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Page 4 — Wednesday, November 11,2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett
While I have often heard it said that we are moving toward a paperless
society, I have never really thought much about it until recently.
Since writing a check for purchases in stores has become so aggra
vating, requiring two, sometimes three, signatures, I decided to try a
debit card. I am hooked. It is wonderful to just "zip” through the pro
cess!
I am quite sure some of you have been using the "plastic check” for
years, but don’t laugh at me. There are still folks out there who always
pay with cash! I learned a long time ago from having my wallet stolen
to never cany much cash.
There is also online banking where you can check your balances,
deposit your checks, pay your bills and transfer funds - all without
waiting in line at the bank.
And then there is e-mail. We receive veiy little correspondence at
the office through the U.S. Postal Service any more, but our e-mail
account is thriving.
I do, however, miss seeing the folks at the bank. There is still some
thing to be said for the personal touch. The folks at the post office I see
more often - still have to buy stamps for those items that can’t be
transmitted electronically.
While I enjoy the convenience technology offers, there are some
“paper” items, however, which I will never give up - like a printed
newspaper, book, magazine, card or photograph. I appreciate that we
live in a technological society, but the electronic versions of some
things are just not the same!
I recendy lost a little dog near my home on Fountain Springs Road.
Ziggie jumped out of the back of our truck on the way to the trash
dumpster at Lane Road. We immediately missed her and drove back
expecting to find her by the side of the road. She wasn’t, and we have
not seen her since.
If you spot a small brown and white dog in the area between Foun
tain Springs Road and Lane Road on West Old Savannah Road, please
let me know. She normally is a little timid and it would difficult for
anyone else to catch her.
Her riding days are over if we are fortunate enough to get her back!
The poll question on our website last week was, “Do you approve
of the City of Millen’s plans to renovate the old Soc Station site on
Winthrope Avenue?”
Responses, as of Monday morning, were as follows: Yes - 33; No -
10; and Undecided -1.
We had one comment: “I approve of the city’s plans to improve the
property, but we need more parking for the courthouse and post office
not more parks. Who will have to pay to keep up the parks?”
To participate in this week’s poll, go to http://
www.themillennews.com.
Happy birthday this week to: Judy C. Joyner, Lisa Padgett, Chase
Thompson, Susan Hooks, Whitley Clark, Mason Davis, Amanda
Godbee, Debbie Williams and Seth Benson.
Celebrating wedding anniversaries is: Mr. and Mrs. Stewart Rackley.
Military Active Duty List: PV2 Brianna Joiner, U.S. Army Na
tional 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, Af
ghanistan; Lance Cpl. Adam Lanier, U.S. Marines, 8 th & I Marine
Barracks, Washington, D.C.; E-4 Sr. Airman Roy Davis, U.S. Aft-
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, OsanAFB,
Korea; SPC 4 Travis D. Motes, 1 st Calvary Division, T. Hood, Texas;
Capt. Donald Slade Burke, 735th Air Mobility Squadron Detach
ment 1 Commander, Richmond Royal Australian AFB, Richmond,
Australia; Staff Sgt. Gilbert C. Sheppard LH, 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 Divi
sion, Iraq; SPC. Daniel Stuart, 18thMEDCOM, 121 General Hospi
tal, 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 Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune,
N.C. Bagdad, Iraq; Khan Young, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, Per
sian 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. Aft-
Force, Randolph AFB, Texas; and SPC Charles “CJ.” Amerson,
U.S. Army, Camp Adder, Iraq.
Chartered 1903
The Millen News is published weekly by Chalker
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The Millen News
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Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor:
I really appreciate your print
ing my letters. The response
was beyond my expectations.
I would like to acknowledge
the local members who played
on these teams. There was
George Gunn, William Gunn,
Jimmy Knight, Charles Bragg,
Walter Bragg, John Taylor,
Frank Stephens, Connie Lewis.
T.W. Frawley, Tom Avret,
Lindsey Sharpe, Ray Roberts,
Bobby Pierce (Peggy Williams),
Bobby Miller, Pat Johnson, J.L.
Gay and Rudolph Rabitsch.
The greatest athletic team
ever assembled, not only in
Millen but in this area of the
state, was the 1963 team that
played for a national title. For
an example, the infield had
three college All-Americans,
four members in the Georgia
Southern University (GSU)
Hall of Fame, two played pro
ball and Tommy Howland is
considered the best catcher ever
at GSU.
