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Page 4 - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
The Millen News
themillennews .com
Opinions, yours and ours
from the
Editor’s Desk
-Joe Brady
Millen News Editor
Sometimes I wonder if I
have dementia, or Al
zheimer’s, or if I’m just
plain crazy. It’s prob
ably a lot of the latter, I
can hear some of you
saying. The truth is, I can
do some weird stuff. Last
week the bank called
me early in the morning.
“Mr. Joe, I have a deposit
here for Spring Creek but
the deposit slip is for an
other bank. What do you
want me to do?” I have
more bank accounts than I
do money obviously. Or the
time I took my customer’s
payment and then promptly turned around, made change, and hand
ed him back his payment! In its entirety! Thank God he was honest.
But then it must be that Mons blood. Remember Aunt Judy at
the funeral home? Judy at the gas station? Or, here’s another one
from Judy. A few years ago, when her grandchildren were still
teens, she was awakened at 2:30 in the morning by loud, insistent
knocking on the front door. Groggily, she got out of bed, leaving
her husband loudly snoring beside her and made a sleep drunken
path to the door, flipping the porch light on as she turned the knob.
Upon opening the door she exclaimed, “Elaina, what are you doing
out this late?” Elaina is her granddaughter and she looked drunk.
Judy whisked her off to the kitchen, reprimanding her the entire
time for underage drinking. The girl explained, “I’m sorry for wak
ing you but somebody was chasing me, I didn’t know where to go.”
Judy, who by this time was busily preparing Elaina a snack inquired,
“Who in the world would be chasing you? Come here my baby and
let Gammy hold you! ” As Judy was dutifully coddling the young girl
and smoothing her hair, she lifted the young girl’s head and looked
into her eyes, “who are you and what are you doing in my house?”
That’s right dear readers, this stranger didn’t know Aunt
Judy any more than she knew the girl. Drunk, the kid was
ringing door bells in hopes she would find her house. I
guess I should look on the bright side, I haven’t gotten as
bad as all that but look what I have to look forward too!
Thanks to Grace at the bank and my great customers for
keeping me half way straight. That’s all for now, take care.
J Manta’s Little Shop k
GRAND OPENING
856 D Cotton Ave 9-5
Little Bit of Everything
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The Millen News
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Joe Brady
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Hope Beyond Hope
The celebration of Christmas at
Millen Baptist Church began on
Sunday, as it did in many other
congregations in the area and
around the world. While the
season is marked by a beauti
fully decorated sanctuary, it is
not the decorations that began
our celebrations. Our celebra
tions of Christmas started with
the lighting of a candle, known
as an advent candle. For many,
the lighting of a candle is just
another tradition. It is just
another set of readings. It really
means little. For others. Advent
is celebrated in the home as
well as at church and it has a
cherished place in the celebra
tion of Christmas.
In a season marked by busyness,
and often insanity; Advent is an
opportunity to set aside time to
prepare our hearts. It is a time
While the POWs, guards, and
almost all personal had been
evacuated from Camp Lawton
by this time last week, at the
same time US Brig. Gen. Jud-
son Kilpatrick was headed with
intent and speed towards Law-
ton, with the 3rd Division of the
Cavalry Corps of the Army of
the Cumberland. On November
22nd, 1864, from Milledgeville,
Kilpatrick began a feint towards
Augusta to divert Confederate
cavalry forces under Maj. Gen
Joseph Wheeler. Wheeler was a
dangerous, mobile, and ephem
eral threat in the back country
of Georgia, with knowledge of
the local landscapes and rural
routes and pathways. Kilpat
rick’s tactical goals for the ad
vance movement were freeing
the prisoners of war at Camp
Lawton (who he was unaware
had been removed the day he
started his march) and destroy
ing the transportation infrastruc
ture. Which linked the arsenal
and munition workshops at
to place our focus on a story, a
story far greater than our own. A
story that intertwines our story
with the story of those past,
present, and even future. It is
a story of the redeeming work
of God. The season of Advent
perfectly ties together: past
prophecies, present fulfillments,
and future longings.
Advent celebrates Galatians
4:4-5, “But when the fullness of
time had come, God sent forth
his Son, bom of woman, born
under the law, to redeem those
who were under the law, so that
we might receive adoption as
sons.” In the perfect timing,
God sent forth His Son to die
in our place. This was all part
of the plan of God, even before
time began. God came to re
deem man from His sinfulness.
He chose to do so through send-
Augusta to the rest of Georgia.
Wheeler bought the feint, con
centrating his forces in defense
of Augusta. With the landscape
around his targets now empty
of opposing forces, Kilpatrick
dispatched a Captain Estes and
a squad of approximately 1000-
2000 picked men on fresh hors
es to drive hard towards Lawton
and the stockade on November
25th after Kilpatrick crossed the
Oconee River. By November
27th, Kilpatrick was re-united
with his advance guard, who
had been wreaking havoc on the
railroad and bridges about the
region, burning the Brier Creek
Bridge and destroying por
tions of the track. Kilpatrick’s
division camped three miles
south of Waynesborough on
the rail line, and spent the day
destroying as much track on the
Augusta-Savannah line as possi
ble. Kilpatrick was infomied at
this point that the prisoners had
been evacuated from Lawton by
the Confederates and judging he
ing His Son, the Light of the
World, into a land of darkness.
