|
Column
By
Drew Brantley
The Banks County News
September 20, 2000
Bad times will
become good memories soon
Sometimes you catch the ball. Sometimes
you drop the ball. Sometimes you drop the ball, and it breaks
into a million pieces with such force that they blow away into
a tornado that levels the entire countryside. But as long as
the ball is in the air, you've got a chance to catch it.
It is funny how little I think about the worst things I have
done. I have thoroughly covered all those unfortunate actions
I have taken. Nothing can change them. What I dwell on the most
are the little things that I did wrong.
Take the time I told a joke about a three-fingered waitress to
a person who was born with a birth defect and had deformed hands.
Now in the long run, it was an uncomfortable moment, but it didn't
really matter. Yet, these are the things that keep me awake at
night.
The pass I dropped as a high school freshman in the last regular
season game of the year. We were up by four touchdowns in the
fourth quarter when the coach put me in. It didn't matter that
I missed it. But I know I could have caught it.
But the real mistakes that I have made in life get a passing
thought every few years. I suppose that's the way we have to
be. If all we did was dwell on the worst parts of ourselves,
we could never function.
On the other side of regret are the things we never got around
to. Someone once told me that we shouldn't regret the things
we do. He said only regret what you don't do. I don't know if
that is completely true. But it is partly so.
I think I could have had a decent career as a singer, if I had
only had lessons when I was younger. If I had built on that training,
I think I had enough natural talent to do something. Now, I can
not embarrass myself in church or singing the national anthem
at a ballgame. I don't really want to be a singer. I really didn't
want to be a singer when I was young.
But I still have regrets that I never tried to be one.
Recently, I have felt like every football on the bus has been
thrown at me. It seems that everything important is unsettled
to the point of being near disaster. A few months from now it
will not seem so, I'm sure. But that doesn't mean that this is
a good time.
I feel very much like trying to decide which plates to set on
the table after I have thrown the entire cupboard into the air.
But what I have learned is to start with one of the objectives
and move on.
I got my measurements in to the tailor for my tuxedo to be used
in my brother's wedding on the last possible day to do so. I
have the loan application in.
I have just about packed up everything to move out of my apartment.
I am up on a one-ton paperweight at the junkyard and down one
friend.
Some of the balls are down. If I get anywhere close to touching
some of them, I might escape with some amount of sanity. Maybe.
Drew Brantley is the sports editor for The Commerce News and
The Banks County News.
|
Column
By Shar
Porier
The Banks County News
September 20, 2000
The 'I hate to
cook' reporter
One of the nice things about being a reporter
is getting to eat out... a lot!
Now, I could eat at home before an assignment, or pack a lunch,
but where's the fun in that?
It's much more enjoyable to find an out-of-the-way place and
check out their food. Besides, then I don't have to CLEAN UP
THE MESS!
I guess that's my biggest gripe about cooking. The clean-up.
Because, actually, I rather enjoy acting "chefly" now
and then. It's just having to wash all those dishes and pans.
(No, I don't have a dishwasher. But, I do have a dog that's a
great pot cleaner - should have named her "Brillo."
She can clean out baked-on cheese from a casserole without a
single scratch to the pot. Amazing!)
Now, there are very few places to eat that aren't part of a chain
in our county. And I like to find the out-of-the-way spots that
cater to the locals.
In Maysville, one afternoon, I stopped in at "The Fish House."
One would think that fish would be served in a place called "The
Fish House." But not only was there no fish on the menu,
there was no menu - unless you count the poster on the kitchen
door.
It's a quaint old place. A wall full of family photos greets
you as you enter. Long cracks in the walls. You can tell the
floor has had many feet tromping over it through the years.
It's a help-yourself-kind-of-place. You get your own coffee,
tea, soft drink. I liked that part. Get my own coffee when I
wanted to without having to catch a waitress's attention.
Lots of locals come to eat there. And as I found out, people
from many places, even as far away as Toccoa, have found their
way to the little restaurant in the little town.
There was a buffet of various buffet-type foods set up. People
going through the line filling up their plates.
I ordered off the "door." The waitress who brought
my sandwich was the owner's wife. And to my complete amazement,
she told me the cook was his 84-year-old mother.
Here I was complaining about cooking, and a little old lady is
out in the kitchen making my sandwich!
Then a thought crossed my mind, one that I had almost forgot.
A daydream about having my own little café. A place that
had two floors. Downstairs would be the cafe and upstairs would
be living quarters. Just a little place where folks could come
and have a good meal, a healthy meal.
I tried to imagine myself in the kitchen. The image my mind conjured
up that afternoon wasn't as pleasant as the dream I'd had years
ago. It wasn't a pretty sight. Hair askew, flour on my face,
smoking burgers on the grill, swollen feet, smart remarks from
the dishwasher who came in late, and 20 little tickets stuck
on a wheel that meant 20 orders to fill...
I decided that it was probably a good thing I had forgotten it.
Some things are better left as daydreams.
Allene, you have my respect. How you manage to do what you do
at your age is remarkable. And, by the way, good sandwich!
Shar Porier is a reporter for The Banks County News.
Editorial
The Banks County News
September 20, 2000
Road requests to
BOC change
"Improve our roads" has been
the demand that members of the board of commissioners in Banks
and other counties have heard for decades.
Citizens have complained about dirt roads, roads in need of gravel,
safety concerns on roads and similar problems for years. Commissioners
have had to juggle money for the road department and improve
these roads as they could. Paving and road improvements are costly
and it takes time for a county to cover everything that is needed.
This situation has changed somewhat in Banks County over the
last few months. The commissioners have actually been met with
cries of "Leave our road alone...Don't make any improvements
to our road." This is quite a reversal of the usual demands
the commissioners are hit with concering roads.
It appears as if residents of at least two county roads would
rather drive on roads in need of improvements rather than have
the changes made and growth come to their neighborhood. The residents
are so afraid that subdivisions or other similar growth will
come that they would rather drive on dirt or even unsafe roads.
Some people apparently value their rural quality of life more
than they do a newly paved or improved road. This leaves the
commissioners in a dilemma. Whose needs come first? The general
rule should be that the safety of the traveling public comes
before anything else. A road with an unsafe curve or other obstacles
should be improvedregardless of what will come after it
is upgraded.
|
