Newspaper Page Text
Page 4— Wednesday, December 29, 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 -DECEMBER 28,20ll
Former state legislator, county attorney and Juvenile Court
Judge Preston B. Lewis, Jr. died at the age of 81. He had
practiced law in Waynesboro for more than 50 years.
State Court Judge Jerry Daniel announced plans to seek
a fourth term in the office. The 68 year-old said it would be
his last run for public office.
The unemployment rate in Burke County jumped up to 11
percent, while the state number was 9.9 percent.
25 YEARS AGO - JANUARY 1,1997
Newly elected Judge of the Probate Court Preston B.
Lewis, III was sworn in by Superior Court Judge William
M. Fleming.
Gold Kist Feeds was sponsoring the Georgia Field Trials
for 1997. It was the first time in the 93-year history of the
trials that it had a sponsor.. GFTA Vice President Lamar
Mobley said the sponsorship money would be used to pay
foe needed improvements at Di-Land Plantation.
Gregory T. Coursey was sworn in to begin his fifth term
as Burke County Sheriff by retiring Probate Court Judge
Mary O. Herrington.
50 YEARS AGO-DECEMBER 29,1971
An early evening fire did extensive damage to the First
Baptist Church of Sardis. The cause of the fire, which was
battled by departments from Sardis, Waynesboro, Sylvania,
Millen and Girard, was not immediately known.
Retired Georgia Power Co. employee Cecil Hammett
defeated Herman Lodge in a runoff for Waynesboro City
Council Post 1.
Mrs. Burton Cates retired after 31 years at the First Na
tional Bank of Waynesboro. She held the titles of Assistant
Cashier and Head Teller at the time of her retirement.
70 YEARS AGO-JANUARY 3,1951
J.J. Reynolds, Jr. announced that the Georgia Field Trials
would begin here on January 11.
Waynesboro Mayor H. Cliff Hatcher announced plans to
re-submit a proposal to issue bonds for a natural gas sytem
in the city. He advocated expanding the water supply by
boring a deep well.
U.S. Congressman Prince Preston was the guest speaker at
the Midville Lions Club meeting, held at McKinney’s Pond.
We welcome your letters
Letters to the editor of The True Citizen are welcomed and encour
aged. These are pages of opinion, yours and ours.
Letters to the editor voice the opinions of the newspaper’s readers.
The True Citizen reserves the right to edit any and all portions of a
letter. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters must include the
signature, address and phone number of the writer to allow our staff
to authenticate its origin. Letters should be limited to 400 words and
should be typewritten and double-spaced or neatly printed by hand.
Deadline for letters to the editor is Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Email Letters to the Editor to: truecitizennews@live.com.
P.O. Box 948 • 629 Shadrack Street
Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Telephone: (706) 554-2111 • Fax: (706) 526-4779
Published every Wednesday by The True Citizen, Inc.
Periodical Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Georgia (USPS
642-300)
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The True Citi
zen, P.O. Box 948, Waynesboro, GA 30830.
Roy F. Chalker Roy F. Chalker Jr.
Publisher Publisher
1945-1970 1970-
Lavonna Johnson, Managing Editor; Shellie Smitly,
Feature Writer/Reporter/Associate Editor; Tracy Parker,
Office Manager; Martha Chalker, Advertising Sales; Roy
F. Chalker, Jr., Printing Manager.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
$1 per single copy at locations all over Burke County. By
mail: In Burke County, 6 months, $22,1 year, $34,2 years,
$56; outside Burke County, 6 months, $29, 1 year, $49,
2 years, $82; outside of Georgia, 6 months, $34, 1 year,
$59, 2 years, $96; One-year online edition only, $25. All
prices include state and local tax.
Don Lively
You’ve never been alone
until you’ve spent Christmas
Day alone.
I’ve just spent Christmas
Day alone.
Now before you go feeling
sorry for me, don’t.
I had other options.
I spent Christmas Day alone
by choice.
I won’t even try to explain
why I made such a decision.
I’m not even sure I could ex
plain it to myself.
It was just something I need
ed to do.
This wasn’t my first Christ
mas Day alone. A few other
times in the past I had to work
my beat as a street cop in Colo
rado on Christmas while my
wife took our small children to
Texas to be with family. In all
of those cases I joined them as
soon as I could.
So, Christmas alone is not
new to me.
I try to avoid sappy, personal
stuff in my scribblings, since I
think what I’m supposed to be
doing is Southern Humor.
It’s worked pretty well for
me for close to fifteen years.
This column will be a bit
different.
There’s nothing funny about
a marriage ending.
If you came looking for
“light”, come back next week.
I’m back to living alone at the
wooded enclave, just me and
my worthless porch dog, Lucy
AKA Loose E.
Even the cat, Maggie, has
moved.
So, for the first time in a
several years, I am once again
batching it through the Holi
days.
It’s taken some getting used
to, the quiet house and the
absence of certain pieces of
furniture or artwork that I’d
gotten used to seeing every day.
All the healthy foodstuffs
have been replaced, mostly by
canned food and frozen pizza.
The microwave has taken
over for the oven as the king of
the kitchen.
There’s about ten times as
much empty closet space as
there was a few months ago.
Yes, it’s different.
But it’s okay.
I got married the first time
semi later in life, and there were
seventeen years of bachelor
hood between that one and the
second go round, so being a
single adult male is not a new
concept to me.
Still, we all know that the
Holidays are the time we reflect
more on our lives, the good and
the bad, than at other times dur-
NOTHOME FOR CHRISTMAS
ing the year.
