About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2017)
A4 Lake Oconee News Friday, October 13,2017 Start the conversation Send us your opinions by Monday at 1 p.m. news@lakeoconeenews.us 11 i| .... trtgf The recent mass shooting in Las Vegas once again reminds us of the courage and importance of law enforcement personnel as first responders. News outlets provided numerous reports of brave officers taking gunfire as they rushed to assist injured victims, likely saving hun dreds of lives. All the while, fellowlawmen were seeking the evil sniper situated high above the crowd in the Mandalay Bay hotel suite. With so much news about the difficult situations that sworn officers face daily, I thought we should hear this week from two local officers, Detective Terrell Abernathy of the Putnam County Sheriff s Office and Captain Chris Bish, Chief Deputy of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office. Their words are candid and heartfelt. “First of all, I’d like to say that cops are people, too,” says Abernathy. ‘We swear an oath to preserve the peace, and protect the lives, property, and health of local people. And it’s a daunting task, particularly these days. Cops find them selves shunned by the same communities they protect. They suffer death threats and threats of violence against their families for doing what is right. They constantly have to look over their shoulders, and they hold their children close to them in public, for fear of reprisals.” “The recruitment and Hank Segars Lakelife Associate Editor retention of first responder deputysheriffs has become much more difficult since the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, Missouri, over three years ago,” adds Bish. “The public’s trust in law enforcement has diminished substantially as a result of that case as well as others. As a result, fewer qualified individuals areinterestedinjoiningthe ranks and many competent law enforcement officers have left the profession because of the increased media scrutiny coupled with the minimal compen sation dilemma.” “Cops deal with trag edy and disaster every day, incidents that may be experienced only once or twice in a normal lifetime,” says Abernathy. “Cops see people at their worst. They mustinteract with the dregs of society—individuals that people shy awayfrom. Cops are the ones that people see on the worst day of their lives.” SEE HANK » A6 What Lake County Deputies do Juxtaposition has no comparison OK, boys and girls, today’s word is “juxtaposition.” According to my friends, Barney Funk and Porter Wagnall, it means putting things together for compar ison — like when I read a whiny letter in the Atlanta newspapers from the head of a local civil rights organi zation. Mr. Whiny Pants and the organization he represents will go unnamed because it is the policy of the Yarbrough Worldwide Media and Pest Control Company, located in Greater Garfield, Georgia, not to give free publicity to whiners. Junior E. Lee, the firm’s gen eral manager — a respected political analyst and a pest control professional — has strong feelings on the subject. He likens whiners tofleasona Dick Yarbrough Guest Columnist dog. They have no redeeming social value and are a source of great irritation. Anyway, Whiny Pants has a problem with us pick ing on Mr. Buckethead, the out-of-work quarterback who he says has “protested the general mistreatment of America’s non-white citizens by police and America in gen eral.” Whiny Pants must not watch much television. The talking heads have made Mr. Buckethead a martyr of the scale of Joan of Arc. Junior says America in general, fortunately, thinks the talking heads are as irrel evant to our society as Mr. Buckethead and the unpro fessional professional athletes who make a big show every Sunday out of disrespecting their country. That includes the billionaire owners who piously lock arms with their boy toys. Junior thinks this is more of a business decision than one of conscience. The suck-up owners will risk our disgust but can’t risk making their boy toys unhappy. They might not show up for work but still demand their oversize paychecks. Whiny Pants says these protestors have not maligned our flag “in any manner.” Au contraire, W.P., I can give you the names of a lot of Americans, in general, who would disagree. They have lost loved ones in combat who put their country above their own self-righteousness. As one person who has watched these Sunday showoffs said, “Is this what I lost my brother for?” Maligning the flag is in the eyes of the beholder. Speaking oftheflag, Whiny Pants says he doesn’t hear anybody upset about the “flag of the KKK” and wants to know why there hasn’t been “profanity-laced vitriol directed