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TheTrue Citizen, Wednesday, March 16,2011 — Page 5 Dixie Divas Burke Happenings By Ronda Rich There is something about the banging of a screen door - soft, sweet and low that warms the in nards of my be ing. Per haps it is that it takes me back through a jour ney of memories to a time when everyone I loved was still alive. That is, I suppose, the greatest loss of innocence for me, though there have been many. For I failed to realize then that so many folks I cherished would all too soon become mere memories decorated by names etched in stone. Mortality was something I simply did not un derstand nor cared to compre hend. Throughout my childhood, there are scattered memories of softly banging screen doors, ones that usually had a slight squeaking from the aging spring that controlled the motion of the door. “It’s cornin’ up a cloud,” THE CALLING OF Mama would say. “Run out there quick and get the clothes off the line.” I’d dart out the kitchen door, throwing the screen door open so fast and hard that it hit the side of the house, then hear it close with a loud thump behind me. Every night, I’d hear the squeak of the spring as the door opened and knew that Daddy was home before he turned the knob and pushed open the heavy wood door. There was not a spring or summer morning that Mama did not push open with a nudge of her right elbow, the screen door leading to the side porch and tote out a pan of dishwater. Dedicated to her Scotch-Irish upbringing, she did not waste a drop of anything. The discarded liquid was used to water her flowers, most especially her prized red roses. Growing up in a house with out air conditioning, I recall those screen doors were vital in letting in the gentle breezes as well as the smell of fragrant honeysuckle and the occasional scent of cow manure. Since the house was brick, the yard was Other Voices A SCREEN DOOR well shaded with mighty trees and since the small, cooling river was only fifty or sixty yards from the back door, we were often cool enough, with the ex ception of a few miserable days in late July. To this day, I still prefer minimum air condition ing, choosing, instead, open windows, ceiling fans and, yes, screen doors. Sometime during my young adulthood, Mama and Daddy gave up those trusty screen doors, trading them in for more efficient storm doors. I remem ber strongly my heart’s sadness when I visited and found the shining aluminum and glass that had replaced wood and screen. I moaned about it a bit to which Mama unsympathetically replied, “Aw, hush. This is much better.” But I’ve gotten the last word. I suppose you knew I would. Now that I own the house, I make the decisions. Finally. After the unfortunate water line break and the subsequent recon struction, I righted that wrong my parents had done when they cruelly removed the screen doors. It took five months, a nice contractor, a helpful insur ance company and untold hours of mine to reconstruct the house. It felt like the renova tion had become my full-time job. “We’re going to have to re place these outside doors,” said the contractor and the insurance adjuster agreed. Immediately, I saw my chance to rid my beloved childhood home of those horrid storm doors and replace them with the appropriate screened ones, happy to pay any additional ex pense. I laugh now at my seri ousness in picking out the per fect doors. You would have thought I was selecting a fine crystal chandelier for Carnegie Hall. To me, though, it was more important than that. Each one of those doors brings a big smile to my face when I look at it. And each time I walk out the door and hear the stretch of the spring, and the thump of the door as it closes, my heart sighs contently. There’s nothing like hearing the echoes of a happy childhood. Ronda Rich is the best-sell ing author of What Southern Women Know About Faith. Visit www. rondarich. com WHS Class of 1959 Members of the class of Waynesboro High and Industrial School are looking for addresses or phone numbers of fellow classmates. If you have any con tact information, call Mary Gainer Kelly at 706-871-1247, Ruby Jackson Mack at 706-554- 5693 or Mae Ida Bennett Birt at 706-554-7109. They are try ing to plan a reunion for Au gust. SCLC A Jefferson County Georgia Chapter Burke County Circuit meeting will be held 4 p.m., Friday, March 25, at the Burke County Library, located on Highway 24 in Waynesboro. Girls’ Night Out Town and Country Woman’s Club is planning a Girls’ Night Out in China Town 7 p.m., Thursday, March 31, at the Burke County Office Park Au ditorium. Dinner, a fashion show fea turing styles from Chico’s of Augusta, and a performance by Steve Chappell honoring the memory of Elvis are special fea tures of the evening. Jittery Joe coffee provided by Burke Perk and door prizes round out the night. Tickets are available from any club member for $30. For more information, contact Linda Alexander at 706-554- 5385 or by e-mail at