J. W. Breaks Ground

FOURTH WEEK OF DECEMBER 1976
J. W., although still young, was an experienced businessman. He started early. He worked hard. He had imagination. He knew people. He learned from others. People who know him well tell of his catching rides on weekends to town, where the action was. He worked with Harrells Grocery. He worked in the movie theater and he took over from Pal Amusement and owned and operated the Dan Theatre for quite some time. He owned and operated the tented roller rink behind the old shirt factory building. He rented the old Fowler Freezer Locker building (presently the Soperton Farm Center) where he ran his first grocery store. He as at that point when he bought land and started building.

In 30 years he built more, and bought and sold more. Now he is old enough to retire and hang it up, but this week he is still serving his customers at the store, and his smile is big and friendly and as youthful as ever.

Recent Signs

Recent Signs by The Signman:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMANDA BRADDY ON 12-25.

LET THIS BE A SIGN TO U.

BUDDY BYRD BIRTHDAY SALE AT CROW-MART. 12-29.

IN HONOR OF GERALD FORD. 1913-2006. REST IN PEACE.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLES JOHNSON. MILT AND JEANETTES BOY. 12-31.

You're in Iraq?

Coincidentally during my auto accident a few days ago the Sign Man called my cell phone. I told him I was busy; I'm in a wreck. A day or two later he said that he never understood what I meant. "I thought you said your were in Iraq."

The latest signs by the Sign Man:

PINELAND CIRCLE HAS NEW SIGNS/STRIPES. GO LOOK.

HIGH WINDS NEAR WILDWOOD LAKE EARLY MON.

HERSHEL HALL IS 65 TODAY OR IS IT 75?

BIG SALE COMING AT CROW-MART.

In retrospect on my words about hypocrites, I should have simply quoted Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn". Remember Huck's old aunt, when she was admonishing him about going to Hell if he didn't change. She assured him that she was going to Heaven. Huck allowed that if she was going to be there, he preferred the other place.

Huck was also concerned about his friendship with the black slave Jim, and what the preachers were saying about slavery. Huck pondered on it and concluded, "I'll just go to Hell."

Salvation for Pharisees and other Fundamentalists

I know what it is to be a Pharisee.

I was a war baby, and I grew up in the Cold War. The first time I heard a fighter jet overhead I was sitting in a back corner of Primary Sunday School and I thought it was the end of the world, Judgement Day. I was surprised when I got outside to see that there were no mushroom clouds, no parting of the sky, no trumpets blowing.

My family attended church every time the doors were open. A lot of other kids did, too. We were Southern Baptists, humble and proud of it. We prayed for the boys in Korea fighting for our freedom. We quoted John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

But our parents, preachers, and most other adults were trying to teach us to be "good". We believed John 3:16, but we were spending a lot of time on the Ten Commandments. Nobody meantioned anything about the prohibitions of eating barbecued pork and fried catfish, and all that other stuff in Leviticus.

Even the Ten Commandments threw me for a loop. I tried to keep them, but at age 10 or less I had no idea of what they meant about adultery. Trying to keep the Lord's Day holy was a toughie. I loved reading the Sunday funny papers, but I wasn't sure whether such frivolity was "fittin'" to read on Sunday, so for a while there, I'd stash the Sunday funnies and read them when I got home from school Monday afternoon.

You laugh? I was one of the best Pharisees a young fellow could be! Like other good Pharisees, I expected the same high standards of everybody else.

I wished later that we had spent more time on John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Jesus is about Salvation, not about Condemnation.

I should have paid more attention to what Jesus said about applying the law to others in Matthew 7:

1Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Jesus was considered a teacher of the Law, but he is one with the Father and the Spirit. He knew the letter of the Law as much as any Pharisee, but he taught the Spirit of the Law as His Father created it.

The Apostle Paul knew the letter of the Law full well, and he did all he could to kill every leading Christian. You might call him an extreme fundamentalist. But he saw the light. He found the love of Jesus. He preached some hard lessons and laid down some rules for the early church. But in his writing and in that written by others about him, Paul's message was that of His Lord's - Salvation, not Condemnation.

As for myself, today I find good advice in what Paul said to the Philippians in chapter 2, verse 12. It was quoted often by the leading Deacon of my childhood church: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Merry Christmas!

