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Page 4A - Pike County Journal Reporter - Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Opinions
Geiger’s Counter: Rich Corinthian leather
everal weeks
back, I learned
that Georgia Tech
was offering single game
tickets for the Georgia-
Georgia Tech game
Nov. 27 at Grant Field in
Atlanta. This is nothing
new. Tech counts on UGA
and Clemson for a couple
of sellouts every other
year.
In the past, however,
Tech required Georgia
fans to buy three-game
ticket packages to get
the Tech tickets. Georgia
fans gobbled up the duc
ats for the Thanksgiving
weekend treat, giving the
other tickets to the UPS
man or garbage collector.
The single game deal
was a shrewd move by
the Tech marketing office
and sales boomed. As it
happens, our youngest
daughter Livia, now a se
nior at UGA, commuted
to Tech over the summer
to work an internship at
the Tech sports market
ing office. She enjoyed
it and came away im
pressed but remains a
Bulldog through and
through.
The Dogs have not
lost at Georgia Tech
since the infamous
Jasper Sanks fumble
game in 1999. Had there
been replay officials back
then, UGA would have
won. Instead,
Tech won 51-48
in overtime,
the highest
scoring game
in the history
of the series
which is known
as Clean Old
Fashioned
Hate.
Georgia
leads the all-
time series
67-39-5.
It remains
to be seen
just how
competitive this year’s
game will be. The Dawgs
opened the season with
a 10-3 win over then
#2 Clemson
in Charlotte
followed by a
56-7 blowout of
UAB. This past
weekend, UGA
throttled South
Carolina 40-13
and is ranked
#2.
The Jackets,
meanwhile,
opened their
season with
a heartbreak
ing 22-21 loss
to a powerful
Northern Il
linois squad then wal
loped perennial power
house Kennesaw State
45-17. This past weekend
Tech lost a narrow deci
sion to Clemson in the
ACC opener 14-8.
1 am excited about
going back to North Av
enue. 1 enjoy the historic
stadium with the glori
ous view of the Atlanta
skyline. It is always a
good day even though
they no longer offer the
three hot dogs, three
Cokes deal.
As 1 was working my
way through the online
ticket purchase trans
action, I was warned
several times that 1
would get no printed
tickets and had to save
the digital version on
my iPhone’s Apple wal
let. I was unaware that
1 had an Apple wallet
but with the help of the
young, tech-sawy folks
at the office 1 managed to
struggle through.
1 have a very fine
wallet that Livia brought
home to me from a trip
to Greece. It is smooth,
supple and is made of
rich Corinthian leather.
Ricardo Montalban and
the Chrysler Cordoba
have nothing on my wal
let.
1 much prefer it to the
digital version.
Walter Geiger is the editor and
publisher of the Pike County Journal
Reporter and The Herald Gazette.
t
'I
w\
GEIGER’S
COUNTER
Walter Geiger
Editor & Publisher
Alexis Barker is the new Pike County Extension intern and
she is a senior at Pike County High School.
Meet new Extension
intern Alexis Barker
Alexis Barker is a se
nior at Pike County High
School and is this year’s
intern at the Pike County
Extension office.
Alexis grew up in Pike
County and developed
an interest in agriculture
through her involvement
in the STEM pathway at
Pike County High School.
She took Basic Agricul
ture, Horticulture and
Nursery and Landscaping
with Greg Waits. While
taking her Agriculture
classes, she spent time
weekly in the greenhouse
and in the classroom
learning everything from
the anatomy of a flower
to the process of propa
gating plants. Alexis es
pecially enjoyed her time
spent in the greenhouse
monitoring and caring for
the various plants.
In school, Alexis is a
part of the STEM pro
gram and a member of
Future Farmers of Amer
ica, National Honors Soci
ety and is the secretary
of the Science National
Honors Society.
Sports have been a
large focus of hers as
well as she plays varsity
volleyball and tennis and
was the team captain of
the girl’s tennis team her
sophomore year.
Outside of school,
she is involved in Ju
nior Guild in Griffin and
spends time volunteering
at various places around
the community such as
Rushton’s Hope, Fortify
and the Griffin-Spalding
Historical Society.
For fun, Alexis enjoys
spending time with her
friends and family, help
ing tend to the family gar
den and spending time
with her two dogs, Gracie
(an English Bulldog) and
Cooper (a French Bulldog
and Shih Tzu mix).
She uses her knowl
edge of plants in order to
grow a plentiful garden
full of beautiful vegeta
bles and herbs.
After she graduates,
Alexis plans on attending
the University of Georgia
to major in biology and
then apply to medical
school in hopes to be
come a pediatrician. She
is excited to broaden her
knowledge of agriculture
through interning with the
Pike County Extension of
fice, and she can’t wait to
see what this year holds.
Kudzu & Clay: Boogeymen
Every year when the
air starts getting a little
crisper and the leaves
start falling 1 get an
unmistakable feeling of
excitement knowing that
Halloween is just around
the corner.
Halloween was a big
deal in my house as a
kid. There was nobody
who liked scaring the
literal excrement out of
children more than my
father did. Certainly, he
had no problem scaring
his own kids whenever
he could, jumping out of
closets with masks on
or locking us in them.
Halloween was different.
It was better. He got to
scare everyone’s kids on
that day.
In the days leading
to Halloween, most
people go out and carve
a pumpkin with their
family and roast the
seeds and laugh. We
were forced to sit in a
sweatshop assembly
line in our living room
constructing one of the
main props for our Hal
loween display. “Boo
gies.” Boogies is short
for boogeymen and
preparations for these
props lasted all year. In
its basic form, a boogie
is nothing more than a
scarecrow without the
pole to hold it up.
Every newspaper,
piece of junk mail,
bill, church bulletin or
cardboard
box that
came into
our house
was saved
for either a
firestarter
or boogie
filler. Every
milk jug was
saved to cre
ate a boogie
head. Every
ripped up
piece of
clothing be
came boogie
clothes.
Every pair of pantyhose
that got a run, boogie
skin. About three weeks
before Halloween we
would spend every night
crumpling paper and
stuffing old shirts and
pants to the point of
getting blisters. My dad
supervised from a sew
ing table where he was
diligently constructing
these parts into lifeless
bodies.
There would be a pile
for torsos. A pile for
legs. Hands. Feet. Heads.
Dad would sew them
together and then take
a milk jug and pull some
pantyhose over it and
sew that into the shirt.
He would sew stuffed
rubber gloves on the
sleeves and sew shoes
onto the bottom of the
pants. He was kind of
like Rumplestiltskin but
instead of a room full
of gold, at the
end of those
nights we
had a pile of
corpses.
The next
part of the
process 1
always looked
forward to.
In the cover
of night, we
would drag
all the lifeless
souls into our
front yard and
strategically
place them
to look like some sort
of massacre happened.
There were always
extra torsos and legs
so we would scatter
them around at random.
Then we would mix up
a batch of raspberry
jello in a big bowl and
splatter the congealed
‘blood’ all over the
place. While all this was
going on, my dad would
be tying nooses with
twine and start hanging
the best boogies from
their legs or neck in the
large oak tree in front of
our house. There was
always a doppelganger
for each of us dangling
in the breeze. 1 remem
ber being quite proud of
the reaction we would
get when the school
bus pulled up the next
morning.
The problem with
boogies was that while
the general public got
to see them every year
around Halloween, they
always found a way of
scaring my brothers
and me at sporadic
times throughout the
off-season. Most kids are
scared of their closet
or under their bed at
night, but every now
and again 1 would check
ours out and a real
boogeyman would be
there. 1 still cannot be in
a bathroom that has the
shower curtain all the
way closed without fear
that a newspaper-filled,
flannel-shirt-clad mon
ster is behind it.
As an adult, 1 have
to say we are usually a
little lacking with our
Halloween decorations.
1 have a pile of junk mail
and some old clothes
and briefly considered
continuing the tradi
tion and making a few
boogies of my own.
Unfortunately, 1 am a
bad Boy Scout and can
not remember how to
tie a noose or any other
knot to save my life. Just
as well though, I don’t
think boogies would
go over that well these
days anyway.
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.
Pike County Journal Reporter's letter printing guidelines
The Pike County Jour
nal Reporter welcomes
letters to the editor.
For a letter to be con
sidered for publication,
include the writer’s
actual name, address
and telephone number
when submitting it.
We publish name only.
Letters from individual
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lished no more often
than every other week.
Limit letters to 250
words or less. Shorter
letters are appreciated.
All letters are subject to
editing.
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private citizens, political
endorsements or letters
that are racially divisive
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@pike-
countygeorgia.com.
For additional
information, call
770.567.3446.
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
September 23, 1921: One week after lumber
prices tanked, a better type of wood was intro
duced. Bagasse made the finest kind of lumber,
impervious to water and decay; excellent for
weatherboarding. It was a substitute for lumber
which was becoming so scarce in the country.
75 YEARS AGO
September 26, 1946: Pike County schools cost
per pupil was released. High schools paid from
$78.09 at Zebulon to $112.19 at Moiena. Elementary
schools ranged from $33.58 at Concord to $75.33 at
Hollonville.
50 YEARS AGO
September 24,1971: The first meeting of the
high school PTA was held on Monday night allow
ing parents to follow the schedule of their students.
Joyce Sprayberry was president of the organization.
25 YEARS AGO
September 25, 1996: Politics was blamed as the
reason the county’s Jaws of Life equipment was
inoperable. EMA code requires at least five EMA
personnel certified and insured for liability purpos
es. The commissioners agreed to insure only three.