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On the Porch
Catfish “helped us” raise three
babies, including Ford, and
never hurt one.
The king of cats
BY WILL DAVIS
publisher@mymcr. net
M y wife Cassie and I had just married. It was
2000 and we made our first little home in
Bethlehem, Ga. just down the road from
Hwy. 316 and the chicken plant.
. Cassie loved pets and our recent marriage
had already brought together our labs. She had gotten one
in college, a chocolate lab named Percy. But Percy liked me
better so she had to
get another one, a
yellow one, Maggie.
Maggie liked me
better too. Truth
was, Cassie liked
cats better. I hated
cats. Cats made
me sneeze. And I
believed the old saw
about the difference
between cats and
dogs. A dog thinks:
“Hey, these people
I live with feed me,
love me, provide me
with a nice warm,
dry house, pet me
and take good care of me ... they must be gods!” A cat
thinks: “Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, pro
vide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me and take good
care of me ... I must be a god!”
So why would you want a cat? But, I felt sorry for my
young bride since both of her dogs had taken to me. I found
free kittens in the classifieds of the Walton Tribune news
paper, where I was senior reporter. I went to visit them
and really liked one particularly fluffy little yellow fur ball.
So I put him in my Jeep Grand Cherokee. There was only
one problem: Cassie was hosting a wedding shower at the
house. I had to drive around for two hours with that little
kitten until I could take him home. My driving hurled him
around the floor of the vehicle. Finally, the little guy made
his way to my lap and stayed there the next two hours. I
was starting to like the little fella.
I knew I’d score brownie points by presenting the new kit
ten while my wife’s friends were still at the house. Looking
back, after 16 years of marriage, the
kitten is her favorite present I’ve ever
given her. Knowing my hatred of
cats, she was stunned. I was too.
We named him "Catfish”, after the
beloved black lab of the late great
newspaper columnist Lewis Grizzard.
Grizzard would’ve spit to know
someone had given the name to a
dumb cat. But over 16 years, the
cat has proven worthy of such an
honorable moniker. In hindsight,
“Garfield” would’ve been more
appropriate.
Like Garfield, Catfish is yellowish orange, male, and very
lethargic. Perhaps that’s why he’s survived five moves,
from Bethlehem to Sylvania to Sandersville to Cleveland to
Macon to Forsyth. Not bad for an outdoor cat. Like Garfield,
Catfish is the original honey badger. He just don’t care.
He slinks around the neighborhood looking for a friendly
yard where he can hang out. Some of our neighbors, even
avowed cat haters, can’t help but like the cagey old feline
with the yellow afro. He’s so independent, sometimes he’s
gone for days. But he always shows back up to see what’s
happening at the house. While he’s a curmudgeon, he
seems to have a soft side. He’s helped us raise three kids
from infancy, and no matter how viciously they’d pull his
hair, he never retaliated.
As he’s gotten long in the tooth. Catfish has had a hard
time eating cat food. Cassie has switched him to that awful-
smelling wet food. But he plods on.
Lots of other cats have come and gone over 16 years. Like
our two labs. Catfish took to me over Cassie. So Cassie has
brought another one home every few years. Some run off.
Some get run over by neighbors. Others get run over by me.
But Catfish — he’s a survivor.
So it didn’t seem alarming when we returned home from
a Father’s Day trip last month to Lake Oconee and Catfish
was MLA again. We thought he was on another senior citi
zen cruise through the neighborhood. Then it was Tuesday.
Then Wednesday. And finally Thursday and Friday. Still
no Catfish. After a week, we had to accept that our old
friend had walked off into the woods to die a private death.
Poor guy. He never wanted to be a bother.
It’s hard to believe that Catfish, this cat hater’s first
cat, who’s been with us through so much over 16 years,
was gone. No goodbyes. No last hugs. Just gone. There
will never be another like him. I loved the old guy. Other
cats will come and go, but there was only one Catfish. His
memory will live on, a testimony to the fact that if a man is
willing to do whatever it takes to make his wife smile, even
tually all the pets will prefer him.
www.mymcr.net
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
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Publication No. USPS 997-840)
m
Reporter
July 13, 2016
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Thanks for cleaning Forsyth
To the editor:
W e, the
Beautify
Forsyth
commit
tee, want
to thank all businesses in
Forsyth for your efforts
in keeping your grounds
as litter-free as possible.
Your efforts promote
the image of our beauti
ful city as well as being
advantageous to your
business, too.
Again, thank you for
displaying such pride in
our community.
Tom Perry
Forsyth
Tom Perry is the chair
man of the Beautify
Forsyth committee.
On Georgia Politics
Will GOP jump off the cliff?
BY KYLE
WINGFIELD
Kyle. Wingfield@ajc.com
et’s say
you’re one
of Georgia’s
76 del
egates to the
Republican National
Convention, bound soon
for Cleveland. You are
bombarded with ques
tions about your loyalty
to presumptive
nominee Donald
Trump. What
might be going
through your
head?
Maybe you
think about
the headlines
this past
week.
They
should
have
been
dominated by the FBI’s
revelations Hillary
Clinton was “extremely
careless” in handling
classified information as
secretary of state. Then
you think about Trump’s
own antics:
Monday: He explains
why a staff member
posted an anti-Semitic
meme on his Twitter
account.
Tuesday: He praises
the terrorist-fighting
record of Saddam
Hussein, who actually
paid and harbored them.
Wednesday: He
announces he raised
$51 million in June, far
better than his paltry
May figure (yuge!) but
still $17 million less
than Clinton brought in
(sad!).
