About The Millen news. (Millen, Jenkins County, Ga.) 1903-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 2025)
Page 4 - Wednesday, December 31, 2025 The Millen News themillennews.com OPINIONS The Chatter Box Laura Reeves DEBORAH BENNETT Editor Today, Dec. 31st, the last page of 2025 is being written on the pages of history, and the New Year, 2026, looms on the horizon. A New Year marks both an ending and a beginning. It is a time of looking back at what was and reflecting on the good and bad occurrences, while also looking ahead with hope for the future. Keeping with tradition, it is a time for making New Year’s resolutions. According to recent research, as many as 45 percent of Americans usually make New Year’s resolutions, but only 8 percent achieve their goals. But that probably won’t keep us from doing it since the tradition has been around for about 4,000 years. But the resolutions made have changed through the years. Resolutions from the 1947 Gallup Poll: 1. Improve my disposition, be more understanding, and control my temper. 2. Improve my character, live a better life. 3. Stop smoking, smoke less. 4. Save more money. 5. Stop drinking, drink less. 6. Be more religious, go to church more often. 7. Be more efficient and do a better job. 8. Take better care of my health. 9. Take a greater part in home life.10. Lose (or gain) weight. Today’s resolutions: 1. Lose weight. 2. Get organized. 3. Spend less, save more. 4. Enjoy life to the fullest. 5. Stay fit and healthy. 6. Learn something exciting. 7. Quit smoking. 8. Help others fulfill their dreams. 9. Fall in love. 10. Spend more time with family. I admit that I am among those who never keep New Year’s resolutions. But, I still think it is a good practice to look back at the previous year and review our achievements and actions honestly. If we can learn from our experiences, good and bad, and use that knowledge to build upon in the future, then nothing that occurs in our lives is ever wasted. Wishing everyone a “Better and Happy New Year!” Letters to the Editor' We welcome your LETTER TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor of The Millen News are welcomed and encouraged. These are pages of opinion, yours and ours. 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 Unsigned letters will not be published.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. Let ters should be limited to 400 words and should be typewritten and double-spaced or neatly printed by hand. Deadline for letters to the editor is noon on Fridays. Email Letters to the Editor to: millennewstoday@gmail.com Vt Once a year, I have the privi lege of helping to chaperone a trip to the Barrier Islands at Camp St. Christopher with gifted students. It is locat ed on Seabrook Island near Charleston, and it is stunning. I am thankful every day that Mrs. Marie Murray and Mrs. Katheryn Story make this trip possible and that they need a chaperone and bus driver. The students get to study animals that reside in the area, like sea A new year has begun and this makes me very happy. Good riddance to 2025. The Good Book instructs, “pride goeth before destruc tion.” My pride almost killed me this year. All my life, I have enjoyed good health. Yet, I never ap preciated it like it is meant to be appreciated. In fact, I bragged about it. Since I had a sinus infection eight years ago, I have not been sick except for migraines. I exercise, drink water and mostly eat well. “I’m never sick,” I said of ten. No meaning to brag. Still I often said it. My lesson has been learned. The worst happened back in the summer. I pretty much hate cell phones. I hate having a quiet walk, thinking creatively, playing music that inspires me then the phone rings. I had solved this, at one point, be turtles, bats, and owls. They get to walk through the mari time forest to see the different plants, observe the intracoastal waterway, collect plant and animal life from a freshwa ter pond to study, and even walk along the coastline of the brackish estuary, through a salt marsh and finally to a giant mud pit. (Yes, we do get in. It is a rite of passage!) Don’t get me wrong, we sleep in cabins on thin little mattresses and walk about a billion miles, but I look forward to it every single year. One lesson that speaks to me is that of the sea oats. This deli cate looking plant stands about six feet tall among the sand dunes. Sea oats are drought resistant. Beneath the shifting sand dunes and salty air, their Ronda Rich cause I had an old iPod. I could work on the Rondarosa, listen to music and not be interrupted by calls or texts. Then, one day in 2025, we were