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Send a letter to the editor to P.O. Box 1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534; fax (706) 265-3276; or email to editor@dawsonnews.com.
DawsonOpinion
WEDNESDAY, August 29, 2018
This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and
others. Signed columns and cartoons are the
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views.
On Friday nights,
don’t forget the
marching band
OK, the lazy days of summer are gone
and school is back in session. Even before
classes began, many of our high school kids
were already busy practicing in the searing
Georgia sun getting themselves in shape,
working on their moves, practicing their
formations, getting their uniforms issued
and ready for Friday Night Lights across
the state. Football? Nope. Marching bands.
Some will take issue with this, but I gen
erally know what I am talking about when I
opine on any and all subjects. Not marching
bands. I can’t
play a musical
instrument
(unless you
count the ukule
le, on which I
do a mean ren
dition of “Sweet
Betsy from
Pike.”) Add
walking five steps forward, two steps side
ways and three steps back while playing the
theme from “Star Wars” on a trombone and
I could wreak havoc worse than a hard-
charging linebacker.
My admiration for bands, for those who
play in them, lead them and the parents that
support them is deep-rooted. It all goes
back a number of years ago when I met the
grandson of a good friend at church. He
was in his high school marching band and
headed to the University of Georgia.
When I asked him his plans while there,
he said he was hoping to become a part of
UGA’s Redcoat Band. I will admit to a bit
of bias, but the Redcoat Band is one of the
best in the nation. What a great experience
for him to be able to perform with 400
other band members before 90,000-plus
fans at Sanford Stadium. He dropped his
head and said, “I wish you would tell our
football team that. They think we are a
bunch of nerds.” Really?
I went home and checked on the record
of his school’s football team. They were 0-4
at the time. I wrote a column and suggested
the football team might want to spend more
time learning how to block and tackle and
less time casting aspersions on their band.
It was obvious that the band was a lot better
than the football team.
It seems I had touched a nerve. The col
umn went viral. I heard from band direc
tors, band parents and band members from
across the country. A few years later, I was
making a speech at a high school in
Georgia and found the column framed and
hanging in the band room.
I also heard from a lot of prominent peo
ple around the state who had played in their
high school bands and treasured every min
ute of it.
The column got me a number of invita
tions to watch bands practice and this only
increased my appreciation of the difficulty
and complexity that go into marching band
routines and the long hours they put in.
My grandson ran cross-country in high
school. He said he and the other runners
would take off on a long training ran as the
football team and the band were beginning
practice. They would return as the football
team was winding up and heading for the
showers. The band would still be practic
ing. The players and runners would shower,
gather their belongings and head for home.
The band? Still practicing.
Happily, I heard from a number of foot
ball coaches who expressed gratitude for
the role their high school band plays in
bringing excitement and enthusiasm to the
games on Friday nights. One coach told of
a mix-up that had prevented the school
band from performing at halftime. After the
game, he had his players stay and watch as
the band went through their routine. A
classy thing to do.
Back to the young man who was headed
to the University of Georgia with the inten
tion of being a part of the Redcoat Band.
He did just that and the next time I saw
him, I hardly recognized the shy youngster
I had met that day at church. The change in
him was striking. Brimming with confi
dence, he credited his experiences in the
band with helping him grow and develop as
a person. He is now an attorney in the
Atlanta area.
High school football rightfully gets a lot
of attention on these pages and it should.
Playing football takes a lot of hard work
and dedication and is a great way to bring
the community together.
But let’s not forget the kids in the march
ing band. They work hard, too, and ofttimes
don’t get the credit they deserve. May they
continue to make beautiful music, now and
forevermore.
DICKYARBROUGH
Columnist
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dickyar-
brough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA
31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb.
"You know, Labor Day is a lot more fun when you have a job!"
LETTERTOTHE EDITOR
An open letter to our
former Chief Spooks
I read in the papers that the
President has revoked Mr. Brennan’s
security clearances. I have also read
that you, Misters Webster, Gates,
Tenet, Goss, Hayden, Panetta,
Petraeus, Clapper, McLaughlin,
Kappes, Morell, Haines, and Cohen
have your feelings hurt. You assert that
this revocation is as an attempt to
overturn rights protected by the First
Amendment.
We, normal walking around citi
zens, who have paid handsomely for
your service in government and con
tinue to pay your fine retirement bene
fits, are not congenital fools. Your
claim that this is a First Amendment
issue is beyond crazy. How in the
world could we give you such great
authority in your former offices when
you now demonstrate such juvenile,
superficial understanding of the con
stitution?
In the interest of security, no one
should continue to have clearance to
classified documents unless they hold
some active position in government. I
do not give a fig for past convention in
this matter. You have no need to know.
You are out of office. You have no
inherited title.You are a plain citizen
now and your status is equal to the
rest of us.
I would like to point out that on just
about all the major intelligence issues
of the last 75 years, our spooks, you
guys on this list and others, have
missed every major important intelli
gence call. Pearl Harbor, the Battle of
the Bulge, the Chinese invasion into
North Korea, the final triumph of the
Viet Cong, the collapse of the Soviet
Union, Weapons of Mass Destruction,
and who can forget the 9/11 needless
slaughter of our innocent citizens.
You and your organizations had
your heads where the sun did not
shine and as a result some young ser
vice person or citizen of this country
had to die because of your mistakes.
We paid you and trusted you to see
these things and provide timely and
accurate information. God knows you
have spent buckets of money and the
American people have not gotten their
money’s worth from you.
Go away. I for one will not listen to
you. You have had you chance and
you blew it. Quit crying. Man up.
Gary Pichon
Marble Hill
CLASSIC FAIRy TALES
Letter policy
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include full address and a daytime and evening phone number for verification. Names and hometowns of letter
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plaints. Unsigned or incorrectly identified letters will be withheld.
Mail letters to the Dawson County News, RO. Box 1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534, hand deliver to 30 Shoal Creek
Road, fax to (706) 265-3276 or e-mail to editor@dawsonnews.com.
