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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 26. 2009 Frankly Speaking frankgillispie671@msn.com By Frank Gillispie Christ is the reason for the season While public pressure is swaying numerous decisions to remove "Christmas” from sea sonal celebrations, Athens-Clarke chooses to continue the boycott. Here is the official announcement from the city’s web site: “Downtown Parade of Lights on Dec. 3: The annual Athens-Clarke County Downtown Parade of Lights is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 3, starting at 7 p.m. This year’s theme is ‘A gift from the heart.’” Notice the absence of any reference to Christmas. Contrast this with the recent decision of The Patchogue, N.Y., Riverfront Committee to return Christmas to their parade. They had dropped Christmas from the name of their festival a year ago, but when attendance dropped dramatically, they quickly decided to return to the original title of "Christmas Holiday Boat Parade." Note also the move by a number of national retailers to return Christmas to their stores. They include Target, Sears and Lowe’s. If you are unhappy with Athens-Clarke about this decision, I have a recommendation for you. You will be welcome at the 2009 Comer Christmas Parade to be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 5. This year’s theme is: "Christmas in Comer, The Old Made New.” I think I can safely say that Christmas will be very visible in the Comer parade. Among the units in the parade will be a number of church and civic floats depicting both reli gions and secular Christmas themes. You will very probably hear carols about Bethlehem and the baby Jesus. There will be Christmas trees, of course, and reindeer, and Santa will likely be the last float in the parade. He has held that position in every Comer parade I have ever seen. Now I realize that the season represents many things to many different people. Many religions have celebrations at this time of year. The spirit of giving is not limited to Christians. And they all will be able to celebrate the season in accordance to their beliefs and traditions. But for the vast major ity of Americans, especially in the South, the predominant reason for the season is the birth of Jesus Christ and any event that fails to keep Christ in Christmas is a slap in the face of the millions of Christians who make up the majority of our population. So, enjoy the season. Visit those stores that keep Christmas in their displays. Attend events that put the birth of Christ at the center of their programs. And, perhaps, you might want to ignore any event that chooses to ignore Christmas and stage a strictly secular celebration. They deserve to be ignored. Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frank@frankgillispie.com. His website can be accessed at http://www.frankgillispie.com/ gillispieonline. 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. From fire to Facebook to fusion Man’s first big technological achievement was fire. And there’s the belief that fire also sparked the development of language and com munity. People gathered around the fire to eat and ward off preda tors. Stories were told as the food cooked. I wonder who cracked the first joke. What was it and when was it told? A lion, a llama and an elk walk into a cave ... You can imagine the development of group humor, of the discovery of playing the clown. Eventually, someone got the idea of putting stories on cave walls. Later, phonetic symbols were cre ated. And the written word was developed. Literacy emerged out of a long, dark tunnel. It was a kind of miracle. Many years later, in approximately 1440, Johannes Gutenberg developed the print ing press, an advancement that pushed along the Enlightenment and the ability to spread the writ ten word to the masses. Now, millions more could read the Bible; the old religious order was drastically altered. Now, men and women could spread then- art, their politics, their version of events to an increasingly literate and informed society, who could In the Meantime zach@ mainstreet news.com By Zach Mitcham interpret those writings and pass them along, forming a new type of tree of knowledge. It's interesting how technology fundamentally alters the world. We've seen so many incredible advancements in the past 150 years. Think of phones, cars, rail roads, planes, electricity, medi cine, radio, television, personal computers, the Internet. I some times think of that long rope of human history and how so much of it involved incremental and localized improvements. For instance, think of how big a deal improved spearmaking was to early people, how it helped them survive. But think about how long such improvements would take to work around to faraway peo ple. Any big innovation needed decades or centuries to take hold elsewhere. Now, new develop ments are immediately patented, manufactured and aggressively marketed across the globe. Usually the good far outweighs the bad when man puts his mind to a problem and succeeds. But for any positive achievement, there is also the potential devious use. Fire was a life-affirming force. It was also used to bum down your enemy's hut. Of course, there’s an impa tience with those who fret over rapid technological advancement. Many chuckle at those who fear technology. But even those who love every next gadget must con cede that we are in a period of human history where everything has changed so rapidly that no one can really be sure what to make of all this. There are countless luxu ries that no one before us has ever enjoyed. Try explaining Google or Facebook — or all that came before — to Abe Lincoln.We now have the ability both to save many lives, but also to end many lives with our advanced know how. And that has to give pause to any one who actually puts down his iPhone to think for a minute. I write all this, having just read a story in Newsweek about sci entists at the National Ignition Facility who hope to power the planet with just a tiny pellet the size of a multivitamin. They are trying to use lasers to ignite a sustainable fusion energy, the same kind of energy that pow ers the sun. Instead of splitting an atom, they're trying to force a "deuterium nucleus to merge, or fuse, with a tritium nucleus.” Beats me what that means. But a new energy source would alter the world. That much is clear. Critics say fusion energy is a pipe dream and a waste of taxpayer money. But those who favor the research point out that even if unsuccess ful, the effort will lead to other advancements, such as in laser technology. And technology does tend to work in a splintered way like that. I feel sure this century will include the kind of rapid and pro found change we saw over the past 100 years. There are