Newspaper Page Text
Page A— Wednesday, September 15, 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-SEPTEMBER 14,20ll
A large crowd celebrated the opening of the city’s newly
renovated ice plant. The circa 1890s building, which had been
deemed uninhabitable, underwent a complete restoration
with the help of more than a million dollars in Department
of Transportation grant funds.
Georgia Power area manager Lisa Smith said that approxi
mately 20 local company workers had returned from helping
restore power in storm battered Virginia and Alabama.
Dozens of Burke County babies who died before their
first birthday over the past decade were remembered at an
event intended to bring recognition to the high rate of infant
mortality here. The Enterprise Community Healthy Start
Initiative organized the event.
25 YEARS AGO-SEPTEMBER 19,1996
Burke County School Superintendent Doug Day said that
4,974 students were enrolled in grades Pre-K - 12. He pre
dicted the total would exceed 5,000 by the end of the month.
Michelle Bowen, who had worked as an E-911 dispatcher
in Jefferson County for four years, joined the Waynesboro
Police Department as a patrol officer., she said, “there’s a
lot of difference between dispatching the call and actually
running it.”
Allen DeLaigle was named Edmund Burke Academy’s
Player of the Game. He had five individual tackles and 27
assists.
50 YEARS AGO-SEPTEMBER 15,1971
A proposed reapportionment plan for the Georgia House
of Representatives would divide the county almost directly
in half, joining it with several nearby counties and severely
reducing the possibility of a local representative.
The Waynesboro City Council passed a city-wide leash
law. Dogs would not be allowed to run free in the city after
November 1.
Waynesboro golfer Sterling Siekers scored the second hole-
in-one on the 16th hole of the Waynesboro Country Club.
His playing partners included Mike Johnson, Phil Chalker
and Jere Broome.
75 YEARS AGO-SEPTEMBER20, 1951
D.L. Stone succeeded Frank M. Cates as the supervisor
of the Burke County Hospital. A.L. Crittenden, administra
tor of the facility, had previously resigned to accept another
position. Stone and Cates were both members of the Hospital
Authority.
The Burke County High School Band made its first
appearance in uniform with a half-time show during the
Waynesboro-Metter football game. The band was under the
leadership of Drum major Burton Cates, Jr.
John W. Walker estimated that when the whole crop was
in, the county would have produced between 40,000 and
45,000 bales of cotton.
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DI6GIMS
THE STADIUM
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BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
"Power tends to corrupt, and
absolute power corrupts abso
lutely.” - John Acton,1887
There was a time in the not
so distant past when the jobs of
elected officials and their work
was called “public service.”
The people in such positions
were even referred to as “public
servants.”
Somewhere along the way,
however, some of our elected
officials have gotten away from
that concept. It’s not a new
problem, obviously, man’s ego
and desire for power has existed
as long as mankind itself. The
quote above was written in a
letter over 130 years ago argu
ing that unchecked power was
too dangerous a temptation for
any ordinary man.
It does seem though that the
problem is becoming more
widespread. The Atlanta Jour
nal Constitution, the state’s
flagship paper is constantly run
ning stories about some elected
official or public employee,
somewhere in Georgia, abusing
their position in some way.
Unfortunately, it is a prob
lem in Burke County as well.
Waynesboro’s current mayor
is awaiting trial for four felo
ny counts of theft in Bulloch
County. He has been suspended
by Gov. Brian Kemp and barred
from coming to work but we
keep on paying him $800 each
month. That will continue
until he is either cleared or
convicted.
Carswell could simply resign
his position on his own and al
low the city to move forward,
but he appears to prefer the
current arrangement over doing
what is best for the people of
Waynesboro.
In a recent Burke County
Commission budget work ses
sion, Commissioner Lucious
Abrams declared to the assis
tant county manager, “I’m your
boss. I’m Merv [Waldrop’s]
boss too. Sometimes people
forget that.”
This, of course, is not at all
true. Waldrop, as the county
manager, answers to the Com
mission as a whole. They direct
county policy and it is the job of
Waldrop and his administrative
staff to implement that policy.
It is not their job to be at
Abrams ’ beck and call for what
ever favor he wants to grant to
whichever taxpayer or citizen
has called today. The fact that
Abrams believes we still live
in a time where elected offi
cials are supposed to dole out
favors in exchange for votes or
even something more valuable,
proves it is past the time for the
voters of District One to close
the book on Abrams’ style of
politics.
Then, of course, there is the
high sheriff, Alfonzo Williams.
Last month, Williams stood in
a public county commission
meeting and made numerous
false and misleading statements
about his department’s budget,
statements that he then repeated
to various local media outlets.
The Sheriff has yet to correct
or explain those assertions,
leading one to wonder, did he
say these things not knowing
they were false, or did he sim
ply not care because they served
his own purpose.
