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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, September 19,2018
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.
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DICKYARBROUGH
Columnist
A treatise on
the art of being
a Southerner
Occasionally, I will drop in a comma
where it doesn’t belong or fail to associate
phrase modifiers with the nearest preced
ing noun and other stuff like that to see if
you are paying attention. Trust me, I do
this on purpose. I happen to be an expert
on the subject (or is it predicate? I can’t
English lan
guage.
Many of you
are quick to
point out my
(wink, wink)
errors. This is
my way of
ensuring you
are reading the
column without the cost of doing a survey.
There are also the calls to the editors want
ing to know why they publish such unso
phisticated drivel on their editorial pages,
but I tend not to count those. I just hope
the editors don’t, either.
I recently heard from a reader who asked
whether I had meant to use a possessive as
opposed to a contractive word in one of
my columns. That was an excellent ques
tion and one that I plan to answer as soon
as I have found a place to put my dangling
modifier.
In his note, he indicated that he was a
recent Northern transplant who was “hav
ing some trouble adjusting to Southern
mores, values and habits.” He has obvious
ly done some adjusting because he said he
enjoys my columns. That is not usually the
first thing I hear from a Northern trans
plant.
If he can sensitize me to the proper use
of possessive vs. contractive whatevers, I
can certainly help make his transition to
the South a little easier. Frankly, I have not
always done as good a job as I should in
welcoming our new friends, and, as a
result, we find ourselves dealing with a
large number of know-it-all Yankees who
think we talk funny and marry our third
cousins. This is exacerbated by the fact
that they won’t move back to where they
came from because it snows there 10
months a year and all their buildings are
rusted.
I told my new reader friend that I would
be happy to help him understand how we
do things here and perhaps he can in turn
help other Northern transplants as they
arrive.
First and foremost, always stand at
attention when you hear Ray Charles
Robinson, of Albany, Georgia, sing
“Georgia on my Mind.” If you choose to
kneel during our state anthem, do it out of
profound respect or somebody may hurt
you severely.
Finguistically, never tell anyone that you
are preparing to do something. The correct
term is “fixing” as in, “I’m fixing to fix
dinner.” And you don’t drive someone any
where. You carry them, i.e., “I’m fixing to
carry Momma to the store.”
There are also some misconceptions
about Southern speech. We don’t say “you
all” as rumored. It is “y’all.” The only time
you hear a Southerner say “you all” is on a
television show produced by somebody
who has never been south of Fifth Avenue.
We don’t like to be confrontational with
the exception of reminding us about losing
the Uncivil War. We don’t have much of a
sense of humor about that. We know we
lost and tearing down our statues doesn’t
help things.
If you hear someone say “Bless his or
her heart,” that is about as ugly as we get,
but we aren’t misunderstood. (“If brains
were dynamite that poor girl couldn’t blow
her nose, bless her heart.”)
As for Southern cuisine, most everything
we eat comes from a hog or chicken and is
fried in grease. The only exceptions are
pecan pie and sweet tea. And we don’t
drink sodas in the South. We drink
Ko-kolers. It is not only permissible but
encouraged that you put a handful of pea
nuts in the beverage for a rare taste treat.
In the South, we worship God and foot
ball in that order with the exception of the
fall when the order is likely to be reversed.
To many, heaven is considered to be
Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, on a
crisp, sunny Saturday afternoon and
“Glory, Glory to Ole Georgia,” a hymn of
praise and thanksgiving.
I hope my new friend finds this helpful.
Please know that Southern hospitality is
real and you are welcomed. However, if
there are those Northern transplants among
you who don’t like how we do things here
in the South and are just going to make
fun of us, y’all don’t let the door hit you in
the fanny on your way out, bless your
heart.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dickyar-
brough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA
31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on
Facebookatwww.facebook.com/dickyarb.
"Now there
go some
real heroes!"
