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♦ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2008
4A
OPINION
Notable books from the past
Frequently, I have readers to sug
gest that I write about books I
have read or am reading. With
that in mind, I decided to report on
good and intefesting books (at least to
me) that I have read in the past.
I used to keep a diary on every book
I read. When I filled up the diary, I
started writing my impressions in the
front of the just completed book.
Here are a few of my books and my
impressions of the book at the time I
made my entries. I’ll give 'em to you
this week and next.
Summer of ‘49 by David Halberstam.
Read from June 6 to June 13, 1992. I
attended a Total Quality Management
Seminar for State Legislative Leaders
at Boston University. On the trip up on
June 4, I saw a man reading this book,
so on my way back (June 6), I purchased
this book at the Boston Airport.
I thought the book was very good.
More than a baseball book, it was a
book about the way America (especially
the Northeastern United States) was
during this period of time. I would rate
this as a9on a scale of Ito 10 -10 being
the best.
Turning Point by Jimmy Carter. Read
from Dec. 25-26, 1992. My son, Russell,
gave me this book for Christmas. I
started reading it that day and finished
it the next - this is indicative of how
much I enjoyed it. I know many of the
people mentioned in the book.
Also, to the extent of its rural nature,
as I had represented Schley County
in the legislature for 10 years, I could
relate to Quitman County. Maybe these
are two reasons that I like the book so
much.
First Among Equals by Jeffrey Archer.
Finished July 16, 1993. State Senator
Pete Robinson recommended this book
to me when we were together at the
State Legislative Leaders Foundation
program, University of Wisconsin-
H Some+imes it takes a little red to add a touch of green!"
Oranges, nuts - Alas, what might have been
a a 11 we got for Christmas was
/\ oranges and nuts.”
A. A. If I had a nickel for every
time I’ve heard that during the holi
days, I’d have ... well, 20 cents.
The latest was my mother-in-law, this
week. She, by the way, also went on to
talk about how her grandmother made
her dresses out of flour sacks and her
undergarments out of gunny sacks. (I
know someone who has a bikini top
made out of coconuts so I suppose
anything’s possible.)
Anyway, the message was and always
has been clear: Kids today don’t know
how good they’ve got it.
True that. I would say it is “the”
message kids of today need to hear
and more importantly absorb (no flour
sack pun intended). But, unfortunately
they don’t. And I don’t see any letup
to come. One of these days my kids
are going to tell their grandkids: “Why
when we were kids we didn’t have any
thing under our tree except X-Box 360’s
and Wll’s.”
“Really,” will be the incredulous - and
“texted” - response ... even though
the person they’ll be talking to will be
standing right next to them.
But let me regress.
Let me go back to that time in the 40s
or whenever it was and ask this ques
tion to all the “All we got for Christmas
was oranges and nuts” people of the
world (who in all honesty - all kidding
aside -1 believe are the greatest genera
tion that has ever been bom): Why did
Larry
Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgb-law.com
Milwaukee. I bought the book on July
11 at the airport when we were prepar
ing to return to Atlanta.
I enjoyed this book v,ery much. Not
only does Archer tell a good story,
but I learned more about the British
Parliamentary system than I had ever
known. I highly recommend the book,
and if it is indicative of Archer’s works,
I recommend him as an author.
The Fifties by David Halberstam.
Finished Jan. 1, 1994. This is a very
good book. Also, a very long book (733
pages). I read this book over a period of
several months - it is the kind of book
that you can “put down” and “pick up”
without losing anything.
As I “sorta” grew up in the 50s, per
haps I enjoyed this book more than,
for example, my children would, but I
believe most anyone would find this book
interesting. I like David Halberstam.
This book is recommended without res
ervation.
Midnight In The Garden of Good
& Evil by John Berendt. Read from
August 19, 1994 to August 21, 1994.
When I read a book as fast as I did this
one, I obviously enjoyed it. I spoke to the
Georgia Tech Economic Development
Institute at Jekyll Island on Friday,
August 19, 1994. This book was the gift
that I was given for speaking.
Jerry and Faye Wilson and Janice
were at Jekyll with me. I believe that
Faye recommended the book. One of
the reasons I enjoyed the book is that
I knew some of the people in the book
and many of the places in and around
Don
Moncrief
Managing Editor
donm@evansnewspapers.com
you let them off the hook? Why did you
not continue the tradition?
Did you not realize the power you
held in your hand?
If you had only given your children
oranges and nuts and they had only
given their cflildren oranges and nuts,
and on and on, think about how great
the world would be today.
“But we wanted bigger and better
things for our kids.”
Yeah. And so do they! And they keep
getting bigger and better, and more
importantly, more “expensive” every
day.
If you just could have held out I
wouldn’t feel like such a failure at this
time of year.
“Clothes, dad? Are you kidding me?
Didn’t you get my list? Did you not see
the ‘Balto plush’?”
Ah yes, the “Balto plush”. Please let
me bore you with the case of the “Balto
plush”, alias “stuffed toy”. Balto as I’m
sure you’re aware is the true-to-life dog
the Iditarod sled race is named after.
He earned fame by retrieving medicine
for sick children in an Alaskan town.
