Whenever I look and listen at what is going on in our world today, I could be alarmed. The news tells us about the turmoil between one country and another to the point of a possible world war. Then we go to the grocery store where prices have skyrocketed although our paychecks and pensions a…
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My colleagues and I passed out more than 50 bills and resolutions on crossover day. We continued to convene on the House floor throughout the week, where we heard Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael P. Boggs deliver the State of the Judiciary address.
Why is history important? I have to admit that I believe I am now wiser than I was when I was younger. As an elementary and high school student, I despised all the history lessons I was required to sit through. I paid no attention to the teachers and could not understand their enthusiasm. Wh…
The Senate convened March 13 to begin the tenth week of the 2023 Legislative Session. We are inching closer to Sine Die on March 29, which is the final legislative day and final day for bills to be passed by both the Senate and the House. The Senate successfully passed multiple House bills t…
Hello, neighbors. This week I want to spend some time thinking about our fair land, Madison County. Landlocked. Mid-Piedmont. We do have portions of the Broad River, one of the few remaining free-flowing rivers in the state. Otherwise, Madison County is a fairly unremarkable portion of Georg…
I met the pretty Wicked Witch of the West on my first day at Mainstreet Newspapers on Halloween 1996. We married seven years later.
Winter is behind us, well, at least that is what the calendar tells us. The first day of spring is officially March 20, 2023. The temperature is cold one day and warm the next. This is always a sure sign spring is around the corner. It also signifies the end of the third quarter for students…
Dear Editor: President Biden’s budget plan advances a vision of the United States based on the idea that the government should invest in workers, families, and infrastructure to increase the purchasing power of those on the demand side of the economy.
Dear Editor: The State Bar of Georgia extends condolences to the family, colleagues and many friends of longtime Northern Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge George H. Bryant on his passing at the age of 94.
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In Commerce, a dispute is raging about the future of that town’s recreation department and whether or not the city should have the county recreation system take over the town’s rec programs.
“He’s always working,” were the words that came out of my mouth whenever a friend and I discussed God suddenly working in a situation where we have been and continue to pray. I continued, “Even when I can’t see that You’re working; Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working; You never stop: Y…
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Hello, neighbors. Considering the time of year, I want to share a poem that grows in relevance as the coming days bring about more and more change.
Telephone — there’s a word you don’t hear any more. That little “piece-o-toast” looking device that you carry around with you everywhere you go is now called a “phone.” If you want to know something, look on your phone, which, as you probably know, is much more than a telephone. Some of you …
If you’re like me, as spring approaches, you suddenly find that life gets a whole lot busier. And a lot of that busy life – outside of jobs, kids and other daily responsibilities – gets crammed into the weekend. As the weather warms, days get longer and the sun shines, you begin to pick back…
The balmy temperatures of last weekend allowed for a respite on my back patio which led to a memorable flashback to a late spring trip several years ago to a nice address in the city of Conques in France’s Southern Pyrenees.
My colleagues and I returned to the Gold Dome on Monday, March 6, Legislative Day 28, otherwise known as Crossover Day. Crossover Day is the deadline for legislation to be passed out of its chamber of origin to remain eligible for consideration to become law this year. My House colleagues an…
A bill is currently making its way through the Georgia Legislature that has good intentions, but is fraught with logistical and ethical problems.
Some of my earliest memories are of the family events, which always happened every year, at the same time and pretty much at the same place. Setting aside Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, this was a family event that was almost sacred. I think I had mentioned before ab…
If you’re home when the power goes out, it’s good that you know where the furniture is so you don’t stumble into it. There’s context to everything in your house. You need to know where the fuse box is in your home. You know if the washer and dryer are near collapse. You need a plan of how to…
Crossover Day was March 6 and the Senate worked hard to ensure that legislation is being moved through committees and onto the Senate Floor before Monday’s deadline.
Hello, neighbors. Last week, I had the good fortune to enjoy a recurring scene for several mornings on the back playground at Ila Elementary. “Here we go — he’s talking about the playgrounds at school again.” No tree banter this time, although some of the sweetgums started to show early sign…
After the second-warmest January and February on record, it should be little surprise that we have had our warmest winter on record here in Madison County.
As a follow-up to my Sept. 2022 submission regarding Braselton’s finances, I remain firm in the belief that Braselton’s Town Council has no intent or desire to impose property taxes. We continue to look for other solutions to manage the growing needs of our Town.
Dear Editor:My recommendation to the City of Hoschton leadership considering dividing the city into council districts is that I support the three proposed city council districts which were drawn up by the state's general assembly executive office based on population density with the exceptio…
Of course, I occasionally encounter rudeness in folks. Usually, I’m in a bubble of some kind when I’m jolted right out of it by rudeness or, in some cases, as Mama would say, “Downright meanness.”
My colleagues and I went straight to work on Tuesday, Feb. 21, to ensure that good, sound legislation could pass before the clock runs out.
The lawsuit from an elections voting machine company against Fox News for defamation has created a difficult dilemma for the rest of the nation’s media.
