Newspaper Page Text
Page A— Wednesday, November 9, 2022, 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 14,2012
The BCHS Bears football team won the region champion
ship, defeating Wayne County 43-14. They were scheduled
to host Perry in the first round of the state playoffs.
Karen Flakes Jenkins was killed when her Chevy Blazer
overturned on Highway 24 near Rocky Creek. Coroner Lee
Webster said she was en route to pick up her grandchild
in Waynesboro when she lost control of her vehicle and
overcorrected.
Waynesboro’s surface water treatment plant was temporar
ily shut down due to low water levels in Brier Creek. Water
Department Superintendent Jody Ellison said the creek was
down 4-5 feet and it was not known when the plant could
be restarted.
25 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 12,1997
Willie Palmer was sentenced to death by a Washington
County jury for the shooting deaths of his wife and step
daughter 26 months earlier.
Burke County Commissioners voted not to merge the
county’s building inspection department with the City of
Waynesboro.
Ray Mahaffey retired after 17 years as chief dispatcher for
the Burke County Sheriff’s Office.
50 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 8,1972
Louise Lewis and her four children died in a fire in their
home on East Ninth Street. It was believed the fire was the
result of the stove being used to provide heat for the house.
Ann Evans was named Homecoming Queen for Edmund
Burke Academy. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R.E.
Evans of Midville.
Sam Nunn defeated Republican Fletcher Thompson for
the U.S. Senate seat held by David Gambrell. A runoff was
expected in the race for District Attorney for the Augusta
Circuit. Write-in candidate Richard Allen garnered enough
votes to force a runoff with Democratic nominee Bacheller
Fly the.
70 YEARS AGO-NOVEMBER 13,1952
Burke County Commissioners authorized Gray Quinney
to begin the collection of delinquent property taxes for the
county. Sheriff O.J. Cliett, whose office normally collected
the taxes, said he was glad to turn it over to Mr. Quinney. The
board also granted a request from the Club of Little Gardens,
represented by Mrs. Porter Carswell and Mrs. J.W. Borom,
that the old courthouse be painted white with green trim.
J. Troy Hollingsworth was elected president of the newly
organized Sardis Civitan Club.
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Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
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Don Lively
It’s been said, many times,
that home is where the heart is.
As I’ve documented here
before, I’ve lived in over thirty
abodes, thirty different ad
dresses, in four different states.
Some of those places never
really felt like home, probably
because I knew I was just pass
ing through during some season
of my life and that my heart was
already making plans to leave.
Other places felt like the kind
of home that I never wanted to
leave and if I did, I would leave
part of my heart there. I did in
deed leave all of them for vari
ous reasons, with the exception
of my current residence, the
wooded enclave, were I don’t
intend to ever leave.
Looking back over the years,
there are very vivid memories
of some homes, hardly any
recollections of others.
Home is where the heart is,
and where the heart once was.
Nearly every day, I drive by
the house where I grew up,
except, there’s no house there,
where I grew up. There’s just an
empty held that over time has
yielded millions of tons of row
crops. There’s not a scrap of the
old clapboard, tin-roofed house
that I remember so well.
By a strange twist of irony,
yesterday when I was driving
by the old homeplace, Miranda
Lambert was singing “The
House That Built Me”. It’s a
sweet little ballad that tells the
story of the singer wishing to
re-visit the home she grew up
in, to help her ease the pain of
her current life. Apparently,
being a thirty-something multi
millionaire singer with zillions
of fans is hard, but, setting that
aside, I can understand Miss
Lambert’s desire. I’d love to
walk through the rooms of that
old house that once sat on Route
2, but, that house is long gone.
To be clear, it wasn’t any
house that “built me”.
Mama and Daddy and Jesus
did that.
But, even though the last of
the old house was gone with the
wind decades ago, I still have
many memories.
The walls on the old house
had wallpaper tacked to them.
Yes, tacked. If you were born
since Richard Nixon was presi
dent, you may not know about
wallpaper that had to be secured
to the walls with tacks. And be
cause our house was clapboard,
as mentioned, and also because
AT HOME
it was over 100 years old by the
time I arrived on Earth, time
and years had shrunk the wood
allowing the cold winds to blow
through the cracks and push
the paper off. The paper would
have to be re-tacked often, and
completely replaced every few
years.
Not one door in or on the
house, interior or exterior,
matched the other doors. I’m
sure that none of them were
original and had been added
over time when one needed to
be replaced. I can still remem
ber the metal-on-metal clanking
sound when the door between
the kitchen and the living room
closed.
Several of the multi paned
windows had hinged wooden
covers that could be pulled and
latched on the outside, theoreti
cally adding a layer of warmth
during the winter, though over
the years they blew off or were
removed.