Later, in the 70s, best I can tell, a car-
T§fjj
Savannah that were mentioned. There
were many “strange” characters in
this book - at first, I felt that the
author, despite this being non-fiction,
was exaggerating - however, the more
I think about it, the author was prob
ably describing them “as they were”. I
highly recommend this book for all, but
especially for Georgians.
October 1964 by David Halberstam.
Finished Oct. 1,1994. Another good book
by David Halberstam! I got this book
just before going with Speaker Murphy
to the National Speaker’s Conference at
Amelia Island in Florida and basically
finished the book when Janice and I
attended the State Legislative Leaders
Foundation meeting in Woodstock,
Vermont (Sept. 23-25).
This book explained to me why I
had been such an ardent Yankee fan
as a boy and a young man - as were
many southerners during this period of
time. You will have to read the book to
understand. Mickey Mantle is my favor
ite all-time player, and this book did
not change me, although I gained new
appreciation for many others, including
Roger Maris and Bob Gibson.
Widow’s Web by Gene Lyons.
Finished Nov. 26, 1994. This book was
loaned to me by Robbi R. Dietrich,
Director, Government and Consumer
Affairs, Frito-Lay, Inc. Robbi is origi
nally from Arkansas, had heard Mike
DeVegter and I talking about know
ing Tommy Robinson (one of the
principals in the book) and thus her
reason for letting me read the book.
This is a fascinating account of two
murder trials in Little Rock. If “truth
is stranger than fiction,” this is a good
example! I thoroughly enjoyed this
book.
The Last Bus To Albuquerque by
Lewis Grizzard. Read from Dec. 24-26,
1994. My daughter, Wendy, gave me
See WALKER, page 6A
toon sprung up and from that cartoon
the infamous “Balto plush”. It’s the
same Balto plush that keeps rearing
its ugly head - actually there appears
to be maybe a half dozen in existence
- on e-bay. And every time it rears it’s
ugly head on e-bay she gets an e-mail
notice that it’s reared its ugly head on
e-bay, and then here is dear old dad (her
mission in life is apparently my mis
sion in life) trying to outbid apparently
everybody in Alaska for it; including
probably Sarah Palin herself. And the
problem with that is you can stay on
top of the bidding all the way until the
cutoff and there will always be someone
who sneaks in a bigger bid in - “always”
- in the last second. Never mind the
fact these things look to be worth only
about $lO. To date not one that I can
tell has gone for less than $65. (Note: I
even tried putting my maximum bid at
$65 - as you can gather, I’ve had lots of
opportunities to study the odds greatly
- one time and somebody still beat me
with $66.)
See? If only I didn’t have that, but
had to worry about whether my oranges
would be seedless and my nuts would
be pecan (pronounced “pee can” despite
what people say ... also, of which I just
happen to have a couple of healthy
suppliers in my backyard) or walnut, I
would feel like celebrating.
Think about it.
“Christmas is coming honey. You
know what that means.”
See MONCRIEF, page jA
"One voice can make a difference"
The true state of the economy
is hard to predict
So what is the state of the economy any
way?
If you listen to Washington, it’s the end of the
world as we know it - Bailouts and more pro
posed bailouts.
But if you listen locally you might come
across this employee standing out front of the
business where he works with a sign: “We don’t
need a bailout. We need customers.”
Then again, if you look across our nation you
will find businesses closing down everywhere.
The latest example in Georgia: Cooper Tire and
Rubber Company - with approximately 2,100
workers impacted. Yes, people are losing jobs.
And if you look even closer to home, you will
find the same thing. Just Thursday morning we
learned of two more companies rumored to be
on the verge of closing (strongly rumored) and
everybody by now has heard about Circuit City
in Warner Robins, which seemingly opened
its doors one day and then to our disbelief
announced it was closing virtually the next.
And more on the subject of layoffs, we also
know of people who have gotten raises instead
of pink slips. Several top officials in the county
are just some. (Note: We’re not saving they
weren’t earned or deserved - we believe they
were - just that they did. Plus these were state
mandated.)
At the same time, if you were out and about on
Watson Boulevard in Warner Robins Saturday,
you really weren’t all that out and about. You
were basically at a standstill at times. Parking
lots were full everywhere. Stores were full every
where - full of people shopping for Christmas.
They looked like the same people who shopped
last year and the year before that and the year
before that ... They looked like their shopping
habits hadn’t changed - maybe gotten thriftier
but hard at it none the less. They were steady
pumping money back into the machine.
So what is the state of the economy?
Who really knows (although granted anyone
who has been laid off, or who has a company
in trouble will tell you they do)? Maybe some
where in the middle of utter chaos and OK.
- Don Moncrief/for the Editorial Board
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A vote against American automakers
is a vote against America
I was appalled to read that you, Sen. Saxby Chambliss
and Sen. Johnny Isakson, voted against giving help to
the American automakers. You’re all certainly quick to wel
come and give tax breaks to foreign manufacturers, to say
nothing of anybody on Wall Street and the bankers being
“bailed out”. And, not a word about the wages paid to those
people and the money they've stolen from Americans for
See LETTER, page jA
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Stouetott Pome Jou xnnl
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