Opinions & Ideas
PAGE 4 - HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS - FEB. 6, 2003
THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS
USPS 620-040
., mne lh$lk'atmu
Millard B. Grimes, President
MIKE HAIZ
PUBLISHER]/LDVERTISING DIRFJ2TOR
JOHN KUYKENDALL
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR
RoB RmHAmSON
ASSISTANT EDITOR
JAYNE GOWN
BUSINE&S MANAGER
Phone (706) 846-3188. Pax (706) 846-2206
E O. Box 426
Hogansville, Georgia :=230
When the Past
Meets the Future
I'm sure by now, if you read
my column each week, you
know there are two hobbies
that I really enjoy. The first
being sports of course, but
most people don't know that
I've always loved music.
Growing up, my family was
very musical. My Dad played
the guitar and sang, and believe
it or not, even someUmes made
a good living do it. At about the
age of seven I decided I want
to play drums. My dad bought
me a set and I learned to play.
He would never pay for les-
sons. "If you really want to learn
to play them, you'll teach your-
self he said." I did.
In my teens, I became
involved with gospel music. I
learned that I really loved it
and always wanted to be
involved in it. Eventually, my
love for music landed me job
with a group. I went on the road
a few times and then realized,
it was not what I thought it
would be.
To make a long story short,
I eventually decided that I no
longer wanted to be involved
in music for any other reasons
than the fact that I enjoyed it
and wanted to use the talent
that the good Lord had given
me for his use.
My family and I got back
into the gospel circuit and for
a few years, we really had a
good time doing it, but eventu-
ally life began to take a toll on
the group my sisters children
got older, and we finally just
decided to part with music all
together.
About the only time I would
sing, was a solo or two at church
occasionally. Then a few years
ago, due to a health problem, I
had to stop that and I decided
then that I would just forget
music and move orL
RECENTLY, there has
been kind of a push and an urge
to get back into music.
Many people that used to
enjoy my music have asked me
why I'm not doing it. Then,
there also seems to be a little
tugatmy heartstrings from the
Lord to get back into gospel
music.
I'm not sure of all the rea-
sons, but the desire to do so is
alive once again.
I've told myself how diffi-
cult it is going to be, and I real-
ize how much work it will take.
You see, singingis just like play-
ing sports and other things, if
you don't stay in practice, you
forget certain things and those
notes you .nee found easy to
reach are very difficult
because you haven't forced
yourself to do that in a while.
The fact that I'm much
older and the voice is more ras-
tured isn going to make things
any easier either. But, in spite
of all of that, I'm going to try.
IT'S KIND OFFUNNY, but
I didn't realize until recently
how much I really miss music
and how much I really enjoyed
it. I don't know why, now of all
times, I would feel the need or
the desire to return to music,
but I know one thing, some of
the happiest times, of my life
were spent behind those old
drums or in front of the mic.
As I pondered this, I real-
ized somethingvery important.
Each of us have something we
love, a gift from God that should
be used for his glory, not ours.
However, we allow life to begin
to dictate to us our priorities.
While I loved music, it became
a low priority due to all the other
things that were going on in my
life.
I'm sure that everyone
reading this column has at some
point in their live, given up on
something they really enjoyed
and made them happy only to
learn later that it is a part of
you, it's what makes you happy
and in many ways is a outlet
for you.
Then, you think, that's not
me anymore, but that's not true.
What you have been is just as
much a part of you as what you
do and enjoy today. It's this lit-
tle thing that I like to refer to
as "the past meeting the
future."
Everything you've done in
your past has helped mold and
shape you into the person you
are today. It has helped you to
grow, develop and learn. So,
why should we let the past go,
when it's actually a part of the
future?
Having talked about get-
ting back into music enough,
and boring you out of your skull,
let me get to the. moral of this
little story ....
Life is too short as it is. We
should enjoy life and cherish
it. You should do the things that
make you happy and help you
enjoy life, but above all, do what
God would have you to do.
So, ff you see me out there
in some church singing, you
know I'm doing what makes me
happy, and what I feel God
would like for me to do.
So, my advice to each of you
is, if you want to be happy in
life, do what makes you happy,
but more importantly, what
makes God happy with you.
TIlE H(;ANSVII,LE HOME NEWS is published weekly by the Star-Mercury
Publishing Company. a division of Grimes Publications, at 3051 Roomvelt Highway.