The team’s alumni read like
a "Who’s Who.” They became
chairmen of the boards, bank
presidents, real estate tycoons,
business leaders, college profes
sors, college and high school
coaches, politicians, a musician,
a NFL star, a pro wrestler and
pro ball players. Richard
Billingham, when he pitched for
us, his older brother Jack was
with the Houston Astros. A few
years later, he was the pitching
ace of the twice World Cham
pions Cincinnati Reds.
This will never happen again
and wouldn’t this time if it
wasn’t for the original mem
bers. Who would have believed
this?
When I finish the book I’m
writing, hoping to sell for a t.v.
movie, I’ll write one about the
Millen teams and players.
Sincerely,
Butch Joiner
Don Lively
MINING FOR WORDS
Milestones.
I tike most milestones, but even the ones I don’t particularly care
for, I still pay attention to.
For instance, I’ll always remember the exact date and time that I
crashed my motorcycle and spent the next year recovering. I base
time frames for other life events by whether they happened “ before
the wreck” or “after the wreck”.
My kids used that one for a long time too.
“Dad, before the wreck you promised me that you’d buy me a
brand new Mustang.”
“Daddy, I know you don’t remember, because it was before the
wreck, but you said that I could start dating when I was twelve.”
They thought they could take advantage of my temporary short
term memory loss.
It didn’t work.
I also remember the date I entered police academy, the date I gradu
ated and the date that I peeled off the body armor for the final time.
The date that my chest was cracked open and my heart got new
parts and service stands out.
Another milestone has just passed, one that means a lot to me.
In no particular order, this milestone’s numbers are 2,104 and 83,000
(give or take a few).
Two years I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to write my
stories. One hundred and four columns. Over eighty-three thousand
words.
Enough words to fill a novel and a novella.
Which brings up another point. I’m asked several times a week if
I ever plan to write a book.
The answer is, absolutely. Everybody who writes wants to do a
book or a novel, me included. I will, and I hope somebody will read
it.
But for now, I am still having a ball writing these little weekly mini
books.
I should caution you though, don’t try this at home. It’s not as easy
as it looks!
Coming up with a new and fresh idea every week and trying to
create a stoiy that is entertaining can be daunting.
Fortunately, I am blessed with a huge eccentric Southern family
and hundreds of equally unconventional friends, so it’s doubtful that
I will run out of things to say any time soon.
In fact, a while back, I sat down and made a list of topics to be used
for future columns. I came up with ideas for over a hundred stories
and felt very secure that I wouldn’t go dry anytime soon.
As it turns out, over a year later, I’ve added several ideas to the list
and have used only a handful.
Perhaps I’m simply lucky, but, every few days something happens
to me, or I see something, or hear something, maybe even taste or
smell something, that triggers a new thought, or brings back an old
one.
Maybe I will be sitting in my yard swing and one of the wild girl
dogs who adopted me will do something so funny that I laugh out
loud.
That’s a column.
Or I’ll see an old coon mosey across a dirt road and will remember
a long ago night hunt. Another story.
A granddaughter will be bom. A young Marine will return from the
war. A daughter will graduate from college.
See what I mean? Everything has a story.
Of course the best source of all, where ideas are abundant and per
petually forthcoming, is the Blessed South itself.
I saw a TV ad last week for a program on public television which
stated that the host always interviewed "the world’s most interesting
people.” The spot named some supposedly remarkable folks most of
whom I can’t recall but I do remember that Barbra Streisand was
mentioned.
Barbra Streisand? Really?
I beg to differ.
I find a local woman who can fix any lawn mower and who can out
cuss most drunk sailors much more entertaining.
Or the old man in Texas I ran across who lives in an abandoned line
shack and claims to have invented rocket propulsion fuel. He almost
had me convinced.
I don’t even have to leave the family to get material. Uncle Cuz,
the most universally adored man I ever knew. Aunt Judy, who be
came a published poet in her seventies. Uncle VZ who claimed to
have broken his arm eating dinner during the Great Depression. He
fell out of the persimmon tree.
All three are in Heaven with Jesus and Daddy now. And all three
are still evoking great tales.
Dixie, the homeland of my family and many of my friends, is a
writer’s treasure trove.
I’m confident that’s not going to change so I plan to keep on writ
ing.
Once again, thank you, sincerely, for reading.
And thanks for the stories.
Yours and mine.
Don Lively is a retired police officer and freelance writer. He lives
in Shell Bluff. Email Don at Livelvcolo@aol.com.
The Millen News
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