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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 17. 2009
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Opinions
Frankly
Speaking
frankgillispie671@msn.com
By Frank Gillispie
Leno’s first show
a disappointment
I decided to watch Jay Leno's first prime
time show on NBC Monday night to see if
it was worth watching. Overall, I was disap
pointed.
The introduction of the show held some
promise. His musical director Kevin Eubanks
came up with a somewhat more stylish theme
that is less frantic than what they used on
Tonight.
Jay opened the show with his usual mono
logue making fun of the current news. It
included the familiar cutaways such as Leno
confronting himself in a “reality show” spoof.
Nothing new or exciting there.
Then he introduced the first “comedy” rou
tine about a musical car wash. It was not
funny. Rather, it was very lame and far too
long.
Next he brought out his first guest: Jerry
Seinfeld. I don't know why, but I have never
found him to be amusing. And his appearance
with Leno was no different. Seinfeld joked
about Jay’s inability to book Oprah for his
opening show bragging that he knew her and
could book her. Then he had her appear in a
descending monitor where she and Seinfeld
carried on a conversation while ignoring Jay.
Nothing funny there.
Finally we saw a spark of the old Leno.
Using clips of the President’s recent TV inter
view, Leno imposed his own questions result
ing in some funny bits. The best was when Jay
ask Obama if he liked the show and received
a clearly negative response. Jay then asked
the president how his romance with his wife
was progressing and Obama’s answer was a
request that people send in suggestions.
His “musical” spot was a total waste of time.
I really have little to say about that act, other
than the fact that two foul-mouthed rappers
and a long-legged hip hop diva in an ugly hat
are just not my idea of entertainment. Kanye
West was simply not believable in his tearful
condemnation of himself for causing hurt to
Taylor Swift on a recent awards show.
Finally, Jay did his “headlines” bit, which
was mildly amusing.
So when 10 p.m. comes around each night,
I will check my preferred TV channels,
Discover, Travel, National Geographic and
NPR. Or I will tune into the local news. If it
is a slow news day, or if I have already seen
the programs on the other channels (they do
repeat their programs often) I might tune in
NBC to see what Jay has going that night. Or I
might just turn off the TV and read a book.
The great thing about reading is the unlim
ited choice of material available. That is espe
cially true when you have your own private
library. I do not expect there will be many
nights when Leno wins out over my current
read. Sorry Jay!
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison
County Journal. His e-mail address is frank-
gillispie671@msn.com. His website can be
accessed at http://frankgillispie.tripod.com/
The Madison
County Journal
(Merged with The Danielsville Monitor
and The Comer News, January 2006)
P.O. Box 658
Hwy. 29 South
Danielsville, Georgia 30633
Phone: 706-795-2567
Fax: 706-795-2765
Email: zach@mainstreetnews.com
ZACH MITCHAM, Editor
MARGIE RICHARDS, Reporter/Office Manager
BEN MUNRO, Reporter/Sports Editor
MIKE BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
FRANK GILLISPIE, Founder of The Journal.
Jere Ayers (deceased) former owner
of The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News
Periodical postage paid at Danielsville, Georgia 30633
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Madison & surrounding counties $19.75/year
State of Georgia $38.85/year
Out-of-state $44.50/year
Military personnel with APO address $42.50/year
Senior rate $2 off all above rates
College student discount rate $2 off all above
rates
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
THE MADISON COUNTY JOURNAL
P.O. Box 658, Danielsville, GA 30633
A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
On the birth of a son
I wasn’t there to cover the
commissioners’ meeting with
the sheriff on the 2010 budget.
Instead, I carried a reporter’s
pad into St. Mary’s Hospital
Sept. 2.
I guess it brought me some
comfort to jot down the nota
ble events. There’s sort of a
helpless feeling for spectators
in a hospital, but you can at
least document what’s going
on. And sometimes that can
come in useful later when
questions arise. So I scribbled
such things as: started pitocin
at 7:30 a.m.; epidural, 12:45
p.m.; water broke, 2:15 p.m.;
10 centimeters dilated, 3:50
p.m.
