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-
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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
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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.
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Editor
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