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birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." -1 Peter 1:3
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The Progress
Editorial
April 1,2021
From the Staff
For Easter: crowds may be smaller
at churches but faith stronger
After a year of a national health pan
demic, people are heading back to church
here in Pickens County and last week a
Pew Research Center study also revealed
that life in our religious congregations
across the U.S. is slowly edging back to
normal. But the COVID-19 pandemic is
still a major presence in our houses of
worship as many used-to-be church-goers
plan to stay home this Easter for a second
year.
Overall, 62 percent of U.S. Christians
say they normally attend religious serv
ices on Easter Sunday. Even one-in-10
people who identify as religiously unaf
filiated say they usually go to church on
Easter. But this year, just four-in-10
Christians (39%), along with 5% of adults
who do not identify as Christian say they
plan to attend Easter services in person.
Cases are falling and vaccinations are
rising for the virus that has so far killed a
confirmed 58 Pickens countians and is the
“probable” cause of another 16 local
deaths, according to the Georgia Depart
ment of Public Health. With Easter ap
proaching this weekend, many Christians
see hope in getting back into our churches
safely.
According to the Pew survey, Ameri
cans are “increasingly confident they can
safely go to services at a church.” And the
percentage who say they actually have at
tended religious services - in person - in
the past month is slightly higher than it
was last summer.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean congre
gations are completely back to normal.
And this Easter promises to be the second
year in a row of a highly atypical Chris
tian holiday to celebrate Jesus’ resurrec
tion. Mask-wearing, social distancing,
and viewing worship services online has
been the norm for the past year but
church-goers seem ready to get back to
some semblance of normalcy in all as
pects of their lives, especially when it
comes to church.
People miss their church families and
the weekly sermons and songs - no doubt
about that.
Church is about worship. But it is also
about community and a family of faith
and that is one of the most important
things to many of us, and getting back to
worshipping as we have for most of our
lives is important. Of course personal
safety is paramount and this year, three-
quarters of U.S. adults who normally at
tend religious services, according to Pew,
now say “they are ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’
confident they can safely do so without
spreading or catching the coronavirus.
That’s up 12 percentage points from when
this question was last asked in July 2020.
The survey shows that more people are
going back to church. “Roughly four-in-
10 people who typically attend religious
services at least once or twice a month say
they actually have done so, in person, dur
ing the past month - up nine points since
last summer. This month 42% of people
said they attended religious services in
person, up from 33% who did last July
and a full 76% of people said they felt
they could safely attend church without
catching or spreading COVID-19, up
from 64% last July.
Interestingly, of all the horrible things
associated with the pandemic - death, job
loss, economic crisis - there was a silver
lining in the Pew survey. “Roughly one-
quarter of U.S. adults queried said their
religious faith has grown stronger as a re
sult of the pandemic, while four percent
say their religious faith has been weak
ened.”
As time passes and this virus becomes
a terrible footnote to history, hope for nor
malcy continues and the desire to return
to our church homes becomes more in our
reach. So as we start to think about how
we will celebrate Easter this year, remem
ber, as Jesus’ would teach us, there is al
ways and forever more hope.
Happy Easter from the Progress staff.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Ponderings of a Simple Man
Py Caleb Smith
You’ve Got
Nail
Spring has sprung across
these north Georgia hills.
Flowers have begun to
bloom, grass to grow, and
pollen has pulled its usual
paintjob on all of our vehicles
and porches. It’s time to
shake the dust of winter off,
and emerge from our dens.
As the dreaded humidity
has begun to creep back up,
I’ve decided to follow a long
family tradition, passed down
through generations of Smith
men.
The mid-aftemoon nap.
There’s something about
knowing it’s 90 degrees out
side, with 95% humidity, that
makes your bed feel unbe
lievable. Throw in an old
quilt, and a box fan for am
biance, and you’ve got your
self some prime hillbilly
nirvana.
As it is every time two
couples get married, it can
take a while for differing tra
ditions to mesh. My wife’s
family, for example, likes to
meet and have dinner to
gether. No arguing or fight
ing, no sarcastic barbs or
pointed comments. Just calm,
peaceful, Leave it to Beaver
style dinner.
Bunch of lunatics.
As much as I straggled to
acclimate to her family’s tra
dition, she had an especially
hard time with mine. She
would burst in the door, fresh
from a trip to the local garden
store, her face mud-stained
but exhilarated.
