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Page 4A — Wednesday, December 16, 2020, The True Citizen
OPINIONS
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LOOKING BACK
{this week in Burke County history}
10 YEARS AGO-DECEMBER 15,2010
Burke County’s first liquor store was set to open in Girard.
Mobley’s Package Shop, located on Hwy. 23, the store is
owned by Ramona Mobley.
A group of residents, led by David Hogan, told the Burke
County Board of Education that a planned 16 percent property
tax increase would be a hardship on local property owners
and urged the panel to reconsider the rate hike.
Wendy Michelle Kelly, 23, was killed as she walked on
Highway 23 near her Saxon Road home.
25 YEARS AGO-DECEMBER 21,1995
Dr. Frank Carter announced that he would be opening a new
clinic to the City of Midville. It would be located next to the
Emergency Management Agency unit in the city.
Sheriff Greg Coursey warned local citizens about phony
fund raising schemes being carried out across the state. He
said the telephone scams were ripping off hundreds of millions
of dollars nationwide.
Augusta Tech announced a new Certified Manufacturing
Specialist Program which would operate in conjunction with
new local industries like Kwikset.
50 YEARS AGO-DECEMBER 16,1970
Wyman H. Hunt assumed his duties as the new administrator
at the Burke County Hospital. Hunt was a former Boy Scout
Executive.
Clifford Harbin of Waynesboro was recognized with
a plaque for “40 years of faithful service” with the State
Highway Department. The award was presented by Gov.
Lester Maddox.
Col. William R. Morgan of Burke County, Commanding
Officer of Headquarters Command at Fort Gordon, was
promoted to his present rank by commanding General John
C.F. Tillson, III.
75 YEARS AGO-DECEMBER 20,1945
Sheriff O.J. Cliett arrested Abe Bragg in connection with
the shooting of Hubert Cullen, brother of Waynesboro’s night
policeman. It was believed the shooting, which occurred
while Cullen was riding a horse past Bragg’s house, was the
result of a land line dispute. Cullen was expected to recover.
The Bank of Waynesboro was recognized by the First
National Bank of Atlanta on its 55th anniversary. Officers
included M.K. Tucker, president and C.W. Skinner, Jr.,
chairman. Other directors were S.C. Cox, Jr., C.W. Blount,
M.R. Oliver, H.C. Daniel, Jr. and F.M. Skinner.
The Georgia Department of Public Safety said that more
than 500 Georgians had been killed in automobile accidents
so far this year.
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A CALL TO ARMS
BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
Donald Trump has not and
will not be elected to serve a
second term as President of the
United States.
It seems outlandish to have to
write those words at this point
but there is a large segment of
the population that apparently
needs to hear them - including
the President himself.
On Monday, the Electoral
College, a constitutionally-
enshrined system and process
for choosing this country’s
highest leader, cast the neces
sary 270 votes to secure Joe
Biden’s election win.
In a normal year with a nor
mal election, this would be the
final nail in the coffin for Trump
and his supporters’ belief that
they would in some way over
turn the will of the people. This
is no normal year, however, and
very little about this election
has been ordinary.
As of last weekend, some
where north of 60 separate
lawsuits had been filed seek
ing in some way to overturn
the election results. One article
It’s beginning to look a lot
like Christmas.
Okay, at some of your houses
it’s been looking like Christmas
since the day after Halloween.
I suspect 2020 has us all ready
for some happier times and get
ting the merriment started early
seems appropriate.
It’s also beginning to smell a
lot like Christmas.
It’s been established that the
sense of smell is the one of
the five human senses that is
most closely associated with
memory.
I have no doubt.
Even today, having not lived
on the farm for decades, the
earthy smell of freshly turned
peanuts will immediately take
me back to long ago autumns
when being surrounded by
fertile fields on all sides was
mostly all that I knew about life.
The smell of turpentine re
turns me to the first grade
classroom with the wooden
floors that the janitors kept
scrubbed using the pungently
pine scented cleaner.
Let me get a whiff of damp
hay and I’m right back in the old
I read said those fighting on
Trump’s behalf had lost 59 of
those court cases.
Last week, the Attorney Gen
eral of Texas filed a suit with
the Supreme Court arguing
that the results from Georgia
and three other states that voted
for Biden should be thrown out
altogether because Texas didn’t
like the way things played out.
The attorneys used bigger and
smarter-sounding words but
that was the basis of their argu
ment.
As if that weren’t crazy
enough, 126 Republican mem
bers of Congress then signed on
to join an amicus brief arguing
that the Supreme Court should
not only listen to Texas’ argu
ment but honor its request.
Among those congressional
members was Burke County’s
representative Rick Allen, who
lives just up the road in Au
gusta.
