Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12 A
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2016
The community dipper
Many years ago, out of nostal
gia mostly, I ordered a dipper from
a local hardware store. If you’re
younger than 30, you might not know
what a dipper is. Let me explain.
It is made from aluminum
or tin with a long handle,
always with a hole in the
curved end so it can be hung
from the wall or a well, and
a shallow cup on the end.
In the mountains from
where cometh my people,
a dipper was as essential
as a cast iron skillet. With
out indoor plumbing, they
would travel to the freshest
part of a spring — usual
ly where it sprung out of
the mountain — and gather
drinking water. A bucket of water
with the dipper inside set “sommers”
in the kitchen.
Whenever someone thirsted, they
helped themselves to the fresh water.
Yes. Everyone drank from the same
dipper. There were few glasses, most
ly just tin cups used for both coffee
and water. If the family had a well on
property, a big wooden bucket would
be lowered into the well then rolled
up with a handle attached to a rope.
“Mmmm, good water,” Daddy would
say whenever we visited someone
with a well. And, it was. Clear, cool
and pure.
After I bought the dipper. I began
to use it to water flowers in pots and
window boxes. Taking a page from
my people, I toted an aluminum
bucket and used the dipper — called
a ladle by city folks — for water
ing. Finally, it broke and I searched
with dedication until I found
another.
One afternoon. I was plant
ing the window boxes and
Dexter, the wonderful young
man who works part-time,
was helping. I scooped up
a cup of water. It occurred
to me that Dexter might not
recognize a dipper. One after
noon, I asked him to call
someone long distance on the
land line. He started to dial
then stopped.
“Do I dial “1” before the
area code?”
I laughed. ‘‘Yes. Have you ever
used a land line for long distance?”
He shook his head. “I just use
my cell.” In the last 10 years, it has
become a very different world. I
explained the dipper and, as I did so, it
brought to mind another story which
I shared. I had, in fact, been thinking
of the event for a few weeks since I
had visited a church while Tink was
away. For one hour, both children
and adults twisted and turned and
whispered bordering on the point of
irreverence. When the pastor stood in
the altar and opened the doors of the
church for new members, one toddler
scampered back and forth in the choir
loft. By the time the service ended, I
was jittery from all the carrying on.
It brought to mind a church service
when I was five or six years old. In
the days of my childhood, we attend
ed little country churches that had no
indoor plumbing. This meant that a
bucket of spring water was set on the
altar table and the dipper laid beside
it for anyone who needed a drink.
During preaching, a young teenag
er went up for a dip. My thirst grew
and grew until I could no longer
contain myself: I jumped off the
front bench, marched to the table
and helped myself to a sip from the
dipper. It was the last time I would
ever move from a bench during ser
vice. I still recall the severe scolding
I received from Mama and Daddy
when we got to the car.
Dexter listened but missed the
point because he was stuck on one
detail. His eyes widened. ‘‘People
drank from the same dipper?” He
shook his head. “Did they get sick all
the time?”
“No,” I replied. “They were already
covered in germs. No room for any
new ones.”
It’s a different world in more ways
than one.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling
author of the What Southern Women
Know trilogy. Visit www.rondarich.
com to sign up for her free weekly
newsletter.
Annual Bethlehem Star Festival planned Oct. 8
The 11th annual Bethlehem Star Festival is set for 8
a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8, in the Bethlehem town
square.
The family-friendly even will include arts, crafts, food
and music.
The town and the Nativity Lutheran Church sponsor a
free kids zone that includes games, arts and crafts, inflat-
ables and more.
Vendor applications are welcomed. See the website at
www.bethlehemga.org.
The uncovering of
political rhetoric
I was listening to the KrisAnne Hall show on my way to
and from work. KrisAnne’s background is one that is not
only very dynamic, but also a “becoming of liberty” story.
Having served as a Russian linguist in the U.S. Army,
as well as being a biochemist and a
prosecutor for 10 years in Florida,
KrisAnne has not always been a lib
erty-minded individual. She describes
herself as a “recovering liberal.”
After being told that she had to
choose between her job as a prosecu
tor and teaching citizens the proper
studying of the U.S. Constitution,
KrisAnne left her stable job to teach
around the country. She taught les
sons on the Geneology of the Con
stitution and along the way, found
herself face-to-face with U.S. Con
gressman Tim Walberg of Michigan.
Congressman Walberg does not believe that Congress
— specifically the House — has the ability to stop over
reaching federal and/or executive power through its Power
of the Purse. In fact, the federal government cannot fund
anything without the approval of the House of Repre
sentatives. Rep. Walberg, however, confronted Mrs. Hall
with the use of fear tactics arguing against government
shutdowns
Mrs. Hall declared to Rep. Walberg that he, being a
member of the House, has the power to defund these
unconstitutional overreaches of the Executive Branch
through defunding its programs, such as the EPA.
Rep. Walberg responded, “Do you want another govern
ment shutdown?”
The fallacy used here is the unspoken assumption that
defunding the EPA would cause a government shutdown.
That’s not the case.
Many Americans do not understand the use of bureau
cracies as a means for the Executive Branch to consolidate
power and get around the system of checks and balances.
For example, federal bureaus, such as the EPA, are able
to write their own regulations, which is the way around
the Legislative Branch. Although they are not technically
laws, these regulations are enforced as if they were.
Any citizen that is accused of being in violation of any
of these regulations is subject to the agency’s own admin
istrative court before being allowed due process under the
Judicial Branch of the federal government.
See Swords on Page 16B
jessica
swords
Northeast Georgia’s Business Directory
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