at those carrying the SEE DICK » A7 I’m afraid to read about having a funny phobia Hello once again, dear readers, and welcome back to this teeny-tiny (like an appetizer at a good restau rant in terms of quantity and quality) spot in your favorite newspaper where we serve a healthy helping of phobias to ponder over on Friday the 13th. On of my favorite polysyl labic words is “triskaideka- phobia,” which translates to a phobia of Friday the 13th. Triskaidekaphobia isn’t a fear of the dozen slasher Dave Brown Sports Writer films about the risen-from- the-dead Jason that made over $400 million. It’s an inordinate fear of the actual day, Friday the 13th, like today is, if you check your calendar on your cell phone. Ooh! I’m scared! Billy Shakespeare warned us to beware the Ides of March, which by my calen dar is March 15th. However, I’m not afraid of March 15th. I’m afraid of April 1st, when somebody might prank me in front of some girls. Again. I looked up funny phobias on my phone and hit the site Funnp. Funnp called a phobia a fear of any object, place or situation (which I like to enunciate as “sitch-ee- ache-un”) that causes people to suffer. Funnp offered a list of funny phobias to make fun of people’s suffering, a schadenfreude tour of pho bias, if you will. Two that I thought were particularly odd were 1.) Hendonophobia: The fear of feeling pleasure; and 2.) Haptephobia: The fear of being touched. Gosh, what does one of those guys do when they have an itch? Ar achibutyrophobia con fused me at first. I thought it was going to be fear of spiders. That makes sense, but it turned out to be fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Huh? Gosh, what does one of those guys do when they get dentures? The last one from Funnp is hippopotomonstrosequi- pedaliophobia. (We probably had to insert ahypheninthewordbecause of our column width.) I thought that it was going to be being afraid of playing Hungry, Hungry Hippo. However, it turned out to mean a fear of long words. Gosh, what does one of those guys do when they read about funny phobias? Lake Oconee News General Excellence Award Winner 2015-2016 GEORGIA PRESS ASSOCIATION President / Publisher A. Mark Smith Vice President Jo Ann Smith Vice President, General Manager Mark Smith Jr. Vice President, Circulation Matt Smith Vice President Michael Smith Associate Editor T. Michael Stone Sports Editor Justin Hubbard Staff Writer James Morton Staff Writer Dave Brown Display Advertising Manager Vicki Parker Advertising Representative Anjie Brown Advertising Representative Tom Gorman Advertising Representative Michael Payne Advertising Representative Shannon Thompson Advertising Representative Daniel Harwell Eatonton Messenger Associate Editor Lynn Hobbs Lakelife Editor Beverly Harvey Lakelife Associate Editor Hank Segars National Advertising Manager Amy Hood Legal Advertising/Circulation Becky Meyer Production and Technology Manager Josh Lurie Graphic Artist Lindsay Pilcher Graphic Artist Mark Brill Business Manager Cassandra Fowler DEDICATION Battle B. Smith EDITOR AND PUBLISHER 1956-1988 Micky Smith EDITOR AND PUBLISHER 1989-2003 ADVERTISING, NEWS AND INFORMATION Lake Oconee 1106 MARKET ST. • GREENSBORO 706-454-1290 Fax 706-454-1292 Madison 195 W. JEFFERSON ST. 706-342-9833 Fax 706-342-9839 Call 706-485-3501 for subscription information Subscription Rates One Year Two Years Putnam, Morgan, Greene counties $35 $65 Other Georgia counties $45 $80 Out of Georgia $55 $95 Postmaster: Send address changes to the ,1106 Market St., Greensboro, GA 30642. Periodicals postage paid at Greensboro, GA 30642. The (USPS 024-046) is published every Friday by Smith Communications Inc., 1106 Market St., Greensboro, GA 30642. All rights reserved. Reprints by permission of the and individual writers only. State and Federal Elected Officials Gov. Nathan Deal (R) 203 State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334 (404) 656-1776 Web/e-mail: gagovernor.org Sen. David Perdue (R) B40D Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: 202-224-3521 Sen. Burt Jones (R) 407 East Second St., Jackson, GA 30233 Phone:(770)775-4880 Fax: (770) 234-6752 Sen. Johnny Isakson (R) United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 (202) 224-3643 Rep. Dave Belton (R) 401-B Coverdell Legislative Office Bldg. Atlanta, GA 30334 404.656.0152-Office dc.belton@house.ga.gov Rep. Jody Hice (R) 1516 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-4101 Fax: (202) 226-0776 Rep. Trey Rhodes (R) Room 612-B Coverdell Legislative Office Building Atlanta, GA 30334 404-656-0325 trey.rhodes@house.ga.gov The deadline to submit letters to the editor each week is Monday at 1 p.m. Send letters and other news to news@lakeoconeenews.us
