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4A ®J)£ Iferalti <©a?£tt£ Tuesday, November 30,2021
Geiger's Counter: An
embarrassing beatdown on The Flats
I had the absolute
pleasure of attending
the latest installment
of Clean Old Fashioned
Hate Saturday at Grant
Field. There really was
no hatred on display. The
Bulldogs simply disposed
of the Jackets like a dirty
COV1D mask tossed into
the gutter, barely break
ing a sweat as they rolled
to a 45-0 victory.
Dawg fans are famous
for taking over oppo
nents’ stadiums. Those
who were there say Geor
gia fans outnumbered
Notre Dame fans in South
Bend in 2017 during a
UGA road win.
1 was expecting a sea
of red in Atlanta Saturday
but I was overwhelmed
when 1 walked in and
settled into my seat near
the Redcoat pep band.
The visitors side was
solid red. Even the gold
backed seats where the
Tech high rollers sit were
half filled with those in
red and black. The home
side upper deck was
nearly all red. The end
zone upper deck above
the Tech student section
was solid Dawg. 1 would
say the place was 80%
Bulldogs.
The concession stands
in the stadium were sell
ing beer and wine and
the Jacket fans certainly
needed the balm the
spirits offered.
In the third period,
Tech had a crowd noise
induced false start in its
home stadium. Tech fans,
that is when
you know your
coaching staff
and team have
lost the fan
base.
Among the
great things
out there on
the internet are
college football
fan message
boards. The
most prevalent
such site cater
ing to Tech
fans is called
Stingtalk. A
GT fan with the handle
‘Ciraldo Forever’ waved
this white flag after Satur
day’s massacre.
Been a Tech fan since
1958. Never thought I
would ever quit.
But, if Tech
doesn ’t fire
(Coach Geoff)
Collins in 48
hours, I’m not
going to contrib
ute anymore. I’ll
still pull for Tech
but Tech football
will not have the
same role in my
life.
I wish I had
all the money
and time I spent
on Tech sports
back. I feel like
I have been a fool to put
up with this for as long as
I have.
I know younger people
will come on here and call
me names. Well, stick with
this mess as long as you
can. If I were 35,1 might
stick with it, too. But, I just
can’t take it anymore. It
was surreal around our
house today. Like a wake.
Just not worth it. And, the
coaches don’t even try.
Never saw that before.
Tech has not fired Col
lins but it has dismissed
a bunch of assistants.
This is a soap opera to
follow for the next few
weeks.
Meanwhile, the Dawgs
are 12-0, ranked #1 and
face Alabama in the SEC
title game this weekend.
As mentioned in this
space before, this year’s
Crimson Tide squad is
just not the dominant
force it has been. Bama
struggled with Auburn
Saturday, requiring four
overtimes to top the War
Eagles who were down
to a backup quarterback
who was basically play
ing on one leg for the
second half.
Auburn finished 6-6.
One of those losses
was to Georgia which
notched an easy 34-10
win on The Plains Oct. 9.
Bama still has Nick
Saban, the best coach in
the business, at the helm
but 1 am quietly confi
dent the Dawgs will win
Saturday and win big!
Walter Geiger is editor and publisher
of The Herald-Gazette and Pike
County Journal Reporter. He can
be reached at 770-358-NEWS or
news@bamesville.com.
GEIGER’S
COUNTER
Walter Geiger
Editor & Publisher
Kudzu & Clay:
Conservation
As the sum
mers get hotter
and the winters
nonexistent, my
wife and 1 find
ourselves in
creasingly con
cerned about
the climate and
the planet in
general. Honest
ly, 1 do not care
if you believe in
climate change
or not and 1 am
way too lazy to
debate it. All 1
know is that my
air conditioner bill keeps
going up and 1 can’t
remember a Christmas
where 1 couldn’t wear
shorts in the past twenty
years. It is what it is, and
we try to do what we can
to be good stewards of
this planet.
Recycling is something
we’ve been doing forever.
