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PAGE 4A • THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2007
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Editorial Views
A Day To Appreciate
The Blessings Of Life
Thursday is our day of thanks-giving. Although
we're mired in a historic drought, concerned over
economic uncertainties, at war on foreign soil,
there's still so much for which to be grateful this
Thanksgiving. No nation on earth can approach what
America offers in freedom, opportunity and material
wealth. We are the beneficiaries of circumstance, the
wisdom and sacrifices of others and luck.
Ungrateful wretches we are if we fail to exhibit
gratitude for the blessings large and small that
enrich (or previously enriched) our lives, that con
tribute to our happiness or just brighten our days
— if only for a moment. It may be human nature to
take friends, family, good health and material abun
dance for granted, but our forefathers realized the
importance of gratitude and set apart one day each
year as a reminder for Americans to both recognize
and give thanks for their blessings.
When we acknowledge gratitude for the things we
value, we tacitly admit that they may be temporary
or even undeserved, and we open ourselves to their
greater appreciation. Thankfulness ought to be
ongoing, but at the very least, before we sit down to
a huge meal, we ought to acknowledge the extent to
which we are blessed.
EPD Needs Single Source
Of Reliable Information
One of the main points made during a "emergency
drought exercise" at the Jackson County Emergency
Operations Center was that for the purpose of good
communications, there should be one source of
information through which all relevant news flows
to participants and to the media.
Since the Environmental Protection Division is the
state's lead agency in dealing with the drought, that
would be a good first step for the EPD to take.
Case in point: When Gov. Sonny Perdue issued his
mandate that all water suppliers must cut their aver
age daily use to 10 percent below the average daily
use during last winter, different EPD officials offered
different assessments of what that meant.
One directive noted that all holders of EPD permits,
whether for surface water or wells, must comply, but
officials attending the roundtable pointed out that
they've seen EPD letters declaring that operators of
well systems are exempt. In addition, some EPD offi
cials say water providers like Commerce, who now
find themselves helping communities where water
is in short supply, must nonetheless cut their with
drawals by 10 percent; other EPD officials insist that
Commerce's water sales to Jackson County, Banks
County and Maysville will not count against it.
Local water officials report that such is often the
case with EPD, that what one official says another
will contradict. One would hope that at least during
times of crisis, the EPD could reach a consensus on
each policy or directive so that water providers in
serious need of clarification can (a) get a prompt
answer in need and (b) be able to count on the accu
racy of the information received.
In the case of Perdue's executive order, it is quite
possible that the governor sprung that directive with
out advising the EPD, leaving the state's top environ
mental agency to come up with its own interpreta
tion of what the governor meant. Even so, the EPD's
top people should have either reached a consensus
on its interpretation or sat down with Perdue to
develop an understanding of exactly what he wanted.
At that point the EPD could have offered a precise
explanation of the executive order and would have
avoided the confusion that persists even as cities,
counties and water authorities struggle to comply.
Editorials, unless otherwise noted, are written by Mark
Beardsley. He can be reached by e-mail at mark@main-
streetnews.com.
The Commerce News
ESTABLISHED IN 1875
USPS 125-320
1672 South Broad Street
Commerce, Georgia 30529
MIKE BUFFINGTON Co-Publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON Co-Publisher
MARK BEARDSLEY Editor/General Manager
BRANDON REED Sports Editor
TERESA MARSHALL Office Manager
MERRILL BAGWELL Cartoonist
THE COMMERCE NEWS is the legal organ of the city
of Commerce and is published every Wednesday by
MainStreet Newspapers Inc. Periodical postage paid at
Commerce, Georgia 30529.
Subscription Rates Per Year: Jackson, Banks and
Madison counties $19.75; State of Georgia $38.85;
out-of-state $44.50. Most rates discounted $2 for
senior citizens.
POSTMASTER send address changes to THE COMMERCE
NEWS, P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, GA 30549.
