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PAGE 4A • THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2007
mion
Editorial Views
Drought’s Lessons Are
Not All Learned — Yet
Following the bit of rain that fell over the past
week, Commerce's reservoir is full. In fact, all dur
ing the summer, as the news reports came in about
lake levels falling at Bear Creek Reservoir and Lakes
Lanier and Allatoona, Commerce's reservoir level
never fell far enough — one foot — to trigger the
city's drought management plan.
In other words, left to its own experience and
plans, Commerce would now be allowing the
unrestricted usage of outdoor water but for the
drought's effects elsewhere. Better to err on the side
of caution — particularly if Commerce is to contin
ue to help Jackson County, Jefferson, Maysville and
Banks County during the drought — but the situ
ation does suggest that a one-size-fits-all drought
management plan contains flaws worth noting.
Parts of the Savannah River Basin, for example,
are not in a drought. Rainfall in Elberton is up well
over previous years. Lake Hartwell may be down
severely, but lakes Burton and Oconee are doing
well. While some communities are almost out of
water, others have plenty.
Virtually every drought management plan in
North Georgia, as well as the statewide plan, will be
reworked over the next year in light of the record
setting drought. What Commerce officials will have
to consider must now include the likelihood that its
reservoir becomes the de facto backup for several
water systems besides its own. Commerce must not
only plan to provide water to its own residents in
time of drought, but it must also factor in the prob
ability that it will be called upon to help neighbor
ing systems with less dependable reservoirs.
Although the drought is upon us now and officials
are already adjusting the drought management plan,
this will be a work in process for at least another year
as data from a deepening drought will change every
one's perception of how to manage water resources.
And that brings us to the General Assembly.
Drought may well be among the legislature's top
agenda items, but when the General Assembly con
venes in January, we won't yet understand the full
effects of this drought. While the legislature should
look at ways to encourage water conservation and
the construction of more water storage, it would be
wise to take sufficient time to study this drought
and its total effect on Georgia before creating a
new state water policy that next summer's months
might prove premature.
Just as Commerce officials cannot take for granted
that the city reservoir will hold up through next
summer, neither can the General Assembly assume
that conditions as observed during the legislative
session of 2008 form a reliable basis for drawing
conclusions about a new statewide water plan.
We won't know until it's over just how severe
the drought was nor how best to manage water to
mitigate future similar dry periods. The drought of
2006-08 is both a disaster and a learning opportu
nity, but we can't fully apply the lessons learned
until we know the full extent of the disaster.
Local officials are prudently changing individual
drought plans to accommodate the lessons learned
on the fly of this experience, and every month of
continued drought will add to their knowledge.
Conditions and needs vary from community to
community. The General Assembly will be tempted
next spring to make major changes in state policy
without considering those local — but important —
anomalies. Let's fully understand the lessons from
this historic drought before we take any drastic
measures. The drought did not come upon us in
a single legislative session. The General Assembly
should not expect to have sufficient information
to prevent the damage of the next drought until it
fully understands the effects of this one.
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 BEARDSFEY Editor/General Manager
BRANDON REED Sports Editor
TERESA MARSHAFF Office Manager
MERRIFF BAGWEFF 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.
You really heard
some kids complain about the
rain we had Monday?
Yeah, they were
complaining because it
wasn't snow.
Slow Cookin’ In The Fast Lane
The first time I heard a friend
mention a slow cooker, I
assumed she meant me. When
I learned that it was an inven
tion, I could hardly believe it.
I cook slowly because I can't
help it. Who would cook
slowly on purpose? I went out
and bought one of the things,
thinking it might speed me up;
I figured it couldn't possibly
cook as slowly as I did. But I
guess you could say it slowed
me down, because it made me
start working on dinner first
thing in the morning. I had
never been that bad — close,
but not quite.
In the culinary department
I am clearly a throwback to
some unknown ancestor who
apparently didn't last long. I
myself am hanging on by my
fingernails, trying to do my
share of the cooking without
running mealtime into bed
time. The other women in my
family expend no noticeable
rocket-fueled bursts of energy
in the kitchen; they don't stag
ger sweat-drenched from the
field of battle the way I do.
Yet every single one of them
can get supper on the table in
less than half an hour with
out turning a hair. In fact,
the standing joke about my
mother is that even when she
knows there will be 20 people
sitting down at her table for
dinner at 7 p.m., she sits calm-
A Few
Facts, A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
ly reading the paper until 6:20
or so. (My brother does a side
splitting imitation of this.)
The standing joke about me,
I feel sure, is that when I'm
doing the cooking, everyone
looks at their watches, counts
forward three hours, and
plans accordingly. I hear quiet
conversations that start with
"Anybody want to go to the
mall?” and "Let's try one of
those thousand-piece puzzles”
as I enter the kitchen.
It hasn't always been this
way. As a mom, I was putting
dinner for four on the table
every night at about the same
fairly early time, and further
back, as a flight attendant, I
cooked a nine-course meal for
10 or 20 people while crossing
the Atlantic at 600 miles per
hour, and my first-class pas
sengers had time to enjoy it,
watch a feature-length film,
take a nap, wash up and have
a snack before we landed in
New York. At the pace I now
adopt when cooking, we
would have had to fly on to
Hawaii just to squeeze in the
dessert.
I don't want to give the
impression that this pace is
bad. Somewhere along the
line, a couple of things hap
pened, that's all. One was
that I got tired of rushing all
the time. The other was that I
discovered that cooking could
be meditative. And I think
these two developments are
related. When I leave work, I
look forward to going into my
parents' kitchen and "strauss-
ing around,” as we say. I
don't chop things quickly; I
slice them slowly. It helps me
unwind, and Mother and Dad
are understanding. "Dinner
at eight!” they say cheerfully.
