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
Tyrants love panic
“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are
bold as a lion”
- Proverbs 28:1
W hile my friends were watching “Seinfeld”
growing up, I was the nerd watching “Night-
line with Ted Koppel.” Even as a boy I enjoyed
talk radio and political debate more than
sitcoms. Yep, I am a weird one.
I remembered this fact the other day when I saw a 1992
clip from “Nightline” that included a debate over global
warming between Sen. A1 Gore and my hero, Rush Lim-
baugh. I had watched it live when it first aired on ABC 30
years ago.
Limbaugh rightly pointed out that global warming was a
pretend crisis that politicians and the media ginned up to
help them gain more power and spending. The late talk show
host further noted, rightly, that the environmental move
ment was the home of socialism in the United States.
Thirty years later, we see the same people — even Gore
himself — pushing the same con game even as their dire
predictions are proven wrong again and again.
And then it dawned on me how much we have lost in this
country - and indeed the world — because our media and
political elite manufacture continual crisis.
Think of what the western world, particularly Europe,
are enduring because they were deceived into giving up all
their fossil fuels because they believed in the phony crisis of
“global warming.” Now those nations no longer have access
to Russian gas, and people will freeze to death this winter be
cause they believed the absurd lie that there was something
wrong with burning fossil fuels to heat their homes.
But the best (worst) example of a phony crisis is COVED.
Anxious to be rid of President Trump,
the media and political elite created a
COVID crisis to give themselves more
power and money than were dreamed
possible. They shut us up in our homes
under house arrest. They closed busi
nesses. All under the guise of a crisis
that included ever spiralling daily death
counts racing across the bottom of our
TV screens.
COVID was a vims that leaked
from a Chinese lab that had been
funded by the U.S. government.
Then the same people who created
the virus insisted the rest of give up
our lives in homage to their virus.
Now COVID was a real problem. It was a novel vims that
did kill many who were sick and elderly. But the government
completely overreacted, fanning the flames of crisis for its
own benefit and to our detriment. Now studies are showing
that our youth have more mental health problems than ever
in part because they were on lockdown for two years. This
generation is way behind in their educations and will likely
never recover because of the COVID overreaction. Suicide,
drug deaths, business closures, family breakup and now ram
pant inflation — all miseries created on purpose by our elites
because they wanted a crisis. And many of you fell for it.
And there are other examples. The media and federal gov
ernment fanned a fake “Russian collusion” crisis in 2016-17
to damage Trump. It was all a lie. The FBI lied to get warrants
to spy on Trump. They also leaked fake news to their willing
idiots in the press to slander Trump as a Russian stooge. And
so Democrats in Congress impeached Trump twice using
phony crisis.
And, to be fair, I have fallen for ginned up crisis as well. Af
ter 9-11 we were all scared. And I, like many of you, believed
that if we took the war to them “over there”, we would not
have to fight the terrorists here. Our government claimed
there was a crisis of weapons of mass destruction over there.
I bought it. Trillions of dollars and thousands of lives later, I
am not sure what we accomplished in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the fog of fear in 2001,1 also believed we needed a Depart
ment of Homeland Security. Ha! Twenty years later were
removing our shoes like stupid sheep in airports for reasons
that no one can explain. And the feds have abused those
See ON THE PORCH . Page 5A
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
DRAWING ON THE NEWS by AF Branco
REECES PIECES by Sieve Reece
Jaywalking at the crosswalk
S ome people are fortunate
enough to work remotely. I
am one of those. It isn’t neces
sary for me to get up at any set
hour, shower, shave, and use up gas
going into the office. In the morn
ing, I stumble just a few feet into my
home office and start typing away
with Muchacho in my lap.
But Tuesdays are a different story.
Will requires me to show up in the
afternoon because the paper goes to
press that evening and it’s all-hands-
on-deck. It can get hectic at 50 North
Jackson Street on Tuesday afternoons
but somehow, we always pull it off.
For some reason, a couple of hours
after I’m into my weekly proofreading
session I always have a need for a sugar
rush and let Will know I’m headed to
the Devi Foods store for a Twix bar.
He never wants me to bring him back
anything, but I always bring back a
small bag of chips for Tammy which I
feel helps keep me on her good side.
Devi Foods is on North Fee Street
and just a block from the Reporter’s of
fice. I always cross North Fee Street at
the Forsyth Welcome Center directly
across from Castleberry Drug which
seems to be the part of town with
the most traffic at that hour. For two
and a half years I must admit I have
been illegally jaywalking to satisfy my
afternoon craving for some
thing sweet solely because I’m
too lazy to walk all the way up
to Johnston Street, down to
the crosswalk, then back down
to Devi Foods. Besides on
Tuesdays, I don’t have time for
all that.
