Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 — Wednesday, November 18, 2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett
Missing for a week, our little lost dog, Ziggie, found her way
home Sunday night. I went outside after dark and discovered her
running around in the yard with our other pets, a little hungry,
but none the worse for her adventure. It was a welcomed and
pleasant surprise!
Several folks called me to say they had seen dogs fitting her
description at various places, in our area of the county but none
of them turned out to be Ziggie. Several also called to see if we
had found her. One person even brought a little dog to our house
for me to look at Sunday afternoon that she had rescued from a
dumpster site. It wasn’t ours, but we took the dog anyway, since
the Good Samaritan said she could not keep her.
Two hours later Ziggie showed up in the yard! Maybe her re
turning was our reward for giving another animal a home.
“Thanks” to all who tried to help me find Ziggie. She is safely
home now and as I said before, “Her riding days are over!”
For all the folks who have been asking if there has been any
word on the CCA’s proposed prison for Jenkins County, I have
been informed that it will be the "end” of November before we
know. It had originally been thought that the decision would come
at the beginning of the month.
Happy birthday this week to: Imari Jackson, Vanessa Gordon,
Jacob Burke, Ashley Godbee, Danny Troisi, Rebekah Daniel, Bill
Knight Sr., Larry Johnson, Elene Bragg, Chase Wilkerson, Larry
Adams, C.J. Waters, Christen Hooks, Roy Owens and Sherry
Smith.
Celebrating wedding anniversaries this week are: Mr. and Mrs.
Matt Wallace, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Landing, Mr. and Mrs. Don
Burke and Mr. and Mrs. James Poole.
Military Active Duty List: PV2 Brianna Joiner, U.S. Army
National Guard, Ft. Benning, GA; 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 AFB, 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.
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
P.O. Box 909
Millen, GA 30442
USPS No. 349-660
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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Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor:
On Saturday night, Oct. 31
Millen Better Hometown and
Millen/Jenkins County Cham
ber of Commerce sponsored the
eighth annual Harvest of Fun.
Because of construction on Cot
ton Avenue, the venue was
moved to the Jenkins County
Recreation Department. In spite
of the change, the attendance
and community support were
great, as usual. It is gratifying
to see the community come out
in such numbers to enjoy fam
ily fun together. The response
to our efforts certainly makes
the hard work worthwhile.
We want to publicly acknowl
edge those who made the Har
vest of Fun possible. The
Jenkins County Recreation
Board allowed us to use the fa
cilities. Beth Collins organized
the event and recruited partici
pation. Anne Swingle recruited
the "Trunk or Treaters,” and
Clay Boulineau and the City of
Millen helped with set up and
clean up.
The following businesses,
churches, civic clubs and indi
viduals provided games or
made donations to help with ex
penses: The Millen News, Seth
Benson, Queensborough Bank,
The Dairy Queen, Eagle Phar
macy, Jenkins County 4-H,
Millen Better Hometown,
Jenkins County Commission
ers, Oak Hill Baptist Church
Acteens, Cindy’s Cafe on Cot
ton, Zion Baptist Youth Group,
Papa’s Pizza, First Baptist
Church, Brinson’s Barbecue,
Brenda Mathern, Jenkins
County High School FFA,
Jenkins County Hospital,
Jenkins County Family Medi
cine, Dr. Kyle Gay, the Bethany
Home, Dr. Michael Gaines,
Jenkins County Emergency
Medical Services, United Hos
pice, Edenfield Feed and Seed,
Mechelle and Scott Lanier,
Valerie Hall, Stacie Johnson,
Jenkins County Elementary
School and Horse Feathers the
Clown (aka Robert Reeves).
Others who helped were
Irene Drummer and Christy
Bandy who judged the costume
contest; Sheriff Robert Oglesby
was Master of Ceremonies for
the contest; Planters Electric
Membership Corporation had
the pictures printed and mailed
to the children; F. A. Black pro
vided bales of straw for deco
ration; Jenkins County High
School Interact Club helped
with games; and the many faith
ful Better Hometown volun
teers did whatever necessary.
