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Editorial
The Banks County News
June 28, 2000
Have a safe and
happy July 4 holiday
The sky will light up with fireworks Tuesday night in Homer when
the annual July 4 celebration is held.
Businesses and individuals, along with the city, have provided
the funds to make this night possible. They are to be commended
for working for a town celebration that can be enjoyed by everyone.
This time of year, the night skies also often light up with illegal
fireworks. Remember that not only is this illegal in Georgia,
it is dangerous.
Children, and even adults, have been injured while setting off
these explosives. Let's leave the fireworks to those who know
how to handle them and have a safe July 4.
Column
By
Drew Brantley
The Banks County News
June 28, 2000
Addresses label
schools as
much as mascots, colors
The summer heat slows down the pace every
year.
The easiest thing to concentrate on is not thinking too much.
With that thought, I took another look at the schools in the
Georgia High School Association.
Having already talked about the mascots and colors that intrigued
me, I started to look at schools' addresses to see what seems
right and wrong.
The first thing that I noticed was the problem the state of Georgia
has with its cities and counties. I don't really care where Decatur
County is. But I would like the city of Decatur to be somewhere
near it. Why are there just a handful of counties and cities
that match in Georgia? Other states seem to have done a good
job of lining this up.
Clayton County is not near Clayton city. Jackson is not near
Jackson County. Jefferson is not near Jefferson County.
Why can't this make better sense? Well, some things about high
schools come together nicely.
Several schools are located on their own mascot's street. The
Richmond Hill Wildcats can be found at #1 Wildcat Drive. The
Ringgold Tigers are on Tiger Trail. The Starr's Mill Panthers
are on Panther Path.
There are plenty more, but those examples tell the story well
enough.
Those names took a little creativity. But other schools took
apparent painstaking efforts not to stretch their minds on coming
up with an address.
West Laurens High is on West Laurens School Road. But the winner
of the least effort into naming a street must be shared. Milton
and Lumpkin County are on both a street named School Drive. Kind
of rolls off the tongue with a resounding thud.
Other schools are located on streets that were made famous in
other cities.
Colquitt County is on Park Avenue. Savannah High is on Pennsylvania
Avenue. But that should not be confused with Atlanta's Washington
High on Whitehouse Drive.
Pike County High seems to be a rough place to visit, located
on Old Meansville Road. But, then Berkmar rests on Pleasant Hill
Road. Ridgeland rides high on Happy Valley Road. Hephzibah welcomes
all on Brothersville Road. Trion and Mt. Paran are both on Allgood
Street.
Dalton boys walk tall, knowing they go to school on Manly Street.
Greenforest Academy shines brightly on Rainbow Drive. Screven
County alumni are able to reflect back on their Halcyondale Road
days in Sylvania.
Marietta inspires success on Winn Street. Several schools share
Victory Drive.
Though I'm not sure what to make of Lafayette's Round Pound Road
address.
Woodland and Cass are two high schools in Cartersville. But Woodland
is on Cassville Road. Sounds like Cass owns Woodland.
Pierce County High students seem to do hard time on County Farm
Road in Blackshear.
On the other end, Temple High should raise wise students on Sage
Street.
Chattooga is on Lyerly Highway, or maybe it's not.
Make sure to adhere to the speed limit in Gray when driving past
Jones County High on Cumslo Road.
Maybe a name is just a name. An address is just an address. Just
things to think about as the summer creeps along.
Drew Brantley is the sports editor for The Commerce News and
The Banks County News.
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Column
By
Angela Gary
The Banks County News
June 28, 2000
A tale of two
cats and one tail
Quincy lazily walks through the house, stretching and yawning.
He is the king of the house. He does whatever he wants to, whenever
he wants to. He doesn't appear to know that he is a cat. He is
in charge. Everyone caters to him and pets him. He is spoiled.
Suddenly, a flash of fur bounces into the room and onto Quincy's
back. The funny little ball of gray fur is on his backriding
him like a pony. Quincy is furious. He growls and slaps the little
pest to get him to go away. This excites the small cat, who thinks
Quincy is ready to play and joyfully slaps him back.
In minutes, the two are rolling around on the floor. Quincy is
mad that someone has dared to invade his domain. The small kitten
is ecstatic that the big cat is finally playing with him instead
of ignoring him and looking down at him in disgust.
Unfortunately, the above scenario is a common occurrence at the
Gary household. We haven't had more than one cat in the house
at a time in years and had no plans to change. We also had decided
we couldn't take a kitten to the shop behind our house because
two new puppies had claimed it and they probably wouldn't get
along too well with a small kitten. God apparently had another
plan, as he sent this adorable little kitten to our home unexpectantly
one Sunday morning.
The kitten had got caught in the truck of a man who stopped by
to see my Dad. It came out of the truck yowling with its tail
in a bloody mess. I took it out to the shop. We fed it and thought
it would probably get better. Instead, the tail turned black
and looked infected.
A trip to the vet brought the news that the kitten would lose
its tail. It was more traumatic for me than him. He doesn't seem
to notice that he doesn't have a tail. However, he is fascinated
with Quincy's tail and often grabs ahold of it and lets the big
cat drag him through the house. Needless to say, Quincy doesn't
find this amusing.
When I brought the kitten home from the vet, I took it back to
the shop and left it. I thought it would be OK, but the dogs
kept picking at it. Since it was still weak from losing the tail,
we brought it to the house "temporarily" for it to
recover. I put it in the sunroom where we would keep it. We weren't
going to let it into Quincy's territory.
I named the kitten, who I had been calling "baby boy,"
Socks because of the white fur around its feet. Socks is adorable
and I spent a lot of time visiting him in the sunroom. Whenever
I left, he would cry and cry. He eventually started coming out
for short visits. This is when he became fascinated with the
big cat. Quincy didn't return his adoration and gives me an evil
look every time I let Socks out for a bit.
The plan was to return Socks to the shop when he got his strength
back. Of course, we are all so attached to him now that we want
him to stay. The only problem is that Quincy doesn't like cats.
I keep hoping that he will enjoy being a "pony" and
giving Socks a ride around the house. I have a feeling that he
is going to kick me out to the shop soon if I don't get rid of
the new addition to the family. Until then, I will continue to
referee.
Angela Gary is associate editor of The Jackson Herald and
editor of The Banks County News.
Letter
The Banks County News
June 28, 2000
Urges readers to
pray for rain
Dear Editor:
I have an opinion request for us all in Jackson County and the
surrounding counties. Our God is a loving God and meets our needs
if we come to him in prayer. But it is up to each one of us to
ask.
So if you would, and to all in all our churches and at home or
work, whatever your way of talking to Jesus, let's all pray for
life-giving rain in our area to break this drought to help our
farmers and to bring our streams and lakes back up.
Sincerely, J.E. Gray, Maysville
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