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Ain’t the Way It Used To Be
Female anchors and reporters on the cable news channels and local TV news certainly look different today. The rule used to be that nothing about an anchor should be distracting, nothing flashy, nothing sexy; they should look credible. Credible meant shortish hair (shoulder length max), street eye make-up (no formal evening or look-like-a-hooker eye make-up), no flashy jewelry, no red lipstick, no red nail polish, no tight blouses and no plunging necklines. When ...




There’s no place like Georgia
You can take the boy out of Georgia, but you can’t keep him from swelling with pride while he’s gone.




Our thoughts... Cancer
"If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell"




Our thoughts... Charter Schools
We believe in the concept of charter schools. We feel that a charter school, if run right, allows parents and the children who attend the school to control their own education.




Our thoughts: Major Eyesores
If, like us, you are sick and tired of driving around our beautiful city and seeing lots with abandoned, rusty cars on them, or lots where cars are being stored aren’t cleaned anymore, creating a major eyesore, there is something you can do about it.




Our Thoughts: Bank Robbers
On Thursday, the BB&T bank located on Highway 278 was robbed. It looks like it was done by the same group that has struck banks throughout the area, including a Wachovia Bank in Rockdale on Wednesday.




Snake oil salesmen in internet clothing
For some time now I’ve preached about the evil side of the internet and how people can be taken in by ruses or outright hoaxes. Human nature leads us to more or less believe what we see in print. If the internet says it’s true, anyone can be fooled, especially those who lack the common sense which comes with life experience to recognize balderdash when they see it. And all too often ...




How to win the argument — Thatcher style
We know we’re not happy with our current government. A Rasmussen poll released last week noted that 40 percent of voters are very angry, and 25 percent are somewhat angry "at the current policies of the federal government." Combined, this means two out of every three likely voters are not happy with their government.




Unfair to Obama
Dear Editor: You folks at the Covington newspaper are a piece of bad work. You waste no time at all giving your negative thoughts about President Obama. However, you fail to give the entire truth. For example, you decided to display a cartoon last week referencing what the majority of Americans feel about the president’s approval rating — which showed they disapprove of his job performance. But what you did ...




Our thoughts... SteelCo and Sunbelt
We are without question in the toughest of economic times.




Our thoughts... Fall
"I don’t like to lose, and that isn’t so much because it is just a football game, but because defeat means the failure to reach your objective. I don’t want a football player who doesn’t take defeat to heart, who laughs it off with the thought, ‘Oh, well, there’s another Saturday.’ The trouble in American life today, in business as well as in sports, is that too many people are afraid of ...




Stem cell research — a bipartisan approach?
As I was listening to the back and forth on the recent stem cell research, it occurred to me that an important opportunity for bipartisanship was being overlooked.




Writer’s block
OK, folks, it’s Wednesday evening, and I’m looking toward a Thursday deadline with no good column topic in mind. Nothing. Nada. Zip. I’m wandering in the desert seeing nothing on the horizon. Panic may set in soon. At the same time, I’m cooking supper that includes beautiful wild chanterelle mushrooms, handpicked by our friends Janet and Mark on their lovely acreage in the country. They ate them last week and didn’t die. ...




Thank You, Community
Dear Editor: Several months ago the hospital had its annual fundraiser. All of the proceeds from ticket sales and auction items went toward the purchase of a piece of equipment for the neonatal unit of the hospital. We, along with R.L.’s Off the Square, offered a progressive evening for 24 guests, starting at our home and ending with a four-course dinner at the restaurant. Not only did Robert and Trish ...




Well Done, City Council
Dear Editor: Kudos to the City Council for two things. First, for being forward thinking enough to absorb credit card fees on payments made on utility accounts by customers with credit cards. The only way local governments will survive in this economy is to think like a business person. If you can get your money now without risk of a returned check and if you have ...




Let’s focus on the important issues
As they moved through the first week of their general election campaign for governor, Nathan Deal and Roy Barnes focused their attention on this burning issue: the proposed construction of a mosque two blocks from the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City.




Our thoughts... Oxford City Hall
The city of Oxford will dedicate their new city hall and community center on Thursday.




Our thoughts... The Fate of Main Street
The Covington City Council will be voting soon on whether to take the whole Main Street Covington program and place it under their sole control.




Our thoughts... B.C. Crowell Week
The city of Porterdale did it right — they have set aside a special week in honor of their hometown hero and native, B.C. Crowell.




Don’t feel sorry for the squirrels in my backyard
If you find any dead squirrels in my backyard, it is because they have laughed themselves to death.




Emily attacks Sarah
There are few things sadder than girls being mean to girls. Boys seem to be able to slough off slights and events, pick up the ball and play again. Girls tend to hold grudges longer, become more self-conscious and end up creating divisions between each other.




