Newspaper Page Text
Page4A — Wednesday, November 11,2020, The True Citizen
OPINIONS
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LOOKING BACK
{this week in Burke County history}
10 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 10,2010
The BCHS Bears won the Region 3-AAA Championship
with a 27-9 victory over Thomson.
Lauren Lively, a graduate of Edmund Burke Academy, was
elected Homecoming Queen at Georgia Southern University.
The daughter of Bill and Debbie Lively, Lauren was elected
by the student body with added approval from the faculty.
True Citizen columnist Don Lively scheduled a book
signing for “Howlin’ at the Dixie Moon”, a compilation of
his newspaper columns that was on the market.
25 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 16,1995
An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union was
seeking to halt the mayoral runoff between Martin Dolin and
William Patterson. The ACLU contended that Patterson’s
plurality in the general election was all that was needed for
election.
The First National Bank celebrated its 90th anniversary with
a picnic and festival in the Waynesboro City Park.
BCHS running back Michael Youngblood was named
WBBQ’s Player of the Week after leading the Bears in their
victory over Glenn Hills. Youngblood ran for 88 yards in
seven carries.
50 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 11,1970
U.S. Senator Herman Talmadge visited Waynesboro in
conjunction with the filming of a documentary on progress
in Georgia’s rural areas.
Pratt DeLoach and Leon Mims qualified for reelection to
the Waynesboro City Council in the upcoming December
election.
Claude Daniel, T.R. Holton, H.W. Stone, W.A. Thomas,
G.M. Wood and J. Frank Twilley were all awarded 25-year
service pins by Masonic Fodge 274.
75 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 15,1945
The True Citizen offered free “want ads” for any veterans
seeking employment.
Virginia Perkins of Waynesboro was among 95 American
Cancer Society volunteers being honored at the Henry Grady
Hotel in Atlanta.
A True Citizen editorial urged all local citizens to push
officials for more paved roads in the county. The paper said
the county was “woefully behind in miles of paving relative
to the miles of state roads in the county.”
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* HON-POLARIZED
SUNGLASSES
BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
Barring substantial and un
likely changes, Joseph R. Biden
Jr. will be the 46th President of
the United States, winning both
the popular vote and the neces
sary 270 electoral votes to lead
this nation.
As of this writing, President
Trump has vowed to move
forward with legal challenges
to the vote counts in several
states, alleging numerous in
stances of voter fraud, including
here in Georgia, where voters
have selected the Democratic
presidential candidate for the
first time since 1992. Experts
say those challenges will fail
as there has been no evidence
of any widespread fraud.
At this point, the Democrats
will hold on to a slim majority
in the House of Representa
tives. It appears Republicans
will maintain their control of
the Senate; although Georgia’s
two Senate races are most
likely headed to a Jan. 5 runoff
to be decided. Assuming these
facts don’t change, a President
Biden will face the difficult task
of governing with a divided
Congress.
Based on the record num
ber of ballots cast across this
country, and in this community,
the idea of a Biden-led White
House fills half of the popula
tion with relief and excitement,
while the other half is overcome
with dread and concern. Four
years ago, the emotions were
much of the same. Just as they
were four years before that and
will mostly likely be again four
years from now. Such is the
partisan nature of politics in
this country.
While there is much unknown
about how this administration
might govern come next year,
what is certain is that in order
to do anything of any real value
for its citizens, Washington
must find a way to put aside
their many differences and
locate some common ground
upon which to meet. And we,
those citizens and voters, must
be willing to give them the
space, and the encouragement,
to seek that common ground
as well.
We seem to have come to
a place where we use the ad
jectives of “red” and “blue”
to identify ourselves and our
beliefs. Neighbors and family
members have walked tense
lines and social media has
become the bully-pulpit from
which we shout down those
with views that do not align
with our own.
There are those on the fringes
of this society who seek to
remake this country into some
warped ideology, whether it be
far left or far right, threaten
ing a tantrum of violence and
destruction if they do not get
their way. The rest of us, the
vast majority of us, simply want
to live our lives freely, to go to
work, raise our families and
pursue the American dream.
No one should be naive
enough to expect this country
to suddenly throw out its dif
ferences and accept some single
view of what our future should
be. This nation’s Founding Fa
thers, unable to agree on much
themselves, never intended that
prospect.
