Wednesday, May 29,2019
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 9A
Coal Miners Daughter
Sometimes it’s hard to
find a place to write. For
me, it is.
Inside the house, I’m dis
tracted by bills to be paid,
papers to be filed, and laun
dry to be done.
On the back porch, my
attention is drawn to the
dogs and cats and how interestingly
they interact. Dew Drop, Biscuit,
Squeaky Leaks (aka Clemson),
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas
all have distinct entertaining per
sonalities. I find them captivating.
The horse barn, where we have a
sitting area and where I used to
write easily, has lost some of its
comfort after the huge oak was
felled by Hurricane Irma. Losing a
big tree to me is like losing a long
time friend.
So, I often take myself down to
Mama’s where I purposely find dis
tractions since they don’t naturally
present themselves. Writers are like
that. We’re always looking for a
way to escape the work. Tink
checks emails, writes texts, and
trolls the Internet.
Me?
I dig through closets and drawers
to see what I can find of Mama and
Daddy. Of my childhood. Of all the
people I’ve loved and the memories
I cherish.
That’s how I found Loretta Lynn.
She was my childhood hero.
Among my favorite, framed photos is
an old Kodak snapshot taken of me at
eight centered between Loretta and
her sister, Crystal Gayle (hack in the
days when her name was Brenda and
hair was only halfway down her
back). I was dressed, as usual, in a
homemade dress. This one is light
yellow voile with a twirling designed
border that only an expert seamstress
could have made work.
Mama did.
It was a dropped waist dress so
she sewed the top part in the fabric
then knife pleated a flounce skirt,
crafted from the border, around the
bottom. I feel fairly certain that I
still have that dress.
Money was carefully managed in
our home but, while my clothes were
homemade and my bangs were cut
crooked on a regular basis by Mama,
I was allowed a fairly endless supply
of books and several albums a year.
I always bought Loretta Lynn
albums.
After I aban
doned my child
ish pursuits and
moved to adult
hood, I left all
those albums in
my bedroom
closet. They were
stocked on a shelf
tucked in the rear. This would have
worked out just fine and dandy had
it not been for the fact that the clos
et shares a wall with the bathroom.
The only bathroom in our house.
When a leak developed, it soaked
the albums. The damage was not
discovered until the album jackets
had dried and mildewed a bit.
Though the records play fine, the
jackets are pretty much stuck
together - but, surely by the grace
of God, one is still pristine. It had
the good fortune of still having the
cellophane on it.
The career-defining “Coal
Miner’s Daughter” was an album
jacket of off-white scripted in light
blue. Loretta was dressed in a
cream Victorian lace dress accented
by a dark sash. On the back are
liner notes written by Doyle
Wilburn - the Wilburn Brothers
discovered her then made a pub
lishing fortune from her songs. The
back cover is beautifully, simply
designed with a scrolling border
and a black and white photo of
Loretta, again in lace.
You can feel the starkness but
poetic wonder of Butcher Holler,
Kentucky.
In talent shows, I always sang
Loretta Lynn songs including “Coal
Miner’s Daughter” BEFORE it
became a New York Times
Bestselling memoir or an Academy
Award winning movie.
We were shopping at Rose’s the
day I found the album. It cost
$4.99. It took Mama about three
hours in a hot sewing plant to bring
home five dollars.
“Mama, can I have this? Please?”
It was a rare request.
She thought for only a second
then nodded. I walked out of the
store, holding that precious treasure
close to my chest.
Some things are truly priceless.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of
the new book, Let Me Tell You
Something. Visitwww.rondarich.com to
sign up for her free weekly newsletter.
RONDA RICH
Columnist
Jessica Taylor Dawson County News
Kids enjoy playing at the Rotary Island Splash Pad June 2, 2018, at Rock Creek Park
during last year's Rotary Day festivities.
Splash pad opens June 1
with annual Rotary Day
By Jessica Taylor
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
The Rotary Island Splash
Pad will open for its fifth
season this Saturday with
the annual Rotary Day fes
tivities.
Rotarian volunteers will
be out at Rock Creek Park
serving up smiles and fun
for the community from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. June 1.
Rotary Island is an inter
active water park featuring
five above ground water
features and six ground
level sprinklers adjacent to
the children’s playground
and adjoins the pavilion.
It was installed by the
Rotary Club of Dawson
County in 2014 as a way to
give back to the community.
I was the club’s biggest
project since the club
formed in 1992, costing
more than $54,000.
Water is donated by the
Etowah Water and Sewer
Authority.
Each year the splash pad
opens with a celebration
hosted by local Rotarians
that will include free food
and activities for the whole
family.
Last year’s Rotary Day
drew more than 400 people
to the park.
The entire community is
invited to come out and
enjoy free hot dogs, pop
corn, cotton candy and
snow cones, as well as ride
on a water slide, dunk local
celebrities in a water tank
and meet some furry friends
at a petting zoo.
Admission to Rotary
Island is always free.
The splash pad is open
from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Monday through Sunday
until Labor Day, but could
be open later through
September, weather permit
ting.
Rock Creek Park is at 445
Martin Road in Dawsonville.
FROM 1A
Adoption
adopting, are already in that
process or are in the unfor
tunate situation of a stuck
adoption know very well
how imperative it is that our
State Department provide
both transparency and
accountability on all fronts,”
Pam Romano said in a
statement. “This bill ulti
mately supports the rights
of children worldwide who
lie awake at night dreaming
of one day having a
mommy and daddy to call
their own.”
The 397 votes cast in the
House of Representatives
on Monday were all in favor
of the bill. U.S. Sen.
Richard Burr, R-North
Carolina, has introduced a
companion bill in the U.S.
Senate.
Collins first introduced
the bill in 2018, when it
also passed the U.S. House.
He reintroduced it in March.
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