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PAGE 4A
October 29, 2014
2014 winner: Sports Writing excellence
2014 winner: Investigative Reporting excellence
2014 winner: Local News Coverage excellence
2014 winner: Humorous Column excellence
2014 winner: News Photo excellence
2014 winner: Serious Column excellence
On the Porch
The real thing
Sometimes you want to
go...
Where everybody knows
your name,
and they’re always glad
you came. You wanna be
where you can see,
our troubles are all the
same
You wanna be where
everybody knows
Your name.
- Theme song for 1980s
hit TV series “Cheers”
BY WILL DAVIS
publisher&mymcr. net
oe Kovac, the
intrepid crime
reporter for The
Macon Telegraph,
did an
interesting investi
gative story in the
Oct. 19 paper about
Chris Calmer, the
man accused of
murdering Monroe
County deputy
Michael Norris
last month.
The article
was based
almost solely on
Calmer’s on-line presence.
Calmer, who apparently
worked in computers, was
a profligate poster in on
line forums over the years.
He discussed everything
on-line: his ironic support
for gun control, his BMW
coupe, his sexual prow
ess and even his income
($300,000 per year at one
time, he boasted).
Kovac said he found
6,500 Internet postings
by Calmer over the years,
offering a window into the
personality of a man now
in jail for murdering a
promising young man who
served his community and
left a grieving new wife
and parents.
Calmer talked about his
favorite words (ablation
was one), about the pass
ing of his grandmother
(“closest person to me”)
and about back pain that
forced him into surgery
and into various painkill
ers, none of which seemed
to relieve his suffering. He
said he considered suicide
“every single frikkin’ day
for weeks on end.”
He talked about being
molested when he was just
12 years old.
A family member who
asked to remain anony
mous told Kovac that the
posts sounded like Calmer.
The article made me
want to dismiss Calmer
as a loner online creep.
But the truth is he seems
to have been ahead of his
time in the early 2000s
in building his main
relationships online. This
was before Twitter and
Facebook became every
one’s therapy of choice.
Calmer, a longtime
smoker, at times riffed on
loneliness, wrote Kovac.
Working on a computer
from home, he could go
days without seeing a soul.
“I only need a little con
tact to feel satiated,” he
wrote, “and reaching out
on these forums ... is just
the thing I seek out for the
contact I need.”
It was, he added, the
perfect relationship.
“I can come at any time,
I can leave at any time,
and I know there will
always be a friend here
day or night.”
My favorite TV
shows growing up
were “The Andy
Griffith Show”
and “Cheers”,
whose theme song
I quoted above.
Both have in com
mon a sense of
belonging, of
relationships
and acceptance.
We as human
beings are hard-wired
to need others, to have a
place to belong. That’s why
I was drawn to Monroe
County, to own a small
town newspaper, because
I remember that sense of
place and belonging I had
visiting my grandparents
each summer at their
Hartwell, Ga. farm.
While we all need com
munity, more and more
people, like Calmer, are
finding it’s easier to make
community on-line. It’s
safer. We can reveal what
we want, and conceal what
we don’t. We can be more
than we really are - hap
pier, richer and healthier
than reality. That’s why
they call it “virtual com
munity”. It’s not real.
So while I enjoy the on
line world (5,200 members
of the Reporter’s Facebook
page must be enter
tained!), I am reminded
that social media are not
really healthy communi
ties where we can build
real relationships of shar
ing, caring and building.
We were created to see
and hug and relate to real
people, warts and all. So
it’s very hard to share true
love, warmth and human
community through a key
board and mouse.
Everybody’s life has
some value - even if it’s
teaching us what not to do.
Maybe the value of Chris
Calmer’s life is to tell us
that virtual community is
no substitute for the real
thing.
is published every week by
The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secretary-treasurer
OUR STAFF
Will Davis
Publisher/Editor
publisher@mymcr.net
Richard Dumas
News Editor
forsyth@mymcr.net
Carolyn Martel
Advertising
Manager
ads@mymcr.net
Trellis Grant
Business Manager
business@mymcr.net
Diane Glidewell
Community Editor
news@mymcr.net
Amy Haisten
Graphic Artist
Webmaster
graphics@mymcr.net
Carolann Evans
Receptionist
50 N. Jackson St., Forsyth, GA 31029
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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
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Deadlines noon on Friday prior to issue. Comments featured on
opinion pages are the creations of the writers, they do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of The Reporter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840)
t Reporter
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Smith: Hospital has a caring staff
To the editor:
T hank you for
publishing Bill
Cummings’ letter
to the Telegraph
in the Oct. 15
Reporter. His assessment
of the care he received at
Monroe County Hospital for
SMITH
a life-threatening illness was out
standing. In the 43 years
of my association with this
hospital, I have seen many
instances of similar situ
ations responded to by an
efficient and caring staff
-- both medical and service,
with no hesitation to pro
vide the best care possible.
