About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2013)
PAGE 4 - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21,2013 Opinions expressed by writers on this page are their own and not necessarily those of The Georgia Post CODE OF ETHICS: Seek Truth & Report It - Minimize Harm Act Independently - Be Accountable. Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe. -Thomas Jefferson Guest Edjtonal Newspapers Bring Business To Your City The Importance Of Communication By Lamar Norton, Executive Director Georgia Municipal Association Newspaper publishers across Georgia are dedicating a significant bit of time and ink explaining why communi ty newspapers matter. I would like to add my thoughts on the subject. As executive direc tor of the Georgia Municipal Association, the state’s largest representative of city govern ments, I have seen firsthand how newspapers impact cities. To put it simply: Newspapers are economic development. First, and most basically, most newspaper offices are located in downtowns. They employ people who, hope fully, eat and shop at other downtown businesses. People come to newspaper offices to place ads, share their news and buy their newspapers. So newspapers drive traffic into the downtown area. They also cover events like ribbon cuttings and business expansions that help local businesses. Think about where you live. If you live in one of Georgia’s many smaller towns, it’s likely your newspa per is a once or twice-weekly publication. If that newspa per didn’t exist, who would cover these events? Would the closest large daily newspaper drive to your town to cover the grand opening of a Mom and Pop store? Probably not. Your community newspaper, however, does cover those events and that coverage helps Mom and Pop and the rest of the family stay in business. Newspapers also impact the local economy on a much larger scale. The stories they write - how they portray the community and its govern ment leadership - can make or break economic develop ment. Before deciding to open a store or factory in a community, business leaders look at how that community is portrayed in the media. Is it a government that can’t agree on issues, that deadlocks on important votes? Or is it a government that seems open to doing business and wel coming to newcomers? If it’s a company that will bring a large number of employees to the area, they want to know what the quality of life is going to be for their work ers. Are there sports for kids, quality schools, community events for the family? All those factors are taken into consideration and decisions are made based upon how the community is portrayed in the local paper. Another area where news papers offer great impact is in recording the history of our cities and the people who live, work and die there. The birth announcement that ran in your paper last week may be the significant event historians examine 80 years from now. The gap-toothed eight-year- old grinning from ear to ear in the Little League photo on See NEWSPAPERS, Page 10 This past Monday night was the Roberta-Crawford County Chamber of Com merce Annual Meeting (yes I have waited until the last minute to write my column this week) and the speaker they had, has me thinking about a lot of things in my life. The speaker for the night was Dr. Browning, a very motivational speaker on leadership skills. He talked about things that get your brain going in overdrive and pondering what you are and where you are going in life. He started the presenta tion out by asking, “What is your brand?” and it made me question myself and what I feel like my brand is. I had never thought of this before. I had always just rolled through life being what I like to call a “Wembley.” For those of you who have never watched Fraggle Rock, I must explain. Fraggle Rock was a show created by the Even though we work in a field of communications, we can sometimes miscommuni- cate. Or fail to communicate, thinking someone knows what you mean. It happens even within the confines of marriage. At Monday night’s an nual RCCCOC meeting, Dr. Browning mentioned com munication. It has always been one of my priorities, especially with my hubby. I tease him at times when he thinks he has told me something but hasn’t or vice versa, that we have a com munication problem. I do not think you can communicate with your spouse too much. But, there are times when you both are running helter skelter doing a lot of differ ent things when you forget to communicate. When I used to do pre sentations on a more regular basis, communication was always on top of the list for topics. In fact, I believe it to late and great Jim Henson, master of puppetry! It con sisted of little fuzzy crea tures who lived in the wall of a tinker’s shop. “Wemb ley” was the one fraggle that could agree with everybody. He went along with just about anything that anybody wanted him to do. I realized last night that this must be my brand. I am through and through a “Wembley”. I can go along with just about anything with anyone. I claim neutral in all arguments between people, I never pick sides (unless it was my family on the other side), and when it comes to my opinion on things, “well what do you think?” When it comes to being agreeable you might not find a more agreeable person than me, but unlike “Wemb ley” on the show I don’t just agree about anything and everything. If it goes against my morals I will just agree to disagree and leave it at that. We must all have our breaking points and those things that we just won’t budge on that make us who we are. be very important, especially in the work place. I hear people complain all the time about the boss not commu nicating or management not keeping everyone informed of what’s going on in differ ent areas. Keeping the line of communication open makes for better workers, I think. Dr. Browning also talked about replenishing yourself and not running on fumes. I can definitely relate. There have been times when I have found myself running on fumes. You are not produc tive when that happens and you need to take time out. Because I came from a long line of work-a-holics, it took me a long time to grasp the concept of needing down time. In fact, about seven years ago,it was something I had to force myself to do be cause if I not, my health was going to force me to anyway. Sadly, my dad never really grasped that