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Page 4 - The Wiregrass Farmer, November 15,2017
Editorial & Opinion
The WIREGRASS FARMER - Established 1902
Official Legal Organ of Turner County
The Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses
109 Gordon Street • P.O. Box 309 • Ashburn, GA 31714
Telephone 229-567-3655
email wiregrassfarmer@yahoo.com
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^ Fix it already ^
Excuses offered by Sycamore Councilmen Jim
Galt-Brown and Keith Reynolds simply don’t hold
water - pun intended. Odie McNair will not say
why he is against it.
It is past time to fix the water problems for the
people in the Nor-Way Court trailer park, or subdi
vision depending on what you want to call it.
Let’s look at the flawed arguments.
Any work will cost taxpayers money.
It is already costing money. The City is losing
water when pipes break and no one is billed. The
City is losing the money that should be billed for
that water. As long as the water pipes are broken,
Sycamore will continue to lose money.
During the last drought, the City was very wor
ried about water levels in the wells. A forward-
thinking Council will keep this in mind.
It will benefit one person.
Ludicrous. More than one person lives in Nor-
Way Court. Every resident there will benefit from
better water and better sewer lines.
Yes, the number of homes there has gone down -
which reduces the City’s property tax income.
We’re willing to bet some people moved out be
cause of the utility issues. Improve the utility lines.
People may move back.
Further, some of the lots there are owned by the
people living on that plot of land.
Can 7 spend money on private property.
This argument is correct. However, in the scope
of a Community Development Block Grant -
which would put in all new water lines, fire hy
drants, sewer lines AND pave the streets - owner
ship is irrelevant. The property owner can deed the
streets to the City so the work can be done. Ash
burn did it at Orchard Hill.
Further Mr. Galt-Brown and Mr. Reynolds have
voted for CDBGs in the past. Their arguments
against this project simply do not hold water, just
like the pipes in Nor-Way Court.
The National Archives is
the repository of our nation’s
documents. Upon walking into
the building you will see an
image of the Ten Command
ments engrave in bronze on the
floor signifying that our legal
system has its origin in the Ten
Commandments that God gave
to Moses on Mount Sinai. The
Judeo-Christian beliefs
brought by the Pilgrims and
others to the New World
formed the foundation of our
Constitution and our system of
laws today.
Upon entering the Jeffer
son Memorial if you look
above you, around on the
chamber interior dome three
contain references to God you
will see that Panel Three, just
to the left of the entrance, is
taken from Jefferson’s 1785
notes on the State of Virginia.
It reads “God who gave us life
gave us liberty. Can the liber
ties of a nation be secure when
we have removed a conviction
that liberties are the gift of
God? Indeed I tremble for the
gift of God. Indeed I tremble
for my country when I reflect
that God is just and that his
justice cannot sleep forever.”
The World War Two Me
morial is a testament to the
power of a free people who
when faced with a threat to
their Country and the world,
united to defeat tyranny. Dur
ing World War Two the gov
ernment issued seventeen
million Bibles to the soldiers
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From Where
I Sit
with a message in them from
Generals Eisenhower and
George Marshall. Eisenhower
understood that our nation’s
rights and freedoms rested
upon our firm faith in God.
He said after the war, “The
real fire within the builders of
America was faith, faith in a
Provident God whose hand
supported and guided them,
faith in themselves as the chil
dren of God, faith in their
country and its principles that
proclaimed man’s right to free
dom and justice.”
In 1607 the first English
settlers stopped here at Cape
Henry, Virginia which is 30
miles west of Jamestown.
Safely on the banks of the
James River they opened their
sealed orders from England.
Following these orders they
honored the occasion as a day
of thanksgiving to Almighty
God. Before sailing on to
Jamestown they erected a
wooden cross and thanked
God for their safe journey
across the Atlantic.
If you ever have a chance
to go on the White House tour
be sure to visit the State Din
ing Room. The fireplace man
tle contains a prayer by
President John Adams, “I pray
to heaven to bestow and all
that hereafter inhabit it. May
none but honest and wise men
ever rule under this roof.”
Adams wrote these words to
his wife Abigail after first
moving into the residence in
November 1800.
President Franklin Roo
sevelt discovered Adams
words in the later years of the
Second World War and had
them carved into the stone fire
place below a portrait of Abra
ham Lincoln.
The United States Capitol
Building is filled with religious
imagery and inscriptions
around the Capitol that demon
strates the reliance of our
country on God and faith. In
the Cox Corridor in the House
wing of the Capitol a line from
“America the Beautiful” is
carved into the wall, “Amer
ica, God shed His grace on
thee and crown thy good with
brotherhood from sea to shin
ing sea.”
Also in the House chamber
is the inscription “In God We
Trust.” At the east entrance to
the Senate Chamber the words
Annuit Coeptis are inscribed,
Latin for “God has favored our
undertakings.”
Stepping Back In Time
with David Baldwin
Clyde R. Hobby Jr. and Clyde R. Hobby Sr.
1940- (November 14,
1940) Manson Payne died at
home here Sunday. Manson
Payne, colored, died Sunday
afternoon at his home in Ash
burn. Manson was one of the
best known and highly re
spected colored citizens of
Ashburn, as well as one of the
pioneer citizens. Manson had
many friends among the white
people in Ashburn and was in
telligent, industrious, depend
able and ever ready to do an
act of kindness and will be
missed by all. He was in the
employee of Dr. G.C. McKen
zie and a familiar figure on the
streets of Ashburn. He was
only sick about twenty four
hours. While gathering
pecans, he fell from the tree
and many felt he had a stroke
that caused his death. Manson
owned his home and he and his
wife always kept it so clean
and beautified with flowers.
