Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
December 12, 2012
^Reporter
2011 winner: Sports Column excellence
2011 winner: Headline Writing excellence
2011 winner: Religion Coverage excellence
2011 winner: Serious Column excellence
2011 winner: News Photo excellence
2011 winner: Editorial Page excellence
2011 winner: Investigative Reporting excellence
OUR VIEW
Scores show that
our teachers still
make a difference
R esults of this
fall’s high
school writ
ing test (see
“MP: The
Write Stuff’ on page
1A) show that Monroe
County kids write good.
Oops. Did you catch
it? We’re confident
our high-flying Mary
Persons juniors would
immediately spot that
misuse of the adjec
tive in Sentence 1,
and correctly re-write
it to say that Monroe
County kids write well.
Because apparently
they do.
It’s no small thing
for a small-town high
school in Central
Georgia to rank No.
20 in the state out of
some 400 schools on
the writing test taken
by the state’s 11th
graders. MP achieved
that rank because 99.6
percent of our juniors
met or exceeded the
standard score of 200
on the end-of-course
test, which was admin
istered earlier this fall.
Results were released
last week.
MP scored well
against the rest of the
state, and did even
better, ranking No. 1,
among Middle Georgia
high schools on the
test, outpacing our
main academic rivals,
Perry and Veterans
High, in the area.
As MP principal Jim
Finch noted, commen
dations for this feat
go not just to Mary
Persons English teach
ers, though obviously
they deserve credit, but
to the entire system. In
2007, Monroe County
schools began imple
menting a renewed
focus on writing, start
ing in Kindergarten.
“That,” said Finch, “is
starting to bear fruit.”
Indeed it is. It’s unfor
tunate that public edu
cation is now heavily
driven by federal and
state rules, curricula,
tests and mandates.
But these exciting
results show that by
making a local decision
to improve, teachers
and administrators can
still make a big differ
ence. To them and to
MP juniors, we say,
bravo!
MCR POLL
What do you do with your household garbage?
The city of Forsyth picks mine up.
11 votes
18 percent
Clean-Rite gets mine.
11 votes
18 percent
Another private hauler gets mine.
5 votes
8 percent
1 take it myself to the county con
venience center.
34 votes
56 percent
is published every week by
The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secretary-treasurer
www.mymcr.net
OUR STAFF
Will Davis
Publisher/Editor
publisher@mymcr.net
Richard Dumas
News Editor
forsyth@mymcr.net
Amy Haisten
Graphic Artist
graphics@mymcr.net
Tom Eads
Advertising Sales
sales@mymcr.net
Trellis Grant
Business Manager
business@mymcr.net
Carolyn Martel
Advertising
Manager
ads@mymcr.net
Amy Knight
Webmaster
webmaster@
mymcr.net
Diane Glidewell
Community Editor
news@mymcr.net
50 N. Jackson St... Forsyth, GA 31029
Periodicals Postage Paid at
Forsyth, Ga 31029
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
THE MONROE COUNTY REPORTER
P.O. Box 795, Forsyth, GA 31029
Official Organ of Monroe County
and the City of Forsyth
Phone: 478-994-2358 • FAX 478-994-2359
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
In County - $35 Out of County - $48 1 copy - $1
Deadlines noon on Friday prior to issue. Com
ments featured on opinion pages are the cre
ations of the writers, they do not necessarily re
flect the opinions of The Reporter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840)
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
On the Porch
Santa passes two weeks too soon
F orsyth’s real
Santa Claus has
died just, two
weeks before
Christmas. This
newspaper learned as we
went to press that Tom
Rogers of Forsyth, a
feisty, witty man with
a white beard and an
uncanny resemblance
to Kris Kringle, has
passed away at age 79.
He suffered a heart
attack a month ago
and never really
recovered.
Rogers came to Forsyth
to teach law officers at
the Georgia Public Safety
Training Center. He had
retired, but he wasn’t
one to sit on the porch
and quietly live out his
autumn years. Rogers was
an active member of New
Providence Baptist Church
and a doting grandfather.
He loved to banter with
folks, which is perhaps
why at age 79, he became
the oldest person I know to
secure a Twitter account
(@realsanta2) so
he could verbally
spar with anyone
willing.
When I posted
on Twitter this
past summer that
the Mexican res
taurant Pure
in Atlanta
wasn’t as good
as El Tejado
in Forsyth, he replied:
“Nothing is as good in
Atlanta as in Forsyth!
That is why I moved here
from Atlanta 27 years ago.
It made me a little better
too!”
Tom had an active, fanci
ful mind and if you didn’t
know him well, you might
not know how to take him.
He asked on Twitter one
day, “If you could be any
kind of rock in the world,
what kind would you be?”
Reading his writings on
Twitter today,
his two pas
sions shine
through: His
family, espe
cially his wife
of 51 years,
and his Lord,
Jesus Christ.
Back in
February, he
took fingers
to keyboard to thank his
pastor for a frank sermon
on sex.
“All scriptural and done
without any gasps from us
old fogies!” joked Rogers.
The needs of his family
was another favorite sub
ject. “Today is a full prayer
day for us,” he wrote back
in January. “Rob’s sur
gery, Denise’s MRI and
Alice will get the results
from her test. Pray! Pray!
Pray!”
On Dec. 10, 2011, exactly
one year
before he
would die, he
wrote: “God
is truly great!
He is making
everything
great in our
lives!”
