Betty’s Week
By Betty Shearer
Last Tuesday it looked as if we were going to have a repeat of the previous week’s rough weather. Was sure glad it didn’t happen. Today (Tuesday) morning is beautiful, so maybe we’ve broken the weekly pattern.
Talked to Jim early Friday night and it seems their weather pattern is also out of the norm. The sunny southwest had snow flurries predicted for later that night. Our predicted lows for the past week and a half have not dipped to the degrees predicted and that’s fine with me. I don’t like the high 70’s at this time of year, but neither do I want it down in the low 20s or even teens. Today’s great, sunny with an eight o’clock temp in the high 30s and a predicted high in the mid 50s.
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Our attendance at prayer meeting Wednesday night was still way down. It seems that the flu bug is still hanging on. However, if a handful gathers at Woodland Hills, we have a good time and a very meaningful worship service.
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Attended another very exciting worship service at noon on Thursday. It was the first of First United Methodist’s Lenten Luncheon Programs. It began with a wonderful lunch of duck and sausage gumbo, prepared by the pastor, Bro. Barry Dickerson. He says he’s almost as good a cook as he is a preacher. If this is true, I can’t wait to hear a sermon—seriously I’ve never heard a sermon by Bro. Barry and I hope the opportunity presents itself soon. I’m in the Methodist Church often, but it’s always for special services. Tell everyone I’m as comfortable there as in Woodland Hills and I should be. Ed grew up there and his family were members until their deaths. Ed liked Camp Ground and I was half Baptist and half Methodist (member of Crowder Baptist, but my father was Methodist and we attended the Methodist Church on third and fifth Sundays all of my school years). Camp Ground needed a music leader, so Ed found a place of service and we a church home. FUM at that time had a great music minister and have had though the years. Ed usually sang in their cantatas and the even let me participate a few times.
Back to Thursday: Bro. Raymond Aven brought the message, using John 3:16 as his text, and I think it’s the best sermon I’ve every heard from this verse. I’m not the only one with this opinion (we’ll give Raymond the big head) everyone I’ve discussed this program with has expressed the same opinion. Special music was presented by Barron Caulfield, and accompanied by Sara Nell Champion. The song was a perfect selection and these two musicians are superb. It was a fabulous service and I’m looking forward to this coming Thursday.
After the service Lucia Holloway took me back to see the art work of Libby Kutcha. Libby is painting a Noah’s Ark Scene in the children’s department. I simply can not do this work justice with words—you’ll just have to go see it. Isn’t it great to have an art museum on Main Street Water Valley. There are numerous animals, Noah’s there, as is the dove, the rainbow, and all the other aspects of this event in Biblical history. I could have stood for days just looking at the expressions on the animals faces and their configurations. Thanks for sharing this with me.
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Lucia invited me to attend Thacker Mountain Radio Thursday night and I was so sorry that I had a conflict. These programs are great.
There have been several other events in Oxford on the Ole Miss Campus during the past week and I’ve not been able to get to any of them. We are so fortunate to have cultural programs of this caliper presented in our area.
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Katherine Drake of Jackson, an agent with New York Life Ins. Co., has been in our office a couple of times over the past week. She was a Tribble from Coffeeville. A colleague was with her each time and she just loves the WV Area. After telling her all the wonderful things available in the Valley, I shared cultural, sport, and other opportunities available at Ole Miss and in Oxford. She says she just might want to open an office in our area.
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Now I’m going to a serious subject. This is simply my idea and it may be completely unfeasible, if it is someone with knowlege set me straight.
I’ve watched for years as we’d struggled through debates, caucuses, conventions, etc. in presidential election years. Yesterday Martha Brown brought in an announcement of the upcoming Precinct Caucuses in Yalobusha County. Delegates selected in these will then go to the County Caucus. From there the selected delegates will go to the state, and there delegates to the national convention will be elected.
In my opinion this is an outdated system. I know much more about any person in the running for president than I do even the county precinct people. This system was put into place before we had telephones, radios, televisions and all the other mass communication we have today. Also candidates were limited in travel, so most voters never saw or heard them speak. Not so today, we know everything that happens, almost immediately.
So my suggested method for electing a president and VP are to have August Primaries, with Democrats, Republicans and Independents running in their respective races. Then take the winner from each of these to the general election in November. If there is need have a run-off three weeks later. Top popular vote getter wins and that’s it. No caucuses, no conventions, just each person running on their own.
I know lots of folks want like this—the news media, the lobbyists, the delegates, etc. It would cut lots of party politics, many opportunities for bargaining and underhanded plotting, lots of parties and wasted money, even the big parties—the conventions— and the list goes on and on.
I know right now who I want to vote for president and under the present system I may never get the opportunity to cast a vote for this person—not even in a first primary.
This is not right. We’re being told by party politics whom a few people think is the best each party has to offer for the top office in our nation. For many elections now I’ve not been convinced that the selected teams would have won the election with an open popular vote.
This is the way I see it—if I’m wrong let me know.
