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BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2021
Opinion
The silence of death is deafening
Dear Editor:
On November 8, while
concluding a mission trip
out of the country, I re
ceived a text from my sister,
Becky: “Tested positive for
COVID-19. No idea where
I got it. New guy [whom
she’d been orienting in her
office] has it too.” Symp
toms? “Yep, cough, head
ache, just thought it was
bronchitis.”
November 12, low grade
fever and extreme fatigue.
02 levels still in the 90s.
November 16. call from
her husband. “Just put
Becky in an ambulance to
the ER. Trouble breathing,
02 level dropped below
90.”
Through tears he cried
words that will forever echo
in my ears. “I’m afraid I
won’t see her again.” No
one would be allowed to be
with her. This was COVID.
November 17. she was
placed on a ventilator by
mask (CPAP) and later
moved to the ICU. For a
few days we would commu
nicate through texts because
she was too short of breath
to talk on the phone. She ex
pressed how uncomfortable
the mask was.
November 20, still on
ventilator by mask, but 02
level was dropping into
the 70s whenever the mask
came off.
November 23, Becky
submitted a rare (and her
final) post on Facebook. “I
almost died of COVID last
week. JUST. WEAR. THE.
DAMN. MASK.”
November 24,1 get a call
from the pulmonologist in
ICU. They had to perform
an emergency tracheosto
my to ventilate her, she was
too difficult to intubate. She
would be sedated ...
Surely she would pull out
of this, her heart was strong,
other vital organs working
normally. Just the lungs
were not working . . .very .
. well...
The following days were
a roller coaster of hopes and
dashed hopes that weaning
from the ventilator would
be a slow but steady prog
ress.
All subsequent commu
nication and updates on
Becky’s condition were
funneled through ICU nurs
es and physicians taking
care of her. But all attempts
to wean her from the venti
lator proved futile.
Discussions with the
physicians devolved from
plans of long term care af
ter discharge to advanced
directives to hospice. One
of Becky's nurses said she
would arrange with hospital
administration to get a spe
cial dispensation for me to
be with Becky at the end.
And on the night of De
cember 5th, I left for the
7.5-hour drive to the hospi
tal.
Hospital lobbies are usu
ally bustling with activity,
staff and visitors coming
and going at all hours.
There was no one in this
ghost town of a lobby on
December 6th, empty ex
cept for a lone receptionist
at the front desk. No one in
any waiting areas—no visi
tors allowed.
The receptionist looked
stricken. She knew why
I was there. She made a
phone call. Once permis
sions verified and granted.
I proceeded upstairs to the
ICU.
I'd been in healthcare, ra
diography then nursing, for
a long time. I was no strang
er to hospitals or the ICU,
nor to isolation precautions
with full PPE. But nothing
in my career had prepared
me for what I experienced
on that final day of Becky’s
life.
Every ICU bed was full,
every patient on a ventila
tor. The cacophony of beeps
and blips of monitors and
machines relentless.
The whoosh of isolation
gowns being donned and
doffed, the whir of multiple
ventilators.
I was provided full PPE
of my own, I knew the drill.
I entered my sister's room
and as the large touch-free
glass door closed behind
me, I tentatively approached
the bed where she lay. In
spite of the sedation-in
duced sleep, she stirred e're
so slightly when she heard
my voice. I knew she could
hear me talk as I watched
the rise and fall of her chest
in perfect rhythm with ev
ery whoosh of the ventila
tor. I assured her we loved
her and would miss her ter
ribly but we'd all be okay. I
almost apologized for every
older-sister infraction I’d
ever heaped upon her.
I nodded to the nurse
waiting outside the door.
She carried in the small sy
ringe of sedation medicine
that would help relax my
sister further and, hopefully,
prevent the air-hunger that
often occurs when a ventila
tor is turned off. The effect
was almost immediate—a
few final reflexive breaths—
then all breathing stopped.
Her heart was strong and,
as I expected, it took sever
al minutes for her heart to
stop as well. Time of death:
11:03.
