This is the season where you can start out the day with ice on your windshield and by noon you’re driving around with your windows open. You don’t know whether to put on shorts or jeans when you get up. I believe the Indians had a descriptive phrase for this time of year. If I’m not mistaken they called it the Moon of the Cold and Flu Season. I think I saw that on TV.
Fortunately, this type of weather won’t last long. Unfortunately, it will be replaced by even worse weather. One day it will get cold and stay there. That occurs during what the Indians called the Moon of this Really Sucks. That’s followed by the Moon of this Really Sucks More, followed by the Moon of Time to Take a Long Florida Vacation.
I mentioned in a prior post that shortly after I got here I was told that the county was run by good old boys who liked things just the way they are and did not take kindly to criticism or new ideas, particularly from newcomers. I’ve also told you about some of my contacts with local officials and about letters to the editor and opinion pieces I’ve authored concerning governmental issues.
More recently I’ve started writing a biweekly guest column for one of the local weekly papers. I’ve had four columns published so far. Three of them dealt with local government affairs. Those of you who live in a metropolitan area and read the newspaper would consider these columns as nothing more than mild commentary on the doings of local officials. I know that I put up with much more pointed criticism as a city attorney in Pinellas County, Florida. Being criticized is just part of the territory when you’re associated with local government. No big deal.
But recently I’ve been told that the game is played differently around here. After the first two columns I wrote were published, I was warned by people friendly to me and familiar with this area that I should exercise more caution in what I say because bad things may start happening to me like harassing traffic stops by the cops and even unexplained house fires.
A warning like that is enough to get your attention, and it certainly got mine. I’ve had a few days to think about it and, frankly, I’m not sure how to take it. I find it hard to believe that in this day and age local politicians or their supporters would use such crude tactics to stifle fair criticism. Things like that may have happened in the past, but anyone resorting to such tactics nowadays could be looking at a criminal or civil rights investigation by statewide agencies or even federal agencies.
By the same token, I have no doubt there are some good old boys in these mountains who still look at the world with 1950 spectacles. Remember that this area was settled by Scotch-Irish and Germans who were a proud, clannish and fiercely independent people. They had a history of clinging to their traditions and resenting outsiders telling them what to do. Many of their descendants have the same independent mindset. Thus, it is not out of the question that a couple of locals could take umbrage at my columns and resort to self-help remedies to me straight.
If there is even a smidgen of truth to these warnings then I have a dilemma—do I keep writing these columns or not?
I won’t lie to you. I enjoy having a public forum for my opinions and observations, and I like the idea of being a backwoods George Will. Furthermore, I don’t mind doing my small part to help make Fannin County a better place. By the same token, common sense and caution tell me that it’s not worth it to be a two-bit crusader for truth, justice and the American way of life in this small, out of the way part of Georgia if it means I’m going to be hassled. Life’s too short and, frankly, this county is not worth it.
On the other hand, I really don’t like the idea of being told what to say, and I’m having fun doing what I’m doing. Maybe I’m being naive, but I really doubt that dire things will happen to me if I keep poking sticks at the local political establishment. I may not be voted Fannin County Man of the Year, but that wasn’t going to happen anyway. So for the time being I intend to keep on doing what I’m doing. Hell, I may even write a column about being warned that bad things may happen.
And that’s all I got to say about that.
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