About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 2023)
PAGE 7 A 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 26, 2023 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. Talking politics with Skeeter, Ryo Morning Coffee Club It had been awhile since I heard from Skeeter Skates and his col leagues at the Ryo Morning Coffee Club. That ended this week. In case you are new to these parts, Skeeter is the owner and operator of Skeeter Skates Tree Stump Removal and Plow Repair in Ryo, Georgia. He is also the current presiding chair of the Ryo Morning Coffee Club, a collection of Great Americans that includes Walleye, who runs the bait shop over in Red Bud; Booger Bledsoe, who operates a local roadside veg etable stand on State Route 136 near Sugar Valley; and Uncle Coot, recently retired from the port-o-potty transportation industry and an olfactory challenge to the group who are careful to always seat him downwind at coffee. Skeeter and I have a somewhat tenuous relationship. He thinks that unless one has grease under their fingernails, they are not contributing members of American society, and that includes those of us who represent the Fourth Estate. I have given up trying to convince him that distinguishing between gerunds and present participles is also hard work, even if it doesn’t produce grease under ones fingernails - just comments from readers wondering if I flunked high school English. Skeeter disdains politics and those who practice it. And that is what precipitates his calls, hoping I will make some sense of what seems nonsense to him and the others. “Hoss,” - never a preamble with the man, he gets right to the point - “me and the boys was talking a little politics this morning and we immediately thought of you ‘cause you seem to know as little about politics as any body.” He loves saying that. “Anyhow, you ran around in different cir cles than we do and we thought you might be able to clear up something for us,” Skeeter said. “We are too busy doing an honest day’s labor to pay much attention to what goes on beyond Ryo’s borders, but we got something bugging us that we wanted to see if you could help us understand.” Wow. Talk about pressure. They seem to infer I might know something they don’t. That would be a first. “We was wondering if anybody is mind ing the store up there in Washington,” he said. “That ol’ boy what’s supposed to be running the country looks about half asleep. Walleye thinks he wears those sunglasses all the time so we can’t see him dozing off.” I must admit he does wear those sunglasses quite a bit. “What’s got us bumfuzzled is them folks in Washington don’t seem to be worried about us hard-working folks,” Skeeter added. “They ought to own a business like me and Walleye and Booger. Course, Uncle Coot didn’t own a business but he did trans port port-o-potties to and from businesses that could not avail themselves of indoor plumbing, so he has a good idea of the pres sures American businesses face.” Walleye’s cost of doing business has gone up and has put him in a squeeze. “Nightcrawlers are now $5 a dozen,” he informed me. “And a chum bucket can ran you as much as $12. Even wax worms are getting expensive.” The things I learn from the Ryo Morning Coffee Club. Booger Bledsoe said inflations was hit ting him hard, too. Not only was he going to have to charge more for his tomatoes and cucumbers, he wasn’t sure folks would be able to drive to his roadside vegetable stand over on State Route 136 near Sugar Valley anyway because a gallon of gasoline today costs about as much as a dozen nightcrawl ers. “Hoss, that ol’ boy in charge up there in Washington don’t seem like he’s got a good handle on things,” Skeeter said. “The econo my is in a mess. Folks are coming across the border like we ain’t got one. Who knows if there ain’t a terrorist or two in the crowd? He keeps adding on things that cost us more money than we got. But, then he finds time to issue an order letting boys that turn into girls play girls sports. In the first place, it’s pretty clear he ain’t focused on the impor tant stuff and, second, this ain’t fair to the real girls. Can you explain any of this to us and any readers you got left?” Alas, I had to confess that I really don’t have any answers. They have pretty much summed up how a lot of us feel in this coun try right now. Frankly, I am just as bumfuz zled as they are. You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dick- yarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA 31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on Facebook at vwwv.facebook.com/dickyarb. A new trick for a young pup Since Mia came into our lives, I’ve said she was too smart for her own puppy good. At just six- weeks old, she was a spunky little ball of German shepherd cuteness, crinkling her nose in disdain at the word nein. She didn’t know what the word meant; she just knew she didn’t like it. She’s been eager to train, insisting on her workouts even if it’s raining. As she’s grown, she has shifted slightly away from her feigned attempts at fero ciousness - she quickly dis covered she’s scared of the cat - and has let more of her sweet personality shine through. “All Mia wants is for some one to tell her she’s pretty and give her a treat,” Mama said one day and she is abso lutely correct. Treats and compliments seem to make her happy. She has learned to our dis may how to jump the baby gate whenever she thinks she can get on the receiving end of either one. It was all cute when she did it one morning when she was super-excited to see me -1 declared her actions were because she just loved me so much and that may have been right. She started