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.