Newspaper Page Text
June 15, 2016
PAGE 5A
Outside Looking In...
Yes I confess
I’m a flasher
By DON DANIEL
tullaybear@bellsouth.net
B efore explaining why I am a flasher, I must
say those voting for Hillary are like those
who voted for Obama. White voters who were
(“exposed” to segregation “redeemed” them
selves to prove they did not have racial bias.
How? By voting and electing an
American black to the presidency.
The same thing is happening now,
voting for and supporting Hillary
Clinton, the first female nominated
to run for the presidency to prove
they do not have gender bias. It is
not and was not whether the can
didates were qualified. Voting for
Hillary is merely an attempt to
be proud they voted for a female
presidential candidate. Making
history!
NOW for my explanation of
being a flasher, but not in the
sexual deviant manner associated with flashing.
The other day, one of those pouring-down-rain days,
driving to and from town on Hwy. 42 North, I counted 23
cars and/or trucks driving in the rain without headlights.
Included in that count were a couple of cop cars leaving
GPSTC not abiding by the law.
So, whenever I meet an oncoming vehicle traveling in
the rain with no headlights on, I flash my truck lights
in hopes the violator will heed my notice. What those
drivers obviously do not comprehend is that not only is
it dangerous to other drivers, but they are violating a
Georgia law and can be pulled over, issued a ticket and
have to pay a fine.
I wanted to know what the fine is for such hazardous
driving. According to a Forsyth police officer, the fine for
driving without headlights in inclement weather is $119.
But that fine does not include such add-ons as court
costs, etc. which could bump the fine to close to $200 or
more.
So, to make those with no headlights on aware they are
breaking the law, my flashing from dim to bright is an
attempt to keep the drivers from getting a ticket and not
endangering others because of their ignorance of the law.
YOU read it first in this newspaper about Georgia
Power attempting to purchase more land around Plant
Scherer “to create a bigger buffer”. Is a “buffer” the real
reason or is it to dump coal ash not only from Plant
Scherer but to haul in coal ash from other plants? Tell us
the real reason Georgia Power! Is dumping coal ash in
Monroe County the real reason?
Down in Jesup, Ga. (Wayne County), a private com
pany owns 2,000 acres with a 270-acre landfill to dump
coal ash hauled in by rail from all over the country. There
is a big brouhaha down there with citizens up in arms to
prevent the ash dumping. Here in Monroe County, Plant
Scherer has ash ponds which are, according to officials,
almost full of the ash generated by the coal-fired plant
creating an EPA hazard.
WHEN you and I go to the grocery store, we often see
persons paying for their groceries with food stamps and
paying cash for their beer, a very common occurrence.
Well, there are new state regulations and up in Cobb,
Gwinnett and Hall counties, they are being enforced. The
regulations require able-bodied adults with no depen
dents to work, thusly fewer people are applying for food
stamp benefits.
Those three counties, according to WSB-TV, have seen
3,685 fewer able-bodied adults with dependents getting
food stamps than before the new rules went into effect.
Wonder how that new rule is affecting Monroe County?
AND now, some unattributed commissioner comments
from the last meeting:
“It is a unique situation”;
‘My feeling on it is..
‘They must stay in High Falls because I surely haven’t
seen them”;
“Boys who live in the city gotta eat”;
“I know we have money in the bank”;
‘You won’t get any argument from me”;
“I was trying to figure out what he was talking about”;
“I’m just trying to be more honest and open”;
“Never turns out to be short”;
“Puts ya’ll in the hot seat”.
Here are a couple of taxpayer-paid bills the commis
sioners approved: $264 to Animal Medical Clinic for
euthanasia; $450 to Clyde Castleberry for two packages
of marriage certificates; $258 for a recliner for use in
court from Farmers Furniture; $161 to Forsyth Feed and
Seed for dog food; $2,380 to Lamar County for housing
inmates; $916.50 to Crisp County for housing inmates;
Middle Georgia Umpires got a check for $3,220; $365.04
to Commissioner John Ambrose for travel/mileage;
$10,152 to GPSTC for feeding inmates; $10,507 to Ham’s
Auto Parts and Supply and $1,875 to Monroe County
Memorial Chapel, transporting and storing bodies.
