"Here’s To Obama"

By Clint Cox

I, along with millions of other Americans, watched the inauguration of our 44th President this past Tuesday. All Presidential inaugurations are history makers, but this one had the added flavor of our nation’s first African America taking the oath of office as President.

I will confess that I did not vote for Obama. My not voting for him had nothing to do with the color of his skin and I am offended when folks hint or outright state that not voting for him had to do with his race. I did not vote for him because I generally do not agree with most of the positions taken by the National Democratic Party, from which he was nominated.

And this opposition to the National Democratic Party platform didn’t start just recently. In fact, in the eight Presidential elections that I have been privileged to vote in, I have voted for the Republican nominee every single time. So the seven previous times I voted for the Republican nominee had nothing to do with race, and this last time did not either.

All that said, I watched the history making inauguration and was proud that our country has advanced to the point that an African American can be elected. It demonstrates that much improvement in equality for all persons has been made. For all the greatness of our country’s early achievements and our founding father’s proclamations of equality, our government’s establishing the institution of slavery and their abominable treatment of the Native Americans are major moral failures of our early forefathers.

I believe the consequences of these major moral failures are still with us today in the form of strained race relations. Race relations are significantly better than they used to be, but let a controversial race relations issue arise and watch how quickly it becomes heated and divisive. But here’s the reality. There are still some white folks who dislike black folks simply because of the color of their skin (they probably didn’t vote for Obama). But there are also some black folks who dislike white folks, simply because of the color of their skin (they probably did vote for Obama). Not voting for him solely because of his race is wrong and voting for him solely because of his race is wrong. Racial prejudices are a two way street and neither are okay. I suspect both sides of that street must displease our God and creator immensely.

I don’t normally venture into politics in my column but I said all the above to say this. Even though I did not vote for Obama he is now "our" President and we should hope he becomes the most successful President in our history. Our nation faces difficult times and we need him to succeed. Hoping he fails is the wrong way to show your American pride. So "Simply Put" here is to Obama, our new President. God Bless him and America.

From the front porch: Uncle Bob said some folks wear their halos much too tight.

"My Bucket List"

By Clint Cox
I watched a movie over the Christmas holidays called "The Bucket List." Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman were the lead actors and the primeses of the movie is fairly simple. Two older fellows who do not know each other wind up in the same hospital room. Both are told they have terminal diseases and have only a short time left to live.

Freeman’s character starts a "bucket list," things that he wants to do before he dies, or kicks the bucket. Nicholson’s character likes the idea and the two set out to accomplish all the things on the list.

The movie got me to thinking and as you know that is always dangerous and that also means a column is usually soon to follow. I haven’t been told that I have a short time to live but no man is promised tomorrow. My own personal family history has sadly taught me that we can be here today and gone tomorrow. Our time can be so fleeting and I have a tendency to get so busy with my three jobs that I don’t take the time to smell the roses so to speak. I certainly haven’t figured out all there is to know about life, but one thing I am pretty sure of is that not many folks lay on their death bed and wish that they had worked more.

There are many things that I want to do before my time on this earth is up (and hopefully that will be a long time). Some of those things involve traveling to places I’ve never been to before, like the Grand Canyon and whitewater rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Some involve doing things that I’ve either never done before or things I want to do out of love for my family, friends or fellow mankind.

I’m killing two birds with one stone so to speak (going to places I’ve never been before) with a couple of father / son camping trips (I want to do out of love for my family). I went camping with my oldest son in the mountains of North Georgia (Fort Mountain State Park) over the past holidays. It was mighty cold but fun. I head out this holiday weekend for a camping trip with my middle son to Key West. We hope to do a little kayaking and taking in the sites. Both of my sons are young men now (age 21 and 19) and I want to make sure that I stay connected with them. And I had never been to Fort Mountain State Park and I’ve never been to Key West.

My bucket list gets longer every day as there are so many things I want to do and so many places I want to go. I want to live life to the fullest. How about you? Are you living life to the fullest or are you just making time. Simply Put, the choice is ours to make.

From the front porch: Coach said it is not difficult to make a mountain out of a mole hill, just keep addin’ dirt.

"Out with the old, In with the new"

Well another year has come and gone. That makes 48 of them for me. With last week’s Year in Review Edition, we re-ran some of the most notable stories from this past year. While I’m sure that we left a few stories out (due to space limitations), we tried to hit the highlights so to speak.
2008 was a good year in my book. There were plenty of sports memories that will fill young boys or girls scrapbooks for future reference. Looking back though, I note that one great aspect of the year was that we did not lose any of our county’s young athletes to tragic deaths. We lost two in 2007 (Mary Black and Justin Burch) and I am thankful that those tragedies were not repeated in 2008. Sadly though, we did lose several big sports fans during the past year. Mack Rooks and Ed Revell were two of the county’s biggest sports fans and both passed away in 2008. While I am sure there were others who passed away that also loved Jackson County sports, these are two that I knew personally. Both are missed dearly by their families and friends.

