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THURSDAY. DECEMBER 3. 2020 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
To the Editor:
Your Uncle Bill here.
What’s all the hullabaloo?
Democracy? One of those
long words that professors
talk about, right? Nothing to
do with me. I just have the
right (it says so somewhere)
to pick the people who get to
run the government, who get
to make laws and spend my
tax money and fix the roads
and run the fire department
and...all that stuff. They tell
me everybody gets to do that,
to vote? I’m not sure I like
that. I’m smart enough to
pick one politician over an
other one, but not everybody
is. So maybe only some of us
get to vote, right? Who de
cides that?
We quit kings a couple
hundred years ago, they tell
me, and you never know who
a dictator—plenty of them in
the world—will decide to
throw in the dungeon tomor
row, even if I don’t mind who
he’s throwing in the dungeon
today. Those dictator guys
only look after number one,
and he might decide tomor
row that I’m not kissing his,
uh, boot with enough pas
sion, and then boom—I’m
out.
So how do I keep it so I
get to decide? And what
about my idiot neighbor, who
never votes the way I do? I
don’t like it when a vote
doesn’t go my way. So I
could try to make it so my
neighbor can’t vote—but he
might do the same to me.
What to do?
Undecided but sure I’m
right. —Uncle Bill.
G. David Robinson
To the Editor:
The Fall line is where the
Piedmont region in Georgia
meets the coastal plain. The
land slopes down from North
to South. Because of the
presence of rivers, there are
many waterfalls along the
line that is about 20 miles
wide.
Letters to the Editor
Georgia also has a spiri
tual and political fault line
that stretches around the
world, it is a line of betrayal,
murder, rebellion against the
Constitution and every life in
the state. Let's look back to
the AD 1960's and AD
1970's. So Remember the
banning of the Bible in
Schools by the Supreme
Court breaking their vows to
the Constitution and leading
millions of children into
crime. Remember the abor
tion decree of AD 1973 caus
ing the death of millions of
children. Remember the
breakout in war in the Middle
East and the rise of terrorism
in the AD 1970's when the oil
fields were nationalized and
the Arabs mounted their oil
boycott. In the AD 1970's in
Georgia's Cherokee County
and other counties were inun
dated with referendums to
remove anti-liquor laws.
Looking back now the
events look like a fall line
with rivers of innocent blood
flowing over waterfalls from
abortion, alcohol, and other
legal evils. Since then the
blood has gotten deeper, until
this year, AD 2020, when the
evil of marijuana was legal
ized in some states and the
presidential election was
rigged and filled with fraud.
The political system has
become like a giant python
gobbling up millions of lives
with abortion and alcohol,
devouring the Constitution,
carrying the American people
into slavery to the UN and
foreign powers.
Billy Joe Parker
The Prohibition Party Vice
Presidential nominee
To the Editor:
[In response to a letter last
week],
I also could get on a soap
box, but I will also opt for the
what the Bible says concern
ing what is expected from
His creation. I listened to Joe
Biden’s speech on YouTube
Consumer Alert — Don’t fall for a utility scam
From the office of Attorney
General Chris Carr
ATLANTA, GA - This
week is Utility Scam Aware
ness Week, and Attorney
General Chris Carr is warn
ing consumers and busi
nesses that scammers are
exploiting the fact that utili
ties are essential services to
con people out of their
money. Fraudsters will call or
come to your home or busi
ness claiming that your ac
count is past due and threaten
to shut off your service un
less you pay immediately -
typically via a prepaid card,
gift card or wire transfer.
“Scammers often use
scare tactics in the hopes that
consumers will act quickly
before they’ve had a chance
to think things through,” said
Attorney General Carr.
“Those who are hurting fi
nancially may indeed have
fallen behind on their bills
and assume this call is legiti
mate. In other cases, people
may be willing to pay money
they may not owe rather than
risk having their heat or
water shut off.”
To avoid falling for a util
ity scam, our Consumer Pro
tection Division offers the
following tips:
Utility providers will
never come to your home or
business to collect a pay
ment.
Utility companies don’t de
mand banking information
by email or phone. And they
won’t force you to pay by
phone as your only option.
Even if the caller insists you
have a past due bill or your
services will be shut off,
never give banking informa
tion over the phone unless
you place the call to a num
ber you know is legitimate.
Do not trust caller ID alone to
verify the identity of a caller.
Sometimes scammers use
spoofing technology to make
the caller ID appear with a
valid company name and/or
phone number.
If you get a call like this -
even if it seems legitimate -
HANG UP and call the phone
number listed on your utility
bill or on the company’s
website to verify the status of
your account. Do the same
thing if you receive a Robo-
call of this nature.
If the caller asks that you
pay by gift card, cash reload
card, wiring money or cryp
tocurrency, it is a scam. Le
gitimate companies do not
demand payment via those
methods.
Utilities United Against
Scams has created a compre
hensive guide for individuals
a t
www.utilitiesunited.org/#Co
nsumerGuide.
The bright side of small holiday celebrations
To say the novel coron-
avirus COVID-19 changed
life would be an understate
ment. Due to COVID-19, the
way people interact with one
another has changed dramat
ically over the last several
months. Despite this, the
public has proven very re
silient and adaptive, often
finding a silver lining while
confronting challenges that
might once have seemed in
surmountable.
The holidays are one as
pect of life that have been
modified as people continue
to navigate the new normal.
It’s easy to lament the fact
that extended family may not
be able to travel or celebrate
the holidays together. How
ever, there is something to be
said for small celebrations.
The following are some of
the positive aspects of scaling
back holiday festivities.
