Counting Down To July Fourth
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DAVE’S WORLD
By David Howell
Jim Shearer stopped by the Herald office last Monday accompanied by his wife, Celeste, and it sure was good to see them.
Jim has been gone a long time, but many longtime readers probably remember hearing updates about him for years through the writings of his mother, Betty Shearer.
Betty was the face of the Herald for over six decades and wrote a weekly front-page column for many years, sharing news about shopping, eating out, local happenings and family life. There are still people who mention her column to me on a regular basis.
Jim and Celeste recently moved from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Pittsburgh and seem to be enjoying the transition. Jim is still teaching remotely for now and plans to retire soon after a long career at New Mexico State University. I guess the Covid era made remote teaching a fairly normal arrangement.
During the visit, Jim taught me a new acronym that probably says more about modern communication than anything else we discussed.
TLDR.
Apparently it stands for “Too Long Didn’t Read.”
Jim said it comes up fairly often in interaction with students, and honestly, I probably needed to hear it myself. Social media and phones have shortened everybody’s attention span. I’m not sure newspapers escaped that reality either. My TCE lawsuit story this week probably failed the TLDR test pretty badly.
One of the main things I wanted to ask Jim about was the city time capsule scheduled to be opened July 4, just over a month away. Jim was among about 30 people attending the ceremony when the capsule was buried at city hall in July of 1977.
The old Herald photograph shows Jim standing alongside Joe Cox, Ken Hart, Mayor Watson Hunt, Dee Ann Cox and Bicentennial Observance Chairman Richard Flowers during the burial ceremony. The capsule contains items connected to Water Valley’s Bicentennial celebration in 1976 and is scheduled to be opened July Fourth as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary observance.
From the old picture, it appears fairly evident the capsule is buried just off the front entrance near Blackmur Drive. Jim also believes that is the correct location from memory.
James McCormick has also taken an interest in the capsule opening and asked me to mention that he would appreciate hearing from anyone who remembers details about the project or may have been involved when the capsule was buried in 1977. He would love to hear from anyone who was at the 1977 ceremony, especially if they are interested in attending the opening on July 4.
McCormick is especially interested in a second time capsule that was also buried in 1977. This is the 100-year capsule, located at Oak Hill Cemetery, which is not supposed to be opened until 2076.
Newspaper accounts from the time detailed some of the items placed inside both capsules, including letters, photographs, newspapers and other pieces of everyday life in Water Valley during the Bicentennial era. McCormick said preserving those details now is important because, with each passing year, fewer people remain who remember the original ceremonies, the organizers involved and exactly where everything was placed.
That is part of what makes the upcoming opening so interesting. By the time the second capsule is opened in 2076, everyone connected to the original Bicentennial celebration will be gone.