Scribes, Pharisees, and other Hypocrites

It's time to talk about the memory verse:

Matthew 5:20 (King James Version)
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

It was in Vacation Bible School, many, many years ago. Mrs. Waller led the recitation, time after time, and by the Friday commencement, most of us had it.

From viewing the Saturday westerns at the local Pal Theatre, we knew the bad guys from the good guys. We couldn't even spell Pharisee, much less understand the meaning of the term, but we accepted that they were the bad guys.

At the risk of being called anti-semitic, I will say that the leadership that led to Jesus's crucifixion was the Jewish leadership, namely the people to whom Jesus referred when he talked about the scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites. Jesus did not seek enemies, but they became his enemies.

Jesus was love, showed love, preached love, and asked his followers to love one another as He loved them. Jesus's legalistic enemies weren't about love. They were about beating people over the head with the law, not about showing the love of the Father. Jesus said that He was not about destroying the law, but fulfilling it.

Read the following verses and use my Bible link to find more:

Matthew 23
23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

During Jesus's time on earth the conditions were similar as to what we have today, in which the religion, politics, power and corruption can be found in the same indidividuals and in the same groups of people.

Jeremiah the Bullfrog might paraphrase: Woe to the world... All the boys and girls... Woe to the fishes in the deep, blue sea... Woe to you and me....
To be continued.

Mr. Herbert Puts Things in Order

THIRD WEEK OF DECEMBER 1976
The Clerk always loved people more than he did paperwork, and mainly the lawyers were those who were frustrated by his collection of cardboard boxes, and assorted papers. He came from the old school of carbon paper and was fascinated by the electrostatic copying machine, to the extent that he would make multiple copies of most documents, and it was hard to tell the difference in the originals and the copies.
Whether or not it was a request of the attorneys, the county made a contract with Kenneth Ricks, who operated a local cabinet shop at the time. The photographer caught Mr. Herbert in his old overalls (but also in his ever-present white, long-sleeved shirt) moving things around in preparation for the new cabinets, just in time for Christmas. The well-built cabinets are still in use today.

A Merry Christmas comment from Ben Stein

A friend forwarded a commentary by Ben Stein that I found interesting. The internet is one huge grapevine with turns and twists, so I usually Google "forwards" and often I learn from snopes that some things are untrue or only partially true. So here's the snopes link about Ben's words:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/benstein2.asp

The latest signs by the signman:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SETH CARTER ON 12-23.
WELCOME HOME JARVIS MCCLENDON, DENNIS PURIFOY. LACKLAND AFB * TEXAS.

A personal note:
I had a fender bender today and was cited for following too close. No injuries. Praise the Lord! Anytime there's an accident with no injuries, that's something to be happy about. There were three vehicles with three drivers and no passengers. Lead vehicle had slowed or stopped to make a left turn into a convenience store, and a second vehicle was following. I didn't see the second car soon enough. Although I swerved right, the driver's side of my front bumper caught the passenger-side rear bumper of the second vehicle (sort of an Earnhardt maneuver), giving it a turn into the lead vehicle. Damage of the lead vehicle was minor, but the second vehicle was damaged front and rear. All vehicles were drivable, but I won't be surprised if the second vehicle is totaled, as it doesn't take much for that these days. I don't carry collision coverage on my eight-year-old car. I'm hoping my local body man will wait for my tax refund before I pay him. Let's see... hmmm.... front bumper, all left front lights, left front fender, possible right front fender, possible driver's door hinge.....
Look's like the body man's family will have a great Christmas!

Biscuits & Syrup

Recent Signs (I've been so busy this week that the signmaker is putting them up before I can write them down, but here are a few:

TARRYTOWN BAPTIST YOUTH SELLING BOSTON BUTTS.

BEST WISHES TO PAUL AND BARBARA MULLING ON 12-21.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL FROM RICKY REESE.

People around here still make cane syrup. Not very many, but still a few. They heat the cane juice in a rounded shallow kettle until it concentrates into a thick syrup. Some cooks call it reducing.

