Opinions & Idea,:
THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS
USPS 62O-O4O
A C6rim uhlkau
Millard B. Grimes, Predclent
MIKE HALE
PUBLISHER]ADVERTISING DIRECFOR
JOaN KtWKENDAI
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHEEDITOR
ROB 17dCI',ARDSON
ASSISTrr EDn'o
JAYNE GOLDSTON
BUStNVS MANAGER
Phone (706) 846-3188. Fax (706) 846-2206
P O. Box 426
Hogansville, Georgia 30230
Criminal Activity
Is Drug Related
If you haven't seen it,
there's a great commercial on
television that talks about
how drug money helps fund
terrorism and other criminal
activity throughout the
world.
Unfortunately, the com-
mercial doesn't touch on
many of the other things that
come from drug sales. A
major portion of the criminal
activity in the United States
are drug related. A large num-
ber of the thefts and violent
crimes in the nation, and the
world, can be attributed to
some type of drug activity.
While none of this comes
as a surprise to anyone, the
cost of the criminal activity
to you the taxpayer is
astounding.
Because of the thefts,
your insurance rates on your
home and cars are on the
increase. That's right,
because of the theft in homes
and items such as CD play-
ers and electronics being
taken from cars, and the theft
of cars as well, have sent your
insurance costs up.
Unfortunately, that is not
an estimated 35,800 firearm-
related hospital admission
nationwide. The GHA study,
using data from a similar time
period, shows that Georgia
had 5,181 admissions. In 1996,
Georgia ranked seventh in
the nation for the number of
firearm-related deaths.
THE GHA STUDY also
found that:
* In 1996,1,249 Georgians
died from the use of firearms.
This translates to 16.9 deaths
per 100,000 people, which is
above the national average of
12.9.
*The average cost of
treating a patient injured by
a firearm in Georgia ranges
from $15,000 to $20,000. An
intensive care stay for such
a patient can cost as much as
the only barden;tahe taxpay-': $150,000 to $200,000,
er has to deal with. It is not * Eighty percent of
just the tax payer that suf-
fers, businesses suffer as
well, especially hospitals.
AS WE ALL know, crimi-
nal activity is certainly the
reason for most violenk
crimes in the nation, espe-
cially those that are gun relat-
ed. Most gunshot victims
come from robberies, street
violence, etc. and most of
those occur because someone
is trying to finance a drug
habit, or over a drug deal that
has gone bad.
Those incidents cost us
greatly, because of such eases
involving people who do not
have insurance, our hospital
costs are going up just like
our insurance costs.
A national study released
recently, found that injuries
from gunshots cost hospitals
$802 million a year. A student
by the Georgia Hospital
Association (GHA) has com-
pleted an internal study indi-
cating that gunshot injuries
in Georgia cost hospitals in
the state almost $54 million
each year. The study found
that 38 percent of the costs
incurred, roughly $205. mil-
lion, were not covered by
insurance.
The national study, which
was published in the
American Journal of
Preventive Medicine,
tracked 1997 hospital admis-
sion data, the most recent
year with complete data, .and
determined that there were
patients who suffer injuries
from violence are uninsured
or eligible for government
medical care assistance,
where payment my be only
40 to 60 percent of hospital
costs.
I WAS DISCUSSING this
with a friend the other day
and he asked, "Are you one
of those people that think we
should do away with guns?"
Certainly not. In Georgia,
just like most of the south,
most men like to hunt.
Hunters don't go around
shooting people, they shoot
game. Besides, it's not the
people that purchase guns at
a reputable dealer that go out
and shoots people. It's the
guns that are bought on the
street that are used in most
violent crimes.
This column in no way is
about gun control, it is about
drug control. Illegal drugs are
slowly, but surely, eating
away at our nation. This is
just one example of what it
cost us, there are hundreds
of others.
The point of this column
is a simple one. Since we all
know that most criminal
activity is drug related. We
must do a better job educat-
ing our children about the
hazards of drugs. The only
way to win the war against
drugs is through educating
our children and keeping as
many of them as possible off
drugs.
TilE HOANSVILLE HOME NEws is published weekly by the Star-Mercury
Publishing C(npany, a division of Grimes Publications, at 3051 Roosevelt Highway,
Manchester, Georgia 31816. USPS 620-040. Subscription rates by mail: $18 in
Troup. Harris or Meriwether Counties; $26 a year elsewhere. Prices include all
sales taxes. Periodical postage paid at Hogansville, Georgia 30230.
FoR suRscmm-torcs call (706) 846-3188 or write to Circulation Manago= Star
Mercury Publications, P. O. Box 426, Manchester, Georgia 31816.
P'rMAS'rER: Send address changes to P. O, Box 426, Hogansv file, GA 30230.
