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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, NOVEMBER 24, 2021
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.
For these things
I give thanks
I was not going
to write a
Thanksgiving col
umn this week for
a couple of rea
sons. First, that is
the predictable
thing to do when
you have to chum out a weekly column. I
pride myself on being unpredictable.
Second, my friend, the late Furman
Bisher, long-time, legendary sports editor
of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution set the
bar so high with his annual column on the
subject that the rest of us pale by compari
son. But then I realized that I have a lot for
which to be thankful. So with the under
standing that my Thanksgiving thoughts
compared to his are like comparing Gomer
Pyle to Winston Churchill, I begin.
I am thankful that I seem to have made it
through another year, although there is still
a month to go. It has been a challenge, the
first one without the beloved Woman Who
Shares My Name. I am thankful for our
time together, for the memories we made
and for a supportive family and more
friends than I deserve.
I am thankful that God gave me the abili
ty to paint her portrait which now hangs at
her beloved beach house at St. Simons
Island. I could not have done it without the
help and encouragement of my instructor,
Kris Meadows, to whom I am especially
thankful.
I am thankful that a lot of my plans in life
didn’t pan out the way I intended them to. I
look back today and wonder what was I
thinking? I wasn’t as smart as I thought I
was. I am thankful I finally figured that out.
I am thankful that I finally got to meet
Bill Gaither, who is to gospel music what
Einstein is to the theory of relativity. I am
thankful he was as nice in person as he
appears to be on television. I am thankful to
Jane and Michael Cox for making it hap
pen.
I am thankful for the University of
Georgia and what it has meant to me. I’m
glad I made it out of there with diploma in
hand before it got so tough to get in. I
wouldn’t have a prayer these days.
I am thankful that I can still find reruns
of Andy Griffith and Carol Burnett amid all
the vampires and space aliens and potty
mouth language that permeate what passes
for entertainment these days.
I am thankful for apples from Ellijay,
onions from Vidalia, pecans from Albany,
shrimp from St. Simons Island, wines from
Tiger Mountain and barbecue and sweet tea
most everywhere else in this great state of
ours. No wonder everybody wants to move
here.
I am thankful for the giggle of little girls
who come to my house looking for their
great-grandpa to magically find cookies
behind their ear. I know they are onto my
schtick but they don’t want to spoil the illu
sion. We are all having too much fun.
Besides, they get a lot of cookies that way.
I am thankful for Vince Dooley. He is not
only a Hall of Fame football coach but has
been a friend to me for many years. It is
only fitting that the field at Sanford
Stadium finally was named for him. I am
thankful that Gov. Brian Kemp made it
happen. It was long overdue.
I am thankful for law enforcement, fire
fighters, EMTs, nurses and schoolteachers.
None are paid what they are worth, com
pared to professional athletes who aren’t
worth what they are paid.
I am thankful for Galatians 5:22-23 and
the Fruits of the Spirit - nine behaviors I try
to live by. I end each day checking out how
well I did. Five out of nine is usually my
average - on a good day. As long as
patience and self-control stay on the list,
don’t look for a perfect score.
I am thankful to the editors for giving me
this space to speak my piece, even though
there must be times when they wish I had
said something other than what I said.
And that brings me to you. Many of us
have been email pen pals for a long time,
even though we have never met in person.
You have applauded me when you agreed
and rapped my knuckles when you didn’t.
This year, you have helped me get through
the emotional valleys and on with my life. I
consider myself extremely fortunate that
you are there. And that is as good a way as
any to end this Thanksgiving message.
Thank you.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dick-
yarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,
GA 31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb.
DICKYARBROUGH
Columnist
DR. ANDERSON
There’s no award for last to catch COVID
Dr. Larry Anderson
Anderson Family Medicine
Good news, good news and bad news. The first good
news is that our numbers for new COVID-19 cases contin
ue to drop but they are still there. COVID-19 is still alive
and well. The number of people in the 30-45 year old
group who have been vaccinated has increased, albeit by a
small amount, but it is encouraging.
Remember there is no award, no parade, and no recogni
tion for the last person in Dawson County to either contract
COVID-19 or to die from it. Not worth the bragging rights.
Get your vaccine. Wear the mask.
The second good news is we still have no flu cases.
Metro Atlanta has only 25 hospital admissions for the 40
weeks of this flu season. Keep getting the vaccine and
wearing the mask. Feeling sick? Stay home. Good job!!
The bad news is the opioid crisis has not gone away and
has only gotten worse.
Deaths from overdoses continue to climb. The main cul
prit is fentanyl (lower case because this is the generic
name). It has been mixed illegally with other meds, espe
cially Xanax and others. We have so many drugs stores in
Dawson County that there is no reason to get your meds
from the comer.
