New York Times comes to Gibson for bank closure

Well, it finally happened. No, hell didn't freeze over, but this is almost as strange: Gibson, Ga., was on the front page of the New York Times. No, I'm not kidding. It was right there on the front page on Saturday. The Times recounted the story of the shuttering of what used to be the Bank of Gibson, more recently called FirstCity. You can read it at this link, though you might have to sign up for the free Times registration to get to the story.

GBI to probe Norwood shooting involving Warren County commissioner

It's not clear from the McDuffie Mirror story who fired at who, but it does say someone shot a car door. (Honest disclosure: The Peebles guy in the story is my father. The three people who read this blog know that already, but I include that fact here to make myself feel better.)

A thank-you to our readers: No, we're not going away ...

Warrenton Watch has been around for a few years now, through good times and bad, through periods where I blogged every day and periods where I didn't get a chance to post for months.

We're not going away. In fact, I'm hoping I'll be able to post more frequently in 2009. But I wanted to stop and take a moment to thank all of you out there who read Warrenton Watch, and to step back and reflect a little bit on it.

Through the magic of the InterWebs, I have no way of knowing who reads this blog or where they are -- whether they're in Thomson or Timbuktu. But over the years I've been tickled to get e-mails from Warrentonians and former Warrentonians around the country who say they drop by my site every now and then. I appreciate each and every one of you who read, whether you and I have communicated or not.

Some of you who read Warrenton Watch are people who have known me all my life, and known my parents most of their lives, and knew my grandparents. Some of you who read, we don't know each other at all. Whoever you are, I'm thankful you read.

I started this blog on a lark, just to see if it could be done. Blogs were just a new thing then, and, at the time, not everyone had one. Now, it seems, everyone has one. (I actually have two, and I'm thinking of starting one or two others. That's in addition to my blogging at my job at www.TexasWatchdog.org.) I wish I could blog here at a more consistent frequency, but, well, life is what happens when you're making other plans, right?

I hope to blog again very soon. So I will sign off for now and wish all our readers a happy Super Bowl Sunday.

Happy new year: Our top 10 posts from 2008

In case you missed any of them. Here's the list, from No. 1 to No. 10.

• First Baptist pastor indicted 
• Warrenton's Jamie Ellis appears on Good Morning America 
• Controversial First Baptist pastor resigns
• Back from quick trip to Warrenton (July post) 
• New Aflac duck commercial coming out on New Year's Day (Note: this post went up in 2006. I'm not sure why it was so popular this year, but it was.) 
• Teachers fired for falsifying grades (this was another 2006 post) 
• Where'd I-20 go? 
• Car hits mom, son while pushing motorized car uphill 
• Need grits? Ogeechee River Mill for sale (this was a 2005 post) 
• Warren County high school principal charged in sex case
  

The gloating begins now

I couldn't help but notice that every single one of the "Pigskin Prognosticators" in last week's edition of The Clipper predicted that Boston College would beat my alma mater Vanderbilt in the Music City Bowl today.

Final score: 16-14, Vanderbilt.

Read more about it here.

Remembering Mrs. Martha Jane Wilhoit, typing teacher extraordinaire

I had a lot of teachers when I was in school -- heck, I went to three different schools (long story), and when you go to three different schools, you have a lot of teachers.

I had some really great ones. And I had some others who made me think, "Uh, do you know that what you just told us is actually wrong?"

But I only had one teacher back in The Day whom I can honestly say put the fear of God into me when I walked into her classroom. And she's the one I'm recalling fondly in this note tonight.

Mrs. Martha Jane Wilhoit taught me -- and probably about two or three generations of other kids -- how to type. I'm so saddened to report that she passed on on Monday at the age of 78. (The Augusta Chronicle has her obituary online here.)

Mrs. Wilhoit was the toughest teacher I ever had. When you walked in her classroom, she meant business, from the first bell to the last. No low-down hangin' around allowed.

You didn't talk to your friends in her class. You didn't pass notes in her class. You didn't goof off or stare out the window in her class. You didn't doodle on your notepad. You typed.

You typed as soon as you sat down -- well, right after you removed the plastic dust cover from your aging IBM Selectric. And you typed until the bell rang. And you typed. That was all you did. You typed.

This wasn't class. It was typing boot camp.

And when she got finished with you, you knew how to type. Period.

I can still hear her now, instructing my class in the late 1980s to remove our paper from beneath our paper bail rollers (now that everyone uses computers instead of typewriters, do kids today ever have to mess with a paper bail roller? Do they even know what one is?).

I vaguely recall that she posted the best students' work on a bulletin board near her classroom door -- I wasn't the greatest typist in the world, and I don't think I ever made it to the bulletin board. But I passed, and now I make a living sitting in front of a computer 8/10/12 hours a day, doing what Mrs. Wilhoit taught me to do.

I'll always be grateful to her for that. I bet a lot of other folks out there will be, too.

