Letters to the Editor

Weekend events here compare to the best of best

Editor:

This community had two events this past weekend that brought attention to our area. Botsford Church sponsored a service by the Squire Parsons Trio that was an inspiration to all fortunate enough to have been in attendance.

Squire Parsons is an internationally known performer of gospel music, whom performs on occasion with the Gaither Homecoming Programming.

He recently returned from a musical tour of the Holy Land. We were fortunate to have had him and his performers in our community.

Secondly but not least, the Boss Hog Cook-off and Festival was an overwhelming success. This barbeque cook-off portion of the event was sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society, the largest organization of championship competitive barbeque in the world.

The festival and musical portions were equally impressive. The events organizers: Nan Palmer Lynch, Elizabeth Billips and Amy Lane Lively should be recognized for their hard work and enthusiasm.

The event was sponsored by the Downtown Organization of Retailers, (D.O.O.R.) They had lots of support from our community - James Eastmead and the Mr. Golf Carts group for allowing use of his facility and carts, The True Citizen, First National Bank, the City of Waynesboro, Rusty and the Rowell Electric crew, and numerous other organizations and individuals.

I have been involved in the sport of championship barbeque for the past several years. I have attended and participated in numerous events from Lakeland, Fla. to Memphis, Tenn. The event held here this past weekend compares and has the potential to even surpass some of those.

Tim Lively

Kansas City Barbeque

Society Master Certified Barbeque

Judge/Table Captain

'Find out all the facts'

For starters, I know that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and some tend to give their opinion before they know the facts. I am referring to the comment in last week's Over The Fence, about the "STACKED EBA TEAM" at the recreation department.

Did you even try to find out exactly how the teams are selected? Every coach is given a list with all of the players' names, ages and phone numbers. No where is it listed about their race or where they attend school. Every coach has the same opportunity to choose which child plays on their team.

If all of the players were from another school, would you feel the same way? Would you feel the same way if the team was losing?

Hopefully, one day EBA will offer a baseball program for our children, just like they did in football.

I thank God everyday for EBA and I would like to thank Rolene, Cory, and the rest of the staff at the recreation department. They work countless hours to provide our children somewhere to go and have a great time and play ball.

If you feel like they are doing such a bad job - go to another county and let your child play ball. I am not in a rock throwing contest with whoever sent this comment, I am simply asking for you to find out all of the facts.

It is just a game, and winning and losing gracefully are apart of the game. Attitudes start with the parent and end up with the child - did you not pay attention to the video that we all had to watch in the parent class?

Mindi Mallard Alumni and Proud Parent

of EBA

Boss Hog - resounding Success!

Editor:

We would like to take a moment to thank the Downtown Organization of Retailers (DOOR) for the fantastic event they put together this past weekend. For those of you who did not attend, the third annual Boss Hog Cook-off was a resounding success.

Great organization and planning make for a great event, and Nan, Amy, Elizabeth and countless other volunteers did a terrific job. The venue was perfect, the contestants friendly and knowledgeable and the BBQ delicious.

Though we didn't win this year, we learned a lot, and we were next to the grand champions so maybe they learned a little from us. For anyone who wants good fellowship and great BBQ, don't miss next year's event. Oh yes, Nan where do we sign up?

Yours in BBQ,

The 'Boro Boys BBQ Team

(Mike Bickley, Walter Degenhardt, Rex Gerlinger,

Billy Joe Johnson, Chris Mann and James Morris)

'Truly impressed with entire event'

Editor:

It is rare that I write anyone about anything but I feel it is absolutely necessary to write your paper and express our gratitude to the organizers, Kansas City Barbeque Society, cooking teams, citizens of Waynesboro, Mr. James Eastmead of Mr. Golf Carts and especially the sponsors who made this year's Boss Hog Cook-Off a resounding success. We were truly impressed with the entire event from our arrival to our departure.

To the citizens of Waynesboro, let me say it was heartwarming to have so many people not associated with the event come by our site simply to say "welcome to Waynesboro and we hope you return." This happened no less than nine times and it's truly impressive that a community can show the southern hospitality people always hear about.

