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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. DECEMBER 24. 2009 Frankly Speaking frankgillispie671@msn.com By Frank Gillispie Reflections on a Christmas past I knew when I left camp that I would experience a memorable Christmas. But it turned out to be much more than I had imagined. The year was 1962. I was serving in the U.S. Army stationed near the tiny town of Dahn, in the Westphalia area of Germany. I had learned of a tour bus coming out of Frankfurt going to Italy with a vacant seat. I asked for leave, booked the seat and prepared to see the sights in Italy. Now you have to picture an inexperienced 21-year-old Georgia redneck riding across Southern Europe with a bus load of total strang ers, (they were Canadians.) The rest of the people on the bus knew each other. I knew none of them. We passed through Austria, toured Venice, saw the leaning tower at night and made our way to Rome in time for Christmas. We toured the cata combs and the Vatican on Christmas Eve. I was with the group, but not part of the group during this part of the trip. We returned to the square in front of St. Peter’s to hear the Pope’s midnight blessing. And that is where I had my epiphany. I stood there, all alone, in the center of a tightly packed crowd of several hundred thousand people, watching a dying pope give his final Christmas blessing. Pope John XXIII died a few months later. This sharp awareness of being alone in a crowd in the center of a major Christian site immedi ately changed the tour from a site-seeing trip to a pilgrimage of self discovery. A pilgrimage that continues today. I became acutely aware of my surroundings and the way I reacted to them. Christmas Day we were left to explore Rome on our own. I spent the day walking alone around the strange, enchanting city. I found the Coliseum, the forum, the Spanish Steps and the famous fountains. On a small street, I found an American style hamburger joint were I ate lunch. I found the Olympic stadium where the Rome games were held, and many other well- known locations. During this fateful day, I never lost my direc tion. In my wandering, I crossed many busy streets, mostly filled with people I couldn’t under stand. When I became tired in the afternoon, I simply turned and walked back to the hotel. This intense awareness of myself continued as we completed the tour, seeing Pompeii, the Isle of Capri and parts of the Italian Rivera on the trip back north. When the bus dropped me off in Heidelberg to catch a local train back to camp, I knew I had changed. I didn’t know the extent or nature of the changes for some time to come. The adventure was not over. Later that year, the Berlin Wall was built. We were on a war footing for over a month, with all the physical and mental pressures that brought along. But I never had a sense of fear or uncertainty. When I returned to the U.S., I had developed a love of philosophy, and a deep interest in the world’s religions. A survey of my private library will show just how much time, energy and money I have devoted to my studies. And it all started on that dramatic Christmas Eve in Rome. Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. Flis e-mail address is frank@ frankgillispie.com. Flis website can be accessed at http://www.frankginispie.com/ginispieonline. 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. As if this world needs another Tiger Woods column I grew up obsessed with golf. I had the yips at times, an occasional shank, a tendency to snap hook a drive when the pressure was on, but I wasn't too bad. I knew there were plenty of people who didn’t care for the game, who posed questions like: What’s the point of chasing a ball around with a stick? Why min a good walk? Isn’t it just a game for rich guys with too much time on their hands? Maybe all those things are true. But I was addicted to the game. It’s beautiful when you feel that perfect click off your clubhead, the ball rapidly rising into the sky on a direct line for the pin. There is the momentary illusion that things are going to be good from now on. You've figured it out. Just remember that same swing thought — slow and smooth — and apply it to the next shot. The walk down the fairway after ripping one down the middle is a moment to savor, the silent “you da' man." Your human frailty and imperfections can be forgot ten. Then you stand over the nine iron, giddy with yourself, imagining a birdie circle on your scorecard. You swing, feel the ache of metal on ball, then look up, unable to find its path. Anybody see that? The pine tree answers you with a clunk; the ball drops out of bounds. The game is king. You are not. None of us are. I remember the first time I heard of Tiger Woods. There was a brief article in Sports Illustrated about a skinny, 13-year-old black golf prodigy, who hit blistering drives farther than many tour pros. I still remembered Sports Illustrated’s Sidd Finch hoax from In the Meantime zach@ mainstreet news.com By Zach 1985, an April 1 article about a young pitching prospect who wore only one shoe, a heavy Inker's boot, and threw the ball 168 mph. I was so excited about the possibility of a superhuman pitcher and was really disappointed to learn writer George Plimpton was just pulling our legs on April Fool’s Day. But when I read about the amazing kid golfer, I wasn't excited. No, I was jealous. It’s the same way I felt when I went to junior golf tournaments and saw some guy on the driving range who was clearly a stud. There were always kids with prettier swings, better games. Between the ages of 14 to 16,1 traveled to Dothan, Ala., for the Future Masters. My final