Opinion & Editorial

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Rolodexes—old and new—save the day, twice

News Staff
Thursday, August 15, 2024
F or decades it sat next to my office phone. The alphabetized Rolodex was my handy go-to reference file.  For those not born in the last century, the directory’s spindle was stuffed with business cards, names and numbers.

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Please hold your applause

News Staff
Thursday, August 8, 2024
By Phil Hudgins   Have you ever felt like you received more credit for something than you deserved? Well, I have. About 15 years ago, I came across a recipe for pancakes in a little book of breakfast specialties. I made those pancakes for my family.
Joe Vines

Joe Vines

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Fourteen years later, the mystery remains

News Staff
Thursday, August 8, 2024
By Dink NeSmith   Without warning or explanation – in 2010 – the simple instruction was: “See that Dink NeSmith gets these.” And with that, the unidentified visitor exited the White County News in Cleveland.
The Franklin County Board of Education voted last week to leave its millage rate at the same rate as last year.

The Franklin County Board of Education voted last week to leave its millage rate at the same rate as last year.

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BOE right on millage

News Staff
Thursday, August 1, 2024
The Franklin County Board of Education voted last week to leave its millage rate at the same rate as last year. That means that property owners who saw increases in their assessed values this year will see higher tax bills this fall.

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Memories of the Big Four

News Staff
Thursday, August 1, 2024
T aking a trip down memory lane, all the way back to, arguably, the greatest decade: the 50s.   My book, “It Was What It Was,” is stuffed with anecdotes, character descriptions and memories of growing up in a small Southern town post-World War II. Life was good.

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Human decency can be learned in grammar school

News Staff
Thursday, August 1, 2024
W hen I was in elementary school – it was either the sixth or seventh grade, my classmates elected me to fight a boy named Johnny because he supposedly was picking on smaller kids.  It was almost an honor.  The fight took place down at the railroad tracks near the school.
As chairman of Athens 96, top left, I worked with 28 volunteers to coordinate the community’s involvement in the Games. Top right, my leg of the torch run was in Stephens County. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 1996 Olympics, the Athens torch run was re-enacted. Above, I’m with Billy Payne, left, and former UGA football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley at the anniversary celebration.

As chairman of Athens 96, top left, I worked with 28 volunteers to coordinate the community’s involvement in the Games. Top right, my leg of the torch run was in Stephens County. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 1996 Olympics, the Athens torch run was re-enacted. Above, I’m with Billy Payne, left, and former UGA football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley at the anniversary celebration.

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Let the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad begin with memories

News Staff
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
T he closest that I’ve ever been to Paris is 4,364 miles. That was squirming in Mrs. Lois Collins’ eighth-grade French class. Correction. On a Delta flight in 1999 to begin a three-week Middle East Travel Seminar (METS), our plane touched down in Berlin.
Do you hear me now?

Do you hear me now?

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Do you hear me now?

News Staff
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
God, before writing this article, I pray your blessings and comfort to the family of the man who died and the others wounded in this horrific tragedy that occurred this past Saturday night in Pennsylvania.