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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2008
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 5A
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Annual Outreach banquet
is overwhelming success
ROB HOTIE is a man after my
own heart.
The story said the Iowa native
who lives in Gwinnett County
belongs to a “virtual community
of Idiots” obsessed with big pump
kins.
During long hot summers, Hotie
deals with crises such as fungus,
wilt and rot. He tends his plants
daily. He waters regularly and
gives them weekly doses of fertil
izer.
The procedure worked well for
his squash. However, the giant
pumpkins he hoped to take to the
county fair didn’t make it. They
rotted on the vine. So Hotie loaded
two 300-pound squash on his pick
up and took them to the fair.
Here’s the question. Why would
anyone devote time and energy to
growing giant vegetables.
It was Hotie’s answer that makes
him a special person in my mind.
“Because it’s a ridiculous, mean
ingless waste of time. It has noth
ing to do with making money,
spending money, or going to the
mall.”
Let’s hear it for Rob Hotie!
He doesn’t have to have a rea
son or purpose for doing what
he likes. He does it because it is
fun and because he just wants to.
Sometimes our purpose in life is
doing nothing. Didn’t I read some
where that all things come to him
who waits?
Would that more of us were like
Hotie. The stress factor would drop
dramatically. We’d be a friendlier,
happier nation of friendlier, hap
pier people.
‘I don’t
Now, will you allow
me to change course
and disagree with Mr.
Hotie’s reasoning?
His obsession with
giant veggies may be
ridiculous, but it’s not
“a ridiculous waste of
time,” as he said. He
obviously enjoys what
he does. If we enjoy
what we do, how can
what we do be a waste
of time?
I think about time a lot. When
you’ve been here four score and
almost five, you tend to do that.
You realize you don’t have as
much time left as you once did.
Not down here, anyway. Eternity
is another story.
I’ve been here long enough, and
thought about time enough, to
know that I am not guilty of one
thing I’ve been accused of. I’ve
been told by many people — par
ents, teachers, bosses, friends —
that I waste a lot of time.
It’s not true. Now, may I make
you feel better about your life? You
haven’t wasted any time, either.
No way can we waste time.
(Remember that you heard it here
first.) Time is like reality. Accept
it or reject it — it keeps right on
being what it is. And time is avail
able to all of us - presidents, kings,
queens, princes, rich folks, poor
folks, ordinary folks and bums
— in equal measure. Time is just
here, for us to do good, do bad, or
do nothing. One thing we can’t do
is waste it.
I don’t belong to Mr.
Hotie’s “virtual commu
nity of idiots obsessed
with giant pumpkins.”
But I am an idiot obsessed
with Stuff and time. I
believe time was the sub
ject of last week’s col
umn. I asked, “Do you
know what time it is?”
Nobody answered
the question because, I
assume, nobody knows
the answer.
All we know about time is time
is. Always has been since the
beginning of time, and always will
be until the end of time. I am not
convinced that time wasn’t here
before, and won’t be around after,
those colossal events. But what do
I know?
(Please keep in mind that this is
not a scientific paper. Simply put,
it is the ramblings of an old man
who has been accused of being
crazy or thinking too deeply — or
both. Take your pick.)
Let us move on. Time is the
only element or ingredient in the
Universe and in our lives that we
cannot change and over which we
have no control. We can condition
air; make it cooler in the sum
mer, warmer in the winter. We can
boil or freeze water, or leave it at
room temperature. If the sun is too
bright, we can pull down the shade
or put on our colored glasses. We
can till the soil and drill for oil.
And we can pollute everything
— except time.
We can waste food, and we can
waste money — but not time.
I believe it was Benjamin
Franklin who said, “Time is
money.” Nothing could be further
from the truth. Time isn’t anything
— except time.
“Our society is obsessed as never
before with making every single
minute count,” wrote Stefan Klein
in a March 10th column in The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The
piece had a great headline: “You
can neither save nor lose time
— but you can and do distort it.”
