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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
Opinions
“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press,
and that cannot be limited without being lost.
~ Thomas Jefferson ~
Georgia Press Association, first place, Best Editorial Page; first place, Best Serious Column
Remembering a
great role model
Most outdoorsmen can tell you the start of a
new dove season arrived this past weekend.
In addition to being a busy time for sporting
goods stores, the first day of dove season is
looked forward to all year by most hunters.
Growing up, being able to take part in a local
dove hunt was one of my most cherished mem
ories.
It went beyond the actual hunting since, to be
truthful, I was never that good despite disposing
of several boxes of shotgun shells. My success
ratio was terrible, but it gave me a chance to
be involved with something I enjoyed (a tradi
tion passed down by my
father) and to actually use
a gun. (Deer hunting, by
contrast, was not my bag
as sitting in the woods for
hours in often less than
desirable weather condi
tions, while most times not
even firing your gun, bor
dered on too much bore
dom for yours truly.)
Mr. Walker Thornton was
the owner of the dove field
I went to each September
and the man we referred
to as “Doc" became a true role model for this
youngster in many ways. “Doc” was a well-re
spected man in my hometown of Monticello.
By the time I was old enough to know him,
he operated a gas station in town. It was one of
those old-fashioned gas stations where the atten
dant would pump the gas for you, clean the wind
shield, fix a tire or change the oil when it was
time for that task. With a few rare exceptions, you
don’t see this type of gas station anymore.
In numerous columns through the years, I have
expressed appreciation at having the positive
influence of both my maternal and paternal
grandfathers growing up. In reality, “Doc" was
like a third grandfather and one would be hard
pressed to find a better one.
“Doc” always had encouraging words for what
ever I was doing in school and was genuinely
glad to see me anytime I walked into his busi
ness. As a child, he would always give me free
bubble gum or would buy a bottled Coca-Cola for
me out of the machine in the front of his station.
As valuable as these memories were, the fact
that “Doc” allowed me into his “dove hunting cir
cle” is something I have never forgotten. You see,
you don’t just show up at a dove hunt on some
one’s property. You have to be asked and while
my father had been going to “Doc’s” dove hunts
for years, I felt honored to also now be included.
The first hunt I took part in (always the first
Saturday in September) was the final one where
you could begin shooting at daylight. (That
changed the following year to a noon start.)
After attending a high school football game
the previous evening, the alarm seemed to go off
very quickly that next morning.
I remember loading up the truck with my
father as we made final preparations with the
dead of night still overhead. Our shotguns,
boxes of shells, cooler filled with soft drinks,
padded buckets to sit on and a radio to listen to
the University of Georgia football game were all
secured in place as we left the house earlier that
morning.
As we pulled onto “Doc’s” property, sever
al other hunters were already there standing
around talking. Being young, I was somewhat
nervous as I awaited the final minutes before
daylight. About mid-morning when the shooting
action had reached a slow spell, I remember
“Doc” walking over to where my father and I
were (I was too young and inexperienced a hunt
er at this stage to be in a dove blind by myself)
and asking how I had done. Unfortunately, I had
a .000 average to borrow a baseball term. “Keep
firing, you’ll get some before the day is out,”
“Doc” replied.
Honestly, I don’t remember if I did get any
before the day was out on that first hunt or not.
That’s really not important. As the years went
on and I became a more experienced hunter, I
began to hang in there with some of the better
shooters at the field.
However, what still stays with me today, more
than 25 years since my last dove shoot at
“Doc’s,” is how I felt like someone special. It was
a special event with a special group of friends
and a special man we called “Doc.” Many times
youth today end up going down the wrong road
because of a lack of guidance. I was fortunate to
have a solid family unit with many extensions.
One such man was Mr. Walker Thornton, gas sta
tion operator, dove field owner and grandfather
figure to me and no doubt many others.
I thought about “Doc” Saturday as a new dove
season arrived. I thought about those childhood
times and how they seem light years ago now.
Still, I could picture myself being a part of some
thing special.
