Newspaper Page Text
Page 4A
& EDITORIALS
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
Hey Will, what is
“Hey Will, what’s coming next to Walmart?”
If I had $1 for every time I’ve been asked the question, well I
wouldn’t be writing this column right now. Id be in Tahiti.
There are two kinds of people in Monroe County. There are
those who know what’s going on. Those are people like you, the
dearly beloved read
ers of the Reporter.
And then there are
those who don’t
know that were get
ting a Popeyes next
to Walmart because
they do not read
their hometown
newspaper. They
prefer the darkness
and ignorance of the non-readers.
But, given the crowds and even violence engendered by Pop-
eye’s drive-throughs and its popular spicy chicken sandwich,
maybe we had better not tell them.
Speaking of fast-food joints, my 8 year old son and I were
going through Gray Saturday and decided to try out Jack’s. Did
you know every town around us - Barnesville, Jackson, Gray
and Monticello — all have a Jack’s. Yet we do not. What gives?
I don’t know. But I wanted to try Jack’s. I’ve heard good things
about it. Or maybe that’s Jack in the Box? I don’t know. Anyway,
I had a double cheeseburger. It was very good, kind of like a
smash burger. My son had a chicken biscuit. “This is the best
biscuit, ever, day day!” (He calls me day day). So that’s two votes
for Jack’s. One caveat though. Their fries are trash. Trust me.
• ••
Our city council members are our
elected leaders. It’s their job to keep their
ears to the community to know what
the people of Forsyth want And several
times in the past 7 months, council
members, especially councilman John
Howard, have announced at meetings
that people in Forsyth are unhappy with
the way the city has been distributing
Christmas decorations. Specifically,
according to Howard, they feel
that their neighborhoods have not
gotten city Christmas decorations
installed in their area while other
neighborhoods do.
Check out the article by our dedicated and hard-working
reporter Diane Glidewell about the situation on page D4.
Howard even suggested that if the city isn’t going to install
Christmas decorations in a fair way, maybe we should ditch
them altogether. I have a better idea Maybe the city should hire
a Christmas Decorations Equity Officer to ensure that the bells,
candles and holly decorations are installed in such a way that
honors diversity, equity and fairness? Or maybe we should have
Reparations Decorations? The city could give neighborhoods
that have been “privileged” decorations of Christmas stockings
with coal in them, while those who have been “under-privi
leged” would get joyous Santas, bows and snow flakes. That
should really get the town in the spirit!
• ••
We pay our county employees to do county business, right?
Well apparently yes, if that business includes rallying politi
cal support among county employees for county manager
Jim Hedges. As you’ll see on this week’s front page, the county
zoning official spent her “on the clock” time emailing county
employees to see what they thought about Hedges after he was
criticized at a June 7 commission meeting. It’s probably just a
coincidence, but now said zoning official has gotten a raise and
a promotion.
It is my opinion that the current county manager runs the
county government in the best interest of the county govern
ment. Read that again. There’s a reason late Monroe County
commissioner Jim Ham resisted creating a powerful county
manager position. He knew that position would necessarily
dilute the power of elected commissioners. And that’s where
we are now. Czar Jim, a hired hand who doesn’t live in Monroe
County, is running county government. Some of our elected
commissioners have begun to join the manager in running
county government on what’s best for county government, i.e.
more spending, more taxing and less listening to taxpayers.
Watch your commissioner and ask yourself: if his No. 1 priority
the taxpayers, or the size and growing assets of government?
It must be one or the other. Because sadly, there’s not much
overlap in their interests.
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
What s coming here?
DRAWING ON THE NEWS by AF Branco
REECE’S PIECES by Steve Reece
Customer service making comeback?
T here was a time when you
went shopping for grocer
ies, you would step up to
a friendly clerk standing
behind a counter who would gladly
put your order together for you with
a smile. They’d open a barrel, scoop
out a few pounds of pinto beans
or flour, grab some items from the
shelves behind them, wrap it all up
and you were good to go. Service
was everything. The problem was
that all this wonderful one-on-one
service was expensive. And the more
customers a store had, the more
clerks that were needed.
Then along came Clarence Saun
ders from Memphis, Term,
who changed everything. In
1916 Saunders came up with
the novel idea that shop
ping would be much more
efficient if customers were
able to serve themselves. He
proposed letting people stroll
through his store loading
up baskets (at first made
of wood) on their own
then paying at a central
ized location. His store
would have no clerks putting together
shopping lists. His workers would be
busy stocking shelves, cleaning the
store, and checking out customers.
