Opinions & Ideas
PAGE 4 - HOGANSVII2 HOME NEWS - JANVARY 18 2001
Mr
JOHN KUYKENDALL
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER]EDrrOR
BRYAN GETER
/IATE EDrrOR
JAYNE GOLt'mN
B USmTSS MANAGEa
Phone (706) 846-3188. Fax (706) 846-2206
E O. Box 426
Hogansville, Georgia 30230
Gas Prices Likely
To Hurt Budgets
A word about gas hikes...
Everyone is feeling the
crunch caused by soaring gas
The cost of heating my
home has definitely put a strain
on the family budget. I'm sure
most families are feeling the
pinch as well. We will probably
feel it even more down the road.
Our biggest concern should
be for the elderly who can not
afford the price of gas to heat
their homes. Those on fixed
incomes will suffer the most for
now anyway. However, we must
all remember that the increase
gas prices will have an effect on
our budgets we haven't thought
about or begun tO feel yet.
Most of us forget that two of
the largest users of gas is our
county government and schools.
You can rest assured the kind of
gas price hikes seen this year
were not budgeted for by either
entity. That means, the county
and school budgets will be affect-
ed by them as well. In other words,
those line items will most likely
go over budget. If so, that means
the funds to pay for the gas rate
will have to be moved
from other line items and before
you know it the budget is drained.
That means certain projects may
have to be cut from the budget
completely.
The county and schools will
have to generate enough funds
care of the g
rates hikes. We all know the only
means these entities have of gen-
erating funds is an increase in
taxes. It is quite possible we could
see a tax increase next year.
It, a tax increase does come,
total blame should not be
placed on the increase price of
gas. However, the price increase
will be considered in the overall
budget process.
COACHES could learn a lot
from Busby...
t week I had the pleasure
of attending the annual
Sportsmanship Banquet held at
First Baptist Church in
Manchester. The annual event is
to recognize members of the
Manchester High football team,
band members, cheerleaders,
dance team members, etc. This
year's guest speaker was one of
the Georgia's best high school
coaches, Buzz Busby who is now
head coach at Statesboro High
School.
Almost every team Busby has
coached has become contenders.
One of hiS biggest challenges had
to be Kendrick High. Harris
County and Kendrick were rivals
years ago. Until Busby took over
the program, and Harris County
program were pretty even.
Unless, you count when Lester
was head coach at Harris County.
During that time, Harris County
dominated almost everyone,
including Kendrick. After Lester
left Harris County, the last meet-
ing of the two schools resulted in
a 72-0 win by Kendrick.
While speaking at the
Sportsmanship banquet, Busby
talked about Harris County High
coach Jeremy Williams. Williams
is a former Kendrick High play-
er and a Manchester High coach.
He was a coach at Manchester
when the Blue Devils wons the
state championship in 1997.
Busby pointed out that Williams
always gave his best both on and
off the field. Busby said Williams
always gave more than what was
expected of him. Which also
shows how much good athletes
are needed
Busby made some excellent
points during his talk. He stated
players should have character
and how important a role coach-
es play in building the character
of the young men who play for
them.
He summed everything up in
one sentence when he told the
players... 'Whe youth of this com-
munity are not looking at the pros
for their heros. They are looking
at you. You know what they want
to be when they grow up? They
want to be Blue Devils."
The same holds true in any
community. Coaches are charged
with the responsibility of not only
coaching players,but preparing
them for life. That2s why disci-
pline is so needed inigh §chool
sports and should be '¢nforced
By insg discipline,both on
and off the field, coaches help-
ing to build well rounded "individ-
uals and good strong leaders for
tomorrow.
So, the next time you visit a
youth sports event or any athlet-
ic competition at your local high
school, try and remember that
coaches are doing much more
that coaching a spert. They are
also working to build self disci-
pline and character in our youth.
That is why in youth sports, the
coach that wins the most games
is not necessarily the best coach.
Think about it.
TH HCX;ArSWtLI#, HOME NEW"S is published weekly by the Slar-Merc¢y PUg
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PosrMASTm Send address changes to P. O. Box 426, Hogansville, GA 30230.
S'rAvv
b
Publisher and Advertising tor . ................................................................... Mike Hale
Asi Publisher and F_ditor ................................................................ ddan Kuykendall
Aciale litor.: ............................................................... . .............................. Bryan ter
Assistant itor .............................. . ............................................................ Rob Richardson
Busss Manager ....................................................................................... Jayne Goldston
Stuff Writers ...................................................................... Michael C. Snick, Billy Bryant
Assi.anl Advesing Mer ......................................... : .............................. laurie Lewis
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Assistant Fxtitor ........................................................................................... Rob Richardson
Cing ..................................................... Valinda lvery, Deborah Smith, Lauren King
Legals ............................................................................................................ Jayne Goldston
Receptionist and Classifieds ................................................................. . ............ Cieta Young
Production Manager .............................................................................................. Todd Laird
sroom ............................................. : ................... David Boggs and Wayne Cavchowski
Conrom Omon
President......: ............................................................................................ Millard B. Grimes
Vice President ........................................................................................ Charlotte S. C__¢imes
Secretary. ................................................................... ........................... J_aura Corer
sure we all remember our par- son may be or how many times
ents or another adult teaching they throw the phrase of sticks
us the old saying, "sticks and and stones around, the truth is, fiery words. . .... ever
stones may break my bones but words do hurt. Warren Wiersbe saia, PZ_-..
