Opinion & Editorial

Two of my favorite first responders

By Erin Etris White County News general manager   When I think back on the horrific events of 9/11, I recall our nation ral- lying around the men and women who ran into that fateful calamity while Manhattanites fled in terror and the rest of us watched in shock.

Paul's Perspective

Have you ever just been minding your own business when something reaches out, grabs your attention, and all you can ask is, “What?” “Why?” and “Who thought that was a good idea?” Happened to me just the other night. I was watching college football when a commercial came on.

Notes from the Grillo Pad

This column marks the end of a short but fruitful run at the newspaper, and I’d like to spend some of my boss’s ink on gratitude.

Our View: Truth Before Power

“Every time a newspaper dies, even a bad one, the country moves a little closer to authoritarianism.” That quote from Pulitzer Prize–winning author Richard Kluger is just another way of saying that we need each other. That is, the White County News needs its community, and the community needs us.

Love thy Neighbor: Who, or what, is the enemy here?

Who benefits if we hate each other? In what community structure does hate work? Power struggles. Endless violent conflicts. And the occasional sporting event. Is this the kind of environment you thrive in? A community is like a family.

From the Desk of Dink NeSmith: An uncle’s lucky coin toss was a win for our family

With a flip of a coin between two bachelors, she came into our family. And I don’t remember a time when Aunt Edith wasn’t in my life. I was 6 years old in 1954, when Edith Usry married my mother’s younger brother, Billy Vines. He and his older brother, Joe, were my heroes.

Our View: Supporting the arts is necessary

Last Saturday there was a free public reading of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town at the Sautee Nacoochee Center. The “performance” was followed by some questions from the audience. The most striking insights didn’t come from the adults in the black box theatre — they came from a 10-year-old boy.

Our View: Lessons from Lincoln for today

Candidates in cities across Georgia, including here in White County, are qualifying this week for municipal elections, signing their names to paperwork that will put them before voters in the fall. This is a small but critical procedure, the beginning of democracy in action.

Paul's Perspective: Things seen and unseen

In our church, an integral part of the service involves the recitation of The Nicene Creed which begins, “We believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

Notes from the Grillo Pad: Apparitions and vapors at TMU

Brad Hughes drifted like vapor through the White County News office. While in town on other business, the editor/publisher of the Early County News in Blakely stopped in for a visit. Alas, I was otherwise occupied, probably photographing a prize tomato, something like that.