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-FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS—SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 19»5
Forsyth County News
(Established 1908)
Forsyth County News
107 DaMonega Street
Cumming, Georgia 30130
Telephone-887-3126
USPS 205-540
\
NORMAN BAGGS HARRIET HOUSTON
EDITOR & PUBLISHER ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Published Sundays and Wednesdays by Forsyth County News Company. Second
class postage paid at post office in Cumming, Ga. Subscription rate for Forsyth
and adjacent counties. $15.60 per year: other Georgia counties and out of state
subscriptions are $20.80 per year. Adverbsing rates and deadlines available upon
request. Postmaster: Send address changes to Forsyth County News/P.O. Box
210, Cumming. Ga. 30130
—Opinion-
SAT scores show
slow progress
Using the results of standard
ized tests administered to public
school students for any sort of
comparative study is a risky proc
ess which often leads to invalid
conclusions.
In small school systems, it is
often unfair to compare the scores
from year to year, since a partic
ularly good class one year or a
particularly bad class, for that
matter can cause significant
fluctuations in results from one
class to the next.
With that said, there are some
rather obvious generalizations
which can be made from the re
cently released SAT results.
Scores from last year’s testing
show the South still trails the rest
of the nation in preparing for the
We’re primed for war
here in the United States
If America became involved in an
other war, where do you think that war
would be? Central America? The Middle
East? South Africa?
Our eyes are constantly turned to
wars all over the world, but what about
the possibility of a war at home?
To some people this idea may seem
absurd, but with all the racial tension
brewing in America today, it is not an
impossibility.
Consider the Black Muslim leader,
Louis Farrakhan, who’s been drawing
some big crowds in major U.S. cities.
In his call for black economic and
political power, Farrakhan has attacked
Judaism, calling it a “gutter religion.”
He’s also referred to Adolf Hitler as a
“great man.”
Judaism is the religion of the Jewish
p ■'ole, and as all of us know, Hitler was
man who made a sport of killing
vcws in World War 11.
What’s scary is that Farrakhan drew
a crowd of 10,000 people in Washington
on July 22, and 15,000 people in Los
Angeles on Sept. 14.
He plans to speak at New York’s
Madison Square Garden on Oct. 7.
On the opposite end of the racial
spectrum is the Ku Klux Klan, a white
supremacy group.
According to a spokesperson for the
Anti-Klan Network, members of the
Klan and neo-Nazis are no longer “ste
reotypical, older, well-established
men,” but people in the 18-to-35 age
bracket, with a “visible involvement of
women, children and adolescents.”
While the Klan isn’t the only white
group of its kind in America, the Black
Your letters are welcome
The Forsyth County News welcomes let
ters to the editor about items of local or
general interest.
Letters should be no longer than 2 typed
pages, double spaced.
All letters must be signed. Letters that
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SAT, which is often used as a
college entrance exam.
The scores also show, however,
that the gap is narrowing and that
Southern students are climbing
closer to the national average.
Georgia still trails the nation
and the region in SAT achieve
ment, but once again the differ
ence in scores is not as great as
was once the case. Some progress
is being made.
A number of education and
elected officials have explained
lower test scores in Georgia as the
result of more students taking the
test. While there may be some
validity in that argument, it will be
nice when explaining the state’s
poor scores is no longer a necces
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News Editor
Muslims aren’t the only black group.
There already have been racial con
flicts in major U.S. cities, and what’s to
prevent racial groups from someday
declaring all-out war on each other?
Who would have dreamed in 1776,
when America declared its indepen
dence from England, that this country
would be at war with itself less than 100
years later?
To our founding fathers, the idea of a
civil war in America might have seemed
far-fetched.
But, the Civil War did happen, and the
battlefield was the same country that
had united in battle in the previous
century.
Today, if asked about the possibility of
a war between racial groups in Amer
ica, some people might say, “I’ll believe
it when I see it.”
I don’t discount the possibility of such
a war, however, because history is filled
with conflicts between different races of
people.
Crys for peace in the 1960 s have not
yet stopped the conflict between differ
ent races in the world or at home, and
unless some “earth-shattering” event
takes place, I must remain skeptical
about such peace.
are not signed will not be used.
Send your letters to The Forsyth County
News, P.O. Box 210, Cumming, Ga., .30130.
Or, bring your letters by the News’office at
107 Dahlonega Street in Cumming.
Don’t touch that dial, TV fans
Bang the drums, ring the bells and pop the
popcorn. The moment anxiously awaited
throughout the long summer is upon us—the
new fall television season has arrived.
Veerily and forsooth, the networks have
combined to offer a veritable comulopia of
amazing talent and diverse story lines
amazing that is that such talent could get a
job and diverse only when compared to the
reruns of the past months.