Forsyth and Monroe County need
the hospital to thrive, and the
hospital needs us to thrive and
survive.
Dr. Patton P. Smith
Forsyth
Patton P. Smith is a retired
family physician who lives in
Forsyth.
Race-baiting flyer a
To the editor:
ave you seen
this flyer/
mailer sent out
by the Georgia
Democratic
Party? It was sent largely to
blacks and claims that they
must vote Democrat to pre
vent another incident like
in Ferguson, Mo. DuBose
Porter, chairman of the
state Democrats, seemed
proud and supportive of it.
How can we have a Republic
with such hate, divisiveness,
and, deceit running amok in
our society? Every Georgian
shameful
should feel ashamed for
the misleading and hate
ful nature of this mailing!
Needless to say it made the
national news. Consider this
when you vote.
Dale Miller
Forsyth
ploy
MILLER
Civil War in Monroe County - 150 Years
Sherman plans worried Forsyth soldiers
BY RALPH BASS JR.
ralphbassjr@gmail.com
ne hundred and fifty
years ago with Federal
forces occupying
Atlanta and rumors
of the intentions of
Sherman being rife, Confederate
soldiers from Monroe County must
have been worried about their fam
ilies here when they were so
far away.
There were six companies
associated with men chiefly
from Monroe County. These
were Company A of the
14th Regiment, Company
D (the Monroe Crowders)
with the 31st Georgia,
Company H with the 32nd
Regiment, and Company B
(Rutland Volunteers) and Company
D (McCowen Guards) both with
the 45th Georgia Regiment, and
Company K of the 53rd Georgia
Regiment. Company K was com
posed of many men who had earlier
been part of the Quitman Guard,
which left Forsyth before the action
at Fort. Sumter.
One hundred and fifty years ago,
all but one of these companies of
men from Monroe County were in
Virginia.
The 53rd Georgia, although asso
ciated with the Army of Northern
Virginia, had been assigned to duty
in the Shenandoah Valley. So had
the men in the 31st Georgia, These
troops under Jubal Early battled
Federal forces under Phil Sheridan
for the control of the food-rich
Shenandoah.
On Oct. 19, 1864, Confederate
soldiers initially thought they
had won the battle at Cedar
Creek. That was before Sheridan
arrived on the scene and under
his field leadership, the
Confederate soldiers, who
once thought they had
tasted victory, drank the
bitter dregs of defeat.
Those who survived
headed south and the
Valley remained firmly in
Federal control.
The 45th and the 14th
Georgia were part of the
Third Army Corps of the Army
of Northern Virginia. In October
1864, these men were under the
ailing A. P. Hill at Petersburg,
enduring the 10-month long
besiegement of the Confederate
army there.
The 32nd Georgia Regiment
was the only one not serving in
Virginia. Men in this regiment
had long been identified with the
war in South Carolina. Earlier
in the year they had been sent
to Florida, where in February
1864 they helped win the battle
of 01ust.ee or Ocean Pond. Shortly
after that Confederate victory,
however, the 32nd had returned to
South Carolina, where they were
involved in the defense of the port
of Charleston.
Whether these Monroe County
men were in South Carolina or
Virginia, when news and rumors
trickled in about the intentions of
Sherman in Atlanta, they must
have been concerned about their
families and friends in Forsyth and
Monroe County some 60 miles or so
away from Union troops.
In October 1864, there was no
clear indication of the plans of
Sherman, only rumors. Macon was
said to be an attractive objective
because of its war-time industries.
Augusta, which also had important
war-time industries, was another
possible objective. Some thought of
Federal liberation of the prisoners
at Andersonville, a movement that
would probably carry the Federal
troops through Forsyth.
Of these regiments with men
from Monroe, only one, the 32nd,
actually encountered Sherman’s
army, and that was not in middle
Georgia but in Savannah after
Sherman had swept past this
county in his march to the sea, 150
years ago.
Ralph Bass Jr. writes about
Monroe County history for the
Reporter. E-mail him at ralph-
bassjr@gmail. com.
BASS
Dam
continued from the front
Juliette.”
In an article about the order in
last Thursday’s Macon Telegraph,
a spokesman for the conservation
group American Rivers, which lob
bied for the shutdown order, said
he hopes the dam is removed com
pletely.
