About The Lee County ledger. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1978-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2019)
Page 4A,The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, August 7, 2019 Fruit Of The Poisonous Tree Special to the Ledger By Kate Scarmalis The very concept of slavery, the bane of any rational person, defines our Constitution’s great American hypocrisy. How can a document claim that all men were creat ed equal, while some owed their very lives and existence to another? How can our nation’s found ers condemn slavery while owning slaves themselves? George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton were all slave owners. Patrick Henry, the “give me liberty or give me death” guy, owned slaves. Thomas Jefferson condemned the injustice of Britain’s slave trade, yet owned slaves himself. The tortured logic of advocating that slavery is a basic violation of hu man rights, while at the same time owning slaves, leaves the rational mind wheezing for oxygen. Permitting slavery in the land of the free made as much sense as a trout farm in a vat of milk. Nothing good could come from that. Many of our nation’s founders worked to rec tify the situation. Their actions ultimately con tributed to the gradual abolition of slavery in the Northern states. Their ac tions, however, were too little too late. The mon ster was born and allowed to grow. Our country’s past will be forever tarnished by slav ery. Once society condones creating upper and lower castes of human beings, it inherently gives way to racial prejudice. Where prejudice exists, hatred is not far behind. Our history has been studded by instances of racial hatred. The case of Emmett Till is testament to the acquiescence of racial disparity. In 1955, 14-year old Emmett Till came from a segregated neighbor hood in Chicago to visit family in Money, Mis sissippi. Emmett had experience with prejudice in the north, but he could not have been prepared for the racial hatred that defined the entrenched minds in Mississippi at that time. His mother gave him full warning, but young males will always view themselves as bullet proof. Kate Scarmalis PRE-K LUNCH MENU Monday, August 12 Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Seasoned Com, Fruit, Milk Tuesday, August 13 Chicken Nuggets, Mac-n-Cheese Green Beans, Fmit, Milk Wednesday, August 14 Cheese Pizza, Carrots with Dip, Fmit, Milk Thursday, August 15 Ham Biscuit, Tri-Potato Wedge, Fmit, Milk Friday, August 16 Fish Sticks, French Fries, Fmit, Milk NINTH GRADE CAMPUS & LEE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL LUNCH MENU Monday, August 12 Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Garlic Breadstick or Pepperoni Pizza, Seasoned Com Fresh Garden Salad, Fmit, Milk Tuesday, August 13 Chicken Nuggets or Com Dog Mac-n-Cheese, Green Beans Breaded Okra, Fmit, Milk Wednesday, August 14 Chicken Wings or Beef Tenders, Roll Baked Beans Scalloped Potatoes, Fmit, Milk Thursday, August 15 Hot Cheesy Grits, Biscuit, Choice of Ham or Smoked Sausage, Tri-Potato Wedge Carrots with Dip, Fmit, Milk Friday, August 16 Buffalo Chicken Bites, Breadstick or Hot Dog on Bun, French Fries Coleslaw, Fmit, Milk The Lee County Ledger Established August 24,1978 lcledger@bellsouth.net P.0. Box 715 (126 4th Street) (229) 759-2413 Leesburg, Georgia 31763 USPS 470-310 Official Organ of Lee County SUBSCRIPTION RATES Lee and surrounding counties $20.00 year Elsewhere $25.00 year Publisher Derryl Quinn Editor Jim Quinn Layout and Design Zan Twiggs Advertising Manager Tina Maples (USPS 470-310), is published weekly for $20.00 per year in Lee and surrounding counties, and $25.00 per year else where by its offices at the May Office Building, 124 - 4th Street, Leesburg, Georgia 31763. Periodicals postage paid at Leesburg, GA. POST MASTER: Send address changes on Form 3579 to, P.O. 715, Leesburg, GA31763. Printed On member of Georgia Recycled Paper press association Till was quite the prankster, teasing his cousins that he had a white girl friend in Chi cago. His companions, not believing him, dared Emmett to go into the corner store and ask the white woman behind the counter for a date. Foolishly, Till entered the store alone, bought some candy, and left say ing, “Bye, baby” to the woman. Carolyn Bry ant, the wife of the store owner, later claimed that he grabbed her and wolf- whistled at her on his way out of the store. Roy Bryant returned home from a business trip a few days later. Hearing of how Emmett had allegedly spoken to his wife, he went to the home of Till’s great uncle, Mose Wright. He and his brother-in-law, J.W. Milam, removed Emmett from the home and took him away in their car. Mose Wright protested to the extent that he could, but in Missis sippi at the time, he was powerless to prevent the kidnapping. It would be the last that he would ever see his nephew in his lifetime. Emmett Till’s assail ants forced him to carry a 75-pound cotton gin fan to the bank of the Tal lahatchie River. They or dered him to take off his clothes, and bound him to the fan with barbed wire. The two men beat him to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and then threw his body into the river. Emmett Till’s body was unrecognizable; it could only be identified by an initialed ring that he was wearing. Emmett’s remains were mutilated, but his mother courageously decided upon an open-casket funeral so that the world could see what the racist murderers had done to her only son. After Jet Magazine published the photos, the mainstream media picked up on the story. An all-white jury de liberated for less than an hour before coming forth with a verdict of “not guilty” - finding that the identity of the victim had not been proven defini tively. The nation peered into the abyss of racial hatred, exemplified by the form of a young man whose only crime that he was a bit of a wiseacre. Young men are like that. America has come a long way from that time, even Mississippi. Or has it? Eliminating racial prejudice is a slow - very slow - process. And it’s not gone yet. The Emmett Till Me morial Commission was founded in 2005 by its committal to “offer the first apology to the Till family, from our county, from our sheriff, down to our local community members.” On the bank of the Tallahatchie River where Till’s body was discov ered, three signs have been erected consecu tively. Each has been vandalized, riddled with