Newspaper Page Text
Page 4A — Wednesday, December 23, 2020, The True Citizen
OPINIONS
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LOOKING BACK
{this week in Burke County history}
10 YEARS AGO-DECEMBER 22,2010
Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Jonathan Broxton and his wife
Elizabeth headed up a toy drive for Burke Medical Center
which garnered over 1000 toys for hospitalized children. A
toy closet was established as a result of the drive.
After three public hearings at which a number of citizens
voiced objections to a proposed two mil increase in the
property tax, the Burke County Board of Education rolled
back the increase to one mil.
Burke County State Court Judge Jerry Daniel requested that
his position be made full time due to the workload in the court.
25 YEARS AGO-DECEMBER 28,1995
U.S. District Court Judge Anthony A. Alaimo dismissed a
motion by the ACLU seeking a temporary restraining order
to halt the runoff election for Mayor of Waynesboro, clearing
the way for Martin Dolin to be sworn in.
Martha Sylvester of Waynesboro received a Bachelor of
Science degree in sociology from the College of Charleston.
The year’s top news stories included the announcements
that Kwikset and Globe Furniture were building factories in
the county which would employ several hundred workers.
50 YEARS AGO-DECEMBER 23,1970
US AF SGT. Walton F. North of Waynesboro was a member
of a unit which was awarded the USAF Outstanding Unit
Award with the Combat “V” for Valor. He was stationed in
Thailand.
The Georgia Power Company paid a total of $29,121 in
property taxes to Burke County and several towns in the
county.
Mary O. Herrington, Judge of the Court of Ordinary,
administered the oath of office to R.U. Harden as Solicitor
of the State Court of Burke County. He had been re-elected
to the post in November.
75 YEARS AGO-DECEMBER 27,1945
Rowland P. Bolton joined the insurance firm of his uncle,
Peyton W. Thompson. The firm’s new name would be
Thompson-Bolton Insurance Agency.
Dr, Donald F. Butterfield, recently discharged from the
Army, announced plans to open a medical practice at 217 E.
Sixth St. in Waynesboro. He had served as battalion surgeon
for the 4th Infantry Division and had gone into France on
D-Day.
Garrett & McBride Funeral Home announced it had taken
over operation of Blount’s Funeral Home located on East
Sixth Street.
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P.O. Box 948 • 629 Shadrack Street
Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Telephone: (706) 554-2111 • Fax: (706) 526-4779
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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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Lavonna Johnson, Managing Editor; Jill DuMars,
Advertising Manager/Printing Assistant; Diana Royal,
Feature Writer/Reporter/Copy Editor; Marianne Smith,
Office Manager; Martha Chalker, Advertising Sales; Roy
F. Chalker, Jr., Printing Manager.
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BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
I wrote my first column for
The True Citizen at Christmas
in 2001.1 had moved to Burke
County permanently only a few
weeks before that.
At the time you could count
on two hands the number of
people I knew personally in this
community. I wasn’t married,
no kids, just a guy in his twen
ties, looking for something in
his life but not really knowing
what it was.
Writing for the newspaper in
those days could be discourag
ing. In a small town, inevita
bly, you end up writing about
people you know - or in my
case, people that I was going
to pass in the grocery store or
sit next to in a restaurant - but
who didn’t really know me. I
was a fourth-generation Burke
County resident, but because I
didn’t grow up here, didn’t go
to school or church here, I was
an outsider and that made the
work more difficult.
Fast forward 19 years and
a few months and things are
different. I got married - to
another outsider, incidentally
- although she’s been here lon
ger than me and the work that
brought her here has ingrained
her to this community. She has
proven herself to be a knowl
edgeable and respected voice
in Burke County and her words
and opinions are trusted.
We have three children, one
of which has gone all the way
through Burke County public
schools and is now a senior at
the University of Georgia. The
other two are still there, their
faces and their names, for bet
ter or worse, known to teachers
and coaches and administrators.
I am in my ninth year of
working for the county in the
tax assessor’s office, a job that
requires me to deal with the
public on a daily basis. Some
times those dealings aren’t all
that pleasant because, as we
often joke, nobody wants to
pay taxes.
Tike so many things in my
life, it is a job that I sort of
fell into but one that I believe
is important, and I’ve tried to
learn its difficulties in order to
do it well. I have strived to treat
everyone equally, regardless of
the color of their skin or the size
or value of their property.
I say all of this to say that I
am vested now; this community
is home and has been for quite
some time. It is where my wife
and I have chosen to stake out
our claim and to raise our kids.
The list of friends, acquaintanc
es or simply faces I recognize
has grown exponentially.
I care about this place, it’s
people, my people. I care about
our schools, the crime rate, how
much I pay in taxes and how
fast the teenagers drive through
my neighborhood.
For some months now, I’ve
felt a frustration welling up
inside me. At times that frus
tration has given way to an
ger. There are people in this
community who have been
entrusted with a job. They’ve
asked for the opportunity to
lead this county, and we have
given them this chance. Some
of them, however, seem to have
forgotten they were afforded
this opportunity by us, the
voters and the taxpayers, their
fellow neighbors. Some of them
- not all, mind you - whether
through apathy or ignorance
or the desire for their own self
gain, have forgotten what their
job is and to whom they owe
their duty.
It is out of this frustration
that I felt the need to write
again. The belief that I could
do something to help my com
munity. I want what is best for
Waynesboro and Burke County
because it is my home.
If you’re an elected official
or a person in a position of
leadership, you should want the
same thing, for all of us, not just
for your friends or some other
small segment of Burke County.
Your goal should be to make
this community a better place
for all its citizens to live and
work. If for some reason that’s
not your primary purpose, then
you are not fit for your position.
I have long believed in the
adage that there are two types
of people in this world: those
that are part of the problem
and those that are part of the
solution.
Don Lively
(Reprinted)
( With sincere apologies to
the heirs of Clement Clarke
Moore.)
'Twas a day or so before
Christmas all over the Blessed
South,
Southerners were buzzing
everywhichaway, dirt roads and
rural routes.
From Yvonne's to Jenna's,
from Salter's to McKinney's,
Fooking to spend all those
dollars a'plenty.
Farmsteads and doublewides,
flung far and flung near,
Were lit up with Christmas
lights, some'd been up all year.
Excitement was building all
over the county,
From farmers to doctors,
from country folks to townies.
I sat myself down on the
North Porch and wondered,
If writing a Christmas poem
would be a blessing or a blun
der.
Cause deadline approached
and my mind was plain empty,
Should I just do a re-print, oh
mercy that's tempting.
But no, I decided in a mo
ment sublime,
How hard can it be to make a
bunch of words rhyme?
If the old Scottish plowboy
like Robert Bums could do it,
So can a good ol' Dixie boy,
so I better get to it.
I set about thinking about just
what it might be,
That makes Christmas around
our neck of the woods so unique.
When all of a sudden what
did I hear,
Blasts and explosions and
gunfire right near.
The woods were still poppin'
with ammo of all sorts,
deer season don't stop just
cause Christmas approaches.
The bucks and the does were
breakin' from the shadows,
Dodging the bullets and
buckshot and arrows.
I thought to myself if that
hunter gets lucky,
Christmas dinner might be
venison instead of baked turkey.
Cause many of the folks from
right around here,
Will turn down the Butter-
balls when they can eat deer.
'Round here we do things a
TWAS? OR WAS?
little different you see,
Tike two cups of sugar in
every gallon of sweet tea.
And we'll deep fry anything
in hot peanut oil,
Or throw together a feast
called a Fow Country Boil.
We don't mind at all that our
Yankee friends think,
We're all crazy down here or
at least on the brink.
Cause we talk loud and proud
and we howl at the moon,
Have skeet shoots and squir
rel hunts on Christmas after
noon.
It's a whole different world
south of the Mason-Dixon line,
Which runs just north of
Hephzibah as far as I can find.
You never know what you
might see along our byways,
Cotton bales or dairies of
fields of freshly mown hay.
Pickup trucks and tractors
and pickers and combines,
Dirt roads and with mud bogs
and bullet riddled stop signs.
Streams and creeks and rivers
and branches,
Shindigs and hoedowns and
old time barn dances.
Our Christmas stockings are
filled with crops from the South,
Each edible stuffer a treat for
the mouth,
Fike peanuts and peaches,
blueberries and oranges,
Oh wait, there's no word
in English that rhymes with
oranges.
Make that oranges and pea
nuts, peaches and blueberries,
That it's all grown nearby
makes it even more merry.
Add cobblers and cakes and
pies and divinity,
I just might never leave this
blessed vicinity.
I hope it's not sinful to write
horrible poetry,
Hopefully this will mostly be
read here locally.
Cause up till today I've been
a pretty nice fellow,
If Mister Claus reads this I
hope he's quite mellow.
Before Santa decrees whether
I've been naughty or nice,
I think I'll just give myself
some advice.
I'll leave the prose to the pros
and the poems to the poets,
Before somebody suspects
I've contracted the Covid.
Cause poetry ain't as easy as
failin' of a log,
After trying all night I'm in a
continued on page 5A