Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 — Wednesday, September 16, 2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett
The poll question on our website last week was, “Do you be
lieve it is possible for Millen and Jenkins County to recover from
all of the job losses experienced in the past three years?”
Responses as of Monday were: Yes - 18; No - 51; and Maybe -
12.
We had one reader comment as follows: “While Millen has the
factory space, the drive into Millen from most directions takes
you through slum areas that would turn off any potential com
pany and its management. Head out towards Dublin any day,
look right or left for two miles or so and you see a bad looking
area, not that the people living there don’t want to improve it, or
want jobs. I don’t know. The mayor is a Millen businessman, so
needless to say he wants Millen to grow. I believe the city needs
to approach and offer property and tax concessions to various
companies. They might be doing that already, but keeping it se
cret doesn’t let the people of Millen know someone is trying, and
being kept secret, they lose access to people in Millen who might
know someone in the prospective company where they could
use their influence. I hope for the sake of all who live here and
have businesses here that something comes this way soon.”
To participate in this week’s poll, go to http://
www.themillennews.com.
Television commercials don’t often catch my attention, or if
they do, it is because of their offensive or silly content. Recently,
however, I saw one that I thought was very creative.
A man and woman are shown walking into their bedroom car
rying suitcases, presumably returning from vacation. The woman
falls face-first on top of their bed and begins to "tell the bed”
how much she missed it and that she would never again sleep in
another bed. The man then does the same thing. I couldn’t help
but laugh, because I know how they felt.
A recent trip left me feeling the same way. Our accommoda
tions were great - except for the beds. While pleasing to look at,
sleeping on them was another matter. About halfway through the
first night, my husband got up and attempted to sleep in the re-
cliner chair, leaving me wishing I had thought of it first. Our son
and daughter-in-law complained the next morning that they, too,
had not slept all night in their lumpy bed. The only person who
slept through the night was our eight months old granddaughter,
and she can sleep anywhere. We experienced a second night of
no-sleeping and were more than ready to get up and go home the
next morning.
A hotel/motel commercial of several years ago used the slo
gan, “The lights are always on.” I now know why - no one can
sleep in motel/hotel beds!
Happy birthday this week to: Sara Helen Burke, Kenny Will
iams, Shelby Burke, Daisy Edenfield and Vivian Davis.
Celebrating wedding anniversaries are: Mr. and Mrs. John T.
Herrington Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Brown.
Military Active Duty List: PV2 Brianna Joiner, U.S. Army
National Guard, Ft. Leonardwood, MO; PV2 Jeremy Johnson,
U.S. Army, 59 th Quartermaster Company, Ft. Carson, Colorado;
Ronnie Perryman, Charlie Troop, 108 th Calvary Division, 4 th
Platoon, Afghanistan; Lance Cpl. Adam Lanier, U.S. Marines,
8 th & I Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.; E-4 Sr. Airman Roy
Davis, U.S. Air Force, RAF Molesworth, United Kingdom; Lance
Cpl. Patrick Barnette, U.S. Marines, Baharia, Iraq; Sgt. Adam
Demshar, 44th Signal Battalion, Baghdad, Iraq; Cpl. Lee Ogden,
U.S. Marines, Camp Pendleton, CA; E5 Petty Officer 2 nd Class
Eric B. Kelsey, U.S. Navy, NSA Naples, Italy; Senior Airman
Charles F. Woods, Moody Air Force Base, Valdosta, GA; Stuart
Burrus, U.S. Air Force, Osan AFB, Korea; SPC 4 Travis D.
Motes, 1st Calvary Division, T. Hood, Texas; Capt. Donald Slade
Burke, 735th Air Mobility Squadron Detachment 1 Commander,
Richmond Royal Australian AHJ, Richmond, Australia; Staff Sgt.
