Opinions & Ideas
THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS
USPS 62004O
Millafd B. Grimes, President
MInE Hnaz
PU BLLq[ IIhtcJADx.;RTD;1NG Dw.Ecnm
JOHN KLqKENDALL
ASSOCIATE Pu BI aSHE/EI)ITOR
BRY&N GETER
A,,kS¢ X'IATE EDITOR
B USl N F2";, IIANAGER
Pi)ne (706) 846-3188. Fax (706) 846-2206
1 (). Box 426
}togansville. Georgia .'R}Z)
Safety Tips for
Shopping Onli__ne
Shopping on line has
become a pretty common
thing. According to the U.S,
Department of Commerce,
consumers spent about $26
billion shopping on line last
year. With that kind of money
being spent online, you might
think that people are com-
fortable with doing so. That
is not true.
A recent survey commis-
sioner by the National
Consumers League (NCL)
shows that many people are
St uneasy when ti comes to
making any type purchases
online.
"Consumers like the con-
venience of shopping on the
Internet and using their cred-
it cards," said Susan Grant,
director of the NCEs Internet
Fraud Watch, '13ut want to be
assured that it's a safe thing
to do."
If any of our readers want
to shop on line, but are a lit-
tle afraid to do so, here are
Six tips that will make it a
safer for you to do so.
GET THE SCOOP ON
THE SELLER: You should
always check to see if com-
plaint records have been filed
at the state or local consumer
protection agency or Better
Business Bureau against the
ompany or person you are
:making the purchase from.
Nou will also want to get the
hysical address and phone
number of the seller so you
will have a way to contact the
company offline. This way, if
ia problem does arise, you can
ntact them personally.
You will always want to
ook for sellers that belong to
programs that encourage
!good business practices and
help resolve complaints. That
.goes for shopping online or
ilocally.
:: USE A CREDIT CARD:
While many consumers are
i afraid to use their credit cards
ionline, it is really the safest
: way to make purchases. When
i you use a credit card it pro-
vides you with a method to
i dispute charges for goods or
services that were never
!ordered, never received or
misrepresented. However, it
:is important to be sure you
have used step one, checked
i out the business, before you
make a PUrchase with our
i charge Pard. You want to
!make sure you only give your
; charge card number to a rep-
i. utable company.
; ASK YOUR CREDIT
CARD ISSUER ABOUT
"SUBSTITUTE" OR "SINGE
USE" CREDIT CARD NUM-
BERS: 2echnology is a won-
derful thing and today this
new technology allows a con-
sumer to use a credit card
without putting a real account
number online. This protects
you from having your num-
ber stolen by "hacker" or dis-
honest employees of the com-
pany. To find out if your cred-
it card company provides this
service, use the 1-800 num-
ber.
LOOK FOR CLUES
ABOUT SECURITY: When
you provide payment infor-
mation toany company. When
you do, the "http" at the begin-
ning of the address bar should
• automatically change to
"https" or "shttp." Your
browser should indicate in
some way whether the infor-
marion you are providing for
purchases is being encrypt-
ed or scrambled as it is being
sent.
Always be sure to check
Web sites and see what they
say about safeguards for your
information during the trans-
mission and storage of your
information.
A word of caution: "Never
provide sensitive information
via E-mail.
BE SURE YOU KNOW
THE REAL DEAL: Be sure
you get all the details on the
product and company before
you make a purchase online.
This means using our first
tip and then gathering as
much information as possible
about the product. This means
: a complete description of the
Reins purchased, the total
pice you are going to pay
(in)uding shipping), when
yougan expect the item to
&'TiV all warranty informa-
tion, the company's return
policy, and what to do and how
should you have any prob-
lems.
KEEP PROOF HANDY:
Be sure tO print and file all
information about the pur-
chase in case you need it for
proof later.
For more information
about making purchases
online, visit the Web site at
www.nclnet.org/shoppin-
gonline.
