About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2022)
PAGE 8A 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, JANUARY 26, 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. Barr: Trump should support not attack GOP I can think of no stronger and more reputable conservative voice than that of former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, who represented Georgia’s 7th congressional dis trict from 1995 to 2003. Barr was one of the leaders of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and authored the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. (The act was later over turned by the U.S. Supreme Court.) He is also one of the nation’s strongest advocates for the right of citizens to bear arms under the provi sions of the 2nd Amendment. I don’t always agree with him, but I respect the man, his intellect and his conservative cre dentials. That is why I suggest Georgia Republicans pay close attention to his recent observations on the editorial pages of the Marietta Daily Journal. Barr says polls show that the American pub lic is frustrated with and disappointed in the Biden presidency and that the GOP should be highlighting the accomplishments of Republican governors across the country who are providing an antidote to what he describes as the socialist agenda being pushed by Democrats in Washington. So, what is the problem? Donald Trump. Unlike former presidents before him, Barr says Trump doesn’t seem interested in helping to develop viable Republican candidates for the party’s future. Rather, he sees them as competi tion, i.e., Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely believed to be eyeing a ran for the presidency in 2024. Barr says Trump also seems to have “anchored himself to a circular 2020 election loop; occasionally stopping only long enough to attack other Republicans he feels ‘betrayed him.’” That would be Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. In my not-so-humble opinion, Trump doesn’t give a rat’s rump about Georgia, only about settling scores. He thinks the state’s election results were fraudulent and blames Kemp, among others. Trump is on the record as saying he thinks Democrat Stacey Abrams would make a better governor than Kemp, which Barr calls “an absurd and destructive notion.” While Trump’s acolytes cry “foul” over the election results, can anybody explain to me why Georgia’s incumbent Republican U.S. senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, lost to two Democrats with zero political experi ence? Speaking of Perdue, he has entered the Republican primary in Georgia as Tramp’s sur rogate, hoping to bring down Kemp, likely splitting the GOP vote and fulfilling Trump’s wish of Abrams being governor. My one encounter with Perdue was during his reelection campaign when a staffer called to set up an interview with the senator. I assumed that, as with a lot of other politicians, he wanted to get his message out to my readers across Georgia. It turned out his office didn’t even know I wrote a column. He just wanted a political contribution. Johnny Isakson, he is not. In the meantime, Kemp presides over a state with a budget surplus of $2.2 billion and an unemployment rate of 2.6%, a record low. Georgia has been named the “Top State for Doing Business” for the seventh straight year by Area Development magazine’s annual poll of leading site consulting firms across the U.S. Electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive has announced plans to build a $5 billion bat tery and assembly plant in east Georgia, expected to employ 7,500 workers. The plant could grow to as many as 10,000 workers, making it among the largest auto assembly facilities in the United States. In Jackson County, SK Innovation is con structing a $1.67 billion manufacturing facility to produce lithium-ion batteries and has announced an additional $940 million expan sion. Things are going very well in Georgia. Trump and his supporters need to get over elec tion results that are not going to change. Otherwise, their penchant to punish could get us four years of Biden Lite in the form of Abrams. Is that what Republicans really want? Barr says, “The GOP must decide to openly support its governors and congressional leaders against baseless and errant attacks, regardless of who is making them, whether a Democrat or a former Republican president. Failing to thus stand up for itself and for its own elected offi cials — the ones who now are actually imple menting policies which the Grand Old Party his torically has championed — is a weakness that will, in the end, hurt Republicans more than anything the Democrats might throw at it.” I hope Trump is listening to this sage advice. But I doubt it. This isn’t about the Republican Party’s future. It’s all about revenge. 