The deafening silence
that followed reverberated
in my ears like a hundred
tribal death drums. Yet, I
knew I was one of the privi
leged few that could be with
a loved one when they died
from this coronavirus called
COVID-19.
Less than 4 weeks pri
or, Becky had been alive,
well, vibrant, and working
full-time. She was fiercely
devoted to her job and her
family.
I found out a little later
she had just been promoted
to general manager of her
company, a company that
is vital to the supply and
distribution of PPE to areas
where it is needed most.
But she never told anyone
because that’s just the kind
of person she was. So many
will miss her.
This virus is real and it is
deadly. Do your part to pre
vent another needless death:
Distance, don’t congregate,
sanitize your hands often,
and JUST. WEAR. THE.
DAMN. MASK. Get the
vaccine when it becomes
available to you. Prove that
you're really Pro-Life.
Sincerely,
Dynelle Martin
Maysville
2020, aberration or beginning of the end?
As we enter 2021, we are a nation
torn apart.
Our economy is uneven amid
the Coronavirus with some places
doing well (like Jackson County),
while other places suffer from pan
demic shutdowns. Even worse, the
pandemic has quickly widened the
social and economic gap between
the “haves” and the “have-nots.”
It’s a dynamic fraught with danger
ous implications for the future.
Socially and culturally, we're a
nation depressed and despondent.
The tone of 2020 has been like a
sledgehammer, battering us with wave after wave of bad
news and turmoil. We're tired and just want to return to
some kind of “normal” existence.
But it is in our politics that we’re perhaps the most dam
aged. The elections of 2020 have splintered the nation,
giving birth to crazy conspiracy theories. As the year ends,
half the nation has been convinced, without any evidence,
that the presidential election was somehow “stolen” or
“rigged.” The sitting president has attempted to overturn
the vote of the people in the election and cling to power
even though he was clearly defeated at the ballot box.
Next week on Jan. 6. Congress meets to accept the re
sults of the Electoral College vote, a vote that names Joe
Biden as president.
Some observers, however, believe there could be chaos
on the streets of Washington that day, chaos driven by un
founded social media stories and encouraged by the pres
ident.
• ••
If you think this is just some minor thing, think again.
Some people are calling for violence in the wake of the
election. Not since 1861 and the start of the Civil War has
an election ended with this kind of ominous cloud.
Consider:
• In November following the election, a right-wing pas
tor in Florida called for Democrats and members of the
media to be shot by firing squads if they had conspired to
rig the elections (the election was not rigged.)
• A lawyer with President Trump’s campaign said that
former U.S. cybersecurity official Christoperh Krebs
should be “shot” for having rejected claims that the elec
tion was stolen from Trump.
• In early December, armed protestors congregated
outside the home of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn
Benson and demanded that she overturn the results of the
state’s balloting, which showed that Joe Biden had carried
the state. Some Trump supporters had earlier been arrested
in a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor, a Democrat.
• Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who
went to prison for lying to the FBI but was pardoned by
Trump, has called on Trump to declare martial law and
send the military into Georgia and other swing states to
force an election do-over at the point of a bayonet. Others
have echoed Flynn’s call for what would be a military coup
in the nation.
• The head of the Arizona GOP has called for Trump
to “cross the Rubicon,” a reference to when Julius Caesar
crossed the Rubicon River and started a Roman Civil War
after which Ceaser became dictator.
• Closer to home, Georgia officials have received death
threats after they refused to overturn the state's election
results, which went narrowly for Biden.
• In some local Facebook posts, some local citizens have
called for Georgia's leaders to be arrested and “strung up”
because they refused to overturn legitimate votes and give
the contest to Trump.
• ••
All of which begs this question: Has America become a
banana republic?
Since when did calls for violence following an election
become part of the American political lexicon?
This is deplorable.
No matter who won the election, this nation has a tra
dition of holding a peaceful transfer of power (except in
1861.)
We don't resort to violence and intimidation. We don’t
threaten to kill people because the election doesn’t go our
way.