But the circle of life, like a good book, means that we must close the chapter of 2008 and move on to the next chapter, 2009. We’re all familiar with the poor state of our economy and the forecasters are calling for more dismal times during the upcoming year. That’s all the more reason to go out and support your favorite high school, college or youth sports team.

We are blessed to have some outstanding sports teams and programs right here under our noses. You need not drive long distances or pay big money for entertainment. Just go and check out some of the local programs. Our high school basketball programs are as good as they come. There are plenty of teams that are having outstanding seasons. Many will make the playoffs and one or two have a shot at going to Lakeland.

And Chipola is having another fine year as the men’s basketball team is ranked #1 in the state and nation. The ladies are ranked #2 in the state and #8 in the nation. Expect the baseball and softball teams to once again vie for a state title. And if that is not enough, there are youth teams by the dozens in our county that boast the future stars of our sports programs.

So support our county teams with your attendance, encouragement and finances. I’ll continue to cover the local sports scene as best as I can and have the extra features (Yesteryear, In The Spot Light, Movin’ On Up, Rollin’ Down The River) that make reading the Jackson County Times something you look forward to. If you do your part and I do mine, Simply Put, 2009 will be another great year.

From the front porch: Uncle Bob comes from a school of thought that if everybody becomes somebody, there wouldn’t be anybody left to be nobody.

"The Wisdom of Hot Chocolate"

By Clint Cox

I am not a coffee drinker. Apparently it is not a genetic trait because my dad could drink coffee all night long. I tried to learn to drink coffee when I worked the midnight shift as a correctional officer, but I just did not care for the taste. When I took little packets of instant hot chocolate, I got a pretty good ragging from my co-worker correctional officers. They did not see hot chocolate as being very manly. Especially when I messed up and took the packets with the little marsh mellows in it.

I’ve always liked hot chocolate and my wife forwarded an e-mail to me recently. She obviously felt that I could benefit from the message. After reading it I felt compelled to share a slightly modified version with our readers. I think we could all benefit from "The Wisdom of Hot Chocolate"

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, had gathered for a reunion and went to visit an old professor who was now retired. During the visit the conversation turned to complaints about the stress of the graduate’s work, lives and relationships.

The old professor went to the kitchen and returned with a pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups. Some cups were porcelain, some glass and some crystal. Some were plain looking while others were expensive and exquisite looking. He invited each of his former students to have a cup of hot chocolate. When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in their hand, the wise old professor started to share his thoughts.

"Notice that all of the nice looking and expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheaper looking cups. While it is normal to want the best, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cups add nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases the cups are more expensive and even hide what we are drinking. What you really wanted is the hot chocolate. You did not want the cup but you consciously choose the best looking cups. And soon you began to eye one another’s cups.

Now consider this. Life is like the hot chocolate. Your jobs, your money and your position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup does not define nor does it change the quality of life you are living. By concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has given us.

Always remember this, God brews the hot chocolate. He does not choose the cup. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything they have.
So Simply Put…Live Simple…Love Generously…Care Deeply…Speak Kindly… Enjoy your hot chocolate…And leave the rest to God."

From the front porch: Coach said the richest person is not the one who has the most but the one who needs the least.

Simply Put-12/18/08

Simply Put
"Mr. Roy would have loved IT"
That thought occurred to me last Thursday night in Malone as I was there covering the Sneads Pirates boys basketball game against the host Malone Tigers. The Malone gym is called the Roy B. Beall Gymnasium in honor of Mr. Roy. I realize that some folks don’t know who Mr. Roy was (sounds like a good idea for a Yesteryear feature), but there are plenty of folks around that still remember all that he did for basketball in the county.
The Pirates and Tigers locked horns in another all Jackson County matchup. One of the great things that I love about Jackson County basketball is that every varsity team plays each other on a home and away basis during the regular season. That is not the case with many of the other sports, so basketball really gets the inner-county rivalries cranked up. And no matter the records or how the teams have been playing, every Jackson County game is a heated contest.
Thursday night was no different. The Sneads Pirates fans travel as well as anybody and they had a large contingency on hand. Malone as usual had their home folks in full force. All of these folks were packed into a gym that for the most part looks no different than it did 50 some odd years ago when it was built. And while I know some Malone folks would love a new gym, in my opinion the old gyms have much more character than the new gyms.
So the house was packed and the game was a classic. The two squads traded the lead through out the game. And with each lead change the crowd grew more intense. Malone got hot from outside the 3 point line and pulled out ahead in the fourth quarter. Their fans were in a frenzy as it looked like they might put the Pirates away. But back came the Pirates and a NBA style 3 pointer with five seconds to play sent the game into overtime and sent the Pirate fans into their own frenzy.
While the teams prepared for overtime the opposing fans rose to their feet and tried to out shout each others battle cries. In the end Sneads prevailed with a four point overtime win. It was a hard fought game on both sides. The players, and fans for that matter, were physically and emotionally drained when all was said and done. And while Mr. Roy’s loyalties would have leaned more toward Malone than Sneads, he really did a lot for basketball in the county as a whole. It wasn’t just for Malone and Marianna as some might think. So, Simply Put, Mr. Roy would have loved last Thursday night because it doesn’t get any better than an overtime battle of Jackson County basketball.

