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Page 4 — Wednesday, December 16, 2009, The Millen News Opinions, yours and ours The Chatter Box By Deborah Bennett The Millen News will be closed for Christmas noon, Wednes day, Dec. 23. through Friday. Dec. 25. We will be closed for New Year’s Thursday. Dec. 31. and Friday, Jan. 1. Items for inclusion in the Dec. 30 edition should be submit ted by 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 23. Items for inclusion in the Jan. 6 edition should be submitted by 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30. We appreciate your cooperation in observing our holiday deadlines. I wish to extend my condolences to the families of Don Rich and Doris Rabitsch both of whom died unexpectedly last week. Don, as most of you know, was Jenkins County’s tax asses sor/appraiser. I knew Don through the tax office and found that he was always courteous and helpful when I had ques tions. He will be missed on both personal and professional levels by those who knew him. I have known “Miss Doris” a long time as she was a fre quent visitor to The Millen News through the years with gar den club news. I will miss seeing her and receiving calls from her. Happy birthday this week to: Janice Pennington, Ed Davis, Richard McNeely, Dallas Suggs, Dean Bassett, Myra S. Herrington, Rodney Smith, Morah Johnson, Cindy Linder, Anna Kate Waters and Bill Wilson. Celebrating wedding anniversaries are: Mr. and Mrs. Ed Davis. 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. Ma rines, 8 th & I Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.; E-4 Sr. Air man 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 Com mander, Richmond Royal Australian AFB, Richmond, Aus tralia; 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 Engineer ing Battalion-Augusta, Persian Gulf; 1st Lt. J.R. Taylor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Iraq; SPC. Daniel Stuart, 18thMEDCOM, 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 Expeditionary 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 Subscription Rates (Includes tax): In Jenkins County $23.00 Elsewhere in Georgia $33.00 Outside of Georgia $39.00 Don Lively DIVINE INTERVENTION I’m in agony. My compulsion has gotten the best of me. I know better than to do this. I’ve been somewhat clean and sober for months. But I’m only human and today I fell off the wagon. I’ve overdosed on divinity. Not the kind we learn about in Sunday School. I’m referring to the insidious, addictive, evil substance that takes control of me every year about this time. White divinity. Ninety-nine percent pure, unadulterated cane sugar with a few chunks of pecan (that’s PEA like black-eyed and CAN like tin for our Yankee readers) thrown in for crunch purposes. There’s a reason it’s called divinity. It’s Heaven on Earth. Sadly, it was the one thing that Mama was never able to make. So, years ago, when I needed my fix, I learned to rely on Aunt Alice who made some of the best I ever tasted. These days my neighbor Miss Joanne’s ranks blue ribbon too. Divinity is one of the reasons I‘ll be digging in the closet for my fat clothes come January. I love the Holidays. I love the feel in the air. The festive nature. The smell of fresh cut Christmas trees. Picking out just the right gift. Christmas music, though I wish it didn’t start right after Labor Day. I love it all, but especially, of course, the food. The Holiday Season is the only time that I allow myself to overindulge without guilt. Too understand that you need to know how the Holidays work to me. Sometime around Halloween I make an subconscious deci sion that the Holidays have begun. After all, somebody has to eat all of that left over trick or treat candy. Then comes Thanks giving and Christmas with the multiple gorge fests that quite rightly accompany them. Then, on December 31st I vow to myself that beginning the next day, NO MORE. The Holidays are over. Get back to eating semi healthy. Of course that all goes out the window about thirty seconds into the New Year when somebody has popped open a bottle of champagne and trays of snacks are being passed around. Okay, so perhaps the Holidays are not quite over after all. One thing leads to another and, before I know it, it’s Memorial Day. After all, doesn’t the lauding of our fighting forces merit eating ourselves into a stu por just like the other Holidays? About then is when it happens. Letter to the Editor— Dear Editor, On Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009, I was invited to attend the North Jenkins County Volunteer Fire Department Christmas dinner. During the evening, I was honored with an award. I became emotional (because my late brother was a volunteer firefighter) and was unable to adequately express my feelings to the group so am now writing this letter. I would like to say now what I should have said Tuesday night. It is each firefighter in Jenkins County (and everywhere) that should be honored rather than me. I wish to thank all firefighters for their dedication to helping others, many of whom are volun teers, while expecting nothing in return. My contribution to the fire department feels so insignificant when compared to the train ing, hours, danger and commitment of each of them. I apologize to all who were in attendance last Tuesday night for not thanking them. Respectfully, Connie Fields Visit us online at www.themillennews.com I wake up from the months long calorie induced semi coma and realize that it’s less than a month till the annual family beach trip and that I have to lose some tonnage before I strike the shore. My extended Holiday Season comes to a screeching halt and for a few short months the guilt returns along with the spinach salads. Being back in the South, where every woman and most of the men, can cook like Paula Deen, makes it even worse. With all due respect to my adopted homeland of thirty years, folks Out West can’t hold a whisk to Southern Holiday cuisine, so the years I didn’t travel home for Christmas things were a little easier. One year I was invited to Christmas dinner with some friends. I knew from past experience that the lady of the house, who would prepare the meal, was, frankly, a terrible cook. I’d dined with them a few times before and was not able to come up with a single reason that I couldn’t join them that year. So, bravely, I crossed my fingers, gritted my teeth and went in. Inexplicably, I was asked to say the blessing. “Don, would you please give thanks for the meal?” I doubted that the Lord wanted to be responsible for what we were about to receive so I half jokingly suggested that we start a new tradition. “Why don’t we wait till after we’ve eaten so that we can be more honest and accurate with our entreaties to Him.” Needless to say, my attempt at humor missed the mark and I was never invited back. Now THAT was something to be thankful for. Not all of the western cooks were that bad and in fact, many of the ladies I worked with took pity on my bachelorhood and plied me with Holiday treats aplenty. Cookies. Pies. Cakes. Candy. The stand alone, without a doubt best was the fudge made by my friend Debbie in our dispatch. I got a double batch several years in a row till she up and got married. Her fudge wasn’t divinity but it was divine. Mouthwatering. I’d say grace over it any time. Resistance to such delights is futile. So, bring on the Holidays. No lettuce till May. Amen. Don Lively is a retired police officer and freelance writer. He lives in Shell Bluff. Email Don at Livelycolo@aol.com. edition should be submitted no later than 10AM. Wed.. Dec. 23. Items for inclusion in the Jan. 6 edition should be submitted no later than 10AM. Wed.. Dec. 30. jjolttiap Seablnies The Millen News will be closed for the Christmas Holidays Wed., Dec. 23, Noon-Fri., Dec. 25 and for New Years Thurs., Dec. 31,2009 thru Fri., Jan. 1,2010 Items for inclusion in the Dec. 30