Newspaper Page Text
Page A— Wednesday, November 3, 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-NOVEMBER 2,20ll
Burke County’s unemployment rate fell below the state
average for the first time in recorded history. At 10.2 percent,
it was slightly lower than the state’s 10.3 percent, but higher
than the national average of 9.1 percent.
Hiring was underway for the new prison recently con
structed in Jenkins County. The facility created more than
200 job openings.
Dr. Maxwell Kennedy joined the staff of the Wimberly
House. The Burke County native offered counseling services
for individuals, couples and families.
25 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 7,1996
Wayne Crockett upset incumbent Ellis Godbee in the race
for County Commission District 3. Godbee had held the seat
since 1985 and was the board’s chairman. Crockett won by
only two votes and a recount was expected. Preston B.
Lewis, III defeated David Dixon to become the new Judge
of Probate Court.
Joy Williams was crowned as Burke County High School’s
Homecoming Queen at halftime of the Bears’ football game
with Lucy Laney.
50 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 3,1971
County-Wide Ambulance Service, operated by the Burke
County Hospital, was using two fully-equipped ambulances
and three drivers to provide 24-hour, seven-day-a week
service.
Waynesboro City Council voted to require all doctors,
lawyers, accountants, veterinarians and dentists to pay a
$100 per year professional license fee for practicing in the
city. Up to that point, those professions were exempt from
license fees.
Nineteen pigs were killed by wild dogs roaming in packs
near Midville. W.G. Saxon said the same dogs had killed a
newborn calf.
75 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 8,1951
Internationally famous musician Graham Jackson was
scheduled to entertain at the Exchange Club Ladies Night at
the Anthony Wayne Hotel. Jackson was President Lranklin
Roosevelt’s favorite musical entertainer and played for the
President many times at Warm Springs.
Lt. Col. William L. Brinson of Waynesboro was in charge
of the Air Transport Squadron at Travis Air force Base in
California.
Advertisers included Jitney Jungle Grocery Store, T.R.
Holton Firestone, Mills’ Ambulance Service and the Waynes
boro Drive-In Theatre.
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Don Lively
I kept a copy of the email be
cause it meant a lot to me. One
sentence in particular made me
feel really good.
“As a long-time newspaper
man myself, I think that I know
exceptional writing when I see
it. I enjoy your columns very
much.”
To a writer, there’s no higher
compliment than to hear words
like those from another writ
er, particularly one who was
as successful as my emailer
friend.
Oddly, I don’t ever recall
meeting the fellow face to face
but I had read dozens of his
stories throughout the years
that I lived Out West, in the
very same pages that you are
now reading mine. Back then,
I looked forward to getting the
paper every week, normally a
week late, because it served
as a link to my home and my
hometown. My friend’s stories
were especially informative
and entertaining and I always
enjoyed them. Even though
we never met, we did com
municate the 21st century way
via Facebook and emails in the
years since I moved back to the
Blessed South.
I looked forward to meeting
my friend one of these days.
One of these days.
Sadly, it’s not going to hap
pen.
My writer friend passed into
Glory recently, another victim
of the scourge that is Covid 19.
Go rest high, Jimmy.
Writers can be an odd lot,
taken as a whole. You know that
you are really a writer when you
fleetingly hear or see or taste or
feel something and you imme
diately start to think about how
to form an entire story around
the nugget.
A writer can be sitting around
a firepit with a bunch of rowdy
kin and friends when somebody
says something that cracks up
the whole group. The writer will
instantly memorize the words to
be used later, with proper attri
bution of course, and will roll
the thoughts around in his brain
until it becomes a paragraph,
then two or three paragraphs,
and before you can say jackrab-
bit, a column or a story is born.
A thought can pop into a
writer’s noggin at any moment.
Like while driving along,
alone, and some throwaway
glance out the window triggers
something.
THE WRITTEN WORD
It can happen when a writer
is toiling away at his “real” job,
daydreaming at the same time.
It can even happen in church
when the writer should be pay
ing attention to the sermon.
Sorry about that, Preacher Man.
Of course, the luckiest and
most blessed writers are those
who were fortunate enough to
have been born Southern and
who have been immersed in
the culture since the day they
arrived on Earth.
One such Southern writer,
who, after several years being
absent, now graces the pages
of our paper again. I got to
meet her once and in that brief
meeting learned more about
column writing than I had in all
the years I’d been writing. We
now correspond occasionally
via those modern modes that
we talked about earlier. I get the
impression that she’s a natural
encourager.
