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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS. WEDNESDAY. TULY 9. 2008
mion
Editorial Views
Bicknell, Hardy Deserve
Support Of The Voters
By now, interested voters have seen all of the yard
signs and newspaper ads. They've possibly attended
or read the coverage of the various political forums
and formed opinions about which candidates they
support in next Tuesday's election.
The general primaries — both the Republican and
Democratic primaries are Tuesday — are not gen
erating a lot of local excitement, but there are two
races in the Republican Primary that stand out over
the others. Those are the races for chairman of the
Jackson County Board of Commissioners and the
BOC District 2 race, and whoever wins Tuesday will
be elected to office because there are no Democratic
candidates.
For chairman of the board of commissioners,
Hunter Bicknell appears best qualified to lead
Jackson County for four years. Bicknell has proven
to be a consensus builder during his tenure on the
Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority, help
ing improve relations between that important board
and the board of commissioners — and between the
authority and the municipal governments. That kind
of relationship building is needed on the board of
commissioners.
Both of his opponents have criticized the water and
sewerage authority Bicknnell chairs for not making
money. In doing so, they display a lack of under
standing that makes their candidacies suspect. The
authority will never make money as long as it must
build sewer lines — which has been forced upon it
by the board of commissioners. The payoff for that
expence accrues to the county government and the
county school system from industrial development,
and it has been substantial.
Do not expect Bicknell to make important deci
sions quickly. His method of operation is to hear
from all parties and all viewpoints, and in doing so
he builds trust and cooperation.
Improving intergovernmental relations is also why
Chas Hardy stands out for the District 2 seat on the
board of commissioners. The son of Commerce
Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr., he can help the BOC
repair its relationship not just with Commerce, but
also with all the municipal governments.
If elected, Hardy's job won't be to represent the
interests of Commerce to the BOC, but to make sure
the concerns of all the municipalities are taken into
consideration and that residents of the municipali
ties get as much return from their county tax dollars
as do residents of the unincorporated areas. Having
someone exposed to the issues and concerns facing
both the county government and the city govern
ments will be good for the board of commissioners.
With nine municipalities, the BOC needs better
working relationships than it currently has. Hardy
can be instrumental in forming the alliances that
will pay dividends to the county and its cities and
towns.
County government is increasingly complex as the
county and its municipalities grow. Having com
missioners who can work well with each other and
with the nine municipalities is crucial to Jackson
County's future. Bicknell and Hardy are both well-
suited for the jobs they seek.
Other candidates deserving of your support include
Brad Smith for district attorney and Stan Evans for
sheriff, based on their experience. But whatever your
inclinations, they don't matter if you don't vote. Go
to the polls Tuesday and express your opinion for the
candidates you think are best suited for leadership.
Editorials, unless otherwise noted, are written by Mark
Beardsley. He can be reached by e-mail at mark@main-
streetnews.com.
Weigh In At commercenewstoday.com
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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 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 dis
counted $2 for senior citizens.
POSTMASTER send address changes to THE COMMERCE
NEWS, P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, GA, 30549.
I have been having "one of
those days" for over a month
now, and I'm ready for it to be
over. I feel like Calamity Jane
— everything I touch seems to
fall apart or blow up or just
simply quit working.
My sister has said for years
that she has a strange effect on
what you might call pieces of
equipment — cars, computers,
things like that. She was driv
ing a Mercedes one day when
its radio decided to start play
ing at top volume and serenade
everyone in an office park
with Spanish music. No one
could turn the radio off, and
in the end the car was towed
to its dealership with all the
windows rolled up, still blaring
Latin tunes.
Perhaps it's genetic, like my
tendency to lose my glasses,
which I inherited from my
mother and grandmother.
Maybe we Trawick women
have our own electro-magnetic
fields. If so, mine is just this
side of making clocks run
backwards.
Here's what life has been
like for the last little while.
It all started when I drove to
Athens and the car overheated
because it had a broken hose.
I crept home at 25 miles per
hour, got it fixed, and drove
it to Athens again. What was I
A Few
Facts, A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
thinking? This time the engine
light came on because there
was something wrong with
my emission control system.
(Not that I could tell what that
funny little light was. How was
I supposed to know what a car
engine looks like in profile?
On my dashboard it looks
rather like an accordion.)
Inbetween visits to the car-re
pair shop, I managed — as you
know — to get stung by eight
yellow jackets (well, it's nine
now, actually). I also hurt my
back trying to pick up some
thing best left to weightlifters.
Awake one night at 2 a.m.,
unable to sleep because of the
back pain, I decided to adjust
my "number bed" and make
it more comfortable. Suddenly
I was sinking. Now I really
couldn't sleep, and it was only
with some effort that I could
climb up out of the bed.
I looked in my owner's man
ual to see whether I could call
the manufacturer. But 24-hour
help lines have gone the way of
the dodo and are now extinct.
Happily, the bed is under war
ranty, and a new pump is on
the way. Unhappily, I was fool
ish enough to load my parents'
dishwasher the very next day
and turn it on — and the dish
washer pump broke! Alas, it is
not fixable, so a new dishwash
er must be purchased.
I went to work Monday
morning with some trepida
tion, reluctant to touch even
the door. I was thinking of
my condition as something
like being accident-prone, and
wondering when family and
friends would start calling
me Destruct-O. Perhaps I'd
become one of those people
in the movies — the ones who
start fires just by thinking
about them.