THE HANSVILLE HOMZ NEWS is publi:ed weekly by the Star-Mercury
Pnbtishing Company, a division of Grimes Publications. at 3051 Rvelt Highway,
Manchester, Georgia 31816. USPS 620-040, Subscription rates by mail: $18 in
Troup, Harris or Meriwether Counties; $26 a year elmwhere. Prices include all
,les taxes, Periodical ),ste paid at HogansviUe, ia 30230.
FoR sUtwor call (706) 846-3188 or Tite to Circulation Manager, Star
Mercury Publications, P. O. Box 426• Manclx-ster, Georgia 31816.
PC'TM:R: Send s changes to E O. Box 426, Hogansville, GA 330.
STAr"V
Publi,er and Advertising Director ............................................................... Mike Hale
Associate Publisher and Editor ............................................................ John Kuykendall
Business Manager ......................... : ...................................................... Jayne Goldston
Assistant Editor ...................................................................................... Rob Richardson
Staff'Writers .......................................................................... Bryan Geter, Billy Bryant
Assistant Advertising Marmger .................................................................. Laurie Lewis
Advertising Sales ............................................................... : ....................... .Linda Lester
Coming ........................................................................ Valinda h,ery; l.ata King
Legals ...................................................................................................... Jayne Goldstop.
Pressman .......................................................................................... Wayne C,clJ-w
Presmrn .......................................................................... David Boggs, larry Colleges
CTE OacEns
ident .......... : ................................................................................. .Millard B. Grimes
Vice President .................................................................................. Charlotte S. Grimes
Secretary. ......................................................................................... Laura Gri Cofer
Treasurer ....................................................................................... Kathy Grins Garrett.
Legal Counsel and Aistt retary .............................................. Jan S.
PAGE 4 - HOGANSVII2-£ HOME NEWSOV. I, 2001
Working in the Flower Garden
MORELAND, GA. -- I
always hated flowers when I
was a kid. My mother, my
grandmother and my Aunt
Jessie loved flowers, but is
was me they always wanted
to go out and work in the dang
things.
I was a perfectly well-
adjusted lad of 10, and I want-
ed to do perfectly well-adjust-
ed things that lads of 10 want
to do, such as play ball and
make life miserable for my
girl cousin.
But, no. Either my moth-
er or my grandmother or my
Aunt Jessie would latch onto
my ear at least once a day and
send my out to hoe around in
their flower garden.
"But real men don't work
in flowers," I would protest.
"Get out there in those
flowers or we'll serve you
quiche for supper again,"
they would volley back.
(Actually, nobody in
Moreland had ever heard of
quiche back then-- and prob-
ably few now -- but it made
a nice line, so I used it any-
way. It's called journalistic
license.)
I SOON moved from dis-
liking flowers to hating them.
I would go through the seed
catalogs and draw moustach-
es on pictures of petunias.
My friends gave me a lot
of grief about all the time I
had to spend working in flow-
ers, too.
"Wanna play ball?" One
would ask.
"Him, play ball?" anoth-
er would scoff. "He's got to
work in his mommy's flow-
ers."
I tried everything to
escape those botanical gar-
dens of hell. I even tried to
bribe my girl cousin into
doing the work for me. I
offered her my best marble,
Johnny Podres baseball card
and not to throw rocks at her
anymore if she would do my
flower work for me.
"Why don't you sit on a
cactus, begonia breath," she
countered.
I REMEMBER telling my
Aunt Jessie, who had by far
the greenest thumb in the
family, how much I hated
flowers.
"When I grow up," I said,
"I'll never look at a flower
again."
She said I might change
my mind one day. I figured
she'd been sniffing too many
honeysuckle blossoms.
I visited home the other
day to see the folks. My
grandmother is gone now. My
mother is too ill to dabble with
her flowers anymore. Aunt
Jessie, who has seen a lot of
springs, is still out among her
gardens every day, however.
First thing I noticed when
I drove up was my aunt's yard.
Her azaleas were spectacu-
lar, her dogwoods, both pink
and white were in full bloom
and everywhere there was
breathtaking blanketgof blue
and pink thrift.
