The Hogansville Herald June 9, 2005: Page 4

June 9, 2005 The Hogansville Herald
PAGE 4 (4 of 10 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Full Size Image © The Hogansville Herald. All rights reserved. PAGE 4 (4 of 10 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Full Size Image June 9, 2005

Newspaper Archive of The Hogansville Herald produced by SmallTownPapers, Inc.
Website © 2022. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information. Terms Of Use. Request Content Removal.

Or,inions & Ideas PAGE 4-A - HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS - THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2005 THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS USPS 620-040 A Gflme blkation Millard B. Grimes, President JOHN KUYKENDAIJ. PUBLISHER]EDITOR LAtmm LEWIS ADVERTISING DIRECTOR CLINT CLaVBROOK ASSOCIATE EDITOR ROB ICHARDSON ASSISTANT EDITOR Phone (706) 846-3188 • Fax (706) 846-2206 P. O. Box 426 HogansviUe, Georgia 30230 I Don't Repeat Gossip, So Listen the First My grandmother always told me to take care of my own business and stay out of the business of others. "Remember," she would say, "YOU have enough problems of your own and you should never get involved in the affairs of other people. You " 't ain't ect yourself, so don expectothers to be. Clean out from under your own door step before you decide to help the tongue is a double-edged sword and can cause hurt that can never be healed. Rumors, rumors and more rumors. That is part of the life we live in a rural com- munity. Everyone knows everyone and we're eager to talk about their down falls or problems. I'm not sure if it makes us feel better about ourselves, or if it makes us feel superior in some way. In recent years, if there is one thing I've learned, it is that people can do more dam- age in a few minutes with words, than can be done by a bull in a china shop. In other words, irrefutable damage. We never know what is going on in other people's lives, what makes them do tRe things they do, or tnctr - curnstances behind what transpires, but we're eager to "get involved and fix it." I'm not sure if people "get involved" because they think they are doing the right thing for the other person or if it is out of jealousyor some other motive. The bottom line is, we have a tendency to jump in with both feet before we know all the circumstances. I'VE ALWAYS also believed that if people have something to say, they should say it. It is our constitution- al right. However, if you do say it then you stiould be man or woman enough to say it to someone's face. If you can't say it to their face then it's best to just keep your opin- ion to yourself. We all know the terms, "They say and everybody." Every time I've heard a rumor, it generally begins with "They say or everybody says." You know the ones I'm talking about... "They say he had a nervous break down." When you ask who "they" are, you usually get the same answer, "Everybody." Who is everybody? BY NOW I guess you all. wonder what this column is all about. It'sabout people, and how we are. That's all it's about. No underlying cur- rents, no hidden messages, ........... 00,000000000000i!!00iii!i!iiii!ilililili00ii!!00iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii,iii!•iiii!i!i!!!il m l .... iiii{iiii!iiiii00{i{i00iiii:ililU nothinglike that. It about how we like to gossip. I heard the other day, on the str of course, that a friend of mine had been thrown out of his house, had to move into an apartment and he and his wife were get- ting a divorce. The person that told me knew it was true because "he had heard it from a very reliable source." Turns out not one word of it was true. RUMORS ARE LIKE old legends, when you tell one enough, people hear it enough and it's passed along enough, then it becomes the truth. Yes, there really is a Loch Ness Monster, Vampires real- ly exist and the towns people chase Frankenstein away. I once built an April Fool's front for one of our newspa- pers and put a story on it that could have been true, but ?an't, I:wrote a convincing story about an amusement park locating in the county, the newspaper said it was an April fool front, but we still had tons of people calling wanting to know 'more about it and even some that want- ed to know what company to contact so they could invest. Not one word of the story was true, but it was convinc- ing and it sounded good, so it had to be true in the minds of many people. After my experiences, and the one involving my friend, I have decided that people are going to talk and say things that are not true, they are going to get involved in the lives of others because they believe it to be the best for the other person. You can't stop it, but you can ignore it. Don't be one of those peo- ple that "won't repeat gossip" so they tell you to listen close- ly the first time around. Just don't repeat gossip, period. So, here's the moral to this column, "Believe only half of what you see, less of what you hear and then keep it all to yourself." It's best to remember, that those same people that give you all the juicy gossip are the same people that are air- ing your dirty laundry. When they realize you won't listen and you won't repeat it, they'll stop telling it. . t t, | [ THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWSiS published weekly by the Star'-Mercury ! Publishing Company, a divisionofGrimesPublications, at 3051Roosevelt Highway, Manchester, Georgia 31816. USPS 620-040. Subscription rates by mail: $20 in Troup, Harris Or Meriwether Counties; $24 a year elsewhere. Prices include all sales taxes. Periodical postage paid at Hogansville, Georgia 30230.Single copy 50¢. i FOR SUBSERIP'ONS call (706) 846-3188 or write to Circulation Manager, Star Mercury Publications, P. O. Box 426, Manchester, Georgia 31816. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to P. O. Box 426, Hogansvi!le, GA 30230. SWA Publisher and Editor ............................................................................ John Kukyendall Advertising Director. ............................................................... : ................. Laurie Lewis Associate Editor ................................................................................... Clint Claybr()k Assistant Editor ..................................................................................... Rob Richardson Staff Writers ............... ........................................................... Bryan Geter, Billy Bryant Composition .......... : ................... Dewayne Flowers, Robert Weems, Gaff Youngblood Circulation Manager.: ................................ . ........................................ Tracy Lynn Wyatt Press Manager ................................................................................. Wayne Grochowski Pressroom Assistants ........................ : ............ Zaddie Dixon,Darnell McCauley Circulation Distribution .............................................................................. David Boggs CORIRATE OFFICERS President ........................... ........................................ : ........................ Millard B. Grimes Vice President .................................................................................. Charlotte S. Grimes Executive Vice President and Secretary ........................................ Laura Grimes Corer Treasurer ....................................................................................... Kathy Grimes Garrett Legal Counsel and Assistant Secretary ..................... : ......................... James S. Grimes Looking for Mr. Goodwrench A man from the city water department came to my hous4 last week and cut off my water. He had some absurd reason for doing that. I think he mentioned I hadn't paid my bill on time. I attempted to explain. Maybe there were some goats in the neighborhood, and one was nosing around in my mailbox and ate my payment to the city water department. You can't explain any- thing to a man with a wrench. So there I was for a cou- ple of days, with no water. It was a learning experience. I learned if you wet your face with milk and then try to shave, the pain will be incredible. I learned if you don't shower for a couple of days, you won't have to put up with worrisome people like your friends and fellow employ- ees. I learned if you don't wash coffee cups, something green will grow inside of them. I also learned that I still don't know anything about anything that is mechanical in nature. I couldn't change the oil in my salad. Here's what happened: I FINALLY reached the city water department - the telephone there had been busy for 48 hours - and the woman who answered agreed with me that it was probably all a big mistake that my water had been cut off. She apologized on behalf of the mayor and the city for the inconvenience and said if ! would pay my bill, along with an .additional six dollar service charge, the man with the wrench would return to my house and turn the water back on. Naturally, I accepted her apology and her kind offer to right the department's wrong. I returned home that evening, expecting to find running water. Instead, I found a note in my door from Mr. Goodwrench. "Dear Sir," it began. "I turned the water back on in your meter. However, I left it off in your property valve because of an indication there was a faucet on in your house. "You can turn the water • on in.Y0ur proirty valve. It is located approximately 10 feet behind your water meter. Thanks." Thank you. But I don't know anything about water meters and property valves. I can barely operate my show- er curtain. i ::i!:::! ::, ::: ii ::::: ::iii ::ii iii:: ::iiii:iii:::ii:iiii::i!::! I called the water depart- ment again, and they tried to explain to me where to locate " my property valve. They tried to explain it several times. "You'd better talk to Mr. Something-or-other." a woman said. Mr. Something- or-other became impatient arrd said. "If you don't know where your property valve is, you'll just have to look until you find it." It was raining outside. I searched for my property valve for half an hour. It occurred to me that I would- n't know my property valve if it walked up to me and played the flute. I called the department again. It was after 5 p.m. on Friday afternoon. I went into Plan B. I started crying. Another half hour search, and I finally located what I determined to be my water meter. It was located in some tall grass I should cut, but when I pull the starter cord on my lawn mower, nothing happer. I walked approximately 10 feet behind my water meter and sure enough, there was a metal pipe like the note said. I reached 12 inches inside of it and, sure enough, there was my property valve, along with a lot of dirt and bugs and worms. I suffered a mild coro- nary, ruined a shirt and a pair of pants, but t finally turned my property valve and imme- diately felt a sensation of great satisfaction. I went .back inside my house, took a