If you use the term "sugar cane" you reveal that you aren't from around here. We simply call it cane. Probably the only other cane is the cane poles we use for fishing, and everybody knows the difference in a sweet, chewable cane from a dry, hard stick of bamboo.

At the risk of criticism, I must admit that I like the light maple-flavored syrups best. In fact I prefer the 10% maple to the 100% maple. But I do eat cane syrup, especially with good hot biscuits.

It may not be healthy, but I prefer my biscuits well greased. Greasy enough that additional butter is unnecessary.

Lard biscuits are the best. Around here, we like our hog. It's God's gift to southern cooking. Just ask Emeril. It's a miracle meat. Fresh pork can be grilled, fried, roasted, barbecued. It can be salt cured, sugar cured, smoked. What would the world be without bacon or Italian sausage? We use cured pork to season vegetables.
Lard is the fat of the hog. The fat and attached skin is cut into chunks, dropped into a large pot, preferably a cast iron wash pot, resting on an open fire, out where the hog was killed, dressed, scalded and scaped.

The cooked skin and fat solids are cracklin's. They crunch when you eat them. They can be used in cracklin' bread - the corn bread variety or the flour bread variety.
The part that remains after the cracklin's are strained out, cools down into solid lard, which lasts a long time without refrigeration.

The best fried chicken is cooked in lard, but that's another story. Before this post gets way too long, let me say that some of the best cane syrup is made by B. L. Powell, and I've been lusted after a large display of fruit jars filled with his good ol' syrup. But Christmas is a time of sharing, so I bought jars of syrup to give to my co-workers at our Christmas party (yesterday). But what about the biscuits?

I packed each jar of syrup with a 5-pound bag of Dixie Lily flour, a pound container of lard, and, for good measure, a package of sliced fatback (salt cured fat).

I Googled and printed out the first eight of the 86 biscuit recipes at www.cooks.com and advised the ladies "Bake those biscuits, fry that fatback, and serve it with that syrup, and your husband will be so pleased that... well, let's just say it will be the gift that keeps on giving." And to our newlywed groom: "Y'all tackle it together. The two of you can figure it out."

Written by a Man from Georgia

Mild He lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth;
Born to give them second birth.
Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn king.
- Lyrics by Charles Wesley

Today's signs:
HOW ABOUT THAT FFA FLOAT. CREAT JOB. A LOT OF DEERE.

DEPUTY OF THE YEAR 2006 MICHAEL MILTON. THANKS FOR ALL U DO.



DECEMBER 1977 SECOND WEEK
It was the TES Pageant. The five finalists were Diana, Beth, Yvette, Glenda, and Lisa.

The Sidewalk Gallery

Today's Signs:
TODAY
TELL SOMEONE
U
LOVE THEM

JESUS
THE GREATEST GIFT
OF
ALL

(I haven't learned how to center stuff on the blogger, but the letters of the bottom sign are in the shape of a cross.)

So that I will spend less time watching TV and more time on my photos, I've undertaken to select a photo for each week - not today's photos but those that are exactly 30 years old. I made pictures earlier and later than 1976-77, but 3 decades seemed just right. While I was scanning today, "Back to the Future" was playing on one of the satellite channels. When Dr. Brown said that he would be traveling into the future 30 years, I knew that he was confirming my choice.

I'm calling it Sidewalk Gallery, because the photos can also be enjoyed from a physical sidewalk.
The first entry is the first week of December 1976:
Main Street, showing Byrd's Fina Station (now demolished), a service station operated in the 50's by R. R. Duke. Uncle Arlington Youngblood used to hang out there, and he was a character.
The Santa-face street decorations were used for many years. Taken at dusk on a rainy day.

In the Words of Mark Twain

Today's Signs:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK SWEAT. THE BBQ KING. AND TO JASON COX.
DEC 15TH ANNIVERSARIES. MR AND MRS JAMES BUSH. MR AND MRS MARCUS COX JR. STILL LIKE NEWLYWEDS.