• More personal: Certainly
it can be great to see distant
cousins or old college room
mates for the holidays. But
the more people who you see
each holiday season, the less
personal interaction you get.
When the holidays are scaled
back, dinner becomes more
intimate and everyone can
exchange gifts and see their
loved ones’ reactions.
• Reduced expenses: Putting
out an extensive holiday
spread and entertaining 10 or
more people can be expen
sive. Small gatherings are
less expensive because
there’s fewer mouths to feed.
• Ability to splurge: On the
other side of the financial
coin, having fewer people for
the holidays means one can
indulge on items that may not
be possible when hosting a
crowd. Therefore, if chicken
was normally on the menu, it
could be possible to upgrade
to a roast or something indul
gent like lobster and other
seafood. In addition, a small
holiday celebration may free
up the budget to spend more
on gifts.
• Special touch: When there
are only a few people cele
brating, hosts can go the
extra mile to give celebra
tions a special touch. Create
a special holiday dessert even
if the recipe is time-consum
ing. In addition, immediate
family can pile into the car to
tour the neighborhood deco
rations, something that may
not be as manageable with a
motorcade of relatives.
“Supporting local” benefits your entire community
Campaigns to “shop
local” are often rooted in en
couraging locals to support
the small businesses in their
communities. Consumers no
doubt recognize that such
support is vital to the survival
of small businesses, but they
may not realize just how
much thriving local busi
nesses benefit their commu
nities.
According to the Small
Business Economic Impact
Study from American Ex
press, an average of two-
thirds of every dollar spent at
small businesses in the
United States stays in the
local community. That sup
port can be especially valu
able as the world tries to
work its way out of a global
recession brought on by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Un
employment rates rose sig
nificantly within a month of
the World Health Organiza
tion declaring a pandemic as
the COVID-19 virus rapidly
spread across the globe.
While large international
corporations were in better
position to avoid layoffs,
small, locally owned busi
nesses faced an uphill battle
as they tried to remain in op
eration and retain their staffs.
That’s another way shopping
local can benefit local com
munities.
The Business Alliance for
Local Living Economies re
ports that, for every $10 mil
lion spent locally, 57 new
jobs are created at local busi
nesses. That’s an important
factor to remember as the
world tries to recover from
the economic fallout of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
and yes, he did look in con
trol. Everyone usually is
calm when things are going
their way. I certainly remem
ber times when he did not
have that same self-control.
But, may I remind you of
a scripture from the Bible
that Biden and his party
choose to ignore? Proverbs
6:17-“.... and hands that shed
innocent blood...” being one
of the six things God hates.
What would he and his party
have for an answer to that
part of the Bible? Living by
the Spirit also includes this
verse.
Forgiveness is a wonder
ful thing about God. Losing
our self-control can be con
fessed and we only pay for
the influence we lose. Taking
the life of a precious child is
forgivable, but sadly, a life is
lost that can’t be regained.
Debbie Wood
To The Editor:
I recently went to Jasper
and stopped to get gas at a
station and saw your paper
and bought one. To save our
freedom I’m asking you to
endorse Kelly Loeffler and
David Perdue for US Senate.
Bryant Headrick
Letters Welcomed
“Letters to the Editor’’ is
an importan t public forum in
the community and the
Progress welcomes and en
courages these letters. Let
ters addressing issues will be
accepted but not those ex
pressing a personal griev
ance directed toward another
individual. Letters OVER 400
WORDS in length will not be
considered for publication.
All letters must have a full
name with address, e-mail
and phone number given
where the author can be
reached to verify informa
tion.
The contact information is
never published.
Letters may be e-mailed
news@pickensprogress.com.
Call 706-253-2457 to discuss
this further.
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Clues Across
I. Opposite of west
5. _ Caesar, comedian
8. Helps little firms
II. A way to censor
13. Expresses atomic and molec
ular weights
14. Chalcedony
15. Type of sword
16. A corporation's first offer to
sell stock to the public
17. Attired
18. A sequence of winding turns
20. Pal
21. Expresses pleasure
22. Amendable
25. Clear
30. A way to cutoff
31. Indigenous Thai person
32. Pale brownish yellow color
33. Aquatic plants genus
38. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
41. Merchants
43. Fix a chair
45. Throws into disorganization
48. Famed German composer
49. Keyboard key
50. Oral polio vaccine developer
55. Partner to pain
56. Where golfers start
57. Jenny _: weight loss pro
gram
59. Sailing dinghy
60. Suffix that forms adjectives
61. Speeds at which music is
played
62. Body part
63. Fall back
64. Ancient Greek sophist
Clues Down
1. One point south of due east
2. Wings
3. One point south of southeast
4. The shirts on our backs
5. One who works on the seas
6. Select jury
7. Small intestines parts
8. Plant of the heath family
9. Extrasolar planet
10. Creates more of
12. Before
14. Forms over a cut
19. Runs down
23. Exercise regimen _-bo
24. Un keyed
25. Principle underlying the uni
verse
26. Corpuscle count (abbr.)
27. Residue
28. Company that rings receipts
29. Rugged mountain range
34. Commercials
35. NY footballer
36. They
37. Soviet Socialist Republic
39. Poked holes in the ground
40. Pitchers
L
41. Your
42. Diana singer
44. Important document for inven
tors
45. Bangladesh capital
46. Fluid that flows in the veins of
Greek gods
47. Famed daguerreotype photog
rapher
48. Where military personnel work
51. Play a role
52. La _ Tar Pits, Hollywood
53. Unstressed-stressed
54. Type of palm tree
58. Judo garments
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