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Editorial
The Banks County News
May 10, 2000
BCHS deserves new
gym floor
Banks County Board of Education chairman
Don Shubert was on the mark when he said a new gym floor is needed
at the high school. It's too late to point fingers over who is
too blame, but it obviously is not the fault of the school system.
The opening of the $13 million facility is a milestone for the
countians who passed the special purpose local option sales tax
and helped to plan the facility. They deserve a facility that
can hold up and serve generations to come. They certainly deserve
better than a gym floor that is already cracking before the first
school year even ends.
Column
By Adam
Fouche
The Banks County News
May 10, 2000
 It's
time for a revolution
For too long now, the rules, the guidelines
and all the silly little regulations have ruled the society we
supposedly control. But, a new sun is breaking through the clouds
above society's decaying horizon. It's time to end our culture's
communist-inspired dress code rituals. A revolution is imminent.
I live in a democratic society founded on basic inalienable rights.
I have been given the right to dress how I want to dress. But
somehow, this society I live in has found a way to dictate who
I am and how I express myself. The time has come for a change.
The older generation of years ago that set the standards we now
live by has disintegrated. The guidelines are old and out of
date, and, frankly, I don't care for them. We must now make our
own rules and decide on new standards.
Sometimes, I want to wear shorts and a Hawaiian shirt to work.
But I can't. Society says it isn't acceptable attire in the workplace.
Why not? I'm wadding society's guidelines into a crumpled ball
and throwing them out my window.
I urge all you teenagers in school to revolt. For too long now
you have followed the orders of a Nazi-like regime that wishes
to create a generic pupil. It is unhealthy. It is wrong. And
as Americans, you shouldn't stand for it.
Take your dress code and tear it up. Burn it in the streets.
Throw it in the trash. Read it aloud on the steps of the school
and shout out to the world that you are not going to dress like
that anymore.
You may not think you can fight against a powerful education
system that attempts to poison your mind and destroy your individuality,
your creativity and your sense of self. But you can.
Tomorrow, when you go to school, ignore the dress code. Forget
the consequences. If you want to wear a tank top, do it. If you
want to wear short shorts, wear them. Our country was founded
on revolution and protest against what is seen as unfair, and
the time has now come to abolish the dress code.
Why must you dress to please others? Why can't you be yourself?
Why can't you control your own life? Nothing says you can't.
If you want it, go after it. Don't just sit there and let your
life be controlled. Take charge of yourself. Wear what you want
to wear.
If enough of you defy the dress code, the system will be powerless.
They won't be able to punish everyone. They won't be able to
send everyone home from school. They won't be able to stop you
all.
With enough protest and enough dissent, the rules will be changed.
Politicians don't like protest. If they hear it enough, they
will back down. They always have, and they always will. Their
position depends on public opinion.
Don't compromise your identity. Exercise your right as an American.
Show the government that they might not know what is best for
you. Show them that you don't always know what is right.
Defy them. Disobey them. Tell them to leave you alone. You will
be doing what is best; you will be doing what is right; and you
will be doing what is American. My children, your children, our
children will thank us.
We, as a young generation of new leaders, shouldn't have to live
by rules made in a society all too different from our own. It
is time for us to take our own reins and decide how we want to
live.
Adam Fouche is a reporter for MainStreet Newspapers.
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Column
By Jana
Adams
The Banks County News
May 10, 2000
 Things about my mother
I remember being astonished several years
ago when my mother told me she used to be shy and self-conscious.
I've always been pretty much an introvert, but I would never
have dreamed that my mother, Janet Adams, who knows so many people
and is involved in so many things, was ever shy around people
she didn't know.
She told me that when she was in her early 20s she was still
self-conscious enough to feel awkward about joining one of the
larger Sunday School classes at church.
I believe her, but I still really find it hard to believe.
But things change and people change. When my sister and I were
little, the four of us our parents and the two of us -
would go out to eat most Sundays after church. No matter what
restaurant, our mother would always find someone to talk to.
We joked about it and teased her about it and, OK, sometimes
sulked about it when we were ready to go home and she was still
talking.
In my mind it simply comes down to this. She likes people, and
she is good with them - and, more importantly, she is good for
them, through her work in education and her involvment in many
community groups.
I'm proud of my mother. She is well-known, but she is also well-respected
in both her profession and her community - the two don't always
go together, but they do in her case.
On a recent Saturday evening, my grandmother, my father and I
showed up at the annual Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce
banquet to sit with my mother and wait for her to be surprised
with an award, the William H. Booth Citizenship Award. She probably
realized something was up when my grandmother made an appearance;
she knew my father would be there with her and I had fibbed and
told her I would be covering the event for the paper.
She did get an award and had a lot of nice things said about
her. I'm used to her, since we've been around each other for
a while, so I know just how much she gets done for work, for
family and for others, all the time. But when I heard the list
of her accomplishments, all I could think was, Wow, she does
a lot.
How does she do it all? People ask me that, but I've lived with
her and I still don't really know. One thing she says is "I
love what I do," and I guess that's a good starting point.
And although she is a strong woman, she is also a caring one
who often puts others' needs first and worries about them. (Actually,
I'm glad that in the past few years she has learned to pamper
herself some, a trend I hope only increases in her "retirement.")
She is amazingly organized, practical and a hard "hands-on"
worker, but she is also a visionary, looking ahead for, as she
says, "the big picture."
Of course she is a big proponent of education - she came by that
honestly from her parents. And I think that because things weren't
always easy for her, she wants to help others, especially when
it comes to getting their education.
She instilled an appreciation of education in me and my sister,
repeating often that an experience is never wasted and is always
something to build on. She also encouraged us to be self-reliant,
part of which comes from being educated, but also in being able
to depend on ourselves.
As Grandmother and I drove home from the Chamber banquet, I thought
about how touched my mother was, how tears came to her eyes when
she was recognized. That was nice.
Grandmother spoke up, saying she was glad she had gone to see
"Janet" get an award.
"I guess she deserves most that she gets," she said.
I think so, too.
Jana Adams is features editor of The Jackson Herald.
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