Galaxies Colliding

This is the Andromeda galaxy as would be seen if it were brighter. The Milky Way is in the process of colliding with it. Fortunately, you have time to go get another beer.

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!!!

Herbert The Webmaster

THE PRAYER OF ST, FRANCIS

LORD MAKE ME AN INSTRUMENT OF YOUR PEACE.

WHERE THERE IS HATRED, LET ME SOW LOVE.

WHERE THERE IS INJURY, PARDON.

WHERE THERE IS DOUBT, FAITH.

WHERE THERE IS DESPAIR, HOPE.

WHERE THERE IS DARKNESS, LIGHT.

AND WHERE THERE IS SADNESS, JOY.


OH DIVINE MASTER GRANT,

THAT I MAY NOT SO MUCH SEEK TO BE CONSOLED, AS TO CONSOLE. 

TO BE UNDERSTOOD, AS TO UNDERSTAND.

TO BE LOVED, AS TO LOVE.

FOR IT IS IN GIVING, THAT WE RECEIVE.

IT IS IN PARDONING, THAT WE ARE PARDONED.

AND IT IS IN DYING, THAT WE ARE BORN TO ETERNAL LIFE. 



I would like to recommend to any that might view this to consider learning to recite this prayer every morning and make a new year's resolution to do it every day from now on.

From personal experience I know it will make you feel better.

HAPPY  NEW YEAR
JIMMY SMITH
12-31-2013

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” -- George Orwell

More educational stuff...

And now for something completely educational...

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/How-Do-Death-Valleys-Sailing-Stones-Move-Themselves-Across-the-Desert-210843681.html

US drone program

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/29/drones-us-military

New And Improved! (?)

I have been told by a trusted collaborator, contributor, and partner-in-crime that posting comments / replies on here was too danged hard. As an experiment, I'm turning off all comment moderation. This means you can post a comment with just a click or two, even anonymously. However, I'd really appreciate it if you'd post your name, please. You can use a pseudonym if you'd prefer, but I'd like to know who you are. I'll immediately delete any comments I deem to be offensive or confrontational.

MANDELA, CHURCHILL, AND THE WAR FOR THE FUTURE

By: Patrick J. Buchanan
12/27/2013 07:59 PM

AA

By their heroes shall you know them.

In his eulogy, President Obama put Nelson Mandela in the company of three other heroes: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln.

What did these men have in common? Three were assassinated, and all four are icons of resistance to white rule over peoples of color.

Lincoln waged the bloodiest war in American history that ended slavery. Gandhi advanced the end of British rule in India. King led the civil rights struggle that buried Jim Crow. Mandela was the leader of the revolution that overthrew apartheid.

Obama’s heroes testify to his belief that the great moral struggle of the age is the struggle for racial equality.

For the neocons, the greatest man was Winston Churchill, because he stood up, almost alone, to the great evil of the age — Nazism.

Thus, to neocons, Munich was the great betrayal because it was there that Neville Chamberlain, rather than defy Hitler, agreed to the return of the Sudeten Germans to German rule. [To the Old Right, Yalta, where Churchill and FDR ceded Eastern Europe to Stalin, a monster as evil and more menacing than Hitler, was the greatest betrayal.]
But what did Churchill think of Obama’s hero Gandhi?

“It is alarming and nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half naked up the steps of the Viceregal Palace … to parlay on equal terms with the representative of the Emperor-King.”

What did Churchill think of ending Western white rule of peoples of color? Here he is in 1937:
“I do not admit … that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia … by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race … has come in and taken its place.”

Here is Churchill during World War II:

“I have not become the King’s first minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.”

In short, Dunkirk defiance aside, Churchill’s convictions about the superiority of some races and civilizations, and their inherent right to rule what Kipling called “the lesser breeds without the law,” was and is the antithesis of what Obama believes.

Any wonder Obama shipped that bust of Churchill that “W” kept in the Oval Office back to the British embassy. Any surprise Obama failed to show up at the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, a Churchillian who sent the fleet to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina.

The point: Obama’s vision of an ideal world and Churchill’s are irreconcilable. Second, not only is Churchill dead, his empire is dead, his world is dead, and his ideas on superior races and civilizations would be censured and censored if spoken in any international forum.

We are in Obama’s world now. It is a world where not only are all races, religions and civilizations equal, but within nations the greater the diversity of races, religions, cultures and ethnic groups the better.

And not only should all have equal rights, but more equal rewards.

Inequality equals injustice. Income inequality is the new enemy.

