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President Obama gave his C-SPAN speech to school kids this past week and my second grader did not come home insisting on health care reform, she did not ask to meet Bill Ayers, and did not ask me to tell her about Karl Marx. She didn't go through my wallet and insist that I "spread the wealth". She did not make any disparaging remarks about my fellow conservatives. What was the big deal about the speech? Where was the fear coming from? In Cobb County, I got an email from the school superintendent saying that parents had an option for our children to see it or not. Presley saw it and it seemed to inspired her to work even harder at "readin', writin', and 'rithmatic". I am glad the President of the United States took the time to tell kids to get away from the Xbox and too much television and to concentrate on school. As a parent I could not see why there was this political paranoia. I didn't vote for Mr. Obama. I voted for the senator from Arizona who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison for my country. I am glad President Obama tried to get kids to buckle down and succeed. As a dad, I am glad he told the kids to work hard and to never give up. I am of the opinion that we need a mirror put up to our faces to address the drop out rate in our country and especially in Haralson County. What steps are being done by the Haralson County Board of Education to try to slow down the drop out rate? Is anyone taking any responsiblity for the being 209th in the state in SAT scores. We are doing better than some schools. Villa Rica High School is 210th. Bremen is 104th and Bowdon High School is 65th in Georgia SAT test scores. The subpar scores and the dropout rate should be unacceptable to every person paying taxes in this county. I am a Haralson County taxpayer. I also am a Cobb County taxpayer. I live in Marietta, but my HOME is in Tallapoosa. I love my home county and the people that live here. The dropout rate is an ever increasing problem across America. I seriously pondered dropping out of high school and getting a job, but I was fearful that my mother, grandmother and Jessie Lee Newman would kill me. Because of those three dear people in my life, I got an education and I had a great career in radio and now as a college teacher. When I am asked to address high school kids from time to time, I always tell them to stay in school and try to get as much education as they can. I strongly feel that education is a great investment. We are lucky to have a state university and a technical college within a short distance that provide opportunity for our citizens. Education doesn't guarantee financial success but it does lessen the probability of economic failure. I will now get off my soapbox and talk about the reality of the economy. I am told by experts at the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University that the economic problems are about to turn around in the coming months. The economy was so bad that in Atlanta that parents in Buckhead fired their nannies and learned their children's names. It was so bad that Motel Six refused to leave the light on and that Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen. I also found out that Hot Wheels and Matchbox car stocks are trading higher than GM and Ford. The economic mess was so bad that the Mafia was laying off judges and former Vice President Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting. Just last month I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail. I went into McDonalds the other day and the kid behind the counter asked, "can you afford fries with that?" I now cut off the lights for economic reasons and not romantic ones. I saw Mayor Pete Bridges last weekend at the clearing of the property that will be the future home of CVS in our town. I love Pete' s belief in our people and his passion for the city. He always has time to talk to folks about quality improvement and growth for Tallapoosa. My prediction of the coming years that many baby boomers who live in metro Atlanta are going to really tire of traffic, crime, and sprawl that they will seek peaceful safety and quality of life that our town can provide. I hope you all will watch the Georgia Music Awards from the Georgia World Congress Center next Saturday the 19th on Georgia Public Broadcasting. Yours truly is a presenter that night. My heartfelt thanks to those of you who watched and supported the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon last weekend. Over $1.7 million dollars was raised in North Georgia. I am blessed because the people that I love don't have one of the 43 neuromuscular diseases that the MDA is trying to eradicate from this planet. If you didn't get through on the phone during the telethon you can help by going to www.mdausa.org.

Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and a Distinguished Lecturer in the Department of Communication and Director of Special Projects in the Office of Development at Kennesaw State University. Comments can be sent to P.O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa, GA 30176 or via email at rhubarbjones@aol.com