<&>20J8
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Immediate action needed
Greetings to everyone in our county,
state and country. This is an urgent
call to all. As most already know: We
are being overtaken. No, not what you
may think, but by Kudzu. Immediate
action is needed!
Our counties and states do a great
job keeping the grass cut along our
roadways. However, I have noticed
that while we the taxpayers pay for
these services, the mowers and trim
mers are carrying this invasive vine
from one property to the next. It only
takes a small piece to take root. Once
it takes root, there is a new location
where it grows a foot a day. This vine
will not only take over a property (our
home) but it will also kill our trees,
shrubs and flowers. We all need to be
contacting our county, state and feder
al road commissioners etc. to try to
address and minimize this growing
problem (including decreased property
value).
After recently going to look at some
property that was put on the market to
sell, I left immediately when I saw
that the Kudzu had overtaken and
killed most all the trees. I believe if
we will all work together, we can at
least slow down this terrible plant
brought from Japan so many years
ago. Kudzu was introduced in the U.S.
in 1876. From 1935 to the 1950s
farmers were encouraged to plant
Kudzu to reduce soil erosion.
If you see it growing on your prop
erty please try to control or totally
destroy it. This is not an easy job, but
we must take quick action before this
vine takes over what we’ve worked so
hard to have (our home). One way I
found was not easy, but I began to pull
up the vine (roots and all). After sever
al months of evenings and weekends, I
finally found what seem to be the first
and biggest base and roots of it all.
After digging and burning, it finally
seems to at least be under some con
trol. Fet’s do this not only for our
selves, but our children, grandchildren
and neighborhoods for generations to
come.
Please do some research about this
plant. You will find its origin, data,
control and much more! Thank you
for your time and help.
G. Allen Boyd
Marble Hill
Climate change a huge
risk to humanity's future
I was interested to read recently
published letters on climate change
from both sides of the aisle. Therein
lies the problem — the subject is too
often politicized rather than analyzed
via a scientific impartial view. We
know politicians are beholden to their
financial supporters which influences
their decisions.
Having worked in the nuclear power
industry I confess to some personal
bias in supporting that technology
proposed by one writer. I also agree
that a strong military is important;
having also worked on military proj
ects it surprised me that our military
branch firmly recognizes climate
change and are actively dealing with
the risks of as a matter of national
security particularly at the coastal
ports.
As to whether greenhouse gas
increase and consequent climate
change is entirely natural or impacted
by human activity, it is certainly a
combination of both. However
approximately 97 percent of climatol
ogists agree that the human contribu
tion is significant and climate-warm
ing trends over the past century are
very likely due to human activities,
according to NASA.gov.
There has never been an increase in
greenhouse gases such as we are see
ing at present. Atmospheric concentra
tion of the major greenhouse gas, car
bon dioxide, followed a very regular
50,000-year cycle of increase and
decrease for 400,000 years until the
mid-20th century when a sudden spike
started and has continued to rise
(NOAA website). The planet’s aver
age surface temperature has risen
about 0.9 degrees Celsius since the
late 19th century (the start of the
industrial revolution). This compares
to the previous 1-degree Celsius tem
perature rise that took approximately
10,000 years.
As one of our more impartial and
respected politicians John McCain
predicted in 2008: “the facts of global
warming demand our urgent attention;
we are likely to see more forest fires
than in previous decades ... changes
in crop production ... more heat
waves afflicting our cities and a great
er intensity in storms” Very topical
this month!
Climate change is a huge security,
health and economic risk and the sci
ence cannot be ignored. While carbon
dioxide is essential to life on earth, too
much can be harmful, just like poli
tics.
Phil Wolstenholme
Dawsonville
Letter policy
The Dawson County News welcomes
your opinions on issues of public con
cern. Letters must be signed and
include full address and a daytime and
evening phone number for verification.
Names and hometowns of letter 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 consid
eration.
We do not publish poetry or blanket
letters and generally do not publish let
ters concerning consumer complaints.
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.
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"My opinion? My opinion is I had
rather you not call me about my opinion!"