Klein wrote, “One in three
Americans feels rushed all the
time. Believing time is money to
lose, we perceive our shortage of
time as stressful. The perceived
lack of time becomes real. We are
not stressed because we have no
time, but rather, we have no time
because we are stressed.”
Time is not money. There is no
shortage of time. None of us lacks
for time. It might help if we’d just
stop telling others and ourselves
the big lie. “I don’t have time.”
If you think about it, all we’ve
got is time. None of us has more
or less than anyone else. And if it’s
any consolation, we don’t — we
can’t — waste it.
Here’s what hurts. What we do
— and can — waste is our heri
tage, our intelligence, our talents
and our opportunities. Isn’t it time
we quit blaming time for our fail
ures?
I believe it was Emerson who
said, “Every time is a good time if
you know what to do with it.”
Have a good day.
Virgil Adams is former editor
and owner of The Jackson Herald.
Dear Editor
After concluding our year end
critique, The Jackson County
Outreach’s Annual Achievement
Awards Banquet, December
1, 2007, was an overwhelming
success. Attendance was pegged
at 247 and on behalf of the 18
members for the JCCO, we wish
to thank those who attended and
supported this event. Conversely
we thank all who participated -
our great keynote speaker, Mr.
David C. Clarke, global direc
tor of TenCate Geosynthetics, our
Master of Ceremony, the Rev. Ken
Sims, the Rev. Mark Weaver and
the Rev. Gaye Brown who provid
ed the invocation and the closing
prayer. Attorney Scott Tolbert for
his introduction of the speaker and
his banquet support. We also thank
Jackson County commissioner
Jody Thompson for providing the
welcome from Jackson County.
We thank Ms. Zarra Brown for her
splendid musical contributions.
The proceeds from our ban
quet as always are used to sup
port the 2008 JCCO Scholarship
Fund. This year we will award 11
scholarships, including one Tom
Lewis Leadership Scholarship.
At the 2007 banquets, we formal
ly introduced our 2007 activated
JCCO Endowment Fund, which
will provide a vehicle for us to
provide larger scholarships in the
future, coinciding with our contin
ued Annual Banquet Events. We
would like to remind the Business
Community and private citizens
as well of our JCCO Endowment
Fund and we solicit your Financial
support. You may contact Jim
Sims, president, 706-335-3367 or
any JCCO board member regard
ing contribution particulars. Our
fund is managed by a major regis
tered investment broker. We thank
the four companies who have
made pledges to our endowment
fund and committed to continue.
Thanks to Mrs. Jana Mitcham and
The Jackson Herald companies
for the time and effort to provide
excellent media coverage for our
banquet.
Our 2007 JCCO essay contest
was a great success with all three
school systems participating with
the purpose of stressing writing
skills. Our 2007 JCCO scholarship
awards benefited 11 high school
graduates and it was the first year
we gave the Rev. Dr. Tom Lewis
Leadership Scholarship Award.
Lastly, I personally thank all of
our JCCO members, their families,
our citizen volunteers who assisted
us on our projects and events, for
their hard work and their dedica
tion and service to the JCCO and
Jackson County.
Again, thanks to the Jackson
County Community for a success
ful and fruitful 2007. We look
forward to 2008 which will be the
10th anniversary of this all-volun-
teer civic organization and without
the willingness of this community
our work would not be possible.
God Bless America.
Sincerely,
Jim Scott
President, JCCO
have time’ is a lie
virgil
adams
Local Red Cross is supported by citizens
Dear Editor:
March is American Red Cross
Month. As one of the nation’s
best known humanitarian organi
zations, the Red Cross has been at
the forefront of helping Americans
prevent, prepare for and respond
to large and small disasters for 127
years. Families and communities
depend on the Red Cross in times
of need; yet the Red Cross depends
on the support of the American
people to help sustain the founda
tion.
Each March, we formally rec
ognize the East Georgia Chapter
of the Red Cross and its essential
humanitarian role in our communi
ty and the role of the East Georgia
Chapter to making Jackson County
a better place.
This year we focus on the spirit
of the volunteers, donors, partners
and employees, who support the
Red Cross mission of humanitari-
anism.
