PAGE 4A
BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2025
Opinion
How amazing it was
Even at the young age of
18, I watched it all in real
time. And, though I was
short on years and wisdom,
I knew it was nothing short
of amazing.
There is a preface to this
story. It isn’t fluff. It’s im
portant to tell. Countless
have been the times that
I have been at a speaking
engagement or book sign
ing and had someone come
through my line. It happens
almost the same way every
time.
The person will be in the
middle of the line, which
keeps others waiting until,
finally, five minutes in, I
will say, “Would you mind
waiting and coming back
when I’ve finished signing?
I hate to hold up all these
people.”
If Tink is with me, he
helps with books but then
he gets pulled into a conver-
Ronda
Rich
sation by that same person
who asks, “Once this book
[they’re proposing to write]
is a bestseller, how do I turn
it into a movie? Or do I
write the movie first?”
Tink, despite his 30 years
in Hollywood, is always
kind and patient. Mean
while, I’m left with no help
at the book table. When I
finish, I say, “I’m sorry you
had to wait. How may I
help you?”
“I’d like your guidance
on writing a book.”
I nod. “What do you
want to write?” Usually,
the answer is similar to one
of two: “I’m one of many
children. Daddy died and
Mama raised us by herself.
I put myself through law
school.”
I love those kinds of
ideas. The one I hate is “I
don’t know. I just want to
write a book.” Most people
write books like the ones
they read. I have a friend
who devours Westerns.
He’s written over 23 cow-
boy books.
“What do you read?” I’ll
ask.
“I don’t.” Wrong answer.
My reply? “Then, you can’t
write a book if you don’t
read them.”
This to tell you about a
woman named LaVenier
Hicks who wanted to write
so badly that she put every
thing she had into it. Her
full-time job was at a zip
per plant where, after many
years, she worked her way
up to plant manager be
fore it finally closed. She
wrote freelance for our lo
cal, daily newspaper where
I worked as an intern. She
got off from work at four
and, within an hour, came
running into the news room,
waving pages of stories she
had written. There were
days that she wrote the en
tire front page even though
we were well-staffed. I re
member one day, that there
were four front page stories
and she had written every
one while working a full
time job.
Her ability to turn out
massive quantities of qual
ity stories was stunning. All
while working a full-time
job.
LaVenier may have had
a high school degree but I
doubt she had a college di
ploma. Yet, she figured out
the art to crafting a capti
vating story then did it over
and over and over.
For $25 per assignment.
Imagine working hard on
chasing down sources for
days while working full-
time. She won awards. She
won trust. And she won
everyone’s admiration. She
was a star. She could sniff
out a story from a coun
try mile away. Her sourc
es were always strong and
never wrong.
She found an old man at
the foot of Blood Mountain
in Lumpkin County. He had
a farmer’s stoop from all
the years a mule had pulled
his plow. He handcrafted
spinning wheels and fiddles
and was considered one
of the best fiddle players
the Appalachians had ever
produced. He took a likin’
to LaVenier and took spe
cial care with the table and
chairs he built for her. His
history, she told with admi
ration and precision.
That man, our Uncle Os
car Cannon, raised daddy.
Before she died, she wrote
the book of his life and ac
complishments because she
knew what she wanted to
write and what drew her.
Oh, how amazing that
woman was.
Ronda Rich is the
best-selling of the Stella
Bankwell Mystery series.
Visit www.rondarich.com to
sign up for her free weekly
newsletter.
Revisiting the soul of the old Athens Varsity
By Loran Smith
WATKINSVILLE - Since
the Varsity on Broad Street
in Athens closed its doors, I
have not had a chilidog and
a frosted orange in many
moons until last week when
I stopped by the location on
Hog Mountain Road near
Watkinsville.
Believe it or not there are
eight Varsity locations, in
cluding the original estab
lishment on North Avenue
in Atlanta—but not one in
Athens. That means for lo
cal Varsity aficionados there
is no chance of heartburn,
but we would gladly settle
for that over the frustrations
that come with having to
drive twelve miles instead
of right around the corner.
