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Page 4A - Pike County Journal Reporter - Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Opinions
Kudzu & Clay: The ‘Boo Radley’ spot
I have been working
in offices for at least
twenty-five years
now Every one of them
is rather different in their
levels of awkwardness
and weird cultures, but 1
have found one similarity
with them all. A bizarre
common denominator of
office culture.
In every single one of
these places, and 1 sup
pose all the others 1 have
yet to visit throughout
this great land, there
exists a table, shelf, or
ledge that 1 like to call a
“Boo Radley” spot. That
is, a place where people
discreetly put random
junk they don’t want on
offer to their coworkers,
gratis.
They are almost like a
shrine to some office god
that grants the worship
per a feeling of accom
plishment or charity
even though 99 percent
of this garbage wouldn’t
be accepted by even the
most desperate of souls.
Sometimes there is
food. Sometimes used
makeup samples. Old
socks. Maybe fishing line,
or decades-old maga
zines. Even washed out
jars and containers. All of
these donations appear
silently and most often
anonymously. And as
quickly and as silently as
the objects appear, they
disappear, usually within
a day.
1 have investigated
this. 1 thought that
perhaps these random
objects were being
thrown away. Perhaps a
person was too lazy to
toss something in the
trash can and
just left it there
without fear of
consequence. 1
have found no
evidence that
could support
that theory. I’ve
checked trash
cans, perhaps
even in bath
rooms 1 wasn’t
allowed to go
into to confirm.
No similar
contents or of
ferings.
Which means there is
a real person that depos
its washed-out olive jars
and margarine tubs and
there is another person
that takes them of their
own volition! Let me just
say this for the world
to hear. If you are ever
so desperate you need
someone’s old
olive jars as
your own, let
me know and 1
will buy you a
jar of olives and
let you keep the
contents.
There was an
occasion where
1 actually caught
one of these
Boo Radleys
depositing their
offering and
used the oppor
tunity to figure out why
they do this. The person
was depositing half of a
loaf of discount bread
thats plastic packaging
was shredded at one
end. 1 asked what this
was and why. The person
explained they had set a
frozen loaf of bread out
to thaw and their cat
attacked it (at least what
they assumed was their
cat, could have been a
raccoon). “1 removed
all the bread the cat
touched, but then 1 real
ized it wasn’t good for
my diabetes ... figured
someone here might
could use it.”
Wouldn’t you know it,
within a few hours, like
all objects on this table
do, the bag had disap
peared. No sign of it in
a trash can. Not in a cu
bicle. Not in a bathroom.
Someone had taken the
cat-raccoon bread and
presumably consumed it.
What is it about these
places that make people
take things they would
not ordinarily take in the
real world? Is it the thrill
of something being free?
Is it a game of Russian
roulette with your diges
tive system?
1 have made a promise
to myself. If 1 ever rise
to the upper echelons of
management in an office
setting 1 will not eradi
cate the Boo-Radley spot.
It’s hilarious. I also don’t
think 1 could. Boo-Radley
spots are organic and
likely crop up regardless
of policy. Instead, 1 will
place a camera by it and
get an origin story for
each and every object. 1
don’t know why, 1 don’t
know how, but some
where in there is the
secret of the universe.
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.
KUDZU &
CLAY
Chris Walter
LETTERS T
THE EDIT
School taxes are gold
mine for officials;
gives those on fixed
income the shaft
Democrats and
Republicans agree on
one thing - spending
lots of money. They
are experts on “tax and
spend.” These elected
and some un-elected of
ficials get the gold mine
while those on a fixed
income get
the shaft.
There is
big money
to be made
in educa
tion. Many
principals make more
than $100,000 per year.
Some school systems
pay the superintendent
more than $300,000
per year. The Gwinnett
superintendent was paid
$621,000 a year. Taxpay
ers are making these
people wealthy. 1 think
many are overpaid. Dr.
Duncan’s salary to start
was about $135,000,
1 think. 1 read he now
makes over $182,000 per
year. Why does someone
making over $180,000
per year need taxpay
ers to provide him an
automobile and gas so
he can commute back
and forth to his home in
another county?
1 read about the
ESPOLST being dis
cussed for 2023. If I’m
still around, I’ll be vot
ing no on the ESPLOST.
I’m afraid tax money
would be wasted. There
would be no need for an
ESPLOST if our schools
were run in a business
like manner.
Dr. Daryl Dean made
running Pike County
Schools look easy. He
not only ran the school
system, he found time
to become
an expert
on pornog
raphy. He
was arrest
ed but did
no jail time.