But though Obama’s world is today, it is looking less like tomorrow.

Across the Middle East and Africa, Islamists are murdering and persecuting Christians as they do not regard Christianity as equal.

Ethnonationalism unites Chinese against Tibetans and Uighurs and propels a confrontation with the Japanese who have never been forgiven for the Rape of Nanking.

Vladimir Putin is in the crosshairs of Western secularists for seeking to revive and restore Orthodox Christianity and its moral precepts to primacy in Russian law, which likely means no Gay Pride parades in Red Square any time soon.

In a Christmas card to this writer, the Washington Post’s Harold Meyerson brings up my late father’s support of Spain’s Gen. Francisco Franco — to reveal the son’s suspect motives.

In a civil war from 1936-1939, Franco ran off a Christophobic regime of Socialists, Stalinists and Trotskyists as their comrades of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion got waxed at Jarama River and ended up on the Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations.

Sorry about that, Harold.

Across Europe, globalism and transnationalism, as represented by the eurozone and EU, seem in retreat, as nationalism is resurgent. Now it is the UKIP, a new British independence party, which seeks to secede from the EU that is surging — at the expense of the Tories.

Let France be France! Let British be Britain! Let Scotland be Scotland! These are the cries coming from the hearts of Europeans rejecting mass immigration and the cacophonous madness of multiculturalism.

All men may be equal in rights. But most prefer their own faith, country, culture, civilization, and kind. They cherish and wish to maintain their own unique and separate identities. They do not want to disappear into some great amalgam of the New World Order.
Whether globalism or nationalism prevails, the big battle is coming.

Touchdown Brian!

40mm Bofors gun

The Hill Country sends Christmas Wishes and a Happy New Year!

I repaired tractor trailer tires as a teenager.

SCC news

Running  a seafood restaurant on the coast means never having to take your Christmas lights down.

 

 Rain is forecast for this Sunday.  Don’t let it keep you from seeing this very talented young piano player.  Brenden Polk will be joined by Michael Hulett on sax for this show.  No cover, $2 Bud Lite Draft. 

The boys went fishing over the Christmas break and got into some big trout.  One glance in the cooler and you thought it was a salmon run.

The Sapphire Bullets have announced a show for January 25 at The Knights of Columbus building in Savannah.  Check with Phil McDonald at Portman’s Music for details.

The Crab Co will close Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next week and reopen on Thursday, January 2.  Best wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year to all our friends of Sunbury Crab Co.

Apologies for sending this E-Mail out late.  We can’t stop watching replays of the Georgia Southern-Florida game.

The Board Of Education

The board of education is most effective when applied to the seat of learning.

This paddle was used by Mr. Albert Rogers at Bradwell Institute on Washington Avenue. The paddle is one of many artifacts in the collection at the Greenhouse. It was brought to me by Amanda Cox. I am grateful to have it.

This paddle is a realistic reminder of the way things were during a point in time when people were more disciplined than they are in this day and age.

Albert Rogers grew up in Claxton and after graduation from Georgia Teachers College he came to Hinesville and joined the staff at Bradwell about 1955.  He was the eighth grade Science teacher. He was an excellent teacher and like almost all teachers of that era he demanded good behavior and maintained order in his classes.

When I was in Mr. Rogers class during the eighth grade my desk was front row beside the door. I recall seeing this paddle in use one day during class. It was applied to the seat of learning of my good friend the late Earnie Guyett. Earnie was one of the largest boys of our class and from an early age he was a tad rowdy. I wish he had lived to old age but unfortunately his days on this earth ended about three decades ago.  Upon examination of Mr. Rogers paddle I found that many students wrote their name on the paddle. I noticed that none of the names and dates were from my era of time in his class.

Earnie did not autograph the paddle. At the time of Earnie's punishment he was physically the equal to Mr. Rogers. Earnie was seated opposite from me in the rear of the class on the other side of the room. I don't recall what Earnie did but there was some commotion and Earnie was called down and ordered to come to the front of the room. Mr. Rogers instructed him to stand before the teachers desk and bend over the desk and hold on to the back side of the desktop. I was only a few feet away.

