Newspaper Page Text
r
L
VIEWPOIN
Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com
She Sttnes
gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, November 4, 2018
For The Times
Activities at the Chicopee Clubhouse often
brought many adults and children from the
community together.
Clubhouse from
Chicopee filled
with memories
Chicopee Village’s clubhouse once was the
center of activity for the modern mill village
built by Johnson & Johnson for Chicopee Manu
facturing Corp., which
opened on the Atlanta
Highway in Hall
County in 1927.
Colleene Ivey,
who was six months
old when her family
moved there just as
Chicopee started up,
remembers during
her growing-up years
good times in the club
house. Children would
gather there on Satur
days for fun activities,
and numerous birthday and other parties were
held there.
Colleene’s father, G.H. Potts, was involved in
building the company’s waterworks, so that was
why the family was one of the original residents
of the village. They lived in Oakwood until the
village homes were completed.
She recalls Chicopee being pretty much self
sufficient with its clinic and doctors’ and den
tists’ visits, a company store, elementary school,
ball field, tennis courts, post office, barber and
beauty shop. Script, issued in coins, was avail
able to employees to use in the company store.
It was called “boogaloo.”
Swings faced the Atlanta Highway. “We
used to sit in those and watch the two or three
cars going by on their way to Atlanta, ” Colleen
remembers. That’s in contrast today when a
steady stream of traffic speeds down the road
between Gainesville and Oakwood.
She also remembers in her youth skating and
riding bicycles through the village. Colleene
lived in Chicopee until she was 20 years old.
After elementary school, children could choose
to go to Lyman Hall High School nearby or
Gainesville High School. Colleene chose Lyman
Hall.
After a gymnasium was built, dances were
held in it most Saturday nights. Parents would
bring their children. A Chicopee Band per
formed at many of the activities.
Another popular activity was ball games on
the field in the middle of the village.
The original school and gym were behind the
plant across Atlanta Highway from the village.
They also served as churches. The new school
was built within the village in 1947, and the gym
added later.
Chicopee had its own weekly newspaper for
several years.
Colleene married Ted Ivey, who was a rail
road man and volunteer coach for Gainesville’s
youth athletic teams. Ivey-Watson Baseball
Field, used by Gainesville High School, carries
his name and that of former GHS Coach Drane
Watson. Colleene recently celebrated her 92nd
birthday.
In a Times podcast a few days ago, Kay Reed
Scoville, who grew up in Chicopee, also recalled
good times at the Chicopee Clubhouse. Labor
Day picnics were a highlight when the company
provided all the food and fun. The company
also produced a big Halloween carnival at the
clubhouse. The path leading to it was called the
Trail of Horrors, with “bodies” hanging out of
the trees and scary noises all around.
Scoville remembers as a child tense times
during World War II. Her father was an air raid
warden, and he would help conduct practice
blackouts when Kay, her mother and little
brother had to sit at home in the dark.
Another fond memory for Kay was getting
a nickel for a scoop of ice cream at the village
drug store. The “soda jerk” was Joe T. Wood,
who later became a longtime Hall County state
representative.
The Chicopee clubhouse no longer sits in the
village. It was moved in 1972 to the property of
Oakwood First Baptist Church. Though in a dif
ferent location, it remains a center of activity
for that community.
Flo Ashworth, historian for the church, said
the former clubhouse is a vibrant part of Oak-
wood First Baptist. Youth in the community use
it for their activities, and it also is home to the
church’s Wisdom Circle.
Since being moved from Chicopee, the build
ing has been remodeled with new paneling, a
new roof and repaired fireplace.
***
Dr. Pepper Brown’s great-great-grandfa-
ther, Minor Winn Brown, built the first Brown’s
Bridge. He owned a farm on both sides of the
Chattahoochee River in Forsyth and Hall coun
ties. The bridge originally was a toll bridge
until the county bought it and eliminated the
toll. Brown’s Bridge was washed away several
times during floods, and the creation of Lake
Lanier caused a new bridge to be built.
***
This is the 200th anniversary year of Hall
County’s founding. More local history news
coming next week.
JOHNNY VARDEMAN
vardemanl 956@att.net
RODRIGO ABD I Associated Press
Members of a US-bound migrant caravan stand on a road Oct. 27 after federal police briefly blocked their way outside the
town of Arriaga.
Is Trump right to block
Honduran immigrants
from crossing US border?
Caravan is an effort by
Honduran leftists to
evade immigration laws
Traditional American
compassion tmmps
troops on border
BY MERRILL MATTHEWS
Tribune News Service
BY DON KUSLER
Tribune News Service
President Donald Trump is sending federal troops to
the U.S.-Mexico border and taking other steps to stop the
Honduran migrant caravan headed for
the United States.
It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this,
but it’s the right thing to do.
