Newspaper Page Text
Page 4A — Wednesday, July 28, 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-JULY 27,20ll
The murder trial of Tony O’Neal Grubbs was delayed until
next year. He was the accused killer of Ralph and Trudie
Gordon of Waynesboro.
The liberty Art Show was scheduled for November 19-20
and the sponsors were seeking artists for painting nine bird
dog statues for the group’s auction. The previous year’s event
had raised over $17,000.
25 YEARS AGO-AUGUST 1,1996
Burke County Commissioners purchased 64.15 acres of
land at the intersection of Highway 24 and the Highway 25
Bypass to be used for the construction of a satellite campus
of Augusta Technical School.
Waynesboro banker Clifford Lewis was installed as the
new president of the Waynesboro Rotary Club.
Burke County Commissioners asked the Georgia Depart
ment of Transportation for some sort of signal device at the
intersection of Highway 80 and Highway 23. The intersection
had been the site of several serious accidents.
50 YEARS AGO-JULY 28,1971
Battery C, 1st Battalion, 214th Artillery of Waynesboro
came home for the second straight year from annual train
ing at Fort Stewart with the Best Unit Award for the 1st
Battalion. Captain Frederick L. Stewart was the unit’s com
manding officer.
Southern Bell Manager Jim Williams said that Direct
Distance Dialing would be available to customers here by
the end of August. It would enable customers to dial their
own long distance calls without going through an operator.
Jim Andrew of Birdsville and Earl Lauderdale of Waynes
boro were selected for inclusion in the 1971 edition of Out
standing Young Men of America.
70 YEARS AGO-AUGUST 2,1951
Preston B. Lewis, Jr. completed his training at the R .O .T.C.
Training Camp at Fort Knox Kentucky and was commis
sioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves.
John Strickland, local official at the Atlas Chemical
Company, scored a hole-in-one at the Hendersonville, N.C.
Country Club. It was the first ace scored at that club in more
than seven years.
The architectural firm of Willis and Helen Irvin of Au
gusta was selected to design the new Burke County Health
Department building to be built here at an estimated cost of
over $52,000.
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BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
My 9-year-old son is what
you might call a sucker for
things advertised as “free.”
Whether it’s signing up for
something to receive another
something in exchange or some
sort of buy-one-get-one deal, he
thinks it’s crazy to turn down
these opportunities. His college
and middle school-aged sisters
sometimes fall for these gim
micks as well. All three of them
have heard my very dad-like
response of, “There’s no such
thing as free.”
This is often followed by
some explanation of the fact
that someone somewhere along
the way had to pay for the said
item. There are no magic fair
ies creating something out of
nothing.
In my boy’s defense, he’s a
9-year-old kid who wants to
be a professional video-game
player when he grows up.
There are, however, a number
of adults and elected officials
in this community who don’t
seem to understand this premise
either.
At last week’s Waynesboro
City Council meeting, some
members of the Waynesboro
Homeless Task Force were
present to ask how the dona
tion of a building near the
intersection of Herman-Lodge
Boulevard and Ninth Street was
coming along. The property
is being given to the City of
Waynesboro, who in turn, has
agreed to allow the task force to
use the space as a food pantry.
That is a worthy cause and,
in my opinion, a good example
of a public-private partnership
to meet a need in a community.
At the end of the meeting,
however, another member hint
ed around at the idea of the city
kicking in some actual money
to the group to assist in their
endeavor.
Before I go any further, let me
be clear: I am in no way trying
to take away from this group’s
work or their mission. Nor am
I suggesting they would not use
these funds for their stated pur
pose. They are feeding people
and you can label me whatever
term you choose but I am, with
very few exceptions, quite fine
with giving food to the hungry,
even in allowing government
entities to assist in providing
that food.
It is a failure of this nation
that as a country with so many
opportunities and the ability and
the technology to do so many
things, we allow anyone to go
to bed hungry.
That being said, it is a very
slippery-slope when we start
depending on the government
for our everyday needs. Once
the government begins such a
program, it rarely, if ever, ends.
There are already a number of
federal and state programs that
provide food and shelter to indi
viduals and families. The Burke
County school system provides
two and sometimes three meals
a day for its students. Regard
less of whether you agree with
that policy or not, the fact is
somebody is footing that bill.
There are a number of groups
like this task force in this com
munity working to help others
on a consistent basis. On any
given Saturday you can find
somebody washing cars or
selling barbeque plates to raise
money for some cause. That is
how it should be.