Total checks approved amounted to us taxpayers pay
ing $1,282,006.16.
OVER at the Forsyth City Council, Perdue Farms on
Harold Clarke Parkway got a city council blessing to
expand their chick-hatching plant. According to a Perdue
spokesperson, the plant hatches over 2.6 million biddies a
week and wants to hatch more.
NO Correct answers to last week’s The Question. So,
here’s The Question for this week: what is the name of
the musical to be performed by The Children’s Theater
Troupe at the Rose Theater on June 25? First correct
answer after 12 noon on Thursday gets a certificate for
a Dairy Queen Blizzard, Jonah’s cookie, dozen Dunkin
Donuts, two egg rolls from Lucky Cafe, Whistle Stop fried
green tomato appetizer, Forsyth Main Street t-shirt.
Hint: The answer can be found on page 6C of last
week’s Reporter in a revue written by Dennis Smith in
his ‘Monroe Entertains You” column.
Contact Don Daniel at tullaybear@bellsouth.net or by
ptione, 478-994-1312 and don’t forget to listen to The
Reporter On The Radio on Sunday mornings at 7 or any
time by clicking on the. radio tab at mymcr.net,
^Reporter
Kommentary
Blue laws are a hangover
BY ALEX KINSELLA
alexjkinsella@gmail.com
itle 3, Chapter 3, Article
1 of the Official Code
of Georgia allows (or
maybe it’s actually some
other section—you try
reading through all that) for local
governments to take a
vote on whether or not
to allow Sunday alcohol
sales from 12:30 p.m. to
about midnight. Forsyth
has done well work
ing with what it’s been
given. We can indeed
buy liquor here from
noon-thirty to evening.
But why, Georgia,
ban early Sunday
sales at all? Wait,
that time frame
rings a bell. A big,
sonorous bell, like
ones found in...
churches. Could it be? Lawmakers
want to uphold the sanctity of the
holy day by limiting our booze
running?
Georgia did make some progress
with its recent change, but it’s
just a small step because surely
no giant leap was made. Scraps
of the old law still remain in that
morning to noon slot. And per
the Atlanta Business Chronicle,
it looks like the “Sunday brunch”
bill, which would allow restau
rants to serve alcohol at 10:30 in
the morning, is not going to pass
anytime soon.
The problem in addressing this
topic is that these blue laws really
concerned people who have been
dead for a long time now. Blue
laws are relics from the
past that have been built
around legally for centu
ries, and now that they’ve
crusted over so thoroughly,
few politicians want to
go prodding. It’s a state
issue as well, so I’m argu
ing about something both
very old and very high
level. If just Forsyth
was opting for the
restrictions, then my
little paper column
wouldn’t be so little.
Limiting alcohol
sales times at all
seems like a child’s solution to
me. We’ve already been through
prohibition. Alcohol is here to
stay for the foreseeable future in
part because it cannot be said to
prevent the people from exercising
their individual freedoms. Even
if the limited sales times meant
fewer fatalities, fewer alcoholics,
and less expenses, preventing peo
ple from buying at certain times
is still an inelegant approach.
Instead of holding people account
able for whatever wrong they do
while under the influence or in
pursuit of that influence, lawmak
ers have reached straight to the
top shelf by outright banning alco
hol sales at certain times. If I were
to explain the problem of drunk
driving and other late-night/early
morning criminal antics to a sec
ond grader, I might expect some
thing along the lines of, ‘Just stop
selling alcohol at night’. To extend
the ‘metaphor’, the lawmakers
have taken away our privileges,
and not just from the people who
misbehave.
But then what about Sunday
morning specifically? It follows
in the tradition of the issues I’ve
just mentioned, but there’s the
church component. If this law
should remain for the reason of
keeping the sanctity of Sunday
for our Christian residents—for
that reason—then Georgia claims
Christianity as its official religion,
right? Churches, time to start
paying taxes because the govern
ment’s doing your laundry.
