THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS
A Grimes Publication
Millard B, erimim, President
USPS 620-O4O
MInE HALE
PUBI,ISI IFPJAI)vEItTISIN(; DIRECI'OR
JOHN KUYi;NI)AtJ,
• L;S( g: INI'I-: PUBI ,ISl IEII )FI' )R
ASS X'IATE EI)IT()I
JAYNE GOLDSTON
BUSINESS MANAt ;ER
Phone (7(}6) 846-3188 • Fax (7(}6) 846-221}6
E O, Box 426
t togansville, Georgia .)230
'Take Me Home,
Country Road'
Well now we were just sit-
ting around and I thought of
something: "Wife, I sez, "Do
you remember our young edi-
tor of The Hogansville Herald,
Bill Lowe (pronounced how),
wanted an article on dirt
roads?"
"Yes," replies the wife, "but
do you know diddly about dirt
roads?"
"Wife," is my witty reply,
"I don't know diddly about half
I do, but I do have my memo-
ries."
I do remember the beauti-
ful old dirt roads we use to
have. Roads would turn and
twist, trees would be on the
edge. Wild flowers on the
banks, and when it rains; mud
everywhere.
In those days they used
men, mules' and scoops and
would work for years, it
seemed, on just a short stretch
of road. You even got to know
the mules by name. Now-a-
days the great machines move
more dirt and rocks in five
minutes than you can shake a
stick at.
We have mentioned before
the long mud hole between here
and Montgomery. The mud
man had to travel through! He
must have done real well for
right beyond the mud hole was
a beautiful colonial home with
statues of two mules pulling an
Edsel through the mud.
Underneath the statue was a
sign stating "Mule Power is
Beautiful".
I loved the old roads. You
got to know the people. There
was one country store we
stopped at often. In the tree
shade we would eat our fried
chicken and deviled eggs, then
we would top it off with moon
pies and Nehi Orange.
The roads had character,
and you knew them. now-a-
days they all go straight and
look alike. You think you are
going north on the "big road"
and don't realize you have
messed up until you see the
sign "Welcome to Florida".
The only place you can stop
is in the emergency lane, and
by that time it may be too.late.
But dirt roads did have
some disadvantages. For one
thing, they were narrow. Say
one car met another. Especially
if ruts had formed, someone
had to give way and go down
among the pines. There was
sort of a caste system. The
poor gave way to the rich, the
young gave way to the old, but
the women gave way to no one.
(This was only after they let
women start driving.)
You would meet a woman
driving a car and both would
stop. She would not look at you,
but stare in the distance, fix
her face, fluff her hair and
sometimes do her nails while
she waited for you to get out
of the ruts and go amongst the
pines and mud so she could get
by. There is a hang over from
this to this very day. Watch
women at a stop light. They
will fluff, or push up, their hair
• while they wait. They claim
they don't have a handy place
to scratch like men do.
In 1925 Hogansville was
dirt roads. Even our main
street was a sea of mud in wet
weather. The paving company
that build us the nice street we
now have went broke in the
process, but it's been a long
time since anyone has had to
back up main street.
So many roads to go a-rid-
ing with the firls if you had a
girl, wheels and 50 cents for
gas. How many remember
going over thrill hill? Your
stomach in your heart! If we
had landed sideways we would
have rolled from there to eter-
nity - but we didn't.
When was the last time you
parked on observatory hill?
The lights of Hogansville wink-
ing in the darkness in the dis-
tance. What plans were laid,
what dreams were made on
observatory hill? What was
done there in the darkness on
what is now Rails Road? Those
who were there then are like-
ly old and gray now, and they
are not about to tell - would
you?
The road we now live on,
Mountville Road, was dirt. I
used to come courting out this
road to see the girl who is now
my wife. This was some 40
years ago, but it was "the" coun-
try road. The wife remembers
as a small girl walking behind
the road scraper and feeling
the soft moist clay going
between her toes. Try that on
185 sometimes.
Many things change, but
there are still country roads
lined with trees, their leaves
falling like a gentle rain in the
fail. There are still those who
remember the colors of a coun-
try road, the smell, the beauty.
