Opinion

By Mike Ruffin

War… What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

Some of you will recognize those words, written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong,
from Edwin Starr’s 1970 hit single “War.” Released while the war in Vietnam was still raging, it was a bold anti-war statement.

Maybe we need to listen to it again.

I was twelve years old in 1970 when the song was blasting from radios and jukeboxes, so the possibility of my being drafted was six years away, which at that age seemed so far in the future that I could scarcely imagine it. As things turned out, by the time I turned eighteen, the draft had been abolished. In fact, I didn’t even have to register for the draft, as no men born between March 29, 1957 and December 31, 1959 were required to do so.
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By Laura Geiger

It’s every parent’s nightmare. Our daughter Livia had just called to tell me she was leaving Athens for Christmas break after a grueling week of final exams at the University of Georgia. “Be careful, the weather is terrible,” I said.

Thirty minutes later I got another phone call from her. She was crying. “Mama, I’m okay but I’ve been in a wreck – it wasn’t my fault – but my car is really messed up.”

“I’m on the way. Where are you?” She was outside Madison. It was Friday, Dec. 13 and it had been raining for days, saturating the roads and obscuring driving conditions.
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By Mike Ruffin

I was sitting in a classroom at Gordon Grammar School in the late 1960s, reading an article in my Weekly Reader about the future of space travel.

My fellow students and I were living through the era of pretty regular space missions. Our teacher would sometimes turn on the classroom’s big black-and-white television that sat atop the big stand that always looked to me as if it were ready to tip over from top heaviness so we could watch a rocket launch.

If I’m remembering the context correctly—it was a long time ago in a Barnesville far, far away, after all—I was reading the article at about the time of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

But this article was about what might come next, and what it suggested might come next was a program that would involve spacecraft that could go into space, come back to Earth, and then do it again. In fact, the article said, these vessels would be used over and over. Plans to develop such a craft, one main purpose of which would be to transport personnel to and from a planned permanent space station, were underway.
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By Mike Ruffin

I was born in 1958, so most of my childhood occurred during the 1960s.

Each Christmas Day in that decade followed a set schedule.

First, I would wake up very early in our little house on Memorial Drive in Barnesville. The house rule was that I had to wake my parents up before going into the living room to see what Santa Claus had brought me. This was so my father could arm himself with his Brownie 8mm movie camera, equipped with its panel of spotlights, to film the spectacle. We would then enter the place of wonder, where I would receive the first installment of my Christmas bounty.

Second, we would get dressed and go to the home of whichever Abbott was hosting my mother’s family’s Christmas celebration. If we were hosting it, we’d get dressed and stay home. After enjoying a delicious Christmas lunch, we’d open presents, and I would receive the second installment of my Christmas bounty. [Full Story »] 

Coming up in the public school system in Savannah many, many moons ago, I got a strong base education in Latin. It was referred to as a ‘dead language’ then and it has certainly flatlined now - gone the way of cursive writing.

I was able to master Latin somewhat but cursive writing? Not so much. I cannot read my own handwriting after a couple hours so I have my own code - unbreakable by anyone, including me.

But back to Latin. It steps to the forefront at Christmas. I love to watch the Christmas mass from the Vatican with all the ceremonial flourishes, the processionals and swinging incense. The readings are in Latin and, though I cannot understand them, the language adds weight and credence to the importance of the birth of Jesus Christ. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

The church is in the middle of the Advent season. The word Advent means “arrival.” During Advent, we anticipate the arrival of Jesus Christ.

There are four Sundays of Advent. The fourth and last one is the Sunday before Christmas Day. So Advent is a season to anticipate the arrival of Jesus Christ in his birth, which we celebrate on December 25, the first day of the twelve days of the Christmas season.

Jesus was born 2,000 years ago, so we aren’t actually waiting for him to be born. We are rather waiting for our celebration of his birth.

On the other hand, we might keep in mind the prayer request in the Christmas hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem”: “O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.”
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I’m not really sure where the name The Flats came from but it refers to Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium on the campus of Georgia Tech. Bulldogs fans, who were there in force Saturday, refer to it as Mark Richt Field or The Joke By Coke.