Even many of Trump’s own supporters have balked at
these calls for violence.
But Trump hasn't.
In fact, he has egged on those who would do violence in
the name of politics.
Over the weekend, he Tweeted a message to supporters
to rally in Washington on Jan. 6. “Be there, will be wild,”
he said.
Protesting is one thing, but Trump's Tweet is a thin
ly-veiled call for people to threaten Congress as they ac
cept the vote of the Electoral College.
According to some administration insiders, Trump has
mulled the idea of declaring martial law because he lost
Rotary Club sponsors Food 2 Kids Program
The Banks County Rota
ry Club sponsors the Food 2
Kids Program in the county
school system.
“School isn’t just a place
for learning,” organizers
state. “For some of our most
impoverished kids, it’s also
the only reliable source of
food in their lives.
“The sad truth is that from
Friday afternoon until they
return to school on Mon
day morning, some of these
children may not know if
or how much they'll get to
eat.”
Food 2 Kids is a program
that helps bridge that gap
for some of the communi
ty's neediest kids.
Sacks of kid-friendly
food — enough for at least
six meals — are handed
out every week to children
identified by school teach
ers, counselors and officials
as being most in need.
The disposable sacks
will have approximately
seven to 10 pounds of food
— enough for two days of
meals.
The food is in easy-to-
open packaging and doesn't
require any cooking.
Sample contents of the
food sacks include:
Spaghetti and ravioli,
applesauce, fruit cup, pea
nut butter, crackers, cereal,
milk in shelf-stable cartons,
toaster pastries, dried fruit,
trail mix, fresh fruit, granola
bars, macaroni and cheese,
oatmeal and juice boxes.
A donation of $275 spon
sors one child for an entire
school year (40 weeks).
All donations are tax de
ductible.
Mail in contributions can
be sent to:
Banks County Rotary,
P.O. Box 54, Homer, Ga..
30547.
Deadline for Letters to the Editor:
Noon Inlays. Email to angela@mainstmetnews.com. Mail to Angela
Gary, MainStieet Newspapers Inc., Lee Stieet, ]eiieison, Ga., 10S49.
the election. Some observers believe that Trump wants to
foment violence on Jan. 6 as a cover to declare martial law.
Deplorable.
I’m doubtful that Trump would seek to use the military
to overturn the election and even if he did, it’s unlikely the
military would follow his orders.
But the fact that it's even discussed makes for a sober,
sad beginning to 2021.
• ••
If the nation can avoid this political violence, the year
2021 may be a year of hope, a new beginning.
As the vaccine for the pandemic began to slow its spread,
there's hope that our lives will return to normal.
There's hope that we can again gather with friends and
family.
There's hope that our jobs and economy will stabilize
and provide less uncertainty.
There’s hope that our children can return to school amid
a normal atmosphere.
There’s hope that we can bury the political divisions that
have haunted 2020 and find a path toward a more biparti
san spirit in public offices.
• ••
And yet. I’m worried.
We may indeed have a glorious rebirth in 2021. In fact,
we may enter a decade like the “Roaring ‘20s”.
We all want to forget 2020, close the door on it. move
forward and not look back.
But I fear the seeds of something sinister were sown this
year, seeds of a terrible fury that someday will ripen with
vengeance and violence.
No nation can survive when half it’s people fall for fake
propaganda and demand that fair elections be ignored and
overturned.
The year 2020 may have just been an aberration in our
history, a fever that will soon break.
Or it may have been the beginning of the end.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspa
pers. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
The Banks County News
Founded 1968
The official legal organ
of Banks County, Ga.
142 Old Highway 441 North, Homer, GA 30547
Mike Buffington
Scott Buffington
Angela Gary
Angie Bowen
Sharon Hogan
Co-Publisher
Co-Publisher
Editor
Sports Editor
Reporter
Phones (all 706 area code):
Angela Gary Phone 706-410-1022
Web www.BanksNewsTODAY.com
(SCED 547160)
Published weekly by
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