It’s wasn’t about how many doves I had, rather
about good people and good times.
Winder resident Chris Bridges is editor of the
Barrow News-Journal. You can reach him at
cbridges@barrowjoural. com.
Now is when the fun begins
It’s a long-established political truism
that a presidential race doesn’t really
start until after Labor Day.
The conventional wisdom is that
people aren’t paying much attention to
politics until that point in the calendar,
so you shouldn’t take the early polls
too seriously.
This is one of those elec
tion years, however, where the
old wisdom may no longer be
applicable, thanks largely to the
national emergence of Donald
Trump.
Because of Trump, people
with just a slight interest in poli
tics have been paying attention
to this race for quite a while.
That’s not necessarily a positive
development for Trump, as the
polls are showing, but there’s
no question that he has dom
inated the media landscape
ever since he entered the race
15 months ago.
The current state of the race is
that Hillary Clinton holds a five- or
six-point lead over Trump in most
national polls.
A presidential election isn’t con
ducted nationally, of course - it is a
combination of 50 separate state elec
tions that determine who will get each
state’s electoral college votes.
When you look at the polling in
the battleground states, you’ll see that
Clinton is running strongly at this point
in most of them.
Trump’s strategy was to try to sweep
the rust belt states through his opposi
tion to international trade agreements,
but Clinton currently has comfortable
leads in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois,
and Pennsylvania. The race in Ohio
is closer, but Clinton has a small lead
there as well.
Two battleground states are poll
ing evenly enough that Trump has a
decent shot at taking them: Nevada
and Iowa. But winning those states
won’t get you very far in the electoral
college. Michigan has more electoral
votes (16) than Iowa and Nevada com
bined (12).
The real surprise in this election
year is that Clinton, the Democrat,
has the opportunity to shake off the
stranglehold Republicans have held
over the South for the past several
elections.
She is running so strongly in Virginia
that her campaign decided to stop
spending money on TV ads there.
Clinton has smaller but steady leads in
Florida and North Carolina.
The shocker is that Clinton is even
competitive, at least at this stage, in the
deep-red states of Georgia and South
Carolina.
While there hasn’t been any polling
data out of Georgia for several weeks, a
cluster of polls in early August indicat
ed that the state was essentially dead
locked between Trump and Clinton.
Trump is in a better position in South
Carolina, but even there you have at
least one poll that showed the state
Write a Letter to the Editor:
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was split between the two candidates.
If those trends continue, the entire
Atlantic Coast of southern states could
be in play for the Democratic Party.
Realistically, it’s more likely that
Republican voters in Georgia and
South Carolina will come home in the
closing weeks of the race and tip those
states back to Trump.
Even so, the fact that
we’re even having this
discussion shows what
a strange election cycle
it’s been.
In most years, a
candidate with the
kind of polling advan
tage Clinton now has
would be considered a
sure shot for winning
the election. It’s been
pointed out by numer
ous sources that the
candidate leading at
this stage of the race has gone on to
win every presidential election dating
back to 1952.
That may not turn out to be the case
this time around because of some
X-factors that could have an impact on
the final outcome.
Trump has a real affection for
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, a
feeling that is reciprocated on Putin’s
part. Russia has some of the shrewd
est computer hackers in the world, so
who knows what kinds of embarrass
ing emails they might steal between
now and election day?
This has also been a horrendous
year for terrorist incidents, as the res
idents of Brussels, Nice, and Orlando
can attest. If there is a bombing or
mass shooting on American soil in
the weeks prior to Nov. 8, how much
would that shake up the dynamics of
the race?
On a less stressful level, there are
also three debates scheduled that
could potentially be game-changers.
Given all of those factors, it’s too
early to make any definitive predic
tions. I’d advise everyone to be sure
they cast their ballot on election day.
Tom Crawford is editor of The
Georgia Report, an internet news ser
vice at gareport.com that reports on
state government and politics. He can
be reached at tcrawford@gareport.
com.
