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Send a letter to the editor to P.O. Box 1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534; fax (706) 265-3276; or email to editor@dawsonnews.com.
DawsonOpinion
WEDNESDAY, July 4, 2018
This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and
others. Signed columns and cartoons are the
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views.
Farewell to
a good dog
It is with heavy heart that I inform you
that Kacy, the family granddog, has left us.
She died peacefully in the arms of her lov
ing family at her home in Cartersville.
When notified of her passing, her good
friend, Hayden Rose Yarbrough, delivered
an impromptu eulogy: “I’ll bet God is
scratching her
belly in heaven
right now.” The
faith and elo
quence of a
4-year-old.
Not much is
known about
Kacy’s back
ground. There is
empirical evidence to suggest that neither
of her parents were members of the
American Kennel Club, given that their
offspring didn’t resemble a pure-bred poo
dle or a bichon frise. She looked like a
plain old dog with floppy ears, long legs
and big brown eyes that would melt your
heart.
Could she have talked, Kacy would have
told you that she was one lucky dog to
have lived the life she did. Found aban
doned in the woods as a tick- and worm-
infested puppy, she was nursed to health by
her new family and spent the rest of her
long years giving new meaning to the term
“a dog’s life,” which generally implies a
second-class existence. Nothing could be
further from the truth in her household.
Sure, there were those times when she
was forced to answer nature’s call in frigid
weather or when her sleep was disturbed
by some wiseacre squirrel who had the
audacity to trespass in her restricted space
and who learned the hard way that this was
a bad idea. Mostly however hers was a life
spent being loved and petted and scratched
and fed, interspersed with frequent naps in
front of the fireplace.
For several years, Kacy shared space
with Sheila, the Family Wonder Dog, who
accepted her presence with a modicum of
toleration as long it was understood who
was top dog in the family. Kacy accepted
her role without complaint and with
Sheila’s passing, took on the job as the
family’s go-to dog without missing a beat.
Sheila would have been impressed.
Kacy would have never replaced Lassie
or Rin Tin Tin as a leading dog in the mov
ies. She was a terrible actor. One of her fre
quent ploys was to grab a favorite pull toy
and dare her buddy, Cameron Charles
Yarbrough, to take it from her. Her growls
and snarls sounded real enough but were,
in fact, pure hokum — a part of the game.
Cameron Charles, always the willing foil,
would chase her around the house, tugging
at the toy and enduring her theatrical
threats until one of them wore out. Rarely
was it Kacy. It was a game that never got
old to either of them. Much to Kacy’s
delight, Hayden Grace later entered the
scene, which gave Kacy double the plea
sure and double the fun. She was all about
fun.
When we visited her in Cartersville, she
was always delighted to see us, particularly
since Grandma usually arrived with a pock
etful of dog biscuits. All it took to empty
the pocket was to sit obediently for a nano
second. She didn’t seem to mind. We were
impressed at how well-behaved she was
and she got a snoot full of dog biscuits. A
win-win situation.
My mentor, the late Jasper Dorsey,
taught me a lot about the telephone busi
ness and even more about life. One of his
oft-stated philosophies was that to be suc
cessful in life’s dealings, it was not neces
sary to read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win
Friends and Influence People,” although he
thought it a worthy read. Rather, he would
say, act like a dog.
A dog will love you even when you don’t
deserve it. A dog will not sit in judgement
of you. They will accept a bad day from
you without questioning why. A dog is all
about loyalty. You don’t have to worry
about a dog switching allegiances because
it is in their personal interest to do so. A
dog is with you through the good times and
the bad. They are always your friend.
Alas, a dog can also break your heart
because they seem to leave us before we
are ready for them to go. Such was the case
with Kacy. Hers was a remarkable journey
from abandonment as a frightened puppy
in the woods to a life richly lived. For all
the love and attention that she received, she
returned it ten-fold.
Rest in peace, Kacy. You were a dog
gone good dog and you will be missed.
