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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, APRIL 6, 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.
Vidalia onions
are sweet deal
for Georgia
Well, I am going to have to do it again.
Upset some people, I mean. But I can’t
help it. It has to be
done. I must once
again extols the vir
tues of the Great
State of Georgia and
why it is Number
One while the other
49 fight for sloppy
seconds.
Last time I did this
was in response to some idiotic survey
that claimed we were the 25th worst state
to live in. I took great umbrage at the sur
vey results which included such key rank
ings as how many bartenders do we have.
A number of readers were not happy
with me. They said I should not be talking
about what a wonderful place Georgia is
to live because it will just encourage a
bunch of loud-taking Yankees to leave
where it snows ten months a year and all
their buildings are rusted and move here
so they can make fun of how we talk.
They think there are enough of them here
already without me encouraging more to
come.
I also heard from a small minority that
doesn’t care much for this sacred soil.
One said we have too many Republicans.
Another thought our mornings were too
cold. Another didn’t like our “corrupt
football coaches” and sunrises over St.
Simons Island. As a public service for the
dissidents, here is the Delta Air Lines
reservations number: 1-888-220-4974.
Delta is ready when you are. Fly, fly
away.
For the rest of us, it is time to focus on
what makes this a unique and hallowed
place to live besides being the birthplace
of Ray Charles Robinson, of Albany,
Georgia. It is the Vidalia onion. No other
state - none, nil, nada - has the ability to
grow the sweet Vidalia.
The Georgia Department of
Agriculture and the Vidalia Onion
Committee have announced April 12th as
the official pack date for the 2022 Vidalia
onion season. The pack date is deter
mined by growing season soil and weath
er conditions to ensure the highest quali
ty Vidalia onions, according to experts.
To which I say, has there ever been a
Vidalia onion that wasn’t of the highest
quality? If so, I must have missed it.
For those of you who may not under
stand the significance of the Vidalia
onion, it is wonderfully sweet-tasting.
Yes, a sweet onion. You can eat it like an
apple if you wish. And it is grown only in
Georgia on some 10,000 acres in all or
portions of 13 counties, including, of
course, Toombs County, whose county
seat is Vidalia.
I have said often that God likes
Georgia a bunch. That is how the Vidalia
onion came to be. During the Great
Depression, farmers in the area were
looking for a new cash crop. They had
grown everything from com to cotton in
Georgia’s sandy soil and in order to try
and make some money, decided to try
onions. It turns out that this particular
soil had a low amount of sulfur which
gave the onions a curiously sweet taste.
Thus was born the Vidalia onion. Can I
get an amen?
Now, Vidalia onions are sold in all 50
states and much of Canada. The Vidalia
Onion Council tells me they aren’t sure
exactly how many onions will be shipped
out this year but last year it was some
where in the neighborhood of 232 mil
lion pounds. That’s a big neighborhood.
Yet, despite the numbers, Vidalias sell
out every year before Labor Day.
And don’t mess with Vidalia onions. It
is the official vegetable of our state. And
it is trademarked. Federal Marketing
Order No. 955, established in 1989 helps
reinforce Georgia state laws and in 1992,
the state of Georgia was identified as the
owner of the Vidalia onion trademark.
You can try to grow a sweet onion else
where, (good luck with that!) but you
cannot call it a “Vidalia,” unless it was
grown in the designated area of Georgia.
If you try to foist off a substitute wherev
er you are, you will get a visit from the
Georgia Department of Agriculture. We
take our onions seriously.
So, now you see why Georgia is
Number One. We may not have enough
bartenders to satisfy some marketing firm
that wouldn’t know a horse fly from a
pop fly, but what we do have are majestic
mountains to the north, silver beaches to
the south, the oldest state-chartered uni
versity in the nation, “Georgia on my
Mind” as our state song and - yes - those
sweet Vidalia onions. Truly, we are
blessed.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dick-
yarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,
GA 31139; online at dickyarbrough.com or on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb.
DICKYARBROUGH
Columnist
The consequences of our words
Once when I was a teen
ager, I made a snide com
ment about the boy I was
dating.
I can’t remember all of
the events of the evening,
but I do remember my off
hand comment of calling
him a no-neck monster.
While my friends giggled, my mother
looked as if steam was coming out of
her ears.
“You’re not going anywhere this
weekend,” she declared. “Y’all need to
leave,” she told my friends.
“What!” I exclaimed. “That’s not
fair!”
She stormed off down the hall, leav
ing a trail of smoke from her Virginia
Slim 120 in her wake.
I followed her, demanding a reason.
“I raised you better than that.”
“What are you talking about?”
She turned to glare at me. “You do
not make fun of someone’s appearance.
It doesn’t matter what kind of person
they are. You do not make fun of the
way a person looks or about things they
have no control over. You were trying
to be funny in front of your friends, and
all you did was make yourself look bad
by making fun of someone’s looks.”
“I She cut me off.
“I don’t want to hear it. You know
better. You’re grounded.”
I emitted some blood curdling sound.
Our town back then didn’t have a
whole lot of things for teenagers to do.
