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DawsonOpinion
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10,2019
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.
"Who knew the Fed sets the allowance rates too?"
Death, taxes and applicable fees
It started when my child
was around 5 years old. He
may have been a bit younger,
or older; I am not entirely
sure. I just know he was
small.
We had gone to the
Everything is a Dollar store.
The store that my husband
will wander around and ask
me the price repeatedly.
“How much is this?”
“A dollar.”
“And this?”
“A dollar.”
“This?”
“One hundred pennies.” I
say, just to break up the rou
tine and throw him off his
game.
So, there we were, in the
Everything is a Dollar store
and my child had a freshly
gifted $5 burning a hole in his
Pokemon wallet.
Knowing the fact that
everything was indeed only a
dollar, he picked out five
things.
I tried to caution him that
he should get just four items,
but he ignored my warning.
He had five things on his
radar and five things he was
going to get.
He got behind me in line,
waiting patiently for me to
finish my purchase.
Once I did, he placed his
five items down on the coun
ter and waited for his total.
“Five thirty-five,” the
cashier said.
I was still holding my wal
let, knowing he was going to
need some change, but Cole
put his $5 bill on the counter
and slid it across to the
cashier.
“I have five,” he said.
She smiled at him. “Honey,
SUDIE CROUCH
Columnist
it’s $5.35. You need thirty-five
cents. Do you have thirty-five
cents?” I believe her question
was more directed at me than
my child.
“What is the thirty—five
cents for?” he asked.
“Tax.”
Cole nodded slowly. “Tax?
Isn’t everything a dollar?”
“It is, sugar, but you gotta
pay tax on it,” she explained,
thinking this was just a cute
learning moment for my
child.
He nodded again. “Your
sign says everything is just a
dollar though. It don’t say
nothing about taxes. You false
advertising.”
The cute learning moment
was over.
“You gotta pay tax though,
everyone knows that,” she
said.
“Your sign doesn’t say plus
tax; it says everything is just a
dollar. You are false advertis
ing,” he said again. He pushed
his money closer to her.
“There’s the five dollars for
my items. That’s all I am pay
ing because your sign did not
mention taxes.”
He took his bag and walked
towards the door where his
father was waiting.
“You are getting the taxes,
right?” the cashier asked me.
I nodded and dug the
change out of my wallet.
This little exchange estab
lished a lifelong aversion to
paying sales tax for my child
and the belief that Mama is
supposed to pay it for him.
Anytime he makes a pur
chase, it doesn’t matter what
it is, or how much money he
has, my now teenager will
look at me and ask, “You got
the tax, right?”
I sigh and assure him I will
cover the tax.
Sometimes, what he wants
is slightly more than the
money he has.
“Mama, it’s only two dol
lars more; can you help a
child out?”
I nod.
“And you still got the tax,
right?”
Yup, I still got the tax.
Gone are the days where
just a dollar store toy will
make him happy, and his
tastes now involve video
games. After receiving a gift
card for three months for
some online platform, my
child was hooked.
“Mama, if I give you the
money, can you put it in your
account and let me order it?”
I agreed.
“If there’s any tax...”
“I’ll get it,” I said.
However, to renew again
was $25 per month once his
subscription ended.
“Can you ...”
“Child, I will get the tax,
but I’m not giving you $25 a
month to play a video game.
And I don’t like giving my
debit card information to
something like that.”
He understood, but he still
had to try.
Being quite the resourceful
one, he came up with an idea.
“What if I had my own
debit card?” he asked.
“What?”
“What if I had like a pre
paid debit card. That way, it
wouldn’t be linked to your
account, and I could order my
subscription. Would you be
OK with that?”
It actually sounded like a
good idea, but there was one
catch: there was going to a
$4.95 fee to load the card.
“What?!” my child
exclaimed. “I have $201 want
to put on there, and I have
things I need to order. That
means I will only have under
$15.”
He frowned at the thought
of this. Five bucks is five
bucks, no matter how old you
are but especially if you
already had it earmarked for
something else.
“I will cover the fee,” I said
with a sigh.
“Really?” he asked. “What
if they charge me tax, too?”
“Til cover that as well.”
A few weeks later, he need
ed to reload his card.
“So, Mama, you got the fees
for me, right?” he asked as we
walked into the store. “And
the tax?”
I knew it was coming
before he even asked.
Just three things in my life
are certain. Death, in some
unforeseen future, paying
taxes, and any and all applica
ble fees.
Sudie Crouch is an award
winning humor columnistand
author of the recently e-pub-
lished novel, "The Dahlman
Files: A Tony Dahlman
Paranormal Mystery."
'Gone are the days where just a dollar store toy will make him happy, and his tastes
now involve video games. After receiving a gift card for three months for some
online platform, my child was hooked.'
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A eulogy for 3
extraordinary
wise men
I called them the Three Wise Men. They
came not bearing gifts of gold, myrrh and
frankincense. They brought service, dedica
tion and integrity. And as with all wise men,
they lived their example.
No exotic names like Gaspar, Melchior
and Balthazar. Theirs were ordinary names:
John. Roy. Raymond. But they were any
thing but ordinary. Although they were
never to meet, they shared a common bond.
They were members of the Greatest
Generation, strong family men, devout in
their faith and
highly success
ful in their par
ticular fields of
endeavor. They
made this a bet
ter world by
their presence
and made me a
better person for having known them.
Some years ago, I wrote in this space
about John Jacobs of Gainesville, Roy
Hodnett of St. Simons Island and Dr.
