Opinions

By Kay S. Pedrotti

By the time this column is printed, we will be on the way to knowing who our next President will be. It is to be fervently hoped that whichever candidate wins, his behavior will not fit into any of the first set of categories – classifications of my own abundance of skepticism and bizarre humor. [Full story »] 

By Tom Cox

Voters living outside metro Atlanta or larger Georgia school districts might mistakenly believe that the proposed constitutional Amendment 1 on the November ballot has little relevance to the their own children's education. After all, charter schools are virtually non-existent in rural and small-town Georgia, largely because charter operators find it economically impractical to open charter schools in areas without sufficient numbers of "consumers" (that is, students).

In truth, Amendment 1 will have very real and very damaging consequences for public schools throughout the state – especially those in the least populous and least wealthy school districts. By creating a new state government agency that will establish a new system of state-funded charter schools, hundreds of millions of dollars will be re-directed to those state schools and away from local public schools. [Full story »] 

With two regular season games left in the high school season and the college football season two-thirds complete, the outlook has changed for the most followed local teams
How do things shake out now?

Pike County Pirates:
The Pirates, playing in Class AAA for the first season, have been a pleasant surprise. They hung tough with top-ranked Peach County this past Friday and the Trojans needed some help from the officials to escape with a hard-fought, 24-14 win. Pike is 4-4 overall and 2-2 in region play. [Full story »] 

We at A Novel Experience are always surprised at the number of people who claim a first-hand acquaintance with a ghost or two and October is the month that screams for recognition of our fascination with this state of affairs.

We’ve heard that there is a ghost, a gentleman ghost who haunts our Action-Thriller-Horror stacks. As of this writing we cannot claim we know his tastes (except for the irregular instances where our paperbacks fall off the shelves without provocation). [Full story »] 

By Mike Phillips, Pike County Manager

Can you hear that? That’s the sound of travelers who zip by in seconds. Would you like to do something that would be good for Pike County and for your neighbors and friends? You can. Would you like to show Middle Georgia why Pike County is such a good place to live, work and play? You can. Would you like to have some fun while you are doing it? You can.

Last year, the Downtown Development Authority held a Piketoberfest, and displayed “scarecrows” outside of several businesses in Zebulon. It would be great this year if we could make this a county-wide effort and leave the scarecrows up for several weeks so visitors and family could come in and see them, and appreciate the good times and good things that happen in Pike. [Full story »] 

By Greg Parrott

I have ridden in trains, planes, automobiles and ships. On Friday, Sept. 14, I added another mode of transportation to this list. I was fortunate enough to have a friend in Lansing, Mich., who planned a trip on a Goodyear Blimp for him, his son Duffey and myself. [Full story »]