year, I sank a 25-foot sidehill putt on the 18 th hole for a 75. About 12-to-15 people applauded from the greenside grandstands and I raised my hand up to them as if I was somebody. I was elated, thinking that putt had earned me two more rounds. Too bad I had yipped a par putt from two feet on 17, missing the cut by one shot. Anyway, I realized my golf limita tions around the age of 17 and started plucking on a guitar instead of pick ing up a club. My interest in the game waned. But later, as Woods came on tour, my old jealousy gave way to amazement. With Woods, the game is not the impossible humbler of men. Maybe it can be conquered. For a dozen years. I’ve paid attention to all four yearly majors, looking for Woods and the large negative red number that usu ally accompanies his name atop the leaderboard. I haven't been as much a golf fan as a Tiger Woods fan. I've never been very interested in what kind of guy he is. I simply like watching someone reach a 640-yard par 5 in two, or smack a six-iron 210 yards out of a fairway bunker to a tucked pin, or chip in off the 16 th green of Augusta with the Masters on the line, the ball pausing at the cup, then dropping. Anytime I've played the rare round of golf as an adult. I've thought of Woods, wondering what he would do on a recreational course of 340-yard par 4’s. How many greens would he drive? When I'm hitting a three iron, would he hit a seven or eight iron? Would he break 60? But our thoughts about Woods are dif ferent now. The sex scandal is jaw drop ping. And it seems there is something weirder every day, the photographed makeout session with a waitress in a church parking lot, the seedy Vegas par ties, the possibility of tax troubles for paying for prostitutes with money from his corporation. This is sadly fascinat ing. It is a tragic American fall-from- grace story and I admit I can’t look away. I check Google News about once a day to see the latest headlines. It’s really surreal. Despite all the terrible personal tales, despite the fact that he was sleeping around while his wife was bearing his children, his game on the links will remain a source of fascination and admiration for all golfers. Or wifi it? Amid all this, the doctor who helped Woods recover from his knee surgery has been arrested for having banned human growth hormones. Woods was a skinny kid, whose friends jokingly called him "Erkel” for the nerdy sitcom character, when he first arrived on the golf scene. But he has bulked up in recent years, looking more like an NFL free safety than a golfer. I hate to be suspicious. But it's hard to ignore that twinge of skepticism now, given all the ugliness and deception in his personal life. I fear he may become the new Barry Bonds, and Jack Nicklaus — the all- time majors win leader — the new Hank Aaron, with no one wanting to see the honest record shattered by the tainted one. Obviously, he betrayed his wife, but did he betray the game, too? We may never know. As a humbled golfer, I have enjoyed watching Woods master the game over the years. It's like seeing Mozart in our time. But it’s hard to know what Jim Nantz will wax poetic about as Woods strides up 18 at Augusta — that ultimate golf great exposed as something else. Zach Mitcham is editor of The Madison County! Journal. Mitcham Remember those in need not only at Christmas, but afterward This has been a good Christmas season for me, and I’d like to tell you why -1 have been blessed to witness some of the goodness and kindness of our community and it has helped to renew my faith in human nature. Times are hard for most of us, but as the saying goes, there’s always someone worse off and it has been a wonderful thing to go to places like the food bank and animal shelter and see that many folks really do care. The food bank is striving to reach more and more people now that the cold and the damp has set in - and the needs will likely continue to escalate as we head into 2010. But so far, the donations have continued to come in and those with a need can still find a helping hand there. And it’s great that though the need is up, so are the donations. What a tribute to human nature, that we can find it in our hearts to give, even when it may not come as easily as it has in the past. And at the Madison-Oglethorpe Animal Shelter, a place that I hold By Margie Richards closely in my heart, donations have picked up also. People who can afford to do nothing but donate a roll of paper towels or some Clorox are doing that, and those that can do more, are doing more. It doesn’t matter that you can’t do much, as long as you do something. An anonymous donor has stepped up to offer a $10,000 donation to the shelter, if the community and/or local governments will also step up to match their generous offer. In response to this challenge, the Democratic Party of Madison County presented a $500 check to the animal shelter last week, saying in part that they want to encourage other civic and government groups to donate as well. Please find it in your hearts to give a donation to this valuable and neces sary asset to our county. Many of you may not know, or remember, but the shelter is not a “county-run” facility. It is operated by a non-profit humane society that is largely dependent on donations to keep the doors open. Less than a third of the annual operat ing expenses come from Madison and Oglethorpe counties. We, as a society, cannot afford to forget “the least" of us - particularly in hard times. And the effort doesn't stop at places like the food bank and animal shelter. There are many elderly and homebound in the county who may need someone to check on them or provide assistance. Sometimes just a