words will never harm me." Whether those words are head and a hot heart can I _e%el '
As children would play on said directly to a person's face burning words that later weL
.... ,, mon
the playground, there would or whether they are cowardly
inevitably be one child or a spokeninatimeofgossip, words We must be aware of ':h
group of children who would do hurt. Solomon, King David' son, -',
find one child in which they There are husbands and in proverbs 17:27, 'He that It. [u
could make fun of. wives, best friends, co-workers, knowledge spareth his wol,.t r:
Sometimes things such as neighbors and sometimes even and a man of understandin[vet':"
• • ,, LXI
four-eyes, fatty or pizza-face church members who try to use of excellent spknt. .l
would be directed at some child words to slay an opponent. It is true that preachers lVr m
who was a little different than Words spoken in a time of a responsibility to expose e
and it is true that parents 1"" S '
the rest. It was to that child the anger are usually later regret- "Someone has warn their children of flin-[_ d ur
age-old phrase would once again ted, but no one has ever devised
be repeated, "sticks and stones a way for words to be taken made the observation the world that are wro00g0000.. %
harmful, but those things [a',Y_'.
maYwill neverbreakharmmY boneS,me.,,but words baCk.can beIt iSmade,true thatforgivenessapologies that the tongue can be Solomon says, can be done il l r,
It is the validity of that old obtained and reconcilliation such a dallgerous excellent spirit and not -
adage that l want to call in ques- made, butthewordsoftenlinger thing that God made tongue-lashing way. rm
tiontoday, on. People need to pick V5 X "
TO that child who was called Someone has made the it, placed it in a pool choose their words care-;'--"'rm
I believe that is wily-,°gan
seemingly harmless names, ask observation that the tongue can of water, and put it gave us two ears and one ton ,, r
them if words cannot hurt. be such a dangerous thing that umm
In a world where we we hear God made it, placed it in a pool beh/l/po/ bars." we are to listen twice as n-" ""
of wife-beaters and child moles- of water, and put it behind ivory as we speak. A simple rule t!
ters there is another form of bars. (Think about that a by that will help us guard The
abuse that we need to be aware minute.) harmful words is, "if you d hre;:
of and that is verbal abuse. In order to experience vic- have anything good to say,
don't say it"
To the person who coined the tory over such a matter, weneed be small in comparison to the
phrase of sticks and stones, it to realize that words do pack a God has given us the v Mrs
may have helped stopped the punch and that the tongue is a rest of the body, it like fire can derful gift of speech. Let us
abarrage of words, but I won- very powerful little member of spread into big things. Even
King David had trouble with those words to honor Jesus/o1 e .
der if it was really true that the our body.
words did not cut like a deep Consider what James says words, for in Psalms 39:1 and 3 help others.
May we not let our ton •_,
David said, "I said, I will take beaninstrumentofpaintofli_ xvtr,
wound? ha chapter three and verse five: heed to my ways, that I sin not who are around us and t!°uni,
It may be true that a lot of "Even so the tongue is a little withmytongue"...MyHeartwas God has placed in our patmJ
children just do not realize the member, and boasteth great hot within me, while I was mus- whom we may be a witnes' m*t
power their words posess, but things. Behold, how great a mat- ing the fire burned, then spake of the goodness and great ,he
it is a sad day when adults get tera little fire kindleth["
into the word-slinging arena. Even though the tongue may I with my tongue." of our God. r "- P.-:
David had an experience asp
The
We Were Poor - and Didn't Even Know
Sometime last year a Evidently our mother didn't ior and keeping quiet. This
youngerbrotherandI weretalk- realize how dependent even she by none other than Mr. Earl l
ing about growing up in rural had become to the electric iron, self. Then we were herded
Clark County. As we recalled coffee pot, vacuum cleaner, a comer of the room, seated
each eencmy brother good lights for three boys to theflwar
said, "We were poor and didn't study, using an electric hot plate to be ...... -,
know it," and I guess we were. to warm up snacks, and other Somehow thitdn't w
Whenwecomparedthelives conveniences electricity could Shortly after the pro
we lived growing up in the roar- provide, began, we began to com. ,
ing twenties, depression-like However, we did have our with the radio for sound wa | 10
thirties, and war torn early for- phone removed and our family Soon Mr. Earl could tak
ties to what our children and resorted to using penny post no longer. He turned toward,
grandchildren live today, it was cards to communicate with and shouted, "Enough of t[.....__
tough times, friends and relatives. When our It's time for you children t
When we heard of experi- family radio would play no home and go to bed!" I '
ences our parents and grand- longer, we did without one for With this he turned off
parents experienced growing months before we go another "rite might have radio and blew out the
up, and compared that to the life one. In those days our family we were leaving to walk ha "
As we arrived back at
we experienced, our lives did- would buy nothing on credit. If been a little higher on uncle's home, someone noti
nt seem so bad. you didn't have the money to
The radio was a luxury item pay for an item, you did with- the hog than some of the lamp was burning aga
even more so than a telephone, out.