There are still those whose
hearts feel uplifted when they
hear the song, "Take Me Home
Country Road."
Tin: Hi K,,svtt,t,l-; I'IOME NE sis published weekly by the Star- Mercury Publishing
Company. a division of Grimes Publications. at 3051 Rooseveh Highway, Mmlchetcr,
Georgia 31816. USPS 620-040, Subription rates by mail: $15 in Meriwether. Talbo
or Harris Counties: $20 a year elsewhere. Prices include all sales taxes. Second class
postage prod at Hogaasvillc, Georgia 30230,
FoR st'as(llffrtoNs call (7()6) 846-3188 or write to Circulation Manager. Star
Mercury Publications. E O. Box 426. Manchester. Georgia 31816.
TMANTER: Send address chmges to E O. Box 426. Hogansville. GA 30230.
SIFF
Publisher and Advertising Director .................................................................... Mike Hale
Associate Publishox and Editor ................................................................. John Kuykendall
As.iale Editor .................................................................................................. Byan (;ccr
Business Manager ........................................................................................ Jayne G()[dton
Staff" Writers ........................... Caroline Yeager/J. Dan SIouVLee N. HoelllBilly Bryant
• Assistant Advertising Manager ........................................................................ Laurie Li:is
Advertising Sales .............................................................................................. Linda Lesler
llologr'aphy .............................................................................................. Michael C. Snider
Composing ............................................................................. Valinda Ivery. Deborah Smith
Legals ................................................................................................................. Valmda h.ery
Receptionist and Classilieds .............................................................................. Cleta Young
Production Manager. ........................................................................................ Roland Foiles
Pressroom ................................................................. David Boggs u Wayne Grochowski
Comm vr): ()VVW:R
President .................................................................................................... Millard B. Grime
Vice President ........................................................................................ Charlotte S. Grime
S¢cr¢lary .............................................................................................. [.aura Grimes C(,ler
Tretsurer .............................................................................................. Kathy Grimes Garrctt
Legal Counsel and Assistant S¢cretal T ..................................................... James S. Gnmes
OPINION
PAGE 4 - HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS - JANUARY 13, 2000
Georgia Lottery Has Its Pros and Cons
When I go into a convenience
store to purchase a coke, a loaf
of bread, a gallon of milk or even
to pay for gasoline, I usually
have to wait in a line for other
customers to "play their num-
bers."
It seems nearly everyone is
playing the lottery -- young and
old, black and white, male and
female, rich and poor, especial-
ly during the noon hour, when
most people are on their lunch
break or around 6:30 p.m. when
folks are on their way home
from a hard days work.
It really aggravates me to
have to wait in line. Of course I
could go across the street to
another store, but the grass is
no greener over there.
I'm not debating whether the
lottery is right or wrong. There
are many thing s worse than
playing the numbers. Each per-
son has to decide for himself.
Those in favor of the lottery
say 'It is my business what I do
with my money.' Since this is
America -- the land of the free,
I agree. Except we have a
responsibility to God, to our
families and to ourselves.
What really bugs me about
the "numbers" is when I see a
mother or daddy go into a store,
spend all their money on lottery
tickets and buy nothing for their
bare footed and ragged-clothed
children, or buy lottery tickets
and then take food stamps to
purchase the necessities of life.
Those against the lottery, say
it is gambling. I have to agree.
God wants us to depend o n Him
more and more.
I don't see much difference
between the lottery and seniors
Editor
class at church making a quilt
and selling chances on it for a
dollar, or the brotherhood hav-
ing a turkey shoot and men pay-
ing two or three dollars to buy
a chance to hit the closest to the
x on a target to win a turkey.
Another negative to the lot-
tery is the litter on the premis-
es of the stores. What an eye-
sore that can be!
Since the lottery is here to
stay, I say we use the monies the
best possible way.
There is no doubt the lottery
has helped the school
children in Georgia.
I think every
every school in
enough computers.
the law-makers to
using the funds to
schools and
throughout the state.
This would no
cut property taxes for
ers throughout the
with taxes
for everybody.
The monies cou
uted according to
each county spent on
I personally voted
the lottery and would
if it came up for a
But since it is here
the dollars are used
best for everybody.