Earnie dutifully obeyed instructions and defiantely kept his knees stiff which put his butt at just about eye level for seated students. Mr Rogers stood on the other side of Earnie which put him facing in my direction. Mr. Rogers stood much like a baseball player at bat, he fixed his feet firmly and held the paddle in both of his hands as he took the first lick with all of his might and a loud whack sounded.  Earnie did not flinch. Mr. Rogers drew back for the second lick and put  more effort into his swing, this time I noticed Earnie's knees give a little bit. There seemed to be a slight pause as Mr. Roger drew the paddle back as far as he could and gave a mighty swing which landed with a very loud whack. That time I noticed Earnie's knees give and his fingers tightened convulsively on the back edge of Mr. Rogers desk. Earnie was instructed to stand up and face the classeroom which he did with a forced grin but he never shed a single tear.

From the memories in my mind and I hope this brings back memories of a good time in the years of our lives.
Jimmy

If you would like to make a comment click on          no comment      just below.

Men

Merry Christmas from the Webmaster!

Dad at "Steel Bridge" on Ogeechee River, November 29, 2013.

I recall several Bell family reunions on this very site during the late forties and very early fifties before Grandmama became to frail for traveling. After she began failing in mobility the reunions were held at her home in McIntosh in Liberty County. Grandma's house is today known as the Greenhouse.

Sometimes those events at this site occurred when the river was so low that you could almost walk across it from side to side on the beautiful sandbars.

This is the Ogeechee river on hwy. 119 between Bulloch and Effingham counties.

Why Country Music Was Awful in 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WySgNm8qH-I

Google like a boss.

David Suzuki speaks about overpopulation

THE SUNBURY CRAB COMPANY

Holiday schedule- heads up;  The restaurant will close Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,(December 23,24,25) for Christmas Holidays.  Reopen on Thursday the 26^th.  Same schedule for the following week (December 30, 31, and Jan.1) reopen on January 2.

A recent success story of public education in Savannah has been the Savannah Arts Academy magnet school in the old Savannah High Campus.  One of their early students, Brenden Polk, is now graduating from Florida State with a performance degree in Jazz Piano.  Brenden will perform with a four piece band as part of our Sunday Music Series on December 29.  A musician many of you are familiar with, Michael Hulett, will front the band on sax.  Brenden’s father, Carl Polk has for many years performed as principle trombonist for the Savannah Symphony.

This Sunday we feature the area’s best blues singer and guitarist;  Eric Culberson and his band.  Eric actually spent his youth on the Liberty Coast at Lake George.  He has assured us the statute of limitation has run out. No cover, $2 Bud Lite Draft.

Sunbury Aquarium is rockin;  1 flounder, 3 eels, 4 trout, 2 mangrove snapper, 6 mullet, 1 diamondback terrapin, 3 yellowtail, 1 oyster toadfish, 3 atlantic croaker, 1 tiger shrimp, 4 hermit crabs, 1 starfish, 1 manna shrimp,, 1 black sea bass, 1 whiting., 50 mud minnows....all rescue fish waiting to be returned to local waters where they came from.  Go ahead, endure the traffic, stand in line, and purchase a expensive ticket to fight your way into the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.  They will not serve you fresh steamed Blue Crab, Local Shrimp, and fresh cut French fries.

Nope.

Add butter.

Just sayin'...

Nice boat, ca. 1958, 83' at Sunbury Crab Co. docks.

This 83 foot beauty approaches the docks at the Sunbury Crab Company marina last Sunday morning.

This is an all wood vessel and although it is over fifty years old it appears to be brand new.  This is the second time that the boat has called on the Port of Sunbury en route south for the winter.

Remembering Sandy Hook -- Aaron Weiss video, commentary by Massad Ayoob

I’m writing this on Friday, December 13, 2013. I feel a sense of foreboding that has nothing to do with Friday the thirteenth. It has everything to do with the fact that tomorrow will mark one year since the atrocity in Newtown, Connecticut at the Sandy Hook Elementary School that left twenty little kids and six innocent adults dead before the monster responsible blew his own brains out.

My first thought, and still the strongest, was the horror of it all: I have grandchildren the age of the victims. But I cannot escape the firestorm of hate that came down on law-abiding gun owners in the wake of it. Sandy Hook became a handy hook for a newly re-elected anti-gun President to take off his mask of neutrality on Second Amendment rights, and lead an unprecedented assault against them.

That assault gained ground in some places: California to some extent, Colorado, Connecticut, and New York, for example. Nationally, though, it largely fizzled. My friend Richie Feldman analyzed the situation well yesterday in his op-ed piece in USA Today.

But on the fourteenth, we can expect the Prohibitionists to dance until they’re exhausted in the blood of the innocent dead, pushing their class warfare against gun owners and ignoring the remedies that CAN prevent such atrocities. That would be measures in place on the ground allowing the next such monster to be interdicted before he can build his sick “body count.” There has been some positive movement in that direction in the year since, but not nearly enough.