1 don’t know if it has any
thing to do with helping
the climate, but it surely
can’t hurt. I’ll admit it,
1 am a little more lacka
daisical about it than my
better half. She recycles
anything that she can,
even being sure to put
plastic grocery bags in
the special recycling bin
at the grocery store. Me,
if I’m cleaning up and see
an aluminum can it kind
of depends on which bin
is closer as to its fate. I
don’t feel that bad about
it. If she sees it in the
trash she’ll dig it out and
put it where it needs to
go with only minimal
chastisement.
For my birthday a few
years ago 1 got a wonder
ful present in the form of
an electric lawnmower.
It’s sleek and quiet and
because my yard is so
small 1 barely have to
charge the battery more
than once during all of
spring and summer. 1
thought we were buying
it in another effort to
help Mother Earth, but
1 know my wife is very
sensitive to the smell
of gas and 1 had a habit
of overfilling our gas
lawnmower in the garage
and creating a spill. That
probably helped move
the purchase along.
This past winter we
started to hear a noise
in one of the pipes in our
basement. 1 shrugged it
off as nothing because
I’m a horrible person.
The noise persisted and
so did she about me
calling someone to come
look at it. Finally, 1 called
up the city utility folks to
come out, and wouldn’t
you know it, we had a
big water main leak in
our front yard. We had
to have the line replaced
and after paying the
plumber 1 thought long
and hard about chang
ing my career path. And
after paying
the utility for a
month’s equiva
lent of leaving
two hoses on
full blast all day,
1 again thought
of changing my
career path.
1 am not sure
if this incident
had a subcon
scious effect
on my wife but
since that hap
pened she has
been increas
ingly concerned
about wasting water. We
take shorter showers,
not as many baths, and
only water our plants
enough to keep them on
life support. Now she has
taken to doing something
I find even stranger.
When we let our kitchen
sink run to get hot she
has become concerned
about all of the water
that is wasted in the
process. To remedy this
waste she has started
collecting water in many
of the empty mason jars
and glasses we have and
storing them in the refrig
erator to drink later.
The thing about this
is that she only drinks
bottled water, which if
you ask me is a bigger
waste, but when 1 fight
it she reminds me she
doesn’t drink beer. The
rule is if I don’t buy the
bottled water, 1 don’t get
to buy beer. Clever, but
this leaves me to drink
about a gallon or so of
water every day. If 1 don’t
drink the water, there
will be no empty jars to
conserve the water in. A
vicious cycle.
This has been going
on for a month or so and
1 have to admit, it is nice
to have a cool and crisp
glass of water waiting for
me after 1 go for a walk
or whatever. We also
conserve more water
in the form of ice since
the refrigerator water is
already chilled. Honestly,
1 should have been drink
ing more water to begin
with. It’s healthy. The
only problem is 1 have to
go to the bathroom twice
as much. And after doing
some quick math 1 have
realized we throw out
more water in one flush
than we do all day con
serving water from the
sink. Now I am faced with
the conundrum of what
to do with this knowl
edge. 1 think to conserve
myself I’ll just keep my
mouth shut.
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.
1 -
KUDZU &
CLAY
Chris Walter
Alexandria Hatten of Barnesville is
member of Honors Program at UNG
Alexandria Hatten of
Barnesville is a member
of the Honors Program.
The Honors Program
on UNG’s Dahlonega
Campus began in 1995.
The program began on
the Gainesville campus
in 1998, with Honors
courses in English dating
back to 1985.
“It’s really amazing
that the program has
been producing no
table UNG alumni for
25 years,” Dr. Royce
Dansby-Sparks, director
of the Honors Program
in Dahlonega since 2019,
said.
While Honors Program
students make up less
than 2% of the nearly
20,000 student popula
tion, a high percentage
of them earn accolades
at UNG and beyond.
