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4A ®Ije Thcralti <©a??tt? Tuesday, February 23,2021
Opinions
The cancel culture and the death of civility
One of the early
treasures 1 found on the
internet was the original
Dawgvent. Back in the
early days of dial-up
access, it was worth the
long wait for it to load.
Now at hairofthedawg.
net, it remains a superb
source of information
on UGA sports and the
world in general.
One of the stalwarts
of those message boards
was a guy called Tee.
Dead now, Tee was leg
endary. His stock saying
was, “Facebook is da
debil.” He was way ahead
of his time. Social media
has played a giant role in
the killing off of civility
in this country. People
will post things on social
media they would never
say to your face.
1 ruminated on this
last week when 1 saw
people whom 1 know
posting scathing com
ments about Rush
Limbaugh after he died
of cancer. These same
people would have gone
berserk if you posted
something similar about
the Casper Milquetoast
voiced announcers on
NPR.
This is not a Repub
lican vs. Democrat or
conservative vs. lib
eral issue. Many on both
sides are guilty and many
on both sides are horri
fied when they see such
remarks though it seems
as though the number
of those in the horrified
contingent is dwindling
rapidly.
These online battles
of words gave way to the
cancel culture. This is
a deep topic of its own
but these are the basics.
If you say or post some
thing 1 don’t like or dis
agree with me on
an issue, it is fine
for me to try to
shut down your
family business,
force you out of
your job, harass
your spouse, vil
ify your children
and do pretty
much anything
else 1 would like.
This does not
just show a lack
of civility, it is
patently danger
ous.
The cancel culture is
no longer confined to
the national stage. We
only have to look to a
nearby community for an
example. The newspaper
publisher there got a tip
sometime back that the
school system was using
a substitute teacher who
had been convicted of
child molestation and
was on the sex
offender list.
The teacher
had allegedly
molested a
student at a
school where
he had previ
ously worked
as a substitute.
The news
paper reported
this and, to
put it lightly,
school officials
took umbrage.
They made
it clear they felt they
knew more about hiring
substitute teachers than
the publisher did, child
molester or not. A bitter
feud erupted and contin
ues.
It worsened when
the publisher spoke out
against shutting down
public schools due to
COV1D. School system
administrators vehe
mently disagreed and
kids stayed home.
Enter the volunteer
baseball announcer at
the county high school.
He had spent the previ
ous three years as the
announcer for home
baseball games. He made
the mistake of support
ing the publisher on so
cial media and criticizing
school officials for what
he felt were personal,
public attacks on the
publisher.
As baseball season ap
proached, the volunteer
announcer was told he
was banned from return
ing to the baseball field
microphone. This is a
perfect example of the
cancel culture in action
on the hometown level.
In a newspaper ac
count of his banishment,
the volunteer said, “This
kind of thing could make
people scared to speak
out. You’re starting to
live in an age of ‘follow
our way of thinking or
else’. We just take free
speech and throw it out
the door?”
Sadly, Mr. Volunteer,
we are already there. Ci
vility, particularly online,
is on its last legs.
We should all take to
heart the age old ad
age we, our parents and
grandparents grew up
hearing: If you can’t say
something nice, don’t say
anything at all.
Walter Geiger is editor and publisher
of The Herald-Gazette and Pike
County Journal Reporter. He can
be reached by email at news@
barnesville.com.
GEIGER’S
COUNTER
Walter Geiger
Editor & Publisher
Governments speak
with forked tongues
KAV S. PEDROTTI
kayspedrotti@gmail.com
Lately it doesn’t seem
to matter what politician
or bureaucrat is speak-
_ ing - what is
j vBk said is likely
» to change
** ^ within hours,
or be stated
differently
next week, or
be “walked
back,” fully retracted,
or subject to apology al
most as soon as a state
ment reaches the news
media. Reversing the
coin, there are those who
seem to cling tenaciously
to whatever they have
stated as absolute truth,
fact and unassailable,
even after it’s been rec
ognized as and proven to
be wrong.