Expect a media gun control circus, despite counter-efforts by pro-gun groups to make it a day of education on safety. Another old friend, Dave Workman, makes some good points on that topic.

Mourn the dead, as we will on this end. If something meaningful comes from those heartbreaking deaths, it will be a push for on-the-ground measures to interdict mass murderers a’ la’ the Israeli Model, not punishment of more innocent people with Draconian laws born in empty symbolism.

The High Cost Of College

Levon Helm's greatest performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqZuL8iZchU

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS.

I composed this in the form of a letter to the editor, a couple of years ago. The content is timely now again.

As we come to the end of yet another year it is time to prepare New Years resolutions. It has long been my custom to make resolutions for the beginning of a new year.  In the next few days I will make my resolutions for the arrival of 2014.

In 2011 just a few days into the year we lost Mrs. Faye Darsey and her death touched me deep within my heart. When she died I had already made my resolutions for the year. It was with Mrs. Darsey in mind that I added another resolution during the spring of 2011.

I don't recall exactly when it was but I know it was only a few weeks after Mrs. Darsey's passing when I was informed at breakfast that I had spoken horrible language in my sleep during the night. I've always talked  in my sleep and I'm known to use colorful language to put it mildly.

This particular beautiful spring morning I was told "last night you used the F word again repeatedly". There had been other mornings that I'd been told this and each time it made me feel terrible. This particular morning after being told about my language and how bad it sounded my thoughts went to my beloved high school English teacher Mrs. Darsey. As I returned to the breakfast table with my after breakfast cup of coffee I sat silently thinking about my language. As i stared into my cup I slowly thought of times before ever having heard that word spoken aloud. I eventually drifted into thought about speaking properly and naturally my thought turned to Mrs. Darsey. I sat there for a long time that morning and finally I came to think about how glad I was that I had never talked like that in the presence of my Mother or Mrs. Darsey.

My Father used profanity frequently but in all of his life I never heard the F word pass his lips. That word was not spoken much when I was a teenager or in my early adult years. In fact it was not spoken much in mixed company until the mid to late seventies. Nowadays you even hear otherwise nice ladies speak the very foul word.

The F word is not an adjective or adverb as it is so often used. It also seems to be used in every other "word form" imaginable. In fact, I now notice how frequently it is used by so many people and it is a reflection of our loss of pride of proper speech.

Well back to that spring day I was later that afternoon talking with my young cousin when I let the F word slip and instantly I paused and thought of the conversation at breakfast. Then and there I vowed to cease using the word. I explained to my cousin that I had used the word repeatedly in my sleep the night before.
I further declared right then that as a tribute to Mrs. Darsey I would not use that word out of context anymore.

I have since then decided to make it a tribute to all those who taught us at the old Bradwell Institute campus on Washington Avenue. Those of us who were fortunate enough to have been schooled there were truly blessed.We were taught how to read and write and speak as well.

Now and into the future I propose that we all consider how we have become lazy with our speech in conversation with others

I want to take this opportunity to ask all who might read this to join me in this resolve to make the future better than the present.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.

Sincerely

Jimmy Smith
December 10, 2013

Rikki Don't Lose That Number

My favorite song. Ever.

Some things never change.

Freight Train under a Christmas Tree

We Can't Make It Here Anymore

Fall has finally arrived in Sunbury.  The hardwood leaves are at peak color and as brilliant as any in New Hampshire.  If we just had some hills to showcase them our motels would be full with tourists.  If we had a motel.

Christmas events all over Sunbury/Dorchester this Saturday.  Look for a follow-up e-mail for details.

On Sandy Run Road west of Riceboro is a historical marker dedicated to Simon Munro.  Munro was a planter/merchant who was banished from  Georgia (and east Florida) early in the revolution for his British sympathies.  He made his way to the Bahamas, Jamaica, West Florida, and finally St. Augustine.  After the British took control of Georgia, Munro was assigned a position with the occupying govt.  Before leaving Savannah after the war, Munro was arrested for trying to visit his wife and family.  230 years ago this month the Crown awarded him an annual subsistence of 8 pounds sterling a year for his losses.  Old friends from happier days in St John’s Parrish (Liberty County) successfully petitioned to have Munro returned in good standing.   The silver communion service in use for many years at Midway Church was a gift from Munro.

