February 21, 2018 Page 5A
Re orter
U-
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
by Don Daniel
0
lhave probably written this before so you might
want to turn the volume up because it is worth
repeating. A news reporter has a certain format
to write a, news story
with the lead 1Sara
graph answering the who,
what, when, where, how and
the hardest, why.
The "why" is the question
that will be bantered around
by every news pundit in an
attempt to arrive at a plau-
sible reason a student would
with malice and intent mur-
der 17 people.
Just moments after the "~ ,~/~
story '%roke" on national
television there was that
sound in the reporters' voices
and look in facial expressions
asking why. Closure for an event such as what trans-
pired at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland,
Fla will be a long time coming and the why will be as
elusive as the imagination creates.
Before the blood dried, the anti-gun fanaticals were
attempting to hog the news and their mantra of "do
something" will be beaten like a drum. I'm gonna
quote a Facebook posting: "In a DUI, we blame the
driver. In a bombing, we blame the bomber. In a shoot-
ing, we blame the gun?"
The future of our nation is in the hands and
minds of our young people. The 17 minds that were
destroyed will have an impact on our country's future.
A time of reasoning and above all, compassion is nec-
essary for their and our future to be a part of our his-
tory.
WILLIE NELSON'S "On The Road Again" is a
proper theme song for our county commissioners
now that they are going to be taking their "show" on
the road with the first being held at the city hall in
Culloden last night. Wonder if they had a Sheriff blue
light escort?
Besides making financial guarantees to the Monroe
County Hospital, just last month we paid over $5,000
to the hospital for inmate medical expenses.
NOW that our sheriff has been nominated as a U.S.
Marshal, an open race for the wanna-be sheriff for the
first time in just about forever, you might think there
will be no Bittick on the ballot but not this time
around.
UNBELIEVABLE that the producers of the new
Peter Rabbit movie felt they had to apologize over a
scene that seems to make tight of food allergies. It was
one of the funniest scenes in the movie. Regardless of
the apology, I recommend you see '[Peter Rabbit" and
'[Paddington". Both will restore or reignite your feel-
good feeling.
Going to a movie when I was growing up in Harrison
was a special treat, with the "movie houses" being
in Wrightsville and Sandersville, 20 miles away in
opposite directions. It was a Saturday afternoon treat.
The first Technicolor movie I remember was "Song Of
The South" based on Uncle Remus stories, written by
Joel Chandler Harris, who by the way, worked on the
newspaper, The Monroe Advertiser, in Forsyth. It was
a Walt Disney film.
Then there was one of my favorite books that was
read to me until I learned to read, "Little Black
Sambo". It was a story, and illustrated, about a young
Indian boy who outsmarts four tigers that threaten to
eat him he turns them into butter.
The reason I write about these two, I am sure if
"Little Black Sambo" and "Song of the South", were to
be re-released, there would be a segment of our society
that would condemn, march and boycott both on the
basis they were racist. Just like the "food allergist"
movie protestors.
THE OLDEST business still operating in Monroe
County is Castleberry Drug Company which was iden-
tiffed in The Question by Susan Parker. She gets a
certificate for a dozen Dunkin Donuts, Jonah's cookie,
two Lucky Caf egg rolls, Dairy Queen Blizzard,
Whistle Stop fried green tomato appetizer, Forsyth
Main Street t-shirt, The Pickled Okra sandwich, chips
and drink.
Here's The Question for this week: Who is Monroe
County's top speller according to a "Community 1C"
front page story? First correct answer after 12 noon on
Thursday gets the goody certificate.
IT IS being called a Special Election, but really it
is a vote for or against a special 1 percent sales tax
for transportation system (infrastructure) to be held
on May 22. Both Forsyth Mayor Eric Wilson and
Commission Chairman Greg Tapley are in favor of the
tax and actively campaigning for it to pass locally. So,
far there has been no vocal dissention by other mem-
bers of the council or commission.