Bill Patrick, general manager of
Eastern Hydroelectric, said they’ve
been negotiating with the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service for years on the
fish ladder, but that every time they
meet, federal officials require more
and drive the costs up. The Reporter
chronicled Eastern’s plans for a shad
ladder back in August 2011, citing
plans to begin work in 2012. But it
never happened. Patrick said origi
nally U.S. Fish and Wildlife estimat
ed the ladder would cost- $150,000
to install. Then the price went up
to $300,000, said Patrick. Now, said
Patrick, the government is insisting
on a marine aluminum structure at
a cost of $600,000. On top of that,
Patrick said the federal government
insisted that Eastern Hydroelectric
cannot talk publicly about the costs
of the fish ladder it is requiring them
to build, seemingly a violation of the
company’s First Amendment rights.
“Government regulations are out of
control,” said Patrick, who met with
an attorney on Monday to plot the
company’s appeal, which is due in
mid November. Eastern has discon
nected its powerhouse but Patrick
said that’s not a big deal because
it hasn’t sold electricity to Georgia
Power since May anyway due to the
drought.
Patrick said as drought conditions
have lingered the dam only generates
about $75,000 in revenue each year,
hardly enough to fund an elaborate
fish ladder the feds are insisting
upon.
“We’re not rolling in dough,” said
Patrick. “If we were making money
we wouldn’t have objections. But
unlike these big utilities, we can’t,
pass it on to the consumer.”
Besides, Wiliams and Patrick said
they’ve both seen shad swimming
upstream past, the dam when the
river is up anyway.
‘Tve watched shad go up that
river ever since I was a kid,” said
Williams. “They [federal officials] are
not concerned about the fish, they
just, want to take the dam out.”
And even if they built the shad lad
der, Patrick noted the fish wouldn’t
make it but. 15 miles upstream before
hitting Georgia Power’s Lloyd Shoals
Dam at Jackson Lake. Patrick said
federal officials have told him they’re
going to demand a fish ladder at. that
150-foot, dam after they’re done with
him.
Marvin Bowdoin, owner of
Bowdoin’s store in Juliette, said the
whole town will oppose the feds if
they insist on removing the dam
because it would ruin what he calls
the prettiest place in Monroe County.
Les White, who owns and lives in
the old Juliette Mill at the dam, said
it’s ironic that, the feds are trying to
encourage natural power generation
but then try to punish someone who’s
doing just that. White said removing
the dam would hurt him because he
rents out river cabins below the dam
that, would be affected. Besides, he
said anglers tell him they see shad
above the dam all the time.
Shad populations have declined
since the 1860s, says environmental
ists, when commercial fishing records
show that. Georgians caught 480,000
lbs. of shad each year up river to the
north near Atlanta.
Jimmy Evans, a senior fisheries
biologist for the Georgia Department
of Natural Resources, told the
Reporter in 2011 that if completed
the Juliette fish ladder will be the
first of its kind in the state.
Evans said the fish ladders were
part of a renewed emphasis in
recent years on trying to recover
the American shad population.
Historically, said Evans, the shad
was America’s most, important, fish,
providing a huge economy of com
mercial fishing up and down Atlantic
coast. The Inchans and first, settlers
in Georgia relied heavily on the shad
population for their food, said Evans.
Evans conceded, however, that he’s
never eaten shad.
After meeting with an attorney on
Monday, Patrick said the whole thing
has become a bad situation.
“I’ve got a headache,” said Patrick.
He recalled that, in his third meet
ing with fish and wildlife, he told
federal authorities while looking over
the dam that, he could not afford to
install the kind of expensive fish lad
der they wanted. Patrick said that’s
when former federal wildlife agent
Ben Rizzo of Massachusetts looked
out at the river and said: “Well if
you don’t, we’ll just have the dam
removed.”
Patrick said he doesn’t know where
the saga will wind up.
Several residents noted that. Macon
businessmen Ben Hinson and Tony
Brady have just built expensive
homes above the dam and won’t, take
kindly to it being removed. Williams
said he plans to organize a communi
ty meeting with local elected officials
in the next, two weeks to see what
they can do. “We’re going to fight, this
thing,” said Williams.
Patrick said he’ll take all the help
he can get..
“I don’t know where this will end,”
said Patrick. ‘Tt’s hurting my pocket-
book and my boss’ pocketbook. This
is the time of year where we start.
getting rain and we make some good
money, but now this.”
And how do federal officials feel
about, that?
“They don’t care,” said Patrick.
“They don’t listen to us.”