STAFF
F'ublisher and Advertising Direc!or. .............................................................. Mike Hale
Asvziate Publisher and Editor ............................................................ John Kuykendall
Business Manager ................................................................................. Jayne Goldston
Assistant Editor ...................................................................................... Rob Richardson
SlaffWrite .......................................................................... Bryan Geter, Billy Bryant
Assistant Advertising Manager. ................................................................. Laurie Lewis
Advertising Sales ........................................................................................ Karen Grant
Comlx)sing .................................................................. Valinda Ivery, Dewayne Flowers
Legals ...................................................................................................... Jayne Goldston
Circulation Manager ..................................................................................... Judy Crews
Production Manager. ........................................................................... Bobby Brazil Jr.
Assistant Manager. .......................................................................... Wayne Grochowski
lhessroom ........................................... Damell McCautey, ,loey Knight, Larry Colleges
CORPORATE OFFICERS
president ............................................................................................. Milhu'd B. Grimes
Vice President .................................................................................. Charlotte S. Grimes
Executive Vice President and Secretary ........................................ Laura Grimes Cofer
Treasurer. .................................. '. ................................................... Kathy Grimes Garrett
Legal Counl and Assistant Secretary ............................................... James S. Grimes
PAGE 4 - HOGANSVILI00 HOME NEWS - JAN. •16, 2003
Can't Deny It-No Spot Is So Dea!00s
Written in 1978
On a cold day last week,
I stood outside the church in
my hometown of Moreland
that is so dear to my child-
hood and tried to remember
how long it had been since I
was inside. Ten years? At
least that long. But if there
weren't still roots here would
I come back so often in my
mind?
Church was about all we
had. Sunday school was at 10,
but preaching was only twice
a month. We shared sermons
and the preacher with anoth-
er flock down the road.
What did they call it on
Sunday night? MYF? We had
a couple of rowdy brothers in
town that broke into a store.
They were juvenile first
offenders. Their punishment
was to attend Methodist
Youth Fellowship for six
months. First night they were
there, they beat up two fifth:
graders and threw a
Cokesbury hymnal at the
lady who met with us and
always brought cookies.
She ducked in time and
then looked them squarely in
their devilish eyes. Soft as
the angel she was, she said,
"I don't approve of what you
boys did here tonight and nei-
ther does Jesus. But if he can
forgive you, I guess I'll have
to."
She handed them a plate
of cookies, and last I heard,
both are daddies with steady
jobs and rarely miss a Sunday.
That was the first miracle I
ever saw.
Revivals at the chiarch
were the highlight of the sum-
mer. I remember a young vis-
iting preacher talking about
the night he was converted.
"I was drunk in an Atlanta
bar," he said, "and I was lost.
But Jesus walked in and sat
down beside me. Praise His
name, because that's the rea-
son I'm here with you
tonight."
That frightened me. If
Jesus could find that fellow
in an Atlanta bar, he certain-
ly wouldn't have any trouble
walking up on me smoking
behind the pump house in
Moreland. I always took an
extra look around before
lighting up after that.
Workers were smoking
one day in the attic of our
church. They left a cigarette.
It took less than an hour for
flames to destroy that old
building.
I didn't cry, but grown
men did.
We built it back of brick
this time. Country folks will
dig deep in the name of the
Ird.
THE BEST fried chicken
I ever ate, the best iced tea I
ever drank were the fried
me at the same
her I would
and I haven't.
altar. I
Homecoming Day at the
church. Dinner on the
grounds, we called it. The
chickens had been walking in
someone's backyard earlier
in the morning. The tea went
into a galvanized washtub. A
piece of block ice kept it cold.
The day Red Murphy
died, they announced it in the
church. The congregation
wept as one. Everyone loved
Red Murphy. He ran the lit-
tle post office and took chil-
dren on pony rides.
Maxine Estes taught my
Sunday school class. In rural
Georgia in the 50s, she was
big on being kind to your
neighbor no matt the color
of his skin. I learld to sing
Hymn No. 153, "Love, Mercy
and Grace," in that church.
And "What a Friend We Have
in Jesus." And the one I till
break into occasionally today,
"precious Memories." They
do linger.
My mother married my
stepfather inside that church.
And one hot Saturday after-
noon a long time ago, a pret-
IT'S EASY to fall
from the church, no
the closeness in times
I have done it. So have
Grown people can do as
please. The 10:30
morning movie is
excus{
ni
a lot earlier.
I never could
myself to walk inside my
church last week. But
Sunday
I will. And maybe I'll put
in the collection plate,
maybe they'll have
and iced tea, and maybe aft
ward I'll make a habit of i
There is a new coun{
song out. An old man
singing to a group of fel]
derelicts. "Lean on Jest
goes the chorus, "before
leans 5n you."