Richt never lost there, thus the first moniker. The historic stadium sits in the shadow of the huge Coca Cola building, thus the latter.

Georgia fans deride the facility but I have always enjoyed going there. It is steeped in history and boasts a panoramic view of the Atlanta skyline. I also like it because Georgia almost always wins there.
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I am thankful for…

…all the people in this big world of ours. I wish I could know them.

…the few people in this little life of mine. I’m glad I can love them and be loved by them.

…the teachers who taught me.

…the students who teach me.

…public servants who truly serve.

…barbecue, fried catfish, steak, and fried chicken, and for surprisingly good cholesterol levels.
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I read with interest some of the old columns of the late, great Lewis Grizzard republished recently by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the occasion of Lewis being enshrined in the Atlanta Press Club Hall of Fame.

Of course, they reprinted some relatively benign works from the Grizzard library. For example, there was no hint of the famous Eldrin Bell ‘dope fairy’ column. Grizzard could not get published in the AJC today. There are not enough politically correct editors left there to muzzle him. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

Sports fans worldwide will be watching with interest Saturday when #1 LSU travels to #2 Alabama for an epic SEC showdown. After that battle, Alabama will have games remaining against Mississippi State, Western Carolina and Auburn while LSU will battle Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas A&M.

I don’t see any upsets brewing in those match-ups so the winner of Saturday’s game will be the SEC West champ. I really like LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and, if Tua can’t play or is limited, I think LSU (8-0, 5-0) gets it done against the Tide (8-0, 5-0) in Tuscaloosa. If he is full go, he may give Bama the edge. [Full Story »] 

If you are the parent or grandparent of a young child or children, you know the song “Baby Shark.”

You probably know it even if you aren’t a parent or grandparent. It’s ubiquitous. It’s also everywhere.

It’s even in the world of baseball. Specifically, it’s in the Washington Nationals’ part of the world of baseball.
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By Mike Ruffin

I’m in the middle of teaching a college course on the New Testament, and we just finished talking about the Gospels. I’m also about to start teaching another course, this one on just the Gospels.

So I’ve had the Gospels on my mind. This is a good thing.

Here are a few fun facts about the Gospels.

First, they were all written well after Jesus lived, died, and rose again. The Gospel of Mark is probably the oldest of the Gospels, dating to around 70 A.D. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke were probably written ten to twenty years after Mark, and John a few years later than Matthew and Luke. During the years between Jesus’ departure and the first written Gospel, preachers and teachers shared the stories about and teachings of Jesus orally.
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Earlier this year, we observed the 35th anniversary of the torture murder of Donna Ogletree Johnson. Her car, with her two dogs inside, was found about 4:30 p.m. on July 16, 1984 at a dumpster site on Piedmont Road not far from her home where she had gone to dump the trash.

A search for her ramped up. It rained that afternoon. Some still say that was the hardest rain they have ever seen. Sadly, it washed away evidence. Some say the crime scene was not secured. Others say it was. It is known the GBI changed its crime scene security protocols if the aftermath of the case.

Some four hours after her car and dogs were found, Johnson’s body was located. She had been gagged with her own bra and panties. Her blue jeans had been cut and pulled down to thigh level. She was hogtied, sexually violated with a metal rod, run over by a vehicle and finally dispatched with three blows to the head from a roofing hatchet or similar tool.

Johnson lived in Pike County. Her car and body were found in Lamar County. This created jurisdictional issues and further complicated the investigation. As time passed, the investigation petered out. It was never abandoned but crime never sleeps and investigators have full plates of new horrors to deal with daily.
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By Mike Ruffin

At 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 12, 2000, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision that, on a 5-4 vote, decided the case of Bush v. Gore in George W. Bush’s favor. It was and is a controversial decision. It would have also been controversial had it gone the other way.

Gore had won the popular vote by over half a million votes. But, once Bush had Florida in his column, he had the majority of the Electoral College votes.

I’ll be upfront and tell you—surely to the surprise of no one who knows me and/or reads my writings—that the decision didn’t go the way I wanted it to go. I voted for Gore because I thought he’d be a better president than Bush, so I wanted the Court to rule in his favor.

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