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DawsonOpinion
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2022
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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JOHN MADDEN
1936 — 2021
A party fitting for a pup
Little Miss Mia, in
all her puppy wild
ness. turns one this
month.
In human years,
she’s basically a first
grader, a spunky
wild child too smart
for her own good
and with her own
puppy ideas about what she
should be able to do and get
away with.
“How are you going to cele
brate?” Mama asked.
I wasn't sure. Every day is a
celebration of Mia.
“You need to have a party.”
Mama continued. “Like you
did for Pepper.”
Ah, yes. Pepper had some
fine birthday parties. I can’t
remember how I got started
throwing parties for the little
evil Beagle but once I did, she
expected it every year.
I had to get her favorite
chicken nuggets and waffle
fries, along with a small con
tainer of Cesar wet food, and a
big rawhide for dessert. She
also got a small piece of cake,
because cake was the least
offensive thing that dog ate.
The little hound would sit in
a chair at the table, covered
with sparkles, balloons, and
confetti, waiting to be served
her feast. Even though she
normally hated things on her
head, she even let me put a
birthday hat on her one year.
My friends were invited and
told while I didn’t expect them
to bring anything, the birthday
girl sure did. They knew better
to show up empty handed too.
I even invited my supervisor
from work. She could be
r 1
SUDIE CROUCH
Columnist
deceptively sweet
when she wanted
to be and had
wrapped him
around her little
paw, to the point
my boss liked her
better than he did
me. Robert even
referred to Pepper as his niece
in conversation, leading some
of our co-workers to believe
we were related.
When her birthday rolled
around that summer. I told
Robert I needed an RSVP so
I’d know how many nuggets to
get. Pepper could eat a dozen
or more by herself.
“How old’s Pepper going to
be?” a coworker asked.
“Four,” I answered.
The coworker commented
about how that was such a pre
cious age, to which I agreed.
“Is she a mama’s girl, or a
daddy’s girl?” the coworker
asked. “Well, I got full custody
of her in the divorce, so it’s
just us,” I answered.
“Oh,” she said empathetical-
ly. “I’m so sorry.”
“Nah, don’t be,” I said.
“We’re good. Wouldn’t have it
any other way.”
On the day of her party,
Robert met me in the break-
room with a pink gift bag,
complete with a card. “I’m not
going to be able to make it
tonight after all but give these
to Pep. Make sure I got her
something she’ll like.”
I reached in the bag and
pulled out the tins of Cesar
and plastic squeak toys.
“She will love these!” I
assured him.
“Wait a second,” our co
worker said, overhearing the
conversation from her table.
“Robert, did you just give her
some dog food for Pepper?”
He answered in the affirma
tive.
“What is wrong with you?
What kind of person calls
themselves that child’s uncle
and then gives her some nasty
dog food and squeaky toys!”
Robert and I exchanged
glances, then looked at our co
worker. “What do you think
Pepper is?” I asked.
“Your four-year-old little
girl.”
We looked at one another
again. “Ah,” Robert began.
“Pepper is her 10-inch, tri-col
ored beagle. Not a child.”
The woman’s face clouded
with shock, surprise, and anger
all at once. “What the -. Y’all
have carried on and on about...
a dog? For how long? What
about those times she’s said
she had to take Pepper to the
doctor to get her shots?”
“It was Dr. Ben across the
street, and she was due for her
rabies. She’ll bite someone,
too; I’ve gotta keep that cur
rent.”
The woman’s face twisted
with confused rage. “Robert,
you call her your niece,”
“Sudie reminds me of my
sister, so I’ve adopted Pepper
as my niece.”
The woman was trying to
mentally piece together all the
facts we had given her and rec
oncile them with the bits and
pieces of conversation she had
heard over the years.
“And you had a birthday
party - a birthday party. For a
dog?” she asked incredulously.
“Pepper loves to party,” I
said simply.
