opinions
GHSA should create a level playing field — By Tommy Purser
The Georgia High School Association (GHSA), as usual, can get few things right. Consider that Jeff Davis High’s baseball team has all its players living in Hazlehurst or Lumber City. By contrast, the Yellow Jackets’ state playoff opponent North Cobb Christian School has two players from Kennesaw, four from Marietta, three from Powder Springs, one…
Read MoreNice Guys Finish Last — By John Reed
Nice guys finish last Not since Lincoln‘s first election in 1860 have we seen the kind of polarization sweeping the country these days. Steven Douglas, a Democrat, won the slave states… many of which seceded before Lincoln‘s inaugural in March of that year. At the time, Abe was seen as a genial backwoods type, vastly…
Read MoreWill’s Beekeeping — By Tommy Purser
The community is full of excitement these days for favorite son Will Moseley who, this week, was chosen to be among the final seven in the 2024 competition for American Idol. This Sunday the group will be pared down further and you can bet thousands of Jeff Davis County citizens, along with millions across the…
Read MoreRich Protesters — By John Reed
Rich Protesters So it looks like we’re going to have another “summer of discontent.“ My generation remembers the late 60’s when protests for civil rights and against the Vietnam war flared up across the country. Then, as now, college campuses were the focal points. Then, as now, it seems the higher the tuition, the louder…
Read MoreKeeping things in perspective — By John Reed
Keeping things in perspective Last week’s total eclipse of the sun allowed millions of Americans a rare view of celestial mechanics. The moon’s shadow crisscrossed the nation from Texas to Maine, bringing temporary darkness to people in all walks of life. Rich or poor, black, white, yellow, or brown, urban or rural. Susie and I…
Read MoreAbsence of zoning hurts our community — By Tommy Purser
I remember well a time in the late 1970s — or maybe it was the early 1980s — when I was covering a county commission meeting …. something I’ve done in Jeff Davis County for more than 50 years. The late Cicero Fowler was chairman of the commission and the late Charlie Carter represented what…
Read MoreBad City Council Decisions — By Tommy Purser
I got a message on my phone Monday at 7:09 a.m. from someone but I don’t know who it was. It said, “Another wreck at Broxton Rd. and Bell St. just happened. Two within five days.” Later that morning, I went to my physical therapy appointment and there was a lady there who had been…
Read MoreOn Witnessing An Accident — By Tommy Purser
I was driving out Coffee Street in the left lane Thursday on my way to the Jeff Davis-Dodge County baseball game in Eastman. As I passed Coleman Tire and Auto, I quickly glanced into my rearview mirror as I approached the traffic light at the Dairy Queen. When my eyes returned to the road, I…
Read MoreBack To Therapy — By Tommy Purser
Well, I’m back in theraphy again and I get to see some friends I don’t get to see all that often so it’s kinda nice. There are a lot of my friends of my age who are also in therapy. The exercises leave my legs weak but that will get better as time passes. We’re…
Read MoreLittle Things Matter — By John Reed
Little Things Matter We’ve all seen the phrase “don’t sweat the small stuff.” The idea is that if you take care of small things, they don’t become bigger things. Years ago, that philosophy was adopted into crime prevention as the “broken windows” initiative. Adopted in New York as well as other cities, the idea was…
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