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How many of you can remember when cigarettes were advertised on television and
radio? The Flintstones had a prime time animated show on Friday nights on ABC
that was Channel 11 in those days. The Flintstones were sponsored by Winston
Cigarettes. They actually had commercials with Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty
lighting up. As a kid, I was told by my mother to never take up smoking because
there were unanswered health issues that they hadn't figured out yet. I heeded
my mother's advice as she lit up another Pall Mall. The Surgeon General finally
had warning labels put on the packs and television and radio stopped advertising
cigarettes in the early 70s. Smoking has finally seen a peak and the number of
new smokers is actually declining in this country. In Europe it may be a
different matter. I went to Paris a few years back and in visiting a
hooty-snooty restaurant the atmosphere was like Fat Gentry's Pool Room on a
Saturday night. I promised to go back if I can get a war surplus gas mask. If
you have tried to quit and have not, you have another incentive because as of
April 1st the single largest federal tobacco tax increase ever raised the price
over sixty cents. I passed by a store in Cobb County the other day that had on
their sign "special price
s on cigarettes by the carton, financing available". I have been told that
quitting smoking is harder than rooting for Bremen in a playoff game. I am glad
I never took it up. My mother quit in her late 40s. If you want to quit, the
American Cancer Society has a web site that can help you. Right now I am trying
to break a bad habit I picked up as a youth and am in a 12 step program to give
up Nabisco Chips Ahoy Cookies.
Of the columns I have written over the past 18 months, the response to the piece
on the passing of Richard D. Allen, Jr. has drawn the greatest volume of emails.
I also appreciate being stopped on the street, the post office, and the grocery
store to hear your kind comments. Richard Allen's departure of this Earth has
made me carefully evaluate life and has renewed a spirit of reaching out to
people that mean something in my life. I now hold my children closer when
hugging them good night. Speaking of kids, you have to take yours to see
"Monsters and Aliens". It debuted last weekend at the box office raking in over
$58 million dollars. It is an animation action comedy that features creatures
from the 1950s with a showdown with invading extraterrestrials. It was kind of
like a Meunier Family reunion but without the potato salad and fried chicken. I
rarely go to scary movies since seeing "Not Of This Earth" at the Grand Theater
on Head Avenue as a boy. Bill O'
Reilly concurs that it is the scariest movie of all time. I have slept with the
light on since second grade. I hope to see you all next weekend at the Dogwood
Festival. The organizers have done a great job over the years to make it a great
celebration of spring time in our town.
Somebody stole next door neighbor Meghann Glaze's battery operated Barbie car
from her back yard. Meaghan is in kindergarten at Tallapoosa Primary and her 2
year old brother Braden "Bobo" Glaze has posted a reward of a bag of Skittles
for the arrest and conviction of the responsible individuals.
Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and is a member of administrative faculty
at Kennesaw State University. Comments are welcome at P.O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa,
GA 30176 or via email at
Rhubarbjones@aol.com
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