kind word goes a long way if someone is feeling lonely and alone, particularly during these long winter days. And the needs certainly won’t stop when January rolls around - in fact they will likely increase. Many folks will still be in need of food, shelter and other types of assistance and if the economy doesn't improve, things may get even worse. And as for the animal shelter, sadly puppy and kitten season is just around the comer and as long as pet owners don’t spay and neuter their pets the shelter will once again be flooded with litters of baby animals, all need ing care while they wait for someone to adopt them. Then there are those who adopt pets for Christmas who may return them in the New Year when that cat or dog proves to be more than they anticipated. May we all continue to be mindful and to remember those, both human and animal, who are in need of a help ing hand as 2010 begins. God bless you all and Merry Christmas. Margie Richards is a reporter and office manager for The Madison Coun ty Journal GOP hopes the scandals go away This has not been a happy holiday season for Republicans who hold the reins of power at Georgia’s cap- itol. One after another, embarrass ing scandals have thrown a harsh light on the ethical shortcomings of the state’s political leaders. The divorced wife of House Speaker Glenn Richardson went on TV and confirmed that, yes, those rumors you had heard for the past three years were true. The speaker had a “full-out affair’’ with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist while he was sponsoring legislation that would benefit the gas company. It didn’t take long for pressure from within the House Republican ranks to force Richardson to step down as speaker. The second in command, Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter, at first indicated he would step up and serve as a long term replacement for Richardson. Three days after saying that, Burkhalter abruptly told his col leagues he had “changed his mind’’ and wasn’t going to run for speaker after all. Shortly after Burkhalter’s exit, a Carrollton newspaper and an Atlanta TV station revealed that Rep. Mark Butler (R-Carrollton) had an affair that lasted more than two years with a woman who worked as a lobbyist for the University of West Georgia. When Butler learned that his girl friend’s job had been eliminated, The Capitol Report tcrawford@ capitol impact.net. By Tom Crawford he got on the phone with a univer sity official and warned him that he “had ticked off a whole political party’’ by dismissing the lobby ist. (In fairness to Butler, he was unmarried during his relationship with the university lobbyist.) An Atlanta TV station then aired a sizzling report about Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, the Republican frontrunner for governor, attending the 2007 and 2008 Oscar award ceremonies in Hollywood while an Atlanta doctor paid the expenses. Oxendine’s expenses on those junkets included a room at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, limousine service, and meals at restaurants like Spago’s. The Atlanta doctor who picked up the tab for the trips, by the way, had also asked Oxendine’s insurance department to help him in a dispute with a health insurance company. After all of that bad publicity, which Democrats will mention at every opportunity during the 2010 election campaigns, you had to figure that at some point the Republicans would catch a break. That may have happened last week when House Republicans held a caucus to nominate the replacement for Richardson as speaker. The two leading contenders for the position both had some personal baggage in their back grounds. Rep. Larry O’Neal (R-Bonaire), while he was the real estate attor ney for Gov. Sonny Perdue, was deeply involved in the passage of legislation in 2005 that gave Perdue a $100,000 tax break on some ear lier property dealings. When that bill was up for its final vote in the House, O’Neal didn’t bother to tell legislators that the measure had been amended in committee to give Perdue that tax break. Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) had some major tax prob lems of his own a few years ago caused by an embezzling employee in his law firm. Ralston ordered a forensic audit of his books and then paid the government the delinquent taxes he owed. Faced with a choice between O’Neal and Ralston, House Republicans picked Ralston to be the new speaker. “It’s a change message," Ralston said after the vote. “It’s not busi ness as usual anymore, and I think people will appreciate that." Ralston said he will make some changes in House rules and com mittee assignments that may slow down, even if they don’t stop entirely, the parade of scandalous events. He even went so far as to say: “We going to have to put the lob byists and the special interests in the background." If Ralston is serious, that could mean an end to many of the free bies that legislators have been receiving from lobbyists, such as expensive trips to exotic locales or nights on the town during General Assembly sessions. For those of us who’ve been observing the behav ior of this crowd over the past five years, that would truly be a drastic change. Shortly after Ralston was nomi nated to be the next speaker of the House, the old speaker, Richardson, was seen running away from the capitol building with a TV reporter and camera crew in hot pursuit. That was a very appropriate sym bol of the changes that took place last week. Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report, an Internet news sendee at www. gareport.com that covers govern ment and politics in Georgia. He can be reached at tcrawford@ capitoIimpact.net.