The Barrow News-Journal
Winder. Barrow County, Ga.
www.BarrowJoumal.com
Mike Buffington
Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington
Co-Publisher
Chris Bridges
Editor
Jessica Brown
Photographer
Susan Treadwell
Advertising
Sharon Hoaan
Office & Reoorter
Also covering beats are Alex Pace and Scott Thompson
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Lessons learned
from DragonCon
This Labor Day weekend, my cousin
and I went to Atlanta to partake in the 30th
annual DragonCon convention, a huge
convention celebrating a variety of fan
doms. I had gone to the convention in 2014
and wrote a column about that experience
as well, but I feel as though I have learned a
few more things since
then.
First, make sure you
find parking close to
the convention area.
My cousin and I found
a parking garage that
apparently not that
many people know
about, so our walk to
the convention was
very short. However,
that was not the case
on Friday. We parked
so far away, and we had to make the trek
back to the car several times to resupply or
drop souvenirs off. It meant walking up and
down hill both ways, and took about two
hours out of our day just in the walking.
That brings me to my next point: bring
drinks and snacks. Food at DragonCon is
heavily marked up. For a bottle of water,
you’d be lucky to find one under $3. It
saves money to bring your own cooler or
bring a couple bottles in your bag. You can
always walk back to your car to resupply.
Make sure you wear very comfortable
shoes. Conventions require a lot of walking
and standing. There are hardly any places
besides the floor to sit down. Don’t wear
shoes that hurt your feet after a few min
utes. You will be miserable.
Speaking of sitting, my cousin and I
found some of the best places to sit and
rest. These are little secrets I hate to
give away, but maybe it will help a weary
con-goer next year. There are usually
always some empty chairs inside the art
gallery. There are also plenty of chairs in
the gaming areas. If you need to find a seat,
those are the go-to spots.
You’ll be standing around socializing
quite a bit, so take that time to people
watch. You’ll be amazed at what you can
see. I saw three t-rexes with lightsabers
fighting Kylo Ren from “Star Wars VII: The
Force Awakens.”
Not only will you see magnificent cos
tumes and characters, you’ll find some
very confused tourists and businessmen
who stumbled upon this giant celebration
of science-fiction. As we were waiting for a
panel, we saw a gentleman in a suit carry
ing a briefcase, a duffle bag and a rolling
bag. He stopped at the end of the hallway
and stared with pure shock and confusion
at the hundreds of people dressed up in
costumes. Poor guy looked so lost, but
his reactions were the best entertainment
imaginable. I like to try putting myself in
their heads. I mean, imagine being sent to
Atlanta for an important business meeting
and suddenly you walk in on a guy dressed
as Flash Gordon and a giant Gumby is
standing behind you.
If you enjoy people watching, make sure
to see the DragonCon parade on Saturday
morning. Every year the parade gets big
ger, so you have to get there early to get
a good spot. Last year was miserable. We
couldn’t find a place on the curb to sit so
we ended up standing for four hours. We
were smart this time. We woke up at 6, got
into Atlanta at 7:30 and found a great spot
in the shade. We brought some chairs,
and those were a life saver. We waited for
three hours before the parade started, then
another hour and a half of parade watch
ing. Bless the inventor of those lightweight
travel chairs. They were a life saver.
After seeing the parade, it’s probably
best to go back to your hotel room for a
while or commute back home. Saturday is
by far the most crowded day at the conven
tion because that’s usually when people
purchase a one day pass. It’s wall to wall
people, and you just try to stay out of the
way. Next time I go, I will see the parade,
then go take a four hour nap, then come
back for the night activities. I’ll avoid all of
the people during the day.
Overall, DragonCon was a fun experi
ence yet again, but I know what to improve
upon for next time. I’ll be sure to bring
more ibuprofen for my achy joints from
all the walking, and do my best to avoid
the craziness of Saturday. I hope everyone
who went to DragonCon had a memorable
time and that you will be able to recover
before the real world sets back in.
Winder resident Jessica Brown is
the staff photographer for the Barrow
News-Journal. You can reach her at
picsbyjessica 1 @gmail. com.