Some quick updates from Warrenton

I've just returned from a Christmastime visit to 30828, so here are some quick updates:

+ Yes, Warrenton is still there.
+ I was sad to see that Mouse's House of Pizza on Main Street closed. I'd had some takeout pizza there once, and it was pretty good. I'm always sad to see any business venture on Main Street close, because Warrenton needs as many business ventures as it can get right now.
+ The marquee from the front of the Knox Theater has been removed as part of the beginning of a renovation effort. It looked like some repairs had been made to the ground-level exterior.
+ The old train depot has been moved to the lot next door to the theater and renovated into a building that my grandmother said is going to be either a museum or a new office for the local Chamber. (More details as I get them.) I thought it looked really nice.
+ Copies of The Augusta Chronicle are getting harder and harder to come by in Warrenton. I sense the newspaper is probably reducing the number of counties in which it circulates as a cost-saving measure. Special thanks to Ms. Becky Wheeler for giving me her copy one day when I couldn't find one for sale anywhere.
+  Speaking of newspapers, the lead story in The Clipper last week was that someone was injured in an auto accident in Camak.
+ Has there been some kind of major redoing of the grounds at First Baptist Church? It sure looks different to me than what I remembered. Weren't there a lot more plants and trees there before? Or am I mis-remembering?
+ Fire ants are everywhere this year. Not sure why.

Controversial First Baptist pastor resigns

The still-fairly-new pastor of the First Baptist Church of Warrenton -- who is under federal indictment on tax evasion charges -- has stepped down. The Rev. Otis Ray Hope left the pulpit last week, Billy Hobbs reported in the McDuffie Mirror.

The WakeUpFBCWarrenton blog offered this short post:

It is over.  This church is wounded.  Please pray for it’s healing.

(We'll repeat my previous disclosure on this topic: This was the church my family attended when I was a child, where my parents were married and where funeral services were held for both my mom and my grandfather. The five folks out there who read this blog already know that, but I'm repeating that as a matter of principle. I think it's always best to disclose potential conflicts of interest.) 

First Baptist pastor indicted on tax evasion charges

I had been meaning to post here that I had heard some rumblings about controversy within the ranks at First Baptist of Warrenton regarding the new minister, the Rev. Otis Ray Hope -- but before I could post anything here, I saw via WJBF's Web site that he had been indicted on federal tax evasion charges stemming from his work at his old church. (Honest disclosure: My late grandfather was a member of First Baptist and was the maintenance man for a time [and, I believe, was once a deacon], and my parents were married there by the Rev. Hightower.)

Addendum to original post: Boy, I am late with the news on this issue, a Google search reveals. Check out the WakeupFBCWarrenton blog started by Steve Giddens, who was going to First Baptist before I was even born (and who used to work with my granddad at Jebco).

We need more Wee Wisdom

Somewhere, in some filing cabinet in the offices of the Warren County Board of Education, I can only assume there is some piece of paper that marks me as what I am.

My name is Jennifer Peebles. And technically, I'm a high school dropout.

But that doesn't mean I'm an uneducated person. I am actually a highly educated, cultured and learned person.

That's because I am a graduate of Wee Wisdom Kindergarten.

And I have the proof to back it up.

Cross-posting: The rise, and mostly fall, of Blundale, Ga.

This is just a quick note to say that I've written a post about my father's hometown in Emanuel County -- it's on my non-Warrenton blog. You can see it at this link if you're interested.

Back from a quick trip to Warrenton

I made a very quick trip to Warrenton for the July 4 weekend and can report that things seemed pretty quiet. Mimi and I watched the fireworks on TV on Friday night, and on Saturday I went to Emanuel County to visit my father's relatives at their annual Independence Day gathering. Some observations:

• Gurley's put up a big sign on the Wrens Road saying, "GURLEY'S IGA - HOME OF THE CHEAPEST ICE IN TOWN." So, as I drove by the store, I slowed down to see just how cheap this incredibly cheap ice would be. The cost? $1 per bag. Just like everywhere else in America. What gives?
• The Clipper had a front-page story about a man who received second-degree burns after his wife poured scalding hot water on him while he was lying in bed, after observing that if she couldn't have him, no one else could.
• I never noticed before that there's a YIELD sign where the Wrens Road crosses the Martin-Marietta rail spur. A "yield" sign. Not a stop sign. A "yield" sign. As though it's somehow optional for you to stop for the train.
  

Where'd I-20 go?

If you're in my generation, you can't remember a time when there was no Interstate 20 running through Warren County. So it was strange to see the map I came across in my grandmother's attic -- an old Union 76 road map of Georgia. Looks funny to me. The date on it is 1970.

Trying, and failing, to catch up

Sorry I've been out of touch for a while, faithful readers. My desktop PC's been in the shop, and its entire hard drive had to be wiped clean -- no telling what I've lost. (Don't ever use Norton GoBack. That's my lesson.)

Meanwhile, yesterday, May 26, would have been the 85th birthday of my granddad, James Langford Sr. of Warrenton. I think about him every day.

Car hits mom, son, while pushing motorized car uphill

They're recovering, WJBF-Channel 6 reports.

Warrenton's Jamie Ellis appears on 'Good Morning America'

Jamie Ellis, who grew up about three houses around the corner from me in Warrenton and is the brother of my dear friend Amanda Ellis Wilkerson, was on Good Morning America's March 13 broadcast with 15,000 bees. He's a bee expert at the University of Florida, and he helped GMA weatherman Sam Champion with the show's bee-themed Fear Factor-like segment called "I Dare You." In terms of national television exposure, this officially trumps my own appearance on Jeopardy a few years ago (I'm glad -- my 15 minutes of fame were ready to run out anyhow). There's a picture and a short write up at this link on the UF Web site.

Greene County making news, will switch to single-gender schools

Greene County, where my mother's parents grew up, plans to change its school system to single-gender schools, the AJC says.

