About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2025)
PAGE 4A BANKS COUNTY NEWS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2025 Opinion Follow science, not quacks I vividly remember tak ing the Polio vaccine as a young child. The adults of my parent’s generation con sidered it a miracle vaccine to prevent what had been a deadly disease that afflicted thousands of children. By the time I took the vaccine in the early 1960s, Polio had been largely con tained in the U.S., thanks to several years of use across the country. Local schools helped by taking students to health departments to get vaccinated. Other diseases were also contained by the devel opment of vaccines after WWII. The MMR vaccine for Mumps, Measles and Rubella is a standard child hood vaccine that has saved thousands of lives. But now, vaccines are under assault by a flood of disinformation, some of it coming from the nation’s own top health official, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy is an outspoken vaccine skeptic and denier, touting disinformation and pushing questionable ideas about the nation’s health. He has downplayed the se riousness of measles. But Kennedy isn’t the only one. Social media is full of vaccine disinfor mation. That has created a cloud of doubt among some parents who now refuse to have their children vacci nated because they believe the online nonsense. (It’s difficult to have a conver sation with these people be cause they’re so damn sure of their “research” and that they know more than doc tors.) The anti-vaccine move ment got a big boost during mike buffington the Covid pan demic when online pur veyors of mis infor mation caused some people to skip getting a Covid vaccine. As a result, too many people died need lessly because they had been confused by the an ti-vaccine movement. This week, Piedmont doctors are encouraging pa tients, especially children, to get vaccinated for the measles. There is a large measles outbreak hitting the U.S. now with over 800 cases, most being children. Some 40% of unvaccinat ed children become sick enough to be hospitalized, says Piedmont (see story elsewhere in this issue.) Jackson County has a rel atively low MMR vaccina tion rate at 89.5%; most oth er area counties are above 90% (Barrow is at 91.2%.) • • • The anti-vaccine move ment is part of a larger trend where many people have stopped believing institutional knowledge. That’s true in health care as well as other social sectors where people dismiss expert knowledge and facts. The “internet” has made every one an expert on everything. Much of that can be traced to how social media has become a mouthpiece for fringe ideas that, at one time, remained in the shad ows. Now, social media has elevated nutty disinforma- THE WEIGH-IN WHO GUIDELINES REMORNI HERD WHUNIT I DID MY OWN RESEARCH! ?WS’«SWW’*6j^ FACEBOO i. N tion by riding the coattails of populist rhetoric from the political arena. This isn’t a left or right political phenomenon. An- ti-vaxxers can be found on both extremes of the politi cal spectrum, from crunchy moms on the left to diehard MAGA fans on the right. What they have in com mon is a belief that health care professionals can’t be trusted. The result has been an assault on healthcare with the undercutting of feder al health agencies like the CDC and the assault on medical research that is largely funded with feder al money. All of these cuts come amid the measles out break and the looming threat of a bird flu pandemic. Like all viruses, the H5N1 virus is evolving and mutating as it moves from birds to cows to humans. So far, it doesn’t appear to be transmitted from human to human, but that could quickly change. Developing a vaccine to combat a potential H5N1 pandemic is critical, but could be hampered by all the funding cuts to medical research. In addition, the politiciz ing of vaccines threatens to further undermine crit ical vaccine development. In Minnesota, Republican legislators have introduced a bill that would ban mRNA vaccines, the basic founda tion of developing a vaccine to fight a new pandemic. That legislation promotes disinformation about vac cines. I plan to soon get another measles vaccine since mine was so many years ago. If there is an outbreak here, I don’t want to take any chances that I might be one of those whose original vac cine has waned. And if a vaccine is de veloped to help prevent the H5N1 virus, I’ll get it, too. Medical care isn’t perfect, but I’ll put my faith in doc tors before I’ll follow some quack spouting nonsense on social media. Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspapers. He can be reached at mike@main- streetnews.com. Manuel Diaz BY LORAN SMITH The upcoming induction of three Bulldog icons into the “Circle of Honor” in late August will be especial in that in the prime years of their careers, they were the best of their time: Herschel Walker was the best run ning back in the country; Jeff Wallace was the best women’s coach; and Manu el Diaz was the best men’s coach. When you reflect on Diaz’ career, you can’t adequately tell his story without invok ing a couple of vignettes that incorporate the influ ence of his coach and men tor, the late Dan Magill. Magill recognized as he reached his late 60’s that his protege, the young Manu el Diaz, his assistant, was ready to become a head coach. Overtures from various schools, seeking an “in dication of interest” were becoming more and more frequent. The Bulldog coach was in perfect health and in the prime of life with a deep and abiding emotion to con tinue coaching. He had given up his other two major interests, manag ing the statewide Bulldog Clubs and serving as UGA Sports Information Direc tor—and could concentrate on coaching and recruiting with no distractions or in terferences. However, this remarkable man, who was the ultimate loyalist, knew that some enterprising institution was going to hire Manuel. Time was of the essence. Magill chose to relinquish the job which he had made as good as there was in the country for men’s tennis, so that his beloved alma ma ter would not lose the best young coach to some other school, perhaps a hated SEC rival. So, the ultimate loyalist did what only ultimate loy alists do—he stepped aside, yielding the reins to the championship program he had built from scratch with his own hands to the bright est young assistant coach in the game. The woods are full of suc cessful coaches who stayed too long and wore out then- welcome. The classic example be ing Joe Paterno of Penn State. Magill never put him self above his alma mater. Georgia always came first with him. His judgment re garding his assistant was more than validated. Manuel became as iconic as a coach as his predeces sor. The Diaz file reflects these salient facts and mile stones: He is the SEC’s all-time winningest coach with 767 victories; He won Four NCAA national team titles; plus two indoor na tional championships; he won 29 SEC titles and was the Intercollege Tennis As sociation coach of the year three times; he has been inducted into three halls of fame: Georgia tennis Hall of Fame; State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, and the ITA Hall of Fame, (founded by Magill). In addition to over achievement as a player and coach and a history of a lifetime affiliation with the University of Georgia, Manuel supported other UGA teams and utilized Bulldog success in football to his advantage in tennis recruiting. He was a most valuable citizen in the communi ty and was a “Damn Good Dawg” like his mentor. Born in Puerto Rico, Manuel grew up with aspi rations to compete at a U. S. college team and his route to Athens was promoted by a former Puerto Rico tennis prodigy Tony Ortiz. Magill recruited Ortiz to Athens in the late sixties. Ortiz was considered a rare talent during that era. He, like most everybody else, was enraptured with Magill’s legend, coaching ability and reputation. There was only one prob lem. Getting up and going to class was never on his agenda. Magill was given to waking him up and taking him to the buildings which housed the classes he was expected to take. Magill later said when recounting Ortiz’s time on campus, “When I dropped him off at the front door, he imme diately went out the back door.” One of the most signifi cant recruiting stories ever to take place in the annals of the University of Georgia became a byproduct of the legacy of Tony Ortiz. While he had no interest in classroom function, Tony returned home to Puer to Rico where he became Manuel’s coach. When he became familiar with Man uel’s potential as a junior tennis player, he began to work with him and became his promoter. He knew that The Banks County News Homer, GA 30547 Founded 1968 The official legal organ of Banks County, Ga. Mike Buffington Scott Buffington Angela Gary Manny was a gifted athlete and began telling him about Magill and the University of Georgia. One day Magill opened a letter from his old friend who extolled the virtues of a “great prospect” for UGA tennis. There were prolific facts and poignant recommendations which confirmed that Manuel Diaz was a prized recruiting pros pect, but the last line of the letter made Magill immedi ately focus on recruiting his old friend’s mentee. “Manny Diaz,” Tony wrote, “is as good a boy as I was ‘sorry.’” Magill said, “I knew from that recommendation, I had to recruit Manuel.” This is the first in a series. Go-Publisher Go-Publisher Editor Send letters to the editor to angela@mainstreetnews.com Deadline: Noon Fridays BanksNewsTODAY.com (SCED 547160) Published weekly by MainStreet Newspapers, Inc., P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, Ga. 30549 Yearly subscription rate: $45 Regular Seniors $40 Periodicals postage paid at Homer, Ga. 30547 (547-160) Postmaster: send address changes to: MainStreet Newspapers, Inc., PO Box 908, Jefferson, Georgia 30549-0908