We select one day of the year to give thanks. The rest
of the time, we just expect things to go our way.
Why I’m Reading Henry James
My daughter-in-law, who's
from China, is studying for
exams and says she has been
"busy like a cow." Aware that we
Americans say "busy as a bee,"
she laughs and explains that
cows don't do much buzzing
around; they just stand in one
place and "work, work, work —
chew, chew, chew."
That is what my mind has to
do when I'm reading Henry
James. Gone for nearly a cen
tury, he is still the all-time
champion of complex phrases.
Drifting off or losing focus
while reading a James novel
is like dropping a stitch when
you're knitting: you have to
go back and start over unless
you're very adroit. And skim
ming the pages or flipping to
the end simply leaves you with
nothing.
I turn to Henry James when
I feel as though there's too
much blather in my life and
a lot of it's coming from me;
when it seems that words have
become cheap (or cheapened),
sentence structure has gone
out the window entirely, and
Madison Avenue has spoon-fed
me with misinformation until
I can barely remember how to
pick up the spoon myself and
dip it into something nutritive.
Afflicted with this sort of men-
A Few
Facts, A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
tal indigestion, I'll find myself
wandering around the house,
peering at my bookshelves as if
I were gazing into the medicine
cabinet and wondering what
I could take that would really
make me feel better. And I'll
suddenly think, Omigosh! I
need a dose of Henry James!
But like some of my Aunt
Edith's home remedies, this
treatment is not for the faint of
heart. You may need to fortify
yourself with some good strong
coffee to prevent dozing off
between the beginning of a
sentence and the end of it, and
a dictionary will come in handy
for adjectives like "physiogno
mic" and "fulginous," unless
you can bob happily in a sea of
weird words, grasping their gen
eral meaning as they float by.
On the other hand, James can
be very steadying in times of
stress or trouble. I read "The
Golden Bowl" when I had bron
chitis and a high fever, and it
kept my mind off the fact that
I was pretty sick and far from
home and definitely missing
my mother — because there
was no room for anything in a
mind that was trying to com
prehend those lengthy, elegant
and complicated sentences.
The writer Hortense Calisher
has written that when she was
in college in the 1930s, the
works of Henry James weren't
part of the curriculum. She
stumbled upon them by acci
dent and was thrilled because
"in the long, loping parentheses
of James, I seemed to find a
replica of how thought really
thinks, a counterpart of the real
psychological processes of my
own brain."
Well, her brain must be a
lot more agile than mine. But
I continue to appreciate the
challenge and pursue the plea
sure of being treated like an
adult reader. As Calisher wrote,
"James never for one moment
underestimated the intelligence
of his readers, and there are
some who will never forgive
him for it."
Susan Harper is director of the
Commerce Public Library.
Thanks To A Lot Of People
As I prepare my home
and stomach for another
Thanksgiving holiday, I want
to take a minute to thank all
of the wonderful people of
Commerce for welcoming
Rebecca and I into their com
munity.
For the wonderful couple
who let us borrow their mov
ing truck more than once ... I
thank you. For the gentleman
who special orders my run
ning shoes ... I thank you. For
the gentleman who drove us
around town searching for
the perfect place to live ... I
thank you. For the couple who
welcomed us over for our first
invitation dinner ... I thank
you.
For the people who brought
us house-warming gifts ... I
thank you. For the woman who
called to check on Rebecca
when she was sick ... I thank
you. For the neighbor who
brought over the most amaz
ing peach cobbler I've ever
tasted ... I thank you. For the
gentleman who endures our
long runs and longer conversa
tions ... I thank you. For the
two gentlemen who adorn the
Views
In
Rotation
BY HASCO CRAVER
downtown bench day after day
and consistently ask me how
my day is ... I thank you.
