Silently, Tink closed his laptop. He had been showing me a couple of videos.

Dear Samuel Knox Wansley, Welcome! You are my seventh great-grandchild and the fourth male in my growing family tree. However, I suspect that is of little importance to you at this point. I have the notion that having arrived only a couple of weeks ago, you are more interested in sleep and sustenance than in your ranking. Besides, as you will soon learn, all seven of you are ranked Number One.

Dear Editor, Changes are ahead with our events this year. One very unexpected and unwanted change occurred a month ago when we lost a treasured team member, Miss Barbara Anne Adams.

“So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.” (Neh 6:15) God commissioned Nehemiah to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem that had been torn down nearly 70 years before. The city had been left desolate and unprotected, and God now wanted a wall rebuilt for protection and security. Nehemiah and the people rebuilt the wall, even though their neighboring enemies tried to prevent the work. God’s enemies hate His walls.

As of this writing, the opportunity has passed to express your opinion to Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division about its decision to issue draft permits for Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals to stripmine the 582 acres of wetlands it owns adjacent to the Okefenokee Swamp.

This story comes on good authority which assures us that this good story is true. One day, Tink and I were visiting his father, former television Executive, Grant Tinker, when the conversation turned to Merv Adelson, a legend of 1970s’ iconic television shows.

Dear Editor, Ex-Governor Nathan Deal resolved in April 2011, that the third week of April would be Garden Week in Georgia, which acknowledges the importance of gardening and the numerous contributions of gardeners in Georgia. One of Georgia’s greatest resources is its beautiful landscapes and gardens.

Let’s face it. We’re a blessed people. Not only do we have the oldest state-chartered university in the nation with two recent National Football Championships, 27 Rhodes Scholars (but who’s counting?), and the greatest state song in the history of the world – Georgia on my Mind, as sung by Ray Charles Robinson – but we are also home to the sweet Vidalia onion. Our cup runneth over.

Count me in as one who still enjoys holding a good, local newspaper and absorbing almost every word. From the front page to the obituaries to the sports to the legals.

My boss and mentor at Southern Bell, Jasper Dorsey, taught me a lot about the business world. He also taught me a lot about the world beyond business. One of his precepts was that we have an obligation to leave this a better world than we found it. Otherwise, we have just taken up time and space and wasted a life.