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Thursday, July 27,2017 The Baldwin Bulletin I Your local newspaper Page A5 State Sen. Jones reviews bills that went into effect July 1 This past session was a productive one for the Georgia General Assembly. A significant number of bills were sent to the governor’s desk for his approval or veto. On July 1, over 100 of these bills went into effect as Georgia law. While there are certainly bills that you will remember from session, there are several bills that didn’t receive much media coverage that I want you to be informed about. They signify changes that will be important to you, your family and our local community. Below you will find several bills that were passed by both chambers, signed by the Governor and went into effect on July 1: — Senate Bill 15 allows retired law enforcement officers to be issued a weapons carry license at no expense. — Senate Bill 108 directs the Commissioner of Veterans Service to establish a Women Veterans’ Office within the Department of Veterans Service. This office will work with all of the Sen. Burt Jones Columnist Veteran Court Divisions in the state to assist with the unique needs of recruiting and training female veterans. — Senate Bill 206 requires health insurers to offer hearing aid coverage for children 18 and younger who have impaired hearing. This coverage is limited to $3,000 per ear or $6,000 total. An exemption for health plans of employers with 10 or fewer employees is included in SB 206. — House Bill 37 requires that private post-sec ondary institutions cannot adopt sanctuary policies. — House Bill 49 updates licensure requirements for livestock dealers and livestock market operators by allowing the department to establish three-year licenses. — House Bill 87 allows annual registration for businesses to be extended to three years. The Secretary of State depart ment will still handle the registration process. — House Bill 208 makes several changes to the laws addressing hunting and fishing licenses. — House Bill 322 extends the period of service where a disabled veteran from wartime service is qualified for care in the Georgia War Veterans home. — House Bill 470 creates the Defense Community Economic Development Fund. This fund will provide grants, which are subject to the appropriations process in the Georgia General Assembly, to military communities so they can promote military installation. For a full overview of any of these bills and the entire list of legislation Governor Nathan Deal signed into law, please visit: https ://gov.georgia. gov/legislation/2017. My work on your behalf at the Capitol and across the state is never done. During the interim, my colleagues and I will be busy attending study committee meetings to discuss some of the problems affecting our state and citizens. We will review potential solutions and begin working on legislation that can make them into Georgia law. Additionally, we will use our time to improve legislation that did not go to the floor for a vote this year. Please feel free to reach out with any questions regarding legislation that passed or that did not make it. I look forward to hearing from you. Senator Burt Jones is the Chairman of the Insurance and Labor Committee. He represents the 25th Senate District, which includes all ofBaldimn County. He may be reached at 404-656-0082 or via email: burt.jones@senate. ga.gov. Paying tribute to a special professor who made a difference If you are a regular observer of this space, you are no doubt familiar with the story I am about to share. I have told it several times over the years. With your indulgence, I would like to tell it again. It is about seeking out a college professor to thank him for turning my life around. Dr. Raymond A. Cook is his name. Today, he lives in Valdosta, a professor emeritus of English at Valdosta State University and former president of Young Harris College. When our paths crossed that fateful spring quarter many years ago, he was an English professor at Georgia State. I was a sophomore on academic probation and in danger of flunking out of school. My high school friends had already quit school and had gotten jobs that did not look as menial then as they really were. It seemed just a matter of time until I would join them. And then, I ended up in an English Literature class taught by Dr. Cook. Two things happened in that class that changed my life. First was the way he taught. Dr. Cook would begin reading Shakespeare or Chaucer or whomever from the textbook and without missing a beat, close the book lean back and focus on some Dick Yarbrough Columnist distant point in space as he continued to recite. I found myself mesmerized as I listened to him. His obvious passion for the written word connected