For the couple who graciously
spent time inspecting our
house and meeting with us to
discuss it ... I thank you. For
the woman who always brings
an extra jacket and blanket to
the Commerce Tigers football
games ... I thank you. For the
gentleman who took the time
to drive by my struggling yard
and prescribe a remedy ... I
thank you. For the downtown
volunteers who consistently
assist with events ... I thank
you.
For the gentleman who invit
ed us to UGA's picture day ... I
thank you. For the group that
deals with my oftentimes silly
and very spur-of-the-moment
printing requests ... I thank
you. For the downtown stal
warts who continue to men
tor me ... I thank you. For the
woman who deals with my
obsessively particular haircuts
... I thank you. For the brilliant
sisters who steadily provide an
example of strength and ten
derness ... I thank you.
For those who honk, wave
and slow down while I'm run
ning ... I thank you. For the
gentlemen who constantly
remind me of how lucky I am
to be married to Rebecca ... I
thank you. For the gentleman
who drove me to Mountain
City in search of pumpkins
... I thank you. For the gentle
man who spent his lunch hour
showing me how to fix the
wiring in my kitchen ... I thank
you. For the gentleman who
candidly shares his opinions
of local issues and gave me the
opportunity to voice my own
... I thank you. For the couple
who gave us our first taste
of the Redd House ... I thank
Please Turn To Page 5A
It's Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Get Used To
Living With
Water Restrictions
"The problem is not getting us to
March. The problem is getting us to
July, August and September."
Those words came from the state's
climatologist, David Stooksbury,
during a drought disaster exercise
last Wednesday. While nothing is
certain in the area of climate predic
tion, Stooksbury said there is a "high
probability" of dry winter weather
that will keep our rivers and reser
voirs from recovering before next
summer.
Here's what that means. Get used to
conserving water. We'll get periodic
rain, but we probably will not be able
to use Commerce or Jackson County
water outside all this winter — unless
Stooksbury's "high probability"
doesn't pan out.
No car washing or watering of
yards. No flower gardens, if it's yel
low, let it mellow ... Those are incon
veniences we'll grow tired of if we
get a little rain and our reservoirs
fill back up. But at this point, there
seems to be a high probability that
the current water restrictions — and
maybe more severe limitations — will
be with us for a year or more.
I'm a glass-half-empty guy when it
comes to economic forecasts, weather
trends and future wars, so I'm going
to assume Stooksbury's projections
about a dry winter are on the money.
And, just as I think local govern
ments should begin planning now
for the next drought, this is also the
time for people like me to figure how
we're going to stretch water usage
next year.
I've been thinking of getting a rain
barrel for months, but have been
unable to find one except online, and
I'm too cheap to pay $60 for ship
ping. Since I want to keep my vegeta
ble garden and shrubs alive, and may
at some point want to wash a car, I
should go to Home Depot and buy
one (they recently got two kinds) or
make one. Or two.
But that's only a matter of finding
a way to continue a little gardening.
More important will be the conserva
tion of water to avoid any punitive
charges should water allocations be
imposed, and trying to preserve our
water supply to try to keep businesses
from being forced to shut down,
which would hurt a lot of people.
How we use water through the winter
months could make a big difference
on how bad things get next summer
if the grim predictions are accurate.
There will be times when the
Commerce reservoir will be full and
we'll want to resume normal water
use. Even the Bear Creek Reservoir is
likely to post gains during the win
ter. Neither of those will mean the
drought is ending; neither should
encourage us to become more liberal
with our water usage, lest we get to
this point next year and find the situ
ation far, far worse.
Best to make water conservation
a habit. Fix those leaks, upgrade to
more efficient appliances or faucets
and shower heads when you can.
Flush less often. Capture rainwa
ter, be creative, because it appears
that the drought will be with us for
awhile and every drop we save today
will be available tomorrow.
So, pray for rain, indeed. But even
as the rain is falling don't deviate
from your efforts to conserve water.
Put on your rain gear and wash your
car with God's water.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The Commerce
News. He can be reached at mark@main-
streetnews.com.