The Hogansville Herald December 16, 2004: Page 4

December 16, 2004 The Hogansville Herald
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Opinions, & Ideas THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS usPs 6~.o4o A ~rtmrs t~thli~ti~ Mlaard B. ~ Pr--,~dent JOHN KUYKENVALL PUBLISHF~DITOR LAURm ADVERTISING D~R CLINT CLAYBROOK ASSOCIATE EDITOR Roe RI~N ASSmTaNT EDITOR Phone (706) 846-3188. Fax (706) 846-2206 R O. Box 426 Ho~msvi~, Geomia 30230 The Good and Bad At Christmas Time Ch.rist came into this world and suffered greatly just for me. It's almost Christmas and I'm so excited. I love Christmas and almost act like a kid. I can't wait to give pres- ents, open presents, the whole nine yards. I'm just one of those Christmas people. Of course there are things I don't like about Christmas. I've wondered ff some of our readers are like that. You i know, having alove-hate rela- ! tionship with the holiday. So : I decided to share with my readers some of the things I ! love about Christmas and i some of the things I hate about it. I would also like to i encourage our readers to share with us some of their ideas about the holiday, some i of their favorite Christmas stories, some of their family i: traditions, etc. : So, if you would like to share a Christmas story, or i thoughts about the holiday or some of your family tradi- tions, please drop me a line. I would love to share them with other readers. Especially favorite ~ Christmas stories. When I receive your let- ! ters, I will use a portion of my column each week to share it. So, please write. Here's my address: John Kuykendall, P.O. Box 426, Manchester, Ga. 31816. Now, for some of the things I love or hate about Christmas: MY LOVE LIST 1) People seem to be friendlier, care about others more and willing to share at Christmas. It seems tobring out the best in all of us. 2) For just a few hours, the entire world forgets about war and all the bad things going on and focus on mak- ing others happy. 3) Kids behave at Christmas time, because they. want to be sure Santa is going to visit. 4) The homemade good- ies that we don't get to eat any other time of year. S) The way someone's face lights up when you give them a gift, no matter how small. 6) It means that you don~ have to wash as often because you have new underwear. 7) YOU always get some- thing you really want, but wouldnever spend the money : on yourself, : 8) Being with friends and ; family. i 9) Being reminded that doing something good for someone else makes you feel good about yourself, 10) Remembering that Hate List 1) Paying the charge card bills after Christmas. 2) Standing in exchange lines to swap that awful tie or baggie pants. 3) Struggling with deco- rating the house and tree. 4) Realizing that you put on ten extra pounds during the holiday and have to buy new clothes just so you can go out in public. 5) Waiting to darn late to shop or mail your Christmas cards and having to explain to everyone why their card or gift is late. 6) Trying to pick the per- fect gift for someone, and knowing that no matter what you buy they probably won't like anyway. 7) Hauling away all the trash after the presents are opened. 8) Never having the right size batteries for the gadgets you got as gifts. 9) Cleaning the house before and after the family get together. 10) Taking down the dec- orations. OF COURSE, I have plen- ty of other things I could put on both lists, but you get the ide~ It seems that everything in life has a little good and a little bad. However, when it comes to Christmas the good things far out weigh the bad ones. I hope that each of you 'J~ave caught the Christmas bpirit by now and I hope that ~,~is a very spe- cial, one for each of our read- ers. ~\ HOwever, I also want each of you to remember that ff you don~ catch the Christmas spirit, there can be conse- quences. I mean, you may be rudely awakened in the mid- die of the night and have to put up with three ghosts or '~something ~d you really wouldn~ want that tohappen. So, things would be bet- ter off if you started spread: ing a little Christmas cheer right now. You can never tell, Santa may be watching. So swale, enjoy Christmas and just forget about the bad. PAGE 4-A - HOGANSVlLLE HOME NEWS - T AY, DEC. 16, 2004 You Never Sit in the Living Room THE HOGA~NSVILLE HOMZ N~WS is published weekly by the Star-Mc~ury Publi~ing Company, a division ofCn-imes PuMic~ons, at 305 i Roosevelt Highway, Manchester, Georgia 31816. USPS 620-040. Subscription rams by mail: $20 in Troup. Harris or Meriwether Counties; $24 a year elsewhere. Prices include all sales taxes, Periodical postage paid at Hogansvill¢, Georgia 30230.Single copy 50¢. F0n sv~ call (706) 846-3188 or write to ~mladon Manager, Star Mercu~ Publications, P. O. Box 426, Manchester, Georgia 31816. POSTMASrta~: Send address changes to P. O. Box 426, Hogansvill¢, GA 30230. STArt Publisher and Editor ........................ .................................................. John Kukyenda]l Advertising Director .................................................................................. Laurie Lewis Associate Editor ................................................................................... Clial Claybrook Assistant Editor .................................................................................... Rob PAchardson StaffWriters .......................................................................... Bryan Geter, Billy Bryant " Composition .............................. Dewayne Flowers, Robert Wcems, Gad Youngblood Circulation Manager ........ i .................................................................. Tracy Lynn Wyatt Press Manager. ................................................................................ Wayne Grochowski Pressroom Assistants ..................................... Zaddie Dixon,Darnell McCauley Mailroom Distribution ......... . ..................................................................... David Boggs Com~oRA~x Omcus President ............................................................................................. MiHard B. Grimes Vice President... ..................... ~ ........................................................ Chario~ S. Grimes Executive Vice President and Secretary ........................................ Laura Grimes Cofer Treasurer ...................................................................................... Kathy Grimes Gatrea Legal Coun,~l and As~slant Sectary.....,. ...................................... James S. Grimes We bought a small house in Atlanta and a Naugahyde couch and chair and ottoman, and we furnished our living room with some delightful Spanish-style furniture that was on sale at the Big Red Furniture Barn. They also threw in a large portrait of a bullfighter, which we hung on the wall in the living room. There is a point in every man's life when he thinks that owning a portrait of a bull- fighter makes him a connois- seur of fine art. Later, how- ever, when he notices that portraits of bullfighters are often sold out of the backs of panel trucks on the side of the road, he realizes there is absolutely nothing tackier than a portrait of a bullfight- er. There is also a point in a man's life when he doesn't understand about living rooms and living room furni- ture. Women are born, it would appear, with the knowl- edge that living rooms and living room furniture are to be seen and not sat upon. '~VHY DONq" WE go into the living room and sit on our new furniture and admire the portrait of the bullfighter?" I once suggested to Paula. She recoiled in horror. "Nobody sits in the living room unless they have com- pany," she said. "Everybody knows that." I didn~ know that. "That's why we bought the Naugahyde couch and chair and ottoman for the den," she explained further. I didn~ know that either. "When we have special company," Paula went on, "I'll take the plastic covers off the living room furniture and we'll sit out there." "Special company," I also would learn, means the visi- tors must be no lower than a member of Congress or the Cabinet. Becoming an adult for the first time offers the opportu- nityto learn all sorts of other things, too. I learned about life insurance salesmen, for instance. There were times when they waited in line out- side my door in order to point out that I was going to die, and that I needed to leave my wife with a bundle of money. It had never occurred to me that I might actually die one day, and it also seemed a bit absurd to pour monthly pay- ments into a deal that was designed to pay off only if I got run over by a truck. Insurance salesmen, how- ever, are very shrewd. They realize that most men think buying life insurance - designed to make their wives filthy rich after they're gone - is a little bit ridiculous. But they also know how to put a man in a corner. They know that if a man refuses to buy life insurance, it's an indica- tion to his wife that he does- n~t care about her well-being after he's gone. WHAT LIFE insurance salesmen do is, they sit down with a man and his wife and say things like, "Buying life insurance is a way of saying you love somebody else more than you love yourself." Life insurance salesmen also say to the husband, q khow you will want to make certain Hilda is well taken care of after you're gone." The trap is then set. To suggest that after you're gone, she can sell the fighter portrait and live off the proceeds, tells your wife that there are limits to your affection and dedication for her, and a great deal of screaming and crying will ensue. What a man does to avoid this, then, is buy the life insurance policy and realize for the first time that he did- n~ just promise to love, honor and obey until death did him part from his beloved; he also promised to keep her in silks and the latest appliances after his demise as well. ...to be ~ neJa BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT wrrH HIS WIDOW, DEDRA, THE HOME NEWS IS CARRYING ~- ED COLUMNS BY THE ~ LEWIS GRIZZARD, WHO GgEW UP IN NFAR- BY MORELAND, AND BECAME TEflg MOST WIDELY READ GF..ORGIA wRrrl~ OF HIS TIM~ ~ BOOKS AND TAP~ AR~ STILL AVAII~ Alg.