Newspaper Page Text
November 28, 2012
eReporter
PAGE 5A
On the Outside Looking In
Let the season begin ... now
By DONALD
JACKSON DANIEL
O .K, Thanksgiv
ing is over. Now.
the Christmas
season can be
gin and begin
ning it I did. I have never
participated in Black Fri
day but this past Friday I
ventured out into
the Black Friday
world as an “ob
server”. Well, hon
estly I did pur
chase a couple
items for the
grandchildren’s
stockings.
Since I waited
until Friday
afternoon, I did
n’t have any
problems with
bargain hunter crowds.
Actually it was really
calm, almost everydayish
shopping crowds. I was
disappointed in that I
wanted to observe the
boorish, jamming and
obnoxious shoppers belch
ing turkey, dressing and
sweet tea.
Disappointed, I came
home and started putting
up Christmas decorations,
designing, printing and
addressing Christmas
cards. Got in the
Christmas spirit in a
hurry. So, Ho Ho Ho Ho!
THIS IS sad! According
to a Los Angeles Times
story, 85 percent of the
toys sold in America are
made in China and more
than 95 percent of the
clothes sold in the USA
are produced overseas.
And we continue to buy
and spend supporting
countries that are hostile
to us..
ALONG those same
lines, a Central Georgia
EMC worker told me that
Central Georgia sent some
trucks and personnel up to
Connecticut to help restore
power to the Sandy rav
ished area where they
were welcomed, appreciat
ed and worked hard. They
did their job in
record time and
decided they would
go down to either
■ New Jersey or New
York to help out.
Long story short,
/ since Central
L Georgia workers are
non-union, their
help was rejected,
refused and denied
and they were un
welcomed, so they
came home. Same thing
happened to a city electri
cal crew from over in
Alabama. The “union”
refused to allow the crew
help during their in dire
need of electricity for citi
zens.
HAVEN’T heard the
state patrol’s death statis
tics as a result of the
Thanksgiving holiday traf
fic. Obviously the Georgia
State Patrol’s message
that they were going to be
out in force must have
worked. In my travels over
the holidays, didn’t see
any accidents during my
402-mile roundtrip to
Greenville, S.C. Neither
did I see a Georgia or
South Carolina state
patrol car with a blue light
special! Surprised.
THE COMMENT in last
week’s column in regards
to Norfolk Southern rail
way’s failure to clean up
their cross-tie mess on
their track running
through Forsyth and the
county stirred the pot with
several emails wondering
why the railroad company
has not shown their com
munity and civic pride and
cleaned up their eyesores.
This one from Kimbel
Stokes is representative of
the many I received: “I am
glad you brought up the
issue with cross-ties and
the railroad. One of my pet
peeves is going north on
41 to Barnesville. On the
right is a huge pile of
cross-ties under some very
large oak trees. This can
not be good for these beau
tiful trees as the roots are
close to the surface: they
are being crushed and the
creosote residue cannot be
good for them. It is really
an eyesore but I just hope
the trees don’t die: they
are irreplaceable”.
Come on Forsyth City
Council and Monroe
County Commissioners:
slap something on them
that will embarrass just as
much as their trash
embarrasses the county.
DID you hear/read that
our state senator, Beth
Merkleson---oops, meant to
say Cecil Staton—was re
elected Georgia State
Senate Majority Whip?
Guess that means the lob
byists roaming around the
Gold Dome will be laying a
lot of gifts at his feet.
I’m sure there will be
more surprises coming out
of the upcoming legislative
session to begin in early
January. Members of the
House and Senate have
already begun receiving
their travel and per diem
re-imbursements that
began a couple of months
ago, planning how they
are going to enact more
laws on us. Wonder if they
slopped at the lobbyists’
trough during their early
sojourns to Atlanta or
where ever they meet/met.
TURKEY was the cor
rect answer to last week’s
The Question. Benjamin
Franklin wanted the
Thanksgiving bird to be
our national emblem but
he got voted down and the
eagle is now our pride.
Here’s The Question for
this week and it is a two-
parter: How many Monroe
County industrial site list
ings are posted on the
Development Authority of
Monroe County website
and who is chairman of
the DAOMC? These two
questions are a prelude to
next week’s On The
Outside Looking In thanks
to an open records request
made to Tiffany Andrews,
CEO and executive direc
tor of Forsyth Monroe
County Chamber of
Commerce/D AOMC.
