Opinion

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Opinion Column: High rent opens the door to 56 years of friendship

Dink NeSmith
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Wearing a starched white uniform and toting bedpans in 1967, I learned from the nuns of St. Mary's Hospital how to make $1 million. All I had to do was work 1 million hours. By the time I was a senior at UGA, I discovered how to cut that requirement in half. My new job paid double — $2 per hour.
Watson Mill State Park is one of Oglethorpe County’s signature historic landmarks. If you talked to the people splashing in the water below the bridge, they’d probably say, “This is what you call summertime ‘quality of life.’ ” (DINK NESMITH/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO)

Watson Mill State Park is one of Oglethorpe County’s signature historic landmarks. If you talked to the people splashing in the water below the bridge, they’d probably say, “This is what you call summertime ‘quality of life.’ ” (DINK NESMITH/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO)

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Opinion Column: Here’s a list of my favorite ‘things’

Dink NeSmith
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Under a protective cap of possum-blond hair sits a mental jukebox. Sometimes it plays songs. Other times, there’s just background music and a voice, scrolling down a list of things that make me smile.    A while back, I was smiling — watching martins do aerobatics around the tower of gourds.

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Editorial: The Echo’s Opinion

News Staff
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Thumbs up and down   These are busy times. The end of the school year always jams the calendar with activities. But as students, faculty, administrators and staff scatter for the summer, we want to pay tribute to them for another successful year.
My Augusta friends, Abram and Cookie Serotta, sent me three red and black bow ties. The UGA grads loved Amos and Andy, too. This photo was taken in my office. Above my head is a Jack Davis print that Bulldog great Lindsay Scott autographed, along with his 1980 national championship teammates.

My Augusta friends, Abram and Cookie Serotta, sent me three red and black bow ties. The UGA grads loved Amos and Andy, too. This photo was taken in my office. Above my head is a Jack Davis print that Bulldog great Lindsay Scott autographed, along with his 1980 national championship teammates.

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Opinion Column: The ‘Boys’ are back together

Dink NeSmith
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
In human years, Andy was 105.   The silver-haired schnauzer was 22 pounds of energy and joy.   For 15 years, Andy knew he was special. Spoiled, perhaps, but special.    Andy came in a package with his charcoal-gray brother, Amos.    I went to buy a single pup, but came home with two.

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Editorial: The Echo’s Opinion

News Staff
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Thumbs up, all around   It’s springtime in Oglethorpe County. Flowers are blooming. Grass is growing, thanks to all the rain. And there’s laughter in the air. Check out Bryan Park and see the action. Listen to and feel the excitement at Oglethorpe County High School.

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Opinion Column: The secrets behind lasting relationships

Dink NeSmith
Thursday, May 4, 2023
The hardest ship to keep afloat is a “partnership.”   If marriage isn’t a partnership, I don’t know what is.   Surely my parents quarreled during their 52 years of marriage, but I never witnessed anything close to raised voices.

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Born with only two speeds is a blessing and a curse

Dink NeSmith
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Over my almost 75 years, positive reactions to negative rejections have been a cornerstone of my life. That’s why I’ve decided to update my 2009 version of “Thank you for telling me NO!” The book should be available by late summer.   There is one very important “no” exception.
Jan Anderson Davis accepted the award for her late father, Chuck Anderson. Sonny Seiler, owner of Uga XI (Boom), attended. Keynote speaker Billy Payne sat by Orlean Castronis, 99, widow of coach Mike Castronis.

Jan Anderson Davis accepted the award for her late father, Chuck Anderson. Sonny Seiler, owner of Uga XI (Boom), attended. Keynote speaker Billy Payne sat by Orlean Castronis, 99, widow of coach Mike Castronis.

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There’s something special about those Wally’s Boys

Dink NeSmith
Thursday, April 20, 2023
G-Day kickoff for the 2023 Georgia Bulldogs was not until 4 on Saturday afternoon. But before 8 that morning, a special group of Dawgs started filling Athens Country Club’s banquet hall.   They are celebrated as “Wally’s Boys,” Bulldogs who strapped on helmets for coach Wally Butts.