~FORSALETHROUGH BAD BOOT PRODUCTIONS, P.O. BOX 191266, ATLAN~ GA 31118-1266 AND AT BOOK AND MUSlC STORES NATION- WIDE. Suicide Still Under Investigation In response to the lack of or improper information given during a support rally held in Grantville on Dec. 12, Chief Jerry Ramos would like to inform the communi- ty that there is no fear, racial tension or problems within our community '~o my knowledge", simply the trag- ic death of Bernard Burden on Oct. 13. Furthermore, the involvement of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation came at the request of Chief Ramos on Oct. 14 due to the lack of an investigator with- in the department and in an effort to thoroughly investi- gate the death. The GBI is a state law enforcement agency that specializes in "investigations and Pete Skandalakis District Attorney's Office is a political government office staffed with attorneys and sworn investigators charged with prosecuting cases. Since their involvement they have reviewed incident reports, coroner or crime lab reports and we have investi- gated all tips, allegations or theories, but have not found any evidence that would sug- gest anything other than sui- cide. We do know that on Oct. 8, Bernard Burden was arrested and transported to the Coweta County jail where he had previously made sui- cide threats and was placed under a suicide watch. Furthermore, Bernard Burden was upset with his girlfriend and feared that his probation status would be affected by the arrest. • WE ALSO KNOW that the second most common suicide method for men is hanging. Historically, African Americans have had much lower rates of suicides corn- pared to white Americans. However, the rates for African American males have begun to rise at a much faster rate than their white counterparts. The number of suicides by hanging or other forms of suffocation, meanwhile, rose among young people from 1992 to 2001. Such methods of suicides - including use of belts, ropes or plastic bags - rose from 96 to 163 in that period among youngsters. Among black males aged 15- 19 years, firearms use accounted for 72% of sui- cides, followed by strangula- tion (20%). The Grantville Police Department, Mrs. Pless, NAACP and Special Agent Duren have maintained con- tact throughout the investi- gation and have worked dili- gently to resolve the case. We are doing everything we are supposed to do and we are doing it properly. Be assured that ff any evidence is dis- covered that something other than smcade the Grantvifle Police Department and the GBI will do their part to bring those to justice. THEDEPARTMENT will not taint the case or create an illusion that foul play'was a factor based on racial dif- ferences, political motiva- tions, rallies or protest. We will continue to focus solely on the facts we have at hand and investigate the case thor- oughly. 50 Years Ago,,, Inthe Hogansville Herald ~tothe~HemeNem~ • TRAGEDY- The front page of the Dec. 16, 1954 Hog~sville Hemld carried the sad news of • a 9-year-old boy injured by an exploding hand grenade. "While playing with some of his little Mends, Virgil Brooks&ire of Boozer Street found a live dem- otitio~ bomb wh~h he accident~ ly set off, btowing the palm of his hand oil7 MUVENK~ ~ENCY - A natiooal problem hacl surfaced in Hogansv~. "Culprits have com- mitted a number of serious crim- inal acts in this area, and they have practically all been teenagers." Recent atrocities included sand poured into gas tanks, v dows brok atthe hh]h scho , g ve c -r art- ments, money stolen from school locker rooms and a dwelling burned down. The paper noted, is am appa to the average ci~izon? at tt,~ Royal Theatre included "The Egg and I," `catt~ Queen of Montana" - starnng Ron~ld Reagan ; "Bait," ~New Frontier," "About Mrs. keslie"and'Woman's World." *TOYS 0F ~HIE 50~ - The ad for the Economy Auto toyland fea- tured some of the hot items want- ed by 1954 youngsters: The Cindy Strutter walking doll, the Planet Patrol gun and holster, Lionel Traim - with a free angin~es haU - and a Ramar of the Jungle play- set.