We attend many of these events around the country and have never seen such a display of community pride. If you missed this year's event, make sure you attend next year. You will not be sorry. Ten dollars to sample as many as 60 chicken wings of endless varieties is the bargain of the year.

Sponsors make events like this a big success and in every event we have been in, the intended charity, organization or community always benefits. I hope future sponsors take this opportunity to review their benevolence and choose to support future cook-offs. Barbecue competitions are becoming an excellent marketing tool because of the interest generated by television networks; therefore, many national and local sponsors are seeing the long term benefits of using teams and competitions to market their brands. The pride and benefits of supporting your own community is certainly rewarding. Thank you again for your financial support.

Many thanks go to Elizabeth Billips, Nan Lynch and Amy Lively who expertly wrestled this alligator of a cook-off and made it operate very smoothly.

Having organized large events in the past, I well understand the effort and team work it takes to make this type of event a success. I heard not one complaint from any of the teams participating in this event which is highly unusual. They performed magnificently!

I suppose it will be many years again before I write such a letter but again, thank you. It was our pleasure to be a part of your event!

Roger Wise

Pickin' Porkers Competition Barbecue Team

Clemmons, N.C.

Center for New Beginnings says 'thanks'

Editor:

Thank you to all of the people who supported the Center for New Beginnings through the Bubba Gas Grill raffle. Our winner drawn at the Boss Hog event was Jimmy Miller of Waynesboro. We called it a huge success and hope that we were able to reach more people about services that the Center provides.

If you know a child who might have special needs, please call the center at 706-437-0505 and speak with Sarah Ashe, founder and director.

The article about the Mann children in Sunday's Augusta Chronicle gave an excellent example of how difficult it can be for parents to put the problem pieces together and find help through therapy, support and education. We are so very fortunate to have this center available here in Waynesboro!

Thank you again to all who supported the grill raffle fundraiser.

Elizabeth Collins Board member and raffle

chairman

Former Mayor Stone calls council to task

Editor:

Our elected officials, Dick Byne, Bill Tinley, Willie Roy Williams and George DeLoach have rejected the plan of a local property owner (New Birth Baptist Church) to bring in $7.5 million of outside investment to the Waynesboro Historic District - an investment that would require no local government funding.

They have blocked the only feasible plan proposed in over ten years to renovate and put to use the now dilapidated old Waynesboro High School, an empty building which has become a magnet for crime.

They have proposed no plan of their own. They have decided that Waynesboro does not need more affordable housing for seniors.

They have chosen not to follow the unanimous recommendation of the Zoning Appeals Board to rezone the property for multi-family housing when that is the only feasible use of the property.

They have given in to uninformed or misinformed fear and prejudice - without making any attempt to educate themselves as to the realistic uses that other communities have found for similar buildings and without making any attempt to learn how similar developments have revitalized older neighborhoods in other Georgia cities. They have failed and refused for the last three years to attend meetings around the state of the Georgia Institute for Community Housing despite the great effort made to enable them to do so. They have placed personal convenience ahead of public service by not even taking a day out of their schedules to see for themselves what one other city has done with its historic school. As taxpayers and voters, we expect and deserve better representation and leadership.

There may still be a little time left for these members of our council to bring themselves up to speed and not cause Waynesboro to lose this significant investment. It is their duty at least to visit another city and to sit down and discuss reasonable conditions and possible modifications with the developer and the property owner - and to do so quickly.

Time is running out to qualify this project for the historic preservation and other tax credits necessary for this development to be approved at the state level. If this opportunity slips through our hands, we will have sent a signal that Waynesboro is not a good place in which to do business, and that Waynesboro is not serious about attracting the amount of investment needed to rehabilitate historic buildings and tackle housing problems. If our Council does nothing, the responsibility for the disastrous consequences of allowing a derelict 25,000 square foot landmark to drag property values down in our oldest neighborhood will fall squarely on their shoulders.

The question is: will Byne, Tinley, Williams and DeLoach take the time to travel outside of Waynesboro and to learn?

Jesse Stone Waynesboro