Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
March 11, 2009
^Reporter
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
OUR VIEW
Ask Magic to make its stripper ads disappear
Call Magic Media at (229) 219-4489 and tell them what
you think of its strip club billboards in Monroe County
"Mommy, what's a stripper?"
Monroe County parents may
hear that question from the back
seat of their cars thanks to a
new billboard along 1-75 south.
Located just south of the Tift
College exit, the billboard has a
black background with giant
white letters, "$TRIPPER$," and
adds: "Need We Say More."
Well, in fact, we think they
should say more. Like how does
billboard company Magic Media
justify littering communities like
Monroe County with such adver-
tisments? A Pennsylvania-based
company with a regional office in
Valdosta, Magic still has a sec
ond billboard in Monroe County
for Cafe Erotica. That strip club
was located at the same exit but
closed in July 2008. Magic has a
third billboard for a Tokyo
Health Spa in Macon.
Magic Southeast president
David Hornkohl didn't return
five phone messages about the
billboards. He did, however, fax
the Reporter a statement saying
the company was removing the
Cafe Erotica billboard at mile
marker 183. He said they'll
replace it with a billboard for a
local hotel on Monday. However,
the Cafe Erotica billboard still
stood on Monday and no work
had begun as of presstime.
Hornkohl said Magic strives to
keep current advertising on its
displays but said current eco
nomic conditions have made it
more difficult. He did not
respond to a faxed question
about the Strippers billboard.
Hornkohl's company appears to
have more lax standards than
most billboard companies.
Billboard giant Lamar
Advertising, which has about
50 billboards in Monroe
County, doesn't sell displays
to sexually-oriented busi
nesses. That according to
Chris Story, Lamar's general
manager for Central Georgia.
Neither does locally-owned
billboard company, Willingham
Outdoor, which has about 18 bill
boards in the county.
"We're a family and we don't do
those," said Lee Willingham.
Story said it's frustrating
because such advertisements
give all billboard firms a bad
name. He said when they go to a
city council to get a billboard
installed, the sexually-oriented
billboards are the first thing they
have thrown in their face.
"We fight it all the time," said
Story. "It's frustrating when you
have independent companies
that won't have any standards."
County zoning official John
Kutcher said property owners
must obtain commercial zoning
to erect a billboard but said the
county doesn't regulate the con
tent of billboards. The First
Amendment makes it hard to
restrict billboard content.
But the First Amendment also
gives citizens the right to call
Magic Media to share their con
cerns about the company's bill
boards in our community. Give
them a ring at (229) 219-4489,
fax them at (229) 247-9570 or
write them at 1700 River Street,
Valdosta, GA 31601.
Tell them you'd like for the
company to show its Magic by
making its family un-friendly
billboards disappear from
Monroe County.
On the Porch
A few thoughts on a highly-medicated society
I had the opportunity
to emcee Monroe
County Hospital’s
Relay for Life fund
raiser, called Bunko
for Breast Cancer, a few
weeks ago at the
Royal Palm
Caboose.
A lively crowd of
more than 100
packed into the
room for some
intense dice
rolling com
petition. To
entertain
the crowd I
was
instructed to announce
scavenger hunts between
games. I sent women
scrounging through their
pocketbooks to find things
like tools, underwear and
fast food receipts. (There
were also talent competi
tions. One winner sang the
“Star Spangled Banner”
while standing in a chair.
The whole crowd joined in.
It was like a scene out of
“Christmas Vacation”.)
Winners got door prizes
and gift certificates.
The hard part was
coming up with a
list of scavenger
items. These ladies
came prepared for
the hunt with pocket
books stuffed to the
gills.
Making our
list, we were
thinking of
funny medi
cines people keep on them,
like ex-lax, and one organ
izer suggested Xanax, the
anti-anxiety prescription
drug, as a scavenger item.
“Nah, don’t use that,” she
laughed, on second
thought. “Everybody’s got
it.”
She was joking, or half-
joking, but her humor
reflects a reality in modern
American life: we live in a
heavily medicated society.
We’re told that 237 million
prescriptions were written
last year for anti-depres
sants alone, making them
the most prescribed drugs
in America. They're pre
scribed more than drugs to
treat high blood pressure,
high cholesterol, asthma,
or headaches. One study
found that 80 percent of all
Americans who visit physi
cians suffer from depres
sion or anxiety.
And that was before the
economy went south. Now
it seems almost everyone is
scared or in a funk.