From when the young actress portraying Tina Turner first took the stage belting out praise music in her church, you knew the super star she was portraying was destined for a life in the lights.
It was like a testimony service at a revival during the citizen comments at the beginning of a recent Lula City Council meeting. I honestly felt the Holy Spirit in that room, and I knew without a doubt several people in the “congregation” were called by God for such a time as this.
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Dear Editor:
When I was growing up in the 1950s, I spent a lot of time around places where old men gathered, shared stories, smoked whatever they had and often whittled something out of a piece of wood. I think it may be a lot like the groups you see in the mornings at the McDonalds scattered across Nort…
If I get stuck contemplating current events, money, health or my children’s future in a wobbly world, then my face will show it. I won’t look happy.
Hello, neighbors. I think my least-favorite time of day is seven minutes before my alarm goes off, and I am wide awake. Or, maybe I love that time of day, as I can’t seem to wait for it to happen at least five out of the five days of a workweek. Even on the rare occasion when I let my alarm …
“Crossover Day,” March 6, is rapidly approaching for the Georgia General Assembly.
SAVANNAH – The patriarch of the Uga dynasty experienced a milestone birthday last weekend and sure didn’t look and act his age as he was welcomed into the nonagenarian society.
(Editor’s note: Some words are not misspelled but authentic Appalachian words such as ‘heared.’)Tink enjoys looking out a window to see me meandering through the yard, talking to imaginary people.
Crossover Day is March 6 and the Senate is hard at work to vote legislation out of committees so that it may have a chance on the Senate floor and move over to the House before the deadline passes.
This year’s Black History Month comes amid an atmosphere where some politicians want to whitewash the nation’s history (pun intended.)
OK, here’s a dumb thing I did. On a first date in college, I requested the hottest wings Loco’s could make. It was a ludicrously bad, spur-of-the-moment, first-date decision. Honestly, what sort of woman would fall for a man who thinks high-risk, gastric bravado is a good call in a “get-to-k…
Most of us never stop to think about where the elements of our every-day expressions come from. With a minimal amount of research and thought, I began to categorize some of the terms and phrases I was hearing every day. Soon it became apparent just how many “nautical” words and phrases we use.
The Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter (MOAS) took in a total of 122 dogs and cats in January. There were 108 adoptions, 94 transferred to rescues, and eight reclaimed by the owners for a total of 210 pets finding permanent homes or safe temporary homes. The shelter also had an additional 78 …
The Senate convened to begin our sixth week of the 2023 legislative session Feb. 13. Crossover day is getting closer and it was a busy week as we heard and voted on several bills on the Senate floor.
When Tink came South, toting all his worldly possessions, included in the myriad boxes were some of the ugliest shirts I’d ever seen.
Hello, neighbors. Every year around this time the words of My Morning Jacket’s song “Dondante” come to mind. For me, as is the case with most music, the song is about the sound more than the lyrics. However, when I hear Jim James holler, “You had me worried, so worried / That this would last…
Thursday, February 2, concluded the fourth week of the legislative as we completed legislative day 12 of 40. Committee meetings are in full swing as we continue to vet legislation under consideration. The most significant action taken this week was overwhelming passage of House Bill 18, the …
The phone call last Thursday was one that nobody wants to get.
All of us are confronted with those times we need to clear up something with a business or government agency, and simple answers can feel so far away as we enter certain bureaucratic twilight zones.
I imagine almost everybody has had some experience with making “movies” of their kids or some other life event. My first experience with movie making was with a Bell & Howell, 8mm manual (wind up) camera.
Hello, neighbors. Although I am central to the think-pieces appearing in this column, they aren’t really about me. Instead, the focus is on taking note of the good and influential things around me.
Probably to no one's surprise in our area, last month was the wettest January on record in Madison County since my records began in 1982.
For many years, I enjoyed a friendship with a French sportswriter by the name of Denis Lalanne, who wrote for L’Equipe, (The Team), a daily sports paper based in Paris.
The Senate convened to begin our fifth week of the session Feb. 6. The pace has started to speed up as the Senate heard and voted on a number of bills both on the Senate floor and in committees. As we rapidly approach Crossover Day, the Senate is operating full steam ahead to ensure all nece…
With more than a month of session behind us, the pace has certainly picked up. More bills made their way out of their respective committees and we saw the passage of several House bills that impact Georgia’s infrastructure, roadways and transportation laws. The following bills have passed th…
Dear Editor:As a parent, long-time Braselton resident and former small-business owner, I know that investing in our children and their educational opportunities is the future of Jackson, Gwinnett, Hall and Barrow counties.
In our kitchen, the large round table is often embarrassingly messy, covered with mail, packages, newspapers, and magazines.
By Sen. Frank Ginn
Monday, January 30, marked the start of the fourth week of the 2023 legislative session. Several House committees met throughout the week to consider legislation, including the House Rules Committee, which determines what bills should be debated and voted on the House floor, once bills have …
A murder in Jackson County from 1971 has never been solved, but it recalls an era in Northeast Georgia that probably seems like another world to those who weren't around to at the time.
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