Pike’s school board
thanked him by giving
him over $27,000 of our
tax money.
Our school officials
spend over 2.5 mil
lion dollars trying to
renovate a 45-year old
stadium that used port
a-potties for rest rooms.
That money could have
been used on a new
stadium that had ample
parking and good light
ing. A new stadium with
seating to handle a large
crowd. 1 predict that the
current football stadium
will be obsolete in five
years.
I would like to see
Pike County move into
the 21st century and
stop forcing taxpayers
65 years and older to
pay school taxes. This
would be a big help to
everyone.
SINCERELY,
MARTIN P. COLLINS
Red tsunami is going to sweep the country
1 attended my first
GOP meeting in close
to 15 years and 1 must
say it was much more
organized and more
informative. And this red
wave the Democrats fear
is real for Americans are
not going to accept the
current liberal tyranny as
a new norm. For pro
jecting their unlawful
and amoral mischief on
Republicans is an act of
desperation. More im
portantly, the grassroots
movement is growing
every hour of every day
and by the time vot
ers go to the polls next
November, a red tsunami
is going to sweep these
authoritarian Democrats
into a political abyss.
Honestly, while 1 may
not always agree with
conservative media’s
pious messaging or
Trump’s crass behavior,
I do agree with over 80
percent of their policy
agenda and that is where
we will coalesce. And yes
local elections are impor
tant, but we must also be
engaged in state and fed
eral elections as well for
many Republican incum
bents are responsible for
the Democrats ascension
to power. Thus, voting in
tegrity must be restored
for Democrats can’t win
without circumventing
basic identification and
verification standards
which the majority of
their own voters over
whelming support.
Still, while winning
local school board, city
council, and mayor races
are extremely signifi
cant; we must also focus
on Secretaries of State,
State Superintendents of
Schools, Attorney Gener
als, and Gubernatorial
primaries as well. Ac
cordingly, GOP Congres
sional incumbents much
like many state Republi
can incumbents do not
get a free pass for their
failure to preserve elec
tion integrity in 2020. For
if the Republican Party
had served Main Street
instead of Wall Street;
the election malfeasance
of the Democratic Party
would not have trans
pired.
The truth is the num
bers which are nonpar
tisan indicate between
18 to 27 million votes in
2020 were fraudulent.
And no matter what the
media or Democrats
opine, thousands of pre
cincts run by Democrats
like Fulton County in
Georgia double counted
and injected new unso
licited fraudulent mail-in
ballots for Biden, thereby
their claim of legitimacy
is as dishonest as their
protests against new
voter integrity laws.
Hence, this means a lot
of Democrats are crimi
nally liable and that is
why they are trying to
distract the public with
their fallacious policies
and dystopian mandates.
Notwithstanding,
China is the 21st cen
tury Nazi Germany and
no matter how much
the media monopolies
propagate for the CCP,
corporate alliances with
this oppressive regime
are treasonous and any
politician or journalist
that doesn’t recognize or
understand the gravity
of the nefarious relation
ship and the perilous
dynamics it poses glob
ally has no credibility or
is cognitively challenged
like Joe Biden. Instead of
holding China account
able for the coronavirus
pandemic and their un
lawful atrocities, Demo
crats have politicized
the federal government
to target and assault
their political opposi
tion which is an abuse of
power akin to communist
rule. And because of
their treachery and hos
tile takeover attempt of
our Democracy, a politi
cal tsunami is coming for
all of them for the law is
an impartial arbitrator of
justice.
SINCERELY,
JAMES L. NOBLES
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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, Moiena,
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 DWAIN W. PENN
100 YEARS AGO
July 29, 1921: There was a move to divide the
Flint Circuit and establish a Spalding Circuit out of
Spalding, Pike, Fayette and Henry. Meanwhile con
stituents tried to get information as to an inten
tion of doing away with the City Court of Zebulon.
75 YEARS AGO
August 1, 1946: Two unusual front page notices
were printed. Lost: 100 lb sack of cotton seed
meal on road between Concord and Zebulon. Lost:
feather mattress on route 19 between Zebulon and
Thomaston on July 27.
50 YEARS AGO
July 29, 1971: Parents of children entering first
grade were reminded of strict immunization re
quirements. Rubella was added to six other shots:
diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles,
polio and smallpox.
25 YEARS AGO
July 31, 1996: Despite voting out all incum
bents holding county commission seats, Demo
cratic voters had to return to the polls in August
to determine the district three and commission
chair’s seats. Those primary races had three can
didates with none receiving a majority of votes.