And so, Rep. Allen and the
party that champions states’
rights just asked the Supreme
Court to throw out the votes of
its own constituents in favor of
another state’s failure to accept
that elections require both a
wooden bam with the loft full
of bales waiting to be pitched to
the cows, even though the bam
disappeared many years ago.
Yes, it’s beginning to smell
a lot like Christmas here in the
Blessed South.
Obviously, most of the smells
that remind me of Christmases
of yesteryear were those that
emanated from Mama's kitchen.
It's been well established in my
scribblings over the years that
Mama was the best cook on
Earth, hands down. Her skills
were renowned year-round, but
when the Holidays arrived, she
really outdid herself.
I don't know if Mama in
vented the persimmon cake, but
I do know that if she didn't, she
perfected the recipe. I've never
been one to enjoy any kind of
cake with fmit baked right in,
but Mama's persimmon cake
was the exception. I can still
smell the spicy mix baking for
a while and then cooling on
the counter. One year when I'd
brought my brood from Colo
rado for Christmas, I was able
to purloin a sizable hunk of the
cake and smuggle it back Out
West. I made the mistake of
letting my friend, Bill, share a
slice. I never went home again
when Bill didn't place an order
for a persimmon cake before I
headed South. He's gone on to
winner and a loser.
I have to wonder if California
wanted to sue Georgia because
they didn’t like our gun laws,
would Rep. Allen and his Geor
gia colleagues support that as
well? Or, like most folks, is
their hypocrisy limited only to
the causes that stand to benefit
them.
The Republican candidates
for Georgia’s two Senate seats,
which will be decided in a Jan.
5 runoff election, called for
the Republican Secretary of
State to resign because more
Georgians voted for Biden than
Trump. The President has made
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (Re
publican!) his whipping boy on
Twitter and openly suggested
someone should run against him
in the GOP primary in 2022.
I have long believed the two-
party system has an unhealthy
stranglehold on this country’s
government. And while each
party will decry the others’ poli
cies and accuse them of wanting
to ruin this country, each wants
to make sure we remain at only
two significant parties. It has
something to do with the “devil
they know versus the devil they
be with the Lord now, and he
probably looked up Mama as
soon as he got there.
Mama was also famous for
her peanut butter cookies which
I missed so badly during my
years away that she would of
ten put a batch in the mail for
me. Usually by the time they
arrived, it was a large bag of
cookie crumbs, but I didn't care,
they were Mama's treats.
Turkey was always the main
course at Thanksgiving of
course, but we also had turkey
at Christmas. The aroma of
the fat bird baking along with
the hand-made stuffing left no
doubt that Christmas dinner
was near.
So many Holiday smells
are associated with Mama's
kitchen.
But, Daddy was a major con
tributor to the olfactory memory
banks too.
Daddy would never have
dreamed of paying money for
a Christmas tree as long as we
lived near cedar thickets. He
would gather us all up in his
truck and haul us to some spot
that he was aware of, having
walked every foot of our lands
many times. He would find a
tree just the right size to cut, and
then he would cut a few other
branches from other nearby
trees to "shape" the tree once we
Don Lively
AROMAS
don’t.”
And while you would think
the Democrats could just sit
back and relish watching the
GOP eat its own young, they’ll
soon have their own public
fights over just how far left
Biden should take them.
As each party caters more
and more to the fringe elements
of their party, the larger the
divide in this country grows.
The further we move from
compromise, the further we
move from realistic solutions
to the problems that plague this
country.
The coming weeks and
months will require a back
bone from our elected officials,
something that has seemed in
short supply as of late, particu
larly among Republican Party
members. It will also require a
return to reality for a lot people,
including the man currently oc
cupying the Oval Office.
And if he won’t go quietly,
it’s time for Republicans to put
their country before their party
and help usher him toward the
door.
got it home. Our Christmas tree
base was a five gallon bucket
filled with dirt and wrapped
in a sheet, and the result was a
house that smelled wonderfully
of cedar throughout Christmas
week.
In later years, when I was a
bachelor and didn't bother to
get a tree, I'd bum cedar candles
to try to duplicate the magic.
It was nice, but not quite the
same.
I've always loved the smell
of wood smoke no matter what
time of the year it happens. So
maybe it's because firepits and
fireplaces are more prevalent
during the colder months that
it reminds me of Christmas.
All those years ago, our main
source of heat in the "old house"
came from the fireplaces or the
sooty old pot bellied stove that
Daddy would set up when it
got so cold that the fireplaces
weren't enough.
Many Christmas mornings
we opened our presents in front
of the fireplaces.
Those are just a few of my
memories.
I know you have plenty of
your own.
Merry Christmas, friends and
kin, all around the world.