[tpc] - Death of the Thin White Duke: a Piece from Contributing Writer J. Ellis Millsaps

The Piedmont Chronicles

~ est. 2010 ~

Death of the Thin White Duke 

A piece from contributing writer J. Ellis Millsaps 

Special to the Chronicles 

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Last week I walked down the main Porterdale drag to Baby Cakes for a pastry & coffee breakfast. 

I pass by Porterdale Baptist where the sign tells me Dickie Johnson is the pastor.

I'm a Baptist - well, more of a Zen Baptist if we're drawing fine distinctions - but this rubs me the wrong way. 

There's no way I'm taking spiritual guidance from someone who calls himself "Dickie." Just not going to happen, or maybe it will right after I employ Dr. Phil as my life coach. 

Then I pass the basketball court with the nine-foot goal where kids, some of whom are grown, are always playing ball. I've probably walked by them a hundred times the past few months and I swear to you I've never seen a single shot go through the hoop. It's like Rozencrantz and Guilderstern are dead. 

Okay, I'm wandering around in this piece ambling my way towards a confession. 

For the last three years or so I've been dormant. Stopped reading, stopped writing, playing or listening to music. I probably played a thousand hands of solitaire. But I have a good excuse. I was drunk (ed. note: it's more like 4 yrs, but yes, drunk). 

I'm not sure why this happened. I'm still pondering it, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with many of my creative collaborators growing up and moving away (see my piece, The Last Days of Wiffleball).

But just as mysteriously the juice came back. I'm pretty sure it's not entirely coincidental that it coincided with the death of David Bowie. Many of my Rock and Roll heroes have died from overdoses, but that's an occupational hazard. Bowie, however, died of natural causes with dignity and while on a creative roll.

And David Bowie was my contemporary. Well, he's five years older, but I see that I need to get my ass in gear.

Five years, that might be all I've got. I don't know what my next incarnation will be be but I sense it will be badass.

So what you gonna do, Da? Camptown Ladies sing this song... 

*******

Ellis is an attorney by trade but has worn many hats over the years: father, bus boy, stand-up comedian, novelist, wiffle ball player, rock'n'roll band manager, and at one time wrote a popular and funny column for The Covington News. A Fannin Co. mountain boy originally, Mr. Millsaps now stays at the mill village of Porterdale by way of 20 years in Mansfield. Usually funny and at times irreverent and subversive, he leans left in his political philosophy but can always be counted on for a pretty darn good write-up. The Chronicles are proud to have him involved... 

[tpc] - A write-up from Fred Wheeler in re the Newton Co. GOP & the upcoming delegate cycle

The Chronicles
31 January '16

Special to the Chronicles

A Write-up from Fred Wheeler of the Patriot's Table political group 

*ed. note: I've known Mr. Fred for over 15 years now and have been fighting the good fight with him on the political front for the last four years. We were the original anti-estab forces in Newton back in the 2012 POTUS delegate precinct reset and have been members of a mutual admiration society ever since. Mr. Fred has been doing organized politics since the 60's and knows more about Real Politik in one finger than most folks know in their entire body. The Chronicles are proud to have gotten his specific, express permission to run this piece, and we hope to have more of his stuff down the road. As always, we appreciate your reading us. 'Til next time. Thx & Bye! 

**************************

Hi,

   From time to time this election season we have heard various people warn against a "brokered" convention. This fear mostly has been voiced by Trump supporters, but hardly anybody wants to see the party plutocrats thwart the people's choice for president.

   Next month on Saturday (2/20) you will have a chance to ensure that -at least in Newton County--the people's choice will prevail. On that date the Georgia GOP will begin a state-wide series of caucuses and conventions to elect 76 total delegates and a like number of alternates to attend the national convention in Cleveland

   Georgia apportions its delegates thusly: three per congressional district (42) with the balance (34) being elected at the state convention. In order for a candidate to win all three of the congressional district's delegates he must win at least a majority (50+%) of that district's popular vote. If he wins only by a plurality the votes are proportioned in a manner that would make your eyes glaze over.

