Opinion

By Walter Geiger

It was blistering hot Saturday morning when we buried Ed Powell in the graveyard at New Hope Baptist Church out in Pike County. Ed lies in perpetuity about a mile as the crow flies from his longtime home on McLean Road.

Heat waves rose off the blacktop parking lot and into the leaves of an old oak on the church grounds as the small crowd sought what little shelter the funeral home tent provided from the onslaught of the sun.

Sweat found its way into my eyes. They burned and teared. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Maybe you’ve had the experience; I know I have, and many times. You’re travelling to a place to which you’ve never been before. The trip takes whatever time it takes, but it seems like a long time. Then you return home, following the same route that you took to get to wherever you were going. Upon arrival, you say to yourself or to a travelling companion, “It sure didn’t take as long to get back as it did to get there.”

Chances are pretty good, though, that both the trip there and the trip back consumed about the same amount of time. The return trip just seemed shorter. Apparently we perceive the trip back differently than the trip there. And it doesn’t matter what your mode of transportation is; I’ve experienced the sensation travelling by land and by air. [Full Story »] 

By Kay S. Pedrotti

In The Herald Gazette office, my desk is about as far from the front door as it’s possible to be. But when the late judge William Thomas came to visit, I could immediately recognize the stentorian tones of his amazing voice. Usually I would dash up to the counter so I could say hello.

I will really miss that – and a lot of other things about Will Thomas. I think of him in the three words that defined my conversations with him: faith, courage, wisdom. He and Jean were among the first friends I made when we moved to Milner 10 years ago; we were working with the Friends of the Library Milner and the Sociables luncheons at Milner Methodist. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Iwould have liked to have gone to church with Dusty Rhodes.

I never have, though, and now I never will.

Dusty died on June 11 at age 69. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

In case you missed it, The Rolling Stones blew into Sanford Stadium West in Atlanta last week on their Zip Code Tour. This was the least-hyped Stones tour that I can recall and I have pretty much seen them all.

Apparently, at this juncture, the Stones don’t need any hype.

My daughters grew up listening to the Stones.

Their Pandora station is my go to driving soundtrack. I have countless CDs as well that May Melton and Livia Lanier have heard many times. [Full Story »] 

The Augusta Chronicle


Is this the leadership we deserve?

In Washington, they had to turn the lights on in the U.S. Senate last Sunday for senators to get their work done at the last minute on the expiring Patriot Act.

They still didn’t get it done. They work overtime, costing us more money to operate the Capitol, and they routinely spend more money than we can send them in taxes, and they still can’t get their work done.
[Full Story »] 

For decades, American elected officials from both parties have been robbing blind the Social Security trust fund in order to pay for ridiculous things like studying the mating habits of black widow spiders in the desert and new methods of not offending Muslims. [Full Story »] 

By Kay S. Pedrotti

In grateful appreciation to the many readers who have said they really appreciate the “back-when” and “small-town” columns, I now offer one that covers a bit of both. It’s about a particular cemetery, Evergreen, in Fitzgerald, Ga. Not only most of my departed paternal relatives are buried there, but also my Biggers grandparents and some other relatives on the maternal side are resting at Evergreen. I’ve written a poem about it. I’ve visited it practically every time I’ve ever been to Fitzgerald. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

The youngest and I spent the weekend in Savannah with my parents for Mother’s Day. I hope all of you who are fortunate to have your mothers still among the living did the same. [Full Story »] 

March 1, 2012 profoundly changed people’s lives. On that night our son, Thomas Norman Anderson, Jr., was struck and killed while walking on Highway 36 west. The impact of his untimely death continues to this day. Dealing with his death is a daily process. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

‘A foole & his money be soon at debate: which after with sorrow, repents him too late’

-a proverb dating to the early days of the English language

Televangelism has a long and sordid past.

Though I am sure some of these apostles were the real deal, only through this medium could this phrase have been coined: “Put your head up close to your TV screen and send me twenty dollars and I’ll heal you.” [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

I looked on in horror several weeks back as emergency personnel worked feverishly for an hour to cut a young man from his car. He had drifted across the center line and hit a tractor trailer rig. Only a last second swerve by both drivers avoided a certainly fatal head-on collision. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

The story - some would say ‘sad story’ - of 17-yearold gangbanger Anthony Stokes came to an end last week. He would have been just another carjacking dope dealer on the cooling table at the morgue had he not needed a new heart a few years back. [Full Story »] 

As the Obama administration rushes toward a deal that would eventually give Iran the capability to manufacture nuclear weapons, the situation in the Middle East is more fractious than ever – and that’s saying something. [Full Story »]