People thought he was off his
rocker and that his innovative busi
ness would fail, especially when they
learned the name of his new establish
ment: “Piggly Wiggly”. No one really
knows why he chose such an unusual
moniker for the store. He was always
shy about revealing its origin. My
favorite explanation is that when he
was once asked, “why Piggly Wig
gly?” he answered, “So people will ask
that very question.” It is a name easily
remembered.
Saunders came up with many firsts
in the industry including checkout
stands, price marking each item in the
store, and using refrigeration to give
produce longer shelf life. He also put
his employees in uniforms for a more
professional, cleaner look.
His idea was a hit with
the public and soon Saun
ders was issuing company
stock which was success
fully traded on the New York
Stock Exchange. During the
early 1920s, he had a run of
bad trades and lost control
of his company. Soon he was
pushed out and was no longer associ
ated with the company he established.
Undaunted, Saunders then opened
a new chain of stores under the less
colorful name “Clarence Saunders,
Sole Owner of My Name Stores.” At
first, he made money, but the Great
Depression forced him to close the
doors. After the Depression,
he built an automated grocery
store called “Keedoozle”, but
the automation didn’t work
properly, and that venture
didn’t last long.
He was designing yet another
cutting-edge automated
grocery store when he
sadly passed away in
October 1953, an entre
preneurial genius ahead
of his time.
Located primarily in the Southeast,
there are now more than 530 inde
pendently owned and operated Piggly
Wiggly stores in 17 states. The com
pany is an affiliate of C&S Wholesale
Grocers, Inc. which was ranked as the
10th largest privately-owned company
in the United States by Forbes Maga
zine in 2010.
The new Ace Hardware now oc
cupies the location where Forsyth
once had its own Piggly Wiggly. That
short-lived store was closed for good
on July 4,2019, after competing
against the big national brands of our
local Walmart and Ingles proved to be
too much to overcome. “It’s just not
working,” said district manager Carl
Whitaker at the time, “This town isn’t
big enough for three grocery stores.”
Maybe not then. And maybe not to
day. But with all the property transfers
I’m seeing every month; I believe it
will be soon.
But competition is good. Look at
what’s happening to our two remain
ing grocery stores. Walmart recently
revamped its layout and Ingles is
adding a Starbucks, a pharmacy, a
Chinese and sushi bar along with
curbside pickup.
We can now have a friendly clerk
put together our shopping list, wrap
it all up with a smile, and were good
to go. We have come full circle. While
this is convenient for the customer, to
me it seems inefficient and expensive.
According to its website, Ingles
charges $4.95 for curbside pickup re
gardless of the size of the order. When
I think of all the time I spend walking
around aisles trying to find the cat
food and a cartload of other essentials
and then having to stand in a boring
line to pay for it all, I don’t mind shell
ing out five bucks at all. But instead of
buying for a single person, what if I
was stocking up to feed a family of five
for a month or so? No way that a fee
that low will cover the labor expense
of completing that order.
You Mil be able to purchase alcohol
with the new curbside service, but
tobacco, lottery tickets, and prescrip
tions must be bought inside the store.
You also will not be able to redeem
paper coupons.
It would be necessary to have a
horde of employees fulfilling orders if
everyone went on their apps to take
advantage of this “new” innovative
way of shopping. I’m not sure old
Clarence Saunders would think it
such a great idea.
Steve Reece is a writer for the Report
er and a known crime fighter. Email
him atstevereece@gmad.com.
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
CAROLYN S CORNER by Carolyn Martel
Learn a lesson from our feathered friends
admit it! I’m a bird lover. I enjoy
all varieties of birds, but
I find hummingbirds
fascinating.
They can fly forward, back
ward, and even upside down!
MY FRIEND Debbie
Menard, who owns At Ease
Therapeutic Massage,
is also an avid bird
lover.
I remember the
first time I visited her
home. I saw hummingbirds enjoying
food from bird feeders Debbie had
furnished for them.
Also, I will never forget a Facebook
post written by Monroe
County Coroner, Joey
Proctor. He wrote:
“It seems like the older
I get the more I’m awed
by nature and the animal
kingdom. I’m perfectly
content to sit in my rock
ing chair and watch
the birds... for hours.”
WE CAN learn a
valuable lesson from
our feathered friends. What lesson?
Jesus expressed it best: “Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your
life... Look at the birds of the air; they
do not sow or reap or store away in
barns, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Can any one of
you by worrying add a single hour to
your life?” Matt. 6:25-27.
IN GOD’S eyes, you are far more
valuable than birds. Instead of using
your energy to worry, grab a glass of
tea; step out on your porch; watch
some birds, and meditate on what
Jesus said. It’s great therapy for the
soul.
Carolyn Martel of Forsyth is the
retired long-time advertising manager
for the Reporter. Email her at car-
olynmartell @bellsouth. net.
—/ TTjq/c&jp