The Midway All-Stars step out to play a private function this Saturday but return in time to play Sunday Music at the Crab… No Cover….$2 Bud Lite Draft.

Don’t forget Eric Culberson on the 22^nd.  Eric opened for Randall Bramblett at the 2009 Blue Crab Fest.  You can see a clip of that performance on You-Tube.  And a great video of Randall Bramblett as well.  Thanks to dpizza for filming and posting. 

Michael Hulett with pianist Brenden Polk on the 29^th.

After the new moon tides calm and the water clears there should be a another good run of fishing.  Sunbury Marina is still catching bait.

Coastal Thanksgiving Surise

Courtesy of Johnny Henderson, taken this morning.

     Phil Odom's blog about the so called drag strip between McLarry's curve and Mt McIntosh is certainly food for thought to me. I was born in a modest frame house located just about halfway between the curve and the railroad which was a distance of about three miles. Back in my early years the Atlantic Coastline Railroad at McIntosh had three sets of rails, a northbound rail and a southbound rail as well as a side track which extended from the trestle at the Peacock canal a little over two miles south of U.S. HWY 84 (then HWY 82) also known as Ga. HWY 38 and Oglethorpe highway as well as my favorite moniker Old Sunbury Road.
     Up until the demise of Fraser Lumber Company in the late fifties McIntosh was a bustling little community. Fraser Lumber Company consisted actually of three separate sawmills and one large and modern (by the standards of the time)dry kiln and planner mill.
    The "crossing at McIntosh" consisted of  three sets of rails and although it was frequently "worked" by railroad workers, due to very heavy rail traffic on all three sets of tracks. In spite of  frequent maintenance the crossing for automobiles was always rough. From nearly a mile and a half away we could on quiet days hear cars which were traveling fast as they crossed the rails at McIntosh and moments later passed our place. Then with some (such as Dr. Middleton)  we could hear them slow down for McLarry's curve. I'm not sure of the distance but I think from curve to crossing it is about three miles as I said above.
     As I sit today on a not so quiet afternoon and hear cars and trucks virtually uninterrupted I am lost in thoughts of learning to ride a bicycle in front of my birthplace.
     At any rate the imaginary race described by Phil Odom is in fact almost non-stop most of the time now. The Eastern end is now between Mt. McIntosh and the new intersection of Ga. 196 AKA THE FLEMING SHORT CUT. The western end of the race track is at a deadly virtual ninety degree curve at the intersection of OLD SUNBURY ROAD and US 84 in Flemington the location of the modern Parker's on the site of the original MCLARRY'S which had formerly been PAUL'S PLACE.
     In reading Phil's story I found it very amusing when he told of the frustrated motorists who madly dashed down the old Cassell's road as well as the now non functioning by pass in their attempt to go around and beyond the snarl of delayed traffic stalled atop Mt. McIntosh as it slowly backed traffic to the curve at the eastern end of the legendary race track.
     Reading that spoof I was slowly reminded of a Budweiser beer poster in McLarrys. I remember it very well. It was a copy of a well know painting of a scene out west where the Indians were stampeding the buffalo over a cliff in order to harvest meat, bone and hide for use in sustaining themselves. The picture graced the eastern wall of the dining room at McLarrys.
    I found an illustration of that painting on the internet a couple of days ago and we have it here for all to see.

Alfred Jacob Miller - "Hunting Buffalo" (watercolor on paper, 8.3" x 14.2"), between 1858 and 1860)

A reproduction of this painting or some other painting of the same activity was produced by the beer makers of Budweiser and it was displayed on the eastern wall of the dining room at McLarry's during the fifties.

Mr and Mrs R.R. McLarry moved to Flemington sometime in the late forties or perhaps the early fifties and took over the operation of the business known as Paul's place which had been located on the curve of US HWY 82 known as Oglethorpe HWY.

Levelland / Holiday

I just had to come back to this post and add Holiday, it's perfect for the weather TX has been through the last few days, but we might actually have their bad weather during our Holiday travel. "Damned near as deadly as Texans on ice." Or Low Country drives in rain. Y'all please be safe on your upcoming travel. --Jamey

Dad's new computer is ready.

Y'all stand by, this is about to get good.

UPDATE: Dad's home computer was delivered, installed, and he received training on it this afternoon. I'll let him take it from here, I'm going on vacation!

Nuclear Detonations, 1945-1998

The Watermelon 500 at Mount McIntosh

Dear Editor,
On Thursday November 14, 2013 at approximately 3:45 PM, two race cars participating in the Watermelon 500 that occurs twice daily at US 84 between McClary’s Curve in Flemington and the red light at the intersection of GA 196 and US 84 in the McIntosh Community had a bump but no run occur on top of Mount McIntosh.