bullets. The latest was erected on June 21, 2018. Only weeks later, vandals shot it with four bullets. Racial prejudice, or rank stupidity? Or both? Three University of Mississippi students posed before the bullet- punctured sign with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and shotgun. They, their weapons, and their smiling faces were posted on Instagram on March 1 by Ben LeClere for his fraternity brother John Lowe’s birthday. Well, you know - “Ole Miss” isn’t really the forerunner in the civil rights movement. Except - - one of the alleged perpetrators hails from our neck of the woods. Howell Logan graduated from the oft- lauded Deerfield Windsor School in 2017. Racial hatred has an extreme cost. So does youthful stupidity. US Attorney Chad Lamar of the Northern District of Mississippi has referred the informa tion to the Justice De partment’s Civil Rights Division, saying, “We will be working with them closely.” Logan and his friends will have their lives to consider the consequenc es of that one day in their lives. Unlike Emmett Till. Kate Scarmalis retired from teaching in the Lee County School System. She has a B.A. in Foreign Languages, Elementary and Gifted Education, and an M.A. in Forensic Psychology Sharing the Word Special to the Ledger By Harry R. Martinez, Ph. D Really? Really! Perhaps you recently heard a congressman declare that “God has no place in Congress; God is for religion.” Really? Is he ignorant concerning the found ing and history of the United Sates? Did not those fleeing the Euro pean continent risk all to establish a new nation where freedom would abound in every area of faith and life? One can not avoid the stark evi dence of the importance that the founding fathers placed on Biblical truth. Their acknowledgment of Divine Providence, the Creator God, and the tenets of Scripture became the foundation stones for writing the Constitution, the Decla ration of Independence, and our judicial laws. The statement voiced by that member of the House brings to mind the warning spoken to Israel by the prophet Ho- sea. “Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faith fulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, deception, murder, steal ing, and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky; and also the fish of the sea disappear” (Hos 4:1- 3 NASB). The scoffer immediately retorts that Hosea was speaking to Israel. True, but long before the Jewish nation existed, Elihu spoke to Job concerning God’s impar tiality. “Can he who hates justice govern? Will you con demn the just and mighty One? Is he not the One who says to kings, ‘You are worthless,’ and to nobles, ‘You are wicked,’ who shows no partiality to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands” (Job 34:17- 19) NIV)? Therefore, God’s condemnation, given to the people by the prophet Hosea, has pertinent application for all nations. History may be viewed from the perspective of Hosea’s admonition ... “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” The prophet is not speaking of what may be called academic knowledge, for that is rampant, and its increase is prophesied in Scripture concerning the “end times.” Hosea is speaking of knowledge concerning the Word of God, Biblical Truth, learned and applied in life. Israel’s lack of spiritual teaching and understanding would result in the people suppressing truth, ac cepting that which was false, abandoning the principles on which the nation was founded and consequently receiving discipline and judg ment from God. The prophet Amos, whose occupation was that of a herdsman would express divine judgment on his people ... “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, when I will send a famine through the land — not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it” (Amos 8:11-12 NIV). May it never be so in these United States! The rising voices that seek to remove any reference of God in the governance of this nation will de stroy liberty and indi vidual freedom. They seek to install a Godless society that defames the name of Jesus. Yet, it is this Jesus who died on the Cross for our sins and offers to any and all eternal life simply on the basis of faith in Him. The acceptance of this Truth guarantees an eternity with God forever. The message of the gospel provides true freedom to the one who embraces it by faith: freedom from the penalty of sin, the power of sin and eventually, the presence of sin. The Apostle Paul wrote ... “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the sal vation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gen tile” (Rom 1:16 NIV). Our national anthem resounds — “And this be our motto: In God is our trust.” Really! Editor’s note: Dr. Mar tinez is an ordained min ister and was a professor and head of the music department at Florida State University School from 1975 to 2003. He is the father of five adult children and resides in Lee County with his wife, Sara. Community Calendar • Grief Share Class to be held at First Baptist Church Leesburg facilitated by Chuck and Cheryl Botkin. Class will start August 13 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.. Call church office for more information. • Lee County Commissioners will meet Tuesday, August 13 at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will be held at the T. Page Tharp Governmental Building, Opal Cannon Auditorium, 102 Starksville Avenue North, Leesburg. • National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) will meet Wednesday, June 21 at the Golden Corral, 1228 N. Westover Blvd. in Albany at 11:30 a.m with a speaker of interest. A club officer will show attendees to the meeting room. Lunch will be paid under the normal business for the restaurant. Eligible people are welcome. • Veterans join the camaraderie of fellow veterans at the Leesburg American Legion Post 182 the first Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at J&E Restau rant on Walnut Ave. in Leesburg. • The Albany Amateur Radio Club meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at Avalon United Methodist Church, Albany (rear of the church). • Albany Shrine Club business meeting is the first Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. Ladies Night is the third Saturday at 7 p.m. • Cub Scout Pack 210 meets at Leesburg United Methodist Church at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Contact Stephen at 229-376-1754. Harry R. Martinez
