July '96
Volume 4
Indianola
Happenings
After getting my
office
furniture moved to my new location, I was immediately burglarized Monday
night. One of the lower life forms employed around here, absconded with my
electric pencil sharpener. To add insult to injury, the person(s) responsible
dumped the shavings over in the corner on several of my Telxon boxes. My
electric adding machine also disappeared over the weekend. If anything else
gets stolen, especially PC equipment and printers, we may have to get a door
and lock installed.
Just when it began to look as though I would be spending most of my time
on the road, a monkey wrench got stuck in the cogs of the wheels of progress.
Effective July 01, MSI machines will no longer be serviced on-site. The Symbol
MSI company decided to drop field service on these machines. Our Home Office
elected to have depot service on these units, provided by Telxon Corp.
This will naturally result in more work for us at the Division. We will have
to send a spare unit to the store if their unit is down and cannot be
reprogrammed over the phone. Most MSI calls that require field service are
related to damaged or broken wands. Having to depot maintain 250+ MSI units
with only 10-12 spares is going to be difficult. Fortunately, we hope to
have the new Telxon terminals in the retailers hands by October.
The new Telxon units will be on Depot Maintenance out of Telxon headquarters
in Minneapolis. This will not be too bad since the store will call Telxon
direct with their problems. Telxon will overnight a replacement to the store.
A few spares will be kept at the division for weekend problems, or situations
where our truck will get to a store before UPS, FedX, or Airborne.
Sarah's
Monogramming
My sister decided that she had waited long enough to buy a monogramming machine.
Bernina, I think is how the name is spelled. Anyway, that is the brand name.
She told me all about it Wednesday night when I called her about a grammar
question (Barbara was in Biloxi all week). It uses a type of computer program
to stitch the monograms and designs. She is thinking up all sorts of uses,
even things to make and sell. She said she could easily pay for the unit,
by selling monogrammed, western, denim jackets. One of her Ecru friends paid
$190 for such a jacket. Sarah is a pretty fair seamstress, and this latest
purchase will enable her to enjoy sewing, even more.
Sarah’s husband, Jerry, has hired a contractor to replace the concrete
patio with a new patio, covered and maybe screened. As of Saturday, he was
not sure if he would turn it into a windowed sun room or what. He is planning
on sleeping in the area in the warm
and hotter months of the year.
The now vacant lot adjacent to our Greenville property, may be the death
of me. I spent 3 afternoons last week trying to clear the new crop of black
locust trees that had repopulated the site. After the city cleared off the
burned house and bulldozed the lot last summer, we were left with a pretty
nice looking vacant lot, that we will try to buy from the city in a couple
of years. Meanwhile, it seems to be to my advantage to keep the weeds and
brush from taking it over.
Vacant
Lot
Without the proper tools, yard work can be a lot of work. I needed a tool
that my folks all called a jo-blade. Most people know it as a Kaiser Blade.
It is a wicked looking blade for cutting small brush, high grass and weeds.
It was once used extensively by railroad crews and chain gangs to clear rail
and road right-of- ways. I did not want to buy one so I ‘made do’
with a garden spade. When swung as a Kaiser Blade it can make quick work
of tender shoots and weeds. It is by no means as effective as the Kaiser
Blade, but is can suffice for the small tasks.
The yard work in Greenville took a lot more ‘toil and sweat of the
brow’ that I expected. I also expected some minor aches and pains from
the strenuous work. I did not expect to have a forearm muscle give as much
discomfort as it has since about Friday. I do not have an anatomical chart
of muscles to refer to, but it is the muscle on top of the forearm near the
elbow. Sore is what I now call it. I guess I must have overextended its
coefficient of elasticity or something. While I can swing the blade (shovel)
with either hand, I am better right-handed. As with an ax or sledge hammer,
a right hander keeps the left hand stationary throughout the swing and
followthrough as well as on the backstroke. The net result is a lot of stress
on the left arm. It just takes a while for us ‘older’ guys to learn
not to overdo.
Barbara got back to Greenville from Biloxi around 4:30. We had not planned
to return to Pontotoc until Saturday morning, but since Saturday was going
to be a pretty busy day we decided to drive back late Friday evening. I dug
up another trunkful of Mondo grass to set out in Pontotoc Saturday morning,
packed and we got underway around 7:00. We called Sarah Sue to get her to
bring a dessert down so we could drink coffee and visit a while Friday night.
When we arrived at 10:00, a pound cake was cooking in the oven. Sarah had
brought the Bernina and was anxious to show it off. For the next hour we
mostly listened to Sarah. We tossed out tidbits of information of our own,
now and then, when she paused to catch a breath.