Remembering the big snow of '73

It was 35 years ago next month -- Feb. 9-10, 1973 -- that more than a foot of snow fell on Warrenton. I've tracked down the pictures my family took during the storm and uploaded them to a public album on Google's Picasa system. Follow this link to check them all out, and feel free to comment here on the blog or shoot me an e-mail at jpintn@gmail.com if you feel like it. Here's one just to get you started, a picture of my grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Langford, in the snow in their yard on South Gibson Street. (And you can read more about the big snow of '73 at this link.)

From the scrapbook files

Long live the Dodge Dart

The New York Times' story this morning about a lady in California who has a 1969 Dodge Dart made me smile. My grandfather in Warrenton, known to many Warrenton Watch readers as "Mr. James" Langford, had a blue one that he drove through much of the 1980s. On the trunk lid he stenciled the phrase "I am not a dirty old man, just a sexy senior citizen." He died 13 years ago this last Christmas, but I still think about him every day.

Art teacher from Warrenton honored for her work

Carroll Bolton, a Warrenton native who has been teaching art in the schools down in Decatur County, Ga., down around Bainbridge, has been honored by the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, according to the Bainbridge Post-Searchlight.

Some good, if sad, Camak pictures, and some downtown Warrenton pics, too

Blogger Radical Georgia Moderate has posted some very good pictures of old Camak and downtown Warrenton via his Flickr account. He took the pictures during a recent road trip through the area, he says on his blog.

Remembering Mrs. Newsome

Some very sad news to report: Mrs. Beth Newsome, who was my sixth grade homeroom and English teacher, has died. Her remains were found Friday in the woods near the Shoals area of Warren County, and authorities are investigating why she died. She had most recently been teaching at Thomson Middle, where she had been named Teacher of the Year.

To give you a sense of how long ago I was in Mrs. Newsome's class, remember that it was called "English" then and not "language arts." I remember she had us read The Wind in the Willows -- the original, turn-of-the-century Kenneth Grahame version, not any of the later, Disney-ed-up cartoon ripoffs. I don't think it became a favorite of any of us in the class, to be honest, but she did have each of us get up and do a monologue in front of the class as one of the characters, and some of them were quite good. I can't remember what character I was, but I remember wearing an upside down paper grocery bag with a plaid-like pattern on it as a sort of vest, or as the Brits might call it, a waistcoat. (Maybe I was Mr. Toad? I can't remember.)

I also remember her staging a men-versus-women classroom debate over some sort of gender issue in the news -- I can't recall what it was -- and I remember her allegiances lay with Georgia Tech, while most of the rest of her homeroom were Bulldog fans.

My thoughts and prayers go out to her students and her family. There are some thoughtful comments posted in the Chronicle story about her death.

Legion Field fades into history

The old Warren County High School football field -- where my mother played the clarinet in the school band and where my uncle was once center on the football team -- has played host to its last game. The Warren County Screaming Devils have relocated to the new football field to compliment the new high school building. (They won in the first round of the playoffs last weekend, The Augusta Chronicle reports.)

Legion Field -- that was its proper name, which hardly anyone ever used -- was, or is, a few hundred yards from the house where I grew up on English Drive. I remember swinging on the swingset in my backyard many an afternoon, listening to the thump-thump-thump of the beat as the band practiced at the football field.

A breeding ground for good punters

Georgia Tech punter Durant Brooks recalls riding horses as a kid on his mother's farm in Warrenton. Then the punter of all punters, Thomson's own Ray Guy, bought a horse from Durant's mom, says The Augusta Chronicle's Scott Michaux. "They wonder what's in the water around here," Guy says.

Jewell post office robbed

A man with a knife robbed the postmaster of money, The Augusta Chronicle reported. (Honest disclosure: The Sheriff Peebles quoted in the story is the Warrenton Watch editor's father.)


View Larger Map

Warren Co. quadruplets get to go home

We're late in posting this: John and Deborah Kalume and their newborn quadruplets got to go home to Warrenton from a hospital in Sacramento, Calif., thanks to the kindness of donors there. (Link goes to Sacramento Bee story.)

Quadruplets need help getting home to Warrenton -- from California

John and Deborah Kalume have four little babies -- three boys and one girl -- whom they need to bring back to Warrenton from Sacramento, the Sacramento Bee reports. The babies were born there to a surrogate mom.

Mesena woman slain, husband wounded in domestic dispute

Janice Marie Hudson, 53, of West Reese Road, was killed, The McDuffie Mirror reports.

2-year-old seriously hurt in Camak four-wheeler accident

Child, father were thrown from the vehicle, WRDW-Channel 12 reports.

Warren Co High principal charged in sex case

He's out on bond after being indicted by a grand jury. (Link goes to Channel 12 site.)

Announcement coming of new Braves broadcast lineup

It's the end of an era, it seems. It was good while it lasted.

That John Mellencamp ad that's on TV every five seconds

The New York Times has a story on it today and Mellencamp's decision to let Chevrolet use it. He says he did it because the radio stations aren't playing music anymore by older, established artists.

Missionary from Warrenton profiled

Pamela Kitchens, head of Missions of Integrity, was the guest speaker for the Rotary Club in Atmore, Ala.

Warrenton's Burnett vows success in Roxborough

"We WILL compete this year," the coach, in his 8th year, told the Philadelphia Daily News.

Test for Technorati

We're hooking up with Technorati -- or trying to. So if you don't want to check out our Technorati profile, then just disregard this post.

Technorati Profile

'I'm not foolish enough to believe that we can have everything'

Warren County head football coach Lee Hutto is profiled in The McDuffie Mirror.