Thursday: He picks
a verbal fight with one
senator, bad-mouths
others, and butchers
a question about the
Constitution
during a
closed-door
session with
Republicans on
Capitol Hill.
The New York
Times reports
he plays coy
when
asked
if he’d
actually
serve if
he were
elected.
Perhaps you turn next
to the opinion polls and
see Trump is about 5
points behind Clinton in
the Real Clear Politics
average. You see that,
since taking a small and
short-lived lead over her
in late May, Trump has
trailed her in 32 of the
last 34 national polls.
Then you look at the
swing states and, sti
fling a gasp at seeing
Georgia on the list,
tally the polls. In the 11
swing states, Trump has
led Clinton in 10 polls,
trailed her in 24, and
been tied in five. That
winning percentage, in
some states Trump abso
lutely must win, is .321.
You check: That is just
as bad as the wretched
Braves. Who, of course,
fired their manager.
You wonder: Should
you and your fellow del
egates fire Trump?
You know such a move
would alienate many
in the party and prob
ably ensure defeat in
November. But you
feel equally strongly
the party is already
on its way to defeat
in November, because
many voters feel alien
ated.
You tell yourself
not every Republican
wanted John McCain or
Mitt Romney as their
nominee, and many held
their nose and voted for
them anyway. Then you
remind yourself many
of Trump’s supporters
are the ones who sat at
home in those elections,
putting Barack Obama
in the White House both
times. And you ask, who
are they to decide what
it means to be a “loyal
Republican” now?
The part about Georgia
being a swing state
particularly bothers
you. You don’t believe
Clinton can actually win
the state — that would
take an epic GOP col
lapse — but it occurs to
you that a party that
has lost the popular vote
in five of the past six
presidential elections
can’t afford even to come
close to ceding ground.
You see no state in
which the GOP is truly
gaining ground in the
meantime.
You believe the party
is heading toward the
kind of loss from which
it might never recover.
The magnitude of the
defeat, the seats sure to
be lost in Congress —
those are one thing. But
what the party is really
losing with Trump at the
helm is what it means to
be a Republican, so long
as he redefines it with
every poorly conceived,
fact-challenged utter
ance.
Do you resolve to work
to nominate someone
else, in the hopes that
person would at least
fight honorably?
I hope you do.
Kyle Wingfield writes
for The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, the Monroe
County Reporter and-
other newspapers.
Reach him and read
more at www.bit.ly/
KyleWingfield.
As I See It...
Democrats show corruption
BY CLAUDE CURLEE
cbcurl47gmail.com
etween June 30 and
July 7, the DOJ and
FBI made it extremely
clear the Clintons’
actions are not to be
questioned by mere mortals. It
began with the meeting between
Slick Willie and Loretta
Lynch and ended with
Director Comey’s testi
mony on July 7 concern
ing why Hillary would
not be indicted. There
was a series of events
that seems to me to be
planned and organized
to put Hillary and
Obama on the
campaign trail
with all problems
for Hillary firmly
buried.
Could the meeting between
Loretta and Slick been for Loretta
to tell Slick the matter is settled
and there are blue skies ahead?
Could Loretta Lynch’s state
ment that she would accept the
FBI’s recommendations on indict
ment have been her way of get
ting off the hot seat about the
meeting with Slick.
Why wasn’t, Comey at, the
Saturday morning interview
with Hillary? Why wasn’t Hillary
sworn? Why did Comey pres
ent- his Tuesday morning press
conference, with his recom
mendations, when he admitted
Thursday in the Congressional
inquiry he had not, met, with
all the agents who interviewed
Hillary on Saturday? Are there
differing opinions within the
investigators or did Comey ignore
the investigators?
Could Hillary’s statement that,
she would keep Loretta
Lynch as Attorney General
be a bribe or payoff for no
indictment?
On Tuesday morning,
Comey laid out, a case that,
any reasonable person, who
was sitting on a grand jury,
would vote to prosecute.
Was it, his attempt to
show Hillary’s guilt
to the public and
not, offend his boss
Loretta Lynch?
I believe Comey did four things:
1) He outlined how Hillary had
broken the law in many areas.
2) He got, Loretta off the hot, seat,
because she had met, with Slick
Willie. 3) He did not, recommend
indictment of Hillary. 4) He gave
the FBI a huge shiner.
The FBI’s job is to investigate,
the Attorney General’s is to
decide if evidence supports indict
ment, the Judge’s job is to ensure
a fair trial and the jury’s job is to
render a verdict, of guilty or not,
guilty.
Has Comey become the investi
gator, the Attorney General, the
Judge and the jury for political
reasons? I believe he has.
Was it, for a purpose that, his
Tuesday morning press confer
ence was scheduled before Obama
and Hillary arrived in North
Carolina together on Air Force
One to begin campaigning? Also
was Hillary coming in on Air
Force One a planned political
statement?
The FBI will never again be
viewed as the world’s best, investi
gative agency. Thanks to Comey,
the FBI has now become just,
another government, agency to
protect, the powerful, intimidate
the populace and to punish the
ones the administration see as a
threat,.
The concept, of justice has
become perverted. The idea of
justice is for the one(s) harmed
to see the one(s) who did the
harming punished. The American
people were harmed in numer
ous ways by Hillary’s actions. We
will probably never know to what,
extent, her actions aided countries
which wish to harm us. What I
saw from all that occurred during
the week was a gross display of
corrupt Democrats using govern
ment, agencies to protect, Hillary’s
white privilege.
Claude Cur lee of Forsyth is a
Vietnam veteran and a member of
the Monroe County GOP.