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The True Citizen, Wednesday, November 3, 2021 — Page 5
Shellie Smitley
WHEN THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL IS MONEY
Ronda Rich
A WELL DRESSED KODAK MEMORY
All Hell broke loose in
Keysville last week when
residents reacted to Mayor
Linda Wilkes’ response to the
multitude of visitors the annual
Mt. Tabor Church Camp Meet
brings to the city’s streets.
The mayor indicated that not
only is the town inundated with
traffic its streets can’t support,
water meters are run over and
trash is left scattered on the
ground. Strapped for cash, Wil
kes formulated a plan to charge
$5-per-vehicle to enter the city
and allow drivers to park where
they chose. She hired six tem
porary workers at $100 each
to collect the fees on the day
of the event. Additionally, she
hired two people at $75-per-
day to clean up the debris the
following day. The city netted
approximately $3,100 to add to
their general fund October 10.
In spite of the residents’
complaints that Tyrone Brooks
Street was still impassible and
some people who lived there
either got charged or were bur
dened with proving they were
not from out-of-town, the City
Council voted to have their at
torney draw up a resolution that
allows them to charge visitors
to park in Keysville whenever
there is a private event.
Rev. Laveme Comer began
the meeting by thanking the
city for dealing with the traffic
issue, instead of apologizing,
offering to help clean up the de
bris , or reimbursing the city for
the damaged water meters. To
leave the city holding the bill
for damages caused during an
event, that based on verbal de
scriptions that evening would
lead some to believe has lost its
“religious intent,” is at the very
least an example of bad public
relations practice.
However, implementing an
ordinance in which the city re
tains the right to charge during
private events is an example of
poor public policy.
Resident representative Val
erie Towell presented Wilkes
with a much more organized
and professional alternative.
Her suggestion was to desig
nate the playground’s vehicle
spaces as the only place outside
of the church’s lot where visi
tors can park during the Camp
Meeting. The city would then
charge $5 per vehicle.
Towell’s suggestion makes
much more sense for several
reasons. It solves the congest
ed parking issue on Tyrone
Brooks, while reducing the
opportunity for water meter
damage. Residents will be less
bothered by the influx of traffic
on the one particular Sunday.
It would only require 1 or 2
parking attendants. It would
reduce the areas where garbage
is strewn.
The church could provide
shuttle service via golf carts
for visitors who might require
a ride to the church event.
An even better idea, is for
Mt .Tabor AME Church to rent
the parking lot from the city
once a year and take respon
sibility for their own religious
event.
Either way, the council could
adopt a resolution that prohib
ited parking on the city streets
that one-day in October. Better
yet, the church and the city
could just work it out so that
Mt. Tabor instructs their visi
tors to park in the lot they have
rented from the city. It seems
like a simple fix.
The problem is that the may
or isn’t just trying to solve
the issues brought
on by the Camp
Meet mess, she SMITLEY,
sees an opportu- 8
There is a Kodak photo in an
old scrapbook which I found
buried in my office closet. It
made me do some thinking.
In fact, I’m still thinking, a
few weeks after the discovery.
It was taken with, what was
then, a new-fangled Kodak
Instamatic camera. It was a
little box with a gleaming sil
ver front and a flashbulb cube
snapped on top. When the flash
was used on one of the four
sides, the cube turned auto
matically to another side. It was
fascinating to a tiny girl from
Rural Route One who loved the
Space Age of the Jetsons.
It was in the earlier years of
color photos and, to be truth
ful, I love the faded color. It is
muted and much gentler than
today’s photos — more akin
to how the world used to be;
not glaring and harsh like the
universe is now.
There I am in a deep-green
wool jumper and white shirt
with a Peter Pan collar. The
jumper was made from the
scraps of a winter coat that
Mama had sewn for herself. In
those days, most of my clothes
were made from leftovers.
Mama would lay her fabric on
the kitchen table when, for a
long period of time, she would
worry with turning the pattern
pieces until she was certain
that she had maximized the
yardage.
If she had bought the amount
of fabric according to the in
structions, she would always
have at least a half of a yard
left. Those half-yard pieces
became the foundation of my
childhood wardrobe. I started
sewing when I was six (by
hand for my Barbie dolls) and
Mama taught me all those
tricks.
So, there I stand in that Ko
dak photo with a same-fabric
bow on the jumper, white knee
socks, and shining black pat
ent shoes. Daddy is standing,
posed with one foot up on the
edge of a short rock wall, and
I, atop the wall, am leaned
forward on his knee, smiling
gleefully.
He is dressed in a dark suit,
white shirt, thin black tie, and
dark Fedora trimmed in match
ing ribbon with a tiny feather
tucked into the side for style.
Had Daddy been holding his
black Bible, one might think
we were standing outside a
church.
We were not.
We were posed outside a
motel in Gaitlinburg, Tennes
see, where we had spent the
night, my first time ever in a
motel The day before, Daddy
had slowed our white Pontiac
while Mama grabbed me up
from the jump seat where I
always sat, and held me close
to the window so I could see a
bear and her cub, playing on
the side of the road in the Great
Smokey Mountains.
On a two-day trip to the
mountains - when the only way
to get there was through wind
ing, isolated roads - we are
dressed like Sunday morning.
As I studied the photo, I
could hear Mama’s words
ringing as the screen door
banged behind me whenever I
sashayed in from church.
“Ronda, go take off your
church clothes and come help
me in the kitchen.”
The discovery of this scrap
book happened during the time
that the world slowed down
because of sickness
and I often lolled
around in pajamas ’
all day. I had come 8
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