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Page 4A - Pike County Journal Reporter - Wednesday, March 10, 2021 Opinions Geiger’s Counter: What a long, strange year it’s been O ne year ago this week, coronavirus hit home in our area when we learned two Gordon students had been exposed while working at an off-campus location. On March 12, 2020, Georgia experienced its first coronavirus death and the University System of Georgia shut down all campuses for two weeks. They have still not returned to full opera tion, frustrating parents and students who have missed out on so much, not the least of which are live sports, concerts and in-person instruction. On April 15, 2020, Pike’s first case was confirmed and the cancellations be gan in earnest. Life as we knew it was upended. By the end of March, it was easier to list things that were open and continuing than list all those which were shut down. My thought at the time was that we, as a nation, were overreacting and 1 am still not sure that wasn’t the case. Entre preneurs, those far more attenuated to the needs and desires of Americans than politicians and bu reaucrats in government, found ways to operate safely in time of pandemic and did so, often fighting off government officials in the process. However, COV1D-19 caused fear to set in and fear is a huge motivator. Many were motivated to cower in their homes. Fear also emboldens those who live to con trol others and the control freaks have emerged in force with one mandate after another. One year later, Lamar and Pike counties have experienced 2,252 confirmed cases of COV1D-19 with 167 hos pitalizations, 60 deaths and another 22 probable deaths. (These stats are as of March 7, 2021.) We have paid a consid erable price! No one that 1 could find has measured local economic impact by county in Georgia but you can bet corona virus has cost us millions in lost wages, medical bills, etc. Another cost of the pandemic has been writ ten about in this space before and likely will be again. It is the death of civility. While many have gone out of their way to be kind and helpful to others during the pandemic, others have turned to meanness. People are accosted in grocery stores for not wearing masks. Mask wearers are ridiculed by no-maskers for being cowards. Business own ers trying to save their life’s savings and dreams have opened only to be slammed and boycotted for doing so. Again, the examples are endless. Violent crime and domestic violence rates throughout the nation have soared because people kept from working or studying have grown bored and bought into divisive rhetoric spewed endlessly online. Now that COVID-19 vaccines are available and have been proven to reduce the chance of death, people are fighting over whether it is right or wrong to be vaccinated. How many would have been permanently crippled had we fought like this over the polio vaccine? COVID-19 will pass. Crises always do. We will mourn the dead and get on with our lives but have we learned - will we learn - the lessons afforded us by the pandemic? 1 worry that the fabric of society has been ripped and torn beyond the point of mending - a mending that can only be accom plished through kindness. When given the choice of being right or being kind, always choose kind! £ GEIGER’S COUNTER Walter Geiger Editor & Publisher LETTERS T THE EDIT Reader: Dominion voting machines were source of cheating in election Several weeks ago 1 watched a program, “Absolute Truth” on One America News. Mike Lindell, the owner of the “My Pillow Company produced the program. Mr. Lindell interviewed experts that explained the corruption that took place during the 2020 election. Several people told how Dominion Voting machines were a main source for the cheating that took place in Geor gia and other key states. Georgia and more than 20 other states use Do minion Voting machines. The Chinese communists have ties to the Dominion Company. Mr. Lindell’s people explained how votes could be flipped or injected into the system. The program pointed out that the Chinese and oth er countries interfered in the 2020 election. How many Geor gians know that in Ware County, 13% of Trump’s votes were shifted to Biden? Also in Georgia, more than 10,000 dead people voted, underage people voted and thou sands voted who were not registered to vote. Dominion doesn’t like Mr. Lindell exposing their corruption. Dominion is going to sue Mr. Lindell for a billion dollars. 1 think that law suit is not going anywhere. The facts and truth are on Mr. Lindell’s side. Members of the Geor gia Legislature refuse to investigate the election theft and voter fraud. They have no backbone. I’ve called the state Capi tol and written some of our elected officials. They won’t return my phone calls and answer letters. It’s sad that the people who are responsible for stealing the election won’t be brought to justice. SINCERELY, MARTIN P. COLLINS Pike County Journal Reporter's letter printing guidelines The Pike County Jour nal Reporter welcomes letters to the editor. For a letter to be considered, include the writer’s actual name, address and telephone number. We publish name only. Letters from indi vidual authors will be published no more often than every other week. Limit letters to 250 words or less. Shorter letters are appreciated. All letters are subject to editing. Personal attacks on private citizens, political endorsements or letters that are racially divisive LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continental will not be considered. Drop letters by the office on the courthouse square, mail them to P.O. Box 789, Zebulon, 30295, fax them to 770.567.8814 or email them to news@ pikecountygeorgia.com. For additional infor mation call 770.567.3446. Foolishness and the wisdom of the wise BY CHARLES WHATLEY cbwhatley@hotmail.com Foolishness is being unaware of, or devoid of, social norms or skills leading to offense, annoyance, trouble, or injury. (Wikipedia) For example, two men broke into the Palms and Cypress leasing of fice and poured gasoline all over the furniture. When one lit the gas, it unleashed a ball of flame setting both men on fire. One of them ran away leaving “footprints of flame.” Crime stoppers will pay $5,000 for informa tion leading to their capture ... so if you see a man wearing charred shoes? Just type