There was a time in the not
so distant past that churches
and civic organizations would
raise money for such projects.
It wouldn’t have occurred to
anyone to go ask their local
city council for public tax dol
lars. Nowadays it’s just easier
to ask the government for a
handout. And the government,
Democrats and Republicans
alike, have gotten good at dol
ing them out.
I have sat through more than
one public meeting and heard
far too many county officials or
ordinary citizens suggest that a
project’s cost is of no concern
in Burke County because of the
tax revenue generated by Plant
Vogtle. Some of them sound as
though they believe that facility
is printing money
instead of produc-
ing electricity. BIRD DOG,
The world can 6A
Don Lively
My friend and I were stand
ing in the parking lot of the
church after services had let
out. We both sing on our praise
team and we had been talking
about trying to find a song that
we could do as a duet. She had
come up with one and as we
stood there with a slight misty
rain falling, harmonizing the
chorus, another lady walked
by. “Are y'all going to break out
singing right here in the parking
lot?” she asked.
She was smiling broadly be
cause she knew us both and she
knew that us busting out into
song was a real possibility since
we both seem to always have a
song ready to sing. We did, in
fact, sing most of the chorus...
right there in the parking lot.
I didn’t find it a bit unusual
since there nearly always seems
to be a song rattling around in
my cranium.
“There’s within my heart a
melody...”
It’s true.
I love to sing.
Apparently, it's been that way
my whole life. Mama used to
tell me that when I was just a
toddler playing in the dirt out
side, that I'd be singing a tune.
Of course, back then the words
were unintelligible. But still, I
was singing.
Throughout my life, no mat
ter what the situation, nearly
every minute that I'm not in
conversation or in deep thought
I find myself singing some
thing, either out load or in my
head.
“Jesus whispers sweet and
low.”
One of my favorite parts of
road-tripping, and probably the
main reason that I do most of
those trips solo, is belting out
the words of the songs that I’ve
carefully designed into special
playlists. I wear a good set of
headphones and play the songs
from my phone. If anyone hap
pened to overhear me, say if
I’m stopped at a red light, all
they’d hear is my melodious
voice since the music can only
be heard by me.
I couldn't begin to tell you
how many times I have driven
across the Texas plains singing
along to songs by George Strait
or Jerry Jeff Walker.
Driving through Colorado or
Wyoming or Montana singing
along to the mountain songs by
WITHIN MY HEART
John Denver.
And, before I vowed to never
set foot in California again, I’d
sometimes cruise the Pacific
Coast Highway accompanying
Merle Haggard or Tom Waits,
two artists with totally different
styles but both uniquely West
Coast.
To me, road-tripping and
music go hand in hand.
I’m also a great shower sing
er.
Don’t we all sound better in
the shower?
My shower is lined with
stone tiles and the acoustics
are nearly perfect. I find myself
suddenly wanting to sing opera,
even though you could put all
that I know about opera in a
thimble.
Still, I’ll occasionally give it
my best shot.
“O sole mio! Santa Lucia!”
That’s the extent of my oper
atic knowledge but I’ve found
that it sounds just fine if I repeat
it over and over.
I even sing when I’m at work.
Not loudly, mind you. My of
fice is in close proximity to
other work spaces and I doubt
any of my co-workers would
appreciate the serenade. So,
I sing quietly, usually gospel
or praise songs which help me
deal with being at work when
I’d rather be on a long road trip.
Sometimes I sing myself to
sleep.
I don’t fall asleep easily so I
have two songs, both from the
60s musical Paint Your Wagon,
that I’ve known the words to
since I was a teenager, that I
use to get drowsy nearly every
night. Because I know the songs
so well it doesn’t take any ef
fort to sing the verses over and
over. Just about as soon as my
head hits the pillow some of the
words pop into my mind and
before long I’m in LaLa land.
Of course there are times
when having a musical brain
is not a good thing. Like for
instance when I’ve finally fallen
asleep but then I wake up in the
middle of the night humming
the theme song from The Andy
Griffith Show and then can't
go back to sleep because of
the recurring thoughts of Opie
throwing that rock in the pond.
But, for the most part, the
singing, the songs, the music,
keeps me on an even keel most
of the time and what more could
you ask for in today’s insane
world?
“In all of life’s ebb and flow.”
Sing along, if you’d like.