Was Pine Mountain Experiment a
The year after Roosevelt
attended the pageant at Pine
Mountain Valley, Harry
Hopkins transferred the three
rural communities over to the
Farm Security Agency.
Colonists were allowed to buy
homes with federal loans. The
next year Gay Shepperson left.
Defense production and the
growth of economic opportu-
nities around Fort Benning at
Columbus created jobs that
lured colonists out of the com-
munity.
In 1943 congress looked
into the FSA and concluded
that it and the communities
were no longer needed. It
ordered liquidation. At Pine
Mountain Valley, you could buy
a nice five-room house with a
barn and 30 or 40 acres for $400
down and get a 20- or.3Oear
loan on the remainingS2,,000
at 3 percent interest: The
result, 30 years later, is a pleas-
ant, rural, suburban-type com-
munity of homeowners, few of
them early colonists•
The final balance sheet on
Pine Mountain Valley showed
that in 10 years it cost the fed-
eral government $1,400,000 or
$7,000 per colonist-family.
Straight relief would have
been slightly less. Does that
mean it was a failure? That
depends on what was expect-
ed. Roosevelt expected the
effort to save money and to
bring about a permanent self-
sufficient community, neither
of which came about.
But many lives were
improved; hope was kept alive;
and it was certainly the sort of
gamble worth taking. It could
have worked. Roosevelt for all
his enthusiasm never doubted
that this sort of thing was a
gamble.
"If a community of [this]
kind can be made somewhere
around 80% self-sufficient," he
told reporters in Warm Springs
in November 1934, "it proba-
bly can be made a go of. But
the point is that, obviously, pri-
vate capital won't go into that...
Private capital "won't do it
because there is too much
risk."
The government alone was
/i /i/ii!!/ ii :i! ii ii ' /"
big enough to take such risks.
TAP BENNETT stayed to
the end, resigning in
December 1944. He wanted to
stay in Pine Mountain Valley,
even then; he bid on the large,
handsome manager's home he
lived in during his steward-
ship. His was the high bid, but
it was turned down as too low.
Henry Kimbrough, a local
politician and long,time friend
of Roosevelt, as well as a mem-
ber of the Pine Mountain Valley
Community board at one time,
urged the President and
Hopkins to intervene. On
January 5, 1945, .Roosevelt.
wrote Hopkins, "Do you think
there is anything we can do?"
Nothing was done.
It requires no leap
ination to assume t]
Roosevelt not been,
trying to manage
war in history, he wot
seen to it that his o1(
and servant Bennett
he wanted and
INFORMATION
articles on Pine
Valley were drawn
following sources:
Paul Conkin's
Happened in Pine
Valley," appeared
Georgia Historical
March 1963. It is an ei
study of the subject
Tugwell intervi(
Bennett at length in tl
and the author
For the 7,enera t
sary to understandin
other chapters which
economic realities
in the 1920s and
Emergence of the Ne
by George Tindall i:
good.
When Lewis Learned to Drive
When I was growing up,
"peeling rubber" was referred
to as "getting a wheel." For a
boy-man driver of an automo-
bile, it was sign of weakness if
he didn't "get a wheel" at every
opportunity to do so.
Leaving school was a very
important time to get a wheel.
Only pissants, science-club
members, and other social mis-
fits didn't get a wheel when
they left school. Most of them
also usually were picked up by
their mothers and driven home
for their piano lessons.
Not so, the cool, mature
guys. When school was out at
Newnan High (class of '64
here), it sounded like the Indy
500 time trials in the student
parking lot. I'm convinced the
cool, mature types single-
handedly kept the Goodyear
Tire Company in business
between the years of 1960 and
1964, when I was in high school.
Getting a wheel involved
putting your car in low gear,
holding down the clutch, and
revving g on the engine for a
good two or three minutes to
build up the momentum. Then
you released the clutch and
were doing 65 in a heartbeat.
But that was only on your
speedometer. Your tires were
doing 65 in one place. The
result was that about half the
tread on the tires your father
bought you if you promised
never to get a wheel was fly-
ing through the air. The result-
ing "errrrk" sound they made
on the concrete turned every
head.
