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PAGE 4A-THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. AUGUST 24. 2023
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.
Henry W a i d Beeche r
Time for memories
Hello, neighbors. How long does it take to make a
memory? I prefer simplicity in most cases. However,
after pondering the question for a spell, I decided that a
person could make a case for more than just the simplest
answer. Please allow me to do that with you this week.
An evening: last weekend I spent a night catching up
with a couple of friends I haven’t seen in many moons.
The evening included a banana tree, huge and other
worldly in middle of
all the oaks and hicko
ries, a true marvel with
its leaves bigger than
my body. Delight upon
espying a mint patch,
including lemon and
spearmint varieties — a
plant for the senses if
ever there was one. El
ephant ears with water
droplet diamonds, white,
perched, almost placed
on the leaves, ready
to roll at the slightest
touch. A country kitch
en with Coca-Cola tins,
colanders, pots, potato
mashers, hand mixers all hung on the wall like a bet-
ter-than-Cracker-Barrell Cracker Barrell display, Coun
try Gold Saturday Night softly drifting into the notes
of our warm conversation. And, a screen door good
enough to keep the bugs out but let in all the gentle
evening warmth and noises, and no better welcome to a
house full of heartfelt friendship.
Perhaps a month: August is about wild muscadines
on the vine. It’s the overall experience that creates the
memory for me here. From the vivid red-violet that tells
you this one’s just right to the thrill of gathering more,
more, more. The anticipation of waiting a couple-three
days to let more ripen (though not too long, as the bugs
and birds and who knows what-all will get them) is a
necessary evil. Central to the memory is the flavor —
somehow sweet and tart and tang, my mental dictionary
is insufficient to translate it. The memory always closes
with the last few before it all winds down, having sa
vored scores for days and days, now having to make
them count.
Weeks, sometimes, many weeks: here I think of origa
mi challenges. I fold paper prizes for students at school,
and I am able to keep some in my mind’s eye quickly
while others seem to need attention time and time and
time again. I certainly have the skills for the folds from
years of practice, though I will occasionally have suc
cess for a few days only to lose the memory to confused
cloudiness suddenly when it comes to certain models.
I have books as reminders, but somehow returning to
diagrams and step-by-step instructions never seems to
help keep the memory in some cases. If you want me to
make you a rabbit, tough luck, kiddo.
Years inmany of the best cases: late-afternoon sunlight
streaming through a kitchen window, hickory leaves
dowsed in summer hues reminiscent of spring’s golden
green stretch back to the earliest days of me living in my
little happy yellow house. Thankfully, I still have Sun
day breakfasts and coffee with the Moaks and Mema,
“Flintstones” episodes accompanying crosswords puz
zles and Mema’s words, “I love you a bushel and a peck
and a hug around the neck.” Season after season of soc
cer and tennis with friends, endless summers, falls, and
springs of fun, enjoying youth, wins, losses, comradery.
All these experiences in such a steady stream as to be
felt rather than remembered as incidences.
Lastly, seconds at best: a meteor’s flash, seen by a
fortunate man at 0545 as he pauses for a minute, hope
ful that he might catch a stray streak before the workday
takes away the early morning sky. Six-year-old legs car
rying pure excitement across the green-carpeted back
playground, hurrying their way towards fun. Under a
sky colored joyful blue and dotted just so with cotton
ball clouds, a teacher, surrounded by elated noisemak-
ers playing gagaball on a Wednesday afternoon, turning
to his student-teacher to say, “Aren’t you glad you’re
here to enjoy this?”
Time is a gift to all of us. It fills our lives in the most
unimaginable way, blanketing us from beginning to end.
In spite of its immensity, we often feel connected to it
in very personal ways — our memories. It takes time to
make a memory, sometimes lots of it, sometimes just a
jiffy. It also takes a willingness to keep oneself at-the-
ready — the most memorable are the ones we took the
time to notice and be thankful for.
My hope for you is that you take the time to enjoy a
such a moment in the coming days. Thank you for mak
ing my life better, Popes.
Mindfully yours, Travis.
Travis Moak is a Madison County educator and con
tributor to The Madison County Journal.
What is happening
By Dan Lampe
This is written in response to the BOE meeting last
Thursday and the responses by Dr. Hooper pertaining to
the BOE meeting from the newspaper.
This is how the BOE is currently working. Let me
preface this with, I think that all the BOE members are
good people that want to do what is best for the com
munity and I enjoy interacting with all of them. That
being said, I don’t feel that the BOE is functioning as
intended. A little background on the state mandates: we
are not allowed to meet outside of an announced board
meeting, we must announce the meeting a certain num
ber of days before the meeting, it is not a meeting unless
there is at least 3 members present, and scheduled meet
ings must be printed in the newspaper a certain number
of days before the meeting date. The letter of the law
states that if more than 2 members meet outside those
constraints, it is considered “illegal.” The spirit of the
law is to have open dialogue amongst BOE members at
our actual “legal” meetings, to have 100% transparency
in our conversation and decision making, and to have
it all in front of the public and newspaper. What we are
currently doing is not illegal, but in my opinion, it is a
workaround of the spirit of the law. Here is my percep
tion of what I see, and the following is an example of it.
