Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4
The Georgia Bulletin,
May 8,1980
Human Bondage
The powers that be in Iran believe
that the cause of the new
Revolutionary Republic will be served
by making others suffer. Right now
the “others” involved are innocent
men and women deliberately trapped
and unscrupulously held hostage.
Both government and Church
mysteriously goad on the perpetrators
of blatent international crime.
The center of our concern has been
the Americans held hostage. The scene
changed last week and the distraction
was merely more human suffering.
The London police tried every means
possible to pry loose the innocent
hostages held in the Iranian embassy,
but to no avail. With violent and
stubborn arrogance, the hostage scene
was repeated.
The sickening sight of a body
thrown through a door forced the
hand of the police. The result was
grand scale suffering for everyone,
with no apparent winners and death
laid on the doorstep of the innocent.
Obviously the powers in Iran know
our weakness. We care about human
bondage. Our concern seeks safety
and release for those unjustly held. We
prize human life. We will negotiate.
The Iranians, lusting for revenge, prey
on our weakness. Their current
enjoyment, resulting from our
depression, belongs to a jungle
mentality.
After the London destruction the
world should see that pressure must
be brought to bear. Every nation on
the globe has the potential of being
next. Iran will not discriminate. She
will pick and choose at random.
Innocent bystanders anywhere in the
free world could be the next pawns
for ransom.
International, immediate pressure
is the answer. The brotherhood of
mankind of every race, of every creed
has rules that must be kept. Iran
cannot be an exception.
If the price of Iranian oil is
agreement with their acts of
international savagery then it’s too
expensive. We can’t afford it.
-NCB
The Ascension
Ascension. The word immediately
conjures up frescoed images of a
cloud-encircled Christ, eyes and hands
upraised, moving skyward while the
Apostles look on in respectful
confusion.
This may indeed be a case where
visual images serve only to detract
from the reality at hand.
Quattrocento masters
notwithstanding, what is the reality at
hand? What are we celebrating when
we come together in faith to
remember the Ascension - that
Thursday forty days after Easter when
Christ went to be with His Father?
If Christ in His humanity united
Himself totally to us, can we not say
that the Ascension is a sign and reality
of our own calling to be ultimately
united with the Father? If we follow
Christ to the grave, and look forward
to the resurrection of our glorified
bodies, can we not then look to the
Ascension as a guarantee of our own
“ascension” or lifting up by the
Father?
Ascension means more than
another miraculous act in the life of a
miraculous God/Man. It is a loving
expression of what we, too, are
promised by our Brother, the Christ.
In His care and concern for His
people, Jesus walked the earth for
forty days after His resurrection,
assuring His friends that their faith
was real.
In His Ascension Christ offers
further assurance that our loving
Father calls us, as well, to be
supported, encouraged, and lifted up
to full union, in love, with Him.
Well may we celebrate . . .
--TKJ
Resound ... Resound ... Resound
DECATUR: My school, St. Thomas More
in Decatur, is having an Olympic Day. Our
physical education teacher Ms. Susan Stokes
is director of this project, I am Kirsten
Stimmel a student in the sixth grade working
as P.R. person. Olympic day will be held on
May 16 from 9:00 to 1:30.
Would you be interested, in supporting
us? We will have such events as, the javelin
throw, the 440 relay, the shot put, the
standing broad jump, and other events.
Olympic gold medalist Mel Pender will be
our honored guest. The school number is
373-8456. Someone will contact you from
the school.
KIRSTEN STIMMEL
DECATUR: I found Teresa Gernazian’s
column on Drs. Jefferson and Diamond very
informative. In a recent book “You’re Not
Too Old to Have a Baby” by Jane Price, the
authoress assures women that no matter how
old, because of amniocentesis and follow-up
abortion, we can all have the perfectly
normal baby. All we have to do according to
her is to write our March of Dimes for
information as to where the amniocentesis
test may be obtained. She wishes that it
could be available in each little hamlet.