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 www.facebook.com/dickyarb. Just some small acts of kindness “It costs absolutely nothing to be kind,” Mama would tell me when I was younger. Those words have stayed with me most of my life, and even when I’ve had moments where my temper has gotten the best of me, I’ve always tried to choose kindness. Tried being the operative word here. One thing I’ve learned over the last few years is that not everyone was taught that kindness matters. Or maybe they did but the lesson was forgotten along the way. There’s been so much division, so much hate. For some, expressing that hate is a lot easier than extending kind ness. Common niceties seem to be far fleeting. We’ve been so focused on what sepa rates us that we’ve stopped seeing each other as our fellow man, and in doing so, we’ve hardened our hearts. This has been on my mind a lot recently, particularly last month as we went through the holidays. Instead of things being festive and full of cheer, a shadow of grief was cast on the holi days. I missed hearing music and seeing people smile at strangers in the stores. It was as if as a community, our heartbeat had stopped and kindness was no longer practiced. I missed that. Those small interac tions that let you know we weren’t so different and that overall, humanity was good, kind, and true. As I stood in the check out line with my groceries, I watched the other peo ple in the store and it struck me how different the interactions were. Being an introvert, I tend to people watch quite often. I noticed those subtle cues of how people seemed almost on the defensive, as if they were waiting for someone to be rude or say some thing to them. It didn’t matter who they were, if they were masked or unmasked, or their age. People seemed to be antici pating unkindness in some form. It made me sad. Not that long ago, people seemed to be a bit kinder, softer, with their hearts more open to others. But going through a collective trauma can change a person and a group of people, too. I kind of feel that’s largely what has happened. We’ve all been changed so much by what’s happened.. .and not in good ways either. While my groceries were being scanned, a man got in line behind me. Just from a first glance, he seemed like he would be a bit gruff. He wasn’t smil ing. He didn’t seem happy. It then hit me. I had no idea what he may have been going through at that moment and I was judging him, the same way I thought people were judging others. I was standing there, carrying a tremendous amount of grief and worry myself, but not sharing it with strangers around me. I was trying my best to hold on. What if this man was doing the same? “I’m so sorry,” the cashier interrupted my thoughts. “I’ve got to get change.” I heard the man behind me let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” I apologized, turning to look at him. “I should have a warning sign that whoever gets behind me in line should expect some kind of delay.” “It’s fine,” he said with a nod. His tone was abrupt so I didn’t want to bother him any further. I glanced up to the customer service desk and saw my cashier was having to wait behind other cashiers ahead of him. “It’s awfully warm for this time of year, isn’t it?” the man offered up as conversation. “It is,” I agreed. “I hope we get some cooler weather soon. It didn’t feel like Christmas when it was so hot.” “No, it didn’t,” he said, shaking his head. “Did you have a good holiday?” I nodded even though mine had been sad. “I did. How about you?” He nodded. “I did.” I wondered if he was hiding some sadness behind his words as I was. “You ready for New Year’s?” he con tinued. “I’ve got collards and peas, so I’m as ready as I can be,” I said. “I’m just ready for this year to be over.” The man nodded slowly. “I am, too.” He paused. “I hope this coming year is going to bring some peace.” He paused again. “Things have been so out of whack lately. We need peace. You know?” “Yes, we do,” I agreed. On the outside, he may have looked like he would have been a bit rough around the edges, but inside, he was wanting the same thing I was. Some peace, some kindness, some healing. The cashier returned with my change and counted it back to me as he handed me the receipt. As I started to push my buggy away from the line, I turned back to the man at the same time he was turning towards me. “I hope this year is good to you,” I said. He smiled, a genuine, gentle smile. “I hope this year’s good to you. too. ma’am. I really do.” Just a few brief words, a small exchange of kindness, that somehow reminded me that maybe we will be okay after all. Sudie Crouch is an award winning humor columnist and author of the recently e-published novel, "The Dahlman Files: A Tony Dahlman Paranormal Mystery." SUDIE CROUCH Columnist DR. ANDERSON What does it mean to be current on COVID vaccinations? By Dr. Larry Anderson Anderson Family Medicine “What we have here is a failure to communicate” from the movie CooL Hand Luke. This is a refer ence to what the CDC tells us and what they really mean. Sometimes when you try to simplify something you end up making it more complex and unclear. What does it mean when the CDC says your Covid-19 vaccinations are current? Do not confuse this with the word complet ed. The standard now is 3 vaccines or 2 vaccines if you had the J&J. Now the CDC says your immuniza tions are current if the time elapsed has not occurred for the booster. So you are current with 2 shots. However, 6 months later you become not current until you get the booster and then you are current again. Did I lose anyone in this explanation? Remember that any thing you hear about Covid-19, especially from the CDC, is good for 2 hours. Several times I have asked you to discuss certain parts of my writing with your pastor. Here is another chance for you. I will paraphrase Exodus 20-17. Thou shall not Covid thy neighbor. Perhaps that will encourage more vaccinations and mask wearing. Influenza is coming back strong. In the metro Atlanta area we are having deaths, hospitalizations, and 7 areas of outbreaks. Get the vaccines. Wear the mask. Thanks for reading.
