Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 — Wednesday, January 6, 2021, The True Citizen
OPINIONS
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
The Pledge Of Allegiance
1 pledge, allegiance, to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which
*it stands, one Nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
LOOKING BACK
{this week in Burke County history}
10 YEARS AGO - JANUARY 5,2011
The city of Waynesboro was looking for a new police chief
after Chief Karl E. Allen announced his retirement. He had
been with the department almost 15 years.
Teenagers James Coleman of Waynesboro and Ariel
Lagman of Keysville graduated from the National Guard-
sponsored Youth Challenge Academy at Fort Gordon. The
22-week in-residence program was designed to produce
graduates “with the values, skills, education and self discipline
necessary to succeed as adults.”
25 YEARS AGO - JANUARY 11,1996
A new hotel was under construction on North Liberty
Street. The 18,000 square foot structure would be affiliated
with Holiday Inn Express.
State Sen. Charles Walker said he would put $25,000 in seed
money in the state budget to start the process of securing a
branch campus of Augusta Tech for Burke County.
After a one-year absence, Johnny Jenkins was unanimously
elected chairman of the Burke County Board of Education.
He had previously served 12 years in the post.
50 YEARS AGO-JANUARY 6,1971
Jerry M. Daniel was named as Waynesboro’s city attorney,
replacing Percy J. Blount. Councilman Pratt DeLoach had
moved that Blount be retained as city attorney and that Daniel
be appointed judge of city court. The motion was defeated.
Construction began on the new 20,000 square foot Piggly
Wiggly store on sixth Street in Waynesboro. Ronnie Page was
the store manager, Harold Peterson was the market manager
and LeRoy O’Quinn was the produce manager.
The Herrington Insurance Agency merged with the Cox
agency. E.F. Herrington would continue to operate the income
tax and accounting services of his agency and the insurance
portion would be combined with the Cox agency.
75 YEARS AGO-JANUARY 10,1946
The Waynesboro Civitan Club was leading an effort to have
all the city’s streets named and the houses and businesses
numbered. An editorial in The True Citizen stated, “We
must prepare for the rapid growth that Waynesboro is now
undergoing.”
Whit Blount and Burton Cates were heading up an effort
to revive the Waynesboro golf course, which was abandoned
during the war.
J.S. Taylor was hired as the clerk of the Anthony Wayne
Hotel. His wife was the former executive housekeeper of the
Warm Springs Foundation.
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Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
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BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
Diana Royal has a story in
this week’s paper detailing an
issue involving early voting that
occurred on New Year’s Eve
at the Burke County historic
courthouse.
I would encourage you to
give it a read for the specific
details of the incident. The gist
of it thoughts that some Burke
County voters claim when they
walked in the courthouse short
ly before closing at 5 p.m. they
were told they couldn’t vote due
to some computer issues.
Burke County Elections Su
pervisor Laverne Sello says the
whole situation has been blown
out of proportion. Others have
suggested this is an instance of
the very voter fraud we keep
hearing so much about.
Let me be clear: this was not
any sort of conspiracy. This was
not an attempt to keep voters
of any particular party from
casting their ballots. This was,
quite simply, a poor decision
made at an equally poor time. It
was New Year’s Eve and Sello
decided it wouldn’t hurt to shut
the doors 30 minutes early and
call it a day.
Obviously, it was a bad call,
particularly given the contro
versy around elections right
now. I think Sello would be the
first to agree, especially since
it has now landed her office in
the paper and has only added to
her stress in an already difficult
election year.
It will be up to the Burke
County Board of Elections, a
group of appointed citizens, to
decide what if anything should
be done.
The conspiracy theorists
among us will say I’m part of
the media’s coverup operation;
I would argue I’m just using
common sense.
This week’s episode of How
I Abused My Authority features
Augusta Judicial Circuit Chief
Judge Carl C. Brown Jr.
Brown had the mundane task
of approving the list of associ
ate judges for newly elected
Burke County Chief Magistrate
Cynthia Kelley.
ANew Year’s Eve email from
County Administrator Merv
Waldrop to commissioners,
however, explained that Judge
Brown had yet to approve the
list and as of midnight that
night, Kelley would be the sole
judge in her office.
According to the email,
Brown’s reason for not approv
ing the list was that Andrew
Palmer was not included as an
associate judge and until he was
added, Judge Brown would not
approve the list.
Palmer was appointed as
Chief Magistrate by the Augus
ta Judicial Circuit judges to fill
the seat of Sterling Wimberly
when he passed away earlier
this year. Kelley defeated Palm
er for the Magistrate’s position
in the Nov. 3 election.
