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Tribune & Georgian
Opinion
Friday, April 5,2013
Voting starts
Monday for
runoff election
C amden County residents will have an
other chance this spring to voice their
opinions about who should be the
next probate judge.
Martin Turner and Robert “Beau” Sweatt Jr.
will be the only names on the ballot Tuesday,
April 16, for the runoff election.
In the March election, none of the six can
didates for the job garnered at least 50 per
cent of the total vote, making a runoff
necessary. Voters should once again turn out
and make their preference known.
Early voting opens Monday and continues
from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until Friday,
April 12, at the county courthouse in Wood
bine. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7
p.m. Tuesday, April 16, for the election.
Sweatt and Turner stated their positions and
ideas leading up to the March election
through many venues, including several fo
rums and our voter’s guide. For the April elec
tion, we will provide a story in Wednesday’s
edition that recaps each candidate’s thoughts.
Wednesday is also the final day to have a let
ter about the race or a political issue pub
lished. No political letters will be printed in
the Friday paper.
How to contact...
Rep. Jason Spencer, State House
Jason.spencer@house.ga.gov
www.staterepspencer.com
Camden —(912) 541 -0243
28Yachtsmen Court,Woodbine GA 31569
Sen. William Ligon, State Senate
William@senatorligon.com
www.senatorligon.com
Glynn —(912) 261-2263
158 Scranton Connector, Brunswick GA 31525
Rep. Jack Kingston, U.S. House
Kingston.house.gov
Brunswick—(912) 265-9010
Washington, D.C.— (202) 225-583 I
Rep. Ellis Black, State House
District 174
blackellis@bellsouth.net
www.ellisblack.com
Valdosta — (229) 251 -0303
5900 Jumping Gully Road,Valdosta GA 31601
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, U.S. Senate
chambliss.senate.gov • (229) 985-21 12
Sen. Johnny Isakson, U.S. Senate
lsakson.senate.gov • (770) 661-0999
Tribune & Qeorgian
P. O. Box 6960 — 206 Osborne Street
St. Marys, Georgia 31558
(912) 882-4927 - Fax (912) 882-6519
Publication Number (086-640)
ISSN Number (1551-8353)
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pers Inc., Athens, Ga. We believe that strong newspapers
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Foy R. Maloy Jr., Regional Publisher
Tom Wood Dink NeSmith
Chairman/CNI President/CNI
Printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink.
One small step for ethics reform...
one giant leap for the General Assembly.
Recalling the egg touring season
T he year 2 013 marked
the first time in, oh,
14 years, where we
didn’t have a child, or chil
dren, participating in a slew
of Easter egg hunts.
I didn’t miss it.
Our youngest, now 9 years
old, decided he was better
suited to hide eggs than to
find them.
This milestone reminded
me of 2004 — when our
Easter campaign was a little
more hectic.
That year’s Easter Egg
Hunt Tour began nearly two
weeks before the rise of the
Easter sun.
The first leg of the tour
was at my daughter’s pre
kindergarten. As the official
tour roadie, my responsibili
ties on this occasion in
cluded: Dressing my
daughter in something
Easter-y, taking her to school
with her Easter basket and
going back to the pre-K at 9
a.m. to take pictures of the
blessed event.
I did as I was told up until
the part about dressing her
in something Easter-y. As a
matter of principle, I am
squarely against morning-
hour haggling, or morning-
hour speaking for that
matter. Thus, when my
daughter dismissed my first
Easter-y outfit suggestion, I
Len Robbins
Opinion
resorted to my usual — and
might I add, highly success
ful — mode of dressing chil
dren in the morning: “Just
put something on and let’s
go.”
This method resulted in
my daughter’s dark red shirt,
black pants and black boots
ensemble, which I was later
told was not appropriate for
Easter wear.
Leg II of the 2004 Easter
Egg Hunt Tour was held a
full week before the holiday,
at a friend’s home. This was a
gala affair, with what seemed
like 1,000 children vying for
prized Easter eggs. As offi
cial tour roadie, I was re
lieved of my dressing
responsibilities, but was
charged with the following
duties: Make sure the kids
(then 5 and 2) didn’t spill
anything on their outfits; and
“keep an eye on them.”
This was the first Easter
egg hunt of the season for
our (then) 2-year-old son,
and he failed miserably
under the glare of heated
competition. After minutes
of listless searching, he be
came distracted by a ball and
miniature basketball goal
and played “ball hog” for the
next hour. The roadie only
lost one of the children for a
scant 20 or 30 minutes.
Leg III of the 2004 Easter
Egg Hunt Tour was at my
son’s preschool a few days
before Easter Sunday. The
roadie wasn’t needed at this
particular outing, but from
all accounts, our son fared
better in snaring eggs when
pitted against children who
were crawling.
Leg IV of the tour took us
to Waycross for a family out
ing on Easter eve. There,
our tykes had the run of the
manor with a batch of
cousins in absentia. Lots of
eggs and less competition
produced a banner crop of
goodies, which were either
devoured into tummies or
smeared on the front of
Easter outfits. And the kids
got sort of dirty, too.
Leg V of the 2004 tour
took us cross-state to an
other family Easter eggstrav-
aganza — this one actually
on Sunday. For the last leg,
my wife brought out the new
Easter outfits — matching,
monogrammed and orange-
checkered (I guess that’s
what Easter-y means).
Crisply starched, the kids
looked immaculate for about
12 seconds. At that point,
our son decided to soil his
outfit on the only occasion
he ever wore it.
The roadie, ensconced in
pie, was thrust into action,
finding a backup Easter out
fit and saving the day just in
time for the fifth, and final,
egg hunt of the tour.
Amid little competition,
Miss Outfit and Mr. Backup
Outfit scored quite a coup
that Easter afternoon. In ad
dition to a plethora of Skit
tles products, they also
managed to basket almost
every one of the money eggs
in the hunt — with a little
help from the roadie.
The roadie, mind you, was
saving up for future Easter
outfits, and the 2006 Easter
Egg Hunt Tour, where we
had nine (yes, nine!) hunts.
And now we’re down to
zero. Maybe I do miss it —
just a little.
Len Robbins is a regular Friday
columnist in the Tribune & Geor
gian.
Why I love community newspapers
M ost of them are
small, although
there are two or
three larger ones with pic
tures of my show calves and
me. All of them are slightly
yellowed and somewhat
worn by the weight of many
years. But I can still read ’em,
and I can still remember.
Then there are accounts of
loved ones and their depar
tures after lives well lived.
And, political happenings —
victories, accomplishments,
positions taken, critical let
ters to the editor and the like,
with the positive being in
greater numbers, not neces
sarily because of preponder
ance of happenings, but
more so to do with what was
saved.
Of all these boxes of clip
pings saved perhaps the most
cherished is the one from the
Houston Home Journal of
about two column inches
telling of the June 1963 de
parture of four local boys,
Bobby Jones, Jerry Horton,
Jerry Wilson and Larry
Walker, for Fort Worth,
Texas, and summer work at
Texas Steel Company. It’s as
if the accounts in this time
less treasure come back to
life every time I see and read
it. I must mention three
Larry Walker
Opinion
weekly newspapers of partic
ular significance to me:
• The Sandersville
Progress delivered to my
Walker grandparents’ home
on dirt Sparta-Davisboro
Road in rural Washington
County
• Macon County’s Citizen
Georgian “covered me”
when I represented that
county in the General As
sembly and the one I love,
the Houston Home Journal.
Then, there are other
community newspapers, out
standing in every respect,
that come to mind as exam
ples of the best in community
journalism: The Blackshear
Times, The Press-Sentinel,
Jesup, The Northeast Geor
gian, Cornelia, and The
Clayton Tribune.
These papers are the con
science of the community.
They report on city and
county governments. They
help to keep local officials
honest and on the right path.
And, very importantly, they
write the history of the place
and people even while it is
being made.
Community newspapers
are us. They tell our story —
the tales of those of us who
don’t live in Atlanta or New
York or even Macon. It’s the
chronicle of what we do and
are and we aspire to be. And,
it’s what the world, or this
part of it, will know about us
when we have long since
crossed over the river.
I love our community
newspapers. I can’t wait to
look at mine — I claim some
interest in it — when it
comes out on Wednesday
and then, again, on Saturday.
It’s been that way ever since I
was just a boy, ever since I
was able to read and under
stand.
And, I remember: editors
like Cooper Etheridge,
Bobby Branch, and Foy
Evans, printers like Byron
Maxwell, writers like Char
lotte Moore (“Porky,” we
miss you) and owners like
Danny and Julie Evans.
Thanks to all of you for en
riching my life and making it
more enjoyable. And, thanks
for making a record, a per
manent record, of my little
accomplishments in my little
part of the world. And, the
accomplishments of friends
and family.
“Newspapers are in finan
cial trouble.” But, not “ours.”
Not the ones that are close to
its readers and know what is
really important to its read
ers — you know things like,
a huge tomato, twin calves, a
50-pound watermelon grown
by Mr. Gray, the cat caught
in the wheel well of the
mayor’s car, Mr. William
Jones seeing what he believed
to be a black panther out on
Salem Church Road and the
squirrel that interrupted the
morning service at the First
Baptist Church. What fun.
What memories. I love com
munity newspapers.
Larry Walker has practiced law
for 48 years in his hometown of
Perry. He served in the General As
sembly for 32 years, and now is a
member of the University System
of Georgia’s Board of Regents. His
column appears weekly in the
Houston Home Journal. His email
address is lwalker@whgmlaw.com.