There are six additional
locations—Gwinnett, Ken
nesaw, Dawsonville, Beth
lehem, Cartersville, and
Rome—which is a reminder
that Varsity food is still in
demand.
Old timers will remember
the halcyon days when you
could drop by the down-
town Varsity in Athens for a
warm welcome from the late
Epp Suddath, the impresario
of the restaurant for many
years, which means that in
many respects he was the de
facto mayor of Athens.
Nothing went on in our
town in the fifties and six
ties that Epp did not know
about since The Varsity was
the coffee drinking hub of
the downtown business reg
ulars, and the UGA admin
istrative gang, anchored at
the old Academic Building.
They gathered at the Varsi
ty for coffee, snacks, lunch,
gossip, and small talk.
Two of the mainstays who
managed the counter and
were as highly regarded in
the downtown community
as Uga, the Bulldog mascot,
were “Brown and Doyal,”
whose driver’s license iden
tified them as Otha Brown
and Doyal Jarrett.
“Dog-talk” was on every
body’s agenda year-round.
If a player was in academ
ic distress or was having
trouble with his girlfriend,
Brown and Doyle knew
about it. They were more
than behind-the-scenes
purveyors of whispers and
hushed conversation—they
were worried men “sing
ing a worried song.” They
wanted the ‘Dogs to reign
supreme.
During my recent Varsi
ty excursion, I felt the at
mosphere was reminiscent
of the past except we were
out in the country and not
at arms-length of the Arch
and Barnett’s News Stand.
There was one thing missing
however, and that was the
time-honored Varsity lingo
sounding forth by the cast of
the past, led by Doyal.
If you are long in the
tooth, you likely remember
many of them: A “Skeet”
was a Coke; an orange was
a “squirt”; a PC was a choc
olate milk with ice; NIPC
was a no ice PC; a “hobo
soda” was a glass of water;
“Joe” was black coffee and
“white Joe,” was coffee with
cream; Mayo was, “grease,”
if you wanted apple and
peach pie with a scoop of
vanilla, you asked for an
“Alamo”.
If you were interested in
a “naked steak,” that meant
you were ordering a ham
burger with nothing on it.
When Epp Suddath attended
the World’s Fair in Chicago
in 1933 and learned about
burlesque dancer Sally
Rand, a naked steak became
a Sally Rand.
A “C-dog,” was a regular
hotdog with catsup. A “Chil
li dog walking,” was a Chil
li dog to go, a “naked dog”
was simply a hot dog and a
bun.
George Suddath, Epp’s
youngest son, grew up at the
Varsity and has this memo
ry: “I can hear Doyal right
now, ‘Gimme two dogs all
the way, Chilli steak, ring,
a fry, two skeets, peach,
apple pie, walking. Before
the customer had his wallet
out of his pocket, he would
have calculated the cost in
cluding sales tax in his head.
If the customer had the cor
rect change, he would throw
the money in a washed out
two-gallon mayo jar to be
counted and put into the
main cash register later.”
You may have noticed
there is no signature refer
ence to a very popular Var
sity staple, a hamburger. I
have a reason for addressing
this item last. A hamburger
in Varsity vernacular was a
“steak.” If it was “glorified”
or “through the garden,” that
mean lettuce and tomato
were added.
When in high school, our
coach brought a couple of
carloads of his players to
Athens. We could get stu
dent tickets for a dollar as I
recall. Lunch at the Varsity
was truly a treat, not just a
filling meal, but a cultural
experience.
My memory is that a ham
burger cost 15 cents and
a Coke was a dime. So, I
counted out 40 cents and
meekly worked my way up
to the counter from the stree
and whispered to Doyal
whom I did not know at the
time, “I’d like to order two
hamburgers and a Coke.”
With that Doyal yelled
out, “Pair of steaks anda
skeet.”
I immediately panicked
since I did not understand
the lingo, crying out, “No
no I said hamburgers no
steaks.” Doyal could no
stop laughing as I was
dumbfounded by all of the
hullabaloo.