burning brush and limbs when the iPod flipped out of my shirt pocket and into the fire. Did you know Apple doesn’t make iPods anymore? I outsmarted them and bought another one when they announced a few years ago that the iPod was going away. Proudly - there’s that word again - I produced the new one out of the box but it wouldn’t download the music. Anti quated. We live two miles from a cell tower but the reception is so poor that we keep two landlines in order to conduct business. If the Lord gave me back the time I spend looking for my phone, it would make up for the time that AT&T has deducted from my life in aggravation. However, I may owe my cell phone and AT&T an apol ogy. Tink was out of town one weekend. I had done my barn chores that morning but decided to go back to the barn DEEP ROOT roots are massive, growing as deep as forty feet. The root sys tem holds the dunes together no matter what is happening on shore. Because these feath ery, seemingly fragile weeds sustain the dunes, they are protected by law. One simply does not pick a sea oat. As I am the type to really sit and contemplate just about anything, I have spent time considering why sea oats speak to my soul. As a symbol, sea oats are perfect. They rep resent the resilience of the dunes on an oft stormy coast. They protect the barrier island and thus, the mainland. They look fragile, but are rooted so deeply that they are not moved by wind nor wave. Sometimes I feel like a sea oat in a fast- WHAT A YEAR to check on an ailing horse. Taking a shortcut, I stepped up on a low stone wall with a flat rock top. I caught the toe of my boot on the wall’s lip and, immediately, I knew it wasn’t going to be good. I flipped backwards, flying through the air, landing in an enormous hydrangea brush in full, glorious bloom. A word about this plant known as the ‘Dooley Hydran gea’. It is a hybrid hydrangea that former SEC football coach and master gardener, Vince Dooley, created in the 1960s when he bred two different hydrangeas together. It is her alded as the only hydrangea able to survive a late spring freeze and still bloom. Seventeen years ago, I was having dinner with Dooley and his wife, Barbara, at their house. As we discussed gar dening,I mentioned in passing that I would love to have a cut ting of the Dooley hydrangea sometime. It was a humid, miserable August night. After dinner, Dooley disappeared for a while. He came in the back door, soaked in sweat, toting a moving world that tries to toss and turn my core identity. However, I know that my roots are also deep. Life is always going to throw you a curveball or two, but that doesn’t mean you have to flinch. As we look towards 2026, I hope that you can appreciate the simple beauty right here in our world. Look back on the great things that 2025 brought your way, and think about the storms that shifted the sands of your life. I hope each of us can be like the mighty sea oat, bending in the wind but never breaking. Let the deep roots in your life hold you firm when the skies get stormy. If you are tethered in truth, kindness, and authenticity, your 2026 holds nothing but promise. nice sized Dooley hydrangea that he had dug up in his yard. He then instructed me how to plant it to get the perfect light. In full bloom, it is about six feet around and five feet tall. It was more beautiful this year than ever before. The blossoms were countless and huge. My backward leap landed me in the midst of the bush, breaking my fall and helping to soften the blow when my head hit the edge of a stone step. I was knocked dizzy but, for once, had my phone in my hand. I couldn’t remem ber my husband’s name but called a friend who realized immediately, I was garbling. She called Tink then called me back, keeping me alert on the phone until he arrived. A night in the hospital, bab bling out of one’s head does a lot to a person’s pride. In words of the mountain folks, I’ve been ‘umbled. Ronda Rich is the best- selling author of A Merry Chatty Christmas. Visit www. rondarich.com to sign up for her free newsletter. r Millen Neus Chartered 1903 The Millen News is published weekly by The Millen News 856 Cotton Ave. • Millen, Ga. 30442 Phone: (478) 982-5460 • FAX: (478) 982-1785 Periodical postage paid at Millen, Georgia. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: 856 Cotton Ave. Suite A • Millen, Ga. 30442 Roy Chalker Publisher Lavonna Johnson General Manager Deborah Bennett Editor Jaylec Bennett Office Manager/Advertising Sales Lavonna Johnson Layout and Design Carly Johnson EBA Sports Contributor Lilly Herrington EBA Sports Contributor/Photographer Madison Hitchcock EBA Sports Contributor/Photographer Laura Reeves Columnist Scotty Womack Columnist Ronda Rich Columnist Don Lively Columnist Jake Futch Columnist Subscription Rates (Includes tax): 6 Months In Jenkins County $16.00 1 Year In Jenkins County. $29.00 2 Years In Jenkins County $49.00 Elsewhere in Georgia $39.00 Outside of Georgia $49.00 Online Only $20.00 Wow. Where do I start? Life is supposed to slow down once you’ve reached this age. It hasn’t happened yet, friends. So, when it comes to that time when I sit down to review my most recent year, I have a bit of trouble narrowing it down to 800 words. But, I’ll try. The very first day of 2025 started off rather horrifically. We were in New Orleans for New Years Eve and had spent time on Bourbon Street join ing thousands of other revelers ringing in the New Year and getting amped up for the next day’s Sugar Bowl. We woke up to the news that a terrorist attack had happened. Once again a radical Muslim had decided to try to steal the joy from happy, innocent Americans, this time by driving a vehicle directly into the crowd. Several people were killed and many more were injured. Because I was there, the newspaper contacted me and asked me to cover the story from the perspective of myself and other folks from our neck of the woods who were in Don Lively The Big Easy for the football game. I wrote the story and then we went to the game because life goes on, but frankly, foot ball didn’t seem very important under the circumstances. Later that month, we got snow around these parts. A real snow, not just a dusting. It looked really pretty covering all of the downed trees and stumps that I still hadn’t finished clean ing up from Hurricane Helene. Also that month, I took a long weekend trip to see the Texas branch of my brood. I got to see my oldest granddaughter play the guitar and sing to me better than many professionals in spite of never having taken a lesson. I saw my grandson play basketball for the first time. And I got to snuggle with both of them and my youngest grand daughter. Oh, and I got to visit with their parents too. In March I headed up a brand new fundraiser for my little downtown. We named it She nanigans On Liberty. It com bined a cornhole tournament and a golf cart parade and we raised several thousand dollars. I bought a green derby for the occasion and it looked quite spiffy. In April, to celebrate my birthday, we headed to Key West. We sight-saw (is that a LOOKING BACK AGAIN word?) and we ate and we rode our rented golf cart all over the Key. If I remember correctly, I think I sampled a bit of rum, a brand favored by Ernest Hemingway. The Hog’s Breath Saloon, a Key West institution, is one of my favorite eating places in America. On July 4th, for the 87th con secutive year, my family met for our annual reunion at The Pond. It was a smaller crowd this year, only about 195, but a Lively time was had by all. Later in July it was off to Kentucky for yet another re union, this time the national. The highlight of the weekend was a trip to The Ark Encounter. I had heard about it but it has to be seen to be believed. Go if you ever get the opportunity. In September we took another “trip to end all trips”. We saw a large part of Washington State, Oregon and the northern part of California where we saw redwood trees so tall the tops weren’t visible. A seven mile hike to get to Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the Lower 48, nearly did me in but I recov ered quickly. Then it was off to Alaska where we saw a griz zly bear, scads of moose, orca whales, and a sea otter eating an octopus. It rained a lot during the trip but The Last Frontier and its magnificent scenery did not disappoint. During 2025 I finally got the mess Helene created totally cleaned up. During 2025 I found out that I’m going to be a Granddaddy again in 2026. During 2025 I decided to retire, again. In mid October I told my bosses that I was retiring. The thought of retirement actually excited me and scared me at the same time because I’ve never been without a job for over fifty years. Well, lo and behold, within hours of my an nouncement, I got a call from the owner of the paper where these scribblings have appeared for over 18 years, asking me to come on staff to write more than just my weekly column. I didn’t even have to think about it. During 2025 I became a “cub reporter”. Just call me Jimmy Olsen. Look for my byline, y’all. Wonders never cease. Next Week: Looking For ward Again. Don Lively is a freelance writer and author of several books of Southern humor. He lives in Shell Bluff. Email Don at Livelycolo@aol.com.
