(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column of those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Augusta Press.)
With so many important things to talk about, let’s try to hit some significant topics and start this Master’s Week off right.
The city is ready and is in great shape for our biggest week of the year. Remember this is the first time in two years that Augusta is back to her full capacity. You have to admit, with the traffic and all that comes with it, it’s still good to be back rolling with so many visitors in our city.
Recs and Parks or Parks and Rec
Last week, I had an opportunity to speak with the new director, Maurice McDowell. I checked in with him to gauge how things are going and to find out how he has navigated through the challenges of building maintenance, reopening facilities, and special events.
Director McDowell quickly reminded me of how fast time flies when things are operating as they should. He was excited to report that citizens are enjoying our parks and facilities. It seems like only yesterday when many news outlets, articles, and columns were saturated with comments: leaks at facilities, the aquatic facility and closures due to much needed repairs.
If this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade and festival at the Common is any indication of the eagerness for normalcy, then expect our facilities to experience a lot of use.
McDowell shared that one difficulty he’s facing is the age of some of the facilities and the challenges presented from a maintenance standpoint. He reiterated that there aren’t sufficient resources to manage and maintain our parks and facilities at the level all citizens desire and deserve.
Which made me think of—and you may even recall – a recent workshop around the possibility of divesting some of the facilities.
He and his staff assured me that they appreciate the work they are tasked to perform and are working tirelessly with the resources they have. They are also thankful for the approval of SPLOST 8, which will aid in addressing some of the much-needed capital improvements to those facilities. The challenge comes from having continued operations and maintenance funds to secure any gains from use of those dollars.
Director McDowell, in my eyes and in the eyes of many, is a visionary. His vision is literally to change the landscape of Parks and Recreation. McDowell’s vision is to have well-maintained parks and facilities and to have programs and activities that invigorates the community. This vision is at the forefront for him and his staff.
McDowell made it clear that the biggest lesson he has learned is “to have patience and perseverance, as you try to change a culture, don’t dwell on negative criticism and remember to stand on faith.” I’m looking forward to more great things to come from this department.
Alvin Mason is Running – Running
I was able to get a copy of a mailer that was sent out by Commissioner Mason to many voters in his district. It was actually forwarded to me by someone that was reaching even further to help him secure votes. I mean, I’m not in the district, but the copy of the letter that was sent to me was accompanied by a note stating “Let’s keep this going. Keep Mason in place and keep South Augusta growing.”
This person seems to be fully behind Mason and from the look of things – his base seems to be growing. That race should be interesting. Betty Reese nearly knocked off Sammie Sias in the last race. However, this will be much different, Sammie was already a very despised public servant by many, and talks about his possible upcoming troubles were circulating.
Mayor and Mayor’s Race
I’m only bringing this up because someone talked about to me personally this past week. Noooo, not that!! We will cover that in a minute….
As I was attending a fundraising reception this past week, someone came over to talk about my column. I won’t disclose who gave me this tip or alleged information about one of the candidates. We will just say the person is a long-standing businessman, an all-around great person, and he definitely believes in good government.
The information was in reference to Robert Ingham who is running for mayor now and has run many times for many different things over the years.
He said to me that Mr. Ingham (don’t confuse him with Henry Ingram) is allegedly going around town telling people that he was going to sell his home in order to have enough money to qualify and then run his campaign. I really hope this is not true and that he really thought about what he was doing. Because if any of this is true – I really feel sorry for the guy. However, consider this – if he was to win – this would be the first time that I know of, where a city would have a homeless mayor.
See maybe this is the time to consider Lori Myles – she said that the city should build the mayor a mansion.
Encouragement for people going through
There were things that tipped the scale as disappointing this past week. That made even the coldest hearts take a step back and hope the news wasn’t true. No need to get into the nuts and bolts of those things. Just know, as I would hear my grandfather say and I am paraphrasing a bit from a sermon.
“All pits aren’t permanent, and all falls aren’t fatal.”
Even in the course of events we must understand that if you believe in God—regardless of the rough times—He is always there with us.
I told a story in my sermon this Sunday about being calm in the midst of maybe not knowing where you are.
One evening Miso (our youngest son) and I were returning home from riding in the little car – I have an old convertible Miata.
I decided to turn down a side road that was not traveled as much in the evening in hopes of avoiding traffic. As we rounded each bend, I noticed he was very quiet. I thought maybe he was a little fearful, after all it was starting to get dark, and we were in area he didn’t know much about.
About halfway down one of the roads, I asked him was he afraid.
He said, “No.”
I asked, “Do you know where we are?”
He said, “No.”
Pushing him to see if he was nervous, I asked one more question.
“You are usually afraid when you don’t know where you are. Why not now?”
He said, “Well, as long as you know where we are, I don’t have to be afraid.”
He spoke volumes about how we should trust our God.
Even in times of uncertainty, we should always trust our Creator.
I hope that story touched someone and at least made them smile a bit.
Man, I didn’t get a chance to cover the audit vote and my conversation with John Clarke. I will say this – he seems to have definitely moved some support his way after his comments for why he decided to pivot in a different direction.
Governor Kemp will be in town this week for the Masters. I’m hearing he may even go ahead and let us know his pick to replace Judge Booker. I’m excited for… Here I go getting ahead of myself again.
Hey Chief, we are about two weeks out from opening night!! Go GreenJackets.
Michael Meyers is a columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at Michael.meyers@theaugustapress.com