Our thoughts... Walker’s Bend
The city of Covington has made a sizeable investment in the redevelopment of the Walker’s Bend subdivision.




The end of the world as we know it
As the 20th century closed I was still toiling as a middle school social studies teacher. I recall archaeologists, in 1999, unearthing pottery shards in a remote area of Pakistan. Primitive writings evident thereupon were carbon-dated to approximately 5500 B.C., and linguists subsequently determined the etchings originated within the extinct Indus civilization.




Our thoughts... School tribunals
So far so good! We have been impressed by new school Superintendent Dr. Gary Mathews’ approach to the management of the Newton County School System.




Our thoughts... Credit card fees
The city of Covington is considering dropping the credit card fee that it currently charges its customers who pay their bills with plastic instead of cash or checks. This would be a positive move by the city at this time; we support their efforts to negotiate with the credit card companies to give the city a better deal.




Our thoughts... Some good news
In these dark economic times, it’s more than promising to see a local business buck the trend and take a leap of faith that the future will certainly get brighter for our community. This week, Wendell Crowe announced that his car dealership, Covington Ford, will relocate from its current location on U.S. Highway 278 to a spacious piece of property located at 9101 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ...




Robert Redford
I’ve never told anyone this before. I turned down Robert Redford — not once but several times. Oh, his pleadings were sincere. And passionate. He dangled beautiful possibilities before me, were I to return his ardor, but waxed equally eloquent about the sadness and wasted opportunities, were I not to respond. I savored each distinctive flourish of his signature. I imagined him at his desk in the mountains of Utah, picking each ...




Foreclosures and Public Figures
Dear Editor: I have been reading the Newton County legals in The Covington News since the early 1950s. Back then, the foreclosure advertisements might have one or two sheriff’s sales of personal property on the square, and you probably only saw 12 to 14 real property foreclosures in a year. You more than likely knew the mortgagor, and you were certainly familiar with the addresses. I ...




City Lowers Ethical Standard
Dear Editor: Since 1962 the Covington City Charter has forbidden the mayor, members of the City Council and city employees from doing business with the city during their term of office or term of employment. This is a conflict-of-interest standard that protects the public from insider abuse of power and position and protects office-holders from the public perception of self-dealing. This week the City Council decided ...




In Brief... Lobbyists
When David Ralston was elected by his colleagues last year to the powerful Georgia House Speaker position, he promised that he would make ethics his top priority.




Our thoughts... Stop Signs
About a year ago we started a weekly series called the Eyesore of the Week. This series features a picture of an empty building or property that has been allowed to become overgrown with weeds and debris. In some of the cases, the folks who have owned the property highlighted have taken steps to clean up their properties; we and their neighbors are appreciative of their actions.





The days grow short on political campaigns
Congratulations, dear reader. Silly Season, aka, the 2010 political campaign, is nearing the end. Most of the wannabes have been shunted aside and we are in the short days of the campaign. On Nov. 2, it will all be over. Can December come soon enough?




Public indecency
Dear Editor: In reading your article, there was no mention in the article about the woman driver of the tractor trailer getting a ticket for not keeping her eyes on the road. How can you take you eyes off the road long enough to pick up a cell phone and take the picture.




Thanks for your support
Our campaign for the Georgia Public Service Commission came to an end on August 10 when Tim Echols garnered 52 percent of the vote. Between May 1 and Aug. 10, we drove nearly 20,000 miles across Georgia, met wonderful people and shared our ideas on making this state better for all of us. Working hard to have been the first Newton County resident elected statewide was both gratifying, rewarding and eye opening, ...




Our thoughts... Debate
The local Newton County Chamber of Commerce and The Covington News teamed up in the presidential election two years ago to present a well received debate between local political hopefuls.




Our thoughts... Revisiting by-the-drink alcohol
It’s been two weeks since three elected county commissioners decided that they and they alone were elected to subvert the will of the people. Instead of trusting the people who elected them to make a decision that would control their own destiny, these commissioners chose not to place the option to serve alcoholic beverages in Newton County on the ballet this November.




A Bold Spirit of Adventure
I’m a planner. When I worked in finance, I loved planning the budget process — how would it unfold, who would be involved, how we would ensure we met our target. I was most satisfied when we had made all the plans and were ready to begin.




Letter to the editor - Responsibilities
Dear Editor: The Liquor By the Drink Aug. 6 editorial and cartoon are right on target.




Big Country, Jawjuh, and Newt
Remember the nursery rhyme of three blind mice? The children’s fable of three little pigs? Perchance, might you recall "The Three Stooges?" If not, evidence suggests that all of them now serve as elected officials.




Relieved
Almost two years ago, an unprecedented number of voters in District 95 turned out to vote in the presidential election. The majority of those voters of the district marked an "X" next to every candidate that was running as a Democrat.







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