tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104732322009-03-30T20:32:05.715-04:00News from and about Warrenton, Georgia, 30828, as well as items that might be of general interest to the folks who live thereJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.comBlogger185125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-5956812970778534032009-03-30T20:32:00.000-04:002009-03-30T20:32:05.723-04:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-30663878011742423672009-02-05T18:03:00.010-05:002009-02-05T18:06:14.452-05:00

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.)

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-54977186891357973542009-02-01T19:58:00.005-05:002009-02-01T19:59:35.761-05:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-29448733166447405842009-01-01T17:04:00.003-05:002009-01-01T17:21:57.483-05:00

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.)

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-49989937436227034112008-12-31T19:09:00.000-05:002008-12-31T19:14:46.575-05:00

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.

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-52426784104819071862008-12-30T22:56:00.000-05:002008-12-30T23:00:25.980-05:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-14840874358158549212008-12-30T08:44:00.000-05:002008-12-30T08:47:11.615-05:00

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. +

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-54012167909750717612008-10-26T21:16:00.000-04:002008-10-26T21:25:02.009-04:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-87816196175801435072008-10-15T15:10:00.002-04:002008-10-15T15:43:13.037-04:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-63768567031041857532008-08-05T09:10:00.002-04:002008-08-05T09:26:49.861-04:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-41813119286751599062008-07-26T14:35:00.000-04:002008-07-26T14:37:15.647-04:00

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.

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-84814970685322951832008-07-08T08:24:00.000-04:002008-07-08T08:33:02.066-04:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-68976264916991439432008-05-31T17:30:00.002-04:002008-05-31T17:34:13.593-04:00

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.

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-3880314770192687332008-05-27T14:43:00.005-04:002008-05-27T15:14:01.230-04:00

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.

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-21908048947013766992008-03-30T19:02:00.001-04:002008-03-30T19:04:04.796-04:00

They're recovering, WJBF-Channel 6 reports.

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-69382307042985106262008-03-27T09:41:00.003-04:002008-03-27T09:50:48.716-04:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-16787880076366226412008-02-15T08:18:00.002-05:002008-02-15T08:22:04.682-05:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-81085429781071645892008-01-27T21:16:00.000-05:002008-01-27T21:17:19.667-05:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-55237488887052644372008-01-25T08:21:00.000-05:002008-01-25T08:25:30.061-05:00

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-20912092592138707932008-01-08T08:22:00.000-05:002008-01-08T08:26:48.066-05:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-54119467635093382072007-12-14T08:28:00.000-05:002007-12-14T08:33:31.087-05:00

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.

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-63189674057757164132007-12-09T20:49:00.000-05:002007-12-09T20:52:46.443-05:00

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.

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-9393943511012647652007-11-26T17:50:00.000-05:002007-11-26T18:06:03.400-05:00

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.

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-83705387984955600812007-11-19T23:25:00.001-05:002007-11-19T23:34:50.832-05:00

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

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10473232.post-71357016729511465022007-11-09T08:23:00.000-05:002007-11-09T08:28:01.790-05:00

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.

JPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12018606349468377867jpintn@gmail.com0