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& EDITORIALS
Declare among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not. - Jeremiah 50:2
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2019 winner: Best Community Service
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2019 winner: Best Serious Column - Don Daniel
ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
DRAWING ON THE NEWS by Steve Reece
Popeye’s is coming
I ’ve yet to try Popeyes famous spicy chicken sandwich,
but it appears I’ll get to try it soon.
The sandwich is apparently so good it has caused fights
and even a murder in November 2019.
“A man was stabbed to death outside a Maryland Popeyes
in a fight over the chain’s popular fried chicken sandwich,”
NBC News reported in 2019. The fight
began after someone cut in line for the
sandwich at a Oxon Hill, Maryland Pop-
eye’s, according to NBC.
Hopefully Forsyth will be more civilized
when Popeye’s lands here. City manager
Janice Hall confirmed on Monday that
the fast-food chain will go before the city
zoning board on Monday, Jan. 24 with
plans to build in the out-parcel next to
Walmart. This confirms our story in
the Nov. 24 Reporter that Popeye’s was
coming.
And since we wrote THAT story, I
know what’s going to happen in response to THIS story. We
often post our content to our Facebook page later in the week
after all of our paying customers have received the Reporter.
Here’s what those keyboard warriors said back in November
when we first reported the Popeye’s story:
“THATS what we need..! More fast food...!!” Lin Curmud
geon posted.
“I’d prefer a nice steak house!!” Steve Sourpuss chimed in.
“How bout some entertainment?” demanded Jilted Jeff.
“There’s nothing to do in Forsyth. Y’all want it to be a tourist
attraction - well where the attractions? Other than how to
get fat and lazy? Bowling alleys would be awesome. Movie
theatre perhaps. Something would be better than fast food or
more Indian hotels and gas stations.”
One complained they would rather have Chick-Fil-A. An
other would rather have Arby’s (really?!?). Others posted they
would rather have Cracker Barrel or KFC. And on it goes.
I have found that it is very rare that any of these people so
eager to tell everyone else what SHOULD happen in Mon
roe County are doing anything to actually make anything
happen. They’re not starting businesses. They’re not creating
jobs. Do these people think others can just snap their fingers
on social media and make a business go? Especially in a small
town? No, it’s hard to make a small business work. You have
to get a franchise, find a location, borrow or find the money
to buy equipment, hire employees, take out permits, set up
utilities and then advertise and try to drum up business to
keep it going and pray to God that you make it rather than
leaving you with in a mountain of debt. Yet here sit these ya
hoos on Facebook, slamming their fingers down about how
things ought to be. Don’t be that person!
Also on Monday, Forsyth city council discussed bubbling
plans to move our community’s annual Fourth of July fire
works show from the rec department to downtown.
Forsyth Main Street, whose mission is to bring business and
commerce to downtown, pays for the fireworks. City officials
point out that having the fireworks at the rec department
with food vendors actually pulls people away from down
town that night. They have a point.
New Main Street director Frank Wilder told the Down
town Development Authority earlier this month that he’s
been working with fire chief David Herndon and the city’s
fireworks vendor to find an acceptable downtown location
for fireworks. Wilder conceded they might have to tone
down the fireworks a bit but said it would be worth it to bring
people downtown.
“I would love it,” said Eric Thomas, owner of Jonah’s on
Johnston. Wilder said they’re thinking of having the fire
works on Saturday, July 2 along with a downtown concert
featuring the Prince cover band Purple Madness.
At Monday’s council meeting, Mayor Wilson said they
selected three potential sites for the fireworks: the Ingram lot
behind Farmer’s Furniture, behind the new City Hall at the
comer of Kimbell and Chambers streets, or, get this, the For
syth City Cemetery. Councilman Julius Stroud said he would
prefer to keep the fireworks at the rec department. And he
really doesn’t like the idea of the cemetery.
Wilson agreed the cemetery was a bad idea (although I
think it would be good to see some life down there.) But he
said he does like the idea of having them downtown. Maybe
Popeye’s will in business by then. And all the other businesses
that they keyboard warriors are sure would be “easy peezy” to
start. Stay tuned.
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
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Publication No. USPS 997-840
2022 r
ALABAMA-
REECES PIECES by Steve Reece
Great invention, but what a mess
B aby goats and chicks come
mighty close, but there isn’t
much on this earth that is
sweeter or cuter than a baby
of one of our own species. Of course,
most of us lose all that cuteness as
we grow older, or at least I did. And
I’ve seen a few ugly babies here and
there, but not that many.
Anyone with any experience with
babies knows that their angelic ap
pearance can be deceiving. There also
isn’t much on earth that is nastier
or noisier than that little cherub.
Mommies, daddies, and others like
grandparents and daycare centers
clean dirty baby butts up to 55 mil
lion times a day across our great na
tion. With five children, I have
had that humbling experience
many, many times. And I’m a
gagger. Before a child becomes
a 2-year-old toddler, that
darling sweetie you love so
much will mess their britches
a whopping 6,000 times,
averaging between 8-9 times
a day. Ford have mercy.
