March 7, 2018 Page 5A
,Reporter
O. N THE 0 U
My mother carried
a weapon in school
} efore I get started on the headline subject,
I have always been of the opinion that
some politicians, both those elected and
trying to convince us that they are
the most qualified to rule, are self-serving.
The classic and perfect example of political arrogance
is person:ft, ed by our Lieutenant Governor in his
attempt to "punish" Delta Airlines for withdrawing dis-
count tickets to NRA members. Guess Lt. Gov. Casey
Cagle thinks his action will get him the vote of NRA
members and seat him on the governor's throne.
We are seeing the same type of political arro-
gance by our Secretary of State Brian Kemp and
Congressman Austin Scott. In my opinion Kemp
is refusing to make a decision on the county line
for a simple reason: He's running for governor and
knows he will get more votes in Bibb County than
in Monroe. His ignoring Monroe County is a classic
example of blatant, rot-gut politics verging on the
nasty.
Congressman Austin Scott obviously is also ignoring
Monroe County, not crossing the county line to visit
with us in over 1,200 days. I think he is our "ghost"
congressman.
NOW, TO the subject of this column. The news has
been dominated by the high school shooting, with
everyone grabbing headlines by suggesting solutions
as to how students can be protected. Of course, the
debate now is: Should teachers be armed? Well, my
mother was a fifth grade teacher for 33 years and
I was once married to school teachers. I don't think
any of the three would want or would have wanted
to have a gun in their classrooms. Arm the principals
and the school resource officers.
Actually, my mother was "armed". I am told of
her being armed when I meet her former students
remembering how mother
ruled the classroom with a
one-foot wooden ruler and
being "whacked" on the hand
with the ruler when they
~: : "acted up"
. .~.~, or weren't paying
attention.
And, later in high school,
the male teachers were
"armed" with a paddle for
those sent to the principal's
office. Never heard of a
female being paddled, but
rather being assigned some
type of embarrassing work.
For the male students, the
principal had a paddle with
holes to make the "impact"
more punishable. Some stu-
dents often '%ragged" about how many times they
were paddled. The severity of the act determined the
number of whacks, one being less severe and five
being the epitome of having done something that bor-
dered on being kicked out of school.
The most embarrassing consequence of being pun-
:shed was not being paddled, but parents knowing
before we got home from school. Facing a parent who
had been embarrassed by our actions was tougher
than the school punishment.
TalMng with a teacher the other day, teachers are
afraid to punish a misbehaving student because of
possible parental consequences and subjecting the
teacher to extreme questioning. Teachers are not
allowed to discipline students, having to send the stu-
dent to "the office".
(SIDEBAR: I hear the best way to punish a student
now is to take away their cell phone.)
SPRINGTIME is upon us and our cars are chang-
ing color to yellow. My black car is forsythia yellow
and garden is plowed and ready for those anticipated
tomatoes. In the meantime, I have planted my lingui-
ni and I have been fattening up the naugas in their
pens down on the creek.
NO CORRECT answers to last week's The
Question and the correct answer was Harbin
Engineering. So here's The Question for this week:
Who was named Monroe County's Businessman
of the Year and picture was on the front of "Men
At Work 2018"? First correct answer after 12 noon
on Thursday gets a certificate for a dozen Dunkin
Donuts, Dairy Queen Blizzard, Whistle Stop fried
green tomato appetizer, Jonah's cookie, Forsyth Main
Street t-shirt, sandwich, chips and drink at The
Pickled Okra.
I HOPE members of Monroe County's Hospital
Authority read a recent issue of The Wall Street
Journal which had a detailed story about the future
of hospitals. Here was the lead in: "Driven by econom-
ics, the inpatient institutions we know are radically
changing becoming smaller, more digital, or disap-
pearing completely. The result should be cheaper and
better care."
Here's a question for our hospital authority: Would
the hospital have made a profit if it had not received
the tax money from us?
