Dog Days

"It shore is hot," my grandmother would say sitting in the swing on the front porch of her house. It was usually just after we had suppered on fresh vegetables from her garden like okra, corn, and sliced tomatoes. I never tasted fried green tomatoes that could match hers. She cooked a pone from Martha White's finest corn meal that hot out of the oven would get dabbed in margarine that she bought that was the size of a brick. "Well I don't remember dog days being this hot since I was a little girl growing up in Franklin, County" she'd exclaim as she fanned herself with a fan from Miller Funeral Home. I inquired "Mamanier, what do you mean by dog days?" I'd ask her because I thought I knew everything because I had passed Mrs. Cobb's second grade a couple of month's earlier. She told me it was a time in July and August that the hottest days of the year occurred. Well, seems like dog days are here and it is so bad I had a neighbor in Marietta who began chasing cars and one of my students was wearing a flea collar and bit me on the leg. I am ready for the more tolerable days of October. The people that keep weather statistics say this past June is the hottest on record. I was planning on taking the kids to Disney World this week, but after a meeting with Presley and Callie they decided that late July in Orlando isn't something they wanted to endure while waiting in a line to ride "Test Track", or "Small World." The plan is a day at Six Flags so they can have a taste of standing in a line in the miserable heat. Besides a trip to Orlando would cost a king's ransom in gasoline and a simple meal at a theme park in Orlando could buy a good used Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Last Tuesday the people of Georgia spoke on who they would like to lead them. I congratulate former Tallapoosa mayor Pete Bridges for running a class campaign and talked about the issues instead of personal attacks. Senator Heath won once again and we congratulate him, but also want to offer a word of advice. I think that the senator got the message that not everyone is happy with his representation. Bill Heath's father was someone that I admired very much. Don Heath was a great county agent and he was quite active in 4-H. He also had a daily useful two minute radio slot on WWCC in Bremen every morning. Mr. Heath would give tips on avoiding root rot in tomato plants or how to destroy kudzu. He later went into real estate in Haralson County. Bill Heath brought down the most powerful man in the state with defeating Speaker of the House, the honorable Thomas B. Murphy. Mr. Heath became a senator succeeding long time state senator Nathan Dean who did so much for Tallapoosa, Haralson County and District 31. Senator Dean also was on the Georgia Music Committee and was instrumental in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Bill Heath has succeed two fine state leaders. I want him to step up and be more vocal about what issues are important to our district. I would like to see Senator Heath have a column on these pages telling us what is happening in Atlanta. I want to see him take a more zealous position on bringing jobs to our area. Budgetary woes are hurting our schools having four day weeks and teacher and staff furloughs. Class sizes are larger in every school in the state. I had 20 people in my class I taught this semester at Kennesaw State. In the next semester the same course will have 80 students. We are having to do a lot more with less. I am not whining about it because I learned to adapt to having to do more with less because I grew up in a household that didn't spend money it didn't have. I just hope that education in the state doesn't have to take another huge hit because of the lack of tax revenue. Here is an idea for state leadership, collect the taxes on the people that owe the state money. It might not lead to a huge surplus but it can help stop the insanity of cutting school programs in music and language. Band practice was my favorite part of the day when in Tallapoosa High School. I came to school and tried to learn algebra that I haven't used since Mr. Wood's algebra class. I did my best to learn French from Mrs. Stringer and developed an appreciation of the English language from Mr. Curtis Watson. Music, art, etc I feel are important part of a school's curriculum. I am afraid that high school students of Georgia today are going to head to other state colleges and universities because of the lack of opportunity. It would be a shame to loose the wealth of academic talent that our state produces. Our technical colleges also are facing cutbacks. The University System of Georgia is saving money every way it can and it still is facing layoffs and cutbacks. We need the revenue. Can't the legislature crack down on people that cheat the tax system? I think that we don't have too many options. What say you? Speaking of schools, kids you have a few days to live it up until August 3rd. Regarding our former mayor Pete Bridges, as we say in the radio business, stay tuned. I guarantee you that you have not heard the last from Pete.