All I had was to just ride around the
Piggly Wiggly parking lot and she was
going to take that from me?
“Until when?”
“Until I say so.”
How could she do this to me? It was
just a funny remark -1 wasn’t trying to
be mean. Not really. I just made a joke
in front of my friends and here was my
mother, embarrassing me and punish
ing me for my words.
Not only did the Crazy
Redhead ground me for
about three weeks, she took
my phone away too. I
couldn’t drive around the
Pig, nor could I spend my
free time after school until I
went to bed talking on the
phone.
“What am I supposed to do?” I
wailed.
“Read,” she responded. “And think
about your actions.”
Our words matter.
Our words can hurt. Even when the
person isn’t there to hear them.
Mama asked me over the course of
my sequestration if I would have said
those words to the boy’s face.
“No, but “There are no buts; you
knew it was wrong.”
I’ve been thinking about this a lot
over the last week.
My words were not meant to hurt
really, because the person wasn’t there
to hear them, but to Mama, that made
no difference.
I was making fun of someone’s
appearance.
I’m not even sure if Granny would
attack someone’s looks, and she was
meaner than a hornet with a double
stinger.
I was doing it behind the person’s
back, when they couldn’t stand up for
themselves, so it was quite cowardly.
And, I was doing it to get a laugh out
of my friends. Maybe a little bit of peer
pressure was going on, but I can’t
remember.
My friends did laugh, but I didn’t
feel good about saying, which may
have made the punishment even harsh
er. I knew deep down it was wrong but
did it anyway.
Of course, that was when I was a
teenager. I’m far from perfect and have
made comments that weren’t very kind
since then, and have often received my
SUDIE CROUCH
Columnist
mother’s admonition.
“Let her say what she wants to,”
Granny would say. “One day, she’s
gonna mouth off to the wrong person
and leam her lesson.”
Granny probably thought violence
was the answer. She did often threaten
it enough to believe in its effectiveness.
But, we’ve seen that it really isn’t.
Not even when some people may feel
like it’s justified.
While it may get a point across, those
actions can make you look bad and
usually doesn’t end well.
If anything, a physical response often
just creates more problems in the long
run.
And just because someone said
something offensive doesn’t mean it
requires a violent retaliation.
Our words can hurt. Our words can
provoke.
Our words can also be used to heal
situations and bring peace of sorts,
when we’re ready for it.
Mama finally lifted my restriction
when I said I was sorry for my words.
In her mind, the damage was done,
even though the person I said those
things about wasn’t there to hear them.
She felt my apology was hollow in a
way, as it only came after a punitive
phase.
That’s true for a lot of us; we apolo
gize after we receive the consequences.
It’s not that we don’t mean it, but I
can understand how she thought it may
not have been sincere.
Whether it’s our words or our
actions, they both create a ripple effect
and at some point, we have to take
responsibility for what we say and do.
May our choices and their consequenc
es come from a place of kindness and
grace, rather than reaction.
Sudie Crouch is an award winning humor
columnist and author of the recently
e-published novel, "The Dahlman Files: A
Tony Dahlman Paranormal Mystery."
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The differences between
men and women
Madam Justice:
I saw on the news that you cannot say
what a women is because you are not a
biologist. I understand your confusion
because I share it today.
When I was little boy in the 1950s it
was easy to tell boys from girls. Girls wore
dresses and had long hair. Boys wore
pants and had short hair. Girls smelled like
soap and boys smelled like dirt. I was
never in doubt about which was which.
The adult thing is a little more compli
cated. Women have plumbing that can cre
ate another human being. Men have
plumbing which can start another human
being in a women but men do not have to
stick around and help with a baby unless
they want to or unless the woman’s father
has a shotgun and insists. Women con
struct babies because they have the secret
recipe but men cannot construct a baby.
They are too lazy for the hard work.
That is the basic difference. But there
are a lot of differences between men and
women that generally apply and if you
know these things it will be easier for you
to tell the differences no matter about hair
length or pants.
Women are usually smarter than men.
They always made better grades back
when we had grades. Women do not brag
about how smart they are. Men do, even
when evidence shows they are not. Some
presidents for example.
Men are usually bigger and stronger
than women. That is because their baby
making stuff causes them to put on muscle
mass faster than women. Sometimes the
muscle mass gets in their brains and that is
why wives are required to help them along
with life. Just so you know, wives are
women, not men.
Because men are bigger and stronger
generally than women, they are the ones
who have gone and fought wars. There are
some small numbers of women who can
do the infantry job but they are the excep
tions. Women should do the complicated
planning of war because they are a lot bet
ter at detailed things than most men. Men
are a lot meaner at war because men like
to break things. Women like things neat
and orderly and dusted.
Both men and women can be judges.
The Old Testament names a bunch of
them so you are not special or breaking
new ground. You will excuse me if I am a
little doubtful about your ability to judge
on weighty matters of law if you cannot
make a simple judgement about whether a
person is a woman or not.
If you need advice on this matter please
let me know. My fees are $2,000.00 a con
sulting hour. I might be able to spare you
some time.
Gary Pichon
Marble Hill