As Williams spoke last
month, he referred to those in
attendance as the “congrega
tion.” As someone pointed out,
the only thing missing was a
hand towel to wipe the sweat
from his brow and some shouts
of “amen” from the audience
and you’d have thought you
There it was again, right one
time, just like every year about
this time.
It was yellow and probably
brittle, the first of its nearby
friends to give up the ghost.
A leaf.
Specifically, a dogwood leaf.
I was sitting on the north
porch, in my very comfortable
Adirondack chair that was built
to last by some local folks. I
had noticed that there was a
nice little breeze coming from
the west, channeled down my
driveway by the wall of woods
on both sides. And, it was cool
even though summer wouldn’t
technically be over for a few
more weeks. As I sat reflecting
on the current goings-on in my
life, that little leaf fluttered to
the ground.
Now I can’t say that it was
the first leaf of the season that
fell, but it was the first one that
I saw fall. That’s my personal
gauge for when autumn is on
the way, my actual observation
of the first falling leaf.
So, autumn is indeed on the
way.
Don Lively
FALLING
Which is strange, because on
the same day the little leaf fell,
several hummingbirds were
still fighting over the best loca
tion to suck the liquid from the
feeder that I supply for them.
Do hummingbirds leave
when fall arrives?
Do they fly south for the
winter?
Do they hibernate?
I have no idea.
All I know is, about this time
every year the food in the feeder
stops disappearing so I assume
the hummers have hown the
coop, so to speak.
Anyway, a quick poll of my
closest friends and kin deter
mined that most people call
spring or summer their favorite
time of the year. They like the
fact that things are coming into
life and turning green.
Not me.
I like dead things.
Okay, before you think me
morbid, let me qualify my
statement.
Green is a pretty color, true.
But isn’t the sight of dozens of
different shades of red, and yel
low, and gold, and brown, and
even some purple, all blended
together in the forests much
more dramatic than just a few
shades of green? In a few more
weeks all of those colors and
more will arrive to signal the
real fall season, not “meteoro
logical” autumn.
What you might ask, in the
name of Sam Hill, is meteoro
logical autumn?
Google it, y’all but the short
answer is, it’s on September 1 st.
Which is way wrong.
Everybody knows and has
known since some ol’ boy
named Gregory invented cal
endars that fall starts on Sep
tember 22nd, the autumnal
equinox, which is still a few
weeks away as I scribble.
That’s when the leaves
change.
So, when all of those colors
arrive in earnest, it heralds the
onset of the time for hrepits and
hoodies and harvests.
There’s nothing better, to my
way of thinking, than sitting
around a good fire with good
friends, good food and drinks,
and good conversation. I can’t
wait for the first gathering.
I can’t wait to dig into my
assemblage of warm hoodies
from my travels over the fruited
plain, when I will select one
and ease into it for the first time
since March or April.
I can’t wait to catch the
musky, dusty smells of peanuts
being turned and com being cut
and cotton being picked.
were at an old tent revival. Of
course, you can quote all the
scripture you want and that only
proves you own a Bible and a
good memory. It does not auto
matically validate your actions
as righteous or correct.
Which brings us back to the
idea of public service, the pur
pose of which is, as the phrase
suggests, to benefit the general
public - not the holder of the
office.
Obviously, we have a number
of elected officials in this com
munity who show up and do the
work they’re asked to do, with
little to no fanfare. Sometimes
you might agree with what they
do, other times not. That’s how
democracy works. You win
some, you lose some.
In November, some of Burke
County’s citizens will choose
their representatives for city
council and the Board of Educa
tion (BOE). It would be a wel
come sight if the folks running
in those races, and particularly
the winners, were running with
the goal of improving this com
munity as a whole, rather than
trying to use their position to
improve their own standing or
their own standard of living.
And those colors.
I can’t wait for those colors.
Yes, I love the fall with its
tapestry of vibrant hues every
where you look.
And, after all of the colorful
leaves have disappeared and
become the newest layer of for
est floor, the greens, the pines,
cedars and magnolias, will still
be there to offer some color.
The reason that I love dead
things in the autumn is, I know
they’re not really dead.
They’re just resting.
Just dormant, and come
spring they will bust wide open
with leaves and blossoms and
blooms and fruit that will make
the spring and summer loving
crowd happy again.
In recent weeks our little
town, our close community, has
lost to death some folks that we
all hoped would live forever,
folks who will leave gaps where
gaps are not welcome.
But they’re not really gone.
Like the oaks and the hicko
ries and the poplars, they’re just
resting.
Resting until we join them.
What a day of rejoicing that
will be.
Here’s to hoping that Heaven
has hrepits and hoodies.