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STAFF
F'ublisher a Advertising Director. .............................................................. Mike Hale
Associate Publisher and Editor ............................................................ Jn Kuykendall
Business Manager ..................................................... : ........................... Jayne Goldston
Assistant Falitor ...................................................................................... Rob Richardson
StaffWriteJ .......................................................................... Bryan Geter. Billy Bryant
Assistant Advertising Manager .................................................................. Lmrie Lewis
Adve,'tising Sales ........................................................................................ Karcn Grant
Composing .......................... ? ....................................... Valinda kery, Dewayne Flower
Lcgals ....................................................................................................... Jayne Goldston
Circulation Managem: .................................................................................... Judy Crews
Pnxluction Manage.r ....... : .................................................................... Bobby Brazil Jr
Assistant Manager. .......................................................................... Wayne Gmchowski
Ihessnun ........................................... Damell McC'auley, Joey Knight, Lan'y Colleges
CORPORATE OIq.'lCl,:lts
President ............................................................................................. Millard B. Grimes
Vice Presideut .................................................................................. Charlotte S. Grimes
Executive Vice President and Secretary ........................................ Laura Grimes Corer
Treasurer. ...................................................................................... Kathy Grimes Gan'ctt
Legal Counsel and Assistant Secretu'y ............................................... James S. Grimes
t
nd Here's One for Bill
Written in 1978
Athens -- Winter quarter
was a sinus headache that
seemed to linger on and on.
The glory of fall and football
had passed. Springtime on the
University of Georgia cam-
pus was always brightness
and color and cold beer in tall
cups and young things from
Fitzgerald and Dalton whose
mommas would have fainted
had they known their babies
were parading around in pub-
lic dressed like that. And
would it all ever return again
and save us from January's
gloom?
There was only a trickle
of people about the campus
Monday. Joggers ran up
Lumpkin Street. Will this gen-
eration's legacy be a pair of
worn running shoes and a
green sweat suit? " The
Campus Crusade for Christ
is presenting Master of
Illusion this week. One of the
sorority houses has a banner
hanging outside congratulat-
ing a sister for being accept-
ed to the Harvard Law School.
Girls used to go to college to
find a husband.
But things change. There
is even a sign now at the
entrance to the athletic
department training room in
the Georgia Coliseum that
reads, "Women are in the
training room. Remember to
wear your shorts." I was
thinking of some names like
Rissmiller and Swinford and
Ridlehuber as I read that sign.
Would they have stood for
such encroachment? Women
in the training room, indeed.
Who can come back here
-- even in the depths of the
winter doldrums -- and not
launch himself into a senti
mental journey. Boys become
men here. Gangly, chirping
girls become sophisticated
women. How many of us had
that first, heady taste of sin
on these grounds? I recall
being anxious to leave. I was
out of my mind.
Bill Johnson loved
Georgia. He loved everything
about it. We were in the same
overloaded boat. We both had
school, and we both --by
choice -- had work as well.
Bill Johnson was employed
by an Athens radio station. I
worked for an Athens news-
paper.
How do friendships
begin? He was "the voice" of
Athens High School sports. I
was second on a two-man
sports department totem
pole. The boss covered the
Bulldogs. I had Athens High.
My friend Bill Johnson and I
were together in a thousand
rickety, crowded press boxes
in places like Gainesville and
Augusta and Hartwell and
Elberton.
He was good at what he
did. Bill Johnson was barely
past 20, but there could be no
question as to his promise as
a sportscaster. His voice was
smooth, yet strong. There
were those nights after
games we would drive back
to Athens and fantasize bout
our futures.
"Do you think," he would
ask, 'e'll ever get to the big
time?"
I reckoned that we would.
We promised if one of us
made it the other did not, the
friendship would last. I never
made a more sincere prom-
ise.
There is something about
"Do you think, "he
would ask, "We'll
ever get to the big
time?"
those days of dreaming.
There are no limits in an
ambitious mind. Bill Johnson
would be as good and as
important as Ed Thilenius
someday. And I would be paid
to write a story about a ball
game for an Atlanta newspa-
per.
The last time saw Bill
Johnson w Is the da¢ he grad-
uated from Georgia. We had
a few last beers together and
said how much we would miss
each other. He also had-to
leave a young wife in Athens
for a short military obliga-
tion. But then he would be
back and look out, Lindsey
Nelson.