Part of the reason we’re
so afraid, I think, is that
our generation hasn’t real
ly lived through hard times
before. The last 25 years
have seen an unprecedent
ed period of prosperity.
This has led to slightly
unrealistic expectations of
life. It’s been easy to think
that wealth, ease and
peace are the default set
tings for humankind. I’m
all for wealth, ease and
peace, but history tells us
they’re not really the
norm. Perhaps there’s a
reason for that.
British author C.S. Lewis
wrote a lot about the value
of pain and trials. They’re
the most effective tools
God has to get our atten
tion, wrote Lewis.
"God whispers to us in
our pleasures, speaks to us
in our conscience, but
shouts in our pains: It is
His megaphone to rouse a
deaf world."
When everything is rosy,
I give most of my thoughts
to what I want, what I like
and what I can do. It’s I, I
and I.
But when I’m down, I
have to look outside of
myself for help.
Perhaps that’s why the
Book of James encourages
us to find joy in our trou
bles: “Consider it pure joy,
my brothers, whenever you
face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the
testing of your faith devel
ops perseverance.
Perseverance must finish
its work so that you may
be mature and complete,
not lacking anything.”
I am a little worried
about the economy. I am
even more worried about
our current political
regime, bent as it is on
destroying business and
empowering the govern
ment elite.
But maybe that’s part of
God’s megaphone calling
us to come to Him for help
and refreshment. If your
doctor thinks you need
Xanax or Prozac, I hope it
helps. But that’s ultimately
a temporary solution to an
age-old problem: living as a
mortal in a world full of
difficulty and uncertainty.
A more lasting solution is
available through a rela
tionship with the One
described in Psalm 46:
“God is our refuge and
strength, a very present
help in trouble. Therefore
we will not fear though the
earth gives way, though
the mountains be moved
into the heart of the sea.”
Even if I draw closer to
God through Jesus, I can
still get scared or down.
But I am no longer alone.
I now have God and the
community of His people to
help me through the hard
times. And you don’t even
need a prescription.
Will Davis is publisher of
the Monroe County
Reporter.
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secret ary-treasurer
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Publication No. USPS 997-840)
The Low Down on High Falls
Never a dull day in High Falls
Law enforcement officers set up a checkpoint
in High Falls Friday during a mock search for a
child abductor. (Photo/Laura Thackston)
L ast Friday morning was
like any other Friday
morning as I opened the
motel office. I turned the
phones on, made my coffee,
opened the mail and checked my
check-ins from the night before and
turned the news on.
I noticed almost immediately the
“Levi” call flashing on the bottom of
the screen, giving a tag number and
some information about an abduction
of a young girl and a
description of a gold car, I
wrote the tag number
down.
I had noticed a gold car
across the parking lot ear
lier. I walked outside,
glanced at the tag and
from the numbers I had
memorized , my heart
started to race—it was a
match!
I picked the phone up
terrified that the next
thing I would see would be
some sinister person com
ing thru the door knowing I was call
ing 911.1 told the operator that I
had the car they were looking for in
the parking lot of the motel.
I see a man with a young girl by
the gold car now, I see them getting
into a white truck and leaving. When
the GBI and a very large amount of
other law enforcement cars converge
on our parking lot, my knees are
shaking so badly I can
hardly stand—they are
walking towards the
office—how can I tell them
I let them get away, I
should have been able to do
something to stall them
until the police got here
but noooo I was too busy
trying to calm my heart
down—I could have done
that later.
Several GBI
agents questioned
me extensively
until I started to
wonder if they
suspected me but they soon
left following the others
that continued their pur
suit of this man and girl.
A GBI agent was the
abductor—I was the
observant motel manager
that made the call to the
police—the victim, I am
assuming, was another law
enforcement officer and
the scenario was a very believable
exercize by the GBI to “play out” an
abduction for training films.
It made what I expected to be
another Friday, an exciting look into
what these dedicated men and
women do on a daily basis to protect
us and our children, most of the time
with no regard for their own safety.
This had a happy ending, unfortu
nately not for a lot of other children
and adults that are abducted each
year in our country.
These law enforcement agency
men and women are our heroes.
They caught the abductor—it was
a good Friday after all.
Remember
God didn’t promise days with
out pain,
laughter without sorry,sun
without rain
He did promise strength for the
day,comfort for the tears, and
light for the way.
Margaret Sigretto is the manager of
the High Falls Hideaway and covers
High Falls for the Monroe County
Reporter. Local law enforcement par
ticipated in a training exercise in
High Falls on Friday.
By Margaret
Sigretto