The strangest things happen in our town.
A local preacher conducted a funeral service Monday. As the current news was passing around from mouths to ears, a few things got turned around. Not hard to do in any communication during an age of cellphones, internet, and American television. To err is to human, and Christians forgive.
By Tuesday the word had got out that the minister was dead. There was immediate concern. Someone called the funeral home. Others called his home and got only the answering machine. One concerned friend left work and drove over to the preacher's home to find the Reverend working in his yard.
"Glad to see you," the Rev. said.
"Not as glad as I am to see you," answered the friend.
A full explanation followed, and the preacher with a great sense of humor said, "In the words of Mark Twain, the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
The preacher received great Christmas gifts: A story for a sermon, and knowing that he is loved very much and that he would be sadly missed.
In small towns, even the mistakes can work out well.

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Classic snapshots

If you like old millhouses, here are a couple: Sterling's Mill and Miller's Mill. Both were burned by vandals in 1976. The man at Sterling is the late R. H. Warnock. The fishing family at Miller is yet to be identified. I made the Sterling picture in June 1973. The Miller picture I made in 1970.

New Blogger- Piedmont Services

Sunday afternoon I was distressed. Something had happened to my blog layout. I must have done something wrong, but later than night everything was back in place. Blogger.com had been working on their new blogger, and they said that the work was finished, and people on the old blogger will be transferring to the new one. That's progress, I guess.

Today's signs:
NATALIE - MELANIE. THE CHOIRS AND RIBBON GIRLS WERE IMPRESSIVE. GOD MUST BE SMILING.

MATTHEW 1 V21.
I looked it up for you: "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

Way to go, signmaker!

The transplant services of Piedmont Hospital are doing quite well. Piedmont and Blue Cross/Blue Shield have resolved their differences, so BC/BS customers can be Piedmont customers.
Some good charts on 3-year patient survival in kidney transplants show better numbers with Piedmont than the national average. Similar comparison in kidney graft survival.
Piedmont has learned that graft survival of non-blood related and blood related donors are similar. One opportunity is that donations may be donated by friends as well as family.
Piedmont's liver transplant services are getting very high marks. A new multimodality liver cancer treatment program has begun.
Piedmont's web address: piedmonttransplant.org
Piedmont's e-mail address: transplant@piedmont.org

Watch out for Mr. Fenton

Matthew 5:20 (King James Version)
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Did you try the Bible link. Pretty cool, huh? Better than an exhaustive concordance, and it's free. Amazing stuff these days! More about the Bible verse later.

The following is one the funniest "forwards" I have received. Since it's Christmas shopping season, you might watch out for this character when you're in Wal-Mart:

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton are retired.

Mrs. Fenton insists that he go with her to Walmart. He gets bored with all the shopping. He prefers to get in and get out, but Mrs. Fenton loves to browse. Here's a letter sent to her from the store.

Dear Mrs. Fenton: Over the past six months, your husband has been causing quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and may ban both of you from our stores. We have documented all incidents on our video surveillance equipment. All complaints against Mr. Fenton are listed below. Things Mr. Bill Fenton has done while his spouse was shopping in Walmart:

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking. 2. July

2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the restrooms.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official tone, 'Code 3' in housewares.. . and watched what happened.

5. Aug 4: Went to the Service Desk and asked to put a bag of M&M's on layaway.

6. Sept 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

7. Sept 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he'd invite them in if they'll bring pillows from the bedding department.

8. Sept 23: When a clerk asks if they can help him , he begins to cry and asks, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'

9. Oct 4: Looked right into the security camera; used it as a mirror, and picked his nose.

10. Nov 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, asked the clerk if he knows where to find the antidepressants.

11. Dec 3: Darted around the store suspiciously loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.

12. Dec 6: In the auto department, practiced his "Madonna look" using different size funnels.

13. Dec 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browse through, yelled "PICK ME!" "PICK ME!"

14. Dec 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumes the fetal position and screams "NO! NO! It's those voices again!!!!"

Does this guy resemble somebody you know?

Matthew 5:20

Matthew 5:20: Look it up. Click the Bible link. More about it later.

Signs Today:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOIS BRANTLEY 12-08
JOHN 3:16-17
COME SEE THE KIDS CHOIR SING CHRISTMAS MUSIC SUNDAY 6-30 PM FBC 3RD ST
JARED MOSELEY WINS 2ND PLACE IN AREA FFA EMC WIRING

Crow-Mart

I've been stopping in more at Crow-Mart. It's a place where I can hear some of the local scuttlebutt - the news before it becomes official. Sometimes it turns out to be officially true; sometimes it's never substantiated. It's part of what sustains small towns.