Bye-bye, West Coast offense

No surprises here: The Falcons fired Coach Jim Mora today after finishing the season with a 7-9
record.

Breaking news: The Godfather of Soul dies at 73

The Associated Press is reporting sad news this Christmas morning: Soul Brother No. 1, the Hardest-Workin' Man in Show Business, The Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown, died early this morning at an Atlanta hospital after a bout with pneumonia. He was 73.

I was tempted to write "God rest his soul."

But you know it and I know it: If there's one thing James Brown ain't never gonna do, it's rest.

Right now, J.B. is probably up there doing a command performance on Christmas Day for the heavenly hosts.

He's got on one of those sequined stretch-polyester suits, his hairdo is perfect, and he's up there doing spins and those unbelievable splits as he does Papa's Got a Brand New Bag. You know James is on "the good foot." And every few minutes someone comes out and brings him a handkerchief and wipes the sweat off his brow while he's still dancing.

And nobody could dance like James Brown.

Oh, they tried. I remember Michael Jackson spinnin' round and flipping that microphone stand back and forth with his feet in about '84 on the Grammy Awards telecast. My mother -- who owned original 45's of both Please Please Please and Papa's Got a Brand New Bag -- and I watched it together in our Warrenton living room, and commented that Michael clearly was in the James Brown mold. And afterward, some people said, "Michael is the next James Brown."

But they were wrong. He might have wanted to be James Brown, but there was only one. Same thing goes for Prince, too, in my book. James Brown never changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol. He didn't have to. He was the Godfather of Soul. Who would give that name up?


In my hometown, where I used to stay
The name of the place is Augusta G-A
Down there, we have a good time -- we don't talk
We all get together, in any type of weather, and we do The Camel Walk.
- Lyrics from James Brown's 'There Was a Time'

I've written here before on various prominent people who hail from East Georgia, and James will easily wind up being the most famous person ever from Augusta. Sure, there are other people from Augusta who made names for themselves: President Woodrow Wilson spent several years of his childhood in Augusta, and opera fans know the city as the hometown of diva Jessye Norman.

Sure, President Wilson started the League of Nations, but I'm sure he couldn't dance worth a flip. And I'll bet James, if he had put his mind to it, could have done the world's funkiest version of Aida, so funky that old man Verdi would have boogied right out of his grave.

I got to see James in concert once -- in, of all places, New York City, at Radio City Music Hall. (Irony: James Brown and I were from the same town -- he grew up in Augusta, and I was born there -- and I had to go 1,000 miles to see him in concert.) James was about 60 then, but he still rocked the place. And afterward it dawned on me why people called him "The Hardest-Workin' Man in Show Business": A thousand white people from New York -- who were about as far removed from being poor and black in the Depression Era-Deep South as the Earth is to the moon - had paid $30 each to see and pay homage to this man who had once shined shoes on the streets of downtown Augusta. Talented, absolutely he was, but going out on stage and being James Brown undoubtedly was hard work, too.

A couple of random thoughts:

+ I remember when James first went to jail back in the '80s. Clyde Wells, the Augusta Chronicle's longtime editorial cartoonist, had a picture in the next day's paper of James wearing a ball and chain and holding a sledgehammer, clearly sentenced to hard labor, and bore the caption "The Godfather of Rock!" I can't find that picture online anywhere via Google, but if you know where it is, please send us a link.

+ Lest we not forget how hard it could be to sometimes understand what James was saying: I saw a snippet of a comedian's performance one night on Comedy Central a few years ago. The comedian said he he'd been on a flight and wound up in a seat next to James Brown, of whom he was a huge fan, and the two men chatted the entire flight. As soon as he got off the plane, he ran to a pay phone and called his father. "Dad!" he said. "I just sat next to James Brown on the plane!"

"That's great, son!" the father said. "What did you two talk about?"

Replied the son, "I have no idea!"

+ For many years the morning crew at WBBQ radio in Augusta had a snippet of a recording they played -- for humorous effect, of course -- of James saying "I don't know." They used it usually after posing a joke question, and before they gave away the punchline. When I brought James' Twenty All-Time Greatest Hits compilation CD several years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the familiar snippet is taken from the spoken-word intro to the song Make it Funky -- one of the band members asks James what he wants to play next, and James responds, "Bobby, I don't know" -- but whatever it is, he says, make it funky.

+ We can't end this discussion without recalling Eddie Murphy's impression of James Brown in the early '80s on Saturday Night Live. "James" was hosting a talk show -- James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub Party. The best part of the sketch was the end, where we see a still shot of James in the tub with his next guest, Dr. Joyce Brothers. Despite the recent news that YouTube was clamping down on copyrighted material, as of this second you can find the entire two-minute sketch on their site at this link.

+ Remember Livin' in America? It was one of James' last big pop hits, and it was on the soundtrack to Rocky IV. The LP version, which was longer than the single version, included an extra bridge where James shouted, "Eddie Murphy, eat your heart out!" (Some coincidences: There's a new Rocky movie coming out soon, and Eddie Murphy has a major dramatic role in the new film version of Dreamgirls coming out soon.)

+ Wikipedia has a picture of the James Brown statue in downtown Augusta.

+ James' page at the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame Web site (inducted 1986)

In closing, another song lyric:

There was a time -- sometimes I dance,

Sometimes I dance, and sometimes I clown,

But you can bet, you haven't seen nothin' yet

Until you've seen me do The James Brown.