FYI. Our state legislature has adopted a policy
of what constitutes sexual harassment. Here it is:
"sexual harassment includes derogatory statements.
sexually related comments, unwelcome advances,
patting, pinching, intentionally brushing against
someone's body, making unwelcome visit to someone's
home or hotel room, or making sexually suggestive
posts online."
Here are a couple more bills being under scrutiny
by the Georgia House and Senate as reported by the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Us drivers would have
to use hand-free cellphone technology according to
the measure that passed the House: patients with
post-traumatic stress and intractable pain would be
eligible to use medical marijuana.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To the editor:
AYdv s someone who worked
for a decade-and-a-half
in the criminal justice
stem as a Victim
ocate, I have been
very troubled by people's reactions
regarding the teacher who
received a First Offender
sentence for this unconscio-
nable crime. An astounding
number of hateful com-
ments seem to point a finger
of blame at Mr. Davis, but
he is NOT the bad guy in
this situation. I find myself
wondering if people's reac- MOSER
tions are due to a lack of
understanding of the crime
of Child Molestation. Or perhaps
it is just an instinctive anger when
someoneoexposes an incident that
may include a flaw in a local sys-
tem.
If it is the former, I am glad that
the angry people haven't had to
deal with this tragic, heartbrealdng
problem in their families. I have
been involved with helping far too
many families whose children have
been molested - by family members,
teachers, youth ministers, and oth-
ers. It is a traumatic, life-altering
event. It is important to remember
that child molesters are known for
being recidivists, not for
reforming. If you don't take
this seriously, please look up
the studies. Child molesters
are also known for seeking "
positions in which they can
be around children. This is
what they do.
You cannot solve a prob-
lem unless you get it out
into the open, and this
situation is evidence that
there is definitely a problem with
the First Offender program and
perhaps with the hiring procedures
of Monroe County, or perhaps with
a lack of understanding of the
true nature of child molesters. My
hope is that this situation will spur
our legislators to revisit the First
Offender law, to ensure that judges
will no longer be giving this type of
sentence in any violent cases or any
cases involving children. In addi-
tion, I do not understand why the
agency that licenses teachers did
not revoke his credentials. I hope
this policy will be changed, as well.
If my husband and I had a child
in the Monroe County School sys-
tem, I would be very thankful to
Mr. Davis for bringing sunlight
onto this problem; this can lead to
the better protection of children in
the future, and isn't that the crux
of the matter? I imagine that when
they see that I live 10 minutes
away from your county, some will
be upset that an "outside ' is shar-
ing an opinion about this. But this
is something that should anger
ANYONE who cares about the wel-
fare of children
Thank you, Will Davis, for doing
your job and doing it so well, and
for looking out for the children of
Monroe County.
lanice moser
Flovilla
TAKING A LIKENS TO YOU by [)ale Like s
II
T yay, Feb. 21, 2018 Rev.
Graham passed
ay at the golden age
99. A true man of God.
television had not yet
been trned on when our son sent
a text to my wife explaining that
he had just heard
the announcement of
Rev. Graham's pass-
ing away. Quickly, I
turned Fox News on
to hear this important
news. Other national
news was men-
tioned, then came the
repeated announce-
ment that Rev. Billy
Graham had passed
away.
As I listened to the
high points of Rev.
Graham's life, I began
thinldng of how much
he had affected my
very own life and
millions who are still pondering
the effects of such a true Christian
man in their very own lives. Yes,
he was a humble man who became
America's Pastor. Rev. Graham
never favored one political party
over the other. He was a friend
to both sides of the aisle. He was
kind, leading many to follow Jesus
Christ. Some had been alceholies
who had turned from drinking.
Others had given up their wayward
ways and began follo ng Jesus
Christ.
Rev. Billy Graham met with many
important political leaders through-
out his life. He met with presidents
from Harry Truman to Barack
Obama and became close friends
with many. World political lead-
ers and Popes became his friends.
He met the needs of millions of
people throughout his life. Yes,
Rev. Billy Graham was a Christian
Evangelist, an ICON who will
always be remembered.
