Newspaper Page Text
Page 4A
Declare among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not. - Jeremiah 50:2
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 winner: Editorial Page excellen
2019, 2018 winner: Best Headline Writing
2019 winner: Best Community Service
2019 winner: Best Layout and Design
2019 winner: Best Serious Column - Don Daniel
ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
DRAWING ON THE NEWS by AF Branco
Reckoning begins
A t last, the reckoning for COVTD tyranny in 2020 has begun
in Monroe County.
Monroe County commissioners on Tuesday replaced
Board of Health member Hugh Cromer, a retired pharma
cist, with family nurse practitioner Lori Starr. They narrowly failed
to replace another Health Board member, Lillian Davis, who had
bemoaned back in 2020 that churches were meeting for worship. It’s
a good start on righting the wrongs of2020.
Studies and anecdotes are beginning to show
how deeply government over-reaction to CO-
VID has harmed our country and especially
our children.
Until 2020, no one really cared who was on
the Board of Health. They oversee the health
department as it administers vaccinations, in
spects restaurants and permits wells and septic
tanks. Not really interesting stuff.
Then came COVTD. Around the coun
try and even in Monroe County, Boards of
Health took the lead in in 2020 in trying
to take away our cherished freedoms in a
futile effort to “stop a virus”. In July 2020, our own Monroe County
Board of Health authorized member Dr. Jeremy Goodwin to write a
statement aimed at requiring masks and restricting freedoms in this
quixotic “stop a virus” effort. At that July 2020 meeting, then-board
member Hugh Cromer told health department staff member Gina
Smith to go into restaurants to make sure employees are wearing
masks. Lillian Davis expressed her concern that churches were having
regular worship services again. Goodwin said that from everything
he’s learned, indoor church services are a dangerous place for con
tracting COVID.
Later in 2020, that same Health Department insisted that perfectly
healthy Mary Persons’ students with no symptoms stay home and
quarantine for 10 days if they just got close to someone who tested
positive. If I sound angry, I am. Yes these people are our neighbors
and friends. But they hold positions of power and they abused it in
2020. And it’s our responsibility as patriotic Americans to replace
them. Go to New York or California and see what it’s like when you
can’t send your child to school without her face being smothered. See
what it’s like to have to show vaccination records just to go to a restau
rant or to a play. That’s what happens when passive citizens don’t put
a check on government power. And that’s what these Health Board
members would have done to us if they could’ve gotten away with it.
C.S. Lewis, author of the “Chronicles of Narnia” and one of the
great Christian thinkers of the 20th century, foresaw that the worst
tyrannies would come from those trying to “do good”.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims
maybe the most oppressive,” wrote Lewis in his “God in the Dock”.
“It maybe better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent
moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep,
his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment
us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with
the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go
to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. Their
very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be cured’ against one’s
will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be
put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason
or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and
domestic animals.”
To their credit, commissioners John Ambrose and George Emami
tried to replace Davis as well. How does anybody who laments
churches meeting belong in a position of power? Davis’ term is up
this year. Emami nominated heart surgeon and Army Reservist Dr.
Norman Hetzler of Culloden to replace her. Who better than a heart
surgeon who loves his country to serve on the Monroe County Board
of Health? But commissioners GregTapley, Eddie Rowland and
Lamarcus Davis refused to go along.
“So were gonna pass up on a heart surgeon?” Emami asked in
credulously.
Emami said putting new people on the board is healthy for the
county, and may groom leaders for the future.
But Davis said that Lillian Davis takes friends and neighbors to the
hospital. Rowland also refused to vote for Hetzler.
“I’ve seen Lillian Davis embedded in this county, at council meet
ings,” said Rowland. “She’s in the ditch with these people. She sees
situations most of the board doesn’t see.”
She also wanted churches closed.
President Ronald Reagan warned us that we must be vigilant if we
hope to preserve freedom for our kids.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinc
tion,” said Reagan. “We didn’t pass it to our children in the blood
stream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them
to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling
our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the
United States where men were free.”
Commissioners took a first step, though, in the fight back against
tyranny in our midst. We have only begun.
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, President • Robert M. Williams Jr., Vice President
Cheryl S. Williams, Secretary-T reasurer
OUR STAFF
Will Davis
Publisher/Editor
publisher@mymcr.net
Tammy Rafferzeder
Business Manager
business@mymcr.net
Steve Reece
Reporter
stevereece@gmail.com
Donna Wilson
Advertising Manager
ads@mymcr.net
Diane Glidewell
Community Editor
news@mymcr.net
Amy Haisten
Creative Director
mymcrgraphics@gmail.com
Official Organ of Monroe
County and the City of Forsyth
50 N. Jackson St., PO Box 795 • Forsyth,
GA 31029 • Periodicals Postage Paid at
Forsyth, GA 31029- 994-2358
SUBSCRIPTION RATE: In County: $50 • Out of County: $60 • Single Copy: $2
Deadlines noon on Friday prior to issue. Comments featured on opinion pages are the creation of
the writers, the do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Reporter management.
Publication No. USPS 997-840
Amritm-Carewm
O30RP freofevS tv,?
REECE’S PIECES by Steve Reece
Whatever happened to common sense?
“If anything can go wrong, it will.”
This well-known law has been sci
entifically proven and attributed to
Captain Edward Murphy an aero
space engineer who worked at Ed
wards Air Force base in 1949. This is
the same base where General Chuck
Yeager broke the sound barrier two
years earlier. As the story goes, Mur
phy was complaining about one of
the men serving under him and what
he really said was, “If there is any way
to do it wrong, he’ll find it.” Attempts
to prove or disprove this law are
doomed to failure by
definition of the very
law itself. Neverthe
less, buttered toast
knocked from a table
will always land but
ter side down.