concept and therefore did not instill it in When it comes to doing things I go with the flow. I am a worrier and I stress out, but as events, planned trips, and everything else go, whatever the person planning it wants is just fine with me. I probably could say I am not a leader but a very agreeable follower and although it has been a good way of life for me I feel like it is time to change. Being an agreeable follow er is okay for a stay at home mom (which I was before I started here at the paper) or even for a person working in a kennel (which I did for ten years after graduating high school), but now I have found myself thrust into a com munity full of hard working and wonderful people. All of them are leaders in their own way. They each have some thing that they are good at and they each provide a little piece to this puzzle called Crawford County. Dr. Browning’s speech got me thinking about where my piece is going to fit. Where will I fit in this community and what is my brand? Am I going to forever be a “Wem- me. But God has a way of getting your attention when he thinks you need the rest. Taking a rest refuels and replenishes you and in my case, fuels my creativity. I always come up with a few new ideas after taking a break away from everything. And nowadays I always know when it is time because my creativity starts to wane. Unfortunately, all of us must deal with what Dr. Browning called ’’drainers” from time to time. We get visits from these type folks occasionally, perhaps just to make sure we appreciate the rest of the folks. As Brown ing said, sometimes these people are family members and we have no choice but to deal with them. The key is not to let them bring you down to their level. This has taken practice on my part as I want to fix situations. Realizing I was not in control and you cannot fix people helped me to weed out a lot of the ’’drainers” and God has placed many more people who lift me up in my life. Even in the case of family, sometimes you just have to let them go or at least not let their constant draining affect you. Takes lots of ef fort I know, but with a lot of prayer it can be done. We cannot control people but we can control how we react to them. It is how we react that can change a situa tion. Since I began the jour ney of being more intentional about things, dealing with the ’’drainers” has gotten easier and I have more peace in my life. I thank the ones who lift bley” or am I going to step up and lead the younger generation into a better tomorrow? As if by some twist of fate when we arrived home wore out from the fabulous meeting last night I opened my jewelry box to put away my rings and there lying on top was a fortune I had gotten from a fortune cookie months ago (apparently my mother had found it while tidying up and put it there for safe keeping because she knows how I cherish little scraps of paper with quotes on them). This fortune read, “You will be recognized as a community leader,” and though it had elicited a giggle from me when I had first gotten it, last night it struck me through to my agreeable heart. No one in this world is going to make you a leader or force you to make your puzzle piece fit in your life or in your community. If you go through life agreeing to everything and never having your own ideas or thoughts of how things should work, no one will ever know where v , Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. —Jack Welch uotable Quote ~ Are You Or Are You Not, A "Wembley”? Pay at a Time Victoria ’’Vicky” Simmons vsimmonsS4@gmail.com me up regularly and let them know I appreciate them and try to lift them as well. If people would only real ize life is not about us, there would not be so much un necessary drama going on all the time. Drama is something I do not deal with and people who know me, have come to respect that fact and keep the drama at a minimum. I have even been so bold as to ask one person to check their drama at the door. Naturally, it did not go over that well, but there was not any drama that day!! Life is just too short and we need to live each day to the fullest. We need to wake up each day with an attitude of gratitude and appreciate what we have and where we are now. And do not sweat the small stuff. Blessings are sometimes found in that small stuff, we just have to look for them. Have you checked your attitude lately? We should do so on a regular basis. Wishing you a very blessed week and remember to always commu nicate, communicate, com municate! Take time to refuel once in a while, too. Your body and your mind will thank you for it and you will be much more productive. From Moo To You Abigail ”Abby” Adams abbyadams@pstel.net your heart truly lies. Though I know I will never fully give up my “Wembley” nature, I am go ing to work very hard to find my place as a leader in the community. It will take time, but I have already been put on that first step when God placed the best boss I have ever had in my life, Ms. Vicky and put me here at the newspaper. As our paper states it is “the voice of Crawford County,” and as a news reporter I feel I should start to consider that as part of my brand. So Crawford County I am your voice (a very agree able voice), speak and I will listen and do my very best to tell your story to the public. Thank you all for reading! It is such an honor to be able to write for this wonderful community! published every week by Crawford Publishing, LLC. Our Staff Floyd Buford - President Victoria ’Vicky” Simmons - GM/Publisher vsimmons54@gmaiLcom or byronbuzz@pstel.net Abigail Adams - News Reporter/Editor’s Assistant Office Assistant - Michael Fleming Kelli Johnson- Marketing Executive Robbie Robertson - Distribution Carey Lee - Sports Photography Trenesia Y. Stubbs, Charles Cook, Nancy Gibbs, Billy Powell, Angie Carr, Jeff Cook, Wade Yoder, Dan Gatlyn, James Earnhardt Robert Tharpe, Rev. James Snyder, Spencer Price - Contributing Columnists Our Policies Deadlines are Noon on Friday prior to issue. The comments featured on the opinion pages are the sole creations of the writers, they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Post management Letters to the editor must be signed and include a telephone number. We do edit grammar, spelling and punctuation when necessary. Libelous, slanderous or profane letters will not be published. 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