things on the horizon we can’t imagine. Hopefully, we'll harness that new fire in a good way — and won't bum down our huts. Zach Mitcham is editor of The Madison County Journal. Can Richardson hang on as speaker? "So why did he really do it?" I’ve been asked that ques tion many times since the news broke that House Speaker Glenn Richardson had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. The most truthful answer I can give is: I don’t know. And really, who can ever understand just what pushes somebody to that ultimate step of trying to end it all? I am inclined to believe that part of the answer was given by Richardson in the statement he released when he disclosed his suicide attempt: "For the past two and a half years, ever since my separation and divorce, I have stmggled with the disease of depression," Richardson said. "While depres sion often seems to be resolved on occasion, when personal tri als or tribulations arise, it flares back up. That is what occurred with me. My depression became so severe that I took substantial steps to do harm to myself and to take my own life." There has been a lot of media coverage of Richardson’s behav ior since he became speaker near ly five years ago. He was accused in a 2007 ethics complaint of having an inappropriate relation ship with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist. The complaint was dis missed but a few months after ward, Richardson’s wife divorced The Capitol Report tcrawford@ capitol impact.net. By Tom Crawford him. From casual remarks I have heard him make over the years, I think Richardson cares very deeply about his three children. Divorce is always hardest on the kids, so it's reasonable to believe that the speaker is distressed about the impact on his family. All of those things can take a toll on a person's emotional well being. There could be other problems weighing down on Richardson as well. Along with Congressman Phil Gingrey, Richardson is on the board of directors of a trou bled Paulding County bank that has more problem loans and fore closed property than capital on hand to cover potential losses. Richardson’s close friend and political ally, Rep. Earl Ehrhart of Cobb County, was a board mem ber of Georgian Bank, which went belly-up in September from major losses associated with the collapse of the real estate mar ket. Will Richardson’s personal issues cause political problems for him in the Legislature? One state newspaper, The Brunswick News, has already said Richardson should step down as speaker because of the stress caused by his depression. "Given the trauma in Rep. Richardson's life, given his attempt at suicide just weeks ago and given the tremendous rev enue problems pressing down hard on the state and its taxpayers in all 159 counties today, it would be best for all concerned for Richardson to resign as Speaker of the House," the newspaper editorialized. Richardson is obviously deter mined to hang on to what is one of the most powerful positions in Georgia politics. "He intends to continue serv ing as speaker," said his spokes man, Marshall Guest, when asked about Richardson’s plans. Three days after disclosing the suicide attempt, Richardson even trav eled to South Georgia to appear at a fund-raiser for Rep. Ed Rynders (R-Albany). While some conversations are being held behind the scenes, there haven’t been any public demands from other Republican House members to replace Richardson, at least for the moment. There was a challenge to his leadership last year when Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) ran against Richardson for speaker, but Ralston could only muster support from about 25 House members. Recent history suggests that the state's voters tend to be very for giving of politicians who have personal problems similar to those of Richardson. In 2004, state Sen. Renee Unterman of Gwinnett County was in the middle of a hostile divorce proceeding when she passed out from a drug overdose and spent some time recovering in a clinic near Boston. Several media outlets reported unflatter ing details from the various court documents filed in that divorce case. Even with all of the negative publicity, none of Unterman’s legislative colleagues demanded that she withdraw from her Senate race. She was reelected to new terms in 2004, 2006 and 2008 with little or no opposition. She is still in the state Senate today. Just as Unterman continues to serve, Richardson can probably hang on to the reins of power as House speaker for a while. At this point in time, it doesn’t look like those situations will change. Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report, an Internet news service at www. gareport.com that covers govern ment and politics in Georgia. He can be reached at tcrawford@ capitolimpact.net. Letters to the Editor What a joy in mentoring Dear Editor: I was Justin Scott’s mentor last year. Since my husband is not doing well, I had not thought of sharing again with Justin. The second week of school I received a phone call from Shirley Aaron, director of the Madison County Mentor Program. She stated Justin Scott asked that I share with him this year. I’ve been able to see Justin twice a week. He’s made such a difference Dear Editor: Well, giving blood is a fun experience. First, you will sit there and fill out a little paperwork. After that, they call you back. You have to answer a couple of questions. Then, they take a small amount of blood to check for iron in your blood. If you don’t have enough, they send you away. If you have enough, they send you back. When you get back in the room and wait for in my life. We all know if we don’t use our mind we lose our thinking skills. He’s teaching me so much about world history, the subject he failed last year. What a thrill it will be when Justin Scott graduates in two years. Sincerely, Jean Desso Mentor Madison County High School a chair to open. Once it opens, you sit down. Then they look for your veins. Once they find them, they take a needle and stick it in your vein. You will sit there and wait as your bag fills up. Once it does, you will go sit at a table and get a snack. You will sit there for about 30 minutes. Then you go back to class. Sincerely, Justin Scott MCHS student WANT TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE JOURNAL? Email us at: zach@mainstreetnews.com Or you can mail a letter to us at P.O. Box 658, Danielsville, Ga. 30633, fax us at 706-795-2765 or drop off a letter at our office across from the county government complex on Hwy. 29. You may place the letter in the drop box below the front porch window if the office is closed. The Madison County Jour nal is your source for local news. Subscribe by call ing 706-795-2567. Visit us online at MadisonJournal- TODAY.com Giving blood is a fun experience