The success of the Festival
can be credited to the people of
our community working to
gether.
Art Johnson
Manager, Millen Better
Hometown
Paula Herrington
Executive Director, Millen/
Jenkins County Chamber of
Commerce
Dear Editor,
Well, this is a sad commen
tary. Once again, I am warning
everyone who lives by or fishes
in Little Buckhead Creek that
the pollution of Little Buckhead
Creek continues to be a prob
lem. Someone dumped about a
half dozen deer carcasses in the
creek at the Messex Road cross
ing, and I saw some tires in there
too. Tires are one of the worst
pollutants because they contain
cancer-causing agents.
We are once again forced to
avoid the waters of Little
Buckhead Creek because a low
down, no good, rotten to the
bone person has done this evil
deed. I must warn everyone not
to swim in, drink of or eat fish
from Little Buckhead Creek.
Pollution takes many forms
and is not easily cleaned up.
Hopefully, we can stop pollu
tion before it starts and educa
tion is one of the best methods.
Since we recently had an elec
tion, this would be a good time
to think about the pollution of
our government. Government
starts here at the city and county
level. These are the tributaries
and this is where we must start.
We (citizens) have a represen
tative government. These days
too many elected representa
tives either never knew it or
have forgotten it or possibly just
don’t care about it.
Representative government
means that a group of people
(district) chooses one person
(elect) to represent us—our in
terests, our desires, our agenda.
The representatives are not
elected to do what they think is
best, but to do what the people
that they represent want done.
The duty of an elected represen
tative is to do what the people
that they represent want for
them to do.They are not elected
to parent us—we are not chil
dren or shepherd us—we are not
sheep.
Government of the people, by
the people and for the people
does not mean of, by and for the
people in the government.
Have we the people allowed
our government to become pol
luted because we are not hold
ing our elected representatives
accountable? We elect them
and they do whatever they want
and we do nothing but complain
to each other. Hmm... that is
childish behavior. Many people
watch and listen to political tele
vision programs and radio talk
and believe whatever they are
told. Is that sheepish behavior?
Maybe the modem American
citizen doesn’t understand de
mocracy. Is Civics even taught
in school anymore?
Wayne Salter
Suburbs of Perkins
Dear Editor:
On Nov. 11 a really special
program to honor veterans was
held at the Jenkins County High
School gym. The JROTC per
formed, students spoke, sang
and recognized veterans (only
a few were present). Other than
students, teachers and veterans,
there might have been 15 people
present.
What has happened to
America? What has happened in
Millen, Georgia? Have we for
gotten the sacrifices that have
been made for our freedom
(which we could lose any
minute)? Are we too proud to
set aside 30-45 minutes to pay
tribute to those who fought and
died for the freedoms we enjoy?
Have we lost sight of what our
servicemen and women suf
fered and died for?
In America, we can’t do
enough to pay tribute to those
who fought and died for this
country in which we live.
True, in May we had a won
derful Memorial Day program
and a good response - thanks
to Byron Scogins and the VFW.
Where were they on Nov. 11?
Where were you? In my mind,
it’s not too much to ask that our
businesses close down one hour
to honor our veterans on both
Memorial Day and Veterans
Day. No any of us would be
where we are today had it not
been for our men and women
in the Armed Forces. We may
not be able to turn our country
around, but we can die trying -
and most certainly we can pay
tribute to our veterans as long
as we live.
I am old enough to remem
ber the fear of war and heart
aches beginning with World
War II. I also remember how
devoted to America we were
back then - the sacrifices we
were willing to make, our sup
port and love of country, the
honor and respect we had for
our men and women in the ser
vice of our country, the memo
ries of those lost in battle, the
prisoners of war and our patrio
tism.
Have we gone too far,
America, to remember - to pay
tribute - to keep America the
land of the free and the home of
the brave?
Sincerely,
Evelyn Gunn Young
Millen