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PAGE 12A-THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL THURSDAY. DECEMBER 12,2019
This year,
give the
gift of
locally
authored
books.
What's Cooking in Barrow
What's Cooking in Barrow is a collection of
recipes from Barrow County residents that
appeared in
are old family recipes as well as new clas
sics.
A Conspiracy
of Silence
The murder of Solicitor General Floyd Hoard
Mike Buffington
A Conspiracy of Silence
On August 7, 1967, Floyd "Fuzzy" Hoard, the
Solicitor General in rural Jackson County Ga.,
got into his car, turned the ignition switch and
was assassinated with 10 sticks of dynamite
that had been planted under the car's hood the
night before. For over two years, Hoard had
been prosecuting local bootleg and car theft
gangs and had gained a reputation as a crusad
ing lawman. But there is more to the story than
just Hoard's murder. The widespread lawless
ness in the community had compromised its
voice, leading to inaction by its citizens. The
result was widespread public corruption and
incompetence. As a local attorney, Hoard
found himself in the middle of the Jackson
County political system long before he was
murdered. From that vantage point, he had
warned numerous times about how the com
munity was turning a blind eye to the corrup
tion. He wrote newspaper articles and editori
als calling on citizens to take the lawlessness
seriously and to take action. But Hoard's warn
ings were ignored. The result was his own
murder. In the end, five men were convicted of
the assassination, but the community's conspir
acy of silence after decades of corruption was
also to blame. This is that story.
Holly Spring* Bam
August 4. 1999
Jackson County Barns
Jackson County
Turn-of-the-Century
BARNS
1999 - 2000
Bams are quickly vanishing from the Jackson County
countryside. Tb help preserve the history of these icons
of our rural past. The Jackson Herald is presenting this
booklet of some barns that existed in the late 20th
century 1 . Most of the pictures and information appeared
in The Herald in 1999 and 2000.
Okinawa Etched Deep in My Mind
Herman Buffington of Rome, Georgia was 18
when he went into the U.S. Army late in World
War II. He found himself in the invasion of
Okinawa, next door to Japan itself, on Easter
Sunday ttWfiaguffi'njJjfijjflpat the insistence of his
family, has compiled recollections of his days in
the war and this book includes not only those
memories but also several related documents.
‘Please, No More
Stupid Articles!’
Barns were once an important part of the
countryside all across Jackson County. They
were not only on farms, but also could be
found in the towns. From Maysville to
Redstone and from Hoschton to Commerce,
bams dotted the lartobetapiied
Some were large with big attics to hold the
hay which had been gleaned from the fields
and to serve the many animals found on the
larger farms. Some bams were small, barely
big enough to serve the one-cow and one-
horse farm. Some were of logs, some of
boards and a few were of stone. Some had
lean-tos where wagons or other farm imple
ments could be housed.
But as farming declined in Jackson County,
beginning in the middle of the 20th century,
the bams began to disappear. Some were torn
down, some just fell down.
By 1999, relatively few remained. At that
time, The Jackson Herald solicited pictures of
these barns, publishing those submitted in
issues of the newspaper off and on in 1999
and 2000. Information about each barn was
usually included.
We have compiled these pictures and stories,
and a few additional ones, into this booklet
Selected columns by Mike Buffington
Please, No More Stupid Articles!
which we hope readers will enjoy perusing
and getting a sense of what Jackson County
was like in its farming heyday.
It is presented with deep appreciation to all
those who provided pictures and information
about their particular barn. It could not have
been done without your help.
For nearly 40 years, weekly newspaper editor
Mike Buffington has been chronicling life and
raising hell in a small Georgia community with
columns and editorials in The Jackson Herald,
his family's flagship newspaper. Along the
way, he has become one of the nation's top
award-winning weekly editors having been
honored with dozens of state, regional and
national awards for opinion writing and inves
tigative reporting. Among colleagues,
Buffington is known for having a tenacious
editorial voice. Because of that, he was hon
ored in 2015 by the International Society of
Weekly Newspaper Editors with its Eugene
Cervi Award for a lifetime of aggressive writ
ings. While many of his columns have focused
on community issues, he also writes about
national and international events, often from a
first-hand perspective. From the fall of the
Soviet Union in 1991 to the Occupy Wall Street
movement of 2011, he was in the right place at
the right time to report about some major
events over the last four decades. Buffington's
columns also cover a variety of non-political
issues as well. He has written about the deaths
of friends and family, the triumph of athletes,
murders, The South, war and his personal
reflections as a parent. This book brings
together 151 of his best columns in a compila
tion covering these and other topics.
Books make great
stocking-stuffers!
Quantities are limited.
All books available at
• Jackson Herald
33 Lee St.
Jefferson, Georgia 30549
Madison County Journal
438 Court House Square, Ste. 18A
Danielsville, Georgia 30633
Banks County News
935 Historic Homer Hwy.
Homer, Georgia 30547
Barrow News-Journal
122 West Athens St., Ste. A
Winder, Georgia 30680