I enjoy the staff and the hanger-outers, and some of them double for both roles. I enjoy the shoppers.

I also enjoy the location. It's one of the former location's of Red's IGA, and although I put in my service at the store that stood beside the old Soperton Pharmacy, this one still reminds be of the experience and what I learned there.

I can still see those cured hams and shoulders hanging in the front window. I remember the locally-built plywood counter, under which stood the tiny little safe where the money was kept. It was small enough that burglars took it one night - the entire safe - and several years later hunters found it in the woods, open and all the money gone.

Recently I found some people who were passing through, and they had bought some refrigerated cured meat from Piglet. Back in the old days, nobody worried about food poisoning from unrefrigerated cure meat. Today it's different. As the couple couldn't find a cooler to keep their provisions on the journey back to Alabama, I remembered my old cooler at home, which was cracked on the outside, but still serviceable. I had won it as a door prize at a Lions Club district meeting over 20 years ago. There was some sentiment attached, but the couple needed it more.

They went on their way, happy and appreciative, and I had a lot of satisfaction in remembering my roots. It wasn't unusual. We just do things that way in small towns.

December 7 - 65 years later

Back in high school our science professor Gary Bass would always give pop tests on December 7. Sort of a sneak attack in memory of Pearl Harbor. The babies born back then, 1941, are now eligible for Medicare.

The World War II veterans are called the greatest generation. In comparison, the Vietnam War veterans are the forgotten generation.

The country was more united during the administrations of FDR and Truman than any other time in history. Ike fostered the military-industrial complex and created the interstate highway system. Some people said that Ike's administration proved that we didn't need a president. but those were good times.

The decade of the 1950's was full of progress in the cities, in the small towns, and on the farms. In Sunday School young lads were praying for the boys in Korea, even years after the conflict. Nobody told us the war was over.

John F. Kennedy was the icon of youthful hope. In the south he had his opponents, as the country struggled with the racial divisions. At Georgia Southern, and across the land, the youth rallied in shock at the assassination. Even those who questioned the Kennedys' stance on civil rights also renewed their patriotism. "They can't kill OUR President!"

The GSC gym team presented a performance of memorable sculptures and pictures. Assembled in total darkness, the spotlights would suddenly go on revealing the gold-painted muscled bodies in another tableau. Lights off, reassemble, and lights on for another, and another, and another. Finally another blaze of light, and all that gold seemed to disappear in the sight of the red, white, and blue. They were raising the flag at Iwo Jima! There was deathly silence for a moment, then the loudest and longest ovation ever.

That's my America. People coming together in spite of their differences, finding community in diversity, working together to find answers and resolve problems, and protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States of America.

I'm Bill Ricks of Soperton, and today I announce my blog.

Ize been workin'

What a week, and it's hardly started. Already put in 24 hours in two days on my job.

Another sign in the yard?

Yesterday's signs: IN MEMORY OF J. CLAYTON STEPHENS. DIED 12-4-97. VISIT-SUPPORT HIS MUSEUM.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY REGINA NOBLES.

New Signs Today: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKIA ROGERS FROM YOUR DAUGHTER.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS HOWELL ON 12-07. BIG DOG. RUFF RUFF.

Added links to the blog.

Is it fun, or what?

Signs of the times

Yesterday's Sign: DECEMBER NEWS. MARION CALHOUN IS 39 AND A FEW SAT.

Today's Sign: DECEMBER NEWS. BEST WISHES TO AKIRYA BLAIR.

Straightened up and rearranged the workshop today. Everything fits better.

Last night I spent 6 hours on one negative - a family fishing at Miller Millpond in 1970. Lots of variations in shade and sun, but lots of DEE made it turn out pretty well. If one of the RIT profs looked at it, he would say "Ricks, you are still making them lousy with detail."

Been watching the Criminal Intent marathon, while working today.

Blog intentions this week: To work on adding links.

The Emerald City had an hour-long parade yesterday. I always enjoy the one in WC, too.

What a Face!

I wanted to delete this big photo, but if I do, the smallphoto would be deleted, too.