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July 6, 2011
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—^Reporter
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
On the Porch
Thoughts from
the courthouse
I spent a lot of time in
the Monroe Country
courthouse last week
covering the James
Weeks’ trial, and
since trials have long spells
of boredom and tedious
legal wrangling, I had
plenty of time to look out
the window and reflect on
our handsome little
town.
It’s funny that
after seven years of
waiting on mind-
numbingly slow state
bureacracy, then the
griping and contro
versy, and finally
fits and starts
of actual work,
$1 million in
Streetscape improvements
to the Forsyth square qui
etly and handsomely have
come to an end. Without a
word. Hopefully someone’s
plannig a downtown cel
ebration, because the result
is fantastic.
A friend from Gray, Josh
Lurie, the publisher of the
Jones County News, was
visiting about a month ago
and we were walking to
get some supper when he
looked around and said he
wished Gray had a square
like ours. We have some
thing we can be proud of,
for sure.
Now if we can just get
some more businesses to fill
the vacant buildings.
I talked to the folks at
Ladebco before they closed
their music shop on the
square and they told me
the Streetscape construc
tion just killed their foot
traffic. I hate to see them
go, but as a college town
Bamesville may be a better
fit for them.
The good news is that it’s
been proven you can make
a business work in Forsyth.
Grits Cafe on the square
is, of course, ultra-suc
cessful. And Prime Palate
seems to drawing good
crowds in the former Royal
Palm building.
New Better Hometown
director Lorraine Khoury,
whose job it is to promote
and bring life to downtown,
should help. Her fam
ily had a succe ssful
clothing store in Fort
Valley, so maybe she
can help bring retail
back to the downtown
district.
Of course it helps
that the cen
terpiece of the
square, the his
toric Monroe
County courthouse, just
glimmers after the renova
tion project. The antique
features make it look like
a movie set. Of course,
nothing’s perfect. And as a
result, of the restored hard-
word floors in the main
courtroom, seemingly every
little peep is amplified and
echoes around the chamber.
I don’t, know if there’s any
way to fix that. But, it, prob
ably helps keep spectators
from making much noise,
because they know it, car
ries.
I pondered such things
because, well, my mind
always wanders, but, also
because the things being
discussed in the trial were
things you just, don’t, want,
to hear. One witness talked
about, the number of her
teen friends who were
bisexual. It, was a reminder
of the sexual confusion that,
reigns in our world. Suffice
it, to say: Pray for our
families in Monroe County.
Most, of the problems in
our country go back to the
home, and that’s where the
solutions must, begin.
OPINION POLL
Another Forsyth, but
only one Don Daniel
Reporter columnist Don Daniel will return to these pages
next week after being gone for three weeks while work
ing with FEMA after flooding hit the Dakotas and Mon
tana. As he worked in Big Sky country, Daniel stumbled
upon Forsyth, Montana, a small town as close to 1-94 as
Forsyth, Ga. is to 1-75.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
No limits to Corley’s potential
To the editor:
A s a former English teacher of
Laura Corley’s, I have enjoyed and
admired all of her excellent, work
for the Reporter. Laura has always
been an outstanding writer, but,
to see her use her skills in a weekly public
forum adds another dimension to her abili
ties. Laura’s clear and thoroughly researched
articles greatly benefit, everyone in Monroe
County. After just, one year of college, Laura is
a working journalist, functioning profession
ally (and from my viewpoint, beautifully) in her
chosen field. Combine this journalistic initia
tive with the creative writing skills Laura also
possesses (she was our MPHS Young Georgia
Authors Senior Poetry winner two years ago),
and there are no limits to this talented young
lady’s potential.
I look forward to more of Laura’s writing and
photography!
Diane Smith
Macon
CORLEY
New number for phone alert system
To the editor:
F or the last, six years, Monroe County
has used a wonderful system of
mass notification to alert, citizens to
pending safety issues. While severe
weather is the primary use of this
service, it, has been used for missing people,
utility outages, traffic hazards and warnings for
criminal activity. It, has been so widely accepted
that, citizens have saved the number in their
caller ID boxes and cell phones so they know
to answer the call. I hear stories all the time
of people who heeded the warnings and were
spared tragedy.
Earlier this summer, the company that, han- PERRY
dies our notifications, Notification Technologies
out, of Macon, was purchased by another com
pany, One Call Now. The biggest, change that, citizens
will see is that, on your caller ID, the number 1-877-698-
3261 will appear. In the past, the 800 numbers caused
confusion and people refused to answer because they
thought, this was a telemarketer. However, by choosing
to use the 1-877-698-3261, those that, miss the
call or only hear a part, of the message, can
redial this number and hear the message in
its entirety. By staying with a 478 number, we
lose this important, feature. In the future, citi
zens will have the option to receive email and
text, message notifications as well.