alexanderprop@msn.com. BCMS school council The Burke County Middle School school council will meet at 3:45 p.m., Thursday, March 17, in the BCMS conference room. Yard Sale The Waynesboro Optimist Club will have a yard sale at the Southern Bank pavilion on Sat urday, April 2 at 8 a.m. Pro ceeds will be used to provide scholarships for area youth. Plant sale A plant sale is set for March 28-April 2 at Burke County High School. Buy begonias, ferns, peppers, tomatoes, impatiens and more from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. Rape Crisis/Sexual Assualt Services Training Rape Crisis and Sexual As sault Services will have volun teer training May 12-16, at Uni versity Hospital. Volunteers will receive 23 hours of training in order to become advocates for victims of sexual assault. Advo cates must be able to respond to Burke Medical Center within 30 minutes. For more information, call 706-774-2746 or 706-724- 5200. COMMUNICATION By F. Leslie Jenkins Jr. Burke Banter Boy Since the beginning of time, and certainly since God confused the speech and language of man kind at the Tower of Babel, the peoples of this Earth have been trying to understand each other. God feared men and women would get too smart for their britches, so he twisted their tongues and scattered them throughout the world. Even Eve misunderstood the commands of God. Do not eat the fruit or touch the tree in the midst of the garden for you will surely die, so she and Adam were mis lead by the serpent and they died. Cain misunderstood God’s expectation of offerings from the heart, so out of jealousy he murdered Abel. Today, a cell phone compa nies’ advertisement wants to make certain its customers can be heard and understood from any place in the world. Their technician roves the planet and from the most remote places he ask, “Can you hear me now”? In our need to communicate with others, we frequently use questions such as: “Do you un derstand me?, Do you know what I’m saying?, Are you lis tening?, Do you hear me?” Down South we use just one word or maybe two, and they after most every sentence; “Hear” or “You hear.” The lack of properly commu nicating has lost battles for armies, has lost money for busi nesses, has lost the lover his sweetheart, and sadder still, many lives have been lost when the right words were not heard. Our greatest fault seems to be that even when we do commu nicate, we fail to understand each other. Time and time again men will settle on a plan of ac tion only to see it thwarted when one or the other get their wires crossed. “The best laid plans of mice and men is what might have been”. What might have been if there had been the right communications. Poor commu nications are the worse problem to beset the human race. Throughout the centuries mankind has continually devel oped his means of comunications. From the beat of African drams to the fast run ners of the Roman Empire, the message was delivered. From the Tom Toms and smoke sig nals, to the Pony Express, the word got through. On the sea, Semaphore and Signal Flags were used to communicate with ships of both friend and foe. Then came the modern age. First was the telegraph and soon afterwards the telephone. Soon the Continent was spanned with telegraph and telephone wires from coast to coast. Next cable was laid beneath the ocean’s surface and soon the whole world was connected. But the marvels didn’t stop there. Ra dio was invented and the voice of man could be heard around the world. It traveled upon the air waves alone. While radio was still in its infancy television came upon the scene. Marvel of marvel images could be trans ported through the air as well. Now we have the Internet. Will these miracles never cease? Even with all these new fangled means of talking and seeing one another, are we communicating any better? As can be seen communica tions between men can be poor, poorer and poorest. But when County to assist with grading on Lichtenberg/Galaxy expansion By Angie Lee adlee863 @ hotmail County roads personnel will help a local industry prepare for expansion at the Lichtenberg site in Waynesboro. Burke County Commissioners said the county will help with “rough grading” necessary to expand Lichtenberg Holdings Galaxy Building. The development au- thority still must offi cially weigh on the plan, however. At its March 8 meet ing, the board approved a “memorandum of un derstanding” between it self, the Development will focus on basic improve ments. It will not include silt fencing, piping, etc. In other business, Burke County’s Land Development Code will soon be revised. Commissioners approved the first reading of a measure that will clean up a paragraph that gave an exemption from the subdivision process to plats ‘You’ve got to make tough decisions if you want the county to go forward, ” Lucious Abrams way 25. Nearly 10 acres of land is involved. The three property owners are Jason B. Smith, Rob ert and Deberinia McKinzie, and Johnny Christian. Commissioners