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Page 4 - Wednesday, April 10, 2024
The Jenkins County Times
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EAGLE NOTES
If you had asked me 10 years ago to take a trip to New York City, I would
have probably cut my eyes and looked over the rim of my glasses and said,
‘You must be crazy.” However, the love of your life has the ability to change
how you think and act. Renee’ mentioned many times about wanting to go
so I surprised her a couple of years ago with a trip to go to NYC. I must say,
I really enjoyed it. There is always something to do, and most things are
within a 30-minute train ride or a walk. The cultural experiences available
are endless. Since that first trip, we have been back a couple of times. In
fact, we enjoy the city so much that we generally plan any time that we can
travel around something we can do there.
Last summer, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary there. While
there, we visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you are ever in
NYC, it must be on your list of things to do. So many of the pieces of art
that I remembered studying during art class were there. The real thing.
I was awestruck a little if I am being honest. You could spend multiple
days wandering around and just getting lost in there. Last summer, one
of the special exhibits they had was the works of Vincent Van Gogh. They
have some of his work on a regular basis, but they had many more pieces
on loan for this special exhibit. One of his pieces they regularly have on
display is “Starry Night.” To me, that is the quintessential Van Gogh. That
is what comes to mind when I hear his name. To see that painting in real
life was very cool. I was definitely a fanboy that day.
You may be wondering where I am going with this. Here’s the thing:
Van Gogh, along with many other artists, has a background that deals
with difficulties in life, and his artwork comes from that. Van Gogh felt
like he had been misunderstood. And that’s the thing in life. Many times,
our children and members of our family have hopes and dreams that may
not align with what we think they should be. We must tell ourselves that
their hopes and dreams are just that. Theirs. Not ours. I am sure we have
all been there. Even as educators, we may feel a student has a certain
potential and think they are wasting that potential. Our job and duty as
educators is to push students to reach their full potential, but not at the
cost of pushing them away from their dreams.
Ernie Johnson is a sportscaster for the TNT network. He mostly does
NBA commentary. I watched a speech of his not too long ago. He said his
job is a “get to” job, not a “got to” job. What he meant by this is that he
“gets to” get up and go to a job he loves daily. I feel the same way about my
job. I “get to” get up every day and go to a job I love. Does that mean it's
easy? Pretty much never. But that doesn’t mean I love it any less. In fact, if
it were easy, I don’t know that I would stay as engaged as I am.
It is our job as educators to inspire future generations to reach their
full potential. But it is also our job to inspire them to chase their dreams.
Inspire them to focus on their “get to” job. Because when you are at a “get
to” job, it never feels like work. Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” The artist in
everyone is the center of their hopes, dreams, and aspirations in life. I
challenge each of you to nurture our next generation to chase that artist.
No matter where it takes them or if it aligns with what we think.
RACIE CONEY
Jenkins County Commissioner
treMe:
FOR *
ALL PE0RI11
(NOT JUST A FEW)
• Dependable
• Trustworthy
• Life Long JC Resident
• Jenkins County Graduate
Paid for by Citizens for Tracie Coney for
Com mmissi oner
By Joe Brady, Editor
for
The Times
Y’all, every single year, at the exact same time, the weekend
{the Friday before the livestock festival}, Bam ends up in
the emergency room. I ain’t lying! This year, she fell while
rearranging her bedroom. Last year, she fell outside, unloading
newspapers, and the year before that, she fell at home. The
photo’s of that incident where showcased in the paper in the
livestock issue, there’s Bam, staring straight ahead, not moving
an inch.
We have had folks ask who the blind lady was in the picture!
Now, y’all know we can’t laugh at Bam for being accident prone.
But we can sure laugh with her. As Jake called and asked, “did
the newspaper lady break her foot?”
One thing we are discovering during these last few days
after her accident. We love Wednesdays when she is out of the
office and what would we do without her? I have said she’s the
hardest working woman in the newspaper business. Could I be
right? Who knows the newsstand route better than Bam? Y’all
saw Lori last week, this week you just might see me!
I have noticed that if it’s something she doesn’t really want
to do, she is in too much pain to attend the meeting. If she is
looking forward to it, such as being at the Collingsworth Family
Concert, she’s there!
So, to quote the movie, “Sound of Music”, what does one
do with Maria? What does one do with Bam? Y’all pray for
her speedy recovery and pray that I don’t beat her with her
own crutch! At least she’s graduated from the rolator to
the crutches. Did y’all know you could use the rolator like
a wheelchair? Sam doesn’t have a mannequin left in the
bookstore thanks to Bam running the halls. That’s all for now,
take care.
State Representative
Jon Burns
This past week, I had the honor of attending the
annual Law Enforcement Appreciation BBQ in
Glennville hosted by our friend Wayne Dasher. There
were dozens of Sheriffs from across the state in
attendance, and it was great to see so many of these
heroes and thank them for what they do every day to
keep us safe and secure.
The event was certainly a timely one. As we have
continued to work to make Georgia the best place to
live, work and raise a family, one of the most important
policy areas we have addressed recently has been public
safety. Over the past few years, we have seen an uptick
in crime—particularly in our metro cities. To that end,
working with Governor Kemp, the General Assembly
has prioritized strengthening public safety across our
state, standing with our men and women of law enforcement, and taking a hard
stand against violent crime and repeat offenders. As a result, we have made
significant progress to decrease crime rates, support our heroes who protect us,
and make communities across our state even safer. This past session, we were able
to pass a number of policies to do just that, including:
•SB 92—Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission: This will create an
oversight commission to hold District Attorneys who are failing to do their jobs
accountable. While most of the District Attorneys across our state do a fantastic
job, there are a few who are refusing to prosecute criminals and execute their oath
of office. This independent commission will have the authority to review those
issues and ensure the rule of law is being upheld.
•HB 1105—Combatting Illegal Immigration: This legislation will more forcefully
ban sanctuary city policies by requiring our local governments to comply with
federal immigration laws and identify and detain illegal immigrants in our state.
•SB 63—Requiring Cash Bail for Certain Offenses: This important legislation
will ensure that aggravated offenses require cash bail, which will help keep more
egregious offenders behind bars and hopefully cut down on repeat offenders—
which will help protect our law enforcement officers and communities at the same time.
•HB 500—Increasing Penalties for Police Car Arson: As a response to some of
the senseless rioting we have seen over the past few years, we are taking a very
hard stance against this lawlessness by ramping up criminal penalties for this
type of arson. This will help crack down on these types of behaviors while also
protecting our law enforcement officers and their property.
These are just a few of the measures we have taken to support our law
enforcement and keep Georgia communities safe—and we will continue building
on this work over the coming months and years.
In case you missed it, this past week I also had the opportunity to join the
Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Politically Georgia radio show to recap the
legislative session and highlight some of our accomplishments—and work yet to be done.
Lastly, I want to give a special shoutout to Dayle, as her birthday is today, April
5. She is simply the best—and we are going to spend the day enjoying the beautiful
Southeast Georgia weather at home.
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 news
paper’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, ad
dress and phone number of the writer to allow our staff to authenticate 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: news@jenkinscountytimes.com
(
Jenkins C
Phone: (478) 401-5007
Proudly covering Jenkins County’s news, sports, and community events
Sam Eades Publisher
Joe Brady Editor
Sam Eades Advertising Sales
Sarah Saxon ....Admin/Legals/Reporter/AP Correspondent
Debbie Hearn Admin/Layout and Design Executive
Lori Jones Admin/Receptionist/ Layout/Design
BradAsbury Sports Editor
THE JENKINS COUNTY TIMES
issue 5 April 2024 is published weekly by on
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