The source of the fentanyl seems to be from the influx of
illegal people crossing our southern border. The drug car
tels are alive and well. This is not our view of foreign aid.
Stop it.
Thanks for reading.
LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR
Happy Thanksgiving
We have a lot to be thankful for!
Fast week, President Biden signed the
bi-partisan infrastructure bill with
Republicans and Democrats in atten-
dance. After the signing,
Congressional Readers made sure
their state knew exactly what they
would be getting because of this bill.
We have been calling for action on
infrastructure for over 40 years and
finally it has been done! Cities, coun
ties, and states will be able to upgrade
their electrical grid and broadband,
repair and replace damaged roads and
bridges, get rid of lead water pipes,
clean up our rivers and lakes, build a
network of EV charging stations, pro
tect coastal zones from flooding, and
bring better transportation to rural
areas.
Yet some Republicans are calling
this the "’Communist takeover of
America”. In fact, Marjorie Taylor
Green published the phone number of
all the Republicans who voted for the
bill, and some have already received
death threats. Steve Bannon, Trumps
recently indicted supporter of the
January 6 insurrection, has vowed to
bring Joe Biden down along with all
his supporters.
Aside from those distractions, there
is economic trouble which can be
addressed with the passage of the
Build Back Better Act. This bill will
help the families who have been hurt
most from this pandemic. The current
inflation has been caused by misman
agement of the pandemic by Trump
because of his attempt to hide the truth
from Americans. Prices are going up
because of supply and demand.
Products can’t make it to the shelves
of our grocery and retail stores, to the
manufacturers who need chips and
other materials to produce their prod
ucts, and we need for more people to
work in these positions. But vaccines
were made political so not enough
Americans have been vaccinated and
so 2 years into the pandemic, we still
have 75,000 new cases and 1,000
deaths from Covid a day. In Georgia,
where Gov. Kemp has chosen not to
expand Medicaid, 500,000 of your fel
low Georgians can’t go to the doctor
or get the medicine they need when
they do get sick. The Build Back
Better Bill will help make child-care
affordable and provide preschool for
every 3- and 4-year olds. It will also
expand the Child Tax Credit for 35
million families, and it will expand
Medicaid in states like Georgia all
without raising taxes on anyone mak
ing under $400,000 a year. These
actions will go a long way to lessen
the burdens of the current inflation,
which will slow down as soon as our
supply chain issues are resolved.
Remember, inflation happens in
economic cycles. Gas was $4.25 a gal
lon under President Bush. We can
work our way out of this, but don’t
blame Joe Biden. Blame trickle-down
economics and the un-vaccinated who
has caused this pandemic to rage on.
Republicans again are crying
Communism or Socialism which of
course this bill is neither. If you care
about your fellow Americans call your
congressional leaders and ask them to
vote yes for the Build Back Better
Bill.
Bette Holland
Dawsonville
Wage war on Kudzu
Now is the time! Arm yourself. Get
out the swords. Grind and hone up
your kaiser blades. (If you do not
know what a kaiser blade is, then ask
someone that served time on the chain
gang.) Sharpen your machetes. Oil
your pruning shears.
Fall is the time to find and slash the
hated Kudzu monster vines. It climbs
all summer. Kudzu chokes off the sun
light and kills our beautiful trees. After
it starves the tree to death covering its
leaves and blocking sunlight, it then
pulls it down by shear vine weight.
If you go out and cut the vines now,
in the spring you can go spray the
vine on the ground and wound it and
maybe even kill it. I do not like spray
ing but goats take too long to eat it to
death.
It is evil plant and it was brought
here not by accident but with intent. It
has killed more timber than fire. The
guy that showed up with it was from
the government and claimed to be an
expert. Well, we know how that turned
out.
Now all you woke liberals that are in
a panic over carbon, you should be out
planting Kudzu because it will use
every scrap of carbon out of the air to
grow and then you vegans can eat the
tuber roots. Kudzu and liberals will be
all that is left. Your windmills will not
work very well because those vines
will climb up and stop those big blades
in about a week.
If we do not stop Kudzu, someday
an alien will land on earth and it will
be a solid ball of green vines. Kudzu
will even choke out wisteria and wiste
ria is another vine from hell.
I love to cut a big Kudzu vine and
feel the tension on the tree almost snap
in release. Sometimes I have had to
use a chain saw on the three and four
inch diameter vines. If you want an
immediate sense of satisfaction go out
and cut some of those big vines this
winter.
The tree will thank you and so will I.
Gary Pichon
Marble Hill