jumping it a couple of more times to supervise Lamar as he fdled their bowls at feed time. One evening she did a hard 90 degree turn and Supermaned several feet back over the gate when she saw Sexy Frank sitting at the cor ner. She’s since graduated from jumping the gate like a prize thoroughbred at the Preakness. Now, she just knocks it down with her puppy power. German shep herd puppies are a lot like having furry, adorable, intel ligent bulls in a china shop. “Mia, are you supposed to be in the kitchen?” I ask. She gives me that signature German shepherd head tilt as if to say, “I am with one of my people, that’s exactly where I am supposed to be,” before she starts to stick her head into the cubbies of the island or open cabinets to see if she can find anything of interest. If I am being honest, it’s probably my fault that she has learned her new trick. It all started with me asking her if she can give kisses. She immediately obliged by kissing me right on the mouth. She knows what a kiss is. We’ve showered her with plenty since we brought her home. The pup even knows three languages; I’ve even taught her to give kisses when she hears the Persian word for it, bous. She loves to give kisses. But that’s not her trick. She just loved all the fuss and muss we make over when she does it. One day, as she sat staring at the treat jar, I asked her if she knew how to shake. She put her paw up imme diately, like a little lady. I didn’t even know if Lamar had taught her to shake. I did know that she loves for someone to hold her paw or she has to be touching someone at all times as she will stretch out until she’s made contact with either one of her humans or Doodle when she’s sleeping. She’s a Velcro dog in every sense of the word. Seeing her sitting so sweet ly with that paw in the air, I gave her one of the tiny bones. She continued to sit and stare at the treat jar, a puddle of drool forming on the floor. “Do you want another treat?” I asked. “Are you hun gry?” She immediately lifted the paw. I laughed at her cute behav ior and gave her another treat. She ate it and I went about making dinner. A few minutes passed and any time I looked her way. she raised her paw. “Mia, you don’t get a treat every time you do that,” I told her. The next day, she sat with her gaze lovingly fixed on the treat jar. “What do you want, Mia?” Lamar asked. The paw went up. “Now you’ve gotta give her a treat,” I told him. “Oh, yeah? Is that how this works?” He gave her a treat. Doodle’s catching on, too. After she watched Mia get a treat for elevating her paw. the pittie promptly sat down and threw her paw in the air. If we are slow to reward her for elevating her paw, she will take the lid off the jar for us, nudging the treats around with her nose. Once she gets our attention, she obliges with her sweet paw. “Mia, I’ve already told you, you little Alsatian, you don’t always get a treat just because you put that paw up.” But, so far she does. She’s trained us quite well. Sudie Crouch is an award winning humor columnist. SUDIE CROUCH Columnist Russian city accidentally bombed by Russia By Dr. Larry Anderson Anderson Family Medicine I have read several accounts of Berliners who approached the Allies and asked fiercely: why did you destroy our old and beautiful build ings? The answer was: why did YOU destroy our old and beautiful build ings? The reality of what one’s coun try does to another country can be lost if you are not seeing it. Do the Russians know what it is like to have death come from the blue skies above with no warning? With no chance to protect yourself or your loved ones. That reality has come home as a Russian city was accidentally bombed by the Russian Air Force. No warning. No gathering of the family. Just death and destruc tion from above. Now one side knows how the other side feels. Will this help bring an end to the war? Don’t know. Will have to wait and see. Why do the Ukrainians fight so fiercely for their country? What is their motivation? Perhaps reading a chapter or two by General Sun Tzu in the Art of War will be helpful. Two things are important. The first is you are fighting for your family, your way of life and for your country. How powerful is that! The second is you have no other place to go. Your back is up against the wall. There is no retreat. There is no safe haven somewhere. You can only fight and win as the consequenc es of losing are too great. The Ukrainians have lived under Russian rule before and they will not do that again. Why do countries go to war? According to Carl Van Clausewitz in his book On War, war is an extension of politics. If you cannot get what you want then you must take it. Remember, even in Biblical times (ask your pastor on this one), it is your land as long as you can hold it. War is an act of violence intended to compel your enemy to fulfill your will. Carl says the war is over when the enemy is disarmed. Sun says it is over when the enemy quits fighting, turns around and goes home. I prefer the latter over the former. Pray for the Ukrainians and for the Russians to go home. Thanks for reading. Letter policy Letters should be limited to 350 words and may be edited or con densed.The same writer or group may only submit one letter per month for consideration. Letters must be submitted by noon Friday for midweek publication. We do not publish poetry or blanket letters and generally do not publish letters concerning consumer complaints. Unsigned or incorrectly identified letters will be withheld. Mail letters to the Dawson County News, RO. Box 1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534, hand deliv er to 30 Shoal Creek Road or email to editor@dawsonnews.com.