“Y’all are some...weird,
twisted folks. Having birthday
parties for dogs and acting like
they’re people,” she said with
a look of disgust as she left.
She didn’t speak to either of
us for about two weeks, and
then it was with some serious
hesitation.
Pepper was my first inside
pup and was very much my
baby. Of course, each furbaby
that’s followed has been even
more spoiled to the point Mia
is quite sure she can do no
wrong. And she’s right; she
can’t.
She definitely deserves to
have a party celebrating her
first year being on this earth
and all the joy and sassiness
she brings into our lives. Well,
all of us except for Pumpkin;
she’s still not too keen on the
pup.
I haven’t had birthday par
ties for the other pups. They
are as introverted as I am so
they wouldn’t want a big fuss.
The cat wouldn’t mind some
cake as that seems to be the
only people food he likes.
If we start having parties
for Mia, she will definitely
expect it, much like Pepper
did. and probably want it to
be bigger, grander with each
year. The only problem is, it’s
entirely too late to come up
with a theme, hire a planner,
or for that matter, a caterer. I
guess I will just have to start
planning next year’s party
now.
Sudie Crouch is an award win
ning humor columnist and author
of the recently e-published
novel, "The Dahlman Files: A
Tony Dahlman Paranormal
Mystery."
DR. ANDERSON
Vaccination is the best way to protect our children from COVID-19
Advice to a
great grandson
for the new year
Dear Cameron Charles Yarbrough,
It is a new year and once again an
opportunity for me to share some
thoughts with
you as you
face a future
that is going
to be full of
challenges.
But, then, all
futures are
challenging
because they
are filled with unknowns. What counts is
how you deal with those challenges.
First off, take nothing for granted
including life itself. When you are young,
the assumption is that whatever you
didn’t get done today you can make it up
tomorrow. There are no guarantees that
there will be a tomorrow. Every day is a
precious gift. Don’t waste a single one.
Be the best you can be at whatever you
choose to do. Pursue excellence. But
don’t try to live up to other people’s
expectations. Be self-motivated and keep
raising the bar yourself. There is no finish
line.
Be able to look yourself in the eye at
the end of each day and tell yourself you
did your best. It may not have been good
enough but in your heart you will know it
was your best effort and that is what mat
ters.
If you break it, own it. I’m not talking
about dropping a doodad in a gift shop. I
am talking about making a mistake. We
all make them but what is important is
how we deal with those mistakes.
Remember Grandma Jane’s admonition:
You are free to do whatever you choose
to do in life. You just have to be prepared
to deal with the consequences of your
decisions. If it was a bad decision, don’t
make excuses, try to rationalize it or
blame someone else. Learn from it and
don’t do it again.
Your last name honors your great-great
grandfather who was one of the most
principled men you could ever have
known. Please don’t do anything that
would sully his memory. If your name is
in the paper, be sure it is for something
good you have accomplished and not for
something that would embarrass us and
bring dishonor to the family and to a man
we loved and admired.
Don’t try to be popular with your peers
because you want to be liked. Be yourself
and you will find out who your friends
really are and that they will like you for
who you are. There will be those who
don’t have your motivation or your abili
ties and will try to drag you down to their
level. Don’t let them. Don’t be a follower.
Be careful what comes out of your
mouth. Don’t brag when you have suc
cess or whine when you don’t. Avoid
hyperbole. And keep your language
decent. You can make your point without
taking God’s name in vain, throwing in a
reference to excrement or using the
f-word. It is not necessary and it makes
you look like a inarticulate hoodlum.
I hope you will say “Yes ma’am” and
“Yessir” and not “yeah” and “no” when
talking to adults. Also, don’t forget to say
“thank you” when someone does some
thing nice for you, whether it is showing
you how to tie a bowtie or checking you
out at the grocery store. You will never
offend anyone by showing them your
appreciation.