shower, and watered the green things growing in the coffee cups. ...to be continued next week BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH • HIS WIDOW, DEDRA, THE HOME NEWS IS CARRYING SELECT- ED COLUMNS BY THE LATE LEWIS GRIZZARD, WHO GREW UP IN - BY MO, AND BECAME THE MOST LY READ GEORGIA WRITER OF HIS TIME. GRIZZARD'S BOOKS AND TAPES ARE STILL AVAIL- ABLE FOR SALETHROUGH BAD BOOT PRODUCTIONS, P.O. BOX 191266, ATLANTA, GA 31118-1266 AND AT BOOK AND MUSIC STORES NATION- WIDE. Answering the Key Question We all have been asked our opinion about something, or we have offered our opin- ion, whether asked or not. There probably has not been a one of us who has not answered an opinion poll or at least has had the opportu- nity to refuse to answer an opinion poll. :Foaout xhe last three yR,lhoups or teams of adults and teenagers have tried to reach every home in Hogansville with the desire to ask you a five question opinion poll. Maybe some of you reading have had such an encounter and hopefully a pleasant one. Then again, maybe some of you have not had the pleasure. Today, through the avenue of the printed page, I would like for you to consider these ques- tions. The first four questions are simple, yet somewhat thought provoking. Here they are for your thinking pleas- ure. In your personal opinion, do people attend church as often now as they did five years ago? In your personal opinion; why do you think peo- ple do attend church? In your personal opinion, what group, or groups, do you think the church needs to give more attention to? In your person- al opinion, is it important for people to read the Bible? (Why or Why not) What is your personal opinion about these questions? I do realize though that in a hundred years your responses may not mean a whole lot. However, I said at the beginning, there is five questions in this little opin- ion poll. The response to the fifth and final question is something that will stay with us for eternity.. You maybe thinking, "What kind of question whose answer has the importance of staying with us for eterni- ty?" It 'is what the developers of this little poll call: The Key Question. Some of you may have already recognized that these questions are from the FAITH Sunday school strat- :iii::,:ii:iiiiii!iiil- ilii ii ¢ egy developed by a pastor and others. But the fact remains, this is indeed the most impor- tant question you will ever answer. There are times and places in which our opinions do not matter, but friend, your answer to this question does matter, it matters to you. In reality the key question is: In your personal opinion, what do you understand it takes for a person to go to heaven? Right now you may not think that is something to be considered, but the truth is, now is the time. We live in a time when people live like there is no tomorrow. I am not referring to preparing for retirement, the senior years, or life after the children have moved out. The preparations to which I am referring are the preparations for eterni- ty. The Bible teaches that our life upon this earth is but a vapor. Man's 70 some years on this little planet are but a drop in the bucket to the vast eternity that waits. With that in mind, the question is not have you pre- pared for life after work, but The truth is plainly taught in the Bible there is a heav- en to gain and a hell to shun. I do not have the ability to adequately describe either, but one thing is for certain, whatever one is the other is just the opposite..What is your response to the key question? What or who is it you are depending upon to get you to heaven one day? It is my prayer that you will careful- ly consider that question and read next week, as we con- • sider this further. In the mean time, carefully and prayer- fully read in the scripture Romans 3:10, Romans 3;23, John 3:16-18, and John 14:1- 6. 50 Years Ago... In the Hogansville Herald Predecessor to the Hogansville Home News Compiled by Rob Richardson *TAKING THE PLUNGE- The big news in the June 9, 1955 Hogansville Herald was the coming of flu- oridized water. "Mayor& EmmettAskewannounced today that the city has purchased a water flourida- tion machine and that delivery has been promised by the 15th of June. The flouridation of city water was an issue in the city election last December and was approved at that time by Hogansville vot- ers." *FIX THAT JAIL - Another front page story was about an effort to upgradethe city's jail. "Hogansville Mayor and Council Monday night took definite steps to comply with the May grand jury's recommenda- tion that the city jail was in need of repair and that certain changes ought to be made." *HELP FROM AFAR - The city got a new slogan from an unexpected source. "A citizen of a foreign country, the Federal Republic of Germany, is large- ly responsible for giving Hogansville its new offi- cial slogan, 'The City of Friendly People.'" Foreign exchange student Hans Scheel, living with a local family, used the phrase when speaking at a Kiwanis meeting. The mayor liked it so much he later endorsed the term as an official motto. *SAFE REPUTATION - Statistics showed that Hogansville was a safe place to live, in termsof auto accidents. Since Jan. 1 there had been only six accidents in the city. No injuries or fatalities were reported. *CINEMA TIME - Comedy, horror and actiOn were all available at Hogansville's Royal Theatre. Films showing included "Abbot and Costell0 Meet the Keystone Cops," "Son of Paleface," "Donovan's Brain" and "Battle Cry.