   But, the delegates which the candidate wins are supposed to support that candidate for at least two ballots. Candidly, if there is a brokered convention it won't come on the first two ballots--it will be the result of a deadlocked convention after ten or twenty ballots. So, it is incumbent upon the candidate's supporters not only to vote for him at the polls but to find loyal delegates who will continue to support him till the cows come home.

   This is where you come in. At the precinct mass meetings next month delegates will be selected to the county convention in March. At the county convention delegates will be selected to the Fourth and Tenth Congressional district conventions and to the state convention. It's at these district conventions that the three-per district will be selected.

   So, the first step is to attend the precinct caucus and elect like-minded folks to be delegates to the subsequent county convention. Now, Newton's situation is unique in the state because we have an intra-party civil war that has gone on for about five years.

   In essence, a small group of elites have held on to power by a series of "illegal" rule changes and a pattern of arbitrarily kicking people out of the party. In the process they have shrunk the party to the point of irrelevance. The party has not helped to select candidates, has not taken any issue positions, or helped nominees campaign in the general election. In the meantime, the chairman appointed himself to every board in sight including the election and library boards.

   Some while ago the chairman resigned because he got caught doing something he should not have done. His replacement resigned recently and the remnants  of the executive committee elected an interim chairman. Now, the small group who refuses to give up power has declared a "king's X do-over". Well, it's too late. The new executive committee under the interim chairman has begun performing the duties of the party.

  So, if you want to attend a precinct caucus on Saturday, February 20, you will have two choices. You can attend the mass meeting at 10:00AM (registration begins at 9:00AM) at 7188 Turner Lake Circle with the rest of us. Or, you can try to figure out among the half-dozen places the other crowd has picked out where your precinct is supposed to meet at 6:00PM.

   You see, the elites don't really want you to show up. They and their cohorts at the state level want to name their own to be delegates. If the voice of the people is thwarted, so be it.

[tpc] - The Sunday Edition: 17 January '16

The Piedmont Chronicles

~ est. 2010 ~

The Sunday Edition; 17 December 2016

In this edition: 

 ~ Local & State 

 ~ Politickin'
 ~ Music, Art & Culture

 ~ Georgia on my Mind
 ~ Miscellany & What-not 

 ~ Word on the Street (Tonto Network) 

Greetings, you beautiful, sweet, smart & savvy, and lovely readers. Welcome to the first Sunday Edition of 2016. We're so glad you've joined us, and we've got many tasty morsels for your reading pleasure this fine Georgia morn.' 

- Local & State - 

We're now into the middle of the month of January, so you know what that means, right? The power elite, whores (political & sexual), the lobbyists, and the rest of the assorted cast of characters have descended upon the ATL and the Gold Dome like the swarm of locusts they surely are. Egad! Or, perhaps, EMMERGERD!!! Lord help us, and Jesus take the wheel indeed. There just ain't no tellin' how stupid and full-on retard that crowd may go in any given year. All we can do is what we can do. Keep the light on those roaches, rats, and sociopaths, throw up a prayer to the big guy, and maybe even to the Holy Spirit and Mary & Mary for good measure, and just hope that they won't actually go ahead and just burn and destroy the greatest state in the Union for at least one more year.

::fingers crossed::


- Politickin' -

Where to start? That's a good question. How 'bout Chairman of the Board, Newton Co.: 

  - Per a few sources, Levie Maddox has now bounced back to studyin' up on running for Chair. After all, he made the motion to shit-can Wm. Th. Craig, Esq.! He got dibs on dat! Well...the thing of it is, is this: hell, he could probably win the GOP nod. Because, this is, after all, Newton Co. we're talking about. Lawd, lawd! 

