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Page 4 — Wednesday, August 25, 2021 The Millen News
Opinions, yours and ours
from the
Editor’s Desk
Joe Brady
Millen News Editor
My mother is infa
mous! I have never
shared this story with
you and for that I am sor
ry because the tale of my
mama and the bull will
go down in history. For
those of you who know
Mary Alyce personally,
you can appreciate this.
I’m not the only one
of my family plagued by
animals out to get me. Many years ago when I was a child and we
had moved out to the farm my parents did the whole Mr. Green
Jeans thing. They planted com, soybeans, and Mama’s prized
vegetable garden.
Now I don’t remember that first garden much. What I do re
member vividly was the day the cows broke through the fence
and decided to partake of Mama’s okra, butter beans, squash, and
tomatoes. The entire herd was frolicking in her garden by the time
we noticed a heifer walk past the window. Angrily, Mama stormed
to the door only to find fifty head of cows roaming freely.
Before I knew it she was headed to the bedroom. Uh-oh. My
sister and I knew where she was going. You see, Granny had
taught Mama how to shoot and to sink acoms floating in the pond
when she was just a small child in Emmalane. Mama could shoot
straight as long as she didn’t have to shoot too far. Under the bed
was Daddy’s shotgun and as she came down the hall cocking that
gun Tracey and I moved out of the way. We could hear our sweet
Mama cussing her way to the door. For those of you who remember
L.P. Mons, she was acting just like him. Her granddaddy would
have been so proud.
Now Mama had angrily loaded that gun with birdshot, her idea,
in the angry red haze of intense madness, was to pepper those cows
and get them out of her garden. If she fired straight up in the air,
she would accomplish just that.
As she stood on the porch and placed her finger on the trigger,
Tracey and I stood in the door way, our fingers plugging our ears
in anticipation of the loud boom. Immediately after that, we heard
a sucking sound, like when you pull your foot out of thick mud.
Y’all know what I’m talking about.
Mama achieved her goal, the cows scattered. All was right in
the world once again. She set about cooking supper in anticipation
of Daddy coming home from work.
“Alyce, what have you done?” Daddy asked when he walked
through the door. He truly was all knowing! How did he know
Mama had done anything I wondered? She began retelling the
story. “But I fired in the air Danny! I just wanted to scare them,”
she explained.
“Then explain this,” Daddy stated as they walked outside. In
the edge of the pasture was the prized bull. You see, my Mama,
the Annie Oakley that she was, had not fired into the air, she had
fired that gun over the herd. The birdshot never scattered. “In the
morning, if there are more cows down, you’re gone.” Daddy prom
ised. Mama sat up all night, imagining cows lying everywhere.
Luckily, the bull was the only casualty. But several days later,
as she was being honored by the Masonic lodge for an excellent
cooked supper of steak and potatoes somebody bellowed from the
group, “moooo!” What is the moral of this story? Heck if I know.
Beware of a Mons with a gun? That Womack temper strikes again?
Or maybe, don’t get between Mary Alyce and her vegetables?
That’s all for now, take care!
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They Need Us
We Need Them (Part 2)
Pastor Brad Asbury
pastorbradasbury@gmail.com
Last week, our school sys
tem had to make the compli
cated decision to close the
schools after just a few weeks
into the new year. Most kids,
including my own, had settled
into the routine of a new year.
Teachers were starting to work
through getting to know their
new students, giving tests, and
was moving to the everyday
nonn. Unfortunately, the year
came to a screeching halt with
the unfortunate five letter word
that has haunted us for numer
ous months, COVID!
Covid has left leaders of
our school system, businesses,
churches, and many others
with the constant question of,
“What do we do?” As it has
been with Covid since March
of 2020, we wonder if there is
a “right” response, and we are
often left wondering if every
response is wrong. I can imag
ine for Tara Cooper and the
Jenkins County Board of Edu
cation, the decision to close
was extremely hard to make.
One think I have learned in my
4 14 years in Jenkins County is
our school system loves our
students and they truly want
the best for each student.
As a parent, I am grateful for
their leadership. I am thankful
for the constant work of the
administration, teachers, and
many other staff that serve
Jenkins County. Do they make
mistakes? Of course, yet we all
do. Are they perfect? No, and
they never will be; neither
will we. And while parents and
family play an integral role in
the education of their children;
we need quality educators who
will daily go the extra mile for
our kids. At every level, we
have this; and our community
needs this.
However, they need us too.
They need us to walk alongside
them and encourage them. It
is easy for us to say, “what we
would do if we were in leader
ship.” Yet, if we are honest,
if we were in their shoes, we
would not do much different.
Social media is an easy plat
form to voice our complaints,
yet they do not need our com
plaints they need our prayers
and our encouragement.
Paul said it best in the Scrip-
hires when he taught us very
simply, “In all things, give
thanks.” Giving thanks hap
pens in both the good seasons
and in the bad seasons. A
thankful heart prevents a com
plaining heart. Give thanks
today for our board, adminis
tration, and teachers who are
looking out for the safety and
well-being of our students.