My mother said people
have been driving by from all
over the county to witness the
blossoming splendor of my
Aunt Jessie's yard. I consid-
ered swallowing my pride
and visiting my aunt next
door to tell her how beautiful
her yard was and how wrong
I had been about flowers.
I didn though. My old hoe
is sriH out in the garage some-
where, and one word out of
me and my Aunt Jessie would
have me back at work faster
than a weedeater can take the
fur off a cat's taft.
Flowers or no flowers, if
it was ba-d work I had want-
ed I wouldn't have gotten this
license to practice journal-
ism in the first place.
BY SPECIAL ARRANGE-
MENI " WITH HIS WIDOW,
DEDRA, THE HOME NEWS IS
CARRYING SD
COLUMNS BY THE LATE LEWIS
GRIZZARD, WHO GREW UP IN
NEARBY MORELAND, AND
BECAME THE MOST WIDELY
READ GEORGIA WRITER OF
HIS TIME. GRIZZARD
BELONGED TO ALL AMERICA
BUT HE PARTICY
BELONGED TO THIS AREA OF
GEORGIA, OF WHICH HE
WROTE SO OFTEN, AND
WHERE A PORTION OF 1-85
FROM NEWNAN TO
HOGANSVILLE IS NAMED IN
HIS HONOR. THE LEWIS
GRIZZARD MUSEUM WAS
E.STABLISHE IN MOREIAND
IN 1996, AND A WRITING AND
EDITING LAB IS BEING DEDI-
CATED TO HIS MEMORY ATHIS
BELOVED UNIVERSITY OF
GEORGDLGRIZZARD'S BOOKS
AND TAPE,S ARE STILL AVAIIt
ABI FOR SALE THROUGH
BAD BOOT PRODUCTIONS, P.O.
BOX 191266, ATLANTA, GA
31118-1266 AND AT BOOK AND
MUSIC STORE.S NATIONWID
Vision, Determination, Strong Will
Scripture tells us that if
we don have a vision we will
surely perish. Let me share
with you a couple of exam-
ples today about visionary
people who were filled with
determination and never
gave up until the job was fin-
ished and the task accom-
plished.
Way back in 1863, a cre-
ative engineer named John
Roebling had an idea for a
spectacular bridge that could
connect Manhattan Island to
Brooklyn.
Engineers told him it
could not be done, but
Roebling convinced his son,
Washington, an up-and-com-
ing engineer himself, that the
bridge was possible. The two
men hired a crew and began
to build it.
The project had been
underway only for a few
months when a tragic acci-
dent took the life of John
Roebling and left his son with
such massive injuries to his
brain that he could neither
walk nor talk
Everyone thought the
project would be scrapped,
but Washington's mind was
still as active as before. Using
the single finger that he could
move, Roehling tapped his
instructions to his wife in
code.
He spent the next thirteen
years tapping out directions
in this manner, and, in the end,
his engineers completed the
work necessary to erect the
Brooklyn Bridge.
What a marvelous story!
Vision, determination and a
strong will to see the task
accomplished.
Another story is told of a
young lady who was once in
love with a car salesman. "I
was once in love with a car
salesman before I met your
father," the mother confided
to her son.
"Why didn't you marry
the salesman?" the son asked.
"Well," she replied,
"every time we went out on
a date, he would always stop
the car along the way to talk
to store owners. He was for-
ever jumping out of the car
and running into small stores
to see the merchants inside."
"What is wrong with
that?" asked her son.
"I thought selling was an
awfully unstable profession,
and although I loved this
young man, I just couldn't see
any future in it. So I stopped
dating him," the mother
replied.
"If you simply
don't give up you
will outlast the peo-
ple who come in on
the bus with you."
"What happened to him?"
the son asked.
"His name was Thomas J.
Watson and he later founded
hm own firm, which he called
International Business
Machines," the mother
answered.
Another story about
vision (which he should have
shared with his young date),
determination and a strong
will to see the task accom-
plished.