Reflection might be the key
to why I chose to spend Christ
mas alone this year, and to
not only spend it alone, but
to vacate my house for a few
days while I took the advice
of that well-known psycholo
gist, Garth Brooks. Mr. Brooks
declared that “heartaches are
healed by the sea”, so, I went
to the sea.
You would be surprised
how cheap hotel rooms are on
Christmas Day.
Now I don’t really have what
I’d term a true heartache, I’m
too old and grouchy to allow
one of those to hang around for
very long.
I just felt the need for some
serious contemplation, and,
I also hoped to use the time
sequestered to do some serious
work on my next book.
Nope.
The cheap hotel’s cheap
internet wasn’t working so not
much writing took place.
I turned that little piece of
bad luck into a positive sign
that maybe I was just supposed
to sit on the beach, probably
mostly alone, since it was
Christmas Day.
Nope.
There were hundreds of folks
on the beach.
Still, I enjoyed the smell of
the sea air, the sounds of the
surf and the feel of the breezes
on my face. (If my daughters
are reading, yes, I used sun
screen, even in December.)
I set up my chair, put on my
headphones with Jerry Jeff
Walker’s Christmas Gonzo
Style album keyed up, poured
myself some refreshment and
settled in to figure out the an
swers to some of the questions
of the past year.
“Why did I let myself gain
back a handful of the pounds I
worked so hard to lose?”
“Why have I only finished a
few more chapters of the novel
I’m writing than I had one year
ago?”
“What exactly happened to
cause me to go from being a
married man at the beginning of
the year to a single one now?”
“Why didn’t I bring more
Doritos out to the beach since
the gulls and pigeons are de
manding their share?”
Those were just a few of my
pondering s during my hours on
the sand.
And, I had the very same
answer to every question.
I have no idea.
So, while it’s true that the
ocean can heal whatever ails
you, it doesn’t necessarily bring
about clarity.
But, it did bring some peace.
On to 2022.
Michael N. Searles
NUMBERS
The number system or the
numeral system is a way of
naming or representing num
bers. We know that a number is
a mathematical value that helps
to count or measure objects and
it helps in performing various
mathematical calculations.
While the above is a defini
tion of numbers, how important
are they? Some numbers excite
and amuse us while others just
evaporate into the ether. The
United States population is es
timated to be over 331,000,000
souls. More than 51,000,000
cases of COVID-19 have been
confirmed in the U.S. and
over 830,000 have died. The
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention estimates about
35% of all Americans have
been infected with COVID-19
over the last year. Numbers
move us and sometimes make
us numb. While Americans
drove fewer miles in 2020, it
is estimated that 38,680 died
in motor vehicle traffic crashes
which is the largest number of
fatalities since 2007. We hardly
give any attention to auto death
numbers since they come with
certain expectations. Recently,
Alexander McLeish received a
get-well card and inside was a
scratch-off game ticket. When
he scratched off the requisite
number of spaces, he found
that he had won $1 million. The
odds of winning that amount
were 1 in 1,008,000.
There are various tragedies
that have numbers associated
with them. The recent shoot
ing at Oxford High School by
15 year-old Ethan Crumbley
that killed 3 and injured 7 stu
dents and 1 teacher is but one
example. Almost daily, names
are added to the list of wounded
and killed. While it has often
been said the numbers speak
for themselves, they sometimes
need clarification and explana
tion. Thomas Harold Massie
is a politician, businessman,
and the U.S. Congressman for
Kentucky's 4th congressional
district. By all indications,Rep
resentative Massie is a smart
man who earned a bachelor
of science degree in electrical
engineering and a master of
science degree in mechanical
engineering from Massachu
setts Institute of Technology. He
is married and has 4 children.
The Representative recently
designed a Christmas card to
be sent to his constituents. In
the photo, he and his wife along
with 5 members of his family
smilingly hold what appear to
be military-style weapons. A
decorated Christmas tree helps
give reference to the season. He
later on twitter captioned the
photo with “Merry Christmas”
and p.s. Santa, please bring
ammo.” The Christmas photo
was posted 4 days following the
Oxford High School shooting.
While some were outraged,
Congressman Massie seemed
not to see any contradiction in
brandishing assault weapons to
celebrate the Coming of Christ.
In an interview in 2018, he was
interviewed by Church Special
Assistant Mark Harrison to
discuss peace on the Korean
Peninsula. Harrison introduced
Representative Massie as a
United Methodist and Massie
acknowledged as a Christian
he always came back to the
Golden Rule—to treat others as
you would want to be treated. “I
learned that in Sunday School.”
The posting of his “armed”
Christmas Card did not appar
ently generate a rebuke from
the Methodist Church; howev
er, Bill Donohue,president and
CEO of the Catholic League for
Religious and Civil Rights, the
nation’s largest Catholic civil
rights organization, found the
Christmas Card offensive and
in bad taste. He commented
that Rep. Massie had plenty of
opportunities throughout the
year to sport his guns. Christ
mas should not be one of them.
While Dr. Donohue felt the
card did not represent the spirit
of Christmas, 28,000 “likes”
supporting the card were posted
on Twitter within four hours.
Apparently, at least 28,000
viewed the photo as acceptable
and agreed with its sentiments.
A number can mean a lot. We
as believers should place righ
teousness over mean and petty
acts that lessen our humanity.
If this one photo encouraged
an impressionable youth to pur
chase an assault weapon and use
it against someone, the conse
quences would be devastating.
Any thoughtful person who fol
lows and supports Representa
tive Massie should ask, “Is this
the path Christ would have us
follow?” We are admonished
not to let anyone lead us astray
for one who does what is right
is righteous.