Newspaper Page Text
OpEd
Writing home
from World War I
By Alton Bridges
Staff Writer
(Two important topics of this era
were World War I and Woman’s
Suffrage. The paper was writing
about both).
Forsyth County produced a con
siderable amount of cotton and
wheat, which was being used by the
military. Also, by January 1918,
Cumming, and most of Georgia, was
experiencing a shortage of coal.
As soldiers from Forsyth County
began arriving in France, the local
folks began receiving letters from
their loved ones in the war zone. The
editor printed many of the letters
beginning with the Aug. 9, 1918
issue. These letters had a return
address of “Somewhere in France”
because the soldiers were not
allowed to give their location.
All the soldiers told of the trip to
France and whether they had gotten
seasick. Everyone mentioned how
pretty France was and one men
tioned that the houses were not built
of lumber, which was different from
here in Forsyth County.
The first soldiers to have letters
published were John H. Burruss,
Tom Andrews, S. L. Wallace and
Tby McAfee.
One of the soldiers in France was
Heard Orr. Orr was happy his family
sent two issues of the Forsyth
County News to him. He sent the
copies he got to other Forsyth
County natives Garrett and Orr, who
were not in the same town as he was.
Saving marriages from
divorce through community
’ Johnny Carson—no stranger
to divorce himself— once called
Dalton, “the divorce capital of
the world.” Sadly, it is still true.
The Dalton area had 688
divorces in 1996, and only 431
marriages. That is a stunning
eight divorces for every five
marriages.
Since 1973, America has had
two marriages for every divorce.
In 1996 there were 2.3 million
_ « K —Ulf J*-
marriages and 1.5 million divorces. Every new mar
riage has a 50 percent chance of divorce. That is
the world’s highest divorce rate, except for Estonia
and Russia.
Dalton’s divorce rate, if sustained over time,
would be 160 percent!
But on Valentine's Day, more than 50 pastors,
'priests and a rabbi wiH sign a “Community
Marriage Covenant” aimed at rewriting the history
of marriage and divorce in Dalton and the sur
rounding Whitfield County with a goal to create “a
marriage-friendly community where couples and
families are supported and strengthened. Studies
show that healthy marriages benefit everyone
through lower rates of poverty, teen pregnancy and
crime, school dropouts and substance abuse.”
The pastors observe that “nearly 75 percent of
all weddings are conducted by clergy. Therefore,
churches are uniquely positioned to help couples
develop healthy marriages."
* Specifically, the clergy will
• Encourage a courtship of at least one year
before marriage
• Promote sexual abstinence outside of marriage
and fidelity within it.
• Expect a thorough premarital preparation
process normally consisting of three sessions or
more that includes Biblical instruction on marriage,
the taking of a premarital inventory and the use of
mature married couples 1 to serve as mentors to
engaged and newlywed couples.
• Provide retreats, classes and workshops for
marriage enrichment and intervention services for
stressed marriages.
‘7 • Cooperate with other congregations, employ
ers and organizations to share marriage-building
resources and events.
Dalton is the 80th city in the U.S. and Canada to
take this step—l 2 of which have seen their
divorces drop as a result. For example, 101 clergy
in Columbus, signed a covenant Feb. 28, 1997.
There were 1,008 divorces in 1996, the year before
(he signing, and only 950 in 1997, a drop of 6 per-
Orr wrote, “Believe me, I am ready
to go back to the states when we get
the Kiser (Kaiser).”
Orr could not write about what
was happening in the war, but would
tell the folks back home when he
returned.
Then Orr finished the letter like
most soldiers away from home does,
“Tell all the folks around home espe
cially the girls hello for me.”
The paper also noted that 16
British ships and one new type of
U.S. destroyer were sunk by German
submarines in one week.
The paper also ran a column
called “War Ihlks” by "Uncle Dan”
that explained how the military train
ing would help young people. The
discipline and training teaches men
to think and helps develop not only
their minds, but also muscles.
Almost every country in the
world, except the United States,
requires compulsory military train
ing. The article encouraged young
people to join the military service.
• • •
Congress passed the Woman”s
Suffrage Law and all of the Georgia
Congressional delegation voted
against the act. “If it passes the
Senate,” said one female, “we will
never run for office against a good
looking man.”
The women of New York got to
vote for the first time in March of
1918.
Mike
JHMF McManus
r* • rn . «.•
and 50+ cities to take this step, and my wife and I
will be speaking in Dalton.)
Rev. Greg Lund, pastor of First Presbyterian of
Dalton, organized his fellow clergy to take this step
for three reasons. First, he was shocked to learn
that the town had more divorces than marriages.
Then two of the first five couples he married broke
up. That moved him to become trained to adminis
ter PREPARE, a premarital inventory that “gave me
more information about the couple than I could
learn in 10-15 meetings.” All of the couples who
have taken it from newlyweds in their 20s to people
in second marriages in their 50s and 60s—feel it
helped them talk through issues they had not dis
cussed.
Why is Dalton taking the step on Feb. 14? “We
picked Valentine’s Day to take our marriages back.
It is a day people think of romance, but this is a
way to say that love is also a choice. We are uniting
in Dalton to change our image as the divorce capi
tal, and are claiming the hope we will be a mar
riage-saving capital,” says Lund.
Why does Dalton have more divorces than mar
riages? One reason is that fewer couples are getting
married. Pastor Billy Nimmons of First Baptist
says he used to do 15-20 marriages a year, but had
only seven-eight last year. Dalton carpet mills also
run 24 hours a day. Working such hours surely
stresses marriages.
Will Dalton’s Marriage Covenant makes a dif
ference? I think so.
Nimmons believes there is a power in all of the
churches talking a unified stand “to strengthen in
the public mind the idea that marriage is a commit
ment that is for life.”