Gilbert C. Sheppard III, 48th Brigade, 118th Field Artillery,
Iraq; Petty Officer 3rd Class Jamie A. Yager, U.S. Navy, Ma
rine Corps Base Hawaii; Petty Chief Officer Andy D. Crosby,
U.S. Navy, Elroy Destroyer, Norfolk, Va.; Stephanie Crosby,
R.N., U.S. Navy, Lafayette Destroyer; Jimmy Cooper, U.S. Amry
National Guard, 878th Engineering Battalion-Augusta, Persian
Gulf ; 1st Lt. J.R. Taylor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th In
fantry Division, Iraq; SPC. Daniel Stuart, 18th MEDCOM, 121
General Hospital, Seoul, Korea; Jeffrey Sweat, U.S. Navy, USS
Kauffman, MM3 59/E-Division, A-Gang, Norfolk, Va.; Cpl.
Larry Lamont Clark, U.S. Marine Corp, 2nd Marine Expedi
tionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Bagdad, Iraq; Khan Young,
U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, Persian Gulf; Robert Milton Jr.,
E-3, U.S. Army, Ft. Stewart, Hinesville, Ga., Mission Kuwait;
Arnold R. Mosley, 2nd Lt., U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas;
and Debra A. Mosley, Tech. Sgt., U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB,
Texas; and SPC Charles “C.J.” Amerson, U.S. Army, Camp
Adder, Iraq.
Chartered 1903
The Millen News is published weekly by Chalker
Publishing Company, 601 E. 6th St., Waynesboro, Ga.
The Millen News
856 East Cotton Ave. • Millen, Ga. 30442
Phone: (478) 982-5460 • FAX: (478) 982-1785
Periodical postage paid at Millen, Georgia.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
The Millen News
P.O. Box 909
Millen, GA 30442
USPS No. 349-660
Walter Harrison Frank M. Edenfield
Editor 1946-1985 Editor
1985-1998
Roy F. Chalker Jr Publisher
Bonnie K. Taylor General Manager
Deborah Bennett Editor
Lavonna Drawdy Advertising Composition
Subscription Rates (Includes tax):
In Jenkins County $23.00
Elsewhere in Georgia $26.00
Outside of Georgia $29.50
“Better take a good look, son,
cause folks ore always wonting
to cut parts out of it!"
'PouxaF®
Letters to
Dear Editor,
The following letter is not di
rected at any local employees,
past or present, of Regions Bank
in Millen.
I recently noticed a new roof
being put on Regions Bank in
Millen. Being an employee of
Rocker Supply led me to ask the
owner, King Rocker, if he was
supplying the shingles for the
new roof. He said no and that
he had not been asked to sub
mit a bid for the roof job either.
I think this is an incredible
and inexcusable neglect of a lo
cal business; not to mention the
fact that this business owner has
been a life-long customer of this
bank, with both business and
personal accounts at Regions.
Now, if Regions should have
any problems with their newly
installed shingles, say a leak de
velops, I’m sure they’ll want
immediate service from the “lo
cal” folks then and maybe pur
chase a whole gallon of roofing
tar to fix the leak.
What has happened with cor
porate America? The big banks
want you to think of them as
your “local hometown bank”.
“Bank locally,” they say.
Jim Hite
the Editor
Regions response to this will
probably be that “We have con
tracts with certain businesses to
do all of our work.”
You fill in the blank. If Regions
is going to spend money, they
can spend it where they please,
but stay with the people who
borrow money from them and
deposit their money in CDs with
them.
And back to Regions huge
new roof. The shingles that were
purchased for their roof are the
same shingles that Rocker Sup
ply sells locally. And the quote
that Rocker Supply could have
given would have easily been
competitive considering the vol
ume of the job. And could pos
sibly have been the lowest bid,
saving the bank money.
Additionally, had this money
been spent here, it would have
“turned over” benefiting other
local businesses or individuals
to some degree.
It’s a shame that a large bank
like Regions who wants you to
bank locally doesn’t spend a
dime in Jenkins County where
we are still #1 in the state in un
employment and where just two
weeks ago our “last” manufac
turing facility closed its doors
for good. What a wonderful time
for one of our “local” banks not
to spend their money “locally.”
With the $3.5 billion that Re
gions received in their “stimu
lus package”, I think they could
have afforded to give the small
local business owners a micro
piece of their government
stimulus handout pie.