The Mayor and Chairman are promoting five city/
county projects: Bridge replacement on Johnstonville
Road at Rocky Creek; West Main Side connection;
study of Forsyth truck bypass; Indian Springs/L. Cary
Bittick/GPSTC intersection improvement; Widening
and resurfacing Montpelier Road and Thornton Road.
UNDERSTAND a new business has opened up on
the square next to the Grits and had a by-invitation-
only "soft" opening on Friday night.
Along those same lines, a relatively new business,
Sage and Sparrow, will be hosting the Forsyth-Monree
County Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours
Thursday beginning at 5:30 at 19 E. Johnston St.
OF course you are going to be seeing and hearing
a lot about the Forsythia Festival, March 10-11. This
Saturday you can get your car "forsythiaed" at the
local Dairy Queen between 9 a.m. and noon.
Don Daniel founded the Reporter in 1972. Email him
at mediadr@bellsouth.net.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
O
To the editon in Forsyth" in the Feb. 14 paper
Will, I'm and I came to realize that, like
not sure if you myself, you really only want
remember me but what is best for Forsyth-Monroe
I just wanted to county as well as for America
a minute to herself. Mr. Will, I am a big
apologize to you sir. I know you enough man to admit when I'm
have no idea what for, so here it wrong so I would like to extend
is. I have held a grudge against my deepest apology to you. May
you for many years over some- God keep His hand over your
thing foolish and not worth men- family and business for as long
tioning. I have had ill feelings as 'you want it and thank you for
towards you thinking you would your newspaper, my Reporter.
print anything to sell newspa- I look forward to reading your
pers. However I read your On paper next week as I have every
the Porch column, "Papa John's week for I know the last 10
years. I hope you accept my apol-
ogy and God bless.
Bobby Bunn Jr.
Forsyth
Editor's note: Bobby, we are
not in the habit of getting letters
like this. It is much appreciated.
Thanks for your honesty and kind
words. Of course I forgive you
for whatever ill feelings you had.
We do sometimes have to print
things that make people mad but
we always welcome them back as
friends and readers.
To the editon
he Forsyth Woman's Club would like
thank our community for another
wonderful' Father-Daughter Dance, held
at Hubbard Elementary on Saturday,
Jan. 27. This was the llth year of this
event, and it would not have happened without the
support of many people and local businesses. We
would like to say a special thank you tb: Hubbard
Elementary/Mr. Jay Johnston, principal; United
Bank; Alexandra's Formal Wear; Southern Smiles;
Middle Georgia Realty/Mrs. Connie Ham; Mr.
Will Davis & The Monroe County Reporter; Dairy
Queen & Mr. Ronnie Daniel; Lt. Willie Brown;
Mr. Curtis Banks; Ms. Georgia Tarpley; Mr. Gary
Stark; MPHS Beta Club volunteers; MPHS Key
Club volunteers; Reflections Photography Studio/
Ms. Jan Hatten; Mr. Tommy Johnston and State
Farm
We would especially like to thank all the fathers
(or father figures) and daughters and everyone who
attended. We appreciate your support of this event.
The Forsyth Woman's Club is a service organiza-
tion whose goal is to work together to improve our
Jennifer
Club.
community. The money
raised through our
fundraising efforts goes
back to the community
in the form of scholar-
ships for local senior
girls and contributions
to local organiza-
tions that serve this
community and our
country. Scholarship
applications for the
2018 scholarship(s)
will be available soon.
Applicants should be
senior girls who reside
in Monroe County.
Thank you again,
Forsyth/Monroe County, for another wonderful
Father-Daughter Dance!
Jennifer Lackley
Forsyth
Lackley is a member of Forsyth Woman's
TAKING A LIKENS by Dale Likens
o you think you know
football. Well, I'm sure
many of you do, just like
the young man I spoke of
a Jew weeks back. But as
I said then, I need to be reminded
time and time again that I know
so tittle about football. But this
I do know. I know who
Dike Beede is. Do you?