“I got us so many flowers
to plant. First, we’ll rake up
the backyard and spread fer
tilizer, then we can plant a
row of trees alongside the
road. The track will be here
soon and-”
lidtfns Cmmtji fpMigwss
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457 FAX (706) 253-9738
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DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia. Entered
at the Post Office at Jasper, Georgia. 30143 as Mail Matter of Second
Class. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE PICKENS
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One Year’s Subscription: $39.59 in Pickens County and in Gilmer,
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counties; $59.92 out of state.
“Truck?” I spluttered in
outrage. “You ordered a
trackload?”
“Well, the first track will
be here soon any way. We
needed lumber for the raised
flower beds after all. And the
arbor.” And on and on she
would go.
I, meanwhile, would be
slowly backing my way into
the bedroom, quilted blanket
and memory foam pillow
clutched desperately to my
chest.
She wasn’t pleased that I
planned on ‘wasting’ my
weekend by napping. As if a
nap is ever ‘wasted.’ We fi
nally settled on a compro
mise. I wouldn’t have to
work in the yard this time,
but in return I would have to
clip the dogs nails. After eye
ing the five pound pooches
for a moment, I quickly
agreed.
I quickly realized that my
wife had gotten the better end
of the stick, even if it was ap
proaching triple digits out
side. Have you ever tried to
cut a Yorkie’s nails? It’s like
trying to catch a coked up
Gremlin covered in grease.
Blindfolded.
My wife came inside
hours later to find me
sprawled on the floor, chest
heaving with exertion.
“Did you cut all their
nails?” she asked.
“One,” I panted.
“One dog?”
“One nail.”
[Caleb Smith is a long
time, award-winning, colum
nist for the Progress.]
OTHER VOICES
Once More Into The Breech
By Jim Brescia
I attended a Vietnam com
memorative event at the
Pickens County Veterans
Memorial Park.
Also, I have recently fin
ished reading Vietnam - A
History by Stanley Kamow, a
Pulitzer Prize winning au
thor.
The two occurrences got
me thinking about my Viet
nam experiences and what is
going on in our country
today.
As with many of my vet
eran brothers, upon landing
on USA soil I felt that my
fighting was over. I got on
with my life. I married, raised
a family and worked on my
career. It was important to
put the combat behind me be
cause of the horror but it took
a while for the nightmares to
stop.
I did not touch a weapon
for 50 years. Then I realized
that all the bad guys had
weapons and I started to feel
outgunned.
So, I was not looking for
trouble. Recently, there are
things happening in this
country that I believe are un
dermining our Constitution
and the values upon which
this country was built. I find
myself using a vulgar term
often: “I do not like it when
people urinate into the air and
then try to convince me that
it is raining.”
I recall the Oath of Enlist
ment that all people take
upon entering the military
service. The phrase that
keeps repeating in my head
is: “I will support and defend
the Constitution of the United
States against all enemies,
foreign and domestic.”
My fears of Russia and
China are dwarfed by my
fears of the domestic ene
mies. People who seem to be
determined to destroy this
country. This goes beyond
political labels. It goes be
yond the racial, ethnic, soci
etal and economic divisions
that are being used to ferment
hate and turn us against one
another.
“The enemy” lies, obfus
cates, threatens and is ab
solutely ruthless in pursuing
their nefarious goals. So, to
all Vietnam veterans (and
others), I say we are old, tired
and dealing with medical is-
Jim Brescia during his
active service days in Viet
nam.
sues but we must “saddle up”
again for one more battle to
save this country.
I am not preaching “insur
rection” so I don’t want the
frightened enemy to build a
fence around the Veterans
memorial or my house. Be
side, didn’t they say that
walls do not work?
Our battles must be fought
by being sure that our chil
dren and our grandchildren
know the history of this
country and the promise of
the forefathers who wrote our
Constitution.
We must let our elected
officials know when they are
not representing us. Don’t let
fear of losing an election stop
you from calling for what
you know is correct.
We must demand that
hateful educational programs
and training be stopped. We
must do whatever we can,
wherever we can, to stop this
attack and ensure “that gov
ernment of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall
not perish from the earth”.
And, my veteran brothers
and sisters, don’t feel alone.
There are 20,000,000 of us
and “the enemy” needs to
know we are getting very
angry.
Brescia was a combat
Army Squad Leader in Viet
nam and was awarded three
Bronze Stars. He currently is
a member of American Le
gion Post 149 in Pickens
County, the North Georgia
Veterans and the Pickens
County Veterans Memorial
Park.
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI
LOW
RAIN
March 23
69
52
.00
March 24
71
57
.01
March 25
65
58
4.42
March 26
74
56
.00
March 27
78
60
.00
March 28
65
40
.59
March 29
64
35
.00
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