Newspaper Page Text
July 13, 2011
^Reporter
PAGE 5A
On the Outside Looking In
Driving 3,000 miles and thinking
JACKSi
D
BY DONALD
JACKSON DANIEL
riving on back
roads in South
Dakota
and
Mon
tana, not speeding
at 75 mph, the
straight roads en
able you to see
where you have
been and where
you are going.
While racking up
over 3,000 miles in
just over three
weeks, the monotony of the
straight roads, only occa
sionally broken up by very
small towns, lead to a lot of
thinking of what was going
on back in Monroe County,
specifically with “the five
who think they are fabu
lous and un-shame-
able”....TFWTTAFU.
Being my first trip to
both states, I really
expected to see cowboys on
horseback, some Indian
teepees and maybe some
Indians riding bare back
with war paint dusting a
trail over the prairies. No
such luck. Ranchers riding
four wheelers instead of
horses, driving three-quar
ter million dollar tractors
and small towns about the
size of Blount, Smarr,
Bolingbroke, Culloden,
where the most popular
places in those towns were
the bars (saloons), casinos,
the downtown picture
show and grain silos.
Out on the prairies, it is
a sportsman’s paradise
where fishing for walleyes
is addictive and there is a
pheasant capital---
Redfield, S.D.--and a
rhubarb capital, Leola.
Pronghorn elk and deer
are the big game animals
that can feed a family dur
ing the minus-30 degree
and six-foot snow
drift winters.
Up in Montana, a
sheriff has a “death
certificate” for a
local resident that
has the cause of
death, “killed by
Indians”. He’ll even
v - show you the body:
in a cardboard box
in his “evidence
room,” including the
skull. Sheriff didn’t know
if the man had been
scalped as Indians were
prone to do a 100-plus
years ago but he was
keeping the “remains” in
the evidence room...pre
sumably just in case.
The most interesting
bar/grill/casino advertise
ment (I don’t remember
the town for after a while
they all seem the same)
was the Hell Creek Bar
advertising “cold beer and
greasy food”. Just had to
find out. Yep, the ham
burger was greasy, drip
ping grease but had to
miss out on the cold beer
and settled for a bottle of
pop: a root beer.
If I remember correctly,
the motel rooms were
about all the same staying
in seven different towns.
In Webster, S.D., the
bar/grill/casino motel
advertised six rooms. Over
in Waubay, the three
motels all advertised
“clean fish shacks with
running water”. The gas
station/hardware
store/bar/casino and grill
had everything for a home
improvement project or
whatever a sportsman
would need.
One thing really amazed
me all along the three
thousand plus miles, was
there was no trash along
the highway right-of-ways,
like here in Monroe
County, both in South
Dakota and Montana. I
finally figured it out: these
small towns didn’t have
Whopperdiddlyqueenwend
ymacs and people drank
their beer in the
bar/grill/casino. Another
reason I discovered is the
people I met were proud of
their communities and the
scenic beauty that sur
rounds them.
Keeping up with the
“doings” in Monroe County
was pretty easy. Reading
The Reporter online, lis
tening to the Radio
Edition on Majic 100
online and constant phone
calls from friends and
those in the know. Have
to admit, even keeping up
with Monroe County on
the road and getting back
home to the “real” Monroe
County, the conclusion is
the same: glad to be back
home but still in wonder
ment of the actions of our
elected officials, including
the Magistrate Judge, who
did the right thing resign
ing from the Forsyth City
Court Judgeship. Gonna
be an interesting re-elec
tion time next year. More
about that next week.
There just may be an
ulterior motive for
TFWTTAFAU’s taking the
action to no longer adver
tise for county help want
ed in this newspaper, the
legal organ for the county.
Obviously there has to be
CGTC is the
better choice
because it's
more affordable
which means
graduate
with little
no debt.
Fall Semester
Application Deadline July 22
Classes begin August 23
CENTRAL GEORGIA
Monroe County Center
(478) 992-2717 | www.centralgatech.edu
an ulterior and possible
sinister motive. Since the
commissioners will be the
first to know what jobs are
going to become available,
maybe they just want to
offer them to their
“cronies”, “good old boys’
and those who have sup
ported them in an attempt
to “pay back” those who
have voted for them or use
it in their campaigns to
get re-elected.
Got this e-mail while on
the road: “The commis
sioners are tired of being
embarrassed in The
Reporter. What they don’t
comprehend nor under
stand is that they are
embarrassing themselves.
Just attend a commission
meeting or watch it on
Forsyth’s cablevision and
they just don’t want the
public---voters/citizens---to
see or read about just how
they embarrass them
selves and our county.
Disgusting!”
HERE’S an idea for the
Forsyth City Council: have
a straw poll asking the cit
izens if they (1) want a
swimming pool and (2)
whether or not they want
the city to sell the tax-
payer-money-losing cable
system. Put it on the
liquor vote coming up.
STREET TALK is that
the new
Hometown/Downtown
Development Director is
making quite an impres
sion on Forsyth’s down
town merchants. With
Streetscape just about fin
ished, she has a great
opportunity. And best
wishes on getting the
downtown and governing
authority to go along with
the ideas we are all sure
she will come up with to
make downtown Forsyth a
place to visit. What about
downtown bars/grills/ casi
nos? They sure are attract
ing and sustaining the
“prairie towns” I visited in
S.D. and Montana.
NEXT week, The
Question resumes and
remind me: preachers,
bars, grills, casinos.
Don Daniel is the
founder and former pub
lisher of this newspaper.
Contact him at tullay-
bear@bellsouth.net.
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