That was March 1966.
Spring quarter was beautiful
that year. We wrote back and
forth. He was stationed some-
where in Texas.
Came the autumn and a
wonderful Georgia football
team. You remember. Kirby
Moore, Kent Lawrence,
George Patton and Bill
Stanfill. p¥,
There was the sedpart,,
half comeback at Auburn I
gave Vince Dooley his lurclr
Southeastern Conferurc
title. Undefeated Geniec
Tech fell the next wee), h
Sanford Stadium. sm
Georgia would go on tOtO:
Cotton Bowl and belssl
Southern Metha-.--..
University.
Somewhere tucked 1
I have Bill Johnson s las
ter. He was ill, he said. I
the first I knew about it. C"
crazy blood infection. B da..
said don't worry. He saiP ni
doctors were thinking o1[ Jam
ting him go to Dallas t0 env
Georgia in the Cotton B t
A week later, d:a?
December 7, Bill Jol .
died. He was 23. gich
The church up
Summemrille, his
was
him through town to
cemetery, the old
stopped and covered
hearts with their
young widow
Monday, as I
across the campus,
bered another promise. I
Bill Johnson I
him one da
ever got a job with a
paper.
This is that
for a friend, a long time
BY SPECIAL
NEWS IS CARRYING
COLUMNS BY THE LATE L
GRIZZARD, WHO GREW UP IN
BY MORELAND,
MOST WIDELY READ
WRITER OF HIS
BOOKS AND TAPES ARE STILL .A
PRODUCTIONS, P.O. BOX
ATLANTA, GA 31118-1266
SolyeSptr tual, Not Material, Need
Someone has made the
statement, "People buy
things that they don't need,
with money they don't have,
to please people they don't
like."
"lly we live in the most
materialistic world we have
ever seen. Whether it is the
"keep up with the Joneses"
mentality or just simply try-
ing to find satisfaction from
possessions, material things
are being looked to more and
more to fill the needs in the
hearts of people.
Those who look to mate-
rial things quickly find out
that those earthly treasures
cannot and will not ever fill
the void which they have. In
their place, material things
are all fine, well and good, but
to try and use them to fill the
empty places in men's heart
is an attempt to circumvent
the will of God.
God created men with
specific needs and one of
those needs is a spiritual
need.
The spiritual need of man
cannot be filled with physi-
cal things.
Since the material cannot
meet the need of the spiritu-
al, are human beings destined
to have a void that can never
be filled?
The answer according to
the Word of God is a resound-
ing NO. The Bible tells us in
Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are
they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness: for
they shall be filled."
GOD has promised to
meet the spiritual needs of
man. God promises that if we
seek after righteousness as
we hunger and thirst for [
we will be satisfied. [ r
God has never tu
anyone away who tl]l
sought to be right with "u
John 6:37 says, "All thatl
Father giveth me shall a
to me; and him that cot
to me I will in no wise
oot."
The Bible tells us
many are hungering
thirsting after satisfae
but it also tells us that nO
are being filled.
The only ones who
finding real peace and
faction are those who
seeking
says will fill their need.
Over le Top; '
t
rl;00 Hogansville Herald
]111 i"7" *SUCCESS: At the regular wee
meeting of the Kiwanis Club, Presid
! == George Funderburk announced that1
,.:i _.. .,_-.' -"'=. ==- !LL i,. -!,=.-, -.-,- ",..= - 1953 March of Dimes drive had been 0
i LZ"E'E'-',:.@ "-:'.r.7'- '--''"" ..... 7.; ..... ' ..... "'"=:Z,,,,, '*i, cluded with a total $1,600 having be
&dtt .. :%:.i=,:. , turned in this week."
*COUNTY RIVALRY:
Hogansville High boys basketball
will play the West Point High School
teams in Winter Game competitionto
held Saturday evening."
.RUNAWAY CAR: "Mrs. R.C.
of Route 3, Hogansville, was driving
car at the intersection of Askew
Johnson St. when the brakes gave
and caused the automobile to
curbing and roll into the yard
Collier, 47 Johnson St. The front
of Mr. Colliers home was sli
agod ."
*HIGHEST HONOR: "J.R.
HogansvUle ws m-elected
the West Gerogiaa Council
of America at the annual meeting
last
eral hundred Scouters in attendance."
• MILESTONE: "The W.C.
were the first family in
the benefits of the city's new natural,