If you remember the
old (politically incorrect)
western movies, “speak
ing with forked tongue”
often applied to the
“white man.” There were
so many promises made,
and treaties signed as
permanent “as long as
the grass grows and the
rivers flow,” to the na
tive residents of what is
now the United States. I
remember reading state
ments of Chief Joseph,
Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse,
Red Cloud, Geronimo
and many other tribal
chiefs, in which can be
discerned the sadness
and disappointments,
and the mourning and
anger at the treatment
inflicted upon and the
wanton killing of the na
tive people. I think it was
Joseph who said, “They
promised to take our
land, and they took it.”
Has anything really
changed? Can any official
in power be trusted?
What are the slogans and
catch-phrases but hollow
promises? The bloated,
debt-ridden, inefficient
government we live un
der (no matter the party)
has become the beast
that steps on us, not the
paragon making our lives
better “than ever be
fore.” I challenge that. If
we are actually managing
to see better and better
days, why then is there
so much unhappiness,
dissatisfaction, discrimi
nation, rancor, injustice,
violence and unexpected
death among us?
Many years ago, the
bumper-sticker-of-the-
month was “Impeach
Congress.” How many of
us have ever entertained
the thought, “throw
the bums out and start
over,” to promote, finally,
acting “without fear or
favor.” The last Presi
dent pledged to “drain
the swamp.” That was
thwarted by any number
of reactions from the
lobbyists, activists, lifer
politicos, and anybody
else who had an ax to
grind. Any President
from now to eternity will
be scrutinized, and if
found to harbor any plan
to start over with cred
ible, feasible goals and
solid unity, he or she will
suddenly find brick walls
erected at every turn.
It’s a known fact that
the so-called “swamp” of
Washington government
could use some drain
ing. But that alone is no
answer; all of us must
come to understand that
WE THE PEOPLE are the
government - together,
all of us - not whoever
is in power at any given
time. Most of us are
deep-down frightened -
afraid that someone will
usurp our jobs, that oth
ers may be given more
advantages, that revenge
will descend upon our
lives and livelihoods be
cause of what we believe,
that if we don’t stick to
“the devil we know,” our
children and grandchil
dren will not ever under
stand what real freedom
is about. I know people
who willingly do not
vote at all, because they
consider it an exercise in
futility. How sad.
Just a few simple
changes: concentrate on
“getting” less and “giv
ing” more, whether it
be smiles, goods, happy
occasions, money or
time helping others. Pay
attention to your own
community governing
bodies; they are proving
grounds and basic train
ing for those who move
into state and national
positions of authority.
We could be pleasantly
surprised, in time, how
effectively the quagmire
evaporates and becomes
the solid ground Ameri
cans of all kinds have
always wanted.
Kay S. Pedrotti has spent some 50
years writing for newspapers. She
is active in the Lamar County com
munity and currently serves as the
president of Lamar Arts. She lives in
Milner with her husband Bob.
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HOW CAN YOU
SIT HOME NIGHT AFTER
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Remembering the Goat Man
and the Pig on a cold day
Randall Aspinwall’s parents, Sine and Vida, once operated
The Pig, a legendary barbecue restaurant on U.S. 301 in Je-
sup. On a vist to our farm, Randall (left); his grandson, Myles;
and Randall’s son, Nick (Myles’ dad), reminisced about the
Goat Man, who took rest stops at The Pig.
DINK NESMITH
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
If you grew up in
small-town America in
the 1940s
and 1950s,
^ W chances are
j^"j W you remem-
; Goat Man.
That’s what happened
when Randall Aspinwall,
his son Nick, and his son
Myles visited our farm on
a cold, rainy Saturday.
Randall spied the Goat
Man’s picture hanging on
the wall. That one glance
rolled back the calendar
65 years.
When the Goat Man
and his flock of goats
clinked and clanged their
way up and down U.S.
301, Ches knew he had a
welcome spot to spend
the night. Better yet, he
wasn’t going to go to
sleep hungry. Randall’s
parents, Sine and Vida,
invited the eccentric
wanderer and his junk
yard on wheels to rest at
The Pig Restaurant, cat-
tycorner and across the
road from the Jesup City
Cemetery.