Henry Ford was without
a doubt a man with a big
vision. Ford once said, "I real-
ized early on that success was
tied to not giving up. Most
people in this busine'ave
up and went on to-other
things. If you simply don't
give up you will outlast the
people who come in on the
bus with you."
Helen Keller said, "Be of
good cheer. Do not think of
today's failures, but of the
success that may come
tomorrow. You have set your-
selves a difficult task, but yoU
will succeed if you persevere;
and you will find joy in over-
coming obstacles."
Right now our nation,
along with many other
nations, is involved in a war
against terrorism that we
must, and will, win. Our vision
is before us, we are deter-
mined, our will is strong, and
we will see the task accom-
plished.
What can I do, you might
ask. Continue to pray daily
for our military men and
women, our world leaderS,
and pray especially hard for
our president and his close
advisors.
Avoiding Neglect a Crucial Duty
John E Kennedy said, "We
will neglect our cities to our
peril, for in neglecting them,
we neglect the nation."
As we listen to our news
channels, read our newspa-
pers and listen to the ever
popular talk radio stations
and programs, we are inun-
dated with reports of terrible
things that happen. We read
of those who commit heinous
crimes, hear of the latest
anthrax cases and wonder
who and how people could do
such things. It seems most of
our news listening time is
taken up with those who have
done something wrong.
However, every now and
again, we hear of a case where
animals and infinitely more
important, children are neg-
lected. Many times we are so
spellbound by the things that
are done wrong, we forget
about the right things that are
left undone.
I am referring to neglect.
Not doing the right things is
just as wrong, or should I say
sinful, as doing the wrong
things. The Bible tells us in
James 4:17, "Therefore to
him that knoweth to do good,
and doeth it not, to him it is
Sin."
This verse can apply to
every area of life, but I want
to make an application to
Christians and their relation-
ship to their church. Many of
us sat in church yesterday
morning and felt pretty good
about ourselves,
We paid our bills, we did
not abuse our children, we did
not get drunk, we put a twen-
ty dollar bill in the offering
plate and we even brought
our Bible to church.
All of those things can be
good, but let's ask ourselves
what did we leave undone this
past week? I am not referring
to things such as not getting
all the leaves raked, or not
finishing the housework, or
not getting the off changed in
the car, but what about things
such as reading and studying
our Bibles, praying, or telling
someone else about Jesus?
We we are busy doing good
things, we are neglecting the
best things.
The Bible says in Luke
10:40, "But Martha was cum-
bered about much serving..."
Marthm was doing wonderful
things. Jesus bad entered her
house and she was busy mak-
hag sure everything was just
right, all the while her sister
Mary just sat at Jesus' feet.
Getting upset she was getting
no help from Mary, Martha
appealed to Jesus. Jesus'
answer describes our socie-
ty perfectly. He said in Luke
10:41, "And Jesus answered
and said unto her, Martha,
Martha, thou art careful and
troubled about many things:
but one thing is needful."
Martha was so busy doing the
good things, that she did not
take time to spend with Jesus.
Christian friend, today are
you cumbered about with
many good things? Dr. Adrian
Rogers said something to the
effect, the good things
become the worst things
when they keep us from the
best things.
If we find that we are too
busy with PTO, recreation
sports, club after club, activ"
ity after activity at church,
and a host of other "good
things, then we must realize
we are too busy.
I realize as much as the
next person the demands th#j
are placed upon families a
individuals in these days..
However, we must reap
ize what is important and
Jesus said, what is needft_
Again, John E Kennedy said,
"We neglect our cities to oOr
peril..." May I submit to yO
today that we neglect our
souls to our peril.
I know folks hear all kin
of things from all kinds
preachers about what they
need to do and what they do
not need to do, and franidY,
preachers do as much
complicate lives as the ne
person.
Today I want to leave Y ,
with a verse that will simP r
fy your life, enable you
avoid neglect and to help "
keep the main thing the ms,
thing. Solomon said
Ecclesiastes 12:13, ,,Let 1
hear the conclusion of fl
whole matter: Fear God,
keep his commandmentS: ,
this is the whole duty of ms