Our little front yard was sur
rounded by a hedge. I never
knew, and still don’t know,
what kind of plant made up our
hedge, I just always called it
hedge. It completely enclosed
the yard except for small open
ings on each side and one
large entry point on the front.
When the hedges started to get
overgrown Daddy would use
manual clippers to trim and
shape it. I tried it a few times
but it ended up being butchery
rather than landscaping.
There was a twisted cast iron
lightning rod at the highest
point on the roof. I have no
idea if the rod was ever struck
by lightning, which I assume,
if it’s doing its job, you’d never
know, but I wish I had thought
to salvage the rod when the
house was demolished.
And that tin roof.
I can still hear the rain crash
ing onto it.
These days, old, rusty sheets
of corrugated tin roofing mate
rial have been re-named “re
claimed metal roofing”, and
are “re-purposed” for all kinds
of snazzy remodels. More than
likely, all of our old roof was
pushed into a bulldozer hole
and buried.
The last time I walked over
the old house spot I found a
small coil of barbwire that I
suspect Daddy intended to
re-purpose one day. That little
coil lives on the side of my
barn now.
I still don’t know what plant
our hedge was made of.
I’ll ask my little brother
Willie.
Willie will know.
Michael N. Searles
It is interesting to write an ar
ticle without knowing an elec
tion outcome. Who won and
who lost is yet unknown to the
writer. Even as this Wednesday
issue appears on the stands, we
may be heading for a runoff in
the Georgia U.S. Senate race.
While we live in a world of
uncertainty, there are things
about which we remain certain.
Life does not promise us the
ending we desire and it can
surprise us. Life continues
to be a struggle now as it has
been in the past. There are
times when days have been
dark for us individually and
as a society. Shortly after the
Twin Towers fell on September
11, 2001, the nation began to
mourn, and Americans began to
commemorate the victims and
demonstrate their patriotism.
Some flew the American flag
from their front porches and
car antennas. Others pinned
it to their lapels or wore it on
t-shirts. Sports teams post
poned games. Celebrities or
ganized benefit concerts and
performances. People attended
impromptu candlelight vigils
and participated in moments of
silence. 9/11 shocked the nation
and the world and a morass
covered the country.
Folks who did not usually
talk to each other conversed on
the horrific incidents that oc
curred on that day. Some put
paper flags in their windows
to show their connection to
the nation. All the turmoil and
rancor evident on September
10 seemed to dissipate. While
the United Nations often is a
contentious place where dis
agreement reigns, on Septem
ber 28,2001, that body adopted
unanimously Security Council
Resolution 1373 against ter
rorism and a few days later
it implemented Article 5 that
binds its members together to
protect each other as an attack
on one is an attack on all. This
was the first time in the history
of the UN that Article 5 had
been invoked.
9/11 should be an inspiration
to all of us that our differences
are not as great as what binds us
together. If the world can find
THE DAY AFTER
accord even for one day, we as a
nation can also. A common and
somewhat trite notion of “sit
ting at the table of brotherhood”
has been uttered many times.
Pope Francis called for Hu
man Fraternity for World Peace
and Living Together. Retired
Admiral Panagiotis Kikareas,
a well-known peace advocate
and President and CEO of the
World Peace Foundation called
on the leaders and citizens of
the world to embrace the Code
of "The Human Brotherhood."
Our own Dr. Martin Lu
ther King, Jr. in his “I Have
a Dream” speech gave five
principle themes. He spoke
of Unfulfilled Promises that
America had made to African
Americans: Promises made but
promises not kept. He spoke of
the need for immediacy in his
cry for “An Urgent Need for
Action.” He saw as a nation
that there was a need for unity
with the white community. Dr.
King was a nonviolent warrior
who stressed The importance
of not meeting evil with evil.
The Power of Hope fueled
his movement and his life’s
journey.
Dr. King also had a prescrip
tion for how the elements of his
dream could be accomplished.
Dr. King spoke of a “table of
brotherhood” where people
from different backgrounds
could sit down and break bread
and discuss their differences, all
in the hope to know one another
better.
There is no better time
than now to have that “Sit-
Do wn”after a very impassioned
and bitter election. The need
for such a gathering is evident;
however, the leadership neces
sary is in question. Now is
the time for political leaders,
faith leaders, and civic leaders
to meet and make plans for
our community to come to the
table of brotherhood and share
our thoughts without rancor or
recriminations.
As we really listen to our
collective concerns, we have
the opportunity to know one
another better. Knowing each
other leads to better understand
ing. A gathering also could
occur where we break bread
together since a good meal
nourishes the body and enlivens
the spirit.