Then, lo and behold,
back in 2020 the good old
Georgia Department of
Transportation engineers
proposed a crosswalk on North Fee
Street with a flashing pedestrian light.
They said it would be 65 feet north
of the intersection with Adams Street
and would approximately line up
with Castleberry Drug Store Parking
Fot and Fee Street Park behind the
Forsyth Welcome Center. The Forsyth
City Council approved the proposal
at their Nov. 2,2020, meeting. When I
heard the news, it seemed like they
were doing it just for me. Wow.
My own personal crosswalk.
The DOT said the new
crosswalk would include
a solar-powered
rectangular, rapid
flashing beacon
to slow drivers
when pedes
trians press a
button wanting
to cross the street.
The DOT also said
the project would cost
about $46,000 to install. That
seemed like a chunk of change
to me, but I sure appreciated the
thought. I read a little bit of flak about
it on Facebookbut, of course, some
one must always stir the pot about
something.
And then sometime in the middle
of September, a worker from the DOT
parked a nice white work truck on
North Fee Street with an electrical
sign attached to a trailer that said the
crosswalk would be open on Sept. 24.
Seemed like the sign was there
forever and I was getting anx
ious to see it happen. For some
reason, the truck remained
attached to the sign. Parked
there like it had nothing better
to do.
As I mentioned, I felt like the
new crosswalk was MY
crosswalk and I wanted
to be a part of Forsyth’s
history by being the
first citizen ever to use
the new device. No one seemed to
know at what time on the 24th the
crosswalk beacon would be activated
so I called Mayor Eric Wilson. Surely,
if anyone knew, it would be him.
Nope. He did have a number for me to
call in Thomaston for the DOT people
who oversaw the project though.
After being on hold for a few
minutes the nice lady at the DOT
informed me that she had
spoken to the supervisor of
the crosswalk department,
and he said no cross
walk openings were
scheduled for that
day and no one
was sure when
it would hap
pen. Eater that
day, I noticed the
date on the sign had
been changed to Sept.
26.1 again called the DOT
on that morning of the 26th
but again no one could tell me at
what time the magic would happen,
but I was assured it would for sure
happen that day.
I rushed over to my crosswalk and
got there around 9:45 am. and found
it ready to go. Now I can’t say for sure I
was the first one ever to use the gadget,
but I can at least say I was one of the
first. I was amazed at the technology.
The beacon started flashing immedi
ately just as promised when I pressed
the button. I congratulated myself for
living in these wonderful times and
felt confident as I stepped off the curb.
Then suddenly a car swished by
without even slowing. Then another
and another. I finally made it to the
suicide lane and waited while one car
slowed but never stopped.
I felt much safer back when I was
jaywalking.
Steve Reece is a writer for the Report
er and a known crime fighter. Email
him at stevereece@gmaU.com.
CAROLYN S CORNER by Carolyn Martel
Which path of belief will you take?
"V" A "^hen it comes to belief
% / in God, a plethora
\l of opinions, convic-
T T tions and doubts
prevail. I read recently a comment
on a religious blog that said,
“You Christians take this God
business too serious.” What
about you? Are you skepti
cal that there is a God who
reveals himself through the
scriptures as Creator, Savior
and Ford?
I will never forget
a conversation I had
with a friend who
drilled me on my
religious beliefs, He asked, “If God
exists, what color is he? What does
he look like? How do you know the
Bible is true? What if Jesus is just a
myth?” I answered each question
and then there was silence. Relieved,
I sat back and took a breath.
After a pause, he asked one last
question, “What if we were planted
here by aliens?” Again, I shared
truth from God’s word. I’m happy to
say that a few months later, this man
placed his faith in Jesus Christ as his
Savior and Ford!
I’ve noticed that some
people willingly adopt a
false belief system. It’s con
venient, because there’s
no accountability to an
Omnipotent God. For ex
ample, there are those
who have bought into
the erroneous “New
Age” religion. The
New Age philosophy
is a hodgepodge of false beliefs,
including the error that all humans
are divine beings.
Also, “New Agers” worship the
universe instead of the one true God
who created the universe. I read
about a lady who embraces this her
esy. She believes that when she dies,
her spiritual essence (that’s what she
called her soul), will be scattered
throughout the universe as so many
mindless atoms, but with the goal of
reaching the state of perfect noth
ingness.
Which path of belief will you fol
low? After reviewing some of these
false beliefs, and the skepticism that
abounds about God’s existence, I’ve
gained a greater appreciation for the
truth found in God’s word.
Romans 1:20 makes far more
sense: “For since the creation of the
world God’s invisible attributes, his
eternal power and divine nature
have been understood and observed
by what he made, so that people are
without excuse.”
Carolyn Martel of Forsyth is the re
tired long-time advertising manager for
the Reporter. Email her at carolynmar-
tell@bellsouth.net.