April 23, 2011 Easter

A round of applause to our city's leadership on handling the storms that rolled through on the 11th. I got a call late that night from next door neighbor Marcy Glaze breaking the news that a water oak had landed on my driveway. Mayor Bridges texted me a picture of the fallen oak. I was grateful to know no one was hurt. C. W. Hart came by and told me how destructive the storm had been for folks around Manning Street. Fay McClendon's showcase property was ravaged by damage to trees and the garage area of her home. Fortune was with me because the huge 9 decades old tree missed the house by about 10 feet. Eric also known as "the wood guy" came over with a big Marcel Ledbetter model chainsaw and hauled off the fallen limbs from the tree. The incident made me stop and realize a few things. First and foremost, a kind and loving Lord kept us all from harm that night. Secondly, nothing, but nothing can compare to having great neighbors and friends. Easter weekend upon us and church pews will see more people Sunday morning. Easter baskets and egg hunts will be part of the weekend agenda. I hope to take some flowers to my mother and grandmother's over at Hollywood Cemetery. My grandmother always got a new hat for Easter. A trip to Rich's Department Store on Forsyth Street in Atlanta was an annual trip to buy my grandmother a hat. She usually picked out one that looked like a Papous Pizza with a bird's nest on top of it. I remember her sitting with Miss Vennie Blackmon, Mrs. Gillem, and the other near octogenarian ladies sitting on the front row of the left side of Reverend S. T. Skaggs' pulpit at the First Baptist Church. Easter Sunday meant a sugar cured ham gracing the table. Easter Sunday meant getting an Easter basket from the Empire 5 & 10 with a big chocolate bunny that I immediately bite the ears off of. I remember some folks back then getting baby chicks, baby ducks, or baby bunny rabbits. Can any of you recall when some Tallapoosans raised their own chickens in the back yard. Our neighbor Edgar "Eddy" Arnold had a rooster that made sure the folks on Stokes Street and Stone Street woke up come dawn's early light. I remember that Easter meant television fare that weekend with such fare as "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and Cecil B. DeMille's cinema masterpiece "The Ten Commandments." How many of you first saw the movie that starred Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner at the Grand Theater in Tallapoosa? I am not sure if the political correctess police would allow a remake of the classic move. They'd probably make them call it "The Ten Suggestions." How many of you remember when Tallaposa shut down on Sundays back in the day? Robert's Pharmacy was open Sunday mornings but closed right at 11 a.m. so Dr. Ken Roberts could get to services. Most stores were closed on Sunday. Establishments like Essie Maes and Whitey's Tavern were closed because that was the law. Senate Bill 10 authorizing local option for package sales on Sunday squeeked out of the Gold Dome in the waning hours of the General Assembly. It will come to a local vote but it will still going to be a month of Sundays before it happens. I do rememember the Tasty Treat being open on Sunday back then. I still say Norman Owens masterpiece hamburger was the best I ever had. People would drive to the Tasty Treat in the late afternoon before Training Union to socialize on the hood of their cars. Michael "Mallard" Albright had a cherry 1964 Chevrolet Impala and he didn't allow ANYONE to sit on the hood of it because it would scratch the paint job. I ran into Mr. Albright recently at Jack's and he now has a 2011 Ford Mustang GT Shelby Cobra blah blah blah that means the car he purchased is fast. He wanted to give me a ride in his Detroit masterpiece. I told him that I had already put my life in danger once on I-20 coming home from Atlanta and him breaking the Bonneville salt flats land speed record between Douglasville and Villa Rica in his '64 Chevy after a run to see the then scandalous "The Graduate" at a theater near Greenbriar Mall. Do you all remember going to Greenbriar because it was the closest mall to Tallapoosa? Greenbriar Mall is where Truett Cathy opened his first Chick Fil A store back in 1967. It was the beginning of the concept of a food court. I do wonder about Chick Fil A's highly successful advertising campaign using cows. How do they know that if cows could write, they'd be that bad at spelling. I'm just sayin'. Today Greenbriar Mall is a great place to get car jacked. Again, I'm just sayin'. I want to thank those of you that have written me about the column. I recently ran into Mae Thornton at Wal Mart and she has always been so gracious in her comments. I do sincerely hope you have a lot of quality time this weekend with the family and the fellowship in your house of worship on Easter Sunday.

Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and a member of the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in Nashville and the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. Comments can be mailed to P.O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa, GA 30176 or via email at rhubarbjones@aol.com. Previous columns can be found at www.tallapoosa-journal.com. Commentaries can be heard weekdays at 11:05 a.m. on 1060 AM The Legend WKNG.