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PAGE 4A • THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2007 irnon 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.