We still are urging citizens to have their cell
phone numbers added to the system, espe
cially if this is the only phone in your home.
That, can be easily done by going to www.mon-
roecountygeorgia.com and printing the form
from the homepage. Once returned to the com
mission office, the number is quickly updated
and added to the system.
Matt Perry
Forsyth
Do you favor having Sunday alcohol
sales at restaurants in Forsyth?
Yes, it will help us draw 47 votes
more restaurants. 47 percent
No, look at all the pain 54 votes
caused by alcohol in our 53 percent
community lately. Six of
seven days is plenty.
is published every week by
The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secretary-tre asurer
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The comments featured on the opinion pages
are the sole creations of the writers, they do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Re
porter management.
Publication No. IJSPS 997-840)
Civil War Sesquicentennial
Crowder was pro-Union until 1861
O ne hundred and fifty
years ago, on July 4,
1861 at. Liberty Hill,
then a part, of Monroe
County, John Terrell
Crowder organized the company
that, became the Monroe Crowders.
A wealthy man, Crowder, accord
ing to C. A. Ensign, paid for the
equipment, of this company out, of
his own pocket,. His men elected
him captain. In October 1861,
the Crowders entered active
Confederate service as Company
D in the 31st Georgia Volunteer
Infantry.
Clement A. Evans, who at one
time commanded the 31st Georgia,
remembered them as “a noted body
of men. They were of such uniform
height as to cause the special admi
ration of the brigade. It is stated
that the average weight of the
company and its officers was 160
pounds.”
The 41 year old Crowder was a
farmer in 1861, living by himself in
Unionville in the northern part of
the county, when the war broke out.
In the 1860 census, he had twenty-
three slaves, enough to place him in
the planter class.
Ensign later remembered that
Crowder had a large plantation of
1,000 acres “on both sides of the
Little Towaliga River and Rocky
Creek.” It was “fine bottom land
that produced fine crops.” Ensign
probably included the plantation
of Crowder’s father on Boxankle
Road, as John T. Crowder later lived
there.
Crowder came to Monroe County
with his parents, Frederick and
Phoebe Hill Crowder, when the vir
gin soil of the county first opened
for settlement. Crowder was his
parents’ only son to survive to matu
rity. He had, though, three sisters:
Martha who married Dr. Paschal
Watts, Susan who married George
Willis of Cabaniss, and Leonora who
married J. A. Alexander of Forsyth.
His brother-in-law, Dr. Watts,
became a member of the company
Crowder organized on Independence
Day, 1861.
In the 1850s when he was a mem
ber of the American Party, Crowder
served three terms in the Georgia
legislature in Milledgeville. After
the disintegration of the American
Party in Georgia, Crowder identi
fied himself with an anti-Democratic
movement in the state. He seems to
have been politically pro-Union prior
to 1860.
According to local lore, Crowder
is the originator of the crowder
pea. This is probably a case of folk
etymology because of Crowder’s sur
name and the common designation
of a class of field peas.
While Crowder’s association with
the pea may be apocryphal, his cul
tivation of the grape vine is not. He
had a vineyard in which he cultivat
ed Concord, Niagara, and Delaware
grapes as well as scuppernongs.
From his grapes, he made a very
fine wine, according to a guest who
later wrote of visits to the Crowder
home.
The Monroe Crowders, orga
nized 150 years ago, fought at
Cold Harbor, Second Manassas,
Fredericksburg, and Sharpsburg,
where Crowder himself was seri
ously wounded.
Kemp
continued from the front
make a decision.
It’s already been more than two years since surveyor
Terry Scarborough submitted his marking of the coun
ty line. Bibb County protested the survey, which marks
the 12-mile county line to the south and east of where it
is currently recognized. Bibb County has said it would
cost it millions of dollars in tax revenue.
However, after a three-day hearing on the issue in
early March, an administrative law judge hired by
the secretary of state to review the dispute ruled that
Scarborough’s work was valid and acceptable. The
judge, John Sherrill, recommended that Kemp accept
the Scarborough line.
Kemp held his two-hour hearing in May and gave the
counties until Thursday to submit final briefs.
Scarborough has refused to discuss his survey because
Bibb County has refused to pay him its part of the
costs. But he has written that he used the 1821 law cre
ating Bibb County as the guide for his survey because
there’s no evidence that the line was ever surveyed.
The main dispute has been over the location of the
“Waller’s or Turrentine’s” on the Ocmulgee River and
identified by the legislature in 1821 as the endpoint.
In their briefs, both counties rehashed familiar argu
ments. Bibb County said Scarborough assumed he
found the right ferry location but argues that the ferry
was actually at another location further north on the
river. Monroe County claims Scarborough indeed found
the ferry.