1973 Feb. 10 Main Street in the Big Snow

The viewpoint was only a few steps from that of my "Soperton Depot in the Big Snow" which you may find at my link for "All of My Blog Photos". Click on the millhouse album cover to see it and other photos from the blog.

The Depot shot is a thing of beauty, but the slush of Main Street is what I remember from Rochester. Since I was driving the only vehicle in a 1,000 miles that had snow tires, I considered the situation being prophetic that I was destined to be the "Snapshooter of Soperton". A friend recently advised that the Lord was telling me to use those tires to head back to snow country, and that he was showing me it could be miserable here, too. "Get ye hence to back to where you came from; marry one them yankee women; have a bunch of kids (all inheriting PKD), take a job with SUNY Brockport, and retire to Florida".

If I done wrong, Lord forgive me.

A copy of this shot is posted on the front door of Crow-Mart, the former location of Red's IGA. Don't forget to pick up some fishbait from Mr. Moxley, and ask Mr. Byrd about the Coke sign and the gas station.

Mr. Crowe at the Pharmacy is the first retailer offering the Harlequin SuperRomance by local author Cynthia Reese. He ordered them from the Harlequin website. It will be another week or two before Wal-Mart has them.

Meet Joe and Sara Tennyson; they are our kind of folks.

1977 MARCH FIFTH WEEK

"Uncle Eli Branch" at 103 was the county's oldest citizen, and Tarrytown barber Robert "Rabbit" Ruis was a mere 82. The photo was made at the local nursing home. I consider it one of my best photos. (Used software refinements of the Nikon Coolscan V for effect.)

1977 MARCH FOURTH WEEK

June Harrell was already producing great majorette teams when I returned from Rochester in 1972. Five years later, the "glory years" continue. Due to the confidence and poise she instilled in her students, they were always winning beauty pageants and adding spirit to the school and community. Thanks ladies, and thank you, too, June.

New Picasa Album

Google has done it again!

Just while I was trying to put all my blog photos in one place, Google did it for me.

I signed up for Picasa Web Albums, and placed the link to my blog photos at the top of my link list. Click it, and find my blog photos at one place. As time goes on, I will learn more and try to organize the photos better. You may notice that I added a few of my Vietnam slides. I've got a bunch more, already scanned, to add. Plus another bigger bunch waiting to scan.

Hooray! Finally a few of the things that I've been working on for a year are starting to come together.

Be sure to tell your friends about my blog and my Picasa photo link.

If I ever made your picture, most likely I still have the negative. Give me an idea when I made it and I will find it. You may order prints from 4x6 up to 13x19.

March 1968

The pictures below are part of the first photos I made in Vietnam. They were scanned from color slides, covered with fungus after all these years. Thank the Lord for the "Great Yellow Father" Eastman Kodak, which in this digital age has produced the finest scanners for slides and negatives with remarkable software that eliminates most of the fungus.

We arrived just after the Tet Offensive. In a few days we had flown in to Binh Hoa, on to An Khe, division headquarters of the First Cav, flew on to a site south of Hue which was battalion headquarters of the 27th Maintenance Battalion, then on to LZ Evans, which was becoming so permanent as to be renamed Camp Evans after a few days.

Defisher and Hayes (talking with Schneider in one of the photos) joined me in a few days. We were fast friends and worked together the entire year. They repaired the FADAC computers used to aim the artillery. My MOS (military occupational specialty) was Camera Repairman. I saw four dysfuctional cameras during the year, none of which we had the parts to fix. There was little work in our specialties, so we spent a year repairing simple wire and radio equipment, and got more of our share of the scut jobs.

We had no complaint though, especially after seeing infantry guys riding in from the field on tanks. Their expressions were a sight I will remember as long as I live. They had seen something that nobody should ever have to see.

I planned to write more, but I just can't right now. Maybe later. Right now I'm remembering those "grunts". If I'd had my camera I could not have taken the picture. The moment was too Holy, too special. We had been working in the mud, and we were tired, but everybody stood up in reverent silence as the passed by.