In fact, Price quotes a social policy expert
Amitai Etzioni who said, “Doctors can tell
you with a very high degree of accuracy
whether a particular fetus is apparently
normal or grossly defective. Parents now can
literally choose between a mongoloid child
and a normal one and know that if they
abort an affected fetus, they can very likely
replace it with a normal child! It is like the
difference between having to go for the
jackpot each time, with life at hard labor if
you fail, as compared to putting your money
on a hose in a race in which there are only
two horses in the running after having been
told, with 99% accuracy, which is to be the
winner!”
Dr. Liley, discoverer of amniocentesis to
help in the RH factor problem says there is
nothing neutral in the reason the test is
being used. How can Pro-Lifers continue to
support the March of Dimes and its selective
breeding procedures? Christians must believe
that God created us all, whatever our
disabilities and therefore NEVER contribute
to the efforts to label the defective for
destruction!!
MRS. MARY PEEK
NORTH ATLANTA: We were happy to
read about Holy Cross Parish’s beginnings,
and the many people who worked in the
past to form us and make us grow. However
in talking of the past, the immediate present
was somewhat neglected by the omission of
the names of our Dominican Fathers who
have made Holy Cross the unique church
that it is today.
The Dominican team, with Fr. Mark
Geary as Pastor, also includes Fr. Peter
Gerhard and Fr. Frank Ralph, with Fr.
Jeremy Miller in residence. With their love
and guidance this team has been used by the
Lord to make Holy Cross a special place of
worship today. In addition to beautiful
homilies they have always encouraged
innovative and meaningful input from the
lay person. The results have been beautiful
liturgies and programs which have truly
blessed this community.
In a special way we thank Archbishop
Thomas Donnellan for sending us these
Dominican Fathers who have so enriched
our communal and spiritual lives.
MRS. CARMELA FEY
Catholic A rchdiocese of A t lan ta
Most Rev. Thomas A. Donnellan— Publisher
Rev. Monsignor Noel C. Burtenshaw -- E4itor
Member of the Catholic Press Association
Business Office U.S.A. $6.00
680 West Peachtree, N.W. Telephone 881-9732 Canada $6.00
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 Foreign $8.50
DEADLINE: All material for publication must be received by MONDAY
NOON for Thursday’s paper.
Postmaster: Send POD Form 3579 to THE GEORGIA BULLETIN
601 East Sixth Street, Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Send all editorial correspondence to: THE GEORGIA BULLETIN
756 West Peachtree Street N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Second Class Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Published Weekly except the second and last weeks
in June, July and August and the last week in December
at 601 East Sixth St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
I Got Fried By The Colonel
Dave McGill
(continued from last week)
One morning in the middle of the week
following the vacation trip, I made an
announcement at the breakfast table: “Well,
gang, I’ll be bringing home the dinner
tonight! All you’ll have to furnish are your
appetites.”
“Are you going to use that freebie card
Colonel Sanders gave you in Washington,
Dad?” asked Gayle.
I proudly whipped it out of my wallet.
“Sure am. He said we could get a free barrel
with this little personal card, and that fried
chicken is as good as in the plates.”
That night, as I drove toward the
Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise on my
way home, I was whistling and envisioning
how things would go when I arrived there:
“Yes, are you the manager?” I fantasized.
“God. I’ve got one of Colonel Sanders’
personal business cards here. He gave it to
me last week and told me to redeem it for a
barrel of fried chicken any night I wished.”
Then I pictured the manager hopping to it:
“WOW! Yes, SIR!!!! Oh, boy, what an
honor! Would you like original or crispy?
Perhaps a barrel of EACH? And potato
salad? Rolls? Gravy, sir? Desert? What to
drink? Nothing too good for a friend of the
Colonel, sir!”
My mental scenario ended just as I drove
up to the place. I hopped out of the car, my
little speech honed to perfection. I asked for
the manager, and delivered it perfectly, with
eloquence and a smile. But, alas, the
manager muffed HIS lines badly.
First, the guy peered at me like I was
crazy. You know the look - the head cocked
to one side with one eye nearly shut and the
other one boring a hole right through you.
He fingered the card, and turned it over a
few times. He flexed it, and I thought for a
minute there I was going to have to ask him
not to fold, bend, or mutilate it. Then he
spoke: “Where’d you. say you got this?”