Both vehicles where disabled with injuries to drivers and passengers requiring race officials to dispatch four units of Hinesville Fire Department Fire Responders, two units of the Liberty County EMS, four units of the Liberty County Sheriff Department and ONE Georgia State Patrol unit.

With all of the above race track response team on site, race officials RED FLAGGED the eastbound lanes of US 84 even though both disabled race cars where in the right lane of the race track wedged up against the wall of the bridge. This fine action gave cause to the other 400 plus race cars to come to a complete stop. Many of the stationary drivers became a Kevin Harvick, inpatient and hot under the collar.

I sat in my race car on Cassells Road awaiting an opportunity to join slow flow of race cars as the lone Georgia State Patrol directed all race cars into the center lane. As I set waiting to get in line, my neighbor exited off US 84 on to Cassells Road to go home. Lo and behold if many of the race cars in the right hand lane didn’t follow her. This gave me an opening on to Eastbound US 84, as I slow made my way up Mount McIntosh; I could see race cars speeding down the North Bypass that dead ends at the CSX railroad as many other race cars speed off down Cassells Road as their drivers paid no attention to the sign that states the road is a “DEAD END”

Needless to say, all those race car drivers who where in a hurry to get pass the accident by taking an alternate route lost their position on the race track. A Liberty County Deputy had to leave the top of Mount McIntosh and go to the intersection of Cassells Road and US 84 to assist the some 30 plus race cars back on to the track.

Bottom line; when the Watermelon 500 is RED FLAGGED, stay in your position or get put at the back of the line on the race track.

Driver of car # 3.69

Phil Odom

The Lion's Den Reunion

I'd like to give a great big ol' shout out to the organizers of Saturday's Lions Den reunion, and also a sincere thank you to the Liberty County Sheriff's Deputies who did a splendid job of traffic control, keeping us safe crossing a busy highway. I've got to admit, I had second thoughts about attending after seeing the attendance estimates, thinking parking would be a nightmare. The golf carts and volunteer drivers were also a blessing, considering that some of us have refused to get new knees...yet. And of course, thanks to anyone else who helped make it happen.

Most of all, however, I'd like to thank my Dad for coming up with the original idea. He may not have been the only one, but I'm pretty confident he was the first. He's been wearing out anyone within earshot about the idea for years. He originally wanted to have this at The Green House, but the size of the crowd (and traffic control) made this problematic. He is anxious to comment on the event, but I am currently holding his computer hostage, so I've got him treed at the moment. (Hint: y'all send me money, I can keep him bayed as long as you'd like.) Actually, I'm trying to get him set up with a new operating system that will make Blogger and email much easier for him, and tech support easier for me. He'll be back on line no later than this Friday. In the meantime, I'm at the helm until the Captian's had his nap. Or I hit a mudbar, whichever comes first.

All I know is that I had a great time, and it was good to see Elvis is still alive and well. The gnats weren't too bad, and I got to see some folks I haven't seen in ages. The highlight of the evening was getting to give a kiss on the cheek to, and talk a bit with, Mrs. Kozma. She looked great, and I'll bet could still draw a blister on my butt with that cut out Bolo paddle! Mrs. Kozma was much more than my kindergarten teacher though (in her house and at the old white HS building), she was my next door neighbor for the first 20 years of my life. Our families are life long friends to this day, and I'm very grateful for that.

To wrap up the evening, Debbie and I left the Dorchester Center at dark, and proceeded East with a group of the rest of us juvenile delinquents (you know, still 50 something) and landed at one of their homes. We proceeded to party like it was 1975 all over again. Or should I say, at least until midnight, when our collective "party barge" hit the mud bar and we all headed to quarters for the night. The only way I see a sunrise these days is if I go to bed at 9PM. Bloody Mary's were in order the following morning, and I had the best one I've ever had. Y'all all know the mixmaster too, but I'll never divulge who it was. To say it was a fellow Bradwell grad is close enough.

I will always love the Liberty County coast. I hope some things never change.

I keep my distance as best I can
living out my time here in 
Never Never land
And I can't grow up
'cause I'm too old now
I guess I really did it this time Mom

Coastal Majesty

Johnny Henderson has been kind enough to share some scenes of our beautiful views on the coast. The pictures will appear two or three times weekly.

