opinions
This & That — By Tommy Purser
Altamaha Bank will sponsor an Elder Fraud Forum Lunch and Learn at Southside Baptist Church Family Life Center next Wednesday at 11:00 (lunch) and 11:30 (forum). Some time back, the son of a local senior citizen came to my office to speak to me. His father, a senior citizen here in Jeff Davis County, had…
Read MoreGHSA Does It Again — By Tommy Purser
The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) has done it again. The Association tried, once again, to shoot itself in the foot. The bullet missed, hit a mud puddle, splashed up mud, and the Association is left, once again, with mud on its face. Why the GHSA can’t rule high school sports without fumbling the football…
Read MoreA Punch In The Gut — By Tommy Purser
You young mothers and fathers out there, listen up. When I and the good wife were a young father and mother, the precious little baby we were blessed with changed our lives forever for the better. What a blessing. What a responsibility. We worked hard, the good wife and I, to meet the expectations of…
Read MoreNo Compromise — by John Reed
No Compromise Whenever I spoke to coaches while I was teaching, I was struck how their particular field affected their mindset in other areas. Every game, every sport, they’re faced with a binary decision: their team either won the game or they lost. There was no middle ground, and that often played into their classroom…
Read MoreWho’s In Charge? — By John Reed
This perennial question is at the root of just about every political debate we have ever had in this country. The framers of the Constitution spent much of their time laying out the relationships between Congress, the judiciary, and the executive branches. The power of the federal government versus the states is hotly contested even…
Read MoreWe Need Change — By Tommy Purser
I went to last night’s meeting of the Jeff Davis County Republican Party because three candidates for the office of Mayor of Hazlehurst were going to be there to speak. And I must say, all three of them — John Ramay, John Bloodworth and Laneka Smith — represented themselves well. The last time I went…
Read MoreThose Who Forget The Past …. — By Tommy Purser
At last week’s meeting of the Jeff Davis County Commission, each commissioner present was given a questionnaire with the introductory line, “Many of our Jeff Davis Republican Party members would like to know where our local elected officials stand on important issues. So, in the public interest of transparency we respectfully request your reply to…
Read MoreGod Works In Mysterious Ways — By Tommy Purser
We said our last goodbyes to the good wife’s brother this week. It was a sad time but not an unexpected time. We knew it was coming. Dementia …. alzheimers …. whatever it was — there are few things pleasant about the condition. But let me share a kind of silver lining in the dark…
Read MoreShenanigans At City Hall — By Tommy Purser
Sometimes I just want to throw my hands up and give up. Just quit worrying. I worry about things too much. I worry about how our city and county and, to a lesser extent, our school system are functioning. And I worry about the fact that my worrying makes me an outlier. No one else…
Read MoreTalking About The Weather — By John Reed
Talking about the weather Many readers know that I grew up in Florida. During my time there, I developed a healthy dislike of beaches, tourists, snowbirds, and the Mouse that ate Orlando. During the same time, I grew fond of fresh picked citrus, fresh water fishing, and Florida State University. Despite the law of averages,…
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