Father Dean Taylor, an Episcopal priest,
believes the joint stand against quickie weddings
and for rigorous premarital preparations and the
unprecedented cooperation will help more mar
riages in trouble find ways to be nurtured.
To learn more about Community Marriage
Covenants, write Marriage Savors, 9500 Michael's
Court, Bethesda, Md. 20817.
Friends and family are joy of life
February is the “love month” and the heart
shaped boxes filled with candy and the love
messages on cards were with everyone’s order
at the check-out counters this week. Children
clutching their packages of cards were hesitant
to give them to the cashier and cereal boxes
and other containers were decorated *at schools
for Valentines. Children eagerly anticipated
parties and were mentally counting the cards
they expected to receive and would need to
give to their friends.
Young boys sneaked up to containers in
classrooms to place a special card in the box
of a little girl, and young ladies, in groups of
course, giggled their way to the boxes of little
boys to deposited special messages of everlast
ing devotion. In all reality, the boys were more
concerned with ball and how long until recess
than the cards received and the girls were dis
appointed because that special boy “forgot” to
put a card in her box.
Again this year, more cards, more candy,
more sentiments of friendship, and messages
of enduring and everlasting love were received
and given than we can imagine. Again this
year, children and adults needing the acknowl-
Abraham Lincoln is source of inspiration
By Father Vai Peter
All of us Americans have a favorite presi
dent. My very favorite president is Abraham
Lincoln.
I love to tell the stories to the children of
Boys Town about how Abraham and his sister,
Sarah, were bom in a log cabin in Kentucky
and how their mother taught them to read
from the only book they had in their house,
the Bible. But one of the stories I like best
about Abraham Lincoln is about the time
when, as a young man, he went to the slave
block—a common scene before the Civil War.
He saw a young black man, not more than
18 years old, being sold. Abraham Lincoln
was moved with pity and took money out of
his own pocket and bought the lad on the spot.
When the slave was brought to him,
Lincoln said: “Young man, you are free.” The
slave said: “Please, sir, what does that mean?”
Lincoln said: “It means you are free.”
“Does that mean,” the slave asked, “that I can
cent in less than a year. Peoria,
Ill’s rate is down 19 percent
since 1991 and Modesto, Calif.,
the first city to adopt
Community Marriage Policy in
1986, has seen its divorce rate
plunge 40 percent in a decade
when U.S. divorces fell only .7
of one percent,
(I must confess a self-inter
est. I am the person who urged
the clergy of Modesto, Peoria
WV Julianne
80,1n 9
edgment of friendship and love were perhaps
ignored and another “love month” passed
without anticipation or appreciation.
February reminds us constantly of the joys
of relationships, the loneliness of a friendless
existence, the perils of too much time in pur
suit of our own happiness, the rewards of hav
ing lifelong friends, and the love of a good
family. I have been reminded many times this
week about the importance of friendship, long
term and short lived. I have thought often
about the absence of friends and family mem
bers in our lives, aqd about the errors we make
in expressing appreciation for those people we
say whatever I want to say?” Lincoln said:
“Yes, young man, you may say whatever you
want to say.”
“Does that mean,” he asked, “that I can be
whatever I want to be?” Lincoln said: “Yes,
you can be whatever you want to be.”
The slave asked: “Does it mean that I can
go wherever I want to go?” And Lincoln
responded: “Yes, you can go wherever you
want to go.”
And the young slave, with tears streaming
down his face, said: “Then I want to go with
you.”
That story is still a source of inspiration to
me. It makes me want to go out and do some
thing good for others, like Abraham Lincoln
did: It makes me want to give my life to a
cause greater than myself.
Tell that story of Abraham Lincoln to one
of your friends this week. And remind them
too about the cold, drizzly morning of Feb.
11, 1861 when President-elect Lincoln said
farewell to his neighbors in Springfield, 111.
Primary
[\pif-mir'S\ ai'\. : of first rank, importance or value.]
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li ' ' •
[\kdr\n.: watchful attention.]
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[\d ok'-te r\ n. : trained in the art of healing.]
a
Nothing’s more important than the
good health of you and your family. And
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cherish. I have been reminded that we should
never pass up an opportunity to tell people we
care about them, because we may not get a
second chance.
I have thought again and again about the
fact that words spoken in haste or in anger can
disfigure or destroy relationships between
friends, family, and couples. I have known
relationships that have survived troubles and
tribulations of every kind for many years to be
un-mendable after harsh words and misunder
standings. Likewise, I know that when we
need it most, we receive special blessings from
unexpected places.
I am one who does not say it often enough:
“Friends and family are the joys of my life.” I
am one who does not ever do enough to let
people know they are special to me in many
ways. I am one of those people who knows
about birthdays but does not get the package in
the mail on time. I have many good intentions
of sending the card I finally bought, but some
times it settles to the bottom of the pile on my
desk and goes unnoticed until too late to mail.
But this too I know, “our loved ones do not
make our lives, but loving them does!”
The engineer sounded his whistle, the people
made way as Lincoln walked up into the rail
road car and stopped on the back platform. He
said in part: “To this place, in the kindness of
these people, I owe everything ... I now leave,
not knowing when, or whether ever, I may
return, with the task before me greater than
that which rested upon Washington.”
I sometimes -feel like that myself here at
Boys Town, with so many troubled kids from
so many places with so many broken hearts.
I hope that Lincoln will be an inspiration
to you and to me again as we celebrate his
birthday this month so that “the government
of the people by the people, and for the peo
ple shall not perish from this earth.”
(Father Peter is executive director of Boys
Town, the famous home for troubled boys and
girls in Boys Town, Neb., and in Florida, New
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