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Page 4 — Wednesday, November 4, 2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett
What could have been a very tragic incident was averted
last week when a Jenkins County school bus caught fire on
Palmer Row. Thanks to the quick thinking of the driver,
Charles Anfield, and the training the school system offers,
all of the students were evacuated from the vehicle without
any injuries.
Also, our local fire and police departments were on the
scene almost immediately.
Incidents such as this should make us realize how fortu
nate we are to have trained personnel that know what to do
in emergency situations.
Don’t forget that the deadline for our Magic of Christmas
photos is 5 p.m. this Thursday. The cost is $6 per child up to
age 12. After the deadline the cost is $15 per child until 5
p.m. Nov. 12. After that it is too late!
I know it is early, but we need time to type all of the names
and scan the photos into our computer system.
Happy birthday this week to: Melissa Grier, Mason Davis,
Skyler Davis, Donnie Lambrix IV, Camery Meeks, Wayn
Rich, Mary Kucera, Heather Waters, Charles Parrish, Evelyn
Young, C. J. Waters, Johnny Johnson, Virginia McBride,
Carolyn Law, Wilkes Black, Billy Hudrick, Gavin Glisson,
Ed Fuller, Erica Thompson and Heather Hodges.
Celebrating wedding anniversaries this week are: Mr. and
Mrs. Don Godbee and Mr. and Mrs. Math Johnson.
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 Sig
nal 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 Detach
ment 1 Commander, Richmond Royal Australian AFB, Rich
mond, Australia; Staff Sgt. Gilbert C. Sheppard III, 48th
Brigade, 118th Field Artillery, Iraq; Petty Officer 3rd Class
Jamie A. Yager, U.S. Navy, Marine 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. Army National Guard, 878th
Engineering Battalion-Augusta, Persian Gulf ; 1st Lt. J.R.
Taylor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry 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 Expe
ditionary 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.
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.
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
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Walter Harrison
Editor 1946-1985
Frank M. Edenfield
Editor
1985-1998
Roy F. Chalker Jr Publisher
Bonnie K. Taylor General Manager
Deborah Bennett Editor
Lavonna Drawdy Advertising Composition
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Don Lively
FRIDAY NIGHT NEON
“As American as baseball, Mom’s apple pie and Chevrolet.”
You’ve heard that.
Americans are proud of our traditions, rightly so. Nobody makes
better apple pies than American mamas. Nobody on the planet
builds better automobiles than Chevrolet. And, except for foot
ball, hockey, basketball, tennis, soccer, golf and synchronized
swimming, baseball is the most exciting sport in America.
Down here in the Blessed South we claim ownership of certain
things that, while they may occasionally stray north of the Mason
Dixon line, they remain uniquely Southern.
Things the we. Southerners everywhere, are fiercely proud of.
Like magnolia trees that flourish in the South like nowhere
else.
Grits. You can order them other places in America but be sure
to catch the waitress before she desecrates them with honey or
sugar.
NASCAR. Still predominately a Southern pastime in spite of
official attempts to distance themselves from their bread and but
ter fan base.
And then there’s my favorite of all traditions rooted in our part
of the world.
The honky tonk.
Of course, like all good things, the influence of honky tonks has
spread to other parts of the world. I once heard George Strait mu
sic being played at an establishment in Glasgow, Scotland. The
twang sounded just as sweet “over there” as it does in Dixie.
I was fortunate enough to spend time in some of the best honky
tonks in America.
The Grizzly Rose in Denver.
Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth.
Gilley’s, before it closed years ago, in Pasadena, Texas.
These days some of the better places like to call themselves
“dance halls” or “music venues.”
Letter to the Editor
Call them what you will, neon beer signs covering every wall
ascertain them as honky tonks.
Every incursion into a honky tonk convinces me further that
Southern Americans know how to have fun better than other Earth
lings.
Honky tonks are all about good friends, good times and great
music.
Last week I went to a local place where a brand new record was
being released. Of course it was called a CD release party but I
still prefer to call them records.
The Hush Puppies Band was playing.
If you haven’t heard of them yet, you will. They already have a
maniacally loyal following but the new record should sky rocket.
I hadn’t been in a honky tonk for a while but it all came back to
me right quick.
The lead singer is a friend and his wife, ever the gracious host
ess, French kissed me just for showing up. Don’t be alarmed, you
have to know her to understand.
The music was loud and proud, rough and rowdy, just like I
expected.
The dancing was lively. I hid and watched from a safe vantage.
I spotted the redhead who I’ve christened the best looking woman
in the county. I‘m sure her husband’s aware of my infatuation.
I‘m even more certain that he knows he has no reason to be con
cerned. I‘m harmless. Across the hardwood was my nephew and
his bride. Fireball. The boy creates his own dance steps every time
his feet find a new floor. Fireball just shrugs and keeps on danc
ing.
Out in the middle was a group of young women from my home
town who were having a ladies evening out. On this night their
husbands got to stay home and baby sit. The gals were having a
- See Lively, page9
Dear Editor:
I was honored to recently
speak to 350 Jenkins County
residents about the many ben
efits of a new partnership prison
coming to Millen, should Geor
gia award CCA a contract to
design, build and manage the
facility.
During our public meeting,
the community highly sup
ported what a CCA prison
would bring to the County: 200
well-paying, stable jobs; needed
taxes to improve schools, roads
and hospitals; and active com
munity participation by our
staff. Citizens heard me talk
about our accountability to gov
ernment and taxpayers in oper
ating very safe, very cost-effi
cient prisons that are held to the
strictest correctional standards.
I shared with the crowd that
opposition groups often enter
into communities that are con
sidering hosting a CCA-oper-
ated prison, trying to create fear
and uncertainty.
Well, to no surprise, one such
group has come to Millen - the
labor-funded Private Correc
tions Institute (PCI), which is
run out of Florida and led by a
paid union organizer. Union
activists don’t like public-pri
vate partnerships, because most
prisons operated by corrections
management providers aren’t
unionized. One of this group’s
head activists actually posted an
online message encouraging
their national supporters to vote
NO on The Millen News ’ recent
poll about a prison coming to
Jenkins. These outsiders - who
don’t live in Jenkins or Georgia
- skewed the poll results so that
it made it appear that the people
of Jenkins don’t support the
prison.
This group also ran an ad in
this paper to raise false fears
about a prison in your commu
nity.
To the hundreds of residents
I’ve already met and the others
reading this letter, I want you to
know that CCA is a trusted gov
ernment partner. If we weren’t,
then Georgia and the Federal
Bureau of Prisons and Immigra
tions and Customs Enforcement
wouldn’t do business with us in
this state, and we wouldn’t be
employing 1,500 Georgians
state-wide.
If we are fortunate to be
awarded a Georgia contract,
CCA will be a long-term part
ner to Jenkins County. Our jobs,
our taxes, our community sup
port will benefit you - the local
community. We’ll be here - to
stay - in your community. PCI,
on the other hand, will go back
home and simply seek to stir up
another community.
I’m proud of the early part
nership you in Jenkins County
have created with CCA. We
won’t disappoint you.
Sincerely,
Louise Grant,
Vice President of Commu
nications
Corrections Corporation
of America
The Millen News
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