  - On the other side, Phil Johnson looks like a lock to be the only Dem running. You see, the Donkeys do it differently now. They keep their powder dry, and keep a tight grip. ON EVERYTHING! And that certain Madam Chair has let it be known that only Mr. Johnson will be qualifying with their organization. Hey, slate-of-8, you don't like that? Think it's "unconstitutional" or whatever. Hey, it's a free country. Get them petition forms from the BOEl, and get to petitionin'! An outsider that no one knows about who just moved here? Good luck with that. In the spirit of full disclosure, my potential Free & Independent run for Chairman is on ice but is ready to be mobilized contingent on what we see in March. 

  - BOC 5. Tonto sez Moore is now up to a 62/38 split on odds of winning vs. wisher-washer. He keeps building up an alliance in which, I don't care how much money Jimmy B. & them raise, it ain't gonna matter!

  - BOC 1 - word on the street is that that Super Trooper is going to run and will be utilizing a certain young buck that's been impressing everybody as his primary consultant. Sounds kinda good. I believe we'll see at least 3 qualify for this one, including the incumbent Panderer. Why, Lord, why? Because it's John Douglas, and because this is Newton Co. 

Chris, Jon & Scott 

- Music, Art & Culture -

  - One of my favorite C-town groups - Chris, Jon & Scott - played a show at Amici Covington Friday night. Man, these guys a great! Tearin' up some Stevie Wonder and then rockin' Everlong by the Foo Fighters in the same set. Well done, Gentleman. Well done! 

  - The Irish Pub that will be opening in March on the east side of the Covington Square will not only be the premier music venue in C-town, it will be one of the best in the entire state. As someone recently said, it's gonna make Smith's Olde Bar look like Sassy C's. As an aside, I'm going to be the primary booking agent for this venue - Irish Bred. More to follow, keep an eye out. 

  - Last Sunday edition I mentioned probably my 3 favorite C-town artists: Elise Hammond, Cindy Murphy & Carol Veliotis. This edition, I'd like to mention possibly my all-time favorite artist, Jori Gray Grozier. She's just so talented and amazing. Also, she has great musical tastes. Jori gave me Joni, and an appreciation of a dirty martini, and love, truth, justice and wisdom when we spent some time together in what seems like a different lifetime ago. I love you Miss Marjorie, and I always will!


- Georgia on my Mind -  

Got to get out and about some last weekend. Me and the Missus eased on down to Milledgeville, GA and had a capital evening out on the town. Had some killer food and got to see a set of an amazing group - The BitterRoots - and just truly had a fine time.

The next morning we loaded up and took that drive down to one of my favorite cities in Georgia, Sandersville. I'd been wanting to see their museum at the historic jailhouse that they did which is exactly what we're working on here in the home county. Lovely, isn't it? 

The Museum at the Historic
Jail. Sandersville, GA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then we took that beautiful drive up to another of my favorite towns in the GA Piedmont, Sparta, Georgia. Man...I don't know what it is about Sparta and Hancock Co., I just know I love it down there. We'd been getting reports that Her Majesty, the beautiful and glorious 2nd empire-design Courthouse that tragically burned back in 2013, was really coming along with the rebuild. It made my heart smile to see it. It really did...

Her Majesty! The Hancock Co.
Courthouse. Sparta, GA

- Miscellany & What-not - 

  - Am currently in negotiations with Amici Covington for the TPC Top-40 Dance Party. I've got a line on a DJ, and it's just going to be awesome! Probably March, maybe April. Keep an eye out, k? 

  - Am about to officialize pretty much all of my side endeavors, going concerns, projects, etc. into a sole proprietorship with a business license. I'm thinking:

M.B. McCart 

Odds & Ends 

Miscellany & What-Not 

Whatchya think? I'd like to go w/ C-town, but am studying up on some cheap space in Porterdale since I think they charge less. Competition in government - now that' what I'm talkin' 'bout! It gets me hot, bothered & so excited! Oh my gosh...oh, yeah....AWWWW YEAHHH!!!! 

- Word on the Street (Tonto Network) - 

So many of us got the memo. We get the picture. But only as much as we possibly can. There's just so many moving parts. It's...something else. I think what I posted on my FB earlier in the week sums it up best:

Again, because I think it bears repeating:

"Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow"

- T.S. Eliot

Also, this one:

"There's two sides to every story, then there's the truth."