May God scratch your belly into eternity.
DICKYARBROUGH
Columnist
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dickyar-
brough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA
31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb.
"After all these years, their ideas haven't aged a day!"
Good journalism still matters
When I arrived at high
school as a timid freshman, I
wasn’t sure where I fit in to
the system. I was put into a
technology class that I clearly
showed no interest in.
Thankfully to the finagling of
my parents, they moved me
into the journalism class - not
my first choice as I desperate
ly wanted to be in drama, but
better than technology none
theless.
My teacher and mentor,
Derek Hon, taught me that
nothing is more important
than the truth, to tell your sto
ries and find your voice.
At 14 years old I was
inspired, even named Editor-
in-Chief of our newly rein
stated school newspaper - a
title I held for three years. I
also interned for my local
paper, the Barrow County
News, by photographing my
high school’s sporting events.
At 15 years old, I began my
professional journalism
career with the Barrow
Journal, serving as the staff
photographer and columnist
until I left in 2017 to join the
Dawson County News. I’m
25 now and I’ve considered
myself to be a journalist for
over 10 years.
I’ve experienced great joys
and pains in my career. I’ve
watched my high school foot
ball team win their first game
in years. I cried when I photo
graphed troops hugging their
teary-eyed children before
they deployed to Afghanistan.
JESSICA BROWN
Columnist
I stood side by side with my
local SWAT team as they
completed training simula
tions. I’ve met and talked
with so many countless,
amazing people that will stay
with me forever.
I tell you my story because
so often we get wrapped up
telling everyone else’s story
in the community that it’s
easy to forget that the byline
you see in the paper is a real
person, and usually a person
who entered this career
because of their passion to
inform their communities.
Right now it’s truly a scary
time for journalists. Our cred
ibility is always in question.
Our profession is looked
down upon by many who call
us scum, who believe we cap
italize on other people’s
heartaches and tragedies.
Like Mr. Hon taught me all
those years ago: nothing is
more important than the truth,
and the truth is that we are
human. We do our best to
inform, spread awareness and
bring you smiles. We want to
keep you abreast of the hap
penings in our community
because it’s important to not
only you but to us as well.
With the news coming out
of Annapolis, I am truly
heartbroken for the five jour
nalists who lost their lives.
It scares me to think we
live in a world where my col
leagues and I need to be fear
ful of doing our jobs. If we
deliver anything less than per
fection, we’re skewered by
the public. If we write the
wrong thing about the wrong
person, what will happen?
Will we get an angry call or
will they storm our office and
gun us down? Even more ter
rifying is that this is not the
first, nor will it be the last,
attack to target journalists.
The idea that journalism is
so undervalued and journal
ists are seen as sensationalist
scum appalls me.
The men and women who
died at the Capital Gazette on
June 28 were just that: men
and women. They were doing
their job to inform their com
munity, a job that requires
passion (because let’s be hon
est none of us are in this for
the pay).
There was a time when
journalism was valued. We
were the watchdogs of the
government, of society.
Newspapers were pillars in
communities; now we’re
becoming relics slowly fading
into antiquity.
In today’s climate of divi
siveness, of distrust, of igno
rance, I worry what the future
holds for us thousands of
journalists. The few faces on
the TV screen that seem to
stir the pot and sensationalize
atrocities have become the
poster children of an industry,
and that is truly terrifying.
The media as a collective
group is viewed by our gov
ernment body as leeches.
That mentality trickles down
further and further until you
reach the younger genera
tions, filled with apathy for
the industry entirely.
I still believe what we do
matters. There will always be
a need for journalists to con
nect the community through
stories and photography. In
the years after we’re all dead
and gone, our newspapers
will be the lasting historical
record of our communities.
For the thousands of jour
nalists like me around the
nation who have been shaken
by this senseless tragedy, we
will continue to do our jobs to
serve our communities,
secretly holding our breaths
that we don’t anger the wrong
person.