Raymond Cook of Valdosta, referring to
them as the Three Wise Men. Thank God
that they were around to read it and to know
what they meant to me. Today I come to
honor their memory.
John Jacobs passed away in 2011, a few
days shy of his 89th birthday. Roy Hodnett
died this past April at the age of 98. Two
weeks ago, Dr. Raymond Cook died three
weeks before he would have turned 100.
John Jacobs was a successful business
man who turned a small radio station in
Gainesville into a media conglomerate. Not
content to bask in his business achieve
ments, Jacobs put much of his time, energy
and dollars back into making Gainesville
and Hall County a better place to live.
At the other end of the state, Roy Hodnett
operated a real estate empire on Georgia’s
coast. In a highly competitive business driv
en by dollars and deals, his word was his
bond. A contract with Roy Hodnett could
be as simple as a handshake.
Dr. Raymond Cook, as I have said many
times, came along at a pivotal time in my
life. An English professor at Georgia State,
he motivated me to stay in college by his
inspirational teaching. I would not be doing
what I am today had it not been for Dr.
Cook.
What made these men so special to me?
In the first place, they taught me that suc
cess and kindness are not incompatible. All
rose to the top of their professions while
treating people with respect. To a man, they
were eternal optimists and seemed to bring
out the best in people, a trait I am still try
ing to master.
All were extremely humble when they
had every right not to be. I had known John
Jacobs for many years and was aware of his
military service in World War II, but only
when I was asked to emcee a tribute to him
in Gainesville did I learn he had earned two
Silver Stars for heroism in battle.
Roy Hodnett was involved in some of the
heaviest fighting in the war and was seri
ously wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.
He spent 14 months in the hospital and
returned home with a Silver Star, a Bronze
Star, the Purple Heart, a gimpy leg and a
love for his fellow man that even a war
could not kill.
Dr. Cook was a distinguished educator,
author and my beloved professor. He was
also the smartest person I ever knew. How
smart was he? He owned a 1939 Rolls
Royce that had once been the property of
Col. Jacob Schick, the Canadian razor mag
nate. In redoing the wiring in the automo
bile, he discovered that what the manual
said did not work. He improvised, found a
solution and informed Rolls Royce that
their manual was incorrect. The company
checked it out, agreed and rewrote the man
ual. That is how smart he was.
All three men were active right up to the
end of their distinguished lives and
remained my role models. John Jacobs
instilled in me the importance of good citi
zenship. Roy Hodnett taught me to treat
people as I would like to be treated. Dr.
Raymond Cook made me a man and, try as
I might, I could never thank him enough.
I will forever be grateful that I met and
knew and learned from these Three Wise
Men. I am also glad I had the good sense to
convey my love and respect for them in a
column while they were here to enjoy it.
Now they are gone. I will miss them, but I
will never forget them and what they meant
to me. God bless them. God bless their
memory.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dickyar-
brough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA
31139; online at dickyarbrough.com or on
Facebook at wvwv.facebook.com/dickyarb.
How was your 4th?
I hope everyone had a good 4th of
July—the day when we are supposed
to be celebrating our wonderful coun
try, founders, and the soldiers who
protect us. But something very differ
ent happened on this 4th of July. On
July 4, 2019 our country took a step
toward closer to totalitarianism and
fascism. President Trump invited us
in his weekly e-mail to join him for
“Trumps 4th of July Celebration”. Not
America’s celebration where families
of all political leanings come together
to enjoy each other, our patriotic
music, and fireworks. Instead it was
“Trump’s 4th of July” with tanks and
armored vehicles, fighter jets flying
over, big donors with free tickets, and
a political speech by our inept
President. And all on the tax payers
dollar.
Why is he an inept President? Just
take a look at the things he did and
said just in the past two weeks:
• Last week said he believed the
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia when
the prince told Trump he hadn’t
ordered the killing of an American
journalist, even though our own CIA
said he did!
• He smiled and made light of a
comment to Vladimir Putin about
meddling in our elections again.
• He cozied up to Kim Jon Un, a
radical dictator who finds pleasure in
killing his adversaries, putting his citi
zens in work camps, and in develop
ing nuclear weapons.
• News and photos of the inhuman
treatment of migrant families seeking
asylum in the US continue to flow in.
Trump is holding families in horrid
conditions on the border. Children
sleep on floors, have very little food,
and have been told to drink out of the
toilets if they need water.
Concentration camps in America con
doned by Trump.
• He is making irrational state
ments at press conferences. When
asked about Joe Biden’s stand in the
70’s on bussing for integration, he
went on and on about how important
it is to use buses to get kids to school.
• When asked about the decline of
Western Liberalism (the political ide
ology begun in the 1700’s which led
to the founding of many great
Democracies, including ours) he said
that the crazy Democrats in California
are losing steam?!
• Promoting nepotism at the G20
Conference—having his unqualified
daughter attend meetings, make com
ments at the G20, and have her picture
taken with 20 world leaders. Again,
tax payers paid for this unqualified
woman to attend this meeting.
• He reached the milestone of telling
over 10,000 lies since he took office.
• Last Tuesday he said his adminis
tration going to put the question about
citizenship on the census question
naire, even though the Supreme Court
of the United States said it would be
unconstitutional.
Our US Congress needs to step up
and stop this tyrant instead of looking
the other way. But some Congressman
say conservatives are getting the con
servative things they want passed and
they don’t care about “the other stuff’.
What is more important — our
democracy or lower taxes for the
wealthy?
Bette Holland
Dawsonville
DICKYARBROUGH
Columnist
