Category Archives: Lifestyles
The Downfall of Dr. John Brinkley
Minnie and John Brinkley, surgical partners.
The conclusion of a two-part series
Grave of John R Brinkley at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn.
By Dr. Tom Cloer
For The Courier
Editor’s Note: This is the conclusion of a two-part series written by Courier contributor Dr. Tom Cloer, Jr., about Dr. John R. Brinkley, Jr., born in neighboring Jackson County, N.C., and one of the most famous and successful men in the world in the 1930s before his unconventional methods and deceit led to his own fall from grace. The first half of this series was published in the May 15 edition of the Courier.
Brinkley Strikes Gold
Dr. John Brinkley enrolled in Eclectic Medical School in Kansas City, Mo., and after one additional year bought his M.D. in 1914. Here is ample evidence that this was indeed the golden age of hocus pocus. A sheepskin from this diploma mill would allow Brinkley to practice medicine in several states, Kansas being his choice. There was really no central regulating power for licensing medical doctors. Andrew Jackson was somewhat responsible for this. His idea was for “the common man” to have a chance. So, believe it or not, by the end of the 19th century only about three states had real licensing requirements. The American Medical Association had very little power, but that would change, primarily because of one man — John R. Brinkley.
Community remembers slain children
The Rev. Ashley McCoy-Bruce, left, speaks at a community service held in honor of Carly and Sawyer Simpson at Dacusville Elementary School last Thursday.
‘We’re helping each other get through this’
Carly Ashelyn Simpson
By Nicole Daughhetee
Courier Staff
In the early morning hours of May 14, tragedy struck the Dacusville community when 7-year-old Carly Simpson and her brother Sawyer Simpson, 5, were found shot dead in their beds. Shot in the head, their father, Michael Simpson, 34, remains hospitalized in serious condition, while their mother, Anna Simpson, 35, faces murder charges in their deaths after her release from the hospital. Dacusville Elementary, the school both children attended, held a
Sawyer Russell Simpson
memorial service in their honor last Thursday evening. At left and below are transcripts from the speakers at the event.
The Rev. Ashley McCoy-Bruce
We are here tonight because Dacusville, the Simpson and Brown families, Dacusville Elementary and Pickens County have suffered a tremendous loss that has altered our lives in ways we have yet to fully understand.
I’m here to unify us in our faith and to speak as a mother. My children are raised in Dacusville. My sons graduated from this school. My daughter is a fourth grader here. We have worked together because we saw a need to gather quickly to express our heartfelt sympathy for the deaths of two beloved children, our concerns for a critically wounded father and for the soul of a broken mother.
Dr. John R. Brinkley: American Dream or Nightmare?
How a Jackson County, N.C., native went from richest doctor in the world to an infamous disgrace
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-week series written by Courier contributor Dr. Tom Cloer, Jr., about Dr. John R. Brinkley, Jr., born in neighboring Jackson County, N.C., and one of the most famous and successful men in the world in the 1930s before his unconventional methods and deceit led to his own fall from grace.
By Dr. Tom Cloer, Jr.
For the Courier
My maternal ancestors were here in the Pickens District in the 1700’s. But prior to the Civil War, my Great, Great Grandfather, Daniel Van Buren Moody, moved to East LaPorte, North Carolina, in Jackson County. Jackson County at that time bordered the Pickens District. My Great Grandfather, John Thomas Moody, son of Daniel Van Buren Moody, married Emma Wike there, and together they amassed an enormous amount of rich bottom land in the fertile Tuckasegee Valley. Therefore, throughout
Mother’s Day celebrations throughout history
By Nicole Daughhetee
Courier Staff
Only recently dubbed “Mother’s Day,” the highly traditional practice of honoring of Motherhood is rooted in antiquity, and past rites typically had strong symbolic and spiritual overtones; societies tended to celebrate Goddesses and symbols rather than actual Mothers.
One of the earliest historical records of a society celebrating a Mother deity is found among the ancient Egyptians, who held an annual festival to honor the goddess Isis, who was commonly regarded as the Mother of the pharaohs.
‘All that I am… I owe to my angel mother’
‘All that I am… I owe to my angel mother’
By Nicole Daughhetee
Courier Staff
The inception of an official Mother’s Day holiday was born in the 1900s by pioneer Anna Jarvis. Following the death of her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, in 1905, Anna Jarvis envisioned Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. After gaining financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, in May 1908 Jarvis organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, W. Va.
After the success of her first Mother’s Day, Jarvis — who, ironically, remained unmarried and childless her whole life — resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar. Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements, she started a massive letter-writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood.
Springing into festival season!
Liberty plans second- annual
Spring Festival and Cruz-In
With spring finally upon us, the festival season will continue this Saturday with the city of Liberty’s second-annual Spring Festival and Cruz-In.
Coinciding with the festival, the city will kick off its Music in the Park series, and The Parenting Place’s 17th annual “Ride for the Child” will make its final stop in Liberty to present awards.
The “Ride for the Child” will begin with registration at Bi-Lo in Pickens from 9-11 a.m., followed by a scenic ride along Highway 11, ultimately ending at the festival. Pre-registration is available for $25 for the ride, and cost will be $30 on the day of the event. Those interested can register in advance by calling (864) 898-5583 or visiting www.theparentingplacepca.org.
To be, or not to be
Nicole Daughhetee
Life As I Know It
By Nicole Daughhetee
I don’t go to movies too often, and I’m not certain why, because I enjoy the theater experience: freshly popped buttery popcorn, surround-sound enveloping the larger-than-life screen upon which the film unfolds, holding the hand of someone I love in the darkness.
Perhaps one of the reasons I don’t see movies in the theater very often is the exorbitant pricing. Once tickets, popcorn and a soda are purchased, I think to myself how I could have waited for the movie to come out on DVD and watched it in the comfort of my own home, which includes the ability to pause the action for a bathroom break.
Sometimes animals are more human than people
Olivia Fowler
On The Way
By Olivia Fowler
An old friend was telling me about taking her 18-month-old grandson to the Asheboro Zoo in North Carolina. She said the giraffe family had a new baby, as did the gorilla family, and they were all enjoying the sunshine of a pleasant spring day.
The mama gorilla was asleep, holding her baby, when the daddy gorilla came out of his entrance and looked around. He left and soon returned with a bundle of hay, which he carried carefully out.
The spectators thought he was being very sweet in bringing hay out for the mama and the baby gorilla. That is until he spread the hay carefully onto the ground and then lay down on it and went to sleep.
What is Earth Day?
Earth Day
Founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues, Earth Day is now a globally celebrated holiday that is sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of events focused on green awareness.
The brainchild of Sen. Gaylord Nelson and inspired by the antiwar protests of the late 1960s, Earth Day was originally aimed at creating a mass environmental movement. It began as a “national teach-in on the environment” and was held on April 22 to maximize the number of students that could be reached on university campuses.
A buck for the ages
By Jim Shupe
For the Courier
Outfitter Bob O’Connell and I had been after this legendary buck for days. He was rarely seen, and bedded up in heavy cover for most of the day. Bob’s guides would get glimpses of him from time to time, but the reclusive buck was much too wary to move during daylight hours.
For two days I had been hunting over a water hole and game trails through heavy cover. Although I had seen some really good bucks, the one they called “Stickers” was in a class by himself. He was reported to have more than 60 points and an inside spread of more than 30 inches, which is pretty unheard of for a whitetail buck.
The morning of day three found my guide and I sitting over yet another game trail that meandered through a thicket of pine scrub and small brush. We watched a huge eight-point feed on acorns, and I was sorely tempted to take this buck, but visions of Stickers kept me focused on my quest for the elusive giant.
