Southside Atlanta Memories

Fayette County High School Reunions- 2010 Y Nots Peachtree City!

Reunions! What fun! I was fortunate enough to attend the Joe Brown High (West End)  1956 with Aunt Mavis and her very fun friends a few years ago, and I have been able to attend a few of my own.

I missed last Saturday night, but from what I am hearing and seeing, a good time was had by all!

The night of Joe Smallwood's Super Reunion-Pasture Party, I stayed at the ?Hampton? over by the High School and lo and behold, Hapeville 1956 was having their reunion THERE! They were kind enough to let me crash it and one of the gentlemen said when he discovered I was in town for the same reason, "Don't let these fall by the wayside. They will mean more and more to you every year." We were having such a wonderful time at Joe's I couldn't imagine what he could mean. Well, it's only been a couple of years, but I am beginning to see what he meant already. Being in touch with our people means everything.

Some of these pictures were taken in the "flush" times a few years ago. Some of us feel lucky to have a toilet to flush these days. Nothing I had, or have now, is as rich as the feeling I have when I'm with my family, and my friends, and I hate to say it, but there's just something so special about an "old" friend. 

"They didn't care, these people from God-knows-where who seemed to live on the surface of things...she would have liked to  while away the afternoons with M...or F...or Mrs...or- any of her old friends and neighbors. For they knew... Oh, to be with her own kind of people again, those people who had been through the same things, and knew how they hurt- and yet how great a part of you they were!"*

I'll feature a few here from the past reunions I have pictures from. Some of these recent ones are courtesy FC friends and classmates that have shared with me- Karen Gray Davis, Bobby Lynch, Susie Bott-if you have pics you'd like me to post -let me know!  

(l-r) Scott Quamee, Jeannie Weller, Thomas & Janet Stephens

"Don't let these fall be the wayside." Larry Gill, JW < Click on this; you may be able to read some of the name tags! Mike S., Mark M., crew- We need to have an AP History Class of '82 reunion! Coach Walker told me, "Well, you know if it wouldn't have been for you [class], we couldn't have kept the program open for the next year." I THINK that means we're SPECIAL, guys!  ;d 

                                                   

                                                    Pat and Karen Davis at YNots Peachtree City, 2/2010

                      MORE to FOLLOW!

Deana Flanagan, Mary Chamberlin, YNots Peachtree City, 2/2010

* Will identify later for copyright/attribution purposes, but I bet most of you all already know what famous Southsider said that...

Sad loss in Fairburn; fire destroys historic building.

First off, thanks to B.G., got word of this via Facebook, NOT ajc.com, tho it is on WSB, linked here.

This  WAGA (whatever) channel 5 is better, here.

I'm sure my co worker and I had no idea we were mourning this lovely old block in Fairburn this morning as we listened to the tolling bell kicking off the 1980s classic that will ever fix Fairburn in my mind. Where is Karl now, FCHS peeps?

Of course the Cliftons supported the Southside Theatre Guild, and we saw many entertaining productions there through the '70s and '80s. Anne Rivers Siddons sets part of her Downtown there (she's from there-)

Our own Scott Vaughn works with the city government there, and raises a beautiful family and and is actually known as Coach Vaughn to a lot of little runners there (watch out for the Running Rams, Southsiders!)

I'm so sad to see an Oz Pizza go- their food is fantastic- but especially I hate to see any of the businesses facing this; I only want to see great things for all the hardworking folks who have the guts to run a small business right now. Here is a link to a 1921 Sanborn Map of the block; if I find anything else I'll put it up-

Child prostitution, sex trade, Jesus, Saints...one of these things is not like the other..

SO-- blogroll. I was not going to do this; figured I had highlighted enough groups to get any of you started that might be so inclined to support folks involved in the skin trade.

My FC school mate Frank Mercer (now pastor at Rolling Hills Church, Southside) had this great post  featuring the Pocket Jesus. That link led to another, "I wish my wife still looked at porn. "  This linked to Victoria's Friends ,the site for a group that takes gift baskets to women working at clubs. At this point I'm in tears; I find this work really moving. But I was having a time trying to get any contact info to get a little more info on the VF group; totally understand the need for confidentiality; just wanted some bkgrnd. I think I may have succeeded in leaving a message, but still not sure.

So I go back on the social networking utility that sucks in so very much time, and there's Southside Runners with a link to Street GRACE, an Atlanta non denominational alliance with the mission to end sex ex of kids (CSEC) in Atlanta.

There was a project much like this in the early 20th century in Atlanta; very energized by young Atlantans wanting to change the city for the better; many churches were involved, and I can definitely see Linda on fire with the young Peter Marshall Presbyterians taking care of girls "in trouble" (she related some of this to me in rather guarded terms; I was a preteen and I suppose she did not want to shock me...) and getting together with scores of other young saints to plan their next foray. 

I'll try to find the old group- I believe it was affiliated with the 1920s Ivan Allen version of Forward Atlanta, sort of a civic clean up type thing that the Chamber of Commerce crowd wanted to see just enough to draw business, but not enough to draw blood; the church folks thought a little differently.

SO- If you were wanting more info on how to help kids -and adults- who are feeling hopeless today- here are some folks just like you to get together with. If you are at a time in your life when you just can't get out- aching joints, little kiddies biting your ankles, you can pray and/ or send a dollar.

Have a great Southside day!

Atlanta Child Murders, child prostitution in the news again (was there a connection?) Thanks also to some Southside Saints!

Just saw a nice Q&A on ajc.com with Jack Mallard, who has just published his account of the Wayne Williams trial. Wayne Williams was convicted of the main murders, but Mallard, who was the prosecutor who sent Williams to prison, says he considers some of the cases "open."

I went to Amazon.com and checked out as much of the book as I could, which was the isbn page, the table of contents (sigh), and Mr. Mallard's intro. The two customer reviews praise his trial narrative; too bad I didn't get to sample it. I for one am always thrilled to see a participant record his or her memories of an historic event and really look forward to reading the book.

I will say that in reading the ajc "conversation" and the book's introduction I did not learn anything I didn't already know from  Bernard Headley's exhaustive "The Atlanta Child Murders and the Politics of Race"  , published in  1999, eleven years ago, by Southern Illinois University Press. As you know, I've featured this book, which I stumbled upon in the old Panama City downtown library (BCPL) several years ago, on this blog on the right side of the page- feel free to click and order. If you have any interest in Atlanta in the '70s and '80s it is definitely worth your while.

Why were some of the other kids picked up? Did the ACMs teach us anything about our kids? Were some of the kids picked up for the purpose of making them into prostitutes? The Headley book brings up some of these questions. I mentioned in a recent post Moving in the Spirit, a non-profit that provides dance training to kids after school,, in hopes of helping them see their own worth, and keeping them out of harms way.

In the same post, I was highlighting Jim Garroway's Political Insider blog in the ajc.com mentioning Renee Unterman's curious opposition: her former peers in the Republican aisles. Unterman does not want children picked up in child prostitution cases arrested and handcuffed; she sees them as victims who need treatment and help. The column says that the Georgia Baptist Convention is siding with her opposition. In the "Comments" on the ajc.com column, a commenter states the belief that GBC has reexamined the bill and rescinded its support.  I wrote the GPC and got a VERY prompt- especially for a late Friday afternoon- reply from the AA, and Rev. H. Ray Newman, Sr., Specialist- yes, that's his job title, in the Convention's  Ethics and Public Affairs department. The administrative assistant (read woman who does everything and knows how those grey boxes with wires and typewriters on the front work) and Pastor Newman both informed me of a ministry that I'm thrilled to know exists,

Wellspring Living. This group is reaching out to and assisting victims of the sex trade, and was started by a handful of SOUTHSIDE women! Oh yeah!

I'm still waiting to find out whether the GBC is supporting the bill or not, but I will tell you I really appreciated Newman's graciousness in getting back so quickly, and in spite of my fairly accurate remark about secