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Page 4 - Friday, March 3, 2023
The Jenkins County Times
thej enkinsc ountytimes. com
JCTimes 3-3-23.indd 4
3/2/2023 9:56:54 AM
Just off
the
Paved
Road
Carmen Bennett
Columnist
The Times
“An exotic place like Millen”
Eons ago when I was a young teacher in Effingham County, I had my class outside on
a sunny afternoon. That’s how long ago you know this was- we still had recess in middle
school. Anyhow, some kids were playing volleyball, some were enjoying a coke and a candy
bar on the porch of the “snack shack”. Others leaned up against the split rail fence giggling
about whatever it is middle school kids constantly giggle about. I was 7 months pregnant
and so I was sitting in a porch swing under a shade tree. A 7th grade boy walked up and sat in
the sand next to me. He talked about his grades, hunting squirrels with his daddy, how girls
were the devil, and how his grandpa was going to teach him to fly fish soon. As is often the
case when I talk to young kids I asked, “what you gonna do with ya life?”. He looked up at
me with these big brown hopeful eyes, and with a stoic face responded, “I don’t know Ms.
B. I just want to do something different. I want to live somewhere exotic. You know- like
London, or Paris, or Metter.” I tried so hard not to laugh. I don’t know if he had any relatives
in London or Paris, but I later found out his grandparents lived in Metter.
I often think about that kid and how he ranked Metter, Georgia right up there with the most
cosmopolitan cities in the world. I didn’t think to ask him why he held a place like Metter
in such high esteem, but I figured it out for myself just a few years later. See, my husband
grew up on Air Force Bases. I grew up in a small northeast Georgia town out in the middle
of nowhere. So when we married, I decided that I’d love a brick house in a well-manicured
golf course subdivision far away from hay fields and where when the power went out you
still had water because you didn’t have a well.. My husband knew better but I would not
listen and bless his heart, he subscribes to the law of “happy wife happy life” and so he set
about buying me just what I thought I wanted- a nice brick house in a well-manicured golf
course subdivision. Y’all, when I tell you that is the DUMBEST thing I have ever done in
my life, I mean it. I make it a point to avoid situations where my husband can say I told you
so, but he got me on this one y’all. Now I’m sure that golf course subdivision life is perfectly
wonderful for some people. We were just not those people.
Once Addie, my youngest, was born, we got in the habit of bringing the girls up to Mama
and Daddy’s farm in Vidette. They have been to Disney World. It paled in comparison to
weekends at the farm. They climbed trees. They stomped through the woods. They squished
their tiny toes in the mud on the banks of the pond. They watered flowers and dug potatoes
wearing nothing but a watermelon-stained tee shirt. They loved on baby calves, and they let
newborn puppies wiggle and roll all over them. They spent the evenings swinging on farm
gates while my daddy grilled something delicious for supper. It was a pure slice of heaven
until we had to leave on Sunday afternoon. One afternoon in the fall it was much worse than
it had ever been. Addie was worn out and luckily fell asleep. Ali, my oldest, was a different
story. She literally clung to my mother as if her life depended on it. She was wailing, “I
don’t want to go! Nanny, please let me stay here!”. Mama was crying, Ali was crying. I was
crying. It was pure tee awful.
By the time we got to the end of the farm’s long magnolia lined driveway, both girls were
asleep in their car seats. Pete and I didn’t speak until we got to the county line, and he
finally spoke up and said, “we have to move.” At first, I thought he had lost his mind. We
lived so close to the beach that Sunday afternoons on Hilton Head were frequent. We had
fabulous jobs and wonderful friends. You’d have to be straight crazy to leave what we had
in Effingham County. But we did. We took a leap of faith. We didn’t have jobs when we
resigned our positions. While there were a lot of roadblocks that made me question whether
we made the right decision in the beginning, all my doubts were erased when all four of us
were under one roof in the Jenkins County School System. Working here and having my
children with me and watching them thrive has been one of my life’s greatest blessings.
And that’s what I guess that kid at recess back 20 years ago was thinking. Places like
Vidette and Millen may not have an Eiffel Tower or a Big Ben, or Gouda cheese at the
grocery store, or a beach close enough for a Sunday afternoon picnic. But what they do have
is people who know your name and why your mama named you that. They have that earthy
smell from turned peanuts. They have rocking chairs and shade trees and kids who leam to
fry chicken from their grandmothers and fly fish from their grandfathers. And when you
look at it like that, Paris and London could scarce hold a candle.
I am excited to be writing again and I look forward to sharing a lighthearted perspective
from just beyond the paved road. Enjoy your weekend, y’all. If you have time, roll your
windows down and take a drive down a Jenkins County dirt road. Play Waylon Jennings,
“Good Hearted Woman” while you do. Before you know it, you’ll be smiling and thanking
the good Lord for the opportunity to live in an exotic place like London, or Paris, or Millen.
Words of Wisdom
By Debbie Hearn
for
The Times
Today, I sat down with
Mr. Webster Frawley to ask
him a few questions about
his life and his opinion on
a couple of things from his
80+ years of knowledge
and insights.
Webster was the youngest
of five bom to Martha
Annie Cato and Hazel
Rufus Frawley on June
21, 1943. He was the only
child of the Frawley’s to
be bom in a hospital. That
was the Mulkey Hospital
in Millen, Jenkins County,
Georgia. He grew up
with two sisters and two
brothers. They all attended
the Jenkins County
Schools.
Webster has been known
in the community as an
avid golfer. He has been
a lifelong member of
Scarboro Baptist Church
in Millen since the age
of 12. He had attended
Sunday School and Sunday
Services since the age of 5
but it was when he was 12
and attended a revival that
he was saved and joined the
church. He was baptized
in the Ogeechee River at
Scarboro Landing which is
still used for baptisms of
the church to this day.
He and his wife Barbara
Ozbolt Frawley have been
married 58 years this
August. They have one
daughter, Tammy Razuri
and her husband Patrick.
They are blessed with two
granddaughters, Kelsie and
Caitlin.
One of the questions I
asked was “What was your
first car?” He smiled and
said, a 1955 Pontiac. A blue
one. As our talk progressed,
I asked a myriad of random
questions. The following
J
1
iSi
«
J
Webster Frawley
were my questions and his
responses.
Q. Do you think the
depression molded the way
your parents did things?
A. Without a doubt my
parents were influenced
by living through the
depression. They had a
hard life in their early years
of marriage.
Q. Did your family get
together with other families
By Joe Brady, Editor
for
The Times
I am so excited to be back where I belong! I have missed writing to all of you each week.
There is so much that has happened since we have been away from one another, where
do I begin? First of all, let me repeat the oath I swore to you from the beginning. I swear
to always bring you the news in an unbiased, impartial manner. No matter what happens,
I owe you, my village, the news. Me and everybody that works on the Jenkins County
Times swear the same thing!
Now, all that’s out of the way. Some of you may have missed the auction man in Willy
Wonka. Well let me tell you, it was great. Of course, the scene that I was most looking
forward to was cut out. It seems that Charlie and his Grandpa Joe (Sam’s part), were
supposed to fly. Sam had described the hold network of pullies and cables, “I told them
they were going to need four strong men to pick me up.” He said one afternoon. I replied,
“nope, they gonna need 4 Hebrew slaves! Y’all remember The Ten Commandments with
Charlton Heston,? Them slaves. Of course, the preacher said, “when they get Sam in the
air can we stand up with broom sticks and yell “PULL!” You know, skeet shooting!
But the grandchildren enjoyed it! Jett tried to fly from his daddy’s lap and Jax told Willy
Wonka after the show that he was taking his place. In other news. Mama called me this
week to tell me she had taken her husband off cholesterol medicine after two days. “Son,
you know that Lipitor is bad news.” That led to a thirty minute discussion on how I didn’t
really think Lipitor was causing his legs to swell and that she needed to call his doctor.
Now, you would think we would have at least one person in the family who is a doctor but
nope. We all act like one though! Y’all remember Granny making me eat mentholatum?
Our conversation ended with me telling Mama to do what she thought best. Poor Eddie,
he’ll never see another cholesterol pill in his life!
I can’t tell you how excited I am to be back behind the editor’s desk. I have missed all of
you! That’s all for now, take care!
Letters to the editor of The Jenkins County Times are welcomed and encouraged.
