About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2022)
PAGE 6A 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, JUNE 1,2022 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. Some thoughts on a day that will live in infamy DICKYARBROUGH Columnist What a day it was. Tuesday, May 24. A day that will live in infamy. While we were deciding the candi dates that will face off in the November general election in Georgia, a crazed gunman walked into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 children and two teachers before being killed himself. Nineteen children, second to fourth grade, who will never see another sunrise, hear the sound of rain, ride a bike, make a silly face, kick a ball, take a school trip, fall in love, laugh or cry or have a family of their own. Was there among them an outstanding ath lete, an inventor, a business executive, an opera star, an artist, a senator or just some plain good folks who would have made this a better world by their very presence? Sadly, we will never know. I grieve for the parents whose lives have been changed forever. I know what it is like to outlive a young family member. It should not happen. And these families should not have had their children slaughtered like cattle. And don’t forget the brave teachers who gave their lives shielding the students from the shooter. I think of my own brood: Cameron, Hayden, Hadley and Harper, Henry and Noah. How safe are they? Will their schools become military-style bunkers? Armed camps? I think of my own school days. The most frequent examples of what passed in those times for violence was an occasional duke-it-out after school and no hard feelings afterwards. At about noon our time, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary to begin his rampage. By 4 p.m., the full impact of what had taken place began to be known. By 7 p.m., the finger-pointing was underway and those innocent babes who had their lives snuffed out were the equivalent of yesterday’s news. The topic now was who was to blame. Fox News said liberals. CNN said it’s the NRA’s intransigence. Politicians blathered and pos tured, depending on which side of the issue they stand. Social media was doing its usual superb job of providing misinformation and conspiracy theories. (Anonymously, of course.) And I am sure there are those among you ready to weigh in on the issue. I am ready to hear that. But before you do, I suggest that you take a few minutes and pray for each individual victim and for their families. If you aren’t into prayer, meditate or do whatever it is you do, but put the victims and their fami lies ahead of your personal opinions on guns. That really isn’t that important at the moment. Here are the names of the children: Uziyah Garcia, Jose Flores, Amerie Jo Garza, Xavier Javier Fopez, Nevaeh Bravo, Alithia Ramirez, Tess Marie Mata, Alexandria Aniya Rubio, Fayla Salazar, Makenna Fee Elrod, Jayce Fuevanos, Jailah Nicole Silguero, Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, Eliahana Cruz Torres, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, Jacklyn “Jackie” Cazares, Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, Rogelio Torres, Miranda Matthis and their teachers, Eva Mireles, Irma Garcia. Their names are unfamiliar to us but they could be your children or grandchildren or nieces or nephews or neighbors. Uvalde could be somewhere in Georgia. And there could be some sick individual just waiting for the opportunity to wreak havoc on our communi ty. By the way, one time is not enough. Pray and meditate until the horror becomes ingrained in your mind and you want to do something about our sick society besides fin ger-pointing and blaming somebody else. We just might be a part of the problem. According to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, there have been more than 2,000 school shootings in the United States since the 1970s, with nearly 700 killed, including in Uvalde. No other country comes close. Our propensity for killing each other is a multi-dimensional problem, involving more than guns. Gun violence is a manifestation of a country that has become increasingly polar ized and angry. I see no end to it. There is a lack of respect for authority. A lack of respect for institutions. A lack of toler ance for differences of opinion. Stifling politi cal correctness. Racism — Black and White. Drugs. Violence. Irresponsible social media. Pandering politicians. Into this mix, we throw in guns-vs.-gun control and more polariza tion. Frankly, I am not sure what the answer is. I wish I did. All I know is I am going to spend this time praying for 21 innocent people who did not deserve to die and who should be with us today. Please join me. Fet’s save the finger- pointing for later. You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dickyar- brough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA 31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb. Not-so-happy days of summer A recent icebreaker during a meeting asked the question of, “What are you looking forward to the most about sum mer?” I panicked and hoped I could get away with going towards the end to answer. The truth was. there was nothing I liked about this sea son. It’s hot. It’s humid. There are too many bugs crawling around, and snakes love to slither around our woods. It’s nerve wracking to have to question is it a tree limb or a snake, and if it is a snake, how fast should we ran. Plus, have you ever been a middle-aged woman having a thermo hot flash in the middle of 90 degree weather with a face full of makeup? It’s not fun or pretty. I sat smiling towards the camera, nodding along with the answers shared, praying maybe they’d forget I hadn’t answered. Everyone had such lovely answers. I can definitely understand the part about enjoying less rushing around with trying to get kids to school and then to work; that always was hard for me as well. Having a bit more freedom and flexibility in our schedule is always a good thing, and that’s probably where the lazy days of summer came from. Not that summer is a lazy time, but it’s just one that’s not quite as harried. Some were saying they were looking for ward to going on vari ous trips. I’ve never been someone who has had the best of luck when going on vaca tions so I tend to stay home. Plus, vacations have normally equated to just extra laundry and who needs that? My mind raced with what I could appreciate about this sea son that we’ve officially entered. I didn’t like getting on the lake. I wasn’t a beach going type of girl. I am a horrible swimmer, so even getting in the pool wasn’t something I enjoyed. Plus, I bum, then freckle, thanks to that being the only thing I got from my Crazy Redhead. Cookouts and BBQs were mentioned. Again, that involves being outside, which I try to avoid. And, I am not a big meat eater, so that’s not really of interest to me, even though it would probably make my teen age son quite happy. Camping has never been my thing as it is