"It's fashionable!”
And really, my whole fam
ily is supportive. When
we sat down to our 2 p.m.
Thanksgiving dinner at 3 p.m.
and realized that I had forgot
ten to fix mashed potatoes,
they all said, "That's okay.
We have sweet potatoes. Who
needs two kinds of potatoes?”
They were probably thankful
to have anything at all, hours
before dark, considering who
was cooking. I know I was.
Susan Harper is director of the
Commerce Public Library.
On Celebrating Hallowmas
On a recent trip to Kentucky,
I had a four-hour layover at
the Charlotte airport. I had
already finished the book I
took on the trip and read sev
eral newspapers that travelers
left in their seats, so I decided
to purchase some magazines.
After browsing through the
hundreds of magazines avail
able, I purchased the old faith
ful — People, Cosmopolitan and
Time.
People magazine informed me
of the best and worst dressed
movie stars about whom I
cared little; Cosmo told me
how I could lose 15 pounds by
Christmas and what the "must
haves” of the season are going
to be.
However, the article that
caught my attention the
most was the very last page
in the Time Magazine. In the
November 19, 2007, issue of
Time, Nancy Gibbs' essay is
so powerful, I read it three
times. As I sat there reading her
article I knew this was going
to be the topic of my next
column, because I agreed with
Views
In
Rotation
BY TRICIA MASSEY
everything she said and have
never had anyone affirm my
beliefs. It is entitled "Merry
Hallowmas.”
"When we let our holidays
bunch up, they lose their spe
cial power.” "Amen, sister,” I
quietly shouted to myself. The
basic premise is that none of
us can enjoy a certain holiday
because we are so worried
about the next holiday.
The best example of
this is how quickly we let
Thanksgiving bypass us as
we prepare our homes for
Christmas. On the Sunday
before Thanksgiving, I took
my daughters and a friend to
the Mall of Georgia to help
them formulate their list for
Santa. While walking around,
all three of them were shocked
that everyone had their
Christmas decorations already
out and heavily displayed.
"Mom, why is everyone
skipping Thanksgiving?” my
7-year-old asked.
"Exactly,” I thought. This
again, gave me more ammu
nition to write this article. It
pleased me that these girls rec
ognized a lack of Thanksgiving
celebration at this large mall.
I understand the retailers
need to get the shoppers'
minds on spending money
for Christmas. It is not for
me to question their inten
tions, because they have their
research teams that tell them
when to begin decorating and
promoting for the Christmas
season. It is just hard to believe
that we have to do it right after
Halloween.
Everyone has their own tra
ditions, and certainly time
Please Turn To Page 5A
It's Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Goodbye After
16 Years To A
Most Beloved Pet
We buried our beloved dog, Chief,
last Sunday afternoon, one of those
inevitable but difficult experiences
that every pet owner endures.
She came to us from Commerce
Veterinary Hospital where one of Dr.
Kinsey Phillips' sons had brought
her after finding her alongside the
road. It was 1991 and the Braves were
about to begin their streak of divi
sion championship, hence the name.
This tiny, short-haired white
puppy we thought was male when
we named her ("He's a sweet dog,”
the vet explained — and we didn't
check to confirm gender) was indeed
a sweet dog, though the short hair
grew long and would get nappy
before we had her shorn each spring.
Chief grew up with the kids, but
with better temperament (and less
trouble). She stayed in her pen when
we weren't home but after eight
years learned she could dig under
the fence. After that, she had free
run of the neighborhood, where to
our knowledge she never caused any
serious problems — although she was
prone to eating Clarence Bryant's
cat's food and one time came back
with a whole Perdue chicken — still
in the undamaged shrink-wrapped
plastic. I had visions of her stealing
someone's groceries, but, thankfully,
we never found out where she got
that chicken.
She'd walk around the neighbor
hood with various people who walk
for exercise; I'd distract her with a
treat when I walked so she wouldn't
follow me onto Waterworks Road.
Even as her health deteriorated, she'd
appear within five minutes of my
getting the grill out, and even a tired
old dog would act like an excited
puppy as the meat went on the grill.
I enjoy cats, but dogs are affection
ate and loyal. Whether returning
from a four-day trip or a 10-minute
errand, Chief would welcome us
back with the enthusiasm only a
dog could muster. After 16 1/2 years,
I still expect to see her coming to
greet the car.
Her death was no surprise. She'd
been suffering from kidney failure,
had arthritis, was growing cata
racts, was eating much less and had
become feeble. We knew the next
visit to the vet would likely be the
last, so when she was not in her bed
Saturday morning after a night when
she'd been coughing, Barbara and I
strongly suspected she'd wandered
off to die. We kept food in her bowl
and hoped for the best.
I found her body Sunday as I
searched the creek below the house,
half submerged, a muddy, lifeless
approximation of the most beloved
pet we've ever had. I washed off the
mud, and Barbara and I buried her
under a sand pile atop which she used
to perch during warm weather. What
do you say over the grave of a dog?
Pets really do become part of the
family. Their presence for years, the
affection they give and, at least with
Chief, their unchanging good nature,
elevate them to family status so that
when you lose one, it's like losing a
family member — though not on the
same scale.
Chief was just a dog, a mixed-
breed at that, but I'm not ashamed
to admit that we shed tears over
her grave. You can't love a pet for
16 years and not mourn its passing.
And, you shouldn't.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The Commerce
News. He can be reached at mark@main-
streetnews.com.