10 Days without Blogging

We've been having technical problems. No explanation at this point, but we're conducting a test. More words later


Here are the later words: I included 12 Vietnam photos to see how fast they would upload and to see how they were added to my Picasa photo gallery. A dozen photos are tough on those of us who have dial-up speed, so I deleted all except three. I will be gradually adding my Vietnam photos to other albums

Click on link "All of My Blog Photos". Each album has a cover. Click on the cover to see the photos inside.
Until the blogger and picasa are merged (if ever) I will post Vietnam photos at picasa.

1977 March third week

4-H/FFA LIVESTOCK SHOW AND SALE
The Livestock shows have gotten earlier in the year than they were 30 years ago. For a while in the early 70's there was a tri-county event for hogs and steers. Montgomery went on their own, holding their event in Vidalia. Wheeler continued with Treutlen at the Stock Yard in Soperton. Today Wheeler has its own show at the 4-H/FFA barn on county property in Alamo. Treutlen has its own show at the barn behind the high school. The old stockyard was torn down.
Young people have been benefited quite well by this part of their education. One of the young men showing his pig in the picture is now a Judge for the Court of Appeals for the State of Georgia.

1977 MARCH SECOND WEEK

ROYDON WEAR TAKES SHAPE
The Roydon Wear was beginning to take shape. It employed 100 workers in the garment industry. After NAFTA the company that moved into the building does knit fabric, and it requires about a dozen employees to do the work.

Recent Signs

The Signman has been busy and so have I. Here are a recent few that I recall:

(Late bulletin,posted August 19, 2007: The Sign Man is much faster than the blogmaster. He changes signs before I have a chance to write down the message. One of the signs in March 2007 was congratulating Gerald Shurling for his 35 years of service with the United States Postal Service.)

SOFTBALL REGISTRATIONS MARCH 7-22.

SEE THE MULLET EATING CHAMP AT CROW-MART. ASK FOR A OR B MATTRESS.

HAPPY 63RD BIRTHDAY BILL RICKS. HE LIKES LITTLE DEBBIE HONEY BUNS.

1970S SOFTBALL GREATS. JOE ROSE MOXLEY. JIMMY JJ JOYNER.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TABITHA.

SOFTBALL GREAT STEVE WARNOCK. NO ONE DID IT BETTER.

DOES ANY CHURCH STILL SING UNCLOUDED DAY.

3 NAILS
1 CROSS
4 GIVEN

Later

I try to post to the blog at least a week, but this week is different.
Don't give up on me, I will catch up.
It takes me a good week to adjust to the changes of Daylight Saving Time.
Catch you later!

The Forgotten Generation

I invite your comments on this particular post. Forward it to your veteran friends if you think it's worth it.

The Walter Reed Hospital is a prime example of how we really care about our men and women in uniform and the veterans who once served.
It all depends on who you ask. The call-in shows have logged all kinds of comments:
1- Everything's just great! They have excellent doctors and nurses and all the staff is knowledgeable, helpful, and courteous.
2- The only reason that my husband goes is because he can't afford anything else. After he risked his life for us, nobody really cares about him except his family.
3- From a congressman: The bureaucracy is the problem. It's all messed up. Too many incompetent people. Throwing more money at it won't help.
4- Some leaders in Washington: This is the first I've heard of it. It ought to be investigated if it's true.

From my viewpoint, it appears that some veterans are getting the best of care, and some of them are even getting disability compensation. Others can't get to first base in the system.
In the area of public information, the VA is a dismal failure. There is no publicized plan of how you accomplish anything in the VA. It's hard to find your way around a VA facility. Information desks are often unstaffed and direction signs are few.
In the Lewis Carroll children's book , one of the characters explained how to do something: You start at the beginning and go to the end and then stop.
Sounds simple, but finding the beginning at any VA installation is impossible. I've been to several and they are the same. I've seen excellent doctors, nurses, and staff, but I've seen sorry ones, too.

Don't tell me that throwing money at it won't help. More funding and more personnel are the very thing that is lacking in the VA. Every facility is overloaded with a backlog of patients, cases, and claims.

