majority vote
to authorize private developers to levy taxes to finance
Infrastructure Development District projects.
Further, no vote by the taxpayers of the host county is
required to grant this power to these private parties and
there is no legal prohibition on any county commissioner
having financial interests in these private cities.
Developers are permitted to issue tax-free municipal
bonds under this concept and in this event there is no effec
tive difference between the IDD and a municipal govern
ment. Costs of the Development Districts are not controlled
by market forces such as those that would limit an ordinary
developer’s budget and all key financial decisions are left
exclusively to the developer of the IDD.
Further, there is no requirement that developers of IDD’s
show the suitability of their site for the project, nor that they
provide any assurance that adequate water supply or other
necessary infrastructure exists outside the boundaries
See LETTER i, page $A
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