A year later,
just four days
shy of his 80th
birthday, Tom Rogers
has gone home. Our sym
pathies to his precious
family. Forsyth will be a
less interesting place for
the loss. Funeral arrange
ments weren’t known at
presstime.
E-mail Will Davis at
publisher@mymcr.net.
The late Tom Rogers.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hubbard
Tiger
Steppers
seek local
support
To the editor:
The Hubbard Tiger Steppers march in the Fort Valley State
University Homecoming parade. (Submitted photo)
T he founders and lead
ers of the William M.
Hubbard Tiger Steppers Marching
Band have come together and
formed a non-profit organization.
Our mission is to create a program that
allows the kids to participate in an activity
that is beneficial and productive. We hope by
doing so more adolescents will stay off the
streets and offer a better tomorrow for the
youth of our community.
Each of us has been involved in music
throughout our lives. We hope to share our
knowledge, passion, and love of music with
the younger generation.
As leaders, we are also role models for the
young boys and girls. While enjoying the art
of music and having fun, we want to instill
positive attitudes and values. We teach the
importance of education, responsibility, team
work, and respect.
We are reaching out to our community and
asking that you participate in this opportu
nity to give to our youth. We are requesting
donations of $150 to help purchase instru
ments and uniforms for our band. In return,
we will have the business or company name
printed on our shirts in honor of your sup
port. Please know that the asking amount of
$150 is not required to show your support.
Any and all donations will be accepted and
greatly appreciated.
Thank you for listening to our ideas and
goals.
W.M.H. Tiger Steppers
Marching Band
Question
for local
pastors,
readers:
Who are
the fake
followers
of Jesus?
To the
editor:
T his
is to
all
pas
tors
in Monroe
County, but if
others would
like to give
their opinion,
that is great.
My question is,
“What are fake
Christians?”
Andrea
Martin
Forsyth
Civil War Sesquicentennial
Monroe Co.’s Mercer boys join fight
O ne hundred and fifty
years ago on Dec. 13,
1862, Confederate forces
that included Company
A of the 14th Georgia
Infantry Regiment from Monroe
County won at Fredericksburg, Va.
One historian has described this as
the Confederacy’s easiest major tri
umph of the war.
Ambrose E. Burnside, whom
Lincoln had recently appointed
commander of the Army of the
Potomac, sent his men across the
Rappahannock River, using pontoon
bridges. Burnside had originally
hoped to be able to move quickly from
there to Richmond, the Confederate
capital.
When the Federal troops crossed
the Rappahannock on Dec. 13, 1862,
however, they encountered Robert
E. Lee’s entrenched Confederates on
Marye’s Heights.
Federal casualties that day num
bered twice the Confederate ones
before Burnside’s blue coats retreated
across the river for good. The rough
calculation is 12,000 Federal casual
ties and 6,000 Confederate ones.
Some members of Company A
from Monroe County were wounded.
Captain J. W. Mays suffered a
severe hand injury. Private Daniel
M. Sanford, who had been a student
at Mercer University, was injured
slightly in the foot.
Wiley J. Britt suffered a flesh
wound in the right thigh and went
to one of the hospitals in Richmond.
Evidently, he was thought to be of
greater service as a cobbler than as
a soldier because of the damage to
his leg. He was detailed to a shoe
shop under the control of the quar
termaster general. When William T.
Sherman’s troops were marching on
Atlanta in 1864, Wiley J. Britt was
there getting 35 cents for every pair
of shoes he made.
Among the dead from Monroe
County 150 years ago at
Fredericksburg were Icabod Mitchell
and William Davis Holland, com
monly called “Davis.”
Davis Holland had been a student
at Mercer University in 1860-1861,
attending with Joseph W. Cabaniss,
Daniel M. Sanford, and Reuben F.
Wright, also from Monroe County.
At that time, war enthusiasm
was high at Mercer, then located
at Penfield in Greene County. In
March 1861, Shelton P. Sanford, the
celebrated mathematician who was
uncle to Daniel M. Sanford, was act
ing captain of the Mercer University
Cadets. With the support of Henry H.
Tucker, a former resident of Forsyth,
Shaley Granby Hillyer, who was later
president of Monroe Female College,
and others, the cadets requisitioned
from Gov. Joseph E. Brown arms and
equipment for their unit weeks before
the outbreak at Fort Sumter.
When Davis Holland wrote his
friend Urban Rumble in February
1861, he proudly noted that he had
“begun to put on quite a soldier-like
appearance.” He meant not only
the white pants and black coat with
the blue sash and red ribbon that
the cadets wore but also the finesse
with which the Mercer cadets drilled
under the command of their math
professor.
When Davis Holland came home
from Penfield in the summer of 1861,
it is clear he did not intend to return
to Penfield any time soon. When
he went there in the previous fall,
he had joined the Penfield Baptist
Church, transferring his membership
from ML Pleasant near his home in
what is now the Brent community.
When he left, the congregation grant
ed him a letter of dismissal in June
1861.
A month later, he joined Captain
John H. Etheridge’s Company A,
the Confederate Volunteers, of the
14th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer
Infantry and was with them until his
death at Fredericksburg.
Corp. Jerry F. Lampkin did not die
at Fredericksburg on Dec. 13, 1862,
but received a thigh wound and
within a few days was hospitalized
in Richmond. Lampkin died a month
later, not directly from his battle
injury but from the gangrene that
developed.
Although a Confederate victory,
Fredericksburg again reminded
Monroe County citizens of the human
costs of war.