Alex Kinsella, a student at
Mercer, is the summer intern for
the Reporter.
Guest Column
Businesses need ‘wow’ factor
DR. BILL
CUMMINGS
drc@billcummings.org
shop at the
Forsyth Walmart.
I get everything
I need walking
up and down
their aisles and talking
to many old friends I
haven’t seen in years.
Last week I asked an
employee (his name is
Shane) who was stack
ing food in the
meat section
if he knew
where the
cocktail sauce
was located,
and he
immediately
stopped what
he was doing
and led me
down an aisle,
picked up a bottle, and
handed it to me. That’s
great customer service
and you notice that all
Walmart employees do
that. But he went fur
ther.
I dropped the bottle
and it smashed on the
floor. “No problem,”
Shane said with a big
smile, and he imme
diately found a broom
to clean it up, making
sure I had another bot
tle. I felt terribly guilty
and offered to help him,
but he insisted that it
was nothing and added:
“Really sir, it happens
all the time.” I was
impressed. This was
more than customer
service; It was what my
old leadership gurus
used to call: The Wow
Factor.
Where does it come
from? Oh, I know all
about the profit factor.
I know Walmart and
every other business in
town needs to show a
profit and profit comes
only from customer
satisfaction. I know all
that. But customer sat
isfaction came when he
showed me where the
sauce was; making me
feel better after mak
ing such a mess
on his floor was
a Wow. Where
does the Wow
come from? What
makes employees
like Shane (and
Forsyth is full
of them) go the
extra mile?
I saw it again
the next day
at our new Dunkin
Donut drive in. When
I recited my order
in their squawk box,
Darryl recognized my
voice from last week
and asked how I was
doing and did my wife
still like her Carmel-
flavored cappuccinos.
Remembering what
the customer likes is a
Wow - every time.
Where do these peo
ple come from?
Do people like Shane
and Darryl learn this
in their initial train
ing sessions or do they
have the Wow Factor
built, in before they
even join the company?
Is this an innate qual
ity or a learned skill? I
don’t want to downplay
the value of company
training; my whole
CUMMINGS
Call your local Monroe County representative
Scott Harrell
478-256-3586
or toll free: 800-551-1102
^25^Vinevill£Ave :i Macon ; GA 32208 n
career was built around
that. But, there is some
thing unique about,
these “wow employees”
that, even well-trained
people don’t, seem to
have.
Way back in 1994,
Tom Peters wrote the
classic: “In Pursuit of
Wow”, and he asked
the question: “How long
does it, take to become a
Wow Person?” And his
answer was brilliant:
“It, takes less than a
nanosecond to attain,
but, a lifetime of pas
sionate pursuit, to main
tain.” It’s the motto of
AA: “one day at, a time.”
You have to start, some
where and then keep
going every day. I am
beginning to believe
that, these fantastic peo
ple I’m meeting today
in Forsyth began before
they went, to company
training. Somebody
inspired them to be
Wow people just, as
somebody or something
inspired the alcoholic to
live sober.
For some, it, was mom
and dad; for others,
that, coach or teacher or
pastor, and for others it,
was a Shane or Darryl
working alongside of
them; somebody who
didn’t preach about.
Wow -but, practiced
it. Lasting inspiration
comes from seeing it, in
action not, from hearing
it, preached about.
I guess it, takes a Wow
to make a Wow.
Dr. Bill Cummings
of Forsyth is a regular
columnist for the Macon
Telegraph,
Theresa's Estate Liquidation Company Presents the
Living Estate Sale of Craig & Kathy Glaze / Take 2
196 Craig Road, Forsyth GA
Sat June 18th and Sun, June 19th. 9am to 4pm
EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!
50% off Weekend!!
* Antique Furniture * Train Collections
* Vintage Fire Trucks * Gamewell Firebox's
* Vintage Toys * Books
* Vintage Camera Collection and more.
To view pics:
https://www.EstateSales.NET/GA/Forsyth/31029/1228290