About The Eatonton messenger. (Eatonton, Ga.) 18??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2025)
A4 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2025 The Eatonton Aessenger www.msgrnews.com 00 Opinions All letters to the editor must be signed and include a phone number for verification purposes. Send letters to editor@msgrnews.com by noon Monday. Random thoughts on random subjects Color me bummed. I found out last week that despite my sterling silver credentials, it seems my chances of being appointed Duke of York have been flushed down the loo. I got a note from a reader who says I made a “serious factual error” in my column. He said it is a hereditary appoint ment and that he has the inside track to the job — if, indeed, it is a job. “I have traced my lineage, confirming that the individuals who held the title back to the 1300s are my ancestors,” this reader writes, claiming he can confirm the status of the title directly from Dick Yarbrough Columnist the UK government. The bad news is I can’t make you address me as “Your Grace” when writing to tell me to slither into my closet. The good news is I don’t have to change my name to Grace ... Since the Duke of York gig tanked, I am now considering applying for a position as a college football coach. My plan is to lose a bunch of games and get paid $50 million to go away. It seems to have worked out well for some coaches recently. Ten schools have gotten rid of their head coaches who are owed $169 million. Who says losers can’t be winners? ... How religious are we in Georgia? According to the Pew Research Center, our state ranks 10th as “most religious overall” with 49% of us saying religion is important in our life and 38% attending church regularly. Sixty-three percent believe in hell. Three percent consider themselves atheists, and God is 100-percent sure He will deal with them personally when they show up claiming they were just kidding. By the way, the least religious state in the survey was Vermont. I’m no theologian but I suspect God doesn’t care what Vermont thinks. I know I don’t ... Congratulations to Andrea Ihrig of Douglas ville and Brooke “Moth” Copeland of Murrayville. They are enrolled in the Wellstar School of Nursing at Kennesaw State University and are this year’s recipients of the Jane J. Yarbrough Scholarships, established in honor and memory of the Beloved Woman Who Shared My Name. I have not met them yet but when I do, I will tell them about the remark- able person for whom the scholarship is named. She got her nursing degree from KSU and became a registered nurse after our kids were in college. It was difficult but she persevered. May she be an inspiration to the current recipients and all those to follow... Tim Echols, a member of the Georgia Public Service Commission sent me a note after my column on the current PSC races in which he and fellow Republican Fitz Johnson are running for reelection. It wasn’t a “serious factual error” like the Duke of Whomsoever’s tut-tut. It was a nice response. I said there had been six rate increases for Georgia Power customers since 2022. Not so, Comm. Echols said. Only three. The first one was phased in over three years. So that counts as only one. Three or six, the net effect on Georgia Power customers still amounts to about $43 »Show up, speak up!« Public meeting schedule for Eatonton and Putnam County PUTNAM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 1 p.m. - 2 nd Tuesday 706-485-1884 PUTNAM COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION 6 p.m. - 2 nd & 3 rd Monday 706-485-5381 EATONTON PUTNAM WATER SEWER AUTHORITY 4:30 p.m. - 3 rd Wednesday 706-485-5252 EATONTON CITY COUNCIL 7 p.m. - 1 st Tuesday & 3 rd Monday 706-485-3311 PUTNAM COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 6 p.m. - 3 rd Tuesday • 10 a.m. - 1st Friday 706-485-5826 PUTNAM PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION 6:30 p.m. - 1 st Thursday 706-485-2776 PUTNAM BD. OF ELECTIONS & REGISTRATION 4:30 p.m. - 1 st Tuesday 706-485-8683 * These dates and times are based on regular government meeting schedules. For any called or special meetings, please see our legal page. MORE RANDOM » A5 michaelpramirez.com TWIG % lor NATIONAL SECURITY.. U.S. - 2MOA TARIFFS are The Eatonton Messenger Dear younger me ... A. Mark Smith President/Publisher amsmith@msgrnews.com Matt Smith General Manager matt@msgrnews.com Ian Tocher Editor ian@msgrnews.com ESTABLISHED 1861 Vice President Michael Smith Vice President JoAnn Smith Managing Editor Josh Lurie Reporter T. Michael Stone Reporter Bailey Ballard Sports Reporter Lance McCurley Advertising Manager Matt Plocha Advertising Representative Dianne Phillips Advertising Representative Maria Maddox Advertising Representative Marisa Abbott Classified Representative Haley Fowler Graphic Artist Victoria Anadenko Business Manager Cassandra Fowler Lakelife Editor Lynn Hobbs Dedication Battle B. Smith, Editor and Publisher, 1956-1988 Micky Smith, Editor and Publisher, 1989-2003 Mark Smith Jr., Executive Editor, 2004-2019 Okay, Tom, this is gonna be kinda' weird for both of us. I’m sending this letter 25 years