a combination of pretty much all the things I loathe, but has the added horror of wondering how far you’ve got to hike to the bathroom. Or even wondering if there is a bathroom. I tend to prefer my facilities to be of the plumbed and porcelain variety. I felt like I was the outlier, with everyone talking about all the ways they loved summer. I am a fall and winter person, loving the cooler temps, the col ors as they change, and being able to wear scarves. I’m not a fan of summer clothes, as I don’t wear shorts, and even though everything may be bright and green, the pollen gets to me. There’s always something blooming or blossoming that makes me feel like my eyes will pop out of my head. But, here we are. Celebrating all things summer, and in some wistful way, I wished I could enjoy it. As everyone began sharing their favorite things of summer, their happy memories started to come out in their reflections. Time spent with family, happy moments lazing in the sun or on the water, trips that became part of legends. Maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy sum mer. Most of the horrors I’ve experienced have been during those months. Nearly going into anaphylac tic shock from a bee sting. Mama didn’t believe me when I told her something was wrong and thought I was overreacting. On the way to the ER, Granny SUDIE CROUCH Columnist had a wreck, hitting our phar macist. Getting sick to the point of going to the ER from a weird combo of ice cream, watermel on, and fried fish. In fact, most of my visits to the hospital happened during the summer. A sunburn so bad I probably should have gone. When someone called my name, I quickly said how I enjoyed seeing the fireflies in the evening, and that wasn’t a lie. Sometimes, we build a fire pit to sit around briefly, and I love looking for lightning bugs as they flit around. That was something I could say honestly. I like seeing the frogs, too, even though Mia and Doodle try to catch them. The bears are always interest ing to have run-ins with, as they seem to roam a bit more in the warmer months, and try to get in the trash. There may be a few things about the season that are a bit more tolerable for me but it’s not enough to make me really enjoy or look forward to this time of the year. My favorite part? And what I really wanted to say, but didn’t. When it’s over. Sudie Crouch is an award win ning humor columnist and author of "The Dahlman Files: A Tony Dahlman Paranormal Mystery." LETTERTOTHE EDITOR Repeat lessons work I wish White people would stop shooting Black people. I wish Black people would stop shooting Black peo ple. I wish brown people would stop shooting tan people. I wish Black people would stop shooting White people. I wish people would stop shooting other people. I suppose we have always done this but today it seems like that is about all there is in the news. The trends taken nationally do not look like we are improving. Everyday looks like high noon in Tombstone. Everybody has a gun and a grievance and are spraying bullets everywhere. The now out of fashion religious view was that people were capable of great violence and sin and every 7 days on Sunday we went to hear that message in some form and were cautioned to con tain those impulses. Now churches are pretty much empty around the country. The new secular religion is a nut case hodgepodge of woke, racism, save the planet, and confu-sion about sexual things. It seems to fan the fires of vio lence rooted in fear. I go off to church just about every Sunday because on the eighth day or ninth day I have forgot-ten the big les sons and begin to think my ideas are the best. We all need repeat and regular re minding because humility is easily for gotten. My senior year in high school I was a captain of the football team. At home coming I got to escort our homecoming queen, who had me on the top of her rejection list, to center stage. The eve ning stared badly and got a lot worse. We got beat 73 to 0. I got a great and lasting lesson in humility. That Sunday our Methodist minister happened to preach about cour age in defeat. The agonizing wounds of a shameful loss slowly began to heal. I did not go out and shoot people because I had been roughed up by life. Gary Pichon Marble Hill Luncheon recap I attended the Dawson County Chamber luncheon on May 19 so I could hear Rep. Will Wade and Senator Steve Gooch tell us their version of the bills passed at the State Capitol in 2022. I knew I wouldn’t agree with much of what they said, but was amazed at the misrepresentations, twisting of facts, and disinformation that was spoken by our representatives. So here is a rundown of what I heard. Rep. Wade spoke first. 1. Bragging about the state income tax cut he failed to mention that Georgia already has among the lowest tax base in the county. This cut would be devastating for Georgia. It means we will have less money for public education, police, Medicaid, and services for low-income people. Wealthier states like New York, Massachusetts, and California end up paying a lot of our bills through federal money that comes to Georgia to plug the gap. 2. Then while taking about the upgrading of the county health facility with money from the American Rescue plan voted on by Democrats in the US House and Senate, he didn’t mention that 14 rural hospitals have closed because we have not expanded Medicaid. 3. He was the author of HB1084 which helped Gov. Kemp fulfill his promise in his state of the state address to “stop liberals from brainwashing our children.” So, we will no longer be able to discuss, race, sexuality, or history in our Georgia Schools. Then Sen. Gooch spoke. 1. First, he pointed out how great the Georgia Budget was and in fact how now there will be broad band in our rural counties. He failed to mention that the reason the state has the money to do this is that Democrats passed the infrastructure bill which sent the money our state. He said it is tax payer money, not Biden’s money—true. But instead of going to the defense budget (the largest in the world) it went to American’s well-being at home. 2. He spoke briefly about electric vehicles—most of what he said was nonsense. 3. The last thing he discussed was the concealed weapon law. Both he and Wade said laws like this protect our 2nd Amendment rights. When asked what the 2nd amendment said neither could answer and Gooch just said it gave us gun ownership rights. This is what is says: “A well-regu lated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” That was written in 1789. Gooch and Wade tried to explain away the real wording by saying they follow the state constitution. I am sure the founding fathers weren’t thinking of “AR 15’s for all”, when they wrote the constitution. Republicans have the blood of the 19 children and 2 teachers mowed down by an 18-year old in Texas on their hands. 90% of Americans want sensible gun laws. These two government officials don’t care what you want. They just like their power. Bette Holland Dawsonville