Jana spent much of the
morning reading “The Time
Traveler’s Wife.” She was
very calm throughout the day,
though she got the shakes real
ly bad at times.
On the other hand I had
not been calm, at least not
for a couple of weeks as a
heavy knot found a home in
my stomach — the worry that
comes with anticipation is
In the
Meantime
zach@
mainstreet
news.com
By Zach
hard to bear. But once the day
arrived, I felt more at peace.
I glanced at the mirror that
morning and in my face, there
was a hint of my grandfather.
And I felt the first wave of real
emotion, realizing that I was
moving on that huge wave of
generations.
We felt we were in a good
place. Our nurse for the deliv
ery, Angela Mullis, was excel
lent. And all the staff in the
St. Mary’s maternity ward
seemed attentive and profes
sional. The facility itself is
quite a sight. The maternity
wing at St. Mary’s looks more
like an upscale hotel than a
hospital.
Of course, all of this is rou
tine, at least statistically.
Count to seven and a child is
born somewhere in this coun
try in that time. There are 307
million of us in the U.S.
But who among us is a num
ber? We are flesh and blood.
And numbers cannot tell our
stories. A birth is never rou
tine — especially not when
it’s you.
Our time finally arrived.
And I stood by my wife
as the doctor barely got her
gloves on in time to catch our
son, Noah, as he entered the
world.
Ten minutes of pushing and
there he was. He was 7 lbs. 2
ounces. He kind of whimpered
before finally crying in full.
But he was OK. And the
blessing in that is the greatest
thing I know.
His 4-year-old big sister,
Addie, hurried down the hall
later that day to meet her broth
er. I wonder what her memory
of that day will be. She recalls
so much. Will she remember
standing at the nursery win
dow, waving at me from the
other side as we watched his
first bath?
We scribble for these pages
each week, knowing the paper
itself typically finds a less-
than-glamorous fate: the old
fish wrap, the liner for animal
cages, the low-cost gift wrap.
I’ve done this long enough to
know that each issue floats
away from us and is gone. The
words that fill this space are
wiped clean each week.
But they do remain in one
way. Behind my desk in
Danielsville are the old bound
volumes of The Journal and
The Comer News, stretching
back to 1964. What did Mr.
Jere Ayers have to say about
the moon landing? Well, you
can look it up.
I imagine my children crack
ing open those old bound vol
umes years from now to look
up their own births. If this is
that distant reader, an adult I
can only imagine, I hope that
I have fulfilled my promise to
you. And, never forget, your
father loves you.
Zach Mitcham is editor of
The Madison County Journal.
Mitcham
Curry supplies the missing ingredient
Georgia State University
seems to have everything
going for it: the second-larg
est enrollment of any state
college, a campus that is revi
talizing downtown Atlanta
with all the new buildings
going up, and a sterling repu
tation as one of the University
System’s four research insti
tutions (a status it shares with
UGA, Georgia Tech and the
Medical College of Georgia).
Even with all the academic
acclaim, one thing Georgia
State never had was that sta
ple of Southern college life: a
football team.
Football is not everybody’s
cup of tea, of course, and the
sport is often criticized for
emphasizing big-money val
ues over the academic achieve
ments expected of undergrad
uates. Even so, the excitement
of “football Saturday” adds a
richness to the college experi
ence for many students and
provides a sentimental bond
that strengthens the support of
a school’s alumni.
That is the case at Georgia
State, where the decision was
made two years ago to begin a
football program in the hope
it would provide that miss
ing ingredient for students
and alumni. The Panthers will
soon join the ranks of long-
established programs at UGA
and Tech, as well as foot
ball teams at smaller schools
The Capitol
Report
tcrawford@
capitol
impact.net.
By Tom Crawford
like Georgia Southern and
Valdosta State.
The man at the center of this
big adventure is head coach
Bill Curry, who is building a
football program from ground
zero at a school long known
as a “commuter college” for
non-traditional students.
Curry has the credentials
that seem ideal for this impor
tant position: an All-American
center at Georgia Tech, a
10-year veteran of the NFL
who played for such coaches
as Vince Lombardi and Don
Shula, and a former coach at
Tech, Alabama and Kentucky.