Correct answer after 12
noon on Thursday wins an
“I Answered The Question”
t-shirt, certificate for a
Blizzard from Dairy
Queen, fried green tomato
appetizer at The Whistle
Stop, cookie from Jonah’s
and a hot dog combo from
the Dog House.
LISTEN to The Reporter
on Majic 100 on Sunday
mornings at 7 and you’ll
learn something. Might
even cause a laugh. Click
on the radio tab at
mymcr.net and listen any
time.
Donald Jackson Daniel
can be contacted at tullay-
bear@bellsouth.net
Guest Column
Tired of writing about AT V deaths
BY WALTER GEIGER
Y et again this
week I had to
write the story I
have written far
too many times
previously - the story of a
child dead following a four-
wheeler crash.
This time it was a
15-year-old girl with
a lifetime of promise
ahead of her.
According to the
coroner, she was
going too fast, not
wearing a helmet
and making jumps
on a powerful four-
wheeler.
She crashed and
died tragically, her
head split open. She leaves
behind family and friends
devastated with grief and
a community traumatized
by her loss.
This is nothing new.
ATVs were introduced in
the 1970s. At first they
were powered tricycles
built by Honda primarily
used for herding cattle. My
By
Walter
Geiger
friends and I spent much
time hunting in the
Mennonite dairy communi
ty in Macon County back
then and there were at
least two Mennonite chil
dren maimed or killed
herding dairy cows on the
blasted things each
year. Many more
suffered other
injuries.
Rocky
Wainwright, a
Lamar County
DNR ranger, was
killed on a three-
wheeler in August
1999 while search
ing for a missing
girl who turned up
murdered. ATVs
kill indiscriminately but
they kill kids at great
rates.
According to the
American Academy of
Orthopaedic Surgeons,
ATVs killed 29 people and
injured another 10,100 in
1982. That number grew
to 150,000 injured and 766
dead in 2007. Of the
10,281 reported deaths
from 1982 to 2009, nearly
3,000 were children under
16 years of age.
Still, ATV makers reck
lessly turn out products
that have greater horse
power and go faster than
last year’s models.
Adding to this insanity is
the number of parents or
supervising adults who let
children fly across the
countryside on these
deathtraps without don
ning a helmet.
We’ve all seen these kids
pop out of a ditch or log
ging road and race across
or alongside a highway
helmet-less. They think
they are invincible but
they are just one sharp
turn, large rock, patch of
loose gravel or moment of
carelessness from death.
So, what can be done?
ATVs are a big business
and manufacturers will
keep on churning them out
without regard to the
blood on their hands.
Government regulation is
never really the answer to
anything but these manu
facturers should be held to
some sort of safety stan
dards.
There should also be a
licensing procedure with
mandatory safety training
as a component. Helmets
should be required. Age
limits should be addressed.
Should children under age
14 or so be strictly prohib
ited from operating ATVs
or riding on them without
a parent at the controls?
The most needed change
is common sense on the
part of parents and super
vising adults.
If you have one of the
ultra-fast ATVs and have
kids, I strongly suggest
you reevalute its danger
and take precautions to
better ensure their safety.
Tragedy could be just
around the corner if you
don’t!
Walter Geiger is publish
er and editor of the
Barnesville Herald
Gazette.
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Gun control is ... hitting your target
To the editor:
I n response to Ralph Bass’ letter to
the editor in last week’s Reporter
(“Guns are deadly not for fun”) con
cerning our rights to own firearms in
this country, I would like to make the
following observation: I agree that owning
a firearm is a huge responsibility and
should be taken seriously. Safety should al
ways be first and foremost; however, I do
not think that responsible people who own
firearms are the cause of social problems or
tragedy.
In 2007, CDC statistics reported acci
dental gun deaths were 613. That was
from over 300 million people. In the same
period they reported 28,846 accidental
deaths by poisoning and 41,259 deaths
caused by vehicles. Therefore it appears
that vehicles and poisonous items should
not be accessible to people in this country.
We know for sure this action taken would
stop all drive-by shootings since the crim
inal would not have access to a vehicle.
While this may seem extreme, at some
point, people must accept responsibility
for their own actions and behaviors. We
cannot blame things for people’s behavior.
Saying that guns cause social problems,
tragedy, and deaths is like saying that
flies cause garbage or that pencils cause
mistakes.
People cause social problems and
tragedies, not inanimate things.
Bryant Devereaux
Nathan Jackson
Forsyth
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