Opinion

Cameras and laser speed detectors were installed in Oglethorpe County’s school zones in the spring and are being used as schools start back this month. (ANDY JOHNSTON/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO)

Cameras and laser speed detectors were installed in Oglethorpe County’s school zones in the spring and are being used as schools start back this month. (ANDY JOHNSTON/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO)

The Echo’s Opinion: School’s in, slow down

Echo Staff
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Swoosh!   Just like that, summer is gone. Where did it go?     Seems like we celebrated the Fourth of July last week, but we didn’t.    Bells have rung at Oglethorpe County schools.    That means our community’s roads and highways are filled with traffic.
For dress-up day at Orange Street Elementary School in 1979, Alan chose to be a newspaper reporter. The choice proved to be prophetic. Today he is chairman of the board of Community Newspapers Inc., headquartered in Athens.

For dress-up day at Orange Street Elementary School in 1979, Alan chose to be a newspaper reporter. The choice proved to be prophetic. Today he is chairman of the board of Community Newspapers Inc., headquartered in Athens.

Opinion Column: Happy 50th birthday, Alan!

Dink NeSmith
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Dear Alan:   Do you remember our bouncing down a dirt road in a tiny Nissan truck, and we were having a father-son conversation?    You were 10, and I asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”   “Ummm, I can tell you what I don’t want to be.”   “OK, what?
(DINK NESMITH/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO)

(DINK NESMITH/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO)

Opinion Column: Uncle Bud almost spit out his false teeth

Dink NeSmith
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Step back into the 1950s, when you were lucky if your rabbit ears could pull in three TV channels.   Rabbit what?    There was a time when rural folks sat on their front porches — after working from “can to can’t” — and entertained themselves without 987 channels.
Stacks of The Oglethorpe Echo sit in plastic bins at the U.S. Postal Service’s distribution center on Olympic Drive in Athens. (DINK NESMITH/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO)

Stacks of The Oglethorpe Echo sit in plastic bins at the U.S. Postal Service’s distribution center on Olympic Drive in Athens. (DINK NESMITH/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO)

The Echo’s Opinion: Reasons for the delivery snafu

News Staff
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Dear readers,   First things first. We are grateful for your loyalty to this community’s 149-year-old newspaper.    Now, why didn’t you get your mailed edition of The Oglethorpe Echo last Thursday? Here’s the answer: The U.S. Postal Service goofed. Big time.
New York Yankee legend Mickey Mantle met Gov. Zell Miller in 1991. The Hall of Famer introduced his new friend at a fundraiser, and The Mick left his notes on the table. Zell snared the script and had it framed, along with a photo of the two. On July 13, he read it to his visitors. The former governor and U.S. senator laughed when he read the last line: “Yog and Zell remind me of each other, not as dumb as they seem.” (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

New York Yankee legend Mickey Mantle met Gov. Zell Miller in 1991. The Hall of Famer introduced his new friend at a fundraiser, and The Mick left his notes on the table. Zell snared the script and had it framed, along with a photo of the two. On July 13, he read it to his visitors. The former governor and U.S. senator laughed when he read the last line: “Yog and Zell remind me of each other, not as dumb as they seem.” (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

Opinion Column: Zell and Shirley Miller were happy to be home

Dink NeSmith
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Marine.    Husband.   Father.   Grandfather.   Great-grandfather.   Teacher.     Editor.   Mayor.     State senator.   Lieutenant governor.   Governor.   U.S. senator.   Lobbyist.    Fox TV contributor.     New York Times best-selling author.
The Cook & Connelly law library has 4,800-plus volumes. When Larry Walker asked Bobby Lee Cook if he had read all of those books, the famous trial lawyer said, “Most of them. But our young lawyers just get their answers from computers.” (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

The Cook & Connelly law library has 4,800-plus volumes. When Larry Walker asked Bobby Lee Cook if he had read all of those books, the famous trial lawyer said, “Most of them. But our young lawyers just get their answers from computers.” (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

Opinion Column: Bobby Lee Cook: One of America’s most feared, revered trial lawyers

Dink NeSmith
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Note: What’s one of the easiest things to do? Procrastinate. What’s one of the hardest things to not do? Don’t procrastinate. In 2013, Larry Walker and I quit procrastinating and launched a Legends Tour. All three legendary friends — Bert Lance, Bobby Lee Cook and Zell Miller — are now gone.
The Oglethorpe Echo

The Oglethorpe Echo

Editorial: The Echo’s Opinion

News Staff
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Thumbs up and down   Sometimes the meeting room is packed. Other times, empty chairs are aplenty during the monthly meeting of Oglethorpe County Commission. The traditional July meeting was moved to July 10 because July 3 was the eve of Independence Day.
In October 2012, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black hosted a lunch in Atlanta. Bert Lance, left, was among the invitees, along with Larry Walker, right, and me. The next year, Larry and I visited the former DOT commissioner and his wife, LaBelle, in Calhoun on our Legends Tour that also included Bobby Lee Cook and Gov. Zell and Shirley Miller. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

In October 2012, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black hosted a lunch in Atlanta. Bert Lance, left, was among the invitees, along with Larry Walker, right, and me. The next year, Larry and I visited the former DOT commissioner and his wife, LaBelle, in Calhoun on our Legends Tour that also included Bobby Lee Cook and Gov. Zell and Shirley Miller. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

Opinion Column: Legends Tour began with Lance in Calhoun

Dink NeSmith
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Note: What’s one of the easiest things to do? Procrastinate. What’s one of the hardest things to not do? Don’t procrastinate. In 2013, Larry Walker and I quit procrastinating and launched a Legends Tour. All three legendary friends — Bert Lance, Bobby Lee Cook and Zell Miller — are now gone.
The Oglethorpe Echo

The Oglethorpe Echo

Editorial: The Echo’s Opinion

Echo Staff
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Thumbs up and down   Hot. Muggy. Even before the first official day of summer (June 21) folks were wondering just how high the temperature will get this year. There’s nothing we can do about the weather, but we can do our part to keep Oglethorpe County a beautiful, friendly and safe place to live.