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4A Clje l)pra(& Tuesday, April 20,2021 Opinions Kudzu and Clay: Bar soap CHRIS WALTER cwalter@walterfoundation.com r or the first fifteen years of my life, I didn’t know there was more than one flavor of soap. We had taken a trip to visit my grandfather up North. He was always concerned with the finer things in life. At least, he tried to be. Either way, 1 remember tak ing a shower and being caught off guard by what I thought was a fruitcake in their soap dish. Come to find out it was just ex pensive soap. Who knew you could put rose petals in soap? The only soap 1 had ever known was Jergens bar soap. Need to wash your hands? Jergens. Need to wash your body? Jergens. Face? Jergens. Shave? Make a lather out of Jergens. Although if you’ve ever had the plea sure of using the iconic brand you would know all you have to do is rub a bar of it down your leg and half the hair will come out anyway. Luckily when it came to washing our hair we had memory recall ing the intense burning. I’m sure that my mom had some type of girly soap, but we weren’t allowed to use her bathroom so who knows. My dad loved the Jergens so much that not only did he use it for everything mentioned above, he also used it as his shampoo an economy size bottle of Prell. These days, if 1 have some extra time while I’m grocery shop ping, I’ll look for it on the shelf. If 1 can find it, I’ll give it a sniff for old time’s sake. One whiff of that magic green goo and my eyes start watering, not from nostalgia, but muscle and conditioner. For all 1 know, toothpaste. He had a bar of Jer gens in his big, red utility van at all times, just in case he passed by a pond and wanted a good old fashioned mountain man scrub down. 1 think we even washed dishes with it at Scout camp. Always prepared. One morning, sitting next to him in church 1 looked over and noticed that he had a thumb sized chunk of bar soap stuck in his hair, possibly from his shower that morning. 1 whispered to him and reached my hand up to pull it out, he immediately caught my hand and pulled it back down, looked me dead in the eye and said, “I’m saving it for later.” Never question a man with soap in his hair. Chris Walter is a writer, artist, and Barnesville native. He has just published his first book, “Southern Glitter”. You can find more informa tion about his art and writings at kudzuandclay.com Pulling American troops out of Afghanistan BY ELLIOTT BRACK Gwinnett Forum About our American troops in Afghanistan, President Biden cannot pull our troops out of there fast enough for me. Our country should have never been deployed sending American troops to that part of the world. The British fought there first, and realized their mistake, and left in 1842. Russians came next fighting what is probably the same people we were trying to destroy. This war for Russia began in Decem ber 1979, and lasted until February 1989. About 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed, and about 35,000 were wounded. After nine years of the battle, Russia recognized such a victory was impos sible. And that was from a country that is bumped up right against Afghani stan, and had relatively short supply lines. Contrast the Russian position with the Ameri can position: we had to provide our nation’s finest with supplies and equipment they needed from half a world distant. Such an endeavor was doomed from the start, and it’s taken 20 years and finally the fourth president (after Bush, Obama and Trump), Joe Biden is willing to risk his political and our nation’s future on bringing home our troops. Hurrah for the so- called Sleepy Joe Biden. Some have even called him “Biden the divider,” but no telling how many moms and pops, espe cially of our troops actu ally deployed there now, or before, may think of him as “Joe the hero.” THE TIMELINE: Oct. 7, 2001: President George W. Bush said that U.S. and British troops began striking Afghani stan for “harboring the al-Qaeda terrorists” blamed for the 9/11 at tacks. December 2003: American troops now number 13,100 in the country. December 2007: Americans in Afghanistan now num ber 25,000. By 2009, it is 67,000. President Obama plans to send in another 33,000 Ameri cans. May 2011: Osama Bin Laden is found hiding in neigh boring Pakistan and is killed. There are still 100,000 U.S. troops in the country. September 2012: Troop with drawals means the number is down to 77,000 U.S. men in a slow with drawal. March 2014: American troops down to 34,000, and by December Obama cuts the forces to 16,100. July 2016: Instead of dropping the American troops level to 5,500, Obama says it will be 8,400 by the end of his term in January, 2017. August 2017: Presi dent Trump says more forces will be deployed, to about the 14,000 level. September 2019: A total of 5,500 U.S. troops will be withdrawn within 135 days. Later that month, President Trump says a planned high-level meeting with the enemy camp has been cancelled. All totaled, the Pen tagon shows that more than 775,000 U.S. service members were deployed to Afghanistan at least once. Killed in Afghanistan were 2,400 Americans, with 20,660 injured, and no telling how many with mind-wobbling nightmares. Add that the cost so far of fighting in Afghanistan is over $2 trillion. (Source: Depart ment of Defense.) Those who did not come home are from all states, with