(The tone was both ominous and puzzled,
not unlike that of a cashier who realizes she
has just discovered a stolen credit card and
its new owner standing across the checkout
■ counter from her, but isn’t quite sure what
to do about it.)
It became clear to me that the fellow
thought I had manufactured these cards in
order to play Snuffy Smith and raid his
hen-house. Obviously the Colonel’s personal
card was NOT included in the list of “Things
every franchise owner should know.” So I
was forced to play my ace in the hole. I did
so in the same tone in which Paul Newman
spoke when he surprised his crooked
opponent and won the poker game in “The
Sting.” I watched that whole movie a second
time recently just to hear him say, “Four
jacks” after the other guy had declared his
four nines. I flipped the photograph of
Gayle and Col. Sanders onto the counter and
said, “My daughter and the Colonel.”
He muttered something under his breath
that sounded like, “Son-of-a-gun-he’s-a-real-
-live-person,” then looked at me and said,
“How do I know this is your daughter, sir?”
‘ ‘ A A AAAARRRRGGGHH,” I replied.
“Look, man, it’s a real photo. Where would I
get it if it wasn’t her?”
“If it wasn’t ‘she,’ ” he corrected.
“Now just a minute. I want a barrel of
chicken, not a grammar lesson.”
His final remark was that yes, he had
heard of the Colonel, but no, not of his
personal cards, redeemable-in-full-for-a-bar-
rel-of-chicken, and that he would check into
it for me.
I was really discouraged, and I left. What
a fowl trick the Colonel played on me, I
thought. He fried me good.
I never heard a word from that owner.
But I heard some stomachs growling when I
got home, having forgotten that the main
purpose of my stopping was not necessarily
to get FREE chicken, but to bring home the
bacon, whatever the cost.
Indeed, I had counted my chickens
before they had hatched.
Special People
Teresa Gernazian
Leo and Blanche Zuber are special people
and in the Year of the Family, it’s a privilege
to spotlight their story. Parishioners of St.
Thomas More for over thirty years, they
celebrated their 40th anniversary last
November. It’s been a successful merger of
north and south.
Blanche was the first southern girl Leo
met when he came to east Tennessee with
TVA from Michigan. They were married
seven years before moving to Atlanta in
1946 and a year later Patricia, their first, was
bom. Then came Leo, Jr., Thomas, Peter,
Paul and Mary. Blanche was 42 when Mary
was born but in those days nobody bugged
you about all the “risks”. They’re all away
from home now but four grandchildren add
to the Zuber’s blessings.
Blanche recalls the days of three car
pools, band, ballet, Boy Scouts, Campfire
Girls and pets. An exciting pet experience
came in 1960 when Leo ordered a rabbit
from Coulee Dam, Washington. After a brief
stay in the Zuber yard, she gave birth to
eight bunnies and then went to rabbit
heaven. Miss Patty (age 12) became foster
mother, feeding all eight warm milk with a
medicine dropper. Her success story was
later printed in a rabbit breeders’
publication.
Leo and his boys would often spend a
summer week at the Monastery in Conyers
and equalizing things, he would often take
the girls to the Visitation Monastery, then
on Ponce de Leon, for Sunday visits. Leo
and Blanche still keep in contact with the
Visitation Sisters as Guard of Honor
members.
A highlight for the couple was their 1975
pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine
in Mexico with fellow parishioners, Sister
Ann Brew, Elizabeth Fitch and Mary Lewis,
parish housekeeper. They’re also grateful for
a recent cruise to Jamaica, Haiti, Santiago de
Cuba and Havana among several other
places.
How old are parish memories? Blanche
Leo and Blanche
recalls an altar society bazaar which netted
$600 for the new church building. Currently
Blanche is active in a circle which takes care
of the parish nursery and assists Birthright in
many ways.
Leo recalls the successful Operation
Understanding during Archbishop Hallman’s
time - an Open House throughout the
diocese for other denominations.* As director
of St. Thomas More’s Open House, Leo can
vividly remember the words of Rev. Dick H.
Hall, Jr., then Pastor of First Baptist Church
of Decatur, “I’m glad to see some of my
people here.”
Birthright’s first male telephone
volunteer, Leo became Birthright Treasurer
in 1973 and still serves with great
dedication. Father Walter Donovan, St.