Early Saturday morning I hit the yard and began to set out the Mondo grass
along the driveway. Barbara joined to help. As usual, she could not do anything
to my specifications, so we settled on me digging the holes and planting
the bunches of Mondo that Barbara handed to me. A little one-sided on the
work for me but I did have a helper. Weeding eating that I postponed from
the prior week was next. I needed to spray the driveway seams with Round-Up,
but I after about a dozen pumps on the sprayer plunger and the plunger stopped
pressurizing the tank. We decided to pick up what we needed at Wal Mart and
go to Sarah’s to see how the work on the covered patio was progressing.
Prior to the construction crew breaking up and removing the old patio, Sarah
had dug up all the flowers that bordered her patio. Naturally she insisted
on sending a few more varieties of day lilies back with us. Naturally, Barbara
could not dig the holes in the back yard to plant the flowers. She managed
to find a tree root on her first attempt and thought the ground was to hard.
So I interrupted my Round-Up’n and dug the holes.
It was now 4:00 pm and much remained to be done. Bathing, getting dressed
for big wedding at FBC, shopping for a late supper, cooking a late supper,
all must be done by 8:30.
Kemp Wedding
After getting the groceries at Sunflower, and refrigerating the cold stuff,
we headed for the Church at 6:15. Lucky for us we decided to get there a
little early. The main parking lot on the North side was about 3/4 filled.
More than half of the downstairs seating in the sanctuary was filled. Folks
were coming early for the Kemp - Alpe wedding.
The building was bursting with greenery and candles. As we were ushered to
a seat in the middle section and began to sit down I looked to the far end
of the pew in front of me and saw George Pearson with his wife. George and
wife were close to the Kemps when the Kemps were in West Point. A few minutes
later I saw John Caskey and wife find seating in the section to my right.
Kim Kemp, maid of honor and younger sister of the bride, Kristy, sang a song
of commitment prior to the seating of the mothers. She also sang "The Gift
Of Love" , prior to coming down as the maid of honor. After the seating of
the parents and grandparents, the officiating minister, best man, and groom
took their positions on the podium and awaited the march of the groomsmen
and bridesmaids. The attendants numbered 10 for the bride and 10 for the
groom. Additionally included in the wedding party, were a ring bearer, flower
girl, and junior bridesmaid. By now the front of the Church was about filled
by the wedding party. I noticed the balcony seating had filled to capacity
and several folks were standing. Our sanctuary seats a little more than five
hundred and Saturday night it was better than full.
Dr. Julian Fagan now of Amory, performed the ceremony. Julian pastored our
church for a few years when I was still an active deacon. Julian has since
returned to the legal profession after a scandal in FBC, Minden, LA ,forced
him to resign. I understand that he is also pastoring a church in Amory.
It is unfortunate that Baptist Churches for the most part are not very forgiving
of leaders felled by sexual scandals. It is almost an unpardonable sin for
many. Julian did a superb job with the ceremony. He elicited a warm bit of
laughter from the audience when in explaining that though the marriage required
a new relationship with parents, the parents would always be there for them,
there would always be groceries for them.
We did not attend the wedding reception. It was held at the Wyliss Kemp
residence. Wyliss lives just one hill over from me, but it is a pretty exclusive
neighborhood. I do not believe any of the houses in his neighborhood would
market for less than $200,000. His home is part of a group of houses surrounding
an open field that is about 2 acres. James, my younger brother, and a friend
his erected a big tent and strung electric wire for electric fans and for
the musicians. The Cracker Jacks band from Shelby was scheduled to play until
midnight. I do not know how much food was prepared for the guest, but the
wine was abundant. I heard 40 cases of wine were ordered for the celebration.
Since not all Baptist are abstainers of alcoholic beverages, there probably
were not many cases leftover. Come to think of it, there were a few extra
folks missing from Church Sunday morning.
Back at the Carter residence, after the evening meal was consumed, I went
outside to water the newly set Mondo grass. From across the hill just to
the northwest of my house came the musical sounds of the Cracker Jacks. Looking
at my watch, it was just past 9:30. I wondered if the neighbors of Wyliss
Kemp would have trouble getting to sleep, or if they were all partying.
FBC Pastor
Sunday morning worship at FBC was pretty stressful. Our music minister led
a worship chorus in which we were encouraged to perform hand and arm movements
rhythmically as we sang the words to a chorus that was new to me. Since we
do not have any deaf members, and we do not have a ministry to the deaf,
I did not feel led to participate. Singing and hand motions are too close
to the actions of Charismatics for me to be comfortable.
Stress factor #2 came when in a time of special prayer for a couple of our
members, the pastor called for 5 men and 5 women to come to the
‘altar’ to join with him in prayer. I do not care for ‘altar
calls’ in Baptist Churches. Baptist and other separatist denominations,
sought to rid themselves of the vestiges of Roman Catholicism by purposefully
building Church Sanctuaries without prayer rails or altars. Call me old
fashioned, if you please, but I decided many years ago that I could do without
such activity in our Church.