discussed the proposal at length before Com missioner Lucius Abrams moved to start the process. “You’ve got to make tough decisions if you want the county to go forward,” the com missioner said. Commissioner Henry Tinley seconded Abrams’ motion and the board ap proved the measure. The panel okayed a new drag testing policy for the Burke Transit Authority of Burke County and Lichtenberg Holdings II, LLC. Lichtenberg has operated at the location for years. It wants to add nearly 65,793 square feet to the facility. Ex pansion will include real prop erty improvements and building fixtures the company will con struct. Rough grading will be accom plished on the land on which new improvements will be lo cated. Commissioners agreed the county’s portion of the work where no new roads were cre ated. “It gets rid of a loophole,” said Merv Waldrop, county admin istrator. Commissioners will consider the change for final adoption when it meets in April. With an eye on completing a road paving project, commis sioners voted to invoke eminent domain proceedings to obtain three parcels of property needed to complete paving on Coleman Young Road, between Porter Carswell Road and State High- System. Officials said the move is necessary if the county wants to receive federal funds for the transit operation. Officials said the new policy requires additional testing for transit employees. Commissioners okayed three beer license requests. The first is for Annie Bell Blount at 3193 Farmers Bridge Road. The sec ond is for Nirav Shah at 138 Highway 23 South. The third is for Rena Flakes at the Kurve Kuntry Store, 158 Porter Carswell Road. it comes to men communicat ing with women it is a total di saster. Women use the opposite side of the brain from men. That in itself is hairier enough. Women and men seem never to have thoughts or ideas that are aligned. I back this statement up by the fact that I have been liv ing with the same woman for over 62 years. Though we do agree on occasion it is usually because I concede to the”stronger sex.” What man can withstand the logic of a woman? Of course I jest. My wife and I communicate quite nicely. We contribute the lon gevity of our union to the fact that we are able to communi cate. There is only one other person with whom one should have better communications than their spouse, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ greatly desires to have regular communications with you. To communicate with Jesus one has no need for a cell phone, nor a land line, no email nor snail mail, just open your heart in prayer. You will not be put on hold, here is no time limit and the charges are prepaid. Talk as long and as often as you wish, but be silent at times and listen to God. He probably has a mes sage for you. Looking Back 10 years ago: March 14, 2001 Gary Safe International announced it would close its local manufacturing plant. Approximately 75 workers would lose their jobs. Capital City Bank, headquartered in Tallahassee, Fla. began doing business here after acquiring the Waynesboro branch of First Union Bank. The Medical College of Georgia Keysville Family Health Cen ter was averaging 3-4 patients per day. The facility, housed in a temporary location next to the community building, provided basic physicals, immunizations, diabetic and hypertension man agement and basic wound care. 25 years ago: March 13,1986 Burke County Commissioners voted to buy four new sheriff’s patrol cars for $10,722 each from Cates Auto Sales. The panel also agreed to build the first rural fire station in the McBean area. Waynesboro business and civic leader Henry C. Daniel died at the age of 75. Hearings were being held by the Nuclear Regulatory Commis sion on the operating licenses for Plant Vogtle. 50 years ago: March 16,1961 Midville eighth grader Amanda Holloway won top honors in the Burke County Spelling Bee. Former Washington Redskins player Bill Fulcher was sched uled to speak at “Christian Athletes Night” at the Waynesboro Methodist Church. Fulcher, a native of Augusta with ties to Burke County, had played football at Georgia Tech before joining the Redskins in 1957. John Gardner, general manager of Perfection Products, was elected president of the Waynesboro Rotary Club. 75 years ago: March 13,1936 Russ Cohen, head football coach at the University of Cincin nati, spoke to the Waynesboro Rotary Club on the various as pects of college football. “The Eagle’s Brood” starring William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy was playing at the Grand Theatre. Character. Responsibility. Achievement. Faith. €tmtunb liutlit Scabem.p *■ www.burkeacademy.org Post Office Box 787, Hwy. 56 South • Waynesboro, Georgia 30830 (706) 554-4479 • FAX (706) 554-7582 College Preparatory Curriculum in a Christian Environment Georgia Independent School Association Member Accredited "With Quality" by the Georgia Accrediting Commission Licensed by Ga. 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