foolishness into the YouTube search engine ... foolishness is a woman setting fire to her neighbor’s home while being filmed on her own security camera. Foolishness is trying to take a cell phone from a woman who has a black belt and teaches both kung fu and tae-kwan-do at a boxing club. Foolishness is one of Mary Ella’s students trying to get into a local gang by beat ing someone up ... he was a small boy and ended up getting beaten daily while trying to find someone he could beat up. Foolishness is trying to rob an older man in LaCrosse who, after he was robbed, chased down the robber, beat him up, tied his legs with plastic ties, and left him in the middle of the road threatening to break his fingers if he tried to get away! With all that in mind, Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 N1V says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perish ing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. [19] For it is written: “1 will de stroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” [25] For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wis dom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” There are lots of people who believe the Bible is foolishness and weakness and 1 must confess 1 was one of them... it was a long time ago. Over the years, I’ve come to believe the Bible is both wisdom and strength beyond our understanding. But I’ll never forget someone saying, “The Bible is so simple, even a child can understand it and so deep, even the wisest man cannot com pletely understand it!” Charles ‘Buddy’ Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serv ing Woodland and Bold Springs UMC and, with Mary Ella, a missionary to the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. Updates to Conservation Easements strengthens protection for Georgia's and nation's farmland, grasslands and wetlands PHOTO BY RACHEL McDANIEL / PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPORTER Changes to the USDA’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program will protect farmlands, grasslands and wetlands. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released the final rule for its Agri cultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), which enables agricultural producers and private landowners to protect farmlands, grasslands, and wet lands with conservation easements. The rule updates ACEP as directed by the 2018 Farm Bill and incorporates public comments made on an interim rule. “Conservation ease ments are a critical conservation tool help ing landowners sustain Georgia’s vital working landscapes and wet land ecosystems,” said Terrance O. Rudolph, Georgia state conserva tionist for USDA’s Natu ral Resources Conser vation Service (NRCS). “These minor updates to the ACEP final rule are intended to improve processes that will help strengthen the impacts of our investments and continue to elevate protection of ecologi cally important lands in Georgia through volun tary conservation.” ACEP is USDA’s pre mier conservation ease ment program, offering financial and techni cal assistance to help protect productive farm and ranch lands from conversion to other uses and to restore and protect the nation’s critical wetlands. It uses innovative conservation systems to support the restoration of wetland ecosystems and to protect working lands, helping to sequester carbon, trap sediment, and filter pollutants for clean water. ACEP’s Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) component assists state and local governments, non-governmental orga nizations and American Indian tribes that have farmland or grassland protection programs purchase conservation easements from eligible landowners. This helps protect the long-term viability of the nation’s food supply by prevent ing conversion of pro ductive working farm land and grassland to non-agricultural uses or non-grassland uses. The Wetland Reserve Ease ments (WRE) compo nent helps landowners restore and protect wetlands in agricultural landscapes that provide benefits, including in creased wildlife habitat, improved water quality, reduced impacts from flooding, groundwater recharge, and more out door recreation and ed ucational opportunities. NRCS provides technical and financial assistance directly to private and tribal landowners to restore, protect and en hance wetlands through the purchase of these easements. NRCS received more than 570 comments on the ACEP interim rule, which was published on January 6, 2020. Overall, comments expressed support for the changes made in the interim rule but requested some clarifications and addi tional changes. View the final rule on the Federal Register. Updates to ACEP Wetland Reserve Easements: NRCS accepts ACEP applications year-round, but applications are ranked and funded dur ing enrollment periods that are set locally. For more information, visit your state website from nrcs.usda.gov. Pike County Journal Reporter www.pikecountygeorgia.com P.O. Box 789 16026 Barnesville St. Zebulon, Ga. 30295 770.567.3446 The Pike County Journal Reporter is the official organ of Pike County, the cities of Zebulon, Molena, Meansville, Williamson and Concord. It is published weekly by Hometown Newspapers Inc. Second class postage is paid at the Zebulon, Ga Post Office. Publishers; Walter and Laura Geiger; staff: Jennifer Taylor, Brenda Sanchez and Rachel McDaniel. AT PIKE BY BWAIN W. PENN 100 YEARS AGO March 11, 1921: The Epworth League met at the Williamson school auditorium Friday night. Sandwiches and punch followed entertainment of contests, magic, music, mind reading and oratory. 75 YEARS AGO March 14, 1946: Druggist Embry O. Connell purchased the M.M. Head drug store. Connell was in business in Atlanta prior to entering the Navy and after his discharge was connected with Lanes drug stores. 50 YEARS AGO March 11, 1971: Pike cotton and corn farmers received a dichotomy of news. With strong cotton prices, there would be no financial support; corn planters would qualify for payments only if blight resistant seeds were not available. 25 YEARS AGO March 13, 1996: As the previous edition touted record winter cold, winter refused to release its icy grip. From March 5 to March 9, temperatures plummeted from 76 to 12 degrees with sub zero wind chills. Fortunately, the rain left before the cold arrived.