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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 18, 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.
Runoff not
end but just
beginning
Don’t look now but it is almost time to go
back to the polls in Georgia. Either Lt. Gov.
Casey Cagle or Secretary of State Brian Kemp
will be selected by Republican voters in the
runoff on Tuesday, July 24, to be their guber
natorial candidate in the November general
election.
Cagle, as you know, has had a severe case of
blabbermouth and potty mouth. Among things
he told Clay
Tippins, a former
rival in the
Republican pri
mary who taped
a conversation
without Cagle’s
knowledge, is
that the primary
is about who can
be the craziest. On that point, I totally agree.
Casey Cagle at times has come across as
slightly unhinged. I would prefer my gover
nors to be a bit more circumspect.
Speaking of crazy, Brian Kemp with a shotgun
in his lap keeps reminding a jumpy young
man who evidently wants to date one of his
daughters that he just might use it if the boy
doesn’t behave. My daughter would have gone
bonker-crazy if I had done that, shotgun or no
shotgun. I get sweaty palms just thinking
about it.
And I don’t know about Stacey Abrams, the
Democratic gubernatorial candidate, either.
The last I heard, she was at the Stone
Mountain Memorial trying to scrub off Robert
E. Lee’s beard with a Brillo Pad. That’s pretty
crazy, I think.
In the runoff for lieutenant governor, I’m not
sure what Republican Geoff Duncan’s think
ing was in a series of last-minute attacks on
rival candidate David Shafer. Shafer almost
won the nomination without a runoff. (He got
49 percent of the vote to Duncan’s 27 percent.)
I doubt seriously the attack ads will change the
runoff results much and will likely serve as
ready-made fodder for the Democratic candi
date, Sarah Riggs Amico, in the general elec
tion. Sometimes, Republicans have a hard
time figuring out who the enemy is.
Until he decided he needed to respond to
Duncan’s attacks, Shafer had run a relatively
positive campaign. At least The Woman Who
Shares My Name thinks so and you must
remember, she doesn’t like anything about
politics, except Johnny Isakson.
The “down ballot” races don’t garner the
attention of the governor and lieutenant gover
nor, but they are equally important to both par
ties. They include races for Public Service
Commission, secretary of state, state school
superintendent and insurance commissioner,
among others — all of which will have
Democratic challengers this fall.
One could argue that these races can impact
Georgians as much or more than the more
high-profile ones at the top of the ballot.
Insurance commissioners set the rates for
insurance companies doing business in the
state. The Public Service Commission sets
utility rates (Does the name Plant Vogtle ring a
bell?) The state school superintendent, pretty
much emasculated during Gov. Nathan Deal’s
term in office, still can be influential in public
education matters.
The secretary of state regulates more state
boards than a yard dog has fleas. In addition, it
is responsible for voter registration and will
play a key role in the redistricting process set
for 2020. While state Rep. Brad Raffensperger
and Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle duke it
out for the Republican nomination, awaiting
the winner will be Democrat John Barrow.
Barrow is perhaps the most fascinating char
acter in the race. He holds the dubious distinc
tion of being the last white Democrat from the
Deep South to serve in Congress. Barrow had
five terms in the U.S. House even while dis
tricts were redrawn around him, requiring him
to move from Athens to Savannah to Augusta
before he was finally defeated in 2014. I’m not
sure the looney leftists in his own party appre
ciate John Barrow but I suspect Republicans
have a healthy respect for him.
Don’t forget that Tuesday, the 24th, isn’t the
end. It is just the beginning. We have a general
election ahead of us in November and get to
do this all over again. Despite the robocalls at
dinner, the predictable attack ads and general
hyperbole, we should consider it a privilege
that we can have a say in who governs us.
Many parts of the world don’t have that oppor
tunity.
Winston Churchill said democracy is the
worst form of government except all others
that have been tried. It can be even worse if we
choose not to participate and do not exercise
our right to vote. It is not pandering or grand-
standing politicians that are the biggest threat
to our democracy. It is our own apathy. Please
vote next Tuesday.
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.
DICKYARBROUGH
Columnist
Wisdom that comes with age
“Never have your butt
higher than your head,” my
granddaddy often says. “No
good ever comes from hav
ing your butt higher than
your head.”
My granddaddy is a foun
tain of such nuggets of life
advice that often leave me
scratching my head. What
situation was my grandfa
ther in during his younger
years where he learned the
valuable lesson of ensuring
his rear never managed to
be above his head? How did
he come to discover this life
advice?
As a kid I rolled my eyes.
His adage meant never
going on rollercoasters that
went upside down, and no
way would I pass up an
opportunity to enjoy a thrill
ride at the amusement park.
Then one day I learned
the hard way that, yes, no
good ever comes from hav
ing your butt higher than
your head.
While bouncing on my
old trusty trampoline with
my older male cousins, a
sudden bravery struck me.
Seeing the boys doing flips
and tricks in the air inspired
me to do that same - after
all, as the only girl in the
family it was up to me to
stand up for womankind and
show them I could do every
thing they could do.
JESSICA BROWN
Columnist
Well, I couldn’t. I mean
technically speaking, I did
indeed do a flip. My rear
got higher than my head. So
much so that it flung me off
the trampoline and into the
chain link fence. The
embarrassment and dam
aged pride hurt worse than
flying into a metal fence.
It made me reflect on the
life advice I’d received from
my family though. Who
knew that silly and seem
ingly useless advice would
actually be something I’d
carry with me to this day?
Now as a young adult
navigating through the ups
and downs of life, I seem to
use that seemingly useless
information - just as my
grandparents and parents
have done. It’s practically
tradition to collect odd life
lessons to pass down in the
Brown family.
Take my dad for instance,
who says the best life
advice is “Never live in a
place where you could die if
you walk outside your
house in the nude.” He says
it’s a catch-all life lesson
that has served him well all
his life.
“If you go outside naked
and it’s too hot that you
could die, don’t live there. If
you go outside naked and
it’s so cold that you could
die, don’t live there. If you
go outside naked and could
potentially get shot for
being naked, don’t live
there,” he says as he names
some of his long list of
rational answers.
Well, he’s not wrong.
And when I moved to
Dawsonville I’ll admit that
life advice drifted into my
mind more than once.
It seems as I get older I
find myself trying to collect
my own nuggets of untradi-
tional wisdom that comes
with the random experienc
es life throws at us, meaning
we all gather unique nug
gets of important lessons
that will only make our next
generations stronger.
I find myself going
through various life experi
ences and learning valuable
lessons that seem to only fit
very specific circumstances.
But I log them in the back
of my mind anyway because
I never know when I’ll need
to tell my baby second
cousins that “nothing good
comes from playing with
bungee cords.”
At the time I gathered this
little nugget, I was around
six years old - though my
memory of the incident is a
bit fuzzy. My father decided
that we should make my
beloved childhood swing
into a bungee swing so I
could bounce.
Even then I remember
thinking “this isn’t going to
go well.”
Sure enough my instincts
were correct, as the “secure
ly” fastened cord rapidly
untied itself to the tree and
snapped abruptly on my lit
tle noggin. To this day I
believe my head is a little
misshapen from the mishap.
Now will there ever be a
time where I’ll need to omi
nously warn my young fam
ily members about the dan
gers of a bungee cord snap
ping on their heads? Who
knows.
But the lesson is there, just
waiting to be unleashed at
the right time. According to
my other family members,
I’ll know when the time is
right - and even if our future
generations roll their eyes at
our advice like I once did,
they’ll soon leam all about
the Brown wisdom that
comes with age.
Jessica Brown is the features
reporter for the Dawson
County News. Her columns
will appear periodically.
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