Thomas More Pastor, has generously
permitted Birthright to speak before the
Masses on a Sunday in May (this year it’s
May 18) and Leo courteously coordinates all
arrangements.
Once book reviewer and Book Review
Editor for The Bulletin (as this paper was
then called) for seven years, Leo Was proud
to have Flannery O’Connor as one of his
reviewers. Leo retired from HUD in 1977
with a distinguished service award. Family
mementoes, sacramentals, well-adjusted
house plants and conversational what-nots
arranged with Blanche’s loving hands, make
their thirty-two year old house a witness for
Christian family living. The same with their
front and back gardens where Mother Nature
softly whispers “God is here.”
Working Women
Sheila Mallon
I’ll have to admit I find I get aggravated
about some things more easily these days.
Perhaps I should say exasperated. But if I am
to be utterly truthful “aggravated” would be
a lot closer to my true feelings.
I got a call at my husband’s office
recently from a dulcet voiced female who
offered to sell me “at half the original cost”
a truckload of paper for our copier.
About seven years ago I answered a
similar call, a gentleman explained (same
pitch as dulcet voiced female) that he had
sold his copier and he had this huge supply
of paper he would sell at tremendous savings
(to me).
The problem was and is that these folks
are selling paper which is already over age.
Most copy paper, particularly the photo
sensitive type for wet copiers has a limited
shelf life.
What these crooks do is buy expired date
paper from the manufacturer or distributor
and then try to resell it to unsuspecting do
dos like yours truly.
Another ploy that is tried on the
unsuspecting office bill payer is the invoice
that arrives from West Germany or Northern
Ireland. It claims to be billing you for your
International Telex Listing. Since we don’t
conduct too much business outside of
Georgia, it wasn’t too hard to figure out that
one.
Then there are all the charities that have
someone call and ask you to contribute to
the fund for the dentally deficient, or send
16 underprivileged children to a circus put
on by the “Order of the Heffalump”.
I’ve discovered that its easier to weed out
the phonies on these calls if you ask them to
send you a brochure or any printed material
they may have describing their charity. The
legitimate ones are happy to do so and the
others move on to “greener” pastures.
It’s amazing how many of these
“con-men” are about and unfortunately
they seem to proliferate in hard times.
What really started me on this track was a
story told to me recently by a friend about
something that had happened to her mother
who has been recently widowed. She was
approached by a contractor who had left his
card in her mail box. She wanted to have
some appliances and cabinets replaced in her
kitchen. He quoted her a price that was way
below those given her by other contractors.
After he had pulled apart her kitchen he
asked her for half the money (so that he
could purchase her new equipment). She
paid him and needless to say he disappeared.
The phone number on his handout was an
answering service with an unpaid bill and
they can’t locate him either.
Another friend told me about an elderly
couple in Decatur. They have just been
fleeced by a couple of con-men who
supposedly were going to insulate their
house. The requirement was a third down.
After cashing the check the two disappeared
and left the couple several hundred dollars
poorer.
According to those who are in the
business of investigating this type of crime
this is only the tip of the iceberg. Very often
the victims like the widow and the elderly
couple are on fixed incomes.
When I was a child my grandfather
explained to me the precepts of “Caveat
Emptor” (buyer beware). He warned me
that there were many unscrupulous people
who would take advantage of the trusting
and that I should always require of any seller
a warranty or guarantee of what he is asking
me to buy.
However, my grandfather, who lived by
the now old fashioned precept of “I could
not love thee dear so much, loved I not
honor more” gave me an example that left
me with a trusting soul.
However, I am a quick study, and if you
call me to sell a gold mine or an oil well, a
roof for my house or a subscription to a
magazine you will be fingerprinted,
photographed and run through the FBI
computer before you get a cent of this
“once bitten, twice shy” lady’s money.
Although, if you have a smile like either
of my sons, and you are working your way
through college, or if you are under ten and
selling Girl Scout cookies or tickets to the
Boy Scout Jamboree, or peddling donuts to
benefit the local High School or if you are a
Knight selling a rose for Pro-Life on
Mother’s Day - I’ll be buying.