I'm not one to panic,
it's something to think abd
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GRIZZARD, WHO GREW UP IN N]
BY MORELAND, AND BECAME 1
MOST WIDELY READ GEORI
WRITER OF HIS TIME. GRIZZAI
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ABLEFORSALETHROUGH BAD B{
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chicken and iced, tea on ty 19-year-old girl married WIDE. p
The Valley of the Shadow of Deat[
Probably one of the most
familiar chapters in the Bible
is Psalm 23, and that Psalm
contains probably one of the
most familiar verses in the
Bible. Aside from John 3:16,
Psm:-'c've r y well
be one of the most popular
verses of scripture. At almost
every funeral home you can
find the 23rd Psalm displayed
somewhere or quoted on an
information cai:d about the
deceased. The point is, many
a heart has sought refuge in
the 23rd Psalm.
As I sit here this morning
and ponder the deaths that
have touched the lives of our
church members the last
year, I realize that many peo-
ple still have questions about
death. Just a quick glance at
a mall bookstore and the
world's fascination about the
unseen world of the dead will
be obvious. Even in the old-
est book of the Bible, Job,
questions arose about death.
However, most of the inter-
est in death is on the spiritu-
al side of things rather than
the physical. Due to the great
advances in medical technol-
ogy, there aren't many ques-
tions that are left unanswered
in regards to physical death.
There has been some
debate in the medical world
as to what constitutes death.
In no way am I prepared to
settle that issue, but one thing
I can say is thaf th is not
a ceasing to exist.
The Bible teaches that
death is a separation. In scrip-
ture three types of death can
be found. The first and maybe
the most obvious type of
death is physical death.
Physical death is a separation
of the soul and spirit from the
body. The body dies, but the
essence of that person lives
on.
On a less familiar side is
spiritual death. Spiritual
death is a separation of a per-
son from God. In Ephesians
2, the Bible calls it being dead
in trespasses and sin. In most
church circles spiritual death
is described as being lost or
unsaved, a condition that
Christ came to remedy on the
cross.
The third and final type
of death is what the Bible calls
the 'second death.' Revelation
20:14 says, "And death and
hell were cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second death."
II
;[::::?::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
This death is an eternal sep-
aration from God. If not
remedied by the blood of
Jesus, spiritual death will
lead to the second death.
AS MACABRE as all of
this may sound, there is a
bright spot, a ray of hope to
encourage us. The apostle
Paul tells us in I Corinthians
15:55-57, "O death, where is
thy sting? 0 grave, where is
thy victory? The sting of
death is sin; and the strength
of sin is the law. But thanks
be to God, which giveth us
the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ." This is why
David can call the valley of
death but a shadow. When
Jesus died on the cross, was
buried and rose again, the
sting offdeath and the power
of the grave were defeated.
Now to the child of God death
is but a shadow through which
he must pass. Death is
door that leads to a
place. Just as a shadow
dog cannot bite, for
Christian dying death
has no bite.
Now for those of us W
are left behind;there will
a sense of loss and a time!
mourning. We do miss 0
friends and loved ones
our hearts are heavy. But!
someone has said, "Christi 1
mourn for their saved lo¢
ones, but they do not have!
grieve as those who have .
hope.".
The Bible teaches t
there will be a reunion of =€
saints of God in Heaven.
when death touches our li
just remember David s
when he walked through
valley of the shadow of de
he would fear no evil beca
"thou art with me thy rod
thy staff they comfort m
Alt of those three deat
mentioned at the beginni
were of those who had the
timony of being saved.
those families let me say fl
the grave is not the end
your loved one, but only
beginning of a wonde
eternity with God in Heav
50 Years
Ago...
In the
Hogansville Herald
Predecessor tothe Hogansville Home News
*CALL RIPLEY, QUICK:
des were featured on the front page of the
15, 1953 Hogansville Herald. Mr. and
Lem Gay of South Highway raised a turni
that weighed over 28 pounds.
cluded that Mrs. Gay "fears they will be
ing turnips for some time?
Also, a collie dog whose rabies tag
traced to Hogansville was found wandedn(
Austin, Texas.
• NEW HEAD HONCHO: "Mr.
Crawford was installed by Col. Fleming" for
two-year term as Hogansville mayor.
• ACTIVE CLUB: "John I. Todd Post.
152 of the Amedcan Lec
earned a Meritorious Service Citation
enrolling more 1953 members by Dec. 31i
1952 than the previous peak membership
the Post for an entire year."
• FUTURE STARS: New officers for the
Hogansville Teen-Age Club included Fran
Reeves, president; Nita Fay Craft, vice-pres'
dent; Earline Pike, treasurer; and Carolin
Brock, secretary."