Connecting academically
motivated students with
each other to develop a
competitive and sup
portive community
is one segment of the
Honors Program. It also
is designed to enhance
students’ learning experi
ence through research
projects, volunteer ac
tivities, study abroad op
portunities, and national
scholarship applications.
Freshmen entering
this year’s program will
experience two new
facets. The first is the
redesigned introduction
honors course. The sec
ond is a formal mentor
ship program.
“College is a new level
of academics,” Dr. Dani
elle Hartsfield, assistant
director of the Dahlone
ga program, said. “Many
arrive at UNG with
advanced placement
credits or from an inter
national baccalaureate
program. But they are in
a new place with differ
ent expectations.”
To help the transition,
Hartsfield remodeled
the course to incorpo
rate two key elements:
research and service.
“In the past, students
selected a research topic
of their choosing,” the
associate professor of
elementary and special
education said. “This
year, we decided to
include a service compo
nent, and students will
connect their service to
their research.”
For example, students
may work at the food
pantry and research hun
ger or food insecurity
among college students.
“In the Honors Pro
gram, we teach them
research skills to pre
pare them for graduate
school,” Hartsfield said.
“We want to teach them
about service as well,
which helps build a
sense of community.”
GA Department of Driver Services
warns of phone licensing scam
The Georgia Depart
ment of Driver Services
(DDS) is warning the pub
lic of a phone scam that
asks drivers to provide
their driving license de
tails and pay a fee to rein
state their license. The
caller claims to be from
the Department of Driver
Services (DDS) but in
reality is a common voice
phishing scam designed
to steal personal infor
mation and money from
recipients.
“DDS employees do
not contact customers to
ask for personal or confi
dential information, such
as driver’s license or
Social Security numbers
via telephone, email or
text, and anyone who re
ceives such a communi
cation should
consider it is a
scam to steal
your identity.
When the DDS
calls or emails
customers it
is based on
action initi
ated by the
customer such
as a request to speak to
a licensing agent or an
email confirmation from
utilizing online services.
Customers can quickly
verify the status of
their license on the DDS
website at this secure
link https://dds. drives.
ga.gov/Jby.
Voice and computer
phishing scammers use
many and varied tactics
to trick victims into
handing over
their personal or
financial informa
tion. Georgians
should be very
cautious of any
unsolicited
telephone calls,
texts or emails
that claim to
be government
departments, banks or
companies that instruct
them to follow a link or
open an attachment to
update or verify personal
information.
Visit www.dds.georgia.
gov for compete licens
ing and testing informa
tion including many
online services that en
able you to skip a trip to
a DDS customer service
center.
FLASHBACK
In memory of
Elizabeth Sellers
I
Nov. 28-Dec. 4
10 years ago
The LC Trojans fell
to Appling County 35-33
in four overtimes in the
quarterfinal round of the
state football playoffs at
Trojan Field. Appling’s
Pirates were headed to
the semifinals to take on
Calhoun at Calhoun.
25 years ago
Barnesville was
preparing to usher in
the holiday season with
the community wor
ship service and Illu
mination Celebration.
Pastors involved in
cluded Steve Davidson,
Richard Lance, Marion
Underwood, William
Richardson, Steve Pat-
tison, Garth Forster and
First United Methodist
Church organist Lynn
Williamson.
50 years ago
The Honorable
Carl Sanders was
guest speaker at the
Barnesville Rotary
Club’s weekly meeting.
Sanders was the 74th
governor of Georgia,
serving from 1963-1967.
Visitors at the meeting
were Mrs. James Gore,
Mrs. Gardner Potter,
Jimmy Westmoreland,
A1 Thrasher and Steve
Squires.
100 years ago
In an editorial the
publisher opined: If the
people of Lamar County
had the money they
threw away during the
past few highly pros
perous years in worth
less stock schemes
and enterprises and in
gambling exchanges
that would help some.
It would mount up to
many thousands of dol
lars.
Zi)t Heraltr #a^tte
barnesville.com
770.358.NEWS
P.0. Box 220
Publishers
Staff
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