Once a car did lurch into
forward motion, if you could
get a wheel when you chatlged
gears a second and third time,
it meant you likely would end
up on the cover of Time mag-
azine as Man of the Year.
I RECEIVED MY driver's
license at the LaGrange,
Georgia, State Patrol head-
quarters on Saturday, October
20, 1962, my 16th birthday. The
Newnan Georgia State Patrol
office was a lot closer to
Morelandl six miles, but that
post didn't issue driver's
licenses on the weekend.
Wait until Monday to get
my driver's license when I'd
been counting the days until
this moment since they took
the training wheels off my
bike? No damn way.
My relationship with
females began to go downhill
the very first night I had my
driver's license. I had a date
with the woman who would
later become my first wife, the
lovely Paula, Naturally, our
date was to go to the drive-in.
I'd cruise by the Dairy Queen,
now that I finally had come of
age to do such a wondrous
thing.
THE CRUISING PART
went well. Friends saw me
behind the wheel of a car,
which gave me status and
acceptability. But when I start-
ed to pull out onto the highway
for the drive-in, the trouble
began.
A couple of my friendsl who
were sitting atop the hoods of
their cars at the Dairy Queen
because every mother in the
county wouldn't allow their
daughters to date them on
account of their reputations as
reckless driver, screamed at
me, "Hey Lewis, get a wheel!"
As much as I had wanted to
get my driver's license, I did-
n't do a lot of studying or think-
ing about automobiles before-
hand. I didn't know one thing
about carburetors, glass
packs, Earl Scheib, painting
flames on the side of your car,
hanging foam rubber dice over
your rearview mirror, or
putting your name on the dri-
ver's door and your girlfriend's
name on the passenger door,
which a lot of guys did, as in
"Ducky" and "Sylvia."
And there was another
problem. The automobile that
I was driving had no clutch. It
had an automatic transmis-
sion. It was a 1958 blue-and-
white Pontiac. I actually pre-
ferred an automatic transmis-
sion, because a straight stick
involved three foot pedals,
instead of two, and a lot more
mechanical knowledge and
ability than I had at the time.
(I'm still suffering from being
mechanically impaired, as a
matter of fact, manifested by
the fact that i usually have to
have an attendant come out to
show .me how to operate the
pump when I pull into a self-
serve filling station.)
SO THERE I WAS, my
moment to shine. To join that
great fraternity of wheel-get-
ters. To follow in he steps of
some of the great wheel-get-
ters and reckless drivers like
Dudley Stamps and Raiford
Smith, famed tire-tread
destroyers, both.
I stopped before pulling out
onto the highway, but I felt a
deep panic. I'd never gotten a
wheel before. I knew it had
something to do with stomp-
ing on the accelerator as hard
as you could from an idling
position.
Bit was I supposed to put
the gear in "L" first or would
"D" suffice?
I knew"D" was for "Drive."
But what was this "L" thing?
I decided, in my panic, "L"
probably stood for
I pulled it down to,L,"
the accelerator, an€
across the street into
trash receptacle in
West's Body Shop,
located across the
the Dairy Queen.
My first thought
were my girlfriend and
or had I totaled the
Pontiac. It was, did
wheel?
I was fairly certai
n't. One, I hadn't
"errrrk." I had heard
"huuuuuume!" --the s(
'$8 Pontiac makes
low gear and s(
es the accelerator all
to the floor and it lurct
from a Dairy Queen an(
ly misses a collision
duce truck loaded with i
greens and sweet
crashes into a trash
cle at West's Body
I then looked
rearview mirror to see
the reaction had been
first attempt to get a
They were doubled
laughter, some lay
hoods on their
beat on the hoods
fists, howling and
• I didn't get Out of the i
check any damage. I
leave that place as quic
possible. So I put my
"R," backed into the s
nearly colliding with
Greyhound bus
Carrollton, turned it t¢
the drive-in, the movi(
Robert Mitchum in Th
Road, where Robert Miti
played a guy who drove
loaded with moonshine
mountain roads. The
lasted about an hour and
At least three quarters ol
were taken up by r(
Mitchum getting Wl
throughout the entire st
Tennessee.
