Newspaper Page Text
Page 4A — Wednesday, August 3, 2016 The True Citizen
OPINIONS
The Pledge U1 Allegiance
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LOOKING BACK
{this week in Burke County history}
10 YEARS AGO-AUGUST 9,2006
The second annual Boss Hog Barbecue Cook-off was set
to be held in conjunction with the annual Shrine Club Farm
Fest. Sponsored by Southern Bank and The True Citizen, the
competition offered prizes in the categories of ribs, Brunswick
stew and sauce.
Three Hephzibah residents were arrested after they returned
a chainsaw to Walmart which turned out to be nothing but
a box of rocks. When an employee opened the box the trio
tried to leave and struck Waynesboro Police Investigator
Claude Wade with their van. They were apprehended near
Spread Oak Road.
Cory Saxon, Katie Lamb, Carrie Newton and Caroline Col
lins attended the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Conference
at South Georgia College in Douglas.
25 YEARS AGO-AUGUST 8,1991
Mikkal Annette Hart was crowned as Miss Black Burke
County for 1991. A graduate of Burke County High School,
she was the daughter of Chaplain-Major and Mrs. Edward
B. Hart.
Waynesboro City Council approved the purchase of a new
pumper for the tire department at a cost of $130,000. They
also agreed to pay $600 as one third of the cost of stocking
weed-eating carp in the city lake.
Bishop Brannen signed franchise agreements to make him
the local Chevrolet dealer. He was already the dealer for Ford,
Mercury, Oldsmobile and Pontiac.
50 YEARS AGO-AUGUST 3,1966
Douglas Day was named assistant football coach at
Waynesboro High School under head coach Lyndon Carey.
The Georgia Southern graduate was also set to teach biology
at the school.
New officers of the Waynesboro Exchange Club included
new president Billy Hopper, vice president Steve Crawford
and secretary-treasurer Robert Fulcher, Jr.
Blakeney High graduate Marilyn Hammond received over
$5,000 in scholarship funds while attending Clark College
in Atlanta.
75 YEARS AGO-AUGUST 7,1941
Neely and Company bought the first bale of cotton of the
season. It was produced on the farm of Mrs. Lula Godbee
near Sardis.
A representative of the U.S. Navy Recruiting Service was
scheduled to be in Waynesboro to interview prospective
candidates for enlistment.
Jimmy Buxton of Sardis returned from Boy Scout Camp
Lynwood Hayne near Augusta where he was one of two
Scouts to receive the “Order of the Arrow,” one of the highest
honors in Scouting.
We welcome your letters
Letters to the editor of The True Citizen are welcomed and encour
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Email Letters to the Editor to: truecitizennews@live.com
ITS GETnhGYtoRSE
so doHTWto coMnce (Aethat
the future is bright in America
BECAUSE, V\ReR YOU TAKE A CLOSER LOOK,
. THERE'S AUGER* HATe
/ EVER IF
x lYs rtOT VW0 VfE ARE AS A NAToH
BUT
YOU SHOULD EE SCARED
crime, Terrorists, illegals
VIE HEEDTP DO SOMETHING
BELIEVE ME,
FEAR
VE GREAVERTHAH
HOPE
BECAUSE
VIE cahtbe optimistic
AND YOU'LL NB/ER HEAR MESAY
AMERICA Needs bridges not Walls'
(E6r hiliary mad u bcvtomtotop)
(unARolo^+o GWJ1660RWM
Don Lively
FROM DOWN HERE
I J
Dear Grandma,
I hope that you're doing fine,
up there in Heaven. Well, I
guess that's a dumb thing to say.
There's no way to be anything
other than fine, up there in
Heaven. Anyway, I think you
know what I meant.
It's been a long time since you
left, coming up on thirty years,
but things still happen pretty
often that make me think of you.
Take this afternoon, for in
stance. I was pulling into my
driveway when a pretty good
sized rabbit ran across in front
of me. I've seen the same rabbit
there, doing the same thing, sev
eral times recently. I suspect that
he, or she, has babies back in
the brash somewhere, and they
think they are distracting me
from bothering the little ones.
Animal instincts.
Seeing that rabbit makes me
think of you, every time it runs
across the drive. Not because
outdoors and woods and wild
life makes me think of you.
It's not that.
It's the fried rabbit I miss.
Nobody cooked better rabbit
than you.
I'd skin and quarter them and
you would parboil the meat,
then pan fry it in flour gravy
until it was a perfect delicacy.
I can still taste it.
Another recent incident also
brought you instantly to mind.
I did something to my foot.
I don't know exactly what. At
my age, sometimes you just
hear and feel a pop, and, at least
for a while, you ignore it. But,
whatever I did, within 24 hours
my foot swelled up as big as a
yearling shoat. I happened to be
away from home so all I could
do was put ice on it and wait
for it to improve. I was nearly
crippled for 3 days.
I know exactly what you
would have done.
You would have had some
body gather some red clay and
you would have made a poultice
to cover the swelling. I know
you would have, cause that's ex
actly what you did, many years
ago when I sprained my ankle
jumping off your front porch.
That time, after a few hours, the
swelling was gone and the pain
was minimal.
Yep, you'd have made me a
red clay poultice.