What we can do - as indi
viduals, as a community and
as a nation - is quit looking for
where to draw dividing lines
that separate us, but rather look
for the ties that bind us instead.
We cannot expect to face the
challenges of this world, wheth
er inside our borders or far
beyond, or to defend ourselves
and our beliefs from our true
enemies who seek to destroy
this nation and all for which it
stands, if we are consumed with
demonizing our neighbors and
wishing them ill. To continue
to do so will only bring harm to
ourselves and this great nation.
As then Republican candidate
for U.S. Senate and future presi
dent Abraham Fincoln once
said, “A house divided against
itself cannot stand.”
For more Burke County po
litical news, follow Bird Dog
Politics on Facebook.
Don Lively
JUSTUS NOW
Most visitors to the wooded
enclave call her Fucy but that’s
not really her name.
It’s phonetically correct but
technically wrong.
Her real name is Foose-E, as
in loose.
As in morally loose like a
floozy.
I wanted to call her Floozy
but there were objections from
some of the more genteel lady
kin.
So I hung Foose-E on her
years ago based on her, shall
we say, dubious romantic hab
its. She showed up around the
homeplace with her two sisters,
all unapologetically pregnant,
and since I don’t speak mutt
they were unable to explain
their behavior.
What I did know was that she
and the other two were unwant
ed by whatever lowlife dumped
them off by the driveway. And
to be perfectly honest, I didn't
want them either.
At the time of their arrival
I was often on the road and I
simply did not have the time nor
the desire to become the care
taker of three worthless dogs of
questionable breed. I've always
loved dogs, but big ones, strong
and muscular, not ones that are
not much bigger than possums.
But before I could figure out
a place to take them something
happened.
I noticed that they were kinda
cute.
So, against my better judg
ment, I let them stay.
Cause I'm an old softie.
Within a few weeks I had
given them the collective nick
name, Stray Girls Gone Wild,
because they spent their nights
chasing critters through the
woods and because they refused
to be inside any structure be it
house, barn or vehicle. They
preferred outdoors no matter
how cold or hot it was.
So, I became the reluctant
guardian of the three.
Over the years Foose-E's
sisters, Bossy and Spooky, have
gone on to their rewards, so I
am down to one.
In her first years with me
Foose-E was a bit on the lazy
side. She was fatter than her
sibs and seemed to prefer sitting
in the shade on a bed of pine
needles to hunting or stalking.
Not much has changed.
She's more spirited now that
she's an only child but I think
it's only because she doesn't
have playmates. So she has des
ignated me as her main source
of entertainment.
For instance, I can be work
ing my own tail off cutting
wood and stacking brush.
When I shut down the chain
saw that started out weighing
about eighteen pounds but
after I've spent three hours on
the business end is up to half a
ton, in Foose-E's mind, hearing
the saw cut off can only mean
one thing. That I'm dying to
scratch her ears and belly and
that there's nothing on Earth
more important at that moment
in history.
In the late afternoon, if I ease
out onto the swing on the west
porch or the rocker on the north,
Foose-E believes that my only
purpose for sitting down is to
create a lap for her to jump into
and loll about on.
If I bring home a meal from
one of the fast food joints in
town, as soon as I open the truck
door and she gets a sniff, Foose-
E is certain that she's entitled to
at least half of whatever delights
are hidden in the paper bag.
And, because I'm an old softie,
she does indeed get a share,
though rarely half.
She has also become quite the
environmentalist/street cleaner.
She spends hours every morn
ing cleaning the ditches of con
tainers of half eaten meals that
some other lowlife has thrown
out of a car window. Of course,
having no other place to put the
garbage, Foose-E deposits it in
my driveway.
God love her.
She's also become a fine little
actress. Nearly every day when
I come home from work, when
I am about halfway up the drive
I can see her take off after a
squirrel or rabbit, I never know
which since by the time I get
parked she's at the truck door
waiting for me to create a lap
or scratch her ears. She thinks
if I see her chasing wildlife I'll
believe that she does that all day
when I'm gone, thereby earning
her keep.
Yea, right.
I know exactly where she
spends most of her day.
In the heated, insulated house
that I built her and put on the
porch, stuffed with nice blan
kets and a pillow.
It's warm in the winter.
Cool in the summer.
Comfortable all year long.
All for Foose-E.
Cause I'm an old softie.