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What a week last week. Our
17th Annual Rhubarb Jones Celebrity Golf Classic at the Golf Club of Georgia in
Alpharetta was a success despite the bears and bulls on Wall Street. The women's
golf coach at Kennesaw State University, Rhyll Brinsmead is an Australian who is
a shade over five feet tall but has as mighty a swing as Tiger Woods. She
knocked a hole in one on a par four hole. I am fortunate if I can have a hole in
six on a par four. The tournament was sandwiched between days of rainy and
stormy weather. The after golf party and jam session featured Jimmy Hall of
Southern rock's "Wet Willie" fame. He also is part of Hank Williams, Jr's "Bama
Band". He is a world class musician. We also were fortunate enough to have T.
Graham Brown who belongs in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. I have often said of
his soulful voice that it was if George Jones and James Brown had gotten
together and designed a singer. The party had a new group called "Love and
Theft". I thought they must have gotten their name from a divorce attorney. They
are three guys in their 20s who bear watching. Over the years we have had at our
celebrity jams, "Rascal Flatts", "Montgomery Gentry", John Michael Montgomery,
Dena Carter, Mark Wills, Jeffrey Steele and others who have had great success on
the music charts. The highlight of our party was the performance of Randy Owen
of the Country Music Hall of Fame group "Alabama". Randy Owen now has a solo
career that has him touring all over the United States but he took time to help
an old classmate from Jax State from about 38 years ago. Randy's book "Down
Home" is a great read and is a remarkable story about how a farm boy from
Adamsburg, Alabama went from playing music for tips to being in the most
successful group in the history of Country music. He remains the thoughtful and
kind fellow who sat next to me in Civil War History class.
Our 17 years of the golf tournament goes along with another event that was
created about 19 years ago called the Rhubarb Jones March Across Georgia for the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The campaign was designed for people to bring
pennies as we stood in the broiling heat in a parking lot in front of a fast
food restaurant, a discount department store, supermarket, or even a pool room.
In that time we calculated we made around 550 stops for the drive. Each stop was
about two hours long and we have seen the magic of the spirit of giving to those
who need it who came by those many years. Years ago Johnny Holcombe called and
asked about making a stop at his store. We talked it over and scheduled it for
the last stop. Those March Across Georgia stops at Holcombe's Foodland became a
reason for me to reconnect with my hometown. The generosity of Tallapoosans over
the years have helped us raise well over 3 million dollars for the research that
will find a cure for cancers of the blood. In 2008 I left radio, no make that
radio left me. We only did two stops last year. This year we are only making one
stop and that will be Saturday May 16th at Holcombe's Foodland. Over the years
Coach Randy Patterson has brought thousands of dollars from the group of
students at Haralson County High School that are involved in leadership. I see
lifetime friends. I feel the love coming from little kids bringing money from
their piggy banks. Teens bring money they were saving for an XBox or Playstation
game. Elderly people share their monthly check from Social Security. I have been
so blessed to have been a part of something that hit home as a small boy when a
little girl from Tallapoosa was diagnosed with Leukemia and passed away.
Tallapoosa had a band director in the early 1960s who lived on our street who
left a wife and young daughter after the disease took his life. My grandmother,
my beloved Mamanier was diagnosed with a form of Lymphoma around her 95th
birthday in January 1983. She died two months later. I never for got how the
disease racked her body and took her from us. I miss her everyday. Our work over
the years on behalf of the Georgia Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
is a labor of love in honor of the woman who had the greatest influence on my
life. A man who believed in the cause, Johnny Holcombe's memory will be
honored Saturday the 16th as we will be at Holcombe's Foodland along with our
friends from WKNG, the fifty thousand watt blowtorch of Haralson County. I would
be honored if you would bring whatever size donation you can. Cancers of the
blood do not care how Wall Street is performing. It attacks and has been one of
the top killers of children. Join me and together we can put a stop to it. If
you'd like to find out about the lone stop for the 2009 Rhubarb Jones March
Across Georgia for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society call Holcombe's Foodland at
770 574 2376. I hope to see you from noon until 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 16th.
Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and an administrative faculty member at
Kennesaw State University. Comments are welcome at
Rhubarbjones@aol.com
or by writing P.O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa, GA
30176.
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