Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 — Wednesday, December 23, 2009, The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett
On Friday of this week we will celebrate the birth of Jesus
Christ. I hope we all will take the time to reflect upon the true
meaning of Christmas.
The real reason we celebrate Christmas is simply stated in
one of the most well-known verses of the Bible. “For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who
ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life
- John 3:16.)
In one incredible moment God left heaven and put on human
flesh to come live among us as a baby. And that baby grew up
to be the crucified and living Savior.
Merry Christmas to all!
The Millen News will be closed noon, Wednesday, Dec. 23,
through Friday, Dec. 26, for Christmas. We will reopen 8 a.m.
Monday, Dec. 28.
The newspaper office will also be closed Thursday, Dec. 31,
and Friday, Jan. 1, for the New Year holiday. Items for inclu
sion in the Jan. 6 edition should be submitted by 10 a.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 30.
Happy birthday to: Mandy Weathersby, Jeremy McBride,
Caleb Chance, Deirdre Edenfield, Chad Brown, Angie
Wilkerson, Carrie Cook, Alistair Campbell, Wally Sasser Sr.,
Rev. Charlie Davis Jr., Charlie Davis Sr., Hud McTeer, Mary
Hydrick, Horace Weathersby III and Megan Johnson.
Celebrating wedding anniversaries are: Mr. and Mrs. Eugene
Wayne, Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Bolton, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Chance
Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Donnie Saxon, Mr. and Mrs. Glen Wilkerson
and Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Walker.
Military Active Duty List: 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, NS A Naples, Italy;
Senior Airman Charles F. Woods, Moody Air Force Base,
Valdosta, GA; Stuart Burrus, U.S. Air Force, Osan AFB, Ko
rea; SPC 4 Travis D. Motes, 1st Calvary Division, T. Hood,
Texas; Capt. Donald Slade Burke, 735th Air Mobility Squad
ron 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, Marine Corps Base Hawaii;
Petty Chief Officer Andy D. Crosby, U.S. Navy, Elroy De
stroyer, 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, 18thMEDCOM, 121 Gen
eral 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 Ku
wait; 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.
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Walter Harrison
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Frank M. Edenfield
Editor
1985-1998
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Don Lively
THE SOUTHERN SAINT NICK
There’s a little known tale about Christmas in the South that
has been lost to history.
Through exhaustive research I am able to share it with you as
we celebrate the Season once again.
As World War II drew to a close millions of American
servicemen returned to civilian life. The Baby Boom occurred.
We know all about that. 1946 saw more American couples get
married than in any other year before or since and the result was
millions of babies born in the next few years.
That’s documented history.
What’s not so well known is the calamity that the birth explo
sion caused.
The Catastrophic Christmas Crisis.
In the years following The War, the jolly old man at the North
Pole suddenly found himself so far behind that he was forced to
hire subcontractor Santas all over the world.
The man chosen for the job in the Blessed South, a trusted
distant cousin of the true Santa, was born on the floodplains
between two great rivers in South Carolina. His parents were
proud Low Country natives of Germanic origins so they named
their firstborn son accordingly.
Santee Cooper Claus.
When Santee was first approached by the real Santa to take on
the enormous task, he was skeptical. There were no reindeer in
the South. No snow. No sleighs. How could he possibly get the
job done?
Santa, impatient to get back to the North Pole, bestowed on
Santee, for a period of one year, all the magic that he would need
to carry out his mission.
So, he set forth.
For transportation, instead of eight tiny reindeer he tried eight
huge whitetail bucks but before the Christmas Season arrived,
many of the deer had been served up in steaks and roasts.
He tried Thoroughbred horses from Kentucky but they proved
to be too prissy.
He settled on eight Mississippi mules, ornery but reliable, just
like the folks from the state where they were bred.
He finally located an old sleigh at an auction barn in Ludowici
but the runners kept getting stuck in the red clay, so he settled for
a flat bottomed pirogue boat from the Louisiana Cajun country.
Utilizing the famed Dixie ingenuity he rigged the boat, which
had endured only a few gator chomps, behind the mules and
took a test flight.
Brannen competes in
Charlotte marathon
On Saturday, Dec. 12, local runner and Millen Miler Jimmy Brannen
competed in his first marathon in Charlotte, N.C. The Thunder Road
Marathon, Half Mara-
thon and 5K had a to
tal of 5,861 competi
tors.
In the marathon di
vision, Brannen fin
ished 379th of the
1,409 runners who
completed the course,
with a chip time of 3
hours, 49 minutes and
20 seconds. The 26.2
mile race took com-
petitors through beau
tiful, scenic neighbor
hoods and amongst the towering skyscrapers of downtown Char
lotte. The chilly 28 degrees weather at the start didn’t hamper compe
tition or dampen runner’s spirits to conquer the hilly and challenging
course which contained 2,349 feet of elevation changes, of which
1,168 feet was uphill climbs.
When asked what completing his first marathon felt like, Jimmy
said, "The first 20 miles were smooth, but the last 6.2 got progres
sively more difficult as the conclusion neared!” He added, “I am
happy to have accomplished a longtime dream to complete a mara
thon, and now I can mark that item off my “Bucket List!”
It actually worked.
There being a shortage of elves in the South, Santee hired Geor
gia Tech engineers to design the new toys.
Skilled craftsmen from the University of Georgia built the toys.
South Carolina grads mapped out the routes and planned
Santee’s schedule.
Clemson and Auburn folks were brought in to clean up after
the mules.
To carry all of the gifts to the millions of homes throughout
Dixie, Santee, once again called on the magic of Christmas. He
turned a common Piggly Wiggly grocery bag into a sack big
enough to accomplish the task. The cute little pig logo could be
seen for miles. The enormous sack was secured to the pirogue
boat with a thousand rolls of duct tape.
Possessing not one shred of red clothing, Santee convinced his
wife, Peggy Jo Claus, who he’d met at a Cracker Barrel in Ten
nessee, to dye his best pair of Sears and Roebuck overalls crim
son.
It made a passable Santa suit if you didn’t look too close.
When the big night arrived Santee kissed Peggy Jo and boarded
his boat. On command the mules rose into the air and the South
ern leg of that memorable Christmas was underway.
The only problem occurred when the mules tried to fly over a
stand of exceptionally tall Georgia pines. The weight of the toys
was too much. Santee had anticipated such a possibility. He
immediately tossed out three Claxton fruit cakes which light
ened the load by approximately half a ton.
The rest of the trip was uneventful as Santee delivered mil
lions of presents down thousands of chimneys, mostly Daisy BB
guns and Barbie dolls. After all this was still the South when
boys were still boys and girls were still girls.
At every home, instead of finding cookies and milk left by the
kids, Santee found barbecue sandwiches from North Carolina,
pralines from Charleston or Savannah and homemade sweet tea.
How the Southern folks knew that something was different that
Christmas remains a mystery for the ages.
After that year the true Santa was able to catch up and Santee
Claus went back to his real job driving a Coca Cola truck, but to
this day, many folks remember that year as the one when they
heard the call from the skies on Christmas Eve:
“Merry Christmas to all o’ yall, and to all o’ yall a good night.”
My sentiments exactly, from my house to yours.
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.
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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