Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 - The Wiregrass Farmer, January 15,2014
Editorial & Opinion
The WIREGRASS FARMER - Established 1902
Official Legal Organ of Turner County
Mystery of the curtain rods
109 Gordon Street • P.O. Box 309 • Ashburn, GA 31714
Telephone 229-567-3655
email wiregrassfarmer@yahoo.com
THE WIREGRASS FARMER (USPS 687-460) is published
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St, Ashburn, Georgia. Periodicals Postage Paid at Ashburn, Geor
gia.
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Farmer, 109 N. Gordon St., Ashburn, GA 31714
STAFF
Bob Tribble, President • Ben Baker, General Manager
Linda Sellars, Sales Director • Robin Tillman, Office Manager
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They work for you ^
The Sycamore City Council held a secret meeting
last week. Not picking on Sycamore. The County
Commission, Board of Education and the Ashburn
City Council do the same thing. Rebecca’s Town
Council can also hold closed (secret) meetings.
The law allows these boards to close a meeting
for some very specific items. The meeting was
closed, per the law, but it was still a secret meeting
because the public was not allowed to attend.
Imagine you own a business. Now imagine your
employees hold a secret meeting to decide how to
spend your money. You can’t go to the meeting.
They don’t have to tell you what they said. They
don’t even have to tell you what they decided.
Then, they spend your money according to what
they did in a secret meeting.
Would you allow them to do that? Would you re
ally let your employees hold secret meetings to de
cide how to spend your money?
A closed meeting is when your employees (you
vote them into or out of office) meet in secret to de
cide how to spend your money.
These boards do not have to meet in secret. They
have the option to meet in secret. They can do
everything in an open meeting, but choose to meet
in secret to decide how to spend your money.
It may be legal, but it absolutely is not right nor
fair.
Call it karma?
In the most recent presidential election, Georgia’s
two teacher groups backed the current president.
Certainly not all of Georgia’s teachers voted for the
current president, but we’re willing to bet a majority
did.
This is the same president who pushed for a na
tional health care program. In Georgia, Blue Cross
and Blue Shield is the insurance company offering
coverage.
Now, Georgia is switching the teachers’ insurance
coverage to this same company.
It’s easy to gleefully point out a link. Such a link
may even exist. That will never be known because
the decision to switch to Blue Cross involved a lot
of closed door discussions.
The teachers who voted for the current president
are getting what they asked for, the same thing the
rest of the nation is being forced to accept. Judging
from the outrage over the switch, it’s not what
Georgia teachers wanted.
We suggest in the next election Georgia’s teach
ers pay a lot closer attention to whom they support
and vote. For that matter, everyone should.
Getting what you asked for is not the same thing
as getting what you wanted.
J
She spent the first day
packing her belongings into
boxes, crates and suitcases. On
the second day she had the
movers come and collect her
things. On the third day she sat
down for the last time at their
beautiful dining room table by
candlelight, put on some soft
background music and feasted
on a pound of shrimp, a jar of
caviar and a bottle of chardon-
nay.
When she had finished she
went into each and every room
and deposited a few half eaten
shrimp shells dipped in caviar
into the hollow of the curtain
rods. She then cleaned up the
kitchen and left.
When her former husband
returned home with his new
bride all was bliss for the first
few days, then slowly the
house began to smell. They
tried everything, cleaning,
mopping and airing the place
out. Vents were checked for
dead rodents and carpets were
steam cleaned.
Air freshener’s were hung
everywhere. Exterminators
were brought in to set off gas
canisters during which they
had to move out for a few days
and in the end they even paid
to replace the expensive wool
carpeting but nothing worked.
People stopped coming over to
visit. Repairmen refused to
work in the house and even the
maid quit.
From Where
I Sit
Finally, after they could not
stand the stench any longer
they decided to move. A month
later even though they had cut
their price of the house in half
they still could not find a buyer
for their stinky house. Word
got out and even local Realtors
refused to return their phone
calls.
Finally, they went to a bank
and borrowed a large sum of
money with which to purchase
a new home. The ex-wife
called and asked how things
were going and he told her the
saga of the rotting house. She
listened politely and said that
she really missed her old home
and would be willing to reduce
her divorce settlement in order
to get the house back.
Knowing that his ex-wife
had no idea how bad the smell
was he agreed on a price that
was around twenty percent of
what the house had been worth
but only if she would sign the
papers that same day. She
agreed and within the hour his
lawyer delivered the paper
work.
The man and his new bride
smiled as they watched the
moving company pack every
thing to take to their new home
including the curtain rods.
-LEADERSHIP-
Part of the college applica
tion was directed to the appli
cant’s parents and one of the
questions was, “Would you
consider your son to be a
leader or a follower?” After
much thought the father wrote
that he felt his son was really
more of a follower.
Not long after a letter of ac
ceptance arrived from the col
lege accompanied by a note
from the director of admis
sions welcoming his child.
“We feel he will be the only
follower in a class of 412 lead
ers.”
-REFERENCE-
The kindhearted depart
ment head was delighted when
a less than dazzling employee
decided to move on but
stumped when he was asked
for a recommendation. After
much head scratching he
wrote, “Mr. Mark worked for
me for a long time and when
you have known him as long
as I have you will share my
opinion of him.”
uiU
" p,t pMi
/ A SUH& PeZWT?
Where I Grew Up
by Cleveland J. Brown
Star Athlete, Diplomat
Mr. Robert (Pete) Butts, Jr.
