November6

Last Saturday was a picture perfect day. It was the kind day that Norman Rockwell could have put on canvas. Beautiful sunshine and pleasant temperatures and the kids in the neighborhood were excited about the trick or treating that was coming up that evening. Presley and Callie went with our neighbors the Glaze family and their two delightful kids while your humble columnist stayed at the house and waited on the door bell to ring to pass out the seven metric tons of Hershey and Milky Way bars I had bought just days before. About 9:30 the door bell rang for the first time and three preteen masked marauders demanded candy, the latest Justin Beiber CD, and the keys to the Harley. Last Saturday night I was in need of a plumber because of a burst pipe. I had accidentally hit a faucet and a torrent of water began to fill my garage. I panicked as I thought that getting a plumber on a Saturday night would be impossible. Had the incident happened in Cobb County I would have had to find my hip-waders. I carefully dialed Richard Gentry hoping and praying that he could help stop the rush of water that had taken over my garage. There was enough water that Moses could have parted it. Richard had umpired softball games down in Columbus that day but came right over and got us fixed up in no time. I was telling a friend of mine that the difference in living in the big city and living in the quiet of a small town is the quality of people. I've told the story on these pages before about buying furniture at a big store in Atlanta and in Tallapoosa. The city store had a "delivery date" of a week to 10 days after purchase. I once bought a sofa from Jack Jackson at Crossroads Furniture and he beat me to my house delivering it. Last Sunday I emceed a function at the Cumming Fairgrounds for a veteran's organization and I saw James Smith who graduated from West Haralson High School in '65 and has taught for decades at Forsyth County High School. One of his former students told me that Coach Smith was one of the best teachers at the school and went above and beyond to help the students there. He inspired many kids to reach higher in life. Many of his former students went on to be successful in their careers and give him a lot of the credit for that success. I stood in line a few days ago like many of you holding my nose as I voted. I am embarrassed that both candidates for governor sank to a new low in Georgia politics. We have a winner. It wasn't a landslide victory and that should let the governor-elect know that we are watching and we are not going to forget promises, proposed policies, and things said during the campaign. I think some voters last Tuesday let their feelings known about how the administration in Washington is doing the past two years. The power shift in the legislative branch of the government is also a mandate from the people. I am also hoping that our local representation headed to Atlanta in January gets the message loud and clear that we are watching and we're going to be on you like Hat Roberts on a half-pint if you don't step up to the plate for our area. This is home to me. I pay taxes here and I for one am going to be a lot more proactive in taking the pulse of politicians in this district. I hope the new majority party in Congress gets the message that the clock is ticking with American voters and their actions or inactions will be duly noted. This election cycle was good for radio and television stations across America. I read a figure of $4 billion dollars was spent on political advertising the past few months. Thank goodness there won't be a runoff election in Georgia. I don't know if I could have stood three more weeks of it, how about you?

Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and a member of the faculty at Kennesaw State University. He also serves as Director of Special Projects in the Office of Development. Comments are welcome at P.O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa, GA 30176 or via email at rhubarbjones@aol.com or professorrhubarb@gmail.com Previous columns are at www.tallapoosa-journal.com