Welcome to this site.  By the time anyone new reads this or any other commentary posted on this site we will all have a fresh memory of the mega Bradwell Lions reunion which was held Saturday November 16 at the old Dorchester school in Dorchester.

I want to start this by saying thank you to all who helped to cause this reunion. As I was growing up family reunions were a large part of my childhood. It is with these thoughts in mind that I have undertaken this little project. While I can use a computer and email, facebook  and so forth my skill is very limited and I will be depending very heavily on my younger friends to keep this functioning.

I want any and all who are interested to contribute commentary and pictures of the local area but please understand that as you post something it will not necessarily be posted immediately because I don't want anyone to post any abuse or insulting comments. This site will be monitored daily and I hope many of you will join us in memory lane. My son Jamey is my technical partner in this undertaking and without his assistance I would not be able to do this. As most folks know I was still a teenager when Jamey was born. We virtually grew up together and he has always been more like a little brother than a son. Now that we are both toward possibly the latter days I am determined to create a collection of pleasant memories about the low country coastal region and the way things were back in our time living on the edge of the Goshen swamp.
+

Hello everyone, Jamey here. I'm the creator of this site, at Original Jimmy's request. I'm helping Dad realize a dream he's had for a while, and that is to launch an electronic news, discussion, and story organ about his local community.

This site will be moderated. Comments to articles and posts are welcome, but will not appear immediately. We're going to take time to read submissions before clicking '"post". This could take as long as 24 hours at first while we work out the most efficient processes.

If you have a dispute or other problem with the site, please feel free to contact me directly. I'd very much like to make your experience here as pleasant as possible.

Jamey
Class of '79
Disco Still Sux

BRADWELL INSTITUTE LIONS REUNION

Sometime a few years ago several of our east enders joined forces and took on a wonderful community interest project. A group of our contemporaries from Bradwell Institute at Washington Avenue, decided to save the old Dorchester Consolidated School located on Islands Highway a couple of miles after you cross over I-95. Just past the entrance to Tradeport East around the bend on your left is the red brick structure of a classical school building of the time period of probably late or mid forties I really don't know. It very well might date back to the thirties or before. Come on somebody help me on this.                        

I know who some of the principals of that movement were but I will not name them right now because I know I'd likely fail to credit the correct people. I hope some of you will post on this site a more thorough list of who needs to be credited for both conceiving and implementing the efforts which resulted in the restoration of the only remaining structure of a traditional old school house in Liberty County.

Not exactly sure where this movement came from but I think it is an outgrowth of the planning for the fifty year reunion of the class of 1963.

It has been suggested that all Bradwell Graduates be invited.

The actual plan is I think still in the developmental stage. Although I think it is in the fine tuning stage.

I hope so. and I will post any updates from now until November.


I am happy to announce that on November 16th there will be a mega reunion of Bradwell graduates at Dorchester which is just about perhaps two miles beyond the Interstate on the left.  I know that currently plans are still being developed. I will post updates on this site as I receive them. I invite those who are planning and participate on this event to please log onto this site and let your thoughts be known.

I personally like to think of this a a reunion of attendees of Bradwell Institute at Washington Avenue. I have always felt a special attachment to the campus where I was so fortunate to have been schooled by a wonderful staff from the top down.