I’ve also seen children
much older than this still walking
around with plastic-padded rumps.
I was sitting on my Aunt Shirley’s
porch one hot summer day and one
of my third or fourth cousins who
was around 6 years old at the time
ran up to me wearing nothing but a
pair of Huggies. Extra-large. I told
him in a stern, loud voice, “Boy, you
better get out of those diapers!” That
young’un was always eager to please
and said, “Yes, sir, Cousin Steve!” and
took off running around the house
as fast as his little bony legs would
take him. A couple of minutes later
he returned completely buck-naked
and grinning from ear to ear with big
gaps in his teeth. I was quite startled
at the sight and told him to go put
that diaper back on. Thankfully he
was gone in a flash to take care of it.
Sometimes it’s best to just leave well
enough alone.
All this diaper-wearing means that
20 billion disposable diapers wind up
in landfills every year and is the third
most-sent item to American dumps.
The problem is not what was in the
diaper when it was rolled up and
tossed in the trashcan, that
nastiness might go away after
a month or so, but it will take
at least 500-550 more years
for the diaper itself to decom
pose.
Around 95% of mothers
in the U.S. currently use
disposable diapers generat
ing around 3.5 million tons
of waste per year leading to envi
ronmental issues and threatening
public health. Over the past few years,
the demand for diapers has grown
exponentially until disposable diapers
are now a $71 billion a year industry.
I don’t think we can count on the dia
per manufacturers for any quick solu
tions such as faster decomposition. I
searched to see if companies such as
Proctor & Gamble were working on
anything and found nothing.
A frustrated mother from Indiana,
Marion Donovan, revolutionized
the infant care industry in 1946 after
she became tired of her baby’s habit
of instantly wetting her diapers after
changing as many an exasperated
mother can relate. After trying out
sewing plastic shower curtains onto
nylon parachute cloth, she came up
with a leak-proof design she called
the “Boater” because she said it
helped babies “stay afloat’! They be
came an instant success at New York’s
Saks Fifth Avenue in 1949 and she
received a patent in 1951.
Donavan did not have the same
instant success with her idea while
presenting it to major U.S. paper
companies, however. They pooh-
poohed the invention and laughed
at her for creating such an unneces
sary product. Nearly a decade later,
Victor Mills, the creator of Pampers,
finally capitalized on Donavan’s idea
and now we have a big pile of messy
diapers that keeps getting higher and
higher. The inventor went on to earn
a dozen patents including one for
something called the “Zippity-Do”, an
elastic gadget that helps women zip
up their own dresses without being
a contortionist. It would probably
make a nice gift. I’ll have to check the
dollar store.
Scientists say the Earth has had five
mass extinction events and that we
are now experiencing the sixth. The
first five were created by things like
huge asteroids and natural climate
changes. This one is different as it
is being caused by humankind. We
can’t blame it all on the sweet babies,
though. For example, there is an
island of trash called the Great Pacific
Garbage Patch floating between
California and Japan that is 617, 763
square miles. This is larger than ten
times the size of Georgia and more
than twice the size of Texas. Aplastic
bottle thrown off the Santa Monica
Pier in California will ride the current
down to Mexico and from there catch
the North Equatorial Current all the
way across the Pacific until it will be
drawn in by the vortex of the Garbage
Patch where it will remain for at least
450 years. What a mess.
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
God gives peace in the fiercest storm
H ave you ever
asked God,
“Ford, don’t
you care?” The
disciples of Christ asked
the same question. In
Mark 4:37-41 we
read: “And a great
storm arose, the
waves beat into the
boat, so that it was
already filling.
But He (Jesus)
was in the stern,
asleep on a pil
low. And they awoke Him
and said to Him, “Teacher,
do You not care that we
are perishing?” Then He
arose and rebuked the
wind, and said to the sea,
“Peace be still!” And the
wind ceased and there was
a great calm. But He said
to them, “Why are you so
fearful? How is that you
have no faith?” And
they feared exceed
ingly and said to one
another, “Who can
this be, that even the
wind and sea
obey Him!”
THE STORMS
of life are inevitable.
Whether it’s the storm of
depression, discourage
ment, anxiety, sickness or
the loss of a loved one, we
can feel so overwhelmed
that we tend to say,
“Where are you Ford?
Don’t you see what Pm
going through? hike the
disciples we can become
fearful and feel like we will
perish if God does not
come to our rescue.
MARK 4:35 is a key
verse to meditate upon.
As Jesus and His disciples
climbed into the boat, Je
sus said to them, “Fet’s go
to the other side.” If Jesus
says we’re going to the
other side, we’re going to
the other side! The winds
may blow and the waves
will crash, but when Jesus
is in your boat you need
not fear! The supernatural,
calming power of God is
released in your life when
Jesus says to your storm,
“Peace be still!” The sons
and daughters of God can
say with confidence: “God
is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in time
of trouble” Psalms 46: 1-2.
Amen!
Carolyn Martel retired
from the Reporter in
2021 after 30 years as the
advertising manager. Email
her at carolynmartell @
bellsouth.net.