I always try to
prepare for anything
that might go wrong
and on the rare
occasion when everything seems to
be going well, I know I have obvi
ously overlooked something. Nature
always sides with hidden flaws. As
the military says, “No battle plan ever
survives contact with the enemy and
if your advance is going well, you are
walking into an ambush.”
We can never tell which way a train
is coming by studying the track and
that light at the end of the tunnel is
usually that oncoming train. All we
can do is remember if anything sim
ply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
We can only pray for the best and
hope we don’t make some foolish
mistake.
Fools can be exceptionally clever in
their endeavors to mess things up, so
it’s impossible to make anything truly
foolproof and companies will go to
great lengths not to get sued. Federal
and state laws as well as insurance
companies require that consumers
are well-protected against unseen
hazards.
This is the reason we have warn
ing labels on chainsaws advising us
Columnist Steve Reece once heard an
old cowboy say, It don t take no genius
to spot a blue jay in a flock of hum
mingbirds.
not to hold the wrong end while it’s
running and notices on laundromat
dryer machines saying it’s hazard
ous for children to be inside the
dryer while in operation. More good
advice I once saw posted on a Florida
gas pump was not to place the gas
nozzle in your mouth or other ori
fices which I’m not allowed to men
tion in this space. Even though these
notices seem ridiculous to most of
us, there is a reason they are posted
on nearly every product. There are
some folks out there who really
need this guidance. As cowboys say:
“Never approach a bull from the
front, a horse from the rear, or a fool
from any direction.”
According to Voltaire (1694 -
1778), French author, humanist and
satirist, “Common sense is not so
common.” Common sense is a lot
like my barber who could use some
mouthwash; those who need it the
most don’t have it.
If everyone would just behave and
use a little more common sense, we
wouldn’t need so many laws, rules,
and warnings cluttering up our
lives. Wikipedia put together a list of
more than 30,000 statutes the United
States Congress has enacted since
its inception in 1789. Yet even with
the listing of these 30,000 laws, this
extensive list is incomplete. Add to
that total the state, county, and local
regulations we live under. We must
truly walk straight and narrow to be
law-abiding citizens these days.
Of course, we need most of these
laws. This is no utopia where there is
no need for lawyers. Where leaders
and judges are immune to bribery
because money doesn’t exist. We
need to keep some of these folks un
der control. I’m in no way advocating
abolishing any of these laws en
acted with common sense except for
maybe replacing the income tax laws
with the FairTax law. I like the fact
that it’s fair and makes good com
mon sense. Will Rogers once said,
“The only difference between death
and taxes is that death doesn’t get
worse every time Congress meets.”
In Monroe County alone, around
55-60 people a week are jailed for
various reasons. Sometimes ridicu
lous reasons. Usually, the number of
incidents and arrest reports we print
in this newspaper on a weekly basis
spill over onto a second page. Many
of the people in our local hoosegow
probably could’ve easily avoided be
ing arrested by using a bit of precau
tionary planning. It doesn’t take an
Einstein to know you shouldn’t haul
butt through Monroe County at 90
miles per hour in a darkly tinted car
with an illegal license plate held on
with only one screw and 4 pounds
of cocaine in your trunk and a stolen
pistol under the driver’s seat. You’re
sure to attract the attention of one of
our hawk-eyed deputies and com
mon sense will tell you you’re going
to jail.
And it’s not a good idea to leap out
of a second-story window from a
home you broke into and burglarized
even if your name is Byrd because if
anything can go wrong, it will. I once
heard an old cowboy say, “It don’t
take no genius to spot a blue jay in a
flock of hummingbirds.” Someone
had to say it.
Steve Reece is a writer for the
Reporter and a known crime fighter.
Email him at stevereece@gmail.com.
CAROLYN S CORNER by Carolyn Martel
We are promised new name, identity
B efore you were
born or shortly
thereafter, your
parents chose a
name for you. They
could have named
you after a beloved
relative, or they may
have just chose a
name that they
liked. Regard
less of what your
name is now, did
you know that the
redeemed of God are go
ing to receive a new name?
If you are a child of God,
you’re going to receive a
new name chosen by God
Himself. Surprised? Read
on.
IN REV. 2:17, the
Apostle John says that
Jesus is going to give those
who overcome a new
name. “New” used in this
text means not
known before. It’s a
name that is newly
introduced! It
carries the concept
and meaning
of that which
is superior and
nobler. But
wait, it gets
even better. Jesus said:
“He who overcomes (one
who trusts explicitly in
Christ), I will make him a
pillar in the sanctuary of
my God... and I will write
on him the Name of My
God and the Name of the
city of my God, the New
Jerusalem, which de
scends from My God out
of heaven, and I will write
upon him My new Name”
(Rev. 3:12). Wow! This is
awesome!
FIRST, THERE is a
new name reserved for
the redeemed in heaven!
Plus, the child of God will
have a 3-fold name written
upon him. This 3-fold
name mentioned in Rev.
3:12 could be engraved
upon our royal crowns, or
could be written upon our
heavenly robes, or they
may be a part of our new
glorified bodies. Regard
less of how God is going to
do this, the name of God,
the name of the new Jeru
salem, and Jesus’ own new
name will give us a distinct
identity. These honorable
names will signify to the
angels, and all creation
that we belong to God.
Think about all of this for
a moment. This is remark
able! But it makes sense
to me that our Creator
and Savior would do this.
All we have to do is look
at what God said in Rev.
21:5, “Behold, I make all
things new” (or superior,
better than the old).
Carolyn Martel retired from
the Reporter in 2021 after 30
years as the advertising manager.
Email her at carolynmartell @
bellsouth.net.
iTk 1