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PACE 2B
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2008
Outdoors With Skipper
Great to see the future enjoy fishing
I t all began with a phone
call from my seven-year-
old grandson Hunter.
In an excited voice, he said,
“Grandpa, I caught 15 bream
today!”
“That’s great, I replied!” In the
background I heard the voice
of little Morgan, age four, “Tell
him, I caught two!”
I love to hear of children fish
ing, as it gets them outdoors to
enjoy the beauty of God’s cre
ation. My son later told me that
Hunter had caught them all by
himself. He put the worm on,
threw out the cork, reeled them
in and took
the fish off
the hook. I
was certainly
proud of
him.
They had
gone to a
friend’s four-
acre pond
to fish over
skipper
the July 4th
holiday. The
pond had the
usual assortment of fish, bream,
catfish, bass, crappie, but seems
no one had ever caught a fish of
PRIZE CATCH
Ethan Stokes, 10, recently reeled in this six-pound bass, an
accomplishment the young fisherman was quite proud of.
any size.
Well, that changed later on in
the same day that my grandson
had called. Ethan, 10-year-old
son of Kip and Amanda Stokes,
who live on the pond in Dacula,
was fishing the pond. He had
taken his Zebco outfit he used
for catfishing, put a live bream
on it along with a bobber, and
cast it out.
A bit later, he noticed his cork
went down, then popped up,
then it began moving, dragging
the float. It stopped for a while,
and the cork was at the surface.
Ethan began reeling, and then
felt something big on the end
of his line. There was a fish on.
This was to be the biggest fish
caught out of the pond.
After a battle, Ethan brought
the fish to shore. It turned out to
be around a six pound bass.
With the neighbors from
around the pond coming to take
a look, and giving Ethan high
fives, he was one proud fellow.
His mother told me he loves
to go fishing and that you will
find him almost every other day
down at the lake giving it a try.
A young fisherman in the mak
ing. I think that keeps a lot of
youngsters out of future trouble,
when they enjoy fishing and/or
hunting.
That bass is going up on the
wall in Ethan’s bedroomas soon
as it gets back from the taxider
mist.
Congratulations, Ethan. I am
looking for a 10 pounder next.
If you have an outdoors story
do give me a call.
Skipper Smith is an outdoors
columnist for The Banks County
News. His column appears
weekly. Let him know about your
hun ting or fishing adventure at
706-677-1520.
Diamond Talk
Items which may turn your stomach
I’m very proud to have been a
baseball fan for 87.5 percent of
my life.
It has opened my eyes to a
massive amount of philosophi
cal insight (a la Pee Wee Reese,
Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra and
Harry Caray) and overall made
me, in no humility whatsoever, a
smarter person. There is, however,
one thing that has been bother
ing me about the game for years.
Why is baseball the only sports
venue in which gross behavior,
manifested in vulgar habits dis
played on the field and in the
dugout, is not only accepted, but
expected?
These things I speak of are a bit
touchy to discuss in good society:
spitting, slobbering, and adjusting
one’s, ahem, private parts. (Or, as
I like to refer to them, ssa.)
Spitting is an important part of
the game, nearly as important as
the game itself.
We are able to see a myriad of
amateur, advanced and expert
spitters among the rosters of all
teams. Watch a game on the tele
vision and you will catch spittle
being ejected with practically
every camera view. That so much
liquid is being lost from the body
through spittle makes it amazing
that we don’t see more dehydra
tion in the big leagues.
I have watched for years the
great spitters in the game, and by
a wide margin, Boston Manager
Terry Francona is baseball’s pre
mier spitter. Tito, as he is called
by those who like him, is a baby
boomer, which may explain why
he is such an accomplished spit
ter.
Born in 1959, Terry is a second-
generation major leaguer; his
father Tito Francona played major
league bah for years (1967-69 for
the Atlanta Braves) and no doubt
taught Terry
how to get
the best out
of every
drop of
moisture in
his mouth.
I recently
watched
a BoSox
game and
was abso
lutely mes
merized by
the spitting exhibition Terry put
on.
Spit was flowing like the
Mississippi River at flood stage.
Terry makes Old Faithful look
like a dripping faucet - a magnifi
cent work of art.
Many years ago I worked on
the railroad and crewed with a
wonderful fellow named Harry
Bortmas. Harry was a conductor,
and older gent, that we ah loved.
Harry also chewed tobacco.
Harry’s affectionate nickname
was “slobber lip” due to the con
tinuous drip of brown juice that
came slobbering out of the comer
of his mouth. Baseball has many
slobber-lips. It has, however,
improved from years past. At
least now the players are able to
change out of their stained shirts
between innings.
Chipper is a great slobberer. His
method is to work up a good load
of spit, tilt his head forward, hori
zontal with the ground, and then,
through his patented release meth
od, slowly let the goop fall from
his mouth over a period of 30-40
seconds. The sight of this nearly
made me physically ill once.
Men have a tough time keep
ing ah of their private parts in
the right place during the game.
Those private parts protected by
a “cup” are exceptionally dif
ficult to manage. The cup itself
is uncomfortable and unyielding,
and the private parts lying beneath
the protective cup are next to
impossible to shift once the cup
is in place. Hence, one can see
ballplayers continually attempt
ing to get their private parts in a
comfortable position throughout
the game.
Someone really needs to talk to
Mark Teixeira about this. Every
time the camera focuses in on
Tex, one can see him trying to
arrange his cup and that which
lies under.
It is becoming rather embar
rassing for us men to continually
explain to our spouses just why a
guy has to do this seemingly ah
the time.
Baseball is the only sport I
know that has allowed this behav
ior to continue and blossom. One
does not see football players
slobbering ah over their jerseys.
Basketball players do not spit on
the court.
I have yet to see a PGA pro
adjust his private parts. I’ve not
seen NASCAR drivers emerge
from their car in the winner’s cir
cle spitting, slobbering or adjust
ing their private parts (ssa).
The purpose of this article and
the delicate subject within was
twofold: first, to acknowledge
to women that we men realize
that it ah does look quite horrid,
and, secondly, to simply explain
why ballplayers have to ssa.
Spitting is manly, slobbering is
both Neanderthal and studly, and
adjusting the private parts, well,
that’s simply a man-thing.
Yes sir. A smarter person.
Banks County resident John
Rieken is an avid baseball fan.
E-mail comments about this col
umn to jrieken@windstream.net.
PREPARED
The Commission Chairman must be
prepared to manage the county:
Departments
Road Department: maintain all county
roads, bridges and rights-of-way
Public Utilities: Fresh and waste water
treatment and distribution
Planning & Zoning: Property
development and regulation
Fire & EMS: Protection for property
and people
E911: Dispatching help for all
emergency calls
Personnel: Overseeing employee
benefits and procedures
Finance: Developing and managing the
county budget and expenditures
Functions
Public Relations: Spokesperson for
the county.
Relationships with Constitutional
Offices: Working together for the best
interests of the county.
Leadership: Setting goals and direction
for the Board of Commissioners
Accessibility: Open Door Policy
Involvement: Board member of various
community outreach programs.
Keep the Continuity of Banks County Government
Vote for GENE HART
I would appreciate your vote and the opportunity to
continue progress in Banks County serving as your
Chairman of the Banks County Board of Commissioners.
Questions/Concerns?
Contact Information: 706-340-0825 (C)
or gene@bcrp.org
Paid for by the Committee to Re-Elect Gene Hart
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