The programming gurus of the medium
around which the world often seems to turn
have gone out or their way this year to
provide us with the type quality entertain
ment we’ve come to expect from television.
Let us hope we aren’t getting what we
deserve. If so, then we have indeed been bad
little boys and girls.
The new shows, combined with the return
ing favorites from last year, indicate a
national IQ somewhere in that realm of
numbers identified by algebra teachers as
the negative integers.
Just for the sadistic pleasure of it, let’s
take a look at what the greatest communica
tions advancement in the history of mankind
has to offer this year.
Let’s see, on Monday nights there is
“Scarecrow and Mrs. King,” a totally realis
tic action comedy about a mild-mannered
housewife who innocently becomes involved
in the plottings of international spies.
Happens right here in Cumming all the
time. Better watch who you’re gossiping
with.
Tuesday night’s a real winner, with view
ers treated last week to a 2-hour premier of
Bad things happen to good people
It will be a long time before residents of
Mexico City can fully recover from last
week’s disaster. They may still be finding
bodies buried under the rubble which once
housed school children, business executives,
tourists, apartment-dwellers and church
goeers.
Latest estimates over 3,000 died’ over 6,000
were severly injured and close to homeless
after twin earthquakes rocked the city. The
count will probably be much higher once this
newspaper is published.
It seems that 1985 has been the “Year of
the Disaster.” One cannot pick up a newspa
per or watch the 6 o’clock report without
receiving some updated and shocking news
to digest supper by. Hundreds have been
killed in plane crashes and hurricanes have
caused considerable damage along the coast
and scared off would-be tourists and their
pocketbooks. The death toll goes up every
day in South Africa where apartheid is
creating a spirit of rebellion in an un-named
civil war while the brothers and sisters in
Sudan are starving to death by the thou
sands.
So we gasp again in disbelief and see
pictures of falling buildings and panicked
people and heave a sigh of relief that it was
not our own town nor our own people. Yet,
Mexico City is much too close for comfort. It
is a vacation land that we are fond of. And
Why men dress for distress
The worst thing about having department
store credit cards is the catalogs they keep
sending to keep company with your mailbox.
These are those slick, glossy little bro
chures where they round up a bunch of
skinny out-of-work actors and actresses,
prim their perfect hair, and dress them in
the season’s new duds.
The truth is, the catalogs probably are
being sent to women in the household. (Men
will wait around for the cheaper circulars
with the tires and power tool specials.)
And that’s probably OK with the clothing
moguls. They know women eventually will
have their way. Afterall, they’ve been dress
ing mot since they were in knickers.
Here’s my theory.
Despite pressure from women everywhere
to turn their menfolk into fashionable repli
cas of Alan Alda and Phil Donahue (with a
dash of Don Johnson,) most men are still
Ralph Kramdens when it comes to clothes.
On the manly list of priorities, wearing
fashionable clothes ranks right up there with
watching English comedies mi Public Tele
vision.
After about the age of 20, most men per
sonally don’t care how they look. This is
proved by several scientific observations.
Throw a bunch of men into an area or
situation where all there are is other men
(the military service, a deep sea oil rig, or a
pro football camp) and they will pretty much
all dress the same.
Women, you see, are the main reason men
even take a stab at trying to wear something
stylish (or washed and pressed, for. that
matter.)
If the man is married, his wife will hound
him to quit wearing his worn-out, outdated
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Pubisher and Editor
The A-Team. Two hours of Mr. T’s monosyl
labic dialogue is the network’s way of pun
ishing us all for the success of cable
television.
Tuesday also offers a new show, “Home
town,” which is sort of an adolescent cross
between “The Big Chill” and “The Wal
tons,” 8 the kind of show you would get if
John Boy had been om in 1950 and spent the
‘6os as a flower child. . Yessir, things are
getting good now.
Moving right along, Wednesday offers a
real challenge for the cerebrum. We’ve got
“Dynasty,” which is like a glitzy anthology
of all the juicy stories in the National En
quirer.
On the new show side, there’s something
called “The Equalizer’” which is part James
Bond and Part Rambo turned loose on the
streets of the U.S.A. When daring and cun
ning fail, bring in the automatic weapons
and kill everybody.
Another of the season’s new offerings is ‘
“Hell Town,” in which Robert Blake plays a
priest who acts like a bad dude from the
streets. Not long ago Blake played Baretta, a
cop who acted like a bad dude from the
streets. In Baretta he had a bird; in Hell
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Managing Editor
there is a realistic fear that the next tremors
may be higher along the San Andreas Fault,
say San Francisco or Los Angeles.
It did not surprise me at all to hear
scattered quotes in the likes of “We deserved
it,” and, “It’s just God’s punishment to us.”
If God can’t get our attention in any other
way we surely turn to him when trouble
strikes home.