But that deep fear hidden in
our hearts will not deter us
from reporting the truth. In
today’s society, there is noth
ing more important than the
truth. We fell in love with
sharing our communities, our
homes with the people who
pick up our newspapers. The
fear of our first amendment
being violated by evil and
hate will not stop us. It never
has and it never will.
Jessica Brown is a reporter for
the Dawson County News.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The future of Medicare
and Social Security
When President Trump was on the
campaign trail, he promised he would
never touch Medicare or Social Security.
I talked to several Dawson County resi
dents during that campaign who said as
long as he didn’t touch their Medicare or
Social Security, they were okay with
him. Well, time to take a look at what
may actually happen in the next few
months to these two essential programs.
The infamous tax cut that was sup
posed to be for the lower and middle
class did give us all a small monthly tax
cut: $15 to $40 a month depending on
your income. But the people who really
got the big breaks were the corporations,
CEO’s and Wall Street gang. Many of
them will see hundreds of thousands a
year in tax cuts. Some will enjoy cuts
even into the millions. What that has
done is create the likelihood of $1.8 tril
lion being added to the deficit.
The current Republican-led Congress
thinks the best way to take care of this
increasing deficit is to decrease benefits
for Medicare, Medicaid and Social
Security. The Republican aim is to total
ly do away with all of these programs,
but they can do it slowly just by defund
ing it.
Two weeks ago the House
Republicans proposed a budget that
would balance the budget in nine years.
Remember, they just passed the tax cuts
that would increase the deficit by $1.8
trillion. Now they feel the need to bal
ance the budget, and have proposed cut
ting Social Security by $4 billion,
Medicaid and other healthcare programs
by $1.5 trillion and Medicare by $500
billion. There are several other changes
in the budget which affect low income
families which would also take place.
Let’s not forget the $230 billion in cuts
to public education.
Now I am sure that many reading this
will say “good riddance” to all these pro
grams and claim they are going broke
anyway. But Social Security is solvent
until 2034. By then the Oust fund will be
depleted and benefits will have to be cut.
But there are things we could do now to
keep this from happening. The simplest
solution would be to raise the cap on
how much income is taxed (currently
$128,400 which hasn’t been raised in 25
years). Right now persons making
$25,000 a year or $125,000 a year pays 6
percent Social Security Tax. A person
making $125 million only pays this tax
on the first $128,400 of that income,
amounting to less than .001 percent,
making it an extremely regressive tax.
The same is true for Medicare, and a
slight increase in the payroll tax would
allow Medicare to remain solvent for
years to come. (It would also help to get
medical costs under control.)
If we cut benefits, we are hurting those
that need the help the most. One
Dawson County resident on a Facebook
post called Social Security a “Ponzi
scheme.” He probably thinks Medicare
is a handout for lazy people. But the
reality of both these programs is that
when Social Security was strengthened
and Medicare first began in 1965, it
brought millions of Americans over age
65 out of poverty and it has worked to do
that continually for the last 53 years.
With a few tweaks to both programs they
can be continued for another 50 years,
thereby honoring and caring for our
American senior citizens. So to all of
you who are “okay with Trump”—good
luck! But if you want to save Social
Security and Medicare, vote for
Democrats.
Bette Holland
Dawsonville
Letter policy
The Dawson County News welcomes your opinions
on issues of public concern. Letters must be signed and
include full address and a daytime and evening phone
number for verification. Names and hometowns of let
ter writers will be included for publication without
exception.Telephone numbers will not be published.
Letters should be limited to 350 words and may be
edited or condensed.The same writer or group may
only submit one letter per month for consideration.
We do not publish poetry or blanket letters and gen
erally do not publish letters concerning consumer com
plaints. Unsigned or incorrectly identified letters will be
withheld.
Mail letters to the Dawson County News, RO. Box
1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534, hand deliver to 30 Shoal
Creek Road, fax to (706) 265-3276 or e-mail to editor@
dawsonnews.com.