We need this. Yet, at the same
time, ensure that you are being
sensitive to how hard this is on
many parents and caregivers to
no longer have the school for
education, lunch, etc., even if it
is only absent for a short time.
School will go back soon.
We look forward to seeing the
buses down our streets again.
We look forward to seeing
the kids off to school again.
Until then pray for an end to
this virus. Encourage parents,
teachers, and school leader
ship; be there for the kids who
now have “nothing” to do for a
couple ofweeks. This has been
a tough season that has lasted
for nearly two years; let us hold
on a little longer and see this
thing finally end!
Unearthing Camp Lawton
Dr. Ryan McNutt, Ph.D, FSAScot, R.RA.
“Cotton to Cannons”
In my previous column I
mentioned the global implica
tions of good rail networks for
the men bivouacked at Lawton
and promised to explain it. In
short, the rail networks that
linked Lawton to Savannah,
Charleston, South Carolina,
and Wilmington, North Caro
lina stretched across the At
lantic Ocean, past the Union
blockade, and into the markets
of Great Britain and France.
Speculators and private in
dustry consistently ran cotton
along the rails past Lawton
to the wharfs of Savannah,
Charleston, and Wilmington,
where blockade runners trans
formed the exported cotton
into imported goods; cognac,
brandy, corset stays, silks, ce
ramics, toiletry items, buttons,
cloth, and so on. Anything in
demand was brought in, in
cluding of course munitions.
However, munitions and war
related material made up a
small portion of the blockade
runner cargo. In fact, it wasn’t
until 1864 that the Confederacy
mandated a certain percentage
of aprivate blockade runner’s
cargo be reserved for war es
sential, government cargo such
as iron, powder, arms, shoes,
and medicine like quinine,
ether, and opiates.
The cargo brought through
these merchants then filtered
its way through markets to
our individuals at Lawton.
Ceramics, bottles, tobacco
pipes, and buckles and uniform
accoutrements in small num
bers at Lawton show a clear
British origin, likely coming
in through blockade runners,
and then being either privately
purchased, or purchased by
the Confederate government,
stored in depots and arsenals
(like the one in Augusta) and
disseminated to troops.
However, one of the side ef
fects of this commerce was the
monopolization of the railroads
by private individuals and con
sortiums for the movement of
their cotton gold to ports, and
their imports from ports to
markets for distribution. The
Confederacy never national
ized, monopolized, or seized
railroads for transport of cargo;
despite hav-
ing the legal LAWTON
power to do page 6
I shared inspiration with my
staff about how wonderful it
would be if, instead of criticiz
ing, people asked what they
could do to help. The point of
the presentation was to “Be the
good.” We don’t know what’s
going on in other’s lives. Have
empathy. Show grace. Ask how
you can help. Support each other
in the community, support our
schools, support the administra
tors, support our staff, and sup
port these kids. Ask questions.
Be the good.
I visited the Hope Chest spon
sored by Fostering Bulloch and
found a whole lotta folks “being
the good”! I was drawn in by an
advertisement for a shoe drive in
Statesboro, thinking that would
be great for Millen, too. I was
£a<}le Notes
-Tara Cooper, Jenkins County
School Superintendent
quickly assured that Fostering
Bulloch would help. I made the
trip over and was blessed. My
stars! They truly helped.
Coach Yaughn worked in
the school system when I was
in high school, so I know him.
His son has spoken at Millen
Rotary Club before, so I also
know him. They do amazing
work for Bulloch County and
define “Be the good.” I was
able to meet Coach’s wife and
all of the wonderful volunteers
on “their comer” in Statesboro.
They all were so eager to offer
shoes, coats, backpacks, and
shirts, shorts, and pants of vary
ing sizes. So much so that my car
was packed! I am so excited to
have necessities for any students
in need. We welcome donations
of clothing items and school
supplies at the Board of Educa
tion office. We also encourage
anyone to come by if you have
a need. Our conference room is
full! Also, If you know of a fam
ily in need, please let us know!
There are always needs in a
school system, but we are fill
ing them! There are also things
you can do on your own for our
community. Mentor a child in
your neighborhood: call and
check in, encourage them, take
them to sporting events, or help
them with homework. Our fam
ily mentors other families. All
some of them need are a source
of encouragement and support.
If every person showed compas
sion for a few others in a tangible
way, pretty soon we would have
a different pandemic: care.
I would love to hear more
about how we can help each
other in Millen rather than be
divisive or critical, especially
from those that are concerned
persons or groups in the com
munity. We are too small not to
work together. If you have ideas,
email me at tcooper@jchs.com.
I am hopeful. I am resting
on the fact that weeping may
endure for the night, but joy
WILL come in the morning. I
have faith that better days are
coming. Thank you to those
that have shown such concern
and support for our school
system. We see you.
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