Opinion

By Mike Ruffin

It was the late great Mr. C.E. Julian, esteemed teacher of history at Lamar County High School, who taught me that Lamar County was named for a man named L.Q.C. Lamar. I don’t think he told us that “L.Q. C.” stood for “Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus” but it did.

(By the way, he was actually L.Q.C. II - yep, they actually named him after his father, who was already saddled with that name that sounded like a law firm in a gladiator movie. Also by the way, I once asked my father why he didn’t name me after him. He said, “You must be kidding. Would you really want to go through life being called Little Champ?”) I also don’t think Mr. Julian told us that John F. Kennedy devoted a chapter to L.Q.C. Lamar in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles in Courage (1955) - but he did. [Full Story »] 

Recently I was driving along listening to WSB radio’s news coverage of the death of one child and the maiming of another as they were walking to their Atlanta School bus stop. They were attacked by pit bulls allowed to roam free by their owner or owners.

One of the dogs attacked responding police and was shot dead. The other was hunted down, captured and euthanized. Sadly, the charges against the irresponsible owner are not serious enough. [Full Story »]