The first Sunday of Advent
began with the lighting of the
Candle of Hope, also known as
the Candle of Expectation. The
candle causes us to look at the
Old Testament prophecies of the
coming Jesus and makes us look
to the fulfillment that is found
perfectly in Jesus. Jesus fulfilled
every prophecy of His birth.
Truly, He was the long-awaited
Messiah. The people longed and
waited in hope for hundreds and
even thousands of years for the
One who would come.
The first Sunday of Advent
makes us ask the question,
“What is hope?” Unfortunately,
we have learned to spell hope
by screaming out the words,
“Fix it!” Hope is not someone
just fixing something, hope is a
had accomplished the tactical
goals of severing the rail links
between Augusta and Savannah,
the Third Division began a tacti
cal withdrawal back towards the
main body of Sherman’s troops,
and the support of the infantry.
Harassed during his entire pas
sage, Kilpatrick was concerned
with being cut off and trapped
by Wheeler, who was consis
tently picking at Kilpatrick’s
flanks and rear. Realizing his
isolation far ahead of Shemian’s
main force at Louisville, Geor
gia, Kilpatrick’s Federal forces
conducted a hard-fought tactical
withdrawal that culminated in
a day long, set piece hard battle
that ranged across approximate
ly two to three miles between a
bridge crossing over Buck Head
Creek, close to Buck Head
Church, and Reynold’s Planta
tion to the north.
Kilpatrick had ordered the 2nd
Brigade of the division to move
out and halt at the Louisville -
Waynesborough Road, with
longing that all will be made
right. Jesus came into the
world, not to fix the world but
to redeem a lost and broken
world to Himself. Colossians
1:19-20 says, “For in him
all the fullness of God was
pleased to dwell, and through
him to reconcile to himself all
things, whether on earth or in
heaven, making peace by the
blood of his cross.”
The first Sunday of Advent
celebrates that hope has been
bom to us. The hope is the
forgiveness of sins and the of
fering of eternal life. The hope
is that one day, all who have
believed on Jesus as Lord and
Savior will gather in a place
where there is no more sin and
no more sickness. This is hope
and this is the first week of
Advent!
the other two brigades leap
frogging them to guard against
any pursuit by Wheeler; yet,
through a miscommunica-
tion, the 2nd Brigade under
Atkins failed to halt, causing
a gap between the elements of
Kilpatrick’s division. Part of
the Kilpatrick’s division had
crossed the bridge at Buckhead
Creek, while Kilpatrick and the
remaining elements camped
before the bridge on the night
of November 27th. Wheeler
exploited this gap, adroitly
on the morning of November
28th, taking the Union forces
somehow by surprise, and
supposedly almost capturing
Kilpatrick. Wheeler’s assault
forced Kilpatrick into a run
ning engagement through Jen
kins and Burke Counties. The
fight included multiple cavalry
charges, the use of rail bar
ricades and other ad hoc field
fortifications, and the deploy
ment of double-shotted canister
See LAWTON page 6
Unearthing Camp Lawton
Dr. Ryan McNutt, Ph.D, FSAScot, R.R A.
War, Wreck, and Ruin
Eaqle Notes
-Tara Cooper, Jenkins County
School Superintendent
Do you know what I love most
about our little school system?
I love our ability to build rela
tionships with these students
and their families. I love that I
can go to a ballgame and I’m
not “Superintendent Cooper,”
but Mrs. Tara. I love that we
all know so much about our
students and we care. You know
why? I have learned in my (al
most) thirty years in education
that good relationships build
good students. Good relation
ships forge leaders. Tmly, y’all,
if students know that you care
about them, they will try harder
and perform better - in the class
room and out of it. My philoso
phy is that there are more basic
needs than food, water, and
shelter - kids NEED love, care,
and attention too. It must be
said that I have also learned that
it is certainly not always that
simple, and it is definitely not
always easy. But that does not
mean you stop. You can never,
ever, care too much.
JCMHS has a group of students
that have been presenting a
newscast each Friday. The re
cording link is sent to the teach
ers so that the other students
can watch. The YouTube video
is also shared on Facebook (JC
MHS Parent Connection) so the
public can watch as well.
It. is. awesome.
This class is just one small part
of what is done at our schools
to make leaders of those who
didn’t know they were leaders
and to take students out of their
comfort zones to discover, well,
more.
We are a small school com
munity and what better way to
build a positive culture than to
share good news or opportuni
ties with everyone that they may
not have known otherwise? The
most important advantages of
WEAG are building relation
ships among these students
while simultaneously pulling
in the student audience, and, of
course, encouraging leadership.
We have so many opportunities
for students to be such a small
school system. There is cool
stuff going on up and down
those halls! We definitely have
the “academic” pursuits of
school covered, and we have so
much more.
Hug your child tight, and say
encouraging words. They need
all that love - especially now.
And if y’all see Mrs. Tara, stop
and say hi.
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