I)uring the early thirties if your As was the custom in the ourne/ghborse Mr. Earl's house. Really nous childron cared. We had ra!
family had a radio, you were thirties, my brothers and I took
qualified to join a very select turns visiting our cousins in we d/d haye e/ectr/c/- beHoundOUtsideanyway.playing Fox
group at school and discuss the Jackson County. There was not thff." ,,14
latest episode of Don Winslow a paved road within nine miles ' THE INCIDENT inv
1
oftheNavy, BuekRodgers, I of Our uncles home, and Mr. Earl ahd the radio happ 1
love a mystery or Dick Tracy. absolutely no electricity in the some 65 years ago, but he[ 1
Older boys would talk about Bill area, but we always had a good an impression on us. We 1
Stern broadcasting the Notre time. uncle. He would tell us, "If you the nickname of "Mr. Earl I
Dame -- Army game coast to children arent good, you'llhave our youngest brother whe l
coast on Saturday afternoon. ONE SUMMER a neighbor to walk home in the dark." That would poke out his jaws and I
We might have been a little who lived about a half mile up really didn't scare us. when he could not have his
hi.
higher on the hog than some of the dirt road from my cousins Mr. Earl was a short, red- This name was passed tl
our neighbors because we did named Earl Matthews bought a faced man that worn spectacles son Jeff for similar r
have electricity. After our battery radio. He invited our whose chair set in front of a when he was a youngster.
father died in1935, our mother family, including us children to table model radio. There was no would you believe this 1 J.
thought we could survive with- come up one Saturday night to doubt who controlled that radio. Earl" handle is being passe " .
out electricity so she had the listen to the Grand Old Opry The radio would not be turned to a sweet granddaughter, r
serviee discounected to save the over WSM Nashville. on until the appointer hour for little glrl could be as conten ""
average. $1.25 monthly power After supper as we prepared the "Grand Old Opry." as I remember Mr. EarL
bill. Very few of our neighbors to walk up to Mr. Earl's we got When we arrived, we were Enough is enough I say
had electricity anyway, the usual briefing from our given another lecture on behav- let Mr. Earl rest in peace.
El Salvadore Needs Our Prayers, Too
Have you ever lost a loved
one, and inthe immediate after-
math- hours, days, even weeks
you wondered how the earth
could keep spinning? How could
folks go on about their business
as usual while your world was
at a standstill? Even your tears
seemed frozen in time and all
the rest of the universe just con-
tinues on it's course. Been
there?
I'll never forget the scene
from Steel Magnolias where
Sally Field's character, shortly
after the death of her daughter,
pushes the swing with her
granddaughter in it, and states,
"life goes on" so matter-of-fact-
ly my blood almost went cold.
(I really get into my movies.)
I THINK that's a little bit
how I have felt over the]past 24
to 36 hours, following the earth-
quakes in El Salvador. If it does-
n touch us personally, we just
go on about our business, don't
we?
I had my grandchildren over
to spend the night on Saturday
night. We woke up to pancakes
and bacon and sausage. It was
a glorious Sunday, partly cloudy
skies, but mild temperatures.
In the afternoon, Daniel and I
did some planning for spring
planting, and decided how we
were going to plant a few hun-
dred loblolly pines we just pur-
chased from the Georgia
Forestry Service.
THIS while several
hundred bodies were being
uncovered after the landslides
that were brought on by the
quake in El Salvador. More
than 400 hundred confirmed
dead at this writing, seven hun-
dred plus injured, and hun-
dreds, perhaps thousands still
missing. And life goes on.
See what I mean? Amidst all
the tragedy and devastation that
takes place around the world
every day in some place or
another, life goes on uninter-
rupted in some other place.
Am I saying it shouldn? No,
of course not, it has to. It's just
strange, that's all, and the whole
concept makes me wonder. I do
a lot of wondering.
What kind of impact
think it would make if
paused for a minute, even
onds, once a day, to
ers who are experiencing
misery, loss, even total
tation?
OH, we
Cross and a multitude of
relief organizations and
sionaries and "others"
meet the needs of those in
need.Right?
Welt.
ing about when I
we pray for others. Of
we should give what we
the
else will feed and clothe t
who are hungry and
covering. What ff we
ly sent our love and
warmth to these
prayer?
A 6rhnes tlalhm
Mtllard B. Games,
THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS
__ Beware the Power of Words That Hut
I, of
Mn HA ospic
PUBLISHER/ADVERTISING DR As children growing up, I'm No matter how strong a per- like a lot of people today. hwa
He had a hot heat, thatL"v'_ "
t a burning heart that le°__ ns
ever