with me. It got me inter ested in his class, in school and in doing better work. One day, Dr. Cook asked someone to analyze “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer. Much-inspired by now, I volunteered and proceeded to proclaim it one of the world’s great poems. Big mistake. (Trust me on this one — “Trees” is a poorly constructed poem as I was to find out.) Even these many years later, I can remember the scowl on the face of this kind and gentle man. When I had finished, he proceeded to dress me down in front of the class for not having taken the time to properly study the poem and for not knowing what I was talking about. “Mr. Yarbrough,” he said sternly, “From now on, you think before you speak!” Lesson learned and never forgotten. I not only passed his class — no easy job — but I went on to graduate from the University of Georgia and then to a rewarding career where I retired as vice president of BellSouth Corporation and then as a managing director of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. Looking back, I shudder to think of the meetings of which I was a part where I was prepared to dazzle those assembled with my wisdom and knowledge on the topic at hand. Then Dr. Cook’s admonition would come to mind — Think before you speak. Keeping my mouth shut and sparing the crowd an observation equivalent to babbling about the symmetry of iambic pentameters within “Trees” probably saved my job more than once. It took me 40 years to find Dr. Raymond Cook and to thank him for inspiring me to stay in college and for teaching me to think first and speak later. He didn’t remember me, but he was delighted that I would take the time and make the effort to look him up and tell him of his impact on my life. After all, isn’t that what teaching is all about? I don’t know who was the greatest beneficiary of our first meeting, him for having inspired me to finish college or me for letting him know the influence he had on my life. Out of that initial contact almost 20 years ago has come a treasured friend ship. I try to visit Dr. Cook whenever I am in Valdosta, and we correspond regularly via email and telephone. And, yes, after all these years, he is still very much my professor. He wrote me recently to tell me how much he enjoyed a partic ular column I had written and to point out that I had used the word “prone” where I probably had intended to say “supine.” Dang. So, why am I telling this story again? Last week, Dr. Raymond A. Cook celebrated his 98th birthday, and I could think of no better gift to give him than to thank him publicly for what he has meant to me. I guess I should give a shout-out to Joyce Kilmer as well. Were it not for “Trees,” we might not be having this conversation. You can reach Dick Ya rbrough at yarb2400@ bellsouth.net; atP.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139; online at dicky ar- brough.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ dickyarb. Rich Continued from A4 commitments, I had to spend a few minutes with Charlie. The first notebook I picked up was entitled “Dinner At Washington Avenue Baptist Church, Hotel Mohawk, Brooklyn, May 19.1910.” Preserved in typical Charlie style, there was the program engraved on very thick paper listing the speakers - Charlie was the toastmaster - the committee members and the menu, which was quite elaborate. It included filet of beef, roast stuffed turkey, cherry bisque ice cream and demitasse. There were newspaper clippings, which explained that it had been a tribute to the church’s pastor, Dr. Robert MacDonald. Apparently, the good reverend had gotten sideways with part of the church. “There were a few absentees,” reported the news story, “as there still remain some members of the congregation whose views do not quite coincide with the statement of belief recently issued by Dr. MacDonald.” Charlie, a church deacon and well-meaning mediator always, had apparently concocted the event as a “love feast” for the embattled minister. He kept everything from that evening, including his re-worked hand written speech as well as a typed manuscript. The cost was $1.50 per person. It was the handwritten addressed envelope to Charlie that he would be most anxious for me to share with you, noting that I discovered it on a day before our nation elected another president. The letter says, “Congress, after a long period of delay, has at last rightfully recognized the members of the United States Military Telegraph Corps who served in the army during the War of Rebellion as an integral part of that army, and by Act approved January 26, 1897, fixed its status as a Obituaries Obituaries should be submitted by the funeral home. Obituary notices run at no cost and may include pictures. Send to wil@bbnews.today by 1 