I also know what Dike
Beede did to change foot-
ball as we now know foot-
ball today. Actually, I can
just picture a few women,
like my wife, saying, '~i
know! I know!"
Well, please let your
husbands think on this
question just a little while longer
before you sock it to them and
dance around the room celebrat~
ing. Let me give them a couple of
clues first.
Dike Beede coached many years
ago at the same university as
Jim Tressel, before Jim Tressel
coached at Ohio State University.
That's one clue. At what univer-
sity did both men once coach?
Okay! So many of you football
fanatics guessed that one. It was
the University of Youngstown in
Youngstown, Ohio. Give your-
selves an "A" on that one. But let's
get down to the actual question
{{
g
==:!
I asked. What did Dwight "Dike"
Beede do to change football as
we now know football? Well, here
is the answer. On Oct. 17, 1941,
Dwight '`Dyke" Beede introduced
the yellow flag we now see refer-
ees throwing onto the field when
there is an infraction or penalty
on the field. I can just
imagine some of you men
out there are celebrating
your victory because you
knew the answer before
your wives did. Wives,
please make sure your
husbands didn't check
"Google" (as I did) before
they shouted out the
answer. The flag was first
used in a game against Oklahoma
City University at Youngstown's
Rayen Stadium. The score of the
game? Youngstown Penguins
48 while the Oklahoma City
Goldbugs score was 7.
Prior to the introduction of the
penalty flag, officials used horns
and whistles to signal a penalty.
Why was the yellow flag so impor-
tant? Players were sometimes
confused because they would hear
a whistle and stop playing and
sometimes negate the yardage
they might rightfully have gained.
Also, fans and media sometimes
could not recognize an infraction
on the field because they had
failed to hear the signal.
Here is another question, now
that you know Dwight "Dike"
Beede introduced the flag to
modern football. What color was
the original flag? Let me first
explain that Dike Beede's wife
became known as the "Betsy
Ross of Football" because it was
she who made the penalty flags
for the first college football game
which used the flags. What were
the colors of the flags? They were
brightly colored with white strips
from pieces of their daughter's
Halloween costume and an old
bed sheet. The original flag was
16 inches square. NFL penalty
flags were colored white until
1965 when the color was changed
to yellow.
Well, I must admit that most of
the information about the football
flag was obtained from my phone
by simply saying, "OK, Google!"
However! I did have some
knowledge ahead of this article
Why? Because I graduated from
Youngstown State University in
****! Let's just say a few years
ago!
God bless!
Dale Likens is an author who
lives in Monroe County.
OUR VIEW
Monroe County's congressman Austin Scott (R-Ashburn) held
his last Town Hall with his constituents in Forsyth (at right)
on Aug. 20, 2014, which was 1,281 days ago. Scott defeated
incumbent Congressman Jim Marshall in 2010 after Marshall
went several years without hosting a Town Hall meeting with
his constituents in Forsyth. If you want an opportunity to
let Scott know what you want him to do in Congress, call his
Washington office at (202) 225-6531 and let him know.
When Brian Kemp became secretary of state on Jan. 8, 2010, Terry Scarbor-
ough's survey of the Monroe-Bibb county line was on his desk. The law says
it's his job to do something with it. But Kemp, an ambitious politician who
announced on March 13, 2017 his intention to run for govemor, punted. He
announced on Aug. 23, 2011 that he was rejecting the Scarborough survey
because he can't be sure it's the original line. Unfortunately, the law gives
him no such option. So on March 10, 2014, the Supreme Court ordered
him to set the line and resolve the dispute.That was three years ago.The
Reporter is devoting this space each week to counting the number of days
Kemp has been on the job, and yet not done his job. If you want Kemp to
do the job which he's sought three times before he gets a promotion to
governor, call his office at (404) 656-2817 and let them know.