These doughnuts don't have any glaze on 'em ...

I saw a bagel for the first time my first week of college. I'd never seen a bagel, eaten a bagel, or heard of anyone I knew eating a bagel. To this day, I've never seen anyone in Warrenton ever eat a bagel or heard of anyone in Warrenton eating a bagel. But sure enough, the reach of consumerism is all-powerful: You can buy 'em in the freezer case at the Thomson Wal-Mart.

New Aflac duck commercial coming out on New Year's Day

The duck commercials are extremely popular in my family, and my personal favorite is the one with Yogi Berra in the barbershop ("They give you cash, which is just as good as money"). The duck morphs into a superduck in the next commercial, the Atlanta paper says.

Braves' calling crew shunted to radio

Pete van Wieren will call Braves games only on radio next year, and Skip Caray will do darn few TV games, the Atlanta paper says.

Sisters are doin' it for themselves - and on coins!

The Mint plans a new series of coins featuring the likenesses of America's first ladies. But don't get your hopes too high - they'll be on collectors-only coins that will cost major bucks.

Atlantic Records founder Ertegun dies

Ahmet Ertegun, a giant in the music industry who started Atlantic Records, has died at 83. Atlantic recorded Georgia's own Ray Charles and Otis Redding, along with everyone from Lady Soul herself to Crosby Stills & Nash to Led Zepplin. (Link goes to the New York Times story; free registration is required.)

Sheriff's deputy charged with inmate sexual assault

Deputy Dewayne Wood has been fired after being charged with sexual assault of a female inmate he was supposed to be taking to jail, as well as with possessing prescription diet pills. (Honest disclosure here: Sheriff Joe Peebles is my dad.) Links to Augusta Chronicle story, WDRW-Channel 12 story.

Warrenton sleet and the Emanuel County Iditarod

It sleeted today in Warrenton due to the cold front that has come in, sources there tell me. Meanwhile, word has it that points south of Warrenton, including Swainsboro, could get some snow. Time to tell those sled dogs to mush toward to the Point Hole.

Mint rolling out new presidential series of $1 dollar coins

Just like how they've rolled out the quarters with states on them, they're going to do presidents on $1 coins now. Speaking of which, does anyone ever see the Sacajawea dollar these days? (Link goes to NY Times story.)

Mom gets five years in toddlers' drowning

Lottie Payne was found guilty by a jury in a little under an hour, The Chronicle says.

Parents take stand in child-drowning case

Lottie Payne says she had only gone to the bathroom when the kids got out that day, The Chronicle reports. Meanwhile, Dennis Payne says it's the city's fault the children drowned, and he intends to sue the city; and an expert says Lottie Payne is borderline mentally retarded and suffered extensive mental and physical abuse, including being prostituted by her own mother as a child. (Link goes to The Chronicle, where free registration is required.)

Mother of drowned children breaks down at trial

Lottie Payne is on trial on charges that she was negligent in the deaths of her two toddler children, who drowned in a Warrenton sewage treatment pond. (Link goes to the Macon Telegraph site.)

Group sex alleged in trial for mom whose two kids drowned

Lottie Kain, whose two children drowned in a Warrenton sewage pond, is on trial this week. (Link goes to Augusta Chronicle story).

Small Mississippi town digs up its dirt-covered swimming pool

Some folks in Stonewall, Miss., are digging out the remains of the old city swimming pool and plan to reopen it, The New York Times says. I always heard that the Warrenton city pool at the park downtown -- now covered in grass, with just the concrete rim showing -- was closed in a similar fashion, as a means to prevent racial integration years ago (though I admit I wasn't alive then and have no proof as to whether that's accurate).

I remember running around the concrete rectangle with my classmates at Miss Sue's Wee Wisdom Kindergarten. I think the object of the game was to chase each other on the concrete and not step by accident into the grass center.

Clipper subscriptions available through Amazon.com

Just found this online and had to post it -- you can get your loved one a gift subscription to The Warrenton Clipper through, of all places, Amazon.com. Now, I haven't tried it, so I can't speak to how well it works, but if you're looking for that unique gift this Christmas and you're doing your shopping online, maybe it's a thought.

Unfamiliar feeling on Thomson Highway

Just got back a couple of days ago from a visit to Warrenton, and they have finished work on the Thomson Highway by Georgia-Pacific -- and it's the most unfamiliar feeling. They've filled in the part where the road went under the trestle, and now the roadbed is level with the train tracks, and crossing arms are supposed to stop traffic when the train comes through.

After 32 years of life going under the tracks, not over them, it's a strange and disorienting feeling to drive over the tracks and see how the topography has been altered. I'm not saying I'm for it or against it -- it's just unfamiliar.

National attention for Stillmore

It's not every day -- in fact, it's hardly ever -- that national press exposure comes to tiny Stillmore, Ga., a little town way down on the southern end of Emanuel County and not far from where my grandmother's family is from in Oak Park. But the town has come to a virtual standstill following illegal-immigrant roundups, and an Associated Press story on that situation has gotten national coverage. Google News says that as of this morning, the story was in the online editions of the Boston Globe, Fox News, and both Seattle daily papers.

Interesting fact: My father has always told me that Stillmore's claim to fame was that there was a railroad roundhouse there.

Gag order imposed in case of children who drowned in sewage pond

Judge's ruling limits statements to media in the runup to the trial, the Augusta Chronicle reports.

