Opinion

Saturday night about 8:30 I was walking down the hall of Hamilton, Ala., High School.

It was the conclusion to a special evening. I attended the 42nd annual Alumni Banquet held on the Bevill State Community College in Hamilton.

We are home from the hospital! I realize that “Pop” is the one who had heart surgery, but I truly believe I’m tireder than he is!

All he had to do was lie in the bed and get his ribs cracked open and have his heart laid out on a table (well, maybe not actually on a table, but they do take it out) while the excellent, excellent cardiovascular surgeon repaired all the arteries and veins he could find.

When the surgeon, Dr. Gwin Robbins of Sutherland Clinic in Germantown, Tenn., came back to the ICU waiting room to talk to me and Jane, he made a comment about Pop’s old arteries, stents and bypasses -- saying they looked like they had been Krazy Glued together

Nobody could get more writing on a penny postcard than my Auntie Fran. She would fill the regular message area, then she would write around the margins of the card, intruding into the area reserved for the address. Then she would turn the card over and write on the picture side, usually comments on what she and Uncle Bill had seen — they traveled the world in their 70+ years of marriage. You simply cannot perform such feats with emails, texts, and tweets.

Letters To The Editor

Calling City Hall:
(Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent to Andre’ DeBerry, mayor of Holly Springs, and also sent to The South Reporter for publication.)

Dear Mayor DeBerry,

I have recently tried to contact City Hall for information concerning the second primary for the city-wide election. I was connected to an automated answering service instructing me to dial in the first letters of the party I was trying to reach.

Since I am not familiar with anyone’s name who works at the City Hall, I was, therefore, denied access to anyone.

Not wanting to bother the mayor with my questions, but since your name was the only name that I was familiar with, I called again and logged in your initials, but, to no avail. If this means of communication through your office is an attempt to be the latest “up-to-date system” then may I suggest that it lacks a satisfactory means by which the public is able to contact City Hall, and, it is not effective.

A more informative means of contact should be made to the public needing to talk with someone at our City Hall.

With kind and personal regards, I am
Sincerely,
Fred M. Belk, Jr.

Duke Wright Greer house in Potts Camp

Preserve historic house:
Dear Editor,

People I know and I, who care about history and architecture, are very disappointed to hear that the owners, the First Baptist Church, of the 110-year-old Duke Wright Greer house plan to demolish it following their members-only auction of its mantels and other features June 13.

The five-bedroom, two-and-one-half bathroom gracious house at Mulberry and Church Street in Potts Camp was built by Aquilla and Cordelia Morgan Greer, founders of the incorporated town and owners of a general store, Potts Camp State Bank, other banking interests and land in Mississippi and Arkansas.

After they closed the bank, Wright had an insurance office in the building on Front Street for many years where he advised anyone who asked about finances, insurance. He lived alone in and maintained the house for many years until shortly before his death in 1999.

The responsible action for a house of such significant history and quality is to preserve it until it can be sold to someone who will restore and use it. Even with water damage in its fascia it could be restored, but at a high price, even higher if features are removed.

If it were sold with half of the large property (appraised for $103,000) the church would have the proceeds and a large lot; but with the house gone, it will have only a lot worth much less.

I’m sorry the huge restoration/preservation movement in this country missed this impressive place.

“Preservation,” the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, advertises antique houses in the USA to “500,000 serious buyers.” (www.preservationonline.org).

Without the Greer house, the appearance of Potts Camp will be sadly diminished.

Frances Fitts
Dallas, Texas


Thursday, June 18, 2009
Community \| Obits \| Editorial & Columnists \| Society \| Sports \| Education \| Classified Ads \| Calendar of Events \| Features \| Newsbriefs \| Legals \| Archives \| Subscriptions \| Photo Gallery