“You keep writing, too. Peo
ple need the stuff we write...
it’s one of our contributions to
America.”
Again, coming from a writer
of her caliber, her words are
golden.
This week marks the four
teenth year since my friends at
the paper took a chance on me,
a chance that led to me becom
ing a permanent (so far) feature
of the paper.
To say it’s been fun would be
a huge understatement.
I dearly love it.
To say it’s always been easy
would be a huge lie.
There are times when I feel
like I have absolutely nothing
else to say, that I’ve finally run
out of ideas.
That’s when I remember a
quote that I read years ago from
poet and novelist Sylvia Plath.
“Let me live, love and say it
well in good sentences.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t work
out well for Miss Plath. She
committed suicide at the age
of thirty, but her words have
inspired me.
As one of those strange
people who love words and
phrases, and loves knitting them
all together to create stories,
“good sentences” are the ones
that I immediately realize are
finely unique.
I know that I’ve thanked you
a thousand times for reading my
scribblings and supporting me.
Sincerely, thank you.
1001.
As long as y’all keep speak
ing and acting and being South
ern, I suspect the ideas will keep
coming.
And so will the good sen
tences.
Michael N. Searles
IS THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM DEAD?
The United States has had a
two party system essentially
from the beginning of the na
tion, and that system has served
the nation well. Republicans
have offered a counter balance
to the Democrats in financial
matters, military defense, for
eign affairs, and tax policies.
The Grand Old Party (GOP)
has helped shaped our nation
in various ways and we have
benefited from it. However,
the Republican Party now ex
ists in name only. I have been
pleased to have people from
different political persuasions
meet me on the streets and say
they enjoyed or appreciated
what I wrote. There has been an
earnest effort to consider points
of view different from my own
when writing about issues of
serious import. In a democracy,
robust and genuine points of
view are essential.
When a political party refus
es to discuss and debate issues
of the day, we all lose. Few of us
want a one party system where
no dissenting voices are heard.
When the Republican Party
was vital, it attracted African
Americans, Hispanics, Native
Americans and other minori
ties. A few short years ago, a
black man, Colin Powell, was
given serious consideration for
becoming the presidential stan
dard bearer for the Republican
Party. That party no longer ex
ists . Instead of broadening the
party, the Republicans have de
cided to shrink it to its hard rock
base. Some would say this is
just the nature of politics; how
ever, Republicans also actively
have decided to deny and limit
voting opportunities to qualified
citizens as well as hamstring the
operation of government itself.
President Biden is meeting
with the G 20 countries in
Rome followed by a UN Cli
mate Summit in Scotland. As
he meets with the G 20, there
is a common factor that links
together Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, Canada, China, France,
Germany, India, Italy, Japan,
the Republic of Korea, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and
the United Kingdom. Presi
dent Biden has not been able
to appoint Ambassadors to
any of them. The lack of ap
pointments is not based on the
sparsity of suitable candidates;
the Republican Senate has
decided to hold up appoint
ments to make governing more
difficult. Major nations, many
of them allies, do not have an
American diplomatic presence
in their country. President
Biden recently said “We must
demonstrate that democracies
can still deliver for our people.
That is our galvanizing mission.
Democracy doesn’t happen by
accident. We have to defend it,
strengthen it, and renew it. We
have to prove that our model
isn’t a relic of our history.” In
some instances, language of
this nature could be viewed as
political rhetoric. However,
distress calls are also coming
from Republicans. The Lincoln
Project, an American political
action committee formed by
former and present Republicans
sounded the alarm in 2020
arguing that President Trump
should not be returned to office.
These lifelong Republicans
encouraged members of their
party to vote for Biden. They
argued that Trump was leading
America down an authoritar
ian path.
Even after Trump loss the
presidency, his refusal to accept
the outcome of the election en
couraged followers to promote
conspiracies that have done
great damage to our country.
Every time the words “Stop the
Steal” have been uttered, doubt
is further infused into public
consciousness. The Brennan
Center for Justice stated that
19 states passed 33 restrictive
voting laws in 2021. In every
instance, the laws made it more
difficult for minorities to vote.
In some cases, even the author
ity to determine the winner of
an election has been put into
the hands of Republican state
legislatures.
This is a recipe for political
and social disaster. If the Amer
ican people cannot trust the va
lidity of their vote, democracy
is dead. Vote for Democrats to
save our democracy is more
than a slogan. The fate of our
nation hangs in the balance.