After this letter to the editor
is published in The Millen News
I will send a copy to Dowd
Ritter, Regions CEO. His re
sponse, if any, should be enlight
ening and maybe even interest
ing. Stay tuned.
Sincerely,
Mike Reese
Millen
Dear Editor:
RE: Jim Hite’s column Sept.
29.
I and many others have con
cerns about the health care re
forms currently being
proposed. In Mr. Hite’s column,
he tries to trivialize our concerns
with sarcasm. Mr. Hite said, “To
be consistent, one who believes
that government should stay out
of health care must refuse
Medicare”. We do not have the
option of refusing Medicare. If
you work, you are required to
pay the Medicare Tax. Except
for the past four years, I was
self-employed. As a self-em
ployed person, I paid 100% of
my Medicare Tax and provided
for my own health insurance.
Soon I will be eligible for
Medicare and now, here comes
a proposal for everybody to
have health insurance.
Those who are unable to pay for
their insurance will receive sub
sidies from the U. S. Treasury,
funded in part with $500
billion taken from
Medicare. Will those of us who
have paid the Medicare Tax and
are now eligible for Medicare,
receive $500 billion less in
health care to fund other
people’s health insurance?
Just as we have no options in
the payment of the Medicare
Tax, in the future we may not
have options about the health
care we receive or do not re
ceive.
Sincerely,
Roger A. Black
Millen
ATHLETES HAVE LOST THEIR “HUSTLE”
By Jim Hite
A couple of weeks ago we were listening to the Braves game
on radio, and the announcers were commenting on Nate McLouth,
injured at the time, and how he was a guy who worked hard and
hustled every step. Don Sutton added that such hustle really stood
out nowadays, adding that in days rather long past it was the guy
who did not hustle who stood out.
Boy, did he hit the nail on the head!
Not sure when it all started. Back in the ancient days, it was
said of Eddie Stanky that he couldn’t hit, couldn’t run, couldn’t
field, but he could win because he hustled 100 percent of the
time.
Then there was Pete Rose who stood out only because he ran
to first when he was walked!
Then came the more lackadaisical type of player. If the ball
isn’t coming to me, I won’t post up. If I’m not receiving the pass,
Letters policy
Letters to the editor of The Millen News are welcomed and
encouraged. These are pages of opinions, yours and ours.
The unsigned editorials generally appearing on the left side of
the editorial page represent the opinion of the newspaper and not
that of any one person on our staff. Personal columns represent
the opinions of the writers whose names appear on them and are
not to be considered the opinion of this newspaper, its manage
ment or owners. Letters to the editor voice the opinions of the
newspaper’s readers.
The Millen News reserves the right to edit any and all portions
of a letter. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters must
include the signature, address and phone number of the writer to
allow our staff to authenticate its origin. Letters should be lim
ited to 400 words.
The deadline for letters is Friday at noon. You can email letters
to themillennews@yahoo.com.
I jog the pattern. If I hit a grounder to the infield, I jog to first. If
the ball comes to me in the outfield, I may or may not go all out
to get it.
I remember well when one of the all-time hustle leaders, Billy
Martin, was managing, and TV cameras caught his shouting match
with Reggie Jackson for Jackson’s costly lack of effort. And Leo
Durocher in Nice Guys Finish Last had several scathing para
graphs concerning the new players and their consistent lack of
effort.
All this came to mind when I found the following statistic:
Every time Alex Rodriguez takes a called strike, he earns $15,856.
That’s how much A-Rod earns per pitch, according to the Wall
Street Journal. Just think: Six pitches and his gross income is
almost $100,000. And while there is no doubt about his talent at
bat and in the field, giving the proverbial 110 percent has never
been his strong point.
By the way, to earn the same near $100,000, Ben Roethlisberger
takes 3.6 snaps. Tiger Woods shoots 11.2 holes, and LeBron James
plays 21.2 minutes.
As a former high school coach I can attest to the trickle-down
effect. A kid who really hustled, did extra sprints, practiced on
his/her own, was rare indeed. Of course that kid was the cham
pion. The rest had excuses.
Not going anywhere special with this. Just a comment.
But the next time you attend a game, any game at any level,
observe.
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