Our community lost several very accomplished citizens over the last few weeks. All three had some <br />
influence on my life in various ways.<br />
Lloyd Strickland of the Chestnut Mountain community was a giant of a man, generous nearly to a fault with plenty of connections to powerful political figures including governors, congressmen (federal and state(, senators and local officeholders He served on the state highway board and was responsible for our county getting I-985.<br />
I was the first news media representative to meet Eddie Staub who founded Eagle Ranch for homeless children. Eddie came by The Times' office where I met him. He told me he had come on faith that he could build a "ranch" where the abandoned and otherwise homeless children (boys first, girls came later) would live, work, attend public schools, and be taught Christian principles. He was sleeping in the back seat of his car to save what little money he had for food. He figured the newspaper would know what he had to do next.<br />
I told him a large land owner and philanthropist might be a key. First he'd have to know if any property Lloyd might sell or donate was correctly zoned for that purpose. We went out to meet him.<br />
Lloyd was very impressed with his dream and thought it a good thing. However, the zoning would have to be changed to allow such use. Lloyd donated the land and applied for a rezoning.<br />
I covered the public hearing. Opposition rose for such a rezoning. Several spoke saying homeless children often were moochers, thieves, etc. Eddie said he was going to base his training them on Christian principles. Constructing the necessary buildings and hiring counselors would be rather expensive. How was he, with no money, going to finance it? He said he'd raise the money. "Do you actually think people would give that kind of money to a complete stranger with no money?" he was asked.<br />
"Yes", he said. "Faith will get me there." "However good your intentions", the lead spokesman for the opposition (who was a relative newcomer to Hall County) said, "people around here are farmers and don't have that kind of money." "If it had practical chance of being developed it might be supported. It doesn't and we don't want our community spoiled."<br />
Lloyd finally spoke up and said he was impressed, recognized the need and was going to donate the land and help Eddie raise the necessary money starting with a check to Eddie for living expenses so he could quit sleeping in the car. He was calling the football coaches at both the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech to help raise the necessary funds.<br />
In 90 days Eddie had the necessary money and starting building the first structures. Civic clubs and churches donated a lot of money. Today, it has grown into a large complex and is recognized around the country. He was voted the "Man of the Year" once it was up and really going.<br />
Hall County had a very popular 3-term sheriff, Ed England, who'd had no previous law enforcement experience. He learned from experience. Our newsroom receptionist named Judy had a desk just outside my door. She abruptly resigned and said she was going to go into law enforcement and with her savings and some parental support and headed for the state law enforcement training center just before reaching Macon on the Interstate out of Atlanta. There she met a Navy veteran Richard Mecum the divorced chief training officer and in due time they fell in love and married, moving to Gainesville where they joined our Lakewood Baptist Church. He became a Sunday School Teacher in a large class and Judy served as secretary-treasurer. They were tithers-plus.<br />
One day at church he asked me if he could come by my office at The Times and see me. I said sure. He said he'd been told I was a pretty good political analyst not only for local offices but for state and national alike. He asked me what I thought about him running for sheriff in the next years election.<br />
I told him that while he seemed on his record to be the best qualified he just didn't stand a chance. Why, he asked. I told him the incumbent was popular and could count on at least a third or maybe more of the votes. A former state patrolman and GBI agent had announced and had been campaigning nearly a year. Several other newcomers to the county had tried and run ads only to lose badly. People just didn't cotton to newcomers who knew nothing about the community. There was no way he could get in the run-off.<br />
"Trust me," he said. "I won't be in a run-off." "Why in the world do you think that? "I'm a Republican," he said. "That's another reason," I told him. "This is a solid Democratic County and congressional district. There're only 3 of the 159 counties in Georgia that are Republican, Fannin and Gilmer in northeast Georgia and Dade in northwest Georgia."<br />
"I can win," he said, and I want you to be my campaign manager." I told him my position at the<br />
paper prevented that. Though our publisher didn't mind employees getting politically involved, I couldn't<br />
because of my editorial position. I could however, within our guidelines introduce him to key political<br />
people about the county. He could make his case with them. He also had top-notch experience. There<br />
was one big gamble if he wanted to take it. "What's that?" he asked. "Lloyd Strickland down at Chestnut<br />
Mountain. He's backed Ed England all three times. Dick didn't see any harm in seeing him so I<br />
scheduled a meeting and took Dick down. I introduced him to Lloyd who questioned him for nearly an<br />
hour. When the quizzing stopped, he pulled out his checkbook and gave him a check for the maximum<br />
permissible under the law, his biggest contribution to that time.<br />
On the way back, I told him he shouldn't announce until the last day the polls were open. Spend his<br />
time speaking to civic clubs which always were hunting programs and he could talk about how the<br />
training center operated. We mapped a campaign and he got Joe Wyant, husband of Gladys Wyant, a<br />
fellow to actively manage the campaign we'd mapped.<br />
About 2-3rds into the returns (which I covered on Radio Station WDUN) I said an upset might be<br />
brewing in the sheriff's race. A couple of more returns sent in I predicted Dick would win by a shallow margin. He won by about 200 votes and easily won his next two elections. Dick later became a U.S. Marshal for 10 years and today is county commission chairman. He's a born, visionary leader.<br />
Carl Lawson was a longtime friend. In his latter years we'd often meet getting our post office mail. He also had a wicked sense of humor. We pulled off one stunt together. A well-know real estate agent (whose name I'll withhold to prevent embarrassment to his surviving family) had a plague in the center of his office wall just over his head reading "Personalities of the South" with his name and occupation on it.<br />
We both got a mass mailing from the publisher saying they'd heard good things about us and wanted us to become members. We flipped a coin, the loser responding to the ad. I wrote I'd gotten the letter and would like for them to see if I qualified. I wrote that I was a mule and plow farmer and tried to help others with what little I got. They wrote back I certainly qualified and I'd surely want a plaque for my living room wall that cost only about $59 as I recall.<br />
The next year, I got another letter saying I still qualified and surely I'd want to update any information to get it current and get an updated plaque for my wall. We wrote a letter back, saying fine, adding a little more fiction and said we'd like to have my picture to go with it. We'd gone up to a farm near Clermont where Carl boarded a horse. He held the horse turning its head back toward me with tail in the air. I took a picture, developed it and sent the picture of the horse's butt telling them to send a bill I'd pay. We never heard from them again, not even the bill.<br />
George Dobbs started at the University of Georgia on a football scholarship the year before I enrolled. We got to know each other casually, his with football and me with baseball and occasionally had a class with him. I believe business management was one such class. When I moved to Gainesville in 1956 we'd run into each other now and than. We were what I guess would be properly labeled "casual friends." He was a good man, faithful husband with well-raised children. Like Carl's his passing is our community's loss. <br />