I emailed Judge Brown’s
office for a comment on the
situation, a representative re
sponded that Judge Brown had
received the list prior to Judge
Kelley taking office - which
would seem the prudent thing
to do to avoid having only one
Magistrate.
“[Judge Brown] has utilized
this time to research the appro
priate statutes, vet the potential
candidates, and confer with oth
er judges and elected officials
on the list of associate judges
submitted,” the statement said.
According to Judge Brown’s
bio, he graduated from Mercer
Law School and was first ap
pointed to the Augusta Judicial
Circuit in 1994. I have no
reason to doubt that he is an
extremely intelligent jurist. I,
on the other hand, failed out of
the University of Georgia in one
year and lack any sort of degree,
journalism or otherwise; and
yet, even I’ve got enough sense
to know you could spread that
statement in your garden and
grow some fine tomatoes.
Judge Kelley won the elec
tion and if the citizens of Burke
County don’t like her choices
for associate judges or, frankly,
anything else she does, then
we’ll have the opportunity to
let her know in four years at the
ballot box.
Just as we might recall Judge
Brown’s overstepping of his
authority the next time his name
appears on our ballot.
Don Lively
Okay, if you are already
nostalgic for 2020, please raise
your hand.
Wow, I actually see one hand.
Oh, it's Mr. Biden.
Well, I suppose you have a
right to miss 2020 since it's
probably going to be the last
time you ever get much of
anything accomplished, and
you even needed to have cities
burned, organized rioting, and
election interference to get you
across the line.
It's my prayer that 2020 will
be the last year that you do any
more damage to America.
From my fingers to God's
ears.
Okay, no more politics today.
I think most sane people will
agree that 2020 was not the
kind of year that we will look
back on kindly. While Covid 19
might not have actually mined
every plan that you and I had
for the year, it almost certainly
did affect nearly every aspect
of our lives.
Church attendance was af
fected.
Family gatherings were af
fected.
Work and jobs were affected.
Traveling was affected.
And those masks.
But weren't we told that as
soon as Mr. Biden was elected,
that everything would again be
right with the world?
What happened?
Oops.
I slipped back into politics.
My bad.
As I scribble, it's already two
days into the New Year. I've
been sitting on the north porch
all morning watching it rain.
Some folks would call this a
miserable, dreary start to 2021.
Not me. Rain has always been
a cleanser for my mind. To me,
falling rain signifies new life.
The water seeping into the
ground will eventually help
nourish the greenery that will
start popping out around these
parts in just a couple of months.
So, I sit and watch it rain.
And as I sit, because I've
reached a certain age and be
cause I'm Southern, I ponder.
And because I'm a descendant
of "The Lost Cause", I'm able to
HINDSIGHT
ponder on the good and the not
so good with equal veneration.
So,here are a few happenings
of my Coronavims dominated
2020.
I saw all five of my grandchil
dren more than once during the
year. For many of you, that's
no great accomplishment since
your broods reside nearby, but
all of mine live far from me, so
I cherish every minute.
I took an epic solo road trip
that took me across the Great
Plains through the most color
ful autumn weather I've seen in
years. The Dakotas, Montana,
Wyoming and Colorado were
spectacular, and I'm already
starting to think about where
this year's journeys will take
me. I didn't let Covid 19 tie me
down last year and I have no
plans to sit out 2021.
Sometime during 2020, I
published my half-millionth
word right here in these pages.
Five hundred thousand doesn't
seem like a very large number
in light of all the billions and
trillions of bits and bytes that
fly around the internet globe
every millisecond of every day,
24/7, but to me it's enormous. I
couldn't tell you when that half
millionth word was published
or what that word was, if my
life depended on it, but I know
it happened and that's enough
for me.
I lost two very dear friends
Out West, one Covid 19 related,
one not. Mike was a mentor and
a friend who I met within days
of moving to Colorado and he
was such a part of my life, that
it's hard to believe he's gone.
Tanya was a vibrant, young
civilian police department em
ployee, so full of spirit and
intellect, but with a faulty heart
that finally gave out on her. My
solace is in the assurance that
both of them are now resting
comfortably in Heaven, waiting
for the rest of us.
My bride and I marked five
years of marriage. We both
have hard heads and seriously
independent streaks, but so far
she hasn't flown the coop and
I haven't moved into the barn.
I took up a new hobby craft,
carving wooden bowls from
trees that have fallen on family
land. So far the bowls have been
very well received but I've only
given them to my children, so
continued on page 7