From the front porch: Uncle Bob noted that the early fish gets hooked for the same thing the early bird gets credit for.

Simply Put -"Honest Folks Still Around "- Dec. 11, 2008

By Clint Cox
Every day we are bombarded with news about all the ills of our society. Turn on the TV, pick up most newspapers (of course not The Times) or gather around the water fountain at work and most of the news you hear will be about folks, especially "these young folks" doing the wrong things. If we are not careful, we allow ourselves to think that the whole world is full of nothing but bad and dishonest folks.
But that is not true, and every so often my faith in honest and decent folks gets reaffirmed. One of those reaffirmations happened to me recently. I had made one of regular mandatory payday runs to Wal-Mart last Thursday night. On these mandatory pay day trips to Wal-Mart I always get the cashier to place a $100 dollar credit on a Wal-Mart gift card.
I use this gift card as a gas card at the Wal-Mart gas pumps since I can save an extra three cents a gallon when filling up my vehicle. The previous two weeks I had not traveled much so I actually already had about $45 dollars still left on my gas card. But sticking to my routine, I had the cashier ring up an additional $100 credit on the card. I grabbed my groceries, made my way to the car and headed home.
Three days later it was time to gas up but I could not find my gas card. After looking in all possible locations and unable to locate the card, I wondered if I might have left it at Wal-Mart. Of course my next thought was that if I forgot to get the card from the cashier or if I dropped it, there was a good chance that someone would have taken advantage of my hard earned $145 credit on the card. But I hoped for a long shot and on my way to Tallahassee that day I stopped in to see if the card might have been turned in.
To my amazement, the card had in fact been turned in to customer service. The cashier had put a little note on the card indicating that a customer (me) had left the card. It would have been so easy for the cashier or someone else to use the card. It is basically like cash and there would have been no trace of who used it. But the young lady did the right thing and turned the card in, thereby allowing me to reclaim it three days later. I wish I knew the young ladies name, but unfortunately I don’t.
One of my purposes or goals in writing a weekly column is to spread positive stories and ideas as much as possible. "Keep on the Sunny Side", as the old song says. So remember, Simply Put, there are still honest folks out there that do the right thing for the right reasons.

From the front porch: Coach said keep smiling! And if you notice someone is missing one, give them yours!

Simply Put-Dec. 4, 2008

"County Loses Big Sports Fan "
With the sudden passing of Ed Revell (see front page), Jackson County has lost one of our biggest sports fans. My path has crossed the path of Ed’s many times throughout my life and he certainly ranks among the top supporters of local athletics in the last 50 years.
I grew up playing sports with his son Steve and always remember Ed being around. He coached a lot during the early days and then served as one of the key men of the numerous booster clubs endeavors that supported our teams. Since Steve and I were in the same grade, I’m pretty certain that Ed saw every game we ever played and was at almost as many practices.
My association with Ed and local sports moved to a different level 18 years ago when I began covering Marianna sports on the radio. As I later added writing sports for the local paper, that association grew even more frequent. You see, during much of the past 18 years Marianna High was blessed with a trio of outstanding athletes by the names of Jake, Jeff and Jill Mathis. They are the children of Ed’s daughter Bunnee and son-in-law Danny Mathis. You won’t find a finer family around and for my money, Jeff or "Pup" as we called him, is the best all around athlete to ever wear the purple and gold of the Bulldogs.
Ed absolutely loved to follow his grandkids teams and he supported those programs with his attendance, hard work and finances. While a Farm Bureau agent he was one of our regular sponsors for Bulldog athletics on the radio.
The news of his passing took me by complete surprise for just two days before he passed away I had seen Ed. Both of us happened to stop in at McCoys to purchase a bag of oysters (we agreed that no winter holiday would be complete without oysters). There happened to be a long line of other folks with the same idea, so Ed and I chatted for 15-20 minutes while we waited. There were the usual inquiries about each other’s families. I commented how proud us Marianna folks felt every time we turned on the television and watched Pup play for the Los Angeles Angels.
As our chat drew near to a close Ed made a comment that now seems almost prophetic. He said "You know Clint, all our kids and grandkids have turned out really great. I’m so fortunate and I have truly been blessed with a wonderful life." We loaded up our oysters and wished each other a happy thanksgiving. Two days later Ed was gone.
Many folks have a lifetime of heartaches and headaches. Simply Put, we’d all be so fortunate to live a full life like Ed Revell and conclude that life by being able to say that we have truly been blessed with a wonderful life.

From the front porch: Uncle Bob said you have to wonder about folks who think God is dead and Elvis is alive.