Columbia County 162nd in the nation in per-capita income

That's according to the Census Bureau, which in August dumped out a bunch of newly updated statistics for the not-quite-800 largest (in population) counties in the U.S. Columbia talled $27,496 in per-capita income, ranking it beneath Worcester County, Mass., and Northampton County, Pa. (The ranking only considered counties with at least 65,000 residents, so sorry, Warren, McDuffie and other nearby counties weren't included -- Columbia was the closest one on the list.) Highest Georgia county on the list: No surprise – Fulton at 30th ($35,795) followed immediately by Fayette ($35,639) at 31st.

Good news from Oslo: They found 'The Scream'

Edvard Munch's "The Scream" had been AWOL for two years (link goes to Washington Post.com).

Plastic tubing plant to create 30 new jobs

Plastic Tubing Industries will build an $11 million plant in Warrenton by next summer, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports.

McKinney loses in runoff bid

U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who a few years ago was Warren County's Congresswoman, has lost in her re-election bid to challenger Hank Johnson. (The congressional districts have since been redrawn, and Warren County is now in the district represented by U.S. Rep. John Barrow.) The link goes to the Journal-Constitution story on the election.

Warrenton honored for National Main Street recognition

One of 69 Georgia cities recognized as such.

Turner South being sold; TBS to show fewer Braves games in coming years

Rupert Murdoch's Fox News may buy Turner South, while the Braves themselves may be sold to the guy who owns the Falcons, the Macon Telegraph reports.

Husband says wife innocent in child-drowning case

No trial date set in the case of Lottie Kain, WRDW reports.

Teachers fired for falsifying grades

Five firings spark student protests, WRDW reports.

House fire kills woman

Story from WJBF's Web site.

Koch buying Georgia-Pacific

Will make the biggest private company in the nation, this Kansas City Star story says.

DOJ officials recommended against GA vote law, were overrruled

Staffers at the federal Justice Department said they thought GA's voter-identification-card law was a bad idea, but they were overruled by higher-ups. It's in today's Washington Post (registration required, but it's free).

Coach Welsh nears 300 wins

This Augusta Chronicle profile of the Thomson Bulldogs' coach is a good reminder that the legendary Luther Welsh once coached at Warren County, back in the 1950s. Says Mrs. Welsh: "Luther doesn't do anything else but coach and cut grass. "

Fed appeals court overturns GA 'voter ID' law

The law, in effect, would charge folks $20 to vote -- you couldn't vote without the official state-issued ID card, which you'd have to pay $20 to get. State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, who is originally from Warren County, is quoted in this Washington Post story today.

Screaming Devils go up to 6-1 for the season with Aquinas victory

Halfback Veuncle Ivey made a momentum-turning 88-yard touchdown run at the end of the first half, The Chronicle says. Final score: 46-20. Next opponent: Region 7-A rival Glascock County at home; the Panthers are 0-8 this season.

Celebrating 100 years of R.T.

It was on this day in 1905 that Roscoe Tennyson Peebles, my granddad, came into the world in rural northern Emanuel County. That can mean only one thing: It's time to celebrate the Centennial of R.T.

Here are some things you can do to honor R.T.:
+ Be very quiet and not say much.
+ At 9 p.m., have an ice cream float. Pour some pre-made chocolate milk in a small glass and then put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
+ Click your teeth together a lot, like your dentures don't fit right.
+ Work on anything mechanical and get your hands very dirty and grimy.

We'll add some things you should know about R.T. to this blog throughout the year.

Warrentonians quilting for Katrina victims

Emma Sinkfield at Quality of Life and other Warrenton ladies are picking up the needles to help those affected by the hurricane, WJBF-Channel 6 reports.

Read 'Surviving The Corner'

Take 5 or 10 minutes today and read a really nice piece that ran in this weekend's Chronicle, a profile of Washington-Wilkes football player Markeith Wylie, and how his life changed after he was seriously wounded by a gunshot.

Screaming Devils lose to Spalding Co.

By one point, 15-14, in Griffin. The loss makes Warren County 2-1 for the season. Next Friday: A conference matchup with Hancock Central, who are 2-2 after Friday's loss to Putnam County.

Katrina from the air

The National Weather Service has posted some horrifying aerial photos of the devastation along the Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, click here to donate money online to the Red Cross. If you want to volunteer, the closest Red Cross chapter is the one in Augusta, and its Web site is here. The site says they have set up a shelter at Warren Road Baptist Church on Washington Road in Augusta. They're also offering classes on how to help people in disasters (as I understand, people who want to volunteer are being told they shouldn't go to the Gulf unless they are Red Cross-certified disaster relief volunteers). The class schedule is online here.

Meanwhile, if you are trying to find someone lost in the Katrina-affected area, try these two sites: The National Next-of-Kin Registry or the Red Cross' Katrina people-finder page. Or see complete coverage of Hurricane Katrina from the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper.

Top 100 Southern songs?

Some songs with Middle Georgia ties and other roots from the Warrenton area made the The Journal-Constitution's ranking of the Top 100 Songs of the South of all time.

Statesboro Blues, the signature tune of Blind Willie McTell, the great bluesman from Thomson, ranked at No. 53. The band who did the most famous cover version of Statesboro Blues, the Allman Brothers, who recorded in Macon, did quite well, too; Ramblin' Man made it to No. 15 and Blue Sky at No. 66.

Also from Macon, Otis Redding is at No. 16 with (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay. Did you know that comedian and Ph.D. Bertice Berry says her mother told her she was Otis' illegitimate daughter? Really. I read it in Dr. Berry's autobiography.