Were these tremors God’s way of judging
the capital of Mexico? Is this city a modem
Sodom and Gomorrah? I tend to believe that
there are as many good people as bad ones in
Mexico City.
So, why do bad things happen to good
people? Is it fair for man to lose his family
and all his possessions and dreams for the
sin of living a good life?
The fact is that bad things happen to good
people and to bad people. They happen to all
people. They just happen. Period. The sea
son’s hurricanes didn’t zip around the Coast
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Guest Columnist
old clothes, and buy some new ones.
There are two reasons: First, husbands
are one of the prize acquisitions of wives,
just like a trendy little car, or a new micro
wave. Women like to show of their model as
the latest.
Women have been known to donate whole
closets of shirts and coats to Goodwill while
Mr. Wonderful was down at the hardware
store.
“Where are my shirts?” he’ll rant when he
makes the discovery.
“I gave them away. They all had holes in
the elbows and the cuffs were frayed,” she’ll
reply coolly.
“Aww, honey, you know I just rolled up the
sleeves, anyway.”
Secondly, wives don’t want to feel guilty
about running up exhorbitant charge ac
counts on their own new clothes. They feel
better if Dagwood’s got a few suits on the
monthly bill.
If the man is not married, there is a lot of
pressure on him to become so. Family tradi
tion is often cited—his parents and grandpa
rents frequently referred to.
He knows that women like clothes. And he
figures, he’s going to have to press out to
attract any near-Misses.
Unfortunately, this is where the torture
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Town he has a goat. This guy’s supposed to
be a star but none of the people he plays acts
like they are supposed to act. Why is that?
Wednesday also offers Michael Landon as
an angel on earth taking care of important
business. It has long been obvious that
-Landon has had divine intervention on his
side in all those tough years on Little House
his hair never even got mussed.
Turning without fear to Thursday we get a
blitz of cops and detectives. There’s Mag
num and Simon and Simon and Hill Street
and Lady Blue, and you might as well in the
Fall Guy since he’s just another detective
show without a license.
A conservative count shows at least 15 cop
detective/pseudo-cop/ detective shows on
during prime time. A visitor from outer
space would assume every other American
has a private investigators license and car
ries a gun. Anybody shown you their ID
lately.
Friday brings back “Dallas,” the original
sex, sin and silicone show. It also brings
back “Miami Vice,” a 60-minute rock video
with a plot sometimes worked in for variety,
and “Knight Rider,” with the talking car
which is more intelligent than the serie’s
star.
Yeah boy, we’re sure having some fun by
now.
Rather than get into the weekend’s enter
tainment, let’s just say Saturday morning
cartoons outclass anything on during prune
time.
Sounds like another great season for
ifrequent trips to the county library.
trying to decide which city was sinful enough
to strike. Nor, does cancer attack only the
bad with its slow and agonizing death.
Bad things aren’t usually contingent on
how good we think we are. Life, unfortu
nately, is full of the bad. Nobody likes to hear
about „ or read about and newspaper people,
especially this one, don’t like to write about,
either. But there is a big difference in
reading about these circumstances and feel
ing compassion and having these same
events strike our own circle of family and
friends. When this happens suddenly life be
comes a reality and our foundation is severly
rocked.
It’s easy too easy to say “It isn’t
fair.” We don’t like to see good people hurt.
We cheer for the underdog and embrace
those who experience pain. We made an
instant hero out of Robert Gotez, the lone
subway “cowboy” from New York City who
got his revenge early on would-be harassers.
So now we’re ced with yet another disas
ter, a test to see how the good people will
respond to their fate. Mexico City must pick
up the pieces of its demolished suburbs and
try to put them back together again. They
must put the mourning behind them, pull
together and start again.
And we must help them with our own
abundant resources. Lest we forget bad
things are bound to happen. To everyone.
begins that probably goes a long way in
explaining why men hate shopping for new
clothes.
Let’s start with designer pants.
, Despite, half a century of John Wayne
Eiovies, European designers have this im
ression that American men are built like
anorexic ballet dancers,
j Put your average American into a pair of
designer pants and he’s suddenly aware that
there is a vise-like gnp clamped around his
average American (expansionist) waist.
That would be tolerable for short periods
of time, but then we slap a “European cut”
shirt on him. European cut shirts are de
signed for men in the last stages of a hunger
fast. They can be spotted on most of us by the
little puckers the strained buttons are mak
ing up the front of the chest.
Another sure sign is the breathing. With
ithe pants around the abdomen and the shirt
contracting the lungs, the fashionable gent
begins breathing in short rapid bursts, much
like a over-excited chihnah.^
If he hasn’t turned blue in five minutes,
they wrap a fashionable tie around his throat
to finish the job.
to 8 he usually surrenders
the credit cards, any cash in his wallet and
begs to go cut the lawn, never suspecting
why women live longer.
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