Pete was all of this and
more. Sycamore should have
been proud of Pete because
that's where he came from.
I know some of the young
people did not know Mr. Butts
but I am quite sure some of the
older ones knew Pete. But it's
just like that in the South.
Pete was well educated and
you could tell that by talking to
him. He was a good man. Be
fore coming to Eureka school
he went to school in Sycamore.
Mr. Butts heaped many
praises upon his teachers and
role models of Turner County.
He spoke of Mrs. Hattie Martin
Jones and Mrs. Ruth Hall who
taught me to read and write.
Professor Murph, the principal
of Sycamore, the Kings, the
Dyes, the Calloways, the
Hayes and Mrs. Pickens of
Ashburn, as people who had a
significant influence on his life
and accomplishments.
Pete said he remembers
when Mr. King taught us
French, as best he could, with
one book. “I was very inter
ested in the language but
couldn't see the need for it. Lit
tle did I know that one day I
would have an opportunity to
live and work in countries
using the language”.
“The preparation I received
at Eureka provided me with the
background to take advantage
of the opportunity when it
arose.”
Butts worked with National
Urban Fellows Program spon
sored by the National League
of Cities and U.S. Conference
of Mayors. He was also class
president of the Controversial
Graduate Studies Program. He
is fluent in French and has
knowledge of Arabic, Korean,
and Japanese.
In Turner County Butts had
been involved with the Citi
zens Committee for Responsi
ble Government. Pete said
when he returned to Sycamore
he was impressed to see
progress had been made. “We
had no place to go but up and
we are going up. It is refresh-
Leader
ing to see men like Tom White-
sett and James Davis in ap
pointed positions and Mr.
King, Dye, Lowe, Weston and
Joe Burgess in elected posi
tions. However after the cele
brations have finished the
citizens must become involved
in civic affairs and demand that
the public officials respond to
the community problems and
needs. Our public officials
must understand that they were
put there by the people to vote
with their good conscience and
principles.”
“However the people re
serve the right of participation
on issues to inform and edu
cate the public on the processes
of government. It appears that
some public officials here,
black and white, don't under
stand or respect this fundamen
tal democratic principle,” Mr.
Butts said. If God had not
called Pete home the people of
color would be in better shape
than they are now in Ashburn.
See you next week.
We’d like to hear your opinion. Letters to the editor welcome. Letters
must be signed and have a phone number so we can contact the
writer. Phone numbers will not be published or released.
wiregrassfarmer@yahoo.com
The Wiregrass Farmer, 109 N. Gordon St., Ashburn, GA 31714
Baker’s Dozen
Rice Cakes
If you thought torture was
limited to government agents,
reality TV shows and election
season, then you have not
walked down the “snack” aisle
of a big grocery store.
I really thought the things
were banned back when Bill
Clinton signed several interna
tional weapons treaties and an
unfair trade agreement with
China allowing them to export
bad spelling and bad grammar.
But just like University of
Florida football coach Will
Muschamp, I was so wrong.
Ok, not THAT wrong and
probably not even in the same
zip code, but I needed a
metaphor.
The things I refer to were
even called “things” when they
came out in the mid 80s.
They’ve been around since the
1940s. They’ve also been
called Styrofoam, coasters,
packing material and diet food.
They were brought to market
as a diet a food product any
way.
Except diet food has too
many letters. Die food is more
accurate.
Yes. I am talking about
puffed rice cakes.
Seriously, didn’t Congress
ban these things in the 90s? If
not, why not? When Richard
Simmons holds up a rice cake
and says “This should be a
Deal A Meal card because it is
not food” then you know
something is as wrong as
Kanye West. These things also
have the intelligence level of
Kanye West.
Have you ever tried to eat
one of these things? If you are
my age or older, the answer is
yes. When they first hit the
market, everyone walked
around with bag of them. We
had to. We bought a bag, tasted
one and realized we’d just
spent hard-earned money buy
ing a bag of stale air.
We attempted to shove them
off on everyone we met so it
would not be a complete waste
of money. All we did was ex
change rice cakes and crunch
our way through the concrete
filler pads. As tiny bits crum
bled all over our clothes and
floated in the air, we lied about
how delicious they were. Why
we shared with our friends in
stead of people we hated is
something I blame on the
music of the 90s.
Remember how the flakes
went everywhere? If NASA re
ally wants to study zero grav
ity, scientists just need to buy a
semi-load of rice cakes and
crush them. It’d take a Class 5
hurricane to knock the cloud
down.
The makers attempt to fool
us by calling it “cake.” Bricks
of pure uranium are called
“yellow cake” but you don’t
see people trying to eat that.
Uranium is, of course, regu
lated by the Nuclear Regula
tory Commission and you need
a license or a lot of bribe
money to give to Russian offi
cials to buy uranium. All you
need to buy a rice cake is cash
and a masochistic streak bigger
than someone who’d marry
Lindsey Lohan.
Small children can buy
these things, not Lohan, rice
cakes. You have to be at least
18 to buy Lindsey Lohan, ac
cording to federal regulations
governing the purchase of al
cohol, tobacco, firearms and
idiots.
If you have never attempted
to eat a puffed rice cake and
you wish to do so, be aware I
am pushing Congress to pass
legislation to keep you from
voting and having children.
I’m not saying the things are
bad. In order to be bad or good,
(See BAKER Page 5)