Another interesting fact: Otis Redding and my grandmother were born in the same town, Dawson, Ga., in Terrell County.

One more: My mother and her teenybopper friends at the Woman's College of Georgia in the late 1960s were all huge fans of Otis Redding. One of Mom's college friends got a summer job at a Macon department store, and one day Otis came in to buy a tricycle for his little boy. The girl fainted. At leat that's what Mom said.

Turning toward Athens, the B-52s landed Love Shack at 22 (three words: Tin roof rusted). And Maps and Legends at No. 99 was the only item I saw on the list by R.E.M., though I may not have looked carefully enough.

You'll need Macromedia Flash software on your computer (it's free, you just have to download it) to see the whole list, for which I'm having a devil of a time trying to find the permanent link. Until then, go this link to the AJC blog discussion of the top 100, where tempers are clearly flaring.

For the record, the list was topped by Billie Holiday's rendition of Strange Fruit. Jimmie Rodgers, the singin' brakeman, who was idolized by my late guitar-picking Warrenton granddad, was at No. 35 with his seminal Blue Yodel No. 1, largely known to the public as T for Texas. And two of my late mother's favorites were Georgia on My Mind at No. 9 and Midnight Train to Georgia at No. 17. If I didn't have my fingers on the keyboard, I'd be doing the appropriate Pips arm motions right now.

Even worse than Jim Cantore ...

In regard to the recent observation here about Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel: The only thing worse than having Jim Cantore show up in your town is having Christiane Amanpour show up.

When Jim drives up, it's bad, but there's still time to leave. When Christiane shows up, it's just too late. Something military or Biblical has happened by then.

For the record, I'm a huge fan of Christiane. But she may be the fifth horseman of the apocalypse. You remember the story: First, the white horse comes in with the Antichrist. Then War comes in on the red horse. Then Famine on the black horse. Then Christiane and her crew get off a Black Hawk with an advance unit of the 82nd Airborne.

CNN and the Weather Channel should cooperate (they're both headquarted in Atlanta, by the way) and create a primetime news show with both Cantore and Amapour as co-anchors. It could be titled Storm Stories from [Beirut/Gaza/Iraq/name your world hotspot here].

More area football results

Thomson beat Liberty County, 3-0; Hancock Central lost to Greene County, 48-7; Washington County beat Putnam County, 34-13; Jefferson County beat Harlem, 41-12; and Glascock County lost to Long County, 51-14, putting the Panthers at 0-3 for the season. Further south, Swainsboro lost to Statesboro, 35-0.

Warren County is now 2-0 for the season. The Screaming Devils' next opponents this coming Friday will be Spalding. The AAA Jaguars are 0-3 for the season, the Journal-Constitution says. (And see more scores from around the state on the AJC site.)

Screaming Devils beat Jenkins Co.

Warren County now has a 2-0 record this season. More good news: WCHS was also rated No. 10 in the "Prep Power Poll" on Friday by Augusta-area sports writers.

Hancock Co schools were closed Thursday due to lack of gasoline, NYT says

It's in the main New Orleans wrapup story in the New York Times online right now. My Google News search isn't finding any other mention of this elsewhere on the Web -- can anyone confirm whether this is true? Meanwhile, Gov. Sonny Perdue has lifted the state gas tax. In other news about Hurricane Katrina, the NYT has posted the complete transcript (expletives not deleted) of that radio interview by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin that has been all over TV today.

Gas shortages hit surrounding counties

Police have to direct traffic in Sandersville after stations run out; lines back up and impede traffic in Washington, the AP reports. The average cost of gas in the Augusta area was $2.866 earlier today, according to AAA's Web site; a year ago, it was $1.684.

Warren County 5th-worst SAT scores in state

Bad news: Newly released data from the state Department of Education shows Warren County has the 5th-worst average total SAT score in the state, with a total score of 783.3. Warren had 18 test-takers, the state said, the 9th-lowest number of test-takers of any school district in the state. The average verbal score was 383.9, the fourth-worst in the state, and the average math score was 399.4, the seventh-worst in the state. Hancock County fared even worse than Warren, ranking the second-worst SAT score in the state, of 732.8. (The worst average score of all was from Talbot County. The highest score was from the Jefferson City school district, with an average of 1096.8.)

Friends of the Ogeechee merges with Canoochee group

They're now going to be called Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper, according this story in The Swainsboro Forest-Blade. Their offices will be in Statesboro. The Friends of the Ogeechee site and the Canoochee Riverkeeper sites are still up.

Thoughts for Hurricane Katrina

Have been thinking in recent days of Les Kerr's song Pray for New Orleans, which was written long before the hurricane but seems particularly meaningful now. Listen to a snippet here if you have freeRealPlayer software. And you can help the relief effort by donating now to the American Red Cross. Go to their Web site and click the big red "donate" link.

You know it's time to pack up and leave town ...

... when Jim Cantore shows up, Mimi and I observed tonight. Just learned this in his online bio: Mr. Cantore is from Vermont.

Wilkes, Washington county workers head to Katrina

Workers from Washington Electric Membership Cooperative in Sandersville and Rayle EMC in Washington are heading to the hurricane-stricken areas.

Train lovers' mecca in South Georgia

It's not anywhere near us, but there's a good read in this Baltimore Sun piece about Folkston, Ga., where a destination for train-watchers all over the U.S. Train lovers also can come to lovely and tiny Camak, Ga., just a few miles outside Warrenton.

