Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
Reporter
Mav 7. 2008
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
OUR VIEW
The sky is falling -
of maybe not?
There’s something in human nature that is drawn to
negative news, depressing facts and morbid outlooks.
And the national media seem anxious to feed that
inclination.
After spending four years trying to portray the Iraq
war as an utter failure and quagmire, the success of
the U.S. surge forced the talking heads to find a new
calamity. They have settled on the U.S. economy, which
certainly has slowed. Gas prices are at all-time highs,
in part of our own making. Driven by environmental
extremists, federal and state governments have passed
more regulations on fuel and have all but ended oil
exploration in the U.S. This has stifled the supply of
oil, which always pushes up prices, and has made us
more dependent on foreign oil. Meanwhile, the housing
market is recovering from a period of insanely too-
easy credit and overspeculation, forcing today’s neces
sary cool off.
But our main point is that we need not be gloomy
(see page 10A). Yes, many families are struggling and
hurting. This is a time for neighbor to reach out to
neighbor. But before you give way to self-pity, find a
member of the Greatest Generation and ask them
about the Great Depression. Tough times are a part of
life, and they’ve seen worse. But as they’ll tell you,
that’s when you find out what you’re made of. And we
think Americans, and Monroe Countians, are made of
pretty hearty stuff.
KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR
Name: Ricky Wilson
Age: 48
Education: Graduated
from MPHS in 1978.
Received associ
ate’s degree in
business from
Gordon College
Family: Wife:
Melody (married
28 years),
Daughter: Amber
(student at Georgia
Southwestern
State University)
Where you wor
ship: Forsyth First
Baptist
Your job: Farming
First job: milking cows
Passion: MP football
Favorite possession:
our house
Favorite movie: “Dirty
Dancing”
Favorite magazine:
Reader’s Digest
What kind of car do
you drive? F250 truck
What was your first
car? Baby blue Camaro
Hometown: Forsyth
Something you’re con
sidering doing: Going to
Las Vegas
Something you can’t
live without: remote con
trol
Words you live by: You
ain’t no better than your
sorriest friend
The thing you’re most
proud of: family
Something you will
never do again: Ride a
roller coaster
If your life had a
theme song,
what would it
be? “Play that
funky music white
boy”
If you could
start your life
over would you
change any
thing? Absolutely
nothing
What food
could you eat
everyday? My mama’s
biscuits
Thing that keeps you
up at night: Praying the
cows don’t get out
Something people
don’t know about you: I
like to sing and dance. I’m
the youngest and only boy
of seven children.
Do you have a nick
name and if so, what is
it and who gave it to
you? “Hotdog”, given by
Coach Pitts
Worst idea ever?
Helping my daughter deco
rate for her Junior-Senior
Prom
The best thing about
living in Monroe
County: Mary Persons
home football games
If you could change
anything about Monroe
County, what would it
www.mymcr.net
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secretary-treasurer
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30 E. Johnston St., Forsyth, GA
31029
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Point Blank: Cartoons best understood via last week’s Reporter
FOUTG.BIsAHfe!
What happens art Clnto de Mayo days an Cincn de Maya I
Moctezuma's Rivengc
Since 1 ^20
Willie Lm Neal, tisQ.
HI
itjado winner o\' 5 straight. Gringo Gallop l 3 oJls
Tr
S'
SeruTr Wal drop, w hflf
would you like with
your chips and salsa?
Wei l in honor of me q uaEi lying for
the primaries I'll take a Sheriff's
Favorite Salad. Par favor
*
On the Porch
Tennis, anyone? A
I t’s taken me 25 years
but I’ve finally
accepted reality.
We’re past the denial
stage. Yes, my name
is Will, and I am a horrible
golfer and will always be.
I have been repressing
this uncomfortable fact for
years. When we
were young my
brother and I took
our golf clubs on
every family trip.
Nevermind we
couldn’t break par
with a hammer.
Looking back, golf
must have
been just an
excuse to be
outdoors,
because we
stunk. We always found
ways to have fun in spite of
our lack of talent. I’ll never
forget the time my friend
Thomas Wood flipped our
cart into a mug bog at
Silver Creek Golf Club in
Cape Carteret, N.C. We
grabbed our clubs and ran
for the parking lot before
the golf police showed.
Later, there was the time
my wife and I joined three
other families in taking
our small children out for a
golf outing/picnic at the
Twin City Country Club in
Tennille. I carried
my video camera to
record this momen-
tus event for pos
terity. When I land
ed in the woods
(typically) along
the No. 3 fairway, I
gave the camera to
one of the
kids, age 9,
and told
him to film
while I
tried to punch a slow draw
ing 3-iron out from behind
a tree. What a hit it was,
until a towering pine
moved over to right in
front of my dimpled
Titleist ball, slamming it
back at us. The cameraboy
hazard-free sport
bent over with delight, cap
turing my misery on tape.