Please don't ask the president to cut taxes. How in the world does anybody expect to take care of those young troops coming back from Iraq without allotting enough money. We can bomb Baghdad at $2 million a shot, but we can't provide armament and personal protective gear. We can put them in harm's way, then abandon them when they come home.
We did the same thing in Vietnam. Now soldiers like me are getting older and sicker, and our "grateful nation" doesn't know how to say "thank you" or even "kiss it."

During the past two weeks I've seen two private doctors about my hearing. Me and Blue Cross are paying for the treatment. I asked my VA doctor about an appointment, and VA guidelines would not allow her to schedule me. I had to be at least 10 percent service-connected disabled or indigent.

Excuuuuse me! I should not have to be a pauper to get medical services from VA.

I know for a fact that all the ionizing radiation I was exposed to at the Nevada Test Site shot through me just as surely as if somebody had fired a bullet. My genetic make-up was damaged. I have more than one genetic disease in my body that does not exist in the body of any other blood relative. They're not in my immediate family or extended family.

I should not have to be spending one-third to one-half of my total income on medical insurance premiums, co-pays, and over-charges. VA even requires payments from Blue Cross/Blue Shield through my individual policy.
It ain't right for me or any other veteran to be treated this way.

Yeah, I understand what those troops are going through at Walter Reed. The troops of today are getting the same short shrift that the Vietnam veterans get. Join the team, young troopers. World War II may have been the Greatest Generation, but we are the Forgotten Generation.

1970 Railroad Avenue Downtown

This shot was made in 1970, I think, maybe 1969. I mislaid the negative after scanning, so I can't be sure. But it does look like it was made with my 28 mm wideangle on my Asahi Pentax Spotmatic that I bought the first week I was in Vietnam.
I was standing in front of the old railroad depot that was later converted into the City Hall. It was after a rain; the sun was out. The scene was dramatic. The negative was attacked with mildew, leaving distracting splotches on the clear sky. I used some unharmed areas and cloned them over the entire sky area, very painstakingly. It was a few hours work, but it looks pretty good.
Notice the old cars. The newest one is the Mustang, just the other side of the 1954 Ford. Mustang started in 1965.

1977 MARCH FIRST WEEK

Treutlen High School had two smart young ladies to achieve STAR Student status, Marian Sweat and Julie Warnock.
Left to right: Jaycees President Jerry Walden, Lions Club President Frank Radford, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Sweat, Marian, STAR Teacher Janice Walden, STAR Teacher Carolyn Jones, Julie, Mr. and Mrs. Garland Warnock, and Superintendent Bobby Driggers.

This Week's Signs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSIE WITH LOVE FROM YOUR FAMILY.

SOPERTON POSSUM SEEN AT MIDNIGHT IN FRONT OF CROW-MART.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LATE MAE BELL WICKER. LOVE WICKER FAMILY.

LIVESTOCK SHOW. THS BARN. 10:30 AM SAT MARCH 3. SICK 'EM TREY.

HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY J. P. WADE. LOVE MOMMA DADDY ABBY.

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY AMBER BARTON. LOVE DADDY MOMMY SHELBY.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME BASEBALL.

Liberals or Conservatives

While I was Googling a while ago I found something interesting that Garrison Keillor wrote in 'The Nation' a couple of years ago. He was writing about radio and made this comment:

"The reason you find an army of right-wingers ratcheting on the radio
and so few liberals is simple: Republicans are in need of
affirmation, they don't feel comfortable in America and they crave
listening to people who think like them. Liberals actually enjoy
living in a free society; tuning in to hear an echo is not our idea of
a good time."

I know a few conservatives who are open-minded, who enjoy hearing liberal views, even debating them. I also know a few liberals who are close-minded, who do not enjoy conservatives, and seem to despise others with opposing views.
I love the analysis, the debate, the prodding, poking fun. I love a good joke.

Those who take time to read it will find something worthwhile in the article from the man from Lake Wobegon at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050523/keillor