Speaking of your front porch
that I, and dozens of cousins
and siblings, used to jump off
of, I wonder if you have a front
porch in Heaven. So many of
the old folks who sat for hours
on your porch, talking, laughing
and reminiscing, have joined
you up there, including nine
of the thirteen kids you raised,
numerous in-laws and end
less more distant kin. I'd give
anything to sit on the steps and
listen to Daddy and the men
talk politics, while Mama and
the ladies talked about the men
and the kids. I haven't studied up
much on what exactly Heaven
is going to be like. I know it's
sometimes referred to as "The
City Foursquare", but, honestly,
I can't imagine a bunch of coun
try folks like our family living
in town.
Do y'all have a front porch
up there?
I want you to know that I still
read your diary a lot. One of
your daughters and granddaugh
ters compiled it into a book and
made copies available to all the
kin a few years back. I even
read what you wrote about the
day I was bom. You found out
I'd arrived, then you and one of
the uncles went to the pasture
and tended the cows before you
came to see me.
That's the Grandma I remem
ber.
Chores first.
You wouldn't believe how
much things have changed down
here.
I don't have an exact count of
how many more great-grands
and great-great grands that you
have since you left us. Several
dozen, at least. Just my little
family has added five more, plus
three by marriage.
We just keep growing and
growing.
You'd be proud of the church
where you worked so hard all
of your years down here. We're
growing and doing a lot of good
works. Many of the same kin
people and friends that were so
involved when you were still
here are still working hard, and,
there's a whole passel of new
folks too.
The church is doing just fine.
Well, I better close for now. I
know you probably have your
hands full up there, if you do
actually entertain on your front
porch. Please say hello to Mama
and Daddy especially, but to all
the other folks too. Let them all
know that they are missed and
never forgotten.
I think of you often.
Bye for now.
P.O. Box 948 • 629 Shadrack Street
Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Telephone: (706) 554-2111 • Fax: (706) 526-4779
Published every Wednesday by The True Citizen,
Inc. Periodical Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Georgia
(USPS 642-300)
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Citizen, P.O. Box 948, Waynesboro, GA 30830.
Roy F. Chalker Roy F. Chalker, Jr.
Publisher Publisher
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vertising Manager; Michaela Carter, Feature Writer/
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Editior; David Maddrick, Photographer; Marianne
Smith, Office Manager; Martha Chalker, Advertising
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field, Printing Assistant.
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Michael N. Searles
FIVE WORDS THAT CAN GET YOU KILLED
It is interesting that the adage
“Sticks and Stones” appeared in
The Christian Recorder, a publi
cation of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church in 1862. The
full expression is “Sticks and
stones may break my bones, but
words will never hurt me.” This
has been taught to children for
many years to good effect. Yet,
as adults we know that words
can and do hurt; they can even
get you killed. Tamir Rice,
Philando Castile, Levar Jones,
Alton Sterling, John Crawford,
and Corey Jones were all shot
and, with one exception, killed
by law enforcement officers
because they had guns. In Tamir
Rice and John Crawford’s cases,
they were toy guns. In a number
of instances, police dispatcher’s
sent messages to police in the
held that there was a “Black
Man with a Gun.” Those five
seemingly innocent words have
sent a number of black men to
their graves. In 12-year-old
Tamir Rice’s case, it took a
police officer only two seconds
upon arriving at the park to shoot
and kill him. While a black man
does not have to be armed to be
shot and killed by the police,
being notified that the person is
armed adds another dimension
to the situation. While millions
of dollars have been paid out
in civil cases to the families of
black men wrongfully killed,
few law enforcement officers
have faced criminal prosecution.
There is a growing interest
on the part of some black men
in acquiring permits to carry a
gun. It is believed that this will
provide them with an added
measure of protection from
“bad guys” in society. That was
the reason the Philando Cas
tile, Alton Sterling, and Corey
Jones acquired permits to carry.
However, having permission to
carry a weapon did not make
them safer, it got them killed.
Unless you are a black law
enforcement officer wearing a
uniform, it is better, if you have
one, to keep your gun at home.
In Dallas, during the peaceful
Black Lives Matter march, there
were as many as 20 civilians
who exercised their Second
Amendment right by wearing
ammo gear and carrying rifles
over their shoulders. When the
sniper began shooting, they ran
but were stopped and questioned
by the police to make sure they
were not themselves shooters.
Police wrongly identified black
gun owner Mark Hughes among
the protesters as a suspect. The
Dallas Police Department put
out his photo on its Twitter
account wearing a camouflage
shirt and holding a rifle with
the message: "This is one of
our suspects. Please help us And
him!” The tweet remained on
the account until the next day.
Mark Hughes, told Dallas TV
station KTVT that he “flagged
down a police officer” immedi
ately after discovering he was
a suspect. He said police in a
30-minute interrogation, hop
ing to gain evidence, falsely
told him they had video of him
shooting. Videos posted online,
however, showed Hughes walk
ing around peacefully during the
shooting and later turning over
his gun to a police officer.
The first gun-control laws
were passed to keep weapons
out of the hands of black slaves
and freedmen in colonial days,
said Nicholas J. Johnson, a
Fordham University law profes
sor and author of “Negroes and
The Gun: The Black Tradition
of Arms.” During the post-Civil
War period and the times of
slavery, Southern states imposed
strict gun laws against blacks
that lasted through the civil
rights movement. The fear of
black men with guns continues
to this day. It does not matter, if
you are hardworking, law abid
ing, middle class, a church goer,
and a member of the National
Rifle Association (NRA). The
NRA that rapidly comes to the
defense of any lawful gun owner
has been slow to give support to
those gun owners when they are
black. The NRA seems to be
saying that black members are
on their own. It’s hard to say
that blacks should not exercise
any right given to other citizens,
but when it comes to black men
with guns, you might be risking
your life.