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Page 4 - The Wiregrass Farmer, October 25,2017
Editorial & Opinion
The WIREGRASS FARMER - Established 1902
Official Legal Organ of Turner County
Halloween should be a fun time
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
every Wednesday by Ashburn Newspapers, Inc., 109 N. Gordon
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
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Letters
Is Turner County the next
Columbine?
Provocative title but before deciding finish reading.
Let's discuss the two incidents on October 13th. The "Senior
prank" and the "gun" on the bus.
First the "Senior prank" in which Turner County taught no one
integrity, responsibility or accountability. The Seniors learned
they can break and enter, destroy property, and make others clean
it without even having a guilty conscious. They will enter the
working world thinking they can get away with anything. Next
year's Senior class has this example as does each class after that.
The Elementary student who threatened to shoot students and
staff on the bus and had what turned out to be a fake gun. They
stated next time it would be real. As with the "Senior prank" no
charges, no consequences and no responsibility. Parents of the
other students on the bus were not told. No comfort, support or
resources were offered to the children who saw the "gun" and
heard the threat. The Elementary student learned they can
threaten, bring a "gun" and threaten to bring a real one next time.
They returned to school with no real consequences (a few days
off school). The students have this example to follow.
Turner County is graduating Seniors this year whom are anti
social. In 6 to 10 years they will graduate at least one student they
will have had years to turn from anti-social to psychopath. In
those same 6 to 10 years the others on the bus whose feelings are
ignored and have to ride the bus wondering what will happen
next will leam how little they matter to Turner County.
So when you put your child on the bus or drop them off at
school ask yourself is today the next time? or will it be a real gun
this time? because Turner County won't be asking it.
Helena Smith
We’d like to hear your opinion. Letters to the edi
tor welcome. Letters must be signed and have
a phone number so we can contact the writer.
Phone numbers will not be published or re
leased. wiregrassfarmer@yahoo.com
The Wiregrass Farmer, 109 N. Gordon St., Ash
burn, GA 31714
Stepping Back In Time
We are over three weeks
into the month of October now
and finally the temperature
feels more like fall. The warm
weather stayed with us too
long.
When we look around we
see that the leaves have dis
played their bright colors and
many have already fallen from
the trees on our roof tops and
in our yards.
Next Tuesday many people
will be celebrating the much
looked forward to day of “Hal
loween,” especially our
younger folks. This time of the
year is perfect for late nights,
thrills and scares.
Some of you probably re
member Alfred Hitchcock’s
1960 classic “Psycho,” which
was an original that was one of
the best of horrors.
Also Tobe Hooper’s 1974
film “The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre” whose title alone
could keep many people from
even watching it, was actually
very low on gore, relying more
on the effective method of sus
pense and letting your mind
imagine what was actually tak
ing place.
One of the scariest scenes
in the film was a frame of the
From Where
I Sit
isolated farm house the killer
family lived in which was
powered by a generator. That
sound alone echoed off of a
desolate country back road,
was very scary and did not in
clude an ounce of blood or
gore.
Like any movie that was
filled with horror the vintage
vampire and werewolf movies
could be enjoyable for most
people. Another fiction movie
that some of you remember is
the “Creature from the Black
Lagoon.” It was a movie that
was filmed in black and white.
Many of you will remem
ber the ending of the Vincent
Price classic, “The Fly” which
can stay with you for days
after seeing it for the first time.
Then there are the two
classic horror movies “Friday
the 13th” with its multitude of
sequels as well as older movies
starring Bela Lugosi and the
ones directed by Hitchcock
and Carpenter.
Some titles like the newer
“Saw” movies are too gory to
be shown on television but
they do feature known actors
such as Cary Elwes, Danny
Glover, Monica Potter and
Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids
on the Block fame.
Similar to the “Scream”
movies made by “Nightmare
on Elm Street” creator Wes
Cravey’s “Saw” helped to
rekindle new interest in horror
in the 2000’s just as “Scream”
did in the 1990’s.
Regardless of your taste in
movies when it comes to being
scared and how graphic you
like your films October is the
perfect month for it.
May you all have a won
derful “Halloween” and be
sure to see that the young chil
dren in your family really
enjoy the day as well. Let them
visit your neighbors during the
day and hopefully your neigh
bors will be ready for their
visit.
1950- Nineteen year-old
Hugh Hardy has been named
Georgia's top Future Farmer.
Since starting in 1946, his
farming operation, as a stu
dent, includes swine and cattle
and feed crops, and $5,000 in
assets. He along with Murray
Irwin, Billy Searcy, and Jim
mie Wilson received the Geor
gia Planter's degree, too. Hugh
was chosen as the state's best
FFA'er from the 221 that re
ceived the Georgia Planter's
degree in Georgia.
Friends of Mrs. G.C. Mor
ris of Ashburn will regret to
learn of the death of her daugh-
ter-in-law, Mrs. Roy M. Morris
of Miami, Florida. She was se
riously burned Monday morn
ing while preparing breakfast
for her children on a two
burner oil stove. She was
mshed to the hospital but died
of severe burns the next day,
Tuesday, October 24. She was
only 27 and her untimely death
was tragic. Her surviving
daughters are Sandra Lee and
Barbara, her mother, Mrs.
Magdalene Christensen, three
sisters and four brothers. Inter
ment was at Hopewell Church
near Ashburn on Saturday.
1960- Turner County's
"Dream Team" of 1960 meets
tough-and-terrifying Blakely-
Union there Friday night in
South Georgia's Class B Re
gion Championship game.