He hadn’t coached since
1996 when he was offered the
job at Georgia State last year,
but Curry almost immediately
accepted the chance to get
back into the life he loved.
He will be one month away
from his 68th birthday when
Georgia State kicks off its first
official season in September
2010, but Curry says he’d
much rather do this than slide
into retirement.
“What matters is what’s in
your heart,” he said. “In my
heart of hearts there was some
thing that lingered, a longing
for a huddle - a group of
young men that I would have
the privilege of mentoring,
using the campus, the class
room and the huddle. Those
are my things that I love.”
A football program, Curry
agrees, is an important part
of Georgia State’s transition
from a concrete campus serv
ing part-time students to a
more traditional college envi
ronment.
Where applications from
prospective freshman students
increased by six percent at
Georgia Tech this year and
eight percent at the University
of Georgia, they were up 21 per
cent at Georgia State, he said.
“I don’t have the illusion foot
ball’s the only reason, but part
of the reason is that kids want
to go live on a campus that
has a football team,” Curry
said. “In the South, you want
to go to your team’s football
games on Saturday. So instead
of having zero students living
on campus, now we have over
3,000 and it’ll soon be 5,000
and it’s just going to keep
right on skyrocketing.”
Curry and his assistant
coaches are running that initial
group of players - a mixture
of scholarship athletes, trans
fers and walk-ons - through
their first months of practice
at such venues as a Boys &
Girls Club field near the GSU
campus. The schedule next
year will range from small
er schools like Shorter and
Savannah State to a season
ending blockbuster against the
Alabama Crimson Tide.
Curry has often been asked
why he would send a first-
year team out to get clobbered
by a national championship
contender like Alabama. The
game will bring badly needed
money (about $400,000) and
media exposure to the new
program, he contends.
When the game is over, Curry
said he will tell his players:
“Now men, we learned a lot
today. The next time we play
a great football team, we’re
going to do better. And the
time after that we’re going to
do better than that, and we’re
going to keep on playing great
football teams until we can
compete with them, and one
day we’ll begin to beat them.”
It’s a hard way to start a
college football program, but
Curry is eager to take on that
challenge.
Torn Crawford is the editor
of Capitol Impact’s Georgia
Report, an Internet news ser
vice at www.gareport.com
that covers government and
politics in Georgia. He can be
reached at tcrawford@ capito-
limpact.net.
Letters to the Editor
Thanks to all who helped with fimd-raiser
Dear Editor:
We would like to take this
opportunity to let everyone
that organized and participat
ed in the Lutz Family Benefit
fund-raiser how grateful we
are.
On Aug. 22, 2009 the
Madison County community
and its surrounding neigh
bors came together to sup
port our family during a very
difficult situation. The pork
BBQ ticket sales, motorcycle
ride, silent auctions, bake
sales, food, labor and private
donations have been amaz
ing ! To receive such generos
ity and amazing support from
friends, family, extended
family and every person that
has taken the time to extend
a hand has been very over
whelming and humbling.
Thank you to: Jimmie
Webb, Willie Wilbanks,
David Gieger, the entire
Gieger family, Jennifer Fogal,
Arthur Hurst, Joe Gieger,
Mike Newell of Cycleworld
of Athens, Missy Collier,
Traci Dean, Buzz and Debi
Bartlett, Steve Waller, Donnie
Clack of Lanier Speedway,
the Blue Knights, the NAM
Knights, Madison County
Sheriff’s Office, Madison
County EMS, Madison
County VFDs, Athens-Clarke
County Police Dept., A-CC
Sheriff’s Office, Oconee
County Sheriff’s Office, the
Tangents and the Bobbie
Compton Band. A special
thank you to all of the local
businesses, churches, artists
and individuals for their gen
erous donations also.
We understand that the
number of volunteers that
made this benefit possible
is too many to count but
want y’all to know how much
you are appreciated! The past
few months have been filled
with your thoughts, prayers,
love and support. What you
have given our family has
been truly incredible and will
never be forgotten. God bless
you all.
Sincerely,
Tom, Leah, Alex and
Stephanie Lutz