These are pages of opinion, yours and ours. Letters to the editor voice the opinions of
the newspaper’s readers. The Jenkins County Times reserves the right to edit any and
all portions of a letter. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters must include
the signature, address and phone number of the writer to allow our staff' to authenti
cate its origin. Letters should be limited to 400 words and should be typewritten and
double-spaced or neatly printed by hand. Deadline for letters to the editor is noon on
Wednesday. Email Letters to the Editor to: thejenkinscountytimes@gmail.com
Eric Erickson lauds community newspapers
Dear Editor,
Radio talk show host Erick Erickson urged his audience on Monday, Jan. 23, to subscribe
to their weekly newspaper.
Erickson lives in Macon, but The Erick Erickson Show fills the coveted noon-3 p.m. slot
on WSB, the most popular radio station in Atlanta, found on 95.5 FM and 750 AM. It’s
also on the iHeart radio app. Erickson spent part of his show chiding the national media
for refusing to report that an Antifa terrorist in Atlanta fired at police before he was killed,
or that a mass shooter of Asians in Los Angeles was not on a racist spree, but was himself
Asian.
“Dare I suggest the press really is becoming the enemy of a free people?” wondered
Erickson, a reference to Donald Tramp’s phrase for the media.
But Erickson later added a caveat.
“I should point out that one of the most conservative areas of the press are local newspa
pers,” said Erickson. “I’m not talking about the regional papers .... But you know a lot of
counties and states have newspapers, and those tend to be very plugged into the local level
and tend to be conservative. Their editorialists tend to be conservative.”
Local newspapers are worth supporting Erickson said, “There’s a great one near me that
I subscribe to, and it’s a once-a-week newspaper and it primarily covers its county, and
it has been relentless in exposing a woke takeover of its local school board among other
things. Those are necessary outlets, and frankly if you are a conservative those are the sorts
of press operations you should be subscribing to. If you have a local paper, you should get
a subscription. One, you stay in the know about what’s going on in the county wherever
you live and, two, you are supporting a conservative enterprise. Often, I’m not going to
say they all are, but overwhelmingly the county-by-county papers also tend to be profitable
operations. That’s something else — as much of the media is dying, a lot of these local
newspapers, countrywide newspapers, tend to still turn a small profit. Operations have
been disrupted. Printing shops have been disrupted and the like but they’re still pretty good
and they’re worth supporting. Not editorializing, just reporting the facts. They’re useful
services.”
— Will Davis,
Monroe County Reporter, Forsyth
to do gardens, canning,
butchering?
A. Yes, we did. The whole
community would gather
once a year and butcher
hogs from anyone that had
hogs. They would have
gardens and share with
each other’s families.
Q. Your family life is
blessed, what’s so different
with today’s youth and
adults?
A. Old times were great
as a child, but today there
is so much going on in
our lives. Sometimes I
think our kids should live
more like we did. We were
taught to respect others and
appreciate what we have.
Q. Work Ethics. Why do
you think it is so different
today vs when you were
growing up?
A. I think part of it is
we wanted our kids to
live better than we did.
Which I feel may have
worked against us. We
were disciplined when we
needed it. Today, that has
become a no, no.
Q. What kind of jobs have
you had? Which was the
best? Worst?
A. I worked as a ‘soda
jerk’ at Millen Pharmacy
Drag Store while I was in
high school to have a little
spending money. I worked
10 years in construction,
and I worked 31 years as
an electrician. Construction
work was great, but I had
to be away from home to
much.
Q. What do you do for fun
or recreation?
A. In addition to golf
I’ve always loved going
camping and boating. I
played baseball, softball.
I also love hunting and
fishing. I play golf because
it’s fun and I have gotten
to meet and know a lot of
really good people that I
now consider my friends.
Q. What chores did you
have growing up?
A. Cutting grass and
helping to keep the yard
looking good. I also
(sometimes) helped my
mother and sisters with the
house chores.
My final question was,
“What’s the secret to a
happy life?” After thinking
about my question Webster
said, “To be content with
what you have and not try
to be what you’re not. I try
not to worry about things I
have no control. I just pray
that the Lord will take care
of what I need”.
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THE JENKINS COUNTY TIMES
issue 1 March 2023 is published weekly by on Wednesday
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