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