At the last BOE meeting, Dr. Hooper asked “do I hear a
motion on the mill rate?” Immediately a board member
said 15.25, and just as quick another seconded it. Then
Dr. Hooper asked, “any discussion?” I voiced my con
cerns. When I finished, Dr. Hooper asked, “any more
discussion?” Nobody spoke up. They took the vote, 4-1.
Draw your own conclusions on how everyone except me
was already in agreement on the mill rate with roughly
250 possible mill rates between 15.49 and 14. So for
clarification, I am not writing this because I feel the mill
rate is too high (which I do), but because there are no
real discussions taking place, no exchange of ideas and
rationale behind why we vote the way we do.
So since we don’t actually discuss matters with ALL
BOE members, at an actual meeting, I will address the
thoughts of Dr. Hooper via what should have been dis
cussed at the meeting, but was instead put in the news
paper.
1. Dr. Hooper: “15.25 addresses current and future
budgetary needs such as future growth and unexpected
expenses, while 14 mills can’t.” Me: Dr. Hooper, don’t
we have more in our reserve account than what the state
deems a healthy reserve (25% is what the state says
is good, we will have close to 31-32% after this year,
roughly 20.6 million, which is more than we bring in
from property taxes in an entire year)? Dr. Hooper, if
you feel we need a certain amount of money, why did
we not address that in the budget hearing? Dr. Hooper,
the reason we have a reserve is so that we can meet un
expected needs. Our reserve is way above what the state
says is needed. What amount do you feel is needed in the
reserve account?
2. Dr. Hooper: “while 14 mills would meet this year’s
budget, it does come dangerously close to losing state
equalization . . .” Me: Dr. Hooper, we don’t lose equal
ization at 14 no matter how close or how “dangerous” it
is, also schools last year did not lose it even under 14.
3. Dr. Hooper: “first this rate (15.25) should low
er taxes for most...” Me: Dr. Hooper, can you explain
how raising the amount of money received from prop
erty taxes from 14.37 million last year to roughly 18.4
million this year lowers people’s taxes? Surely you ar
en’t referring to the statewide $500 dollar rebate for all
homestead exemptions because this has nothing to do
with our rate, and because our rate is higher, it actually
diminishes what we would have realized from the re
bate. The actual numbers from the tax office does not
back up your statement. There was an 8% increase ($99
million) in tax digest from new homes being built and
12 % increase (144 million dollars) from people pay
ing more taxes than last year on their reassessed homes,
which means, “MOST” people’s tax increase will be
12% HIGHER than last year’s taxes, minus the 0.25
mill rate decrease. 12% — 0.9% = 11.1% INCREASE
in “most people’s taxes” compared to the same property
last year.”
We need open dialogue at the meetings. We owe it to
the public to give them a transparent view into the school
system that they fund. “Democracy dies in darkness.”
Dan Lampe is the District 2 BOE member.
Non-native hornet species found in Georgia
By Travis Tankersley
The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA),
in coordination with the USDA and the University of
Georgia, announced the confirmation of the non-native
Yellow-Legged Hornet (Vespa velutina) in Savannah,
Georgia, on Aug. 9. This is the first confirmed sighting
of this hornet in Georgia. The Yellow-Legged Hornet
is originally from Southeast Asia and can be found in
France and Western Europe. The presence of this hornet
poses a risk to honeybees and other pollinators in the
state. Also, just like any other stinging insect, the Yel
low-Legged Hornet is a sting risk for people and pets,
especially anyone who suffers from allergic anaphylax
is.
The Yellow-Legged Hornet is a wasp species that
build nests above ground, often in trees, that can become
large enough to house about 6,000 workers. The adults
grow to be about 2cm long with a narrow waist, yellow
stripe on fourth abdominal segment, and yellow color on
the bottom half of its legs.
The GDA, USDA, and UGA scientists are developing
plans to track, trap, and eradicate the invasive intruder.
The GDA’s website has been updated to provide more
information about the hornet and ways to report poten
tial sightings. Be advised that there are domestic wasp
species that look very similar to the Yellow-Legged Hor
net that are beneficial to the ecosystem, so the USDA
has a photo gallery available on their website of the Yel
low-Legged Hornet lookalikes.
For more information you can contact your local
UGA Extension office at 706-795-2281 or by email at
ugell91@uga.edu.
Travis Tankersley is Madison County’s Extension
Agent for Ag and Natural Resources.