Know that there is more to life than
work. There is life itself and it is com
posed of little things that are, in fact, not
little at all. Swinging in the hammock.
Hanging out with your dad. The laughter
of little sisters. Ice cream with sprinkles
at the beach. Waffle House on Saturday
mornings. In years to come, you will
remember these things long after you
have forgotten your Grade Point Average
or where you finished in your cross-coun
try competitions.
I urge you to dream big. Someone is
going to discover a cure for an incurable
disease, become president of the United
States, write a great piece of music or
invent something that will change lives
for the better. Whoever does, had big
dreams. There is nothing to keep you
from dreaming big except yourself.
That’s enough advice for this year. I
hope you find some of this useful.
Frankly, some of it I wish somebody had
shared with me when I was your age. It
might have made my life a bit easier.
Chances are I won’t be around to see
how you turn out but from what I have
seen so far, I think you are going to do
just fine. And never forget how much I
love you. It’s a bunch.
— PA
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.
By Dr. Larry Anderson
Anderson Family Medicine
What are we going to do with all the
information that is out there? Let’s take
a look at the Supreme Court v CDC.
How many children have been admitted
to the hospital with Covid-19? The cor
rect number is not the takeaway. What
is important to know is that children
who have not been vaccinated are being
admitted with Covid-19. Does it matter
if Covid-19 is the primary reason for
admitting or did they have something
else and just tested positive for Covid-
19? No, it does not. Co-morbidity fac
tors can be just as deadly.
When do you test for Covid-19? Is it
LETTERTOTHE EDITOR
Person of Color
I am trying to figure out exactly
what that means. I guess I am a person
of color. I am sort of a light tan color if
you don’t count the really dark age
spots.
On the forms that I fill out in the
race section there is no place to check
for the color I am which is sort of
beige. Webster says beige is light gray
ish yellowish brown and in other
meaings it says, “lacking distinction”.
Seems accurate to me.
I certainly am not white if you
at time of symptoms, or 3 days later or
5 days later or when? Where does the
swab go? In the mouth, in the nose or
both? And where did this come from?
Remember when I told you to read the
original article and to ask questions?
The article for this study was done with
30 patients. Really!! Even the authors
said their data was inconclusive. There
was no control study done. This is what
we see a lot with Covid-19. Someone
has a thought about where the virus is
in the body: where does it go first and
where does it go next? Then they write
an article and we read it and then we
make a decision of “does this make
sense and should we give it a try?”
Let’s put all this to good use. What is
match me up to a piece of bond paper.
Sometimes I think I must be “clear”
because most people just ignore me.
I would be identified as an old large
beige bald person with white facial
hair who is certain that he is a male
married to a female. My drivers license
is going to have to be a lot larger to
contain all this.
Or we could forget all the normal
descriptions about skin color and
define ourselves from where we origi
nated. According to the National
Geographic’s folks that study bones,
all humans originated from Africa.
That would make me an African
the best way to help protect our chil
dren from being hospitalized with
Covid-19? Yes, vaccination is the cor
rect answer. Will that prevent them
from getting Covid-19? Not necessarily,
but it is the only modality you have.
Will waiting 5 days to test for Covid-19
be helpful? Only if you self-quarantine
for the five days so you do not spread
whatever you have to everyone else
during the five day wait.
By the way, we are beginning to see
Strep with the Covid-19 cases and there
is an uptick with the number of syphilis
cases in Dawson County. Be careful as
it is a biological jungle out there. Wear
your mask. Get the vaccine. Thanks for
reading.
American so you Wokens cannot keep
blaming me for everything that is
wrong.
I am tired unto death of talking
about the color of people. Can we not
simply take each other as we were
made and get on with living. The past
is important but we should not dwell
on it all the time. The present is much
more important.
Now that I have all that straightened
out my next project is how to go
Carbonless. I am sure I can solve that
too if I can keep from breathing out.
Gary Pichon
Marble Hill, Ga