He set a good example for his
race to follow. The Wiregrass
Fanner always had a good
friend in him. He had taken the
paper for years and two days
before he died he paid his sub
scription for one year in ad
vance. (Manson Payne Homes,
the public housing at 320
Stevens Street, Ashburn, is
named for him.)
Thirty-four year old Claude
Moore died at a Macon hospi
tal from burns suffered when a
gas heater exploded 11 hours
earlier. He was a farmer in
Dakota and married to the for
mer Miss Nancy Vinson of
Wilcox County. Two sons,
Thomas and Clyde Moore sur
vive also.
For the second week in a
row, another 100 names are
listed as registrants in the draft
for the country.
1950- The Ashburn Drive-
In will open Monday night,
November 20, 1950. Movies
will be shown nightly with the
first show beginning at seven
o'clock and the second show
starting at nine o'clock. There
will be one Sunday night show
beginning after church serv
ices. The first movie will be
"Cargo to Capetown."
Kent Robinson is running
for city council.
1960- Hobby's Department
Store will celebrate its 25th an
niversary. They began on Main
Street in 1935. (C.R. Hobby,
Jr. and C.R. Hobby, Sr. pic
tured) Hobby, Sr. was born in
rural Turner County. They
opened in their present loca
tion on Gordon Street in 1947.
Picked among 21 girls,
Barbara Ann Hancock, 17,
is the new Miss Irwin County
Electric Membership Corpora
tion queen. She is the daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Hancock
of Rebecca. The 5-4 queen is
also in FHA, Tri-Hi-Y, the
Glee Club, secretary of the Fu
ture Teachers, and business
manager for The Rebel Spirit
school newspaper.
Funeral services were held
for W.D. Lumsden, 86, by Rev
J.C. Moore, with burial at
Bethel Church. Mr. Lumsden
died Friday November 11th.
He came here from Carrollton
in 1917 and became a well-
known farmer. He is survived
by four sons, to include
Thomas and Doyle Lumsden
of Sycamore and two daugh
ters.
Johnny Ewing has been
chosen Y Clubs "Boy of the
Month."
1970- Frank Harden Mur
ray, 71, one of the sons of town
founder, W.A. Murray, has
died. During his early adult
life, he, with J.N. Raines, op
erated a hardware store. He
was a barber at one time. He
served as trustee and deacon of
the First Baptist church. He
was a Shriner and a Mason. He
was married to Miss Elizabeth
Daniels who survives him
along with two daughters, Mrs.
Jimmy Shingler of Cordele,
and Mrs. J.N. Snelling, Jr. of
Charlotte, N.C.
The Rebels will play
Wilcox County in Cordele for
the region championship.
Turner County beat the Mon
tezuma Hornets 34-0 for the
ninth win of the season.
Baker’s Dozen
The human
hurricane
Not saying she asked every
one she knew to preach her fu
neral, but she asked a lot of
people to speak at the funeral.
I was one, but I did not get to
have a say at the time.
My first encounter with the
late Mary Frances Office was
in one of Austin Saxon's
columns. He wrote she "is
good at sending chips a'wind-
ing." Don't remember anything
else about the column. At that
time I had never met Mary
Frances. I later learned that, in
deed, if someone had a chip on
his shoulder that needed re
moving, she was a certified ex
pert in sending it winding into
the clear blue yonder.
It's been said that good
things come in small packages.
It is also a fact that incredible
amounts of force can come in
very small packages. If you
knew Mary Frances Office,
you also knew she embodied
both of those.
She ran for City Council
back when the Council had
seats - not geographic districts,
but seats. You picked which
seat you wanted to run for and
started the race. She lost.
Not long after that, the
Council was served notice by
the US Justice Department that
its election procedures from
the 1970s were never ap
proved. The Council had to go
back to at-large elections with
the top vote getters taking of
fice. No majority needed, in
other words, and everyone ran
together.
MFO came to a Council
meeting not long after that and
said by that rule, she should be
sitting at the Council table. She
also said all the actions taken
by the Council were probably
invalid. The City attorney said
only a judge could order that.
Later on, she ran for the
Board of Education and won
election. Even before serving
on the BOE, she was a natural
force when it came to how the
children in our community
were treated. As a BOE mem
ber, she had an even bigger
platform and a chance to make
an even greater impact.
She was legendary for
telling people exactly what she
thought of them.
Every so often my phone
would ring in the evening. I
had her number stored, so I
knew who it was.
"Yes ma'am," I'd say.
She then launched into
whatever was on her mind at
the time. Sometimes she was
mad at me. She made very
clear what I'd done wrong and
that she expected better of me.
Sometimes she called because
she wanted someone to talk to.
Sometimes she called "because
you are a minister and I need
someone to pray with me."
Regardless, Mary Frances
Office was someone I could
trust. The world needs more
people like that.
I titled this column The
Human Hurricane, which is not
completely accurate. Mary
Frances was a force to be reck
oned with, for sure, but she
could build as well as tear
down as the situation required.
Her influence and impact on
this town is greatly missed.
Until we meet again.