Things Mama Told
Me (The Conclusion)
Excerpts and summaries
from cited work, (1)
A little about fashion . .
. Our basketball uniforms
were something else. The
pants were baggy, blousy,
down to the knee bloomers.
The shirts had a black tie
and big sailor type collars
on them and we had to wear
knee socks
to cover up
our legs. It
was awful.
One of the
clothing
items that
was the
bane or our
existence
in the win
tertime was
the “union
suite.” This
was a full
body gar
ment with
a button-up
flap in the back for obvious
reasons. It went from neck
to ankle so all your other
clothes had to go over it.
Getting your cotton stock
ings on over this was a real
pain and almost impossible.
And then there was getting
on your high- top shoes and
buttoning them up with a
hair pin when you couldn’t
find the shoe buttoner be
fore school in the morning.
Can you imagine anybody
today buttoning up a high-
top shoe?
Today everybody has
heard of Medicare but all
we had was “Mamacare!”
Her answer to cure any
thing was Castor Oil. If you
have never had any of this
stuff, be grateful. We had to
mix it with orange juice just
to get it down and then you
had to hold your nose and
have a slice of fruit ready to
cram in your mouth to try
to get rid of that awful taste.
NOTHING will ever erase
the memory of how that
stuff tastes and after I was
a teenager I never took any
more and would never give
it to any of my children.
What castor oil wouldn’t
cure Vicks or Cloverine
salve would. There was
also the mustard plaster
and some kind of tea made
from boiled tree bark that
my aunt would make. It
also tasted awful. Dental
hygiene was not what it is
today. Our toothbrushes
were made from sweet gum
tree limbs and our tooth
paste was wet baking soda.
I don’t remember when I
got my first “store-bought”
toothbrush but it was a little
later in life when I was al
most grown.
We did have a drugstore
in town and it had a soda
fountain. That was where,
if you had a nickel, you
could meet your friends
and have a Coke. This
was a dispensed syrup that
would be mixed with selt
zer water to make what we
now know as Coca Cola. A
Coke, back then, whether it
was in a glass or in a bot
tle was known as a “dope.”
Grandma would send you
to the drugstore to get her
“a smoke and a dope.” The
smoke was a bag of Bull
Durham tobacco and some
rolling papers.
Refrigeration was pret
ty much unheard of. The
only thing we had was ice
in blocks that was stored
in sawdust at the local
store. We got our ice once
a week on
Saturday so
that we could
have iced tea
and make
ice cream on
Sunday. Ice
was a luxu
ry that was
treasured. To
preserve our
block as long
as possible
it would be
wrapped up
in newspapers
and “gunny”
sacks. This
was all before we had an
icebox to keep it in. These
oak iceboxes are treasured
refinished antiques today.
The bathroom was anoth
er thing, because there was
not one in the house. There
was the “reading room”
down at the comer of the
yard, with a well-worn path
going to it. All that was in
the house was the chamber
pot which was stored under
the bed. It was for nighttime
use and when the weather
was very cold. It had a lid
on it for obvious reasons
and was emptied regularly.
You see these today in the
antique stores. Oms did not
survive for some reason.
We learned a lot grow
ing up but mostly it was
our ABCs, multiplication
tables and the Ten Com
mandments. I remember
discussions about all the
laws on the books and my
mother and father believing
that these commandments,
from the Bible, were all that
was necessary to be a good
person.
These times growing up
in Colbert, Georgia were
what I refer to as the “good
ol’ days.” As you can see
that is not necessarily the
case. I have heard that, “If
you really think these times
were the good old days, you
never had to live in them.”
In any case, I believe that
I gained more than I lost
during these times. I will
always remember them
with much affection and
hope that my children will
remember their childhood
times the way I do. God
bless!
(1) Brookshire, J. K., Mr.
and Mrs., Fuller, Rev. Don,
Hart, Edd, Mr. and Mrs.,
Hardman, Joel C., Hard
man, Phil M., Hickman,
Lewis C., Roush, Barbar-
ianne Gaulding (Chair
man), MEMORIES OF
OUR HOME TOWN, Col
bert Georgia, 1776 - 1976,
Dedicated to the Citizens of
Colbert, Past, Present and
Future, (printer not identi
fied), copyright 1976.
Columnist Charlie Snel-
ling is an Athens resident
who grew up in Carlton.
By Charlie
Snelling
The Madison County Journal
Danielsville, Madison County Georgia 30633
Merged with The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News, January 2006
A publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc.
MIKE BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON Co-publisher
HANNAH BARRON Editor
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
THE MADISON COUNTY JOURNAL
PO Box 908
Jefferson, Ga. 30549
The Official Legal Organ of Madison County, Georgia-Periodicals postage paid at
Danielsville, Georgia 30633 (USPS 011-097; ISSN 1074987X)