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'Voice of (some other) Tigers' to be honored
Chris Townsend is always finding Washington-Wilkes connections outside Wilkes County. Last week his mother, Sandy Townsend of Decatur, sent him a post card which she had found in some old items she had acquired. It was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Comer Randall, Toombs Ave., Washington, Ga., USA. It was postmarked July 26, 1972, and was from Nova Scotia. Most of us know that the Randalls are Buzzy Randall's parents. It was signed Florence and Brown. Buzzy says that the Browns were the Randalls' neighbors when they lived in at the corner of North Alexander Avenue and the Tignall Road. Mr. Brown was the soil conservationist and subsequently retired to Dalton. The card tells about the beauty of Nova Scotia. . . . I wonder where that card has been all these years and if Comer and Evalyn ever received the card. . Chris and Tara Townsend and their boys, Garston and Henry, spent last week at Disney World. They were involved in what could have been a serious bus accident as they were leaving the park one day. The bus driver had to "slam on brakes" because of the car in front of him and it threw some of the passengers around a bit. Chris has a sore leg and side and other minor complaints. . Along with a lot of other people, I've been enjoying the nice rain we have been having. It's so refreshing. Norris says he got 1.2 of an inch of rain during the past week, with a total of 3.2 inches for the month of January. . One morning last week I was walking in the area around the Mary Willis Library after a gentle shower of rain and it was real tricky walking. The bricks were slick from the rain so I had to walk gingerly to keep from losing my footing. . . . I have since remembered, I think, that four or fiveyears ago, the City of Washington received a grant to replace the bricks with pavers like the ones on the sidewalks in Downtown. If I'm remembering right, what happened to that project? Where is the money? . . . Daniel Hargrove, who wrote the letter about sidewalks (in last week's paper), was right about our sidewalks. They do need replacing or repairing. I do a lot of walking and some people who see me every day have asked me why I am always looking down. It's because I don't want to catch the toe of my shoe in a bucked up sidewalk and fall flaton my face. I've learned from experience! . Tom Burroughs lives on the banks of Clark Hill Lake. He has a brother who lives in the area of Hickory, N.C. They are Civil War buffs and enjoy getting together with their metal detectors and looking for Civil War bullets and other artifacts. Last week they were prowling the area around Lexington Avenue (across the street from the Pope Center) because they knew that the area was part of a corridor where troops were encamped. They surmised that a spring (which is now a pond) behind the Hopkins and Newsome homes had been a campsite and they were concentrating on that area. They did finda good many items and gave Smythe Newsome and Bill Hopkins a bullet each, a Punt, Pass and Kick medal, and a silver dime. They said they would be back. . There are still a few tickets available for the John Duggan Memorial Scholarship Dinner Monday night, February 11, at the Woman's Club. Members have tickets. Entertainment for the evening will be by Tom and Gail Duggan, accompanied by Sherrie Bowers, pianist. . I have seen a Christmas card which Tim Crook received Christmas. Tim is a member of the staff at the Wilkes Pre-Release Center and received the card from a group of inmates for whom he is responsible. The envelope is addressed in beautiful pencil script to "Boss Man," and is signed by each man. The card has a manger scene on the cover and on the inside is a great pencil drawing of a deer in the forest and a riflewith a hand holding it. Somebody out there is a real artist. . Jerry Stover is executor of the estate of the late Charles Irvin. In going through some of the items, Jerry found an autograph book which apparently belonged to the late Mary Fortson Darby. The dates in it are 1933 and 1934, and the students who wrote in it were high school students. The book is in perfect condition. A list of teachers in the front of the book includes Miss Annie Louise Smith, Mrs. Enoch Johns, Miss Annie Sue Wynne, Mrs. T.E. Granade, Miss Annie Fluker, Miss Annie Neeson, Miss Doris Guill, Miss Esalee Jordan, Mr. W.E. Monts, Mr. W.W. Johnson, Mrs. Camilla Barnett, and Miss Clarice Guillebeau. The messages written for Mary were typical verses which were used in those years and even into the late 1940s. One that was common but which we don't hear much anymore was Roses are red, Violets are blue, Sugar is sweet , And so are you. . . . Another was Down in the meadow, Carved on a rock, Are three little words, "Forget me not." . . . One that I have not heard was written by Nannie W. in 1933: "Yours till an eggplant hatches spring chickens." . . . Most of the verses were written by girls, including Nellie Richardson, Harriett Smith, Leona Strickland, and Anne Irvin. But there were a few brave boys, including Marion, Sambo, Bill, Charles Irvin, Willie Frank Hopkins, and Charlie Jeremias. .
This is the weekend for Revolutionary Days, celebrating the day in 1779 when a small group of Georgia and South Carolina militia took on a British unit twice its size and prevailed by sheer courage and determination. The weekend activities will begin at 3 p.m. Friday at the Mary Willis Library with a presentation by Dr. Christine Swager entitled "Georgia Militia after Kettle Creek." The celebration continues throughout Friday and all day Saturday.
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