This is when I speed up my
game. Bad golf turns into
panicked golf, with the
faint hope that a perfect
shot will erase the linger
ing taste of four straight
whiffs. I hear my camer
aboy still guffawing behind
me as he walks (2 feet) to
get in position for my next
shot. Whack!! I pound
another pretty 3-iron, only
to have the ball find anoth
er nearby tree and ricochet
backward past the 9-year-
old, sending him and the
camera to the ground.
About a dozen parents and
kids look on dying with
laughter at my expense. It
made for great TV, and
we’d probably win a lot of
money from “America’s
Funniest Videos” if I wasn’t
too proud to send it in.
But most of the time you
don’t take small children
out for golf for obvious rea
sons. Golf is hard enough
without adding in child-
rearing. And so then a five-
hour round of golf begins
to undergo a cost-benefit
analysis of lost family
time. Then, there are other
losses. If I “displace” 10
golf balls in 300 minutes
and take 110 swings to fin
ish 18 holes, have I really
gained anything? Just how
much leisure time should
be devoted to self-flagella
tion and humiliation?
But, alas, sport and cam-
eraderie are not left to the
golfers alone. Forsyth, I
have discovered, has a bud
ding informal tennis
league that plays on
Thursday and Sunday
nights at MP. With guys
like Goat and Hot Dog (see
at left), with Baptist minis
ters, attorneys and busi
ness owners, the competi
tion is strong, but not too
strong. Yes, tennis fits me
much better than golf. But
then, that’s not saying a
whole lot.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Wife: Husband abused by city police
To the editor:
am writing in regard to a news
article in your March 12 edi
tion (“Man Tasered for trying
to run over officer,” page 3A,)
concerning the police assault
upon my husband, Thomas Nelson,
which occurred on March 8.
While your article did note that
your information came from the
police report only, I am shocked you
did not follow up and report the
other side of the story. I hope you
realize there is another side.
From this incident, we have
learned the disturbing fact that the
public, and those who report to the
public, are too quick to accept the
word of the police, as if the police are
always truthful and never overstep
their bounds.
Had you investigated further, you
might have had some questions
about why two young and healthy
Forsyth police officers felt the need
to fire a barbed dart into my hus
band’s chest, inflicting a five-second,
50,000 volt electric shock upon a 50-
year-old unarmed man who suffers
from seizures, wears a back brace
and has great difficulty in the use of
his knees and legs.
The figures I have noted above are
easily obtainable on the web and are
available from the manufacturer of
the Taser weapon, as are also reports
of the many citizens who have died
from having been Tasered.
The Forsyth officer who used elec
tro-shock on my husband arrived on
the scene knowing nothing about the
incident that started this whole
affair. Had you reported fully on the
police report, you should have noted
that this officer stated that he
stepped into the path of the vehicle
being driven by my husband.
Furthermore, he employed his Taser
weapon after my husband told him
that he suffered from seizures, while
my husband had his hands raised,
was some distance away from the
officer and had made an attempt to
get to the ground on his injured legs
and back.
My family had to become victims of
police abuse before we truly realized
how quickly and easily it can be
inflicted on any citizen. We are in as
much danger from overly zealous
police as we are from real criminals.
When my husband was assaulted
by the Forsyth police,
he was trying to comply
with the instructions of
a Monroe County
deputy, instructions
which were inconsis
tent with those that the
Forsyth officer claims
he was giving.
We should ask the
Forsyth council if they
furnished these electro
shock weapons to be
used at the whim of the
police. Do they have
training on the deadly
consequences these
devices can have? Are
there policies regarding
the use of these poten
tially deadly weapons?
My husband could
have easily died from a seizure
brought on by the use of this device.
And what justified its use on an
unarmed man whose physical dis
abilities would have been clear to
any reasonable officer entrusted with
the use of such force?
If two healthy Forsyth police offi
cers are not capable of arresting an
unarmed, physically disabled citizen
who is twice their age, and who is
not resisting them, then all of us in
Monroe County must assume we are
in danger of being attacked in the
same manner that Thomas Nelson
was.
Thomas Nelson has been a law-
abiding citizen of this county for 50
years. Now, the Forsyth police are
trying to send him to prison for 46
years. And this entire incident came
about because a Monroe County
deputy told Thomas he could not
park his truck in an unoccupied
bank parking lot during the
Forsythia Festival.
Because of this police assault,
Thomas is suffering flashbacks to the
incident; he cannot eat or sleep prop
erly, has nightmares in which the
assault is repeated, and all this is
affecting his work on his job. We can
not afford for him to lose time at
work because we must now pay thou
sands to defend Thomas in court, to
prevent his spending his last years
in a Georgia prison.
I beg you to print at least part of
this letter so the citizens of Monroe
County can know that this same
thing can happen to any one of them
at any time. Certainly, Thomas at
least deserves to have his side told.
He does not look very dangerous in
the picture you published in which
he has been laid out on the ground
with a Forsyth officer standing over
him like he has just shot some ani
mal.
Colleen Nelson
Juliette
Forsyth police discuss the arrest of Thomas Nelson
(in rear) after he was tasered on March 8 in front of
Farmers’ Bank. Nelson is comforted by his wife,
Colleen, author of this letter. (File photo)