And a final one:

"If I claim to be a wise man, then it surely means I do not know."

Regarding Newton Co., I've done my research and have been studying up; I got my theories, hunches, and gut feelings, but then it seems like something will happen, on an almost daily basis these days, where I'll have to reexamine and adjust. It's all so dynamic and quite interesting.

This much I truly believe to be true - there's been some hijinks & shenanigans; some bad decisions made by a fair number of folks; but more than anything, I truly believe it is the usual suspects: greed, thirst for power, ignorance & a bit of the Fear.

I think it's going to be something else the next couple of weeks to couple of months.

Until next time, gang.

Yours Very Truly,

M.B. McCart 
Editor 

[TPC] - Late Monday Night Check-in: Talkin' Landfill, John Douglas & a Convo w/ the Chairman

The Chronicles
4 January 2016

(North Covington, GA)

As we understand it, tomorrow night is when the Newton Co. Board of Commissioners is supposed to be taking up the recomendations of the Solid Waste Citizens' Committee. I pretty much liked everything they had to say, but I did offer up these changes and additions in the form of a memo I posted on my FB:

I pretty much agree with everything that the Citizens' Committee recommended but with the following changes & addenda:

* For the short-term, rather than go from 11 to 5 centers, I think 7 would be the magic number.

* I still have reservations about a Solid Waste Authority. We've seen what the Hospital, Airport, and Industrial Development Authorities have done to this county. As a rule, I'd try to avoid any state-sanctioned authority whenever possible.

Other than that, I like what the Committee had to say.

A few other things:

- We've got to get rid of Junior in my estimation. Simply. Have. To.

- If we do go to 7 centers, or 5, or whatever, let's send that trash from the centers directly either to Lamar Co. or to Pratt Industries. That'd be less trash in our landfill and less trucks going by Spring Hill, and if we ship it and take care of transportation costs, it could at least be close to a net-zero-sum game.

I always think about when my wife's Uncle, Jerry Prosser, ran the landfill. It wasn't a money-maker back then by any stretch, but we were at least close to breaking even. At a minimum, that's what we need to be doing now. There is no damn excuse for losing $2 million per annum. It's just, excuse my french, bullshit.

The big question is the why - why have we been doing this for so long?

Pretty good, eh? Maybe so...and if anything is factually incorrect or just otherwise wrong, I'll just remember my Reagan and say, "I'm more of big picture kind of guy." Sure. Why not?

So, Junior Hilliard. A problem, no? And we overpaid him by $50K this last time around? That true? Jeez...

So apparently Lanier Sims and Nancy Schultz were ready to shit-can his ass but, according to our sources, John Douglas sent the above email to Harry Owens. And by the way, Owens resigned the next day, allegedly, as we understand it. Many are wondering if it was legal for Mr. "Pandering" John Douglas to do this. We studied up on it, and in our humble estimation, we don't think he was supposed to do it. Of course, in the email, JD says he's speaking on behalf of Levie & JC, but one has to start hearing the lyrics to a certain Elvis Costello tune. I mean, their name ain't on that email. To wit:





My, what sordid webs and all that. Why would he send that email? And really folks, isn't it time for him to just move on already? Gosh...

- A Conversation with the Chairman -

Talked w/ Keith for about a half-hour this morning. Always enjoy talking with him. You can set your watch to it, though - he'll always get after me about something I said about him on FB even though he says he doesn't get on FB anymore. I always just let him get after it. He probably needs that.

But, on to the convo:

As I'd heard from other sources, while we got more rain in this 100 year flood than the 100 year flood we had about six years ago, the response and work done by the county roads department was much better this time around. I don't think it's any joke, y'all - the Newton Co. Roads Dept. is kickin' ass and takin' names. I'm proud of 'em...

And there was a lot more, but it was just a lot of "blah, blah, blah," and I pretty much tuned him out.

-----

Hope all is well out there!

`MBM