Turner County in its greatest
season since the return of foot
ball here, is unbeaten in eight
straight games and only one
tie.
The Eureka High school's
annual homecoming parade
will be this Saturday featuring
guest bands J.W. Holley High
School of Sylvester, Carver
High School at Douglas, Wil
son High School at Tifton, and
A.S. Clark School of Cordele.
A formal inquest into the
death of W.P Tyson requested
by his family as it had previ
ously been mled a suicide, was
ruled by the jurors as death re
sulted "from a gunshot wound
inflicted in a manner un
known.”
James S. Faircloth, a 1960
graduate attending Georgia
Tech, has scored sufficiently
high enough on his entrance
exams to be placed in Merit
English. This is the third year
someone from Turner County
High has received the honor.
David Haley of the class of
1959 and Wayne McSwain of
the class of 1958 were also
placed in Merit English.
1970- Randy Coker and
Kyle Reynolds have been
awarded their Eagle Scout
badges.
Seventy-eight year old
Mrs. Danny Davis, the wife of
the late Dan Davis, Turner
County's largest property
owner, has died. She was born
June 10, 1892, the daughter of
W.J. Odom and Mrs. Betsy
Story Odom. She was a regis
tered nurse at Piedmont Hospi
tal in Atlanta for several years.
In May of 1933, she married
Mr. Davis. Mrs. Davis was a
major contributor toward the
new Turner County Hospital in
the early 1950's donating
$25,000 toward the project.
She has lived here for more
than 35 years and ten years ago
she married Mr. Marvin Ward,
who survives her. Surviving
her is her brother, Mr. Lonnie
Odom of Ashburn and a num
ber of nieces and nephews.
Turner County
Rebs beats Miller County
35-0. It is their seventh victory
this season. A rugged and spir
ited Rebel defense in which the
entire front line had a part with
some big plays by Alan Hobby,
Lewis Crockett, Bill Wilson,
Gary Stanford, Don Holley
and Melvin Clark was too
tough for the winless Pirates to
handle. (Pictured Kneeling,
Don Holley, Alan Hobby, Jay
Faircloth, Melvin Clark,
Standing, Bill Wilson, David
Royal, Gary Stanford, and Jeff
Forshee) After a fumble, it
took quarterback Chris Brown
only one play to rifle a seven-
yard scoring pass to end Dale
Wiggins to put Turner in com
mand at 13-0.
Mrs. Ever Ephelia Howard
Pilkinton, 83, died Sunday Oc
tober 18 at the Turner County
Hospital. She was born Janu
ary 29, 1887 in Pike County,
the daughter of B .B. Howard
and Mrs. Emma Mabrey
Howard, coming to Turner
County in 1905. She was mar
ried to B .H. Pilkinton who pre
ceded her in death. Surviving
are her son, M.B. Pilkinton and
a daughter, Mrs. C.L. Wilson,
of Sycamore.
Baker’s Dozen
Connected
You may have heard of the
Internet of Things (IOT). If
you have not, brace yourself.
This gets more scary than a
career politician behind in the
polls.
The IOT means ordinary
things are connected to the In
ternet. What things? Your
fridge, the microwave, thermo
stat, hot water heater, recliner,
the lights in your house, the
bathroom scales and so on.
This means Russian hackers
can take over your house and
move it to California, Siberia
or Washington, DC, whichever
terrifies you more.
Hackers taking over does
not scare me nearly as much
what happens when all our
IOT devices start talking to
each other.
Get up in the morning.
Daily weigh-in. The scale
makes a note you have gained
five pounds in the past month.
The scale shoots an email to
the fridge. “Yo, Chill-o-Matic.
Bossman be getting heavy and
I don’t mean in a good way.
Need to shuck some pounds
here.”
You go to the fridge to get
something for breakfast. The
fridge is mysteriously locked.
WTH?
A message scrolls across the
tiny screen on the door. "Hey
Fatboy. Lose weight. Gimme
five laps around the house and
I’ll think about letting you
have a grapefruit.”
The fridge inventories itself
and calls Amazon for food de
livery: 5 pounds of tofu, a pack
of turkey bacon, a carton of
kale chips and a case of diet
lite mineral water. When you
leave the house, it opens the
door and shoves all the real
food into the garbage can
which takes itself out to the
curb.
Meanwhile, the scales are
also busy spreading the word
to the rest of the house.
The recliner gets the mes
sage. You come home to sit
down for a nap. Your favorite
chair springs up and dumps
you on the floor.
“Don’t think so. Get up and
gimme 50. Then you can sit
down,” it says from the built-
in speakers.
The thermostat sets itself for
85 in the summer and 58 in the
winter. “Sweat it out fatboy,”
the HVAC says through your
stereo system. Come winter, it
says, “Burn those extra calo
ries and stay warm, ya lard
butt.”
Forget about hot showers.
The only time the hot water
heater turns on is when you
wash dishes. Cold showers, it
informs you, help speed your
metabolism so you can lose
weight.
Even worse, your Internet-
connected vehicle sitting in the
driveway gets a message. It re
fuses to crank. “Today is walk
your fat self to work day. Get
moving or you’re going to be
even later than you are now,”
the car says. “You can ride
your bike if you really want
to.”
It gets worse. Your house
hold devices talk to your
phone. Your phone then calls
all your favorite restaurants
and tells the kitchen equipment
you can only have the
“healthy” and “light side”
menu options. No more pizza
for you!
I’m not looking forward to
the future.