Stress factors 3-10 came during various parts of the pastor’s sermon.
I knew that Dr. Sims had been too quiet on the school prayer decision, since
the judge’s ruling. I did not expect him to unleash his fury as part
of a message on the sins of America geared for the celebration of Independence
Day. It was unexpected on my part, but I should have seen it coming. I have
not yet decided if I did the right thing by sitting through it all, rather
than walking out in the middle of the service. The preacher had
‘dozen’ stuck in his mind as he continually stated "about a dozen
of you do not like hearing this" concerning school prayer, support of the
boycott of Disney because of the status rendered homosexuals, and numerous
other societal sins that place us in a national category with Sodom and Gomorrah
The final stress factors came at the close of the service when all the members
were invited to come to the altar and pray for America. It was slanted more
towards a show of support for Dr. Sims views than a true call for prayer.
Leaving the building after the service, a friend spoke to me and asked how
I was doing. I remarked that I was one of the ‘dirty’ dozen the
preacher was talking about. (actually the preacher did not use the word dirty,
I felt it appropriate for the occasion). His reply was "me too!"
Were it not for good friends at FBC, I would probably be attending elsewhere,
come next Sunday. For now, I will stay. As one of Sarah Sue’s friends
once said to a staff member regarding a disagreement, "I was here when you
came, and I will still be here when you leave." That pretty much sums up
my own feelings.
Religious Freedom Upheld Not
Curtailed
The following is my most recent statement of Religious Freedom. I sent a
copy of this to Greenville’s Delta Democrat Times.
To the Editor:
I am writing regarding the Guest Column that appeared on Wednesday June 26,
by Haven Gow of Eudora, AR. I found his statements interesting, but I disagree
with the headline stating that religious freedom has been
curtailed in Pontotoc County. (excerpted from the cover letter)
Religious Freedom Upheld
Contrary to popular belief, the 1962 Supreme Court ruling on School Prayer
did not remove prayer from our nation’s public schools. Neither did
the recent decision against the North Pontotoc Attendance Center remove prayer
from the County School. Both decisions did affirm that the authorities of
public schools may not propagate an administratively initiated endorsement
or sponsorship of religious activities in a public school.
As a citizen of the United States, my freedom of speech, freedom of expression,
freedom of worship, freedom to select a religion of my choosing are protected
by the U.S. Constitution, or Constitutional amendments, or by subsequent
court decisions. However, it must be noted that my freedom, in the strictest
sense, is limited. My freedoms and rights end where another’s freedoms
and rights begin. The rights of a minority, regardless of how few their numbers
may be, must never be trampled by tyranny of the majority. Herein lies the
strength of our nation, and herein lies the intent of the framers of the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We are a multi-cultural, multi-racial,
multi-religious, multi-socio-economic country. Mutual respect for the rights
and privileges of our fellow man are prerequisite to our being one nation.
The leadership of the North Pontotoc Attendance Center chose the path of
least resistance, the path of political expediency, and acquiesced to the
principle of majority rule at the expense of the rights of a small minority.
North Pontotoc leaders were in violation of the law, providing a platform
for a specific religion, namely Christianity, by allowing the school intercom
system to be used daily by students giving devotional messages and verbalizing
prayers. When confronted by a minority, and reminded of their flagrant civil
disobedience, North Pontotoc leaders elected to continue to be in violation
of the law. Their decision required adjudication to rectify their wrongdoing.
It should be duly noted that Pontotoc County Schools are now legally permitted
to have a period of corporate devotion and prayer. That permission is limited,
limited to a time prior to the official start of school classes each day.
Is that satisfactory to the majority? Probably not, but it does not tread
on the rights of the minority, rather the religious freedom of the minority
is upheld.
It is ironic the Christian community of Pontotoc County could not walk its
talk. New Testament writers admonished the followers of Christ to be good
citizens, to obey the laws of the land, and to respect authority. Jesus,
who challenged followers to be as salt and as light, demonstrated the principle
of separation of Church and State, in his declaration concerning the payment
of taxes to Rome. Did he not say, "Render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s."
The Christian community of Pontotoc County has failed to demonstrate a spirit
of love and compassion for the minority, toleration of religious differences,
and respect for the law regarding School Prayer. In time, healing will come,
hard feelings will be forgotten, and a paragraph of America’s history
may one day note that justice prevailed in Herdahl vs. North Pontotoc Attendance
Center. (written June 27, 1996)
Ridge Ryder Distribution:
Sarah Brown
Lillie Paseur
Jim Hess
Gordon Sansing
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