California the home state of 755 troops killed. Geor gia lost 220 of its people to death in Afghanistan. The announcement this week from Joe Biden will be greeted with relief by most Americans, who just didn’t feel comfort able fighting a war for others. As a proud military veteran myself (seven years, 3.5 in Germany) during the Cold War, 1 am relieved that the loved ones of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines per sonnel will come home from being deployed in this unwinnable fight in Afghanistan. Thank you, Mr. Presi dent. ELLIOT BRACK 7 am relieved that the loved ones of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines personnel will come home from being deployed in this unwinnable fight in Afghanistan. WHAT D'YATHINK OFMYGliNS'N'AMMO COLLECTION? IT S BIGGER THAN ANYTHINGTHIS V TOWN EVERSAWi J ) Y I THINK THIS N ( TOWN BETTER NOT C.7. V SEE IT... > AMMO AMMOl GUN CONTROL FEARS PROMPT SOME FOLKS TO CREATE HOME ARSENALS. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Be sure to call 811 before digging Georgia 811 recog nizes that many people will be planting trees for Earth Day and Ar bor Day projects, so it is important to remember to contact 811 at least three busi ness days before digging to have underground util ity lines marked. Striking a single line can cause injury, repair costs, fines and inconve nient outages. Before any type of digging proj ect, Georgia 811 advises the public to contact 811 by phone or online at Georgia811.com to have their public utility lines marked for free. The best way to avoid damaging your utilities and risking injury or loss of service is to contact 811 at least three days before digging to learn the approximate location of buried lines in your area. After receiving a call or online request, Georgia 811 notifies the appropriate member utility companies. Profes sional locators are sent to the requested dig site to mark the approximate locations of underground lines with flags or spray paint. Once lines have been properly marked, the utility companies respond in the ticketing system, and the digger can check that all utility companies in the area have marked their lines. While diggers should plant trees and saplings away from the marked lines, the Georgia Dig Law specifically directs users of mechanized equipment to stay at least 18 inches away from the out er edge of each side of a buried pipe or line. Professional contractors will usually hand dig around a marked line to discover the true outer edge of underground facili ties. The depth of util ity lines can vary for a number of reasons, such as erosion, previ ous digging projects and uneven surface. Underground utility lines are too often damaged because someone de cided to dig without first contacting 811. “With the possibility of utility lines only a few inches from the surface, this simple call to 811 will help volunteers, contractors and do-it-yourself diggers avoid striking an under ground utility line,” said Megan Estes, Corporate Communications Direc tor with Georgia 811. Go to Georgia811.com for more information before beginning the digging process. HG letter printing guidelines The Herald Gazette welcomes letters to the editor. For a letter to be considered for publica tion, please include the writer’s actual name, address and telephone number. Limit letters to 250 words or less. Shorter letters are ap preciated. All letters are subject to editing. No personal attacks on private citizens, political endorsements or letters that are racially divisive. Send letters to P.O. Box 220, Barnesville, 30204, email it to news@ barnesville.com or drop it by 509 Greenwood Street, Barnesville. April 18-24 10 years ago BBQ & Blues was set for the weekend with a terrific lineup of enter tainment on the schedule for the big concert at Ritz Park. Performers were to include the Mark Henson Band, Long Hot Summer, E.G. Right and the funk band Contagious. 25 years ago An unidentified 12-year-old boy attending the middle school kept his perfect attendance record intact despite being struck by what was thought to be a lightning bolt. The boy was stand ing in the doorway of a mobile classroom when he was hit. The student was not seriously in jured. 50 years ago Another moonshine operation was destroyed. The operation was located in a concrete building just off Old Ze- bulon Road. The still was the largest ever busted in Lamar County. Three stills, each with a capac ity of 720 gallons, were destroyed as were 4000 gallon jugs, 2000 gallons of mash and 56 gallons of whiskey. Two trucks were seized. 100 years ago The U-Save-lt Store in Barnesville was advertis ing groceries. New po tatoes were 5 cents per pound. Squash was 10 cents per pound. Spring lamb was 25 cents per pound as were sausage, steak and fresh water trout. Roe shad were 30 cents per pound. News tip? 770.358.NEWS T&tyt Heratti barnesville.com 770.358.NEWS P.O. Box 220 Publishers Staff SUBSCRIBE DEADLINES 509 Greenwood Street Walter Geiger Nolan George $30 per year in Lamar and sur- The deadline for public notices Barnesville, Ga. 30204 Laura Geiger Rachel McDaniel rounding counties; $40 outside is noon Thursdays; news and 770-358-NEWS Tasha Webster the local area. advertising before noon Fridays. barnesville.com General Manager Includes 24/7 access to Early submission is appreciated. E-mail: news@barnesville.com Missy Ware barnesville.com