back in time to you because there’s some stuff happening here in the future that you just aren’t gonna believe. No, seriously, this stuff is nuts and I want you to start getting ready in 2000 for some of these developments in 2025. First — and you won’t believe this — we have driverless cars. They’re safer than human drivers in many conditions, and the newest models don’t even have a steering wheel or pedals. They’re battery operated, safe, conve nient, and can go about 350 miles before needing to be recharged; basi cally, a driverless taxi that doesn’t smell like coconut and weed. Also, in my front pocket I’m carrying a portable phone made by Apple Computer. It has 1TB of storage; that’s the equivalent of 694,444 Columnist Tom Greene floppy disks. Stacked together they’d be 10 times taller than Atlanta’s Peachtree Plaza hotel. I can make calls on it. No biggie, right? Well, hold on — it’s also a camera that can hold 250,000 digital photos. It can hold 1,428 music CDs, surf the internet, hail taxis, order food, track health stats, and handle all our banking. Sounds great, right? The downside is that these things have taken over our lives. The average American spends 7 to 10 hours a day on these “smartphones” and other screens. Everyone stares at their phones constantly like zombies. Most people even take their smart- phone to the toilet with them. Yeah, it’s that bad. We have unmanned rockets — reusable ones built in the private sector. A single Falcon 9 rocket from 2025 will do more launches and carry more payload to orbit in a year than the entire Space Shuttle program did in its history. We also have space tourism. For about $500,000 you can go up in one of these rockets. If you think we might wanna’ try it, put $2,500 into Apple stock today. It’ll be worth about $500,000 in 25 years. You’re welcome. Tiger Woods will win three majors this year (2000), but he royally screws up his life a few years later. As a result, he never does catch Nick- laus. But he’s not alone. You won’t believe what comes out about Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Jared (the Subway sandwich guy), Rudy Giuliani, P. Diddy, Prince Andrew, and Matt Lauer, to name just a few. Guess which four of them are in prison today. The rest probably should be. There’s no more “Be Kind, Rewind” or late fees. All the Blockbuster stores closed. Nobody goes to movie theaters either. A company called Amazon delivers almost anything to our door in 24 hours or less. Every thing from Tide deter gent to a carburetor for a ‘76 Ford Pinto. We no longer have home phones, office phones, answering machines, fax machines, or phone books. Long-dis tance calling is long gone, too. You can pretty much call anywhere in the world for free. A LOT of people work from home in their MORE GREENE » A5 The Eatonton Messenger (USPS 166-520) is published every Thursday by Smith Communications Inc., 100 N. Jefferson Ave., Eatonton, GA 31024-4027. It is the official organ of the County of Putnam and the City of Eatonton and is a member of the Georgia Press Association and the National Newspaper Association. All rights reserved. Reprints by permission of The Eatonton Messenger and individual writers only. Eatonton City Council Members John Chip Mylle James A. Michael Janie B. Marie Teresa Reid Walker Mangum Gorley Smith Reid Rainey Doster Mayor Mayor Pro Tem Ward 1 Ward 2 Wards 2 & 3 Ward 3 Wards 1 & 4 Ward 4 706- 706- 706- 706- 706- 706- 478- 706- 485-3311 485-7804 485-7195 485-8984 485-0306 816-6800 288-3846 484-0693 Subscription Rates One Year Two Years Putnam, Morgan, Greene counties $37 $70 Other Georgia counties $50 $90 Out of Georgia $55 $99 Putnam County Commissioners POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Eatonton Messenger, P.O. Box 4027, Eatonton, GA 31024 Periodicals Postage Paid at Eatonton, GA 31024 Advertising, news and information: 706-485-3501 Fax: 706-485-4166 Advertising email: sales@msgrnews.com News email: editor@msgrnews.com Member, Georgia Press Association National Newspaper Association outhern Newspaper Publisher Association A prize-winning newspaper in Better Newspaper contests 1999-2016 ner of 23 top GPA awards in 2016 PLACE for GENERAL EXCELLENCE 2013, 2014 and 2015 B.W. “Bill” Sharp Chairman 706-752-8431 Tom McElhenney District 1 762-205-4731 Richard Garrett District 2 706-749-5573 Steve Hersey District 3 706-485-0935 Jeff Wooten District 4 706-752-8432 Putnam County Board of Education Members Doris Clemons District 1 706-485-1142 Simone Jones District 2, Vice Chairman 706-473-0738 Steve Weiner District 3, Chairman 706-485-5087 Charles Trumbo District 4 Carol Ann Guthrie District 5 706-766-6012 Georgia Legislators snpa MEMBER SOUTHERN NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Senate Dist. 25 Sen. Rick Williams (R) 327-B Coverdell LOB Atlanta, GA 30334 (404) 656-0082 rick.williams@senate.ga.gov House Dist. 124 Rep. Trey Rhodes (R) 228-A State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334 404-656-5099 trey.rhodes@house.ga.gov House Dist. 144 Rep. Dale Washburn (R) 401-H Coverdell LOB Atlanta, GA 30334 Office: (404) 656-0152 dale.washburn@house.ga.gov