Do you remember the
animated neon sign with
a fiddle-playing pig?
That high-tech sign for
the era and the alure of
The Pig’s hickory smoke
were magnets to pull in
customers.
Long before 1-95
drained north-south
traffic off U.S. 301, The
Pig was a must stop for
travelers. Sine Aspinwall
mailed his smoked hams,
bacon and sausage all
over the nation. An after
school assignment for
the Aspinwall boys—Al,
Mike and Randall—was
loading their dad’s
pickup with meat orders
and taking the shipments
to the post office.
The Pig is where my
lifelong affinity for barbe
cue is rooted. Sitting on a
red-vinyl-topped stool—
with my elbows on the
Formica counter—I was
mesmerized by the sizzle
and smell of the pork
dripping on the amber
coals in the open pit. And
I was fascinated, watch
ing the staff stab a ham
with a pitchfork to turn
it or pull the meat to the
chopping board.
Whack!
Whack!
Whack!
I can still hear the
barbecue being chopped,
just four feet away.
And then Charlie Keith,
Carobeth Highsmith, Har
riett Stafford or Gussie
Priester would deliver an
unforgettable sandwich.
Every barbecue bite
since is compared to The
Pig.
Sine was more than
a pit master. He was a
salesman. Randall re
members his dad slicing
off a piece of the ham’s
crunchy outside, putting
it on a saucer and sliding
it to a tourist. Laughing,
Randall said, “One bite
and that Yankee was or
dering a ham to be sent
home.”
Randall also remem
bers the day that the
Goat Man returned Sine’s
generosity. The bearded
guest—with distinct aro
ma of his own—gave the
Aspinwalls a baby goat.
My friend recalls the
McCartney goat growing
up in a pen behind their
house.
Looking at the picture,
I told Randall, Nick and
Myles about my memo
ries of the Goat Man. My
first was—as a child—at
the old Milikin Field on
U.S. 301 South. My last
was in Twiggs County,
before Ches McCartney
died in 1998.1 had heard
he was living in a nursing
home in Jeffersonville. I
detoured off 1-16, pulling
a trailer of antique mule-
drawn farm implements.
And there he was.
“Goat Man,” I said,
“I’ve always ‘admired’
your stuff. Would you like
to see some of mine?” He
nodded, and we walked
SEE GOAT MAN 5A
FLASHBACK
In honor of
Elizabeth Sellers
Feb. 21-27
10 years ago
The Lamar County
Trojans defeated North
east Macon 77-71 to
claim the Region 4AA
basketball title. It was
the 13th straight win for
the Trojans under coach
Gregory Freeman. Lead
ing the Trojan attack
were Terrance Childs,
Camden Foster, Denarius
Rutherford and freshman
Qua Searcy.
25 years ago
LCCHS athletic direc
tor and head football
coach Mike Pack hired
attorney Tammy Jacobs
to represent him after
being pressured to re
sign his positions. Pack
refused to resign and
was suspended with pay
pending further action
by the school board.
Pack was said to be un
der “extreme emotional
distress”.
50 years ago
The FBI, GBI, federal
revenue agents, state fire
marshal and the bomb
squad from Ft. McPher
son were called in to
defuse a crude explosive
device found in a barn
off Ingram Road. The
device consisted of 12
gauge shotgun shells,
a battery, matches and
plastic bottles containing
unknown liquids.
100 years ago
A fire broke out in the
Barnesville Bakery about
8:30 Monday night but
was soon put out after
the fire company got on
the scene, doing, howev
er, considerable damage,
mainly by water. The
origin of the fire is not
known, but Mr. Wilkie,
the proprietor, rather
inclines to the view that
it originated from an
electric wire. Mr. Wilkie
carried an insurance
policy which partially
covered his loss.
Zi)t Umltr
barnesville.com
770.358.NEWS
P.0. Box 220
Publishers
Staff
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Walter Geiger
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