One news commentator referred
to him as the Pope of the protestant
Christians. I'm not Catholic, but
I believe this to be high praise for
such a humble man. Although he
was a friend of many presidents
and drew millions to his crusades,
he was always proud to say he
was a Christian first. '~ have one
message," he claimed. '~hat Jesus
Christ came, He died on a cross,
He rose again and He asked us to
repent of our sins and receive Him
by faith as Lord and Savior. And if
we do, we have forgiveness of all of
our sins." How simple
can message
his
be?
' Now, for the rest of the
story!" As Paul Harvey
used to say.
Reared on a farm in
North Carolina, Billy
Graham developed
strong work ethics which
he later claimed gave
him the driving force for
his future profession.
At the young age of 16,
at one of Dr. Mordecai
Fowler Ham's evange-
fistic meetings, Billy
accepted Jesus Christ
into his life. Soon after,
=he was accepted into
Bob Jones College in 1936. Later
he tran erred to Florida Bible
Institute (now Trinity College).
His first sermon was at Florida
Bible Institute with an eight-niln-
ute, borrowed speech.
In 1938, during a nighttime wall
Billy got down on his knees at one
of the greens on a golf course and
prayed, "Oh, God, if you want me to
serve you, I will!" And serve Him,
he did!
In 1939 he was ordained a
Southern Baptist minister.
In addition to the many Crusades,
despite extreme guerrilla threats,
he traveled to Japan and South
Korea during the Korean War
preaching Jesus Christ.
OnAug. 13, 1943, Rev. B'flly
Graham married Ruth McClue
Bell, a wonderful, beautiful, born-
again Christian who worked in a
hospital with her missionary par-
ents in China.
Billy laughed when he once
said, '~ now have five children
(three daughters and two sons), 19
grandchildren and numerous great
grandchildren."
"About one thing I have absolutely
no regrets," he often reported. '~hat
is my commitment many years ago
to accept God's calling to serve Him
as an evangelist of the gospel of
Jesus Christ,"
. It has been estimated that nearly
215 million people have been
reached by Rev. Graham's crusades.
He has written 33 books. His auto-
biography, "Just As I Am," pub-
fished in 1997, achieved a 'Triple
Crown,' appearing simultaneously
on three top bestseller fists in one
week!
Obviously, I could only touch
upon the magnitude of such a great
servant of Jesus Christ in such
little space. Although his great-
est love was serving Jesus Christ,
Billy loved his wife, Ruth, deeply. It
was she whom he called upon for
advice. It was she who encouraged
him along his path to serving Jesus
Christ. It was she whom he relied
on when times became so difficult.
It was she who literally reared his
children while he was serving our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ across
"the seas.
Ruth had a great sense of humor
that sometimes may have seemed
cruel. But if you were to have asked
Billy Graham what his favorite
story of Ruth was, it would prob-
ably have been this:
"Once a mentally unstable man
knocked at the home of Rev. Billy
and Ruth Graham. Ruth quickly
answered the door and politely
greeted the man. Tm Jesus Christ!'
the man said.
Pregnant Ruth wiped her hands
on her apron, held the door open
and replied, %Vell, for Pete's sake!
Why did you have to knock? why
didn't you just come through the
closed door?'
Having no reply, the man simply
got back into his car and drove
away."
"Some day," Rev. Graham said.
' /ou will read or hear that Billy
Graham is dead. Don't you believea
word of it. I shall be more alive than
I am now. I will just have changed
my address. I will have gone into
the presence of God!"
Now you know some of the rest of
the story about a man who simply
called himSelf a Christian by choice!
Dale Likens is an author who lives
in Monroe County.
Scott (R-Ashb.m)
THIS WEEKEND is the famously promoted and
attended Forsythia Festival with just about anything
you can name to buy or eat on Saturday and Sunday
with a mass of humanity in downtown Forsyth.
Make sure you check out the Forsythia Festival spe-
cial supplement in this issue: Tells you where you can
eat, entertainment schedule along with everything
you want to know to attend and see at the festival.
Don Daniel founded the Reporter in 1972. Email him at medi-
adr@bdlsouth.net.