More later please offer your thoughts.
Jimmy

     Thank you son for setting this up. I felt like in this new Internet age it would be good if someone with the skill and inclination gave us an electronic medium for a forum of discussion of local events. That is precisely what I want to do with this blog site. I am certainly not an educated writer and I don't know that, that is all bad. I do own and proudly carry with me everywhere I go 70 years of living and the memories of that experience therefore I think I would like to voice my opinion on things which affect me personally.
     Things which  affect one personally do in fact effect all personally.
     Communication is perhaps the single most distinguishing factor for the elevation of man in the order of the food chain. I will attempt with the posts on this site to share with anyone interested my memories as well as my thoughts regarding those times. So far it has been  a good journey.
     Having the very good fortune to have been born in Liberty County and remaining here throughout my life I was fortunate in that I attended Bradwell Institute and am very proud to have been a member of the class of 1961 although circumstance dictated that I would graduate with the class of 1962. I've always felt doubly blessed to have been a part of both of those classes. I've also felt that it was my very good fortune to have entered the school on day one of the first grade in 1949 only about a hundred feet from where I walked out with a diploma in 1962.
     The staff at Bradwell in those times was absolutely the finest which any child from anywhere could have been schooled. I am speaking not only about teachers and administrators but I also refer to lunchroom staff and custodians as well as school bus drivers. Ah and Edell Osgood who in my later years operated the "stand" where we could get Coca-Cola and snacks.
     Having the good fortune to have, over the course of my life, had the experience of sharing forty five plus years of my life with an educator employed by the Liberty County board of education. My ex wife Harriet Burch taught first grade during our tenure and my companion of thirty five years Leslie Bowling has just now retired after teaching kindergarten for some thirty seven years. Although I never was an exceptional student I acquired a wonderful education at B.I. and have always felt that to have been a very special blessing.
     I remember in all my years at Bradwell there was a school newspaper "The Bradwell Bugle". I first remember seeing it because my brother Homer brought home copies and later my sister June did also and then when I reached high school I always had an interest in the school newspaper.  History reflects that the founder of Bradwell Institute was Samual Dowse Bradwell. He founded the school in 1872 and also traveled to Pennsylvania that same year and bought a small printing press which he brought back to Hinesville and started publishing the first newspaper in the county. The newspaper was called The Hinesville Gazette. 1872 was a very important year in the history of Liberty County .
     My life's journey and a variety of circumstances would have it such that when I graduated in 1962 I had been privileged to have experienced four years of being taught English by Mrs. Faye Darsey. As I have stated before I was not an exceptional student and that had much to do with receiving four years of English instruction from Mrs. Darsey. I actually had to repeat eleventh grade English and also had the good fortune to have been in a single ninth grade class instructed by her. And although I was repeating third year English an exception was allowed and I also attended her twelfth grade English thus I received four years of instruction from her.
     Mrs. Darsey came to be my all time favorite teacher although there were several more teachers that I loved dearly not the least of which was Mr. Bill Cox who taught me eighth grade English.  I also had the good fortune to have experienced a year of instruction from Miss. Joan Hollingsworth who taught me in her speech class my senior year. All things being the way it turned out my years at B.I. made me want to learn how to read and write as well as to speak.
     I also remember when I had not yet learned how to read I would lay on the floor in front of the fireplace at my Daddy's feet as he would read that days copy of The Savannah Morning News. When Daddy finished reading the paper he would gesture for me to climb up onto the arm of his chair and then with one arm around me he would hold the paper in front of us both. He would have the paper turned to the comic section or as my sister and I often called it the funny paper.  At any rate Daddy would read aloud the words of the comic strips and that was my first instruction in reading.
     When I was probably about five years old one night Daddy gave me one of the very best lessons of life. He had just completed the reading of the comics to me and I started to get off of his chair arm and he said to me "son I want to show you something else about the paper" as he turned the pages back to the editorial page and then said "son when you learn to read you should read this page every day". He went on to explain that if I did not read the entire paper as long as I made sure to read the editorial page I would be a well informed citizen. I can hear his words spoken softly to me right now "son if you read this page everyday you will know what is going on in the world". To this very day I have practiced the habit of reading the editorial page with interest every day and I usually read most of the rest of the paper.
     It has been said that the fourth estate of democracy is the press.I sincerely believe this to be the case. I think our press currently is not as vigilant as it once was and I don't think we are being informed of the goings on within our community as well as regionally and nationally. It is with these thoughts in mind that I am inspired to undertake this project. I don't personally have the computer skills for this mission but I have the able assistance of my son Jamey and my brother's daughter Debra Pease. I hope this blog becomes in essence an electronic newspaper serving Liberty and surrounding counties with good clean discussions of events as they unfold in our area.
     Well after a lengthy few weeks of planning we have finally started. My son Jamey shares with me the editing of this site. I want all who visit this site to enjoy a good clean forum of discussion of events in our past and perhaps this will become something of a clearing house of news of our old friends and acquaintance's.
     Let it be a "you might be from or lived in Hinesville or Liberty County" such as is often posted on facebook. I will be inviting some to be correspondents on this site. If I understand it correctly any reader can post a comment. If someone offers a post which is judged by our editorial board to be not suited to allow to be viewed then it will be declined.
     We are not opposed to views which differ from our own but we will not be tolerant of those who seem to enjoy inflicting others with verbal abuse. Some of us are more liberal than others and that is fine but I want the left and the right to both feel comfortable and I insist that all contributors be shown respect. All comments must be signed and the writer must be identified. If you want to contribute a short story or report something anonymously deliver it to me or one of our administrators and if it is considered to be suitable we will publish it without revealing the identity of the writer. You can reach me via email by sending it to samboling@gmail.com.