The holidays are over, and the new year stretches out before us like an untraveled road. All the footprints of 2009 have faded away and been filed in the pages of history. We can only look back at them and contemplate what transpired and, perhaps, what we might have done differently. Hopefully, the regrets are few.

We are now staring at the blank pages of 2010. We do not know what might be written upon them, only that the pages will soon be filled with the joys, troubles, achievements and failures of our lives and those of others.

Two things, however, are certainties. We cannot retrieve loss time. It is forever gone, so we need to make good use of it now. And we cannot change the past. We must forever live with the consequences of our choices, so we need to try and get it right the first time.

A new year is a new beginning and a new opportunity. I hope none of us waste it!

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Please come by the office and pick up your Magic of Christmas photos as soon as possible. We have no use for them after the newspaper is printed.

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I have been asked to provide the mailing address for the Public Service Commission so that those concerned about the rate increase being sought by Georgia Power may write and express their feelings.

The address is: Georgia Public Service Commission, 244 Washington St., SW, Atlanta, GA 30334-9052. The email address is gapsc@psc.state.ga.us.

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Happy birthday this week to: Beverly Joiner, Sheryl Dudley, Tammy Cranshaw, Ken Delay, Justin Chance, Drew Dudley, Matt Turner, Ray Garvin, Jeremy Dailey, Dudley Boynton, Tracy Edenfield, Sandra Sherrod, Valerie Sharkey and Brien Linder.

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

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Military Active Duty List: PV2 Jeremy Johnson, U.S. Army, 59th Quartermaster Company, Ft. Carson, Colorado; Ronnie Perryman, Charlie Troop, 108th Calvary Division, 4th Platoon, Afghanistan; Lance Cpl. Adam Lanier, U.S. Marines, 8th & I Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.; E-4 Sr. Airman Roy Davis, U.S. Air Force, RAF Molesworth, United Kingdom; Lance Cpl. Patrick Barnette, U.S. Marines, Baharia, Iraq; Sgt. Adam Demshar, 44th Signal Battalion, Baghdad, Iraq; Cpl. Lee Ogden, U.S. Marines, Camp Pendleton, CA; E5 Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric B. Kelsey, U.S. Navy, NSA Naples, Italy; Senior Airman Charles F. Woods, Moody Air Force Base, Valdosta, GA; Stuart Burrus, U.S. Air Force, Osan AFB, Korea; SPC 4 Travis D. Motes, 1st Calvary Division, T. Hood, Texas; Capt. Donald Slade Burke, 735th Air Mobility Squadron Detachment 1 Commander, Richmond Royal Australian AFB, Richmond, Australia; 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; 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, A-Gang, 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; and SPC Charles “C.J.” Amerson, U.S. Army, Camp Adder, Iraq.