And sure enough, our library
computers went haywire, not
just in Commerce but all over
the state. Any minute now
I'll be quarantined, perhaps
tested. If you don't see me, it's
because I've gone into hiding.
But my electric toothbrush still
works. Don't you think that's a
hopeful sign?
Susan Harper is director of the
Commerce Public Library. She
Mom-In-Law Is Ultimate Hostess
While reading a recent
Sunday School lesson on
Hospitality, I was reminded of
how my mother-in-law pos
sesses true southern hospitality.
I also remembered my
waitressing days at the Olive
Garden restaurant in Macon
where the word "Hospitaliano"
was a part of the theme for the
Olive Garden. Hospitaliano was
embroidered on our aprons,
engrained in our demeanor
and the word even found it's
way into the song we sang to
unsuspecting birthday guests.
For two years, I was an Italian,
hospitable, singing waitress
helping support my extra-cur
ricular activities in college.
Anyway, I have only known
my mother-in-law for 16 years,
and can only imagine how
many untold hospitality stories
she has not shared and those
that I am not familiar with.
She is the epitome of a hospi
table woman.
The first incident I recall is
when she, Carolyn and my
father-in-law, Charles (just
like from Little House on the
Prairie) hosted an exchange
^ i
BYTRICIA MASSEY
student from Australia. Ian was
a charming young man who
came to the states to attend
college. Even though Ian lived
in the dorm, my in-laws often
found him enjoying a respite
from dorm life relaxing in
their living room in front of
their television. They were very
good to him and set him up
with various friends across the
state so he would be able to
learn about our state's rich his
tory.
Then there was the time
when she and Mr. Massey were
dining in a local restaurant.
When they saw a couple about
their age that they didn't know,
they engaged in conversation
with them. They learned that
this couple was traveling via
travel trailer across the coun
try. By the end of dinner, my
mother-in-law invited them to
stay at her house so she could
personally show them around
the area. They ended up stay
ing three nights.
Can you imagine this couple
trying to tell this story to their
adult children? It probably
went something like this. "We
met the most charming couple
at Shoney's in Tifton, Georgia.
The introduced themselves at
the buffet bar after recognizing
that we weren't from Tifton.
They began to talk and we
couldn't get away from them.
After we ate our salads, the lady
came over and invited us to
join them for dinner. We had
the most amazing conversation
with them. It turns out, they
asked us to stay with them at
their home."
"You didn't, did you, mom?"
"Well, as a matter of fact we
did."
"What? You went to some
Please Turn To Page 5A
It's Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Finally, A Fruit
Men Can Get
Excited About
It's something off the front page of
The Onion, the spoof newspaper, or
out of a situation comedy — except
it's true — allegedly.
You heard about the Texas study?
The one that says watermelon has the
same effect on men as Viagra?
It was on Page IE of the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution last Thursday.
File it under truth is stranger than
fiction.
Researchers at Texas A&M
University said that the citruline in
watermelon is converted to agrinine,
which boosts nitric oxide, which
relaxes blood vessels, according to an
article on ScienceDaily.
In other words, wondrous things
happen.
Naturally, the folks in Crisp
County, which calls itself the
"Watermelon Capital of the World,"
are ecstatic. We never buy water
melon, so I won't be in a position to
see if the prices soar, but one would
expect a substantial increase. Here we
have a reported natural remedy to
some of that "ED" you see advertised
on TV a lot more than you'd like.
Unless ...
I do see a potential problem. Every
time a man buys or eats a watermel
on, expect a lot of catty remarks.
"Hey, George — got some big plans
tonight?"
You get the drift.
Or, when the lady of the house is
seen buying watermelon for the next
July 4 holiday.
"Hey, hoping to prime George's
pump, huh?"
Some men may be afraid to buy
watermelon — at least in their
hometowns — lest someone think
their reason is more romantic than
culinary. Guys don't like the idea
of other guys thinking they're not
good behind the wheel. It's the secret
behind the success of the SUV.
Overall though, I think the water
melon growers have lucked into
the perfect marketing scheme. We
all know sex sells. It's used to sell
everything from toothpaste to sports
cars, sometimes with clever subtlety
and sometimes with astoundingly
obvious innuendo. Texas A&M has
handed the watermelon growers the
best marketing approach possible:
Buy our product and perform better
sexually. Men will buy it, but they'll
want it in a paper bag.
The really cool thing for the water
melon growers and sellers is that they
won't have to advertise. Once the
word is out that the big green fruit
(which is really a vegetable) is man's
new best friend, guys will buy it. If
the e-mail traffic in sexual enhance
ment products is any indication,
there are a lot of folks out there who
are looking for something extra in
life and love, er, lust.
Let's not rush to judgment, how
ever. Texas is home not just to our
current president, who has his own
credibility problems, but also to a lot
of watermelon growers. We may find
out that the Texas A&M study is seri
ously flawed on their behalf, that the
pleasure ends when the last slice is
consumed.
If the science is accurate, we'll hear
more about it. In the meantime,
it isn't going to hurt to do a little
research on your own. If a slice of
watermelon (maybe two) leads to
greater pleasures later on, does it real
ly matter if the science is flawed?
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached at
mark@mainstreetnews. com.