Millions of foreigners dream of com
ing to the U.S. because of the three pil
lars of our society: freedom, economic
opportunity and the rule of law.
And for most of its history the U.S. has
been a welcoming country. The Depart
ment of Homeland Security says the U.S.
granted 1.18 million people lawful per
manent residence status or green cards
in 2016. The average annual green-card
rate for the past 30 years has hovered
around 1 million.
But those in the caravan seek to force
their way into the country — legally or
otherwise — just as they bulldozed past the barricades set
up by Mexican officials.
While the number of migrants entering illegally is down
from two decades ago — there are an estimated 11 million
here now — illegal entries are growing again.
Reuters claims border officials arrested nearly 400,000
people at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018, up from 304,000
the previous year. That influx is complicating officials’ abil
ity to manage and process the immigrants, especially those
with children.
However, those were mostly individuals and smaller
groups; this caravan was organized before it left Honduras.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “Honduran con
gressman Bartolo Fuentes of the left-wing Libre Party”
claims credit for organizing it, and numerous immigrant
organizations financially support such efforts. The question
is why now?
One reason is foreigners see our immigration system is
overwhelmed and seek to take advantage of it.
Syracuse University’s TRAC system cites 765,000 pend
ing immigration court cases nationwide, up from 629,000
last year and 200,000 a decade ago. The average wait for a
court appearance is 717 days.
That backlog allows immigrants to start their new life
here, and many will choose to fade into the background
rather than face an immigration judge. According to the
Justice Department, 39 percent of immigrants who applied
for asylum in 2016 failed to show up for their court hearing;
it was 43 percent in 2015.
It’s also possible that caravan instigators wanted to
influence the midterm elections by trying to embarrass
the Trump administration — perhaps hoping for a repeat
of the public-relations beating the administration took
because of family separations. If so, it appears likely to
backfire.
A Rasmussen poll found that 51 percent of voters believe
Trump should stop the caravan from entering the U.S. ille
gally; 38 percent disagree.
Democrats recognize the bad optics of what some are
calling an “invasion” storming our southern border and
are concerned that could energize conservative and inde
pendent voters, neutralizing Democrats’ hoped-for “blue
wave.”
Merrill
Matthews is
a resident
scholar with
the Institute
for Policy
Innovation
Don Kusler
is national
director of
Americans for
Democratic
Action
President Donald Trump sending U.S. military troops to
the border on the eve of the election is a political ploy and
would be way off base even if its inten
tions were pure.
With his presidency and his party’s
prospects looking bleak for the upcom
ing midterm elections Trump has
launched into a calculated campaign of
misinformation and division.
The goal is obvious. Distract, divide
and at least slow the political momen
tum building against his presidency.
By stoking fear and dividing Ameri
cans in an effort to hold onto to power,
Trump is playing a treacherous game
with our democratic society.
In the past several weeks the presi
dent has repeatedly attempted to fuel
division on a range of topics but the cen
tral target is immigrants, refugees and people of color.
Whether in tweets or at unruly rallies in key election
districts Trump has repeated hateful and dishonest state
ments about immigrants and the traveling group of Hondu
ran refugees seeking asylum.
Do our immigration laws need improvement? Of course.
Do we want our country to be safe? Without a doubt.
However, Trump’s hardline methods are cruel and inef
fective. Separating families is a horrible, inhumane idea
and is not slowing the flow of immigrants or refugees.
The wall is a financial and policy joke. The recently
reported attempt to reverse birthright citizenship for chil
dren born in the United States is simply un-American.
And... the foolish and likely ineffective use of U.S.
military troops as a purported deterrent at the border
is just another politically (not policy) motivated action
that experts even in his own administration believe to be
unwise.
This distract-and-divide tactic may be working, at least
with certain populations who are part of Trump’s base or
live along the border.
Sadly the president’s demonization of the press and
news agencies has created a buffer against criticism and
fact checking of his rhetoric.
I recently engaged, quite carefully, in a conversation
about the refugee caravan with a relative in my home
state of Texas.
While I know this person to be fairly open in their
thinking and voting it was clear that the misinformation
campaign was taking hold in a region that sees an outsized
impact from migration.
Talk of danger, gangs, drugs and other favorite fearful
and misinformed talking points being pushed by Trump
and his allies quickly came up.
However, when I explained that the people traveling
north were seeking asylum from the very things being
used to make Americans fearful the tone changed. I
also noted that the number of people involved is roughly
the size of a small Texas town and not some massive
“invasion.”
Thinking about women and children fleeing for their
lives, seeking safety, seeking a better life we agreed in the
Johnny Vardeman is retired editor of The Times,
whose column appears Sundays, e-mail him at
vardemanl 956@att.net.
■ Please see MATTHEWS, 4D
■ Please see KUSLER, 4D