For more than 85 years, the Red
Cross in Jackson County has relied
on the everyday heroes who donate
time, blood or money - heroes
who help coordinate blood drives,
heroes who respond to families
that have lost their homes from a
fire, heroes who teach our citizens
CPR, First Aid and Lifeguarding so
that they can prevent emergencies
and save lives. The East Georgia
Chapter is one of more than 700
chapters across the country who
tirelessly serve their community,
In the past year alone, the East
Georgia Chapter responded to
233 local emergencies, assisted
396 military families and trained
10,248 people in livesaving skills
such as CPR and first aid. Red
Cross volunteers are the core of
the Red Cross, donating their time
and energy to selflessly serve those
in need, demonstrating the com
passion and generosity for which
Americans are known.
The Red Cross is the organiza
tion in the community that many
rely on for help, comfort, advice
and compassion. On behalf of the
East Chapter, I thank you for any
donation you can make to help us
continue our service to those in
Jackson County. Thank you for
your support.
Sincerely,
Tammy Gilland
Chapter Chairman
Actions of talk show host are disgraceful
Dear Editor:
On Friday, March 7, Atlanta talk show host
Neal Boortz committed an act so disgraceful
and mean-spirited that it deserves the strongest
condemnation.
Beginning at 10:30 a.m. and lasting for over
an hour, Boortz repeatedly played an audio
tape of a nine-year-old from Lula, Georgia, and
mocked and ridiculed the boy’s speech pat
terns. The child speaks with a country accent
and shows clear signs of a significant learning
and/or developmental disability.
Boortz also ridiculed the accent of the boy’s
father, Gordon Welch, demeaned the family
business (a tire shop,) and accused Mr.Welch
of child abuse based solely on the boy’s speech
patterns.
The unrepentant Boortz subsequently con
ducted a poll on his website asking, “Is Neal
being too hard on that ten-year-old boy from
North Georgia with the thick accent?”
Mocking any child that young and that chal
lenged goes well beyond being “too hard.” Why
a grown man would sink so low is beyond me.
Are ratings and dollars worth it?
WSB Radio and Cox Communications,
Boortz’s employers, should at the very least
require an on-air apology.
I believe a suspension is also in order (Don
Imus was fired for saying something mild in
comparison.) The Welch family faces some
serious challenges; maybe a trust fund should
be set up to help with this boy’s future.
Sincerely,
Dr. Preston Coleman
Gainesville State College
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Election Qualifying Fees
For County Officers
Notice is hereby given that pursuant to
O.C.G.A. 21-2-131, the list of qualifying
fees published on February 6, 2008,
contained an error for the office of
Solicitor General of State Court. The
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Who did this to Miss Molly?
Dear Editor:
I’m not very good with words, but here I go. I hope with all my heart
you call me about this. I also hope that you are a dog lover as this might
catch your attention. My Little Miss Molly went outside last Thursday at
7 a.m. Come Friday morning, she had not returned. That’s when I started
to really worry.
I had broken down, feeling like my heart was empty and broken.
Behind our house is a creek and a swamp. I started feeling guilty.
Frantically, me and my husband started yelling her name. We had
searched the woods day and night. For days, we had done this. I started
putting flyers up and notifying the neighbors. Sending flyers to all vets’
offices in neighboring counties, as well as our own. Anybody who had
dealings with dogs, they were notified.
I had a feeling, deep in my heart, I knew where she was at. Stuck in
the woods somewhere, but where? I had already been told that two of
my neighbors’ dogs had been found in traps. My fault, my responsibil
ity, I knew what was going on. I have been calling to find out who owns
the property, that has these traps. The property that connects to ours is
the government’s. There are signs posted. I have been told to call one
person, then another person. Who owns this property? I will keep calling
to find out. Whoever owns this property I would like to know, why do
you have these traps set? Do you need money that bad to catch innocent
animals? What about curious children who wander in the woods?
My sweet Little Miss Molly is a very shy and timid dog. Shy Molly
is now a three-legged dog, but I will love her today just as much as
yesterday.
Sincerely,
Billie Jo Maddox
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