Opinion

By Mike Ruffin

As I write this, my Good Wife and I are preparing to go to Orlando, where on Saturday night we’ll see the Eagles in concert. We plan to take it easy. Or we may decide to take it to the limit - you know, one more time.

If all goes according to plan, by the time you read this, we’ll have already gone and come back. We’ll just have to assume we had a good time.
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By Walter Geiger

The political primaries loom May 22 and hordes of candidates are roaming the state, various districts and precincts looking for my vote and yours.

As I was compiling data with which to write a story on qualifying several weeks back, I was drawn to the thought that very few politicians at any level have ever personally impacted my life. Personal impact seems to gravitate toward two ends of the political spectrum.
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By Mike Ruffin

Last Sunday was Easter Sunday, so we are now past Easter. Or are we?

I took the Monday after Easter Sunday off during the last few years I served as a pastor. Holy Week really took it out of me, as I imagine it does most pastors. As we moved from Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, to the crucifixion on Good Friday, and on to the resurrection on Easter Sunday, I’d go through a broad range of emotions that left me drained. Spent as I was, there was no point in working on Monday. So I’d stay home and read a book. But Sunday was coming (again), so I’d get back to work on Tuesday.

The Sunday after Easter Sunday is traditionally known as Low Sunday, probably because worship was more subdued. But we preachers think of it as Low Sunday because worship attendance, compared to the high of Easter Sunday, will be low.
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Unless you have been living under a rock somewhere, you are no doubt aware there was a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Valentine’s Day.

In that instance, things went about as wrong as they could have and 17 kids died.

The shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, had tripped warnings for years. No one in authority took action. He had been recommended for commitment. Since the shooting his younger brother has been committed for acting up at the same school. Insanity runs in the family.
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By Mike Ruffin

I recently had the privilege of serving as an adjudicator for the Extemporaneous Speaking competition in the Region 5-AA Literary Meet. The event took place at Lamar County High School.

The class of 1976, of which I am a member, was the first one to graduate from that campus. I still call it “the new high school.” They are about to build a newer one, which is good.

As I walked the hallowed halls of my alma mater, I reflected on the fact that I’d never before done so. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

I have always loved basketball. I spent hours upon hours shooting hoops in neighborhood driveways, dreaming, as did every other kid, that my shot was a last second one that won a big high school or college game.

That dream never materialized because I was too short, too slow and lacked the skills. But I loved the game. My family left Savannah midway through my sophomore year of high school for the metropolis of Ailey. I quickly adopted the Montgomery County Eagles, the team at my new school.

This was different from city ball. MCHS played in quonset hut and band box gyms around south Central Georgia in old Class B. We would roll up to towns like Dudley, Dexter, Alamo, Hazlehurst, McRae, Soperton, Lyons and the like. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

In a letter he wrote in the middle of the first century to Christians living in the Greek city of Corinth, the Apostle Paul presented a strong case that he and his fellow ministers had the right to be paid for their service. He asked, “If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits?” (1 Corinthians 9:11).

As someone who has collected many a paycheck from churches, I say, “Preach it, Brother Paul!” [Full Story »] 

I have been around guns most all of my life. I have no fear of them though I realize some people do and that is fine. Different strokes for different folks, as Sly Stone sang.

I enjoy dove and quail hunting. I spent my last two and a half years of high school at Montgomery County High School in Mt. Vernon with a large group of hunters. The student and teacher parking lots were full of trucks. Those trucks had gun racks that held loaded shotguns and rifles.The keys were in the ignitions and the windows were down when it was warm.
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By Mike Ruffin

Every great once in a while, my father, the late great Champ Ruffin, would decide it was time to get a new used car. He had one main criterion for any vehicle he purchased: it had to have four doors. The reason was that we transported “the ladies” (as he called them) to church every Sunday. There were thrEvery great once in a while, my father, the late great Champ Ruffin, would decide it was time to get a new used car. He had one main criterion for any vehicle he purchased: it had to have four doors.

The reason was that we transported “the ladies” (as he called them) to church every Sunday. There were three of them and three of us. I’d sit in the front seat between Daddy and Mama, the ladies would sit in the back, and off to Midway Baptist Church we’d go.

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About 10 years ago, I was driving down the road when I got a call from Don Bohensky. Our youngest, Livia, was eight or nine at the time and had about four or five years of recreation soccer under her belt. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Ever since I voted in my first election in November 1976, I’ve considered myself a political moderate. Now, I acknowledge that I usually vote for one party’s candidates because that party’s perspectives and policies for the most part align better with mine than those of the other party. But I’ve always wanted the elected representatives of both parties to put the good of the nation (or the state, county or city) ahead of a particular political agenda. I’d like them to negotiate and to meet in the middle in order to do all they can do to help us be all we can be.

I don’t think bipartisanship and compromise are cuss words - I’ll say them right out loud, even at church. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

We’ve lost three astronauts in recent months.

Paul Weitz died on October 22, 2017. He piloted Skylab II, which was the first manned mission to America’s first space station, in 1973. He was also the pilot for the first flight of the space shuttle Challenger in 1983.

Richard Gordon died on November 6, 2017. He walked in space twice while orbiting Earth on Gemini 11. As Apollo 12’s command module pilot, he circled the moon while the other two astronauts landed on and traversed its surface. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

I have consciously refrained from writing about UGA football this year because, after the fast start, I did not want to jinx them. Now, after close observation of the 13-2 season that ended in overtime in the national title game, I can tell you for certain that the Bulldogs are back.

Under former coach Mark Richt, the Dogs teased. They were up and down. Richt never put a premium on recruiting linemen, particularly offensive lineman, and, as a result, his teams could be counted on to wet the bed against an inferior opponent at least once a year.

Going into big games, I just assumed Richt’s teams would lose and was happily surprised if we did not. Richt has been thoroughly exorcized from the program now and, after its second season under new coach Kirby Smart, that program is ascendant.

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By Mike Ruffin

Early in the morning of June 17, 1972, police arrested a group of men who had broken into the offices of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. Thus began the scandal that became known by the name of the building that housed those offices: the Watergate.

I was just shy of 14 years old when the break-in occurred. In 1973, I got to participate in a week-long government studies program in Washington. A leader of the program suggested that we subscribe to some national news magazines. I did. Before long, I was obsessed with Watergate. I read everything I could about it. I even bought a record called The Watergate Comedy Hour (featuring Jack Burns, Avery Schreiber and Fannie Flagg, among others), some of which was funny. [Full Story »]