A familiar name in my flashlight

Did something today that it seemed like I hadn't done in years: Bought an Eveready battery. The brand belongs to the Energizer folks. I've always been a fan of the bunny, but it's good to see the cat jumping through the hole in the number 9 again.

Next Quentin Tarantino movie: No samurai swords, only stock cars

The filmmaker did a lap at Bristol Motor Speedway with driver-turned-commentator Wally Dallenbach. Looks like he enjoyed it, though I was disheartened to see he wanted my man Greg Biffle pushed into the wall.

Screaming Devils thrash Jefferson Co.

Screaming Devil quarterback Tommy Seals is among the players featured in The Chronicle's recent story advancing the Warren County football season, which mentions the team's state championships from 1965, '66 and '68. The Chronicle's complete season preview for the team is here. In other area sports news, Burke County beat Lincoln County for the first time in 33 years.

Drowned tots' mom says she's been wrongly accused

Lottie Kain has been released from jail, according to WAGT-TV.

Kiss Winn-Dixie goodbye

The good news: Gonna be a big sale at the Winn-Dixie in Thomson. The bad news: It's a going-out-of business sale.

Talk about crummy timing -- Winn-Dixie gets its name in the title of a major motion picture, turns right around and files for bankruptcy.

Personally, my family did its Thomson shopping at Bi-Lo and Piggy Wiggly. Does anyone out there besides me remember when the Bi-Lo had a plastic cow standing on the roof over the sign? I was a big fan of the cow. Of course, my parents always said that as a toddler I would run up to the television set and kiss the screen whenever the Piggly Wiggly pig came on the screen.

Another blast from the past: I remember when the Winn-Dixie shopping center in Thomson had a Sears store in it. I have many happy memories of going with Mom to Sears to order or pick up some wonderful mail-order goody. Needless to say, that was way before anyone in Warrenton had ever heard of the Internet or Amazon.com.

Here's what's closing in our area: Winn-Dixies in Thomson, Milledgeville, Sandersville, Statesboro and Vidalia, also two in Martinez (4487 Columbia Road and 366 Fury's Ferry Road) and two in Augusta (1763 Gordon Highway and 207 Robert C. Daniel Parkway). See the complete list of nationwide closings here.

Warren County: Yes, we're getting smaller

You might remember a few weeks back that the Census Bureau released its latest estimates for cities across America. Now it's come out with the new county numbers, and they, too, show Warren County is losing people.

There are two ways to look at the new census estimates: by comparing the new estimates with the last Census five years ago, or by comparing the new estimates with the last estimate a year ago. We’ll look at both.

Compared with the 2000 Census
Warren County’s population has shrunk by 1.89%, losing 82 people, down to 6,254. This makes us the 16th fastest-shrinking county in Georgia.
Our neighbors:
McDuffie grew 1.35%, up to 21,517. Rank: 49th fastest-growing county in the state.
Jefferson shrank by 2.22%, down to 16,883, making it the 10th fastest-shrinking county in Georgia.
Hancock County did slightly worse, losing 2.63% of its residents, down to 9,811. Rank: 9th fastest-shrinking county in Georgia.
Taliaferro County rated as the second fastest-shrinking county in Georgia, losing 8.71% of its population since the 2000 Census, for a total of 1,896. Only Chattahoochee County lost more people, the Census Bureau said.
Wilkes County lost 0.97% of its population, down to 10,583.
Washington County lost 0.54% of its residents, down to 21,061.
Glascock County gained 2.93%, up to 2,631.
Emanuel County gained 1.17% of its population, up to 22,093. Must be that new Wal-Mart Supercenter …

Compared with last year’s estimates
Warren County lost 2.08% of its population from 2003 to 2004.
McDuffie County gained 1.35%.
Jefferson, -1.66%.
Taliaferro, -6.4%.
Hancock, -0.95%.
Washington, -0.7%.
Wilkes County, no change from the previous year.
Emanuel, grew by 0.45%.

Want to know more? Check out the Census Bureau's site on how it does its population estimates.

Jebco barrister's bookcase on e-Bay right now

Ever seen those bookcases where each shelf has its own window that tilts up? If you've ever wondered what that's called, it's a barrister's bookcase. Someone in Pittsburgh, Pa., is selling one made by Jebco on e-Bay. Starting bid looks like $133.33. Buyer has to arrange shipping, it says.

Nice obituary of Peter Jennings in the New York Times

Peter was always the favorite for 6:30 viewing at my house. We're a little late in posting this, but better late than never. (You'll need to do free registration at nytimes.com, if you haven't already, to read this one.)

Mother pleads not guilty in child-drowning case

From WAGT-TV's Web site.

Arraignment today for mother of kids who drowned in sewage pond

Lottie Kain will plead not guilty today, the children's father says in today's Augusta Chronicle. An arraignment is when a defendant has their charge formally read to them in court, after which they enter a plea. It's usually the first step in the court system after a person is indicted by a grand jury. Nearly everyone pleads not guilty at their arraignments.

Ray Guy shares his kicking expertise

His hometown of Thomson is mentioned in this profile from Pittsburgh, where the former Oakland Raiders star led a class for kids.

The gov is coming

He's coming to Thomson Saturday.

Coming soon: Retail

That's what the sign says in front of the new strip mall building that has sprung up on Norwood Road, across from the new high school. The nameplate out front calls it "Warrenton Crossing." Looks like it has maybe five store fronts in it. Anyone know what's going in there?