Category Archives: Opinions
Who would have thunk it?
The delta variant is highly contagious and is attacking children. Mask wearing will help stop the spread.
And to all those in positions of power who block health and safety measures for the public, such as mask wearing and vaccinations, think of all the illness and death you are responsible for because you are more interested in pandering to the fanatical rather than protecting the public you serve.
So now we have a network news show broadcasting information that is killing people. And people are listening
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The legalities of the left lane
I may be the only person in Pickens County who’s not as pleased as a possum in a pokeweed patch about the new state law that encroaches upon the rights of “slower” drivers.
I think it was passed only because so many people get highly irritated when someone in the left lane is preventing them from speeding.
The law, in case you haven’t heard, says you can’t drive in the left lane unless you’re passing somebody — or if there’s nobody behind you. This applies to interstate highways only.
Here’s the thing, though: I usually drive at the speed limit. I don’t think anybody has a right to get mad at me as
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Everyone needs a hug
National Hugging Day is celebrated around the world on Jan. 21. We missed out this year. I didn’t want to bring it up in January because we were masking up and social distancing. After all, hugging was prohibited, forbidden, taboo, verboten. People were feeling too apprehensive and anxious to hug.
Kevin Zaborney founded Hugging Day in 1986. He realized there was nothing to break the monotony between New Year’s Day and Valentine’s Day and decided everyone needed something to get them through these dreary winter days — and thought that a hug would do nicely.
Chase’s “Calendar of Events” decided to include Zaborney’s Hugging Day in their publication — and it caught on. Zaborney was right — everyone needs a hug.
Hugging makes you feel like everything is going to be OK. It makes you feel happy and safe. It reduces stress and
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Letter to the Editor
Thank God for memories
Dear Editor,
For the older people out there, maybe this will bring back memories.
Do you remember eating for breakfast such things as grits, red-eye gravy, thickening gravy or cathead biscuits? How about salt or sugar cured ham, fresh slaughtered from homegrown hogs. Hawuh! Talk about good eatin’! What about cracklings? And
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Finding random acts of kindness
Have you ever been traveling when the highway shrinks from two lanes to one due to road construction? And have you found yourself stranded in the lane ending, with car after car ignoring your signal in an attempt to get in the correct lane?
When out of the blue a good Samaritan slows and motions to you to get into the flow of traffic.
Once you’ve experienced this act of kindness, you’re usually motivated to extend this courtesy to others in similar situations.
The lady at the dollar store not having quite enough to pay for her Christmas presents was in a fix until the next in
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An apology and a false omen
An apology and a false omen.
First, the apology.
I need to correct something from my story a couple of weeks ago on Medicaid funding for assisted living.
Jimmy Masters of MasterCare wrote a gracious clarification, which we ran in last week’s letters to the editor. But I want to make sure, as best I can, that I didn’t leave any misconception in readers’ minds.
I reported that Medicaid pays $1,300 per month for each assisted living resident. That wasn’t what I intended to say. Actually, Social Security pays the biggest portion of that most of the time, with Medicaid paying only enough
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Don’t lose your cool
The temperature is in the 90s as I reach into the freezer for that half-gallon of cherry-vanilla ice cream, but when I open it, the ice cream is all gooey. My brain instantly goes into panic mode. I open the freezer again and start poking at a package of frozen fish — mushy. I open the container of leftover chili — slushy. The frozen pizza is yucky.
I call the appliance repair shop that fixed my washer two years ago and get voicemail. Their hours are Monday through Friday, closed Saturday and Sunday, but they ask me to leave a message. When the beep comes on, the
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Letters to the Editor 8-25-21
Employees talking with councilmen
Dear Editor,
The county council, like the U.S. Congress and state legislature, has a set of rules that govern the way it conducts business. One of those rules and the focus of this letter is Section 3.5c. That rule stated county councilmen were forbidden to communicate in any way or even talk with county employees.
The rule was written years ago and likely was the by-product of a
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Common sense and COVID-19
Well, it’s been a quiet summer here at the Barnett Property. I have eradicated the poison oak in the backyard, choked out the English ivy in the trees and battled back the briars in the azaleas.
We have continued to stave off the coronavirus, although I wish people would quit celebrating the end of the pandemic, because it ain’t nearly over yet. More about that later.
We did finally make it down to Stone Mountain to visit my mom, who just turned 96. Except for having to use a walker to get around, she hasn’t changed a bit in the past 40 years.
She’s doing well a year and a half after losing her husband of nearly 72 years, my dad, Bobby D. Barnett. But even
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Thee, thy and thou
Our language is constantly changing. New words are added, other words deleted. The gender issue has made us aware of how language can change our perceptions. The primary purpose of any language is to communicate. Does it really matter if you dangle a participle? Will anyone care if you split an infinitive?
Star Trek hurled us into space in 1966 when Capt. James T. Kirk began each episode with the famous opening that ended with the words “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Grammarians, appalled at the split infinitive, said the line should read “to go boldly where no man has gone before.”
However, in 1966, the women’s liberation movement was in full swing, and more people took offense at the word
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