When I ordered my luncl
at the Watkinsville Varsi
ty last week, I enjoyed my
meal like always, but whet
I finished, I stood aside
near the counter afterwards
and bowed in memory o
Brown, Doyal, Epp and the
unforgettable characters
who hung out at the Down
town Varsity as I was learn
ing the facts of life.
Loran Smith is a UGA an
nouncer and a columnist foi
Mainstreet Newspapers.
Balancing salty and sweet with
the salted chocolate pistachio cookie
By Melisssa Reycraft
There is no denying my
love of chocolate.
It consumes me, almost as
much of my love of salt. In
fact, I teeter-totter between
which I’m craving and in
which form.
Will it be a secretly salty
dinner adorned with capers
or will it be a wonderful
scoop of roasted strawberry
ice cream? Most of the time
I can’t decide so whenever I
can find the perfect excuse
to balance the two I jump all
over it. And thus the perfect
salted chocolate pistachio
cookie was born.
I’ve not come across a
chocolate cookie I love as
much as this one.
The edges are crisp, the
center soft, the salt on top
hits your tongue with each
bite, and the pistachios
add a much needed earthy
crunch that cuts through the
rich chocolate base allow
ing you to eat more than you
anticipated.
However, if you’re like
my daughter and prefer to
have your pistachios in a
bowl rather than baked in
a cookie, you can omit the
green nuggets of goodness
and opt for white chocolate
chips instead. She insisted
she wouldn’t like the cook
ies baked with pistachios
and I insisted, motherly,
that she would indeed enjoy
them baked in the cookie.
She did not enjoy them
baked in the cookie and I
was left making another
batch studded with white in
stead of green.
No loss though, now we
have more sweet and salty
cookies to satiate my crav
ings.
Yield 18-20 cookies
215 grams all purpose
flour
50 grams dutch process
cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
7/2 teaspoon baking soda
130 grams unsalted but
ter, room temperature
145 grams granulated
sugar
150 grams dark brown
sugar
% teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 large yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla ex
tract
100 grams chocolate
chunks (or chips)
100 grams lightly salt
ed and roasted pistachios
(slightly crushed)
Maldon sea salt for sprin
kling
-Preheat your oven to 400
degrees. Line a baking tray
with parchment paper or
a nonstick silicone baking
mat.
-In a medium bowl, whisk
together flour, cocoa pow
der, baking powder, and
baking soda.
-In the bowl of an electric
mixer fitted with a paddle
attachment, cream together
the dark brown sugar, gran
ulated sugar, salt, and butter
until light and fluffy.
-With the mixer set to low
speed, add the egg and yolk.
Mix until combined, scrape
down the sides, and add the
vanilla extract.
-Add the flour mixture
and mix on low speed until
almost combined. Add the
pistachios and chocolate
chunks and mix until no
flour streaks remain.
-Scoop cookies using a
large cookie scoop (about
2 tablespoons worth or 60
grams). Place 8 scoops,
evenly spaced, on your pre
pared half sheet tray.
Lightly flatten the tops us
ing the palm of your hand or
the bottom of a clean glass.
Sprinkle maldon sea salt on
top of each cookie.
-Bake for 10-12 minutes
until the middle of the cook
ies have slightly puffed and
the cookie no longer looks
shiny on top. The middle
will be soft but will con
tinue to set as it cools. Let
cool completely on the tray
before enjoying. You can
bake the remaining cook
ies in batches or flatten the
tops and freeze in an airtight
freezer bag for later use.
When baking from frozen,
add 1 minute to the baking
time.
Melissa Reycraft lives in
Hoschton and is a former
New York City pastry chef.
Reycraft worked as a pastry
sous chef at Rainbow Room
in NYC and Four Seasons
Restaurant and holds a de
gree from the Institute of
Culinary Education in NYC.
Photo by Melissa Reycraft
The salted chocolate pistachio cookie balances cravings for
both salty and sweet treats.
The Banks County News
Homer, GA 30547
Founded 1968
The official legal organ of Banks County, Ga.
Mike Buffington
Scott Buffington
Angela Gary
Go-Publisher
Go-Publisher
Editor
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