p.m. Monday. Marilyn Durden July 16,2017 Mrs. Marilyn Van Scoy Durden, 79, passed away on Sunday, July 16, 2017 Funeral services will be private. Mrs. Durden was a native of Akron, Ohio before making her home in Milledgeville in the mid 1950’s. She was retired from Meadows Industries, was an avid traveler and a NASCAR fan. She was the daughter of the late Harvey B. and Goldie Webb Van Scoy, and was preceded in death by her husband, Lamar Durden, and brother, Randall Webb Van Scoy. She is survived by her sons, Timothy David Thigpen (Kim) and John William Thigpen (Lisa), both of Milledgeville; grandchildren, T.J. Thigpen of N.C., Randall “Bump” Thigpen of Denver, Colo., and April Davis of Milledgeville; great grandchildren, Shelby Smith, Isabella Thigpen, Kayden Sayre, Aiden Duckworth and Ava Smith. Rev. Bruce H. Lance July 21,2017 Services for Rev. Bruce H. Lance were conducted on Tuesday, July 25, 2017 at 11 a.m. in the Chapel of Williams Funeral Home of Milledgeville. Interment followed in Heritage Memorial Park. The family received friends at the funeral home Monday, July 24, 2017 from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Rev. Bruce H. Lance of Milledgeville went to be with the Lord on Friday, July 21, 2017 He was a native of Hayesville, North Carolina and made his home in Milledgeville since 1964. He was the son of the late Eugene Lance and the late Louise Dills Lance; and is preceded in death by sisters, Debbie Greer, Janice Lance, Joyce Lance; and brother, Jerry Lance. Lt. Lance retired from the Department of Corrections in 1985. Brother Bruce began ministering in 1988 and founded Freewill Fellowship in 2000 serving as the pastor until his death. He was always showing the love of the Lord as he ministered to our community. He is survived by his wife of almost 49 years, Brenda Harvill Lance; sons, Leslie Lance (Sonya), Pete Lance (Karley) and Scott Lance (Vanessa); grandchildren, Jennifer Holder (Jeremy), Maria Lord (Jordan), Elaina K. Lance, Hayden Lance, Megan Michel, Peyton Massey; brother, Johnny Lance (Teresa), Diane Archer (Gerald), Darlene Pittman, great grandchildren, Grantley Lord, Griffin Lord, Jesilynn Rosebrugh, Liliana Soto, Kameron Hansen, Bentley Holder; and several nieces and nephews. Flowers accepted and, for those who wish, memorial contributions may be made to The Master’s Touch Ministry Church. Dwight Riddle July 23,2017 Mr. Dwight Cone Riddle, 58, passed away on Sunday, July 23, 2017 Funeral services were conducted at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 in the Chapel of Williams Funeral Home of Milledgeville with Rev. Jerry Bradley officiating. The family received friends at Williams Funeral Home on Tuesday, July 25, 2017 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mr. Riddle was a native of Athens and had lived in Milledgeville since he was 12 years old. He was the son of the late Joseph Clinton and Florence Geneva Cone Riddle, and was preceded in death by several siblings. He was an insurance agent with Woodmen of the World and he loved his family and grandkids. He is survived by his wife, Lori L. Riddle of Milledgeville; daughter, Leslie (Corey) New of Milledgeville; son, Jason (Robin) Riddle of Eatonton; brother, Joe Riddle of Milledgeville; sisters, Teresa McGowan of Woodstock, Linda (Dinky) Hallman of Ft. Valley, Dixie (Richard) Stewart of S.C., and Donna (Gene) Clopton of Lula; grandchildren, Jared New, Winston Suggs, Tegan Rainey, and Tiffany Riddle; mother in law, Cherry Lavender of Milledgeville; sisters in law, Debbie (Sandy) Dempster of Bonaire, and Susan (Danny) Weeks of Valdosta; brother in law, John Lavender of Macon, and several nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to the GA Cancer Support, St. Jude’s Children’s Research or the Empty 2 005AcuraTL Stocking Fund. 75K miles, V-6, leather 2007 Honda Civic 4 cyl, auto, all power 2003 Honda Civic 4 dr, auto, 4 cyl 2012 Nissan Altima 4 cyl, auto, all power 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis 39k miles, leather, V-8 2004 Lincoln Town Car Leather, V-8, all power 2013 Chrysler 200 4 cyl, auto, 4 dr 2008 Ford Escape XLT Leather, auto, air 2004 Ford Ranger XLT X-cab, V-6, all power 1998 Chevy S-10 Cash $2500 corps of the United States Army.” War of Rebellion? I’ll skip commentary for a moment in order to applaud Charlie Tinker, who, 32 years after what we call the War of Northern Aggression ended, became more than a patriot. He became, officially, a military man. Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of What Southern Women Know. Visit www.rondarich. com to sign up for herfree weekly newsletter. Send your Letters to the Editor to wil@bbnews.today by Monday, 1 p.m. 410 North Wayne St. Milledgeville, GA 478.452.1913 www.wilkinsonusedcars.com
