The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett

Well, the holidays are over, and "normal" is again the mode of operation at the news office. I like a normal routine, however. Too many holidays, and I can't keep up with which day of the week it is or which edition of the newspaper I am working on.

As I get older, I am finding that the filing cabinets of my brain are getting fuller and, sometimes, overflowing. This means that I tend to lose, forget or "misfile" things. It can be quite frustrating. It also makes me want to just blurt out whatever I am thinking before I forget it. I can't tell you how many times I have said, "This is changing the subject, but…" The "but" is that if I don't tell you now, I may not remember later!

I am also finding that although the filing cabinets of my mind may be fuller, accessing that information is a little harder. It reminds me of looking for a file on my computer. I know it's there - somewhere - but it just takes a little time to locate it.

I have always heard that wisdom comes with age. Why didn't someone tell me about all the other stuff that comes with age as well?

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Every time I think I have heard it all and nothing can surprise me, I am proven wrong. We can now add "pecan thievery" to the list of criminal activities in Jenkins County.

A city resident recently related to me how all the pecans in his yard were "stolen" before he could pick them up. I happened to be in his office last week when someone stopped in and told him that they had observed a person picking up the remaining pecans in his yard the night before.

I found it stunning that someone would be so brave as to enter a resident's yard in full view of a highway while the resident is home and pick up pecans from a tree right at the front door - at night!

There are some very bold and "nutty" thieves out there!

I wonder if "pecan theft" is covered by homeowners insurance? Hmm. I bet that is something no insurance agent has had a claim on - yet.

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Happy birthday this week to: Rodney Garvin, Dustin Brown, Earl Jones, Al Jackson, Jack Kent, James Carlton Cowart, Maybelle Wiggins, Sheryl Dudley, Tammy Cranshaw, Ken Delay, Justin Chance, Drew Dudley, Charles James Davis and Charlotte Becton.

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Celebrating wedding anniversaries this week are: Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Shackelford and Mr. and Mrs. Glynn Bassett.

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Military Active Duty List: Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric B. Kelsey, U.S. Navy, NSA Bahrain; PV2 Ashley Clifton, U.S. Army, Yongsan, Korea; Airman First Class Charles F. Woods, Moody Air Force Base, Valdosta, GA; Capt. Andrew P. Thomas, U.S. Marines, 2nd Marines, F.A.S.T. Company, Yorktown, VA; Stuart Burrus, U.S. Air Force, Ali Al Salem AFB, Kuwait; SPC 4 Travis D. Motes, 1st Calvary Division, Camp Taji, Iraq; Capt. Donald Slade Burke, Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, Calif.; Staff Sgt. Gilbert C. Sheppard III, 48th Brigade, 118th Field Artillery, Iraq; Petty Officer 3rd Class Jamie A. Yager, U.S. Navy, Marine Corps Base Hawaii; Petty Chief Officer Andy D. Crosby, U.S. Navy, Elroy Destroyer, Norfolk, Va.; Stephanie Crosby, R.N., U.S. Navy, Lafayette Destroyer; LCPL Dwain "Cade" Lee, 1st Marine Division Combat Service Support Group II Security Element, ArRamadi, Iraq; Jimmy Cooper, U.S. Army National Guard, 878th Engineering Battalion-Augusta, Persian Gulf ; 1st Lt. J.R. Taylor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Iraq; SPC. Daniel Stuart, 18th MEDCOM, 121 General Hospital, Seoul, Korea; Jeffrey Sweat, U.S. Navy, USS Kauffman, MM3 59/E-Division, AGang, Norfolk, Va.; Cpl. Larry Lamont Clark, U.S. Marine Corp, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Bagdad, Iraq; Khan Young, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, Persian Gulf; Robert Milton Jr., E-3, U.S. Army, Ft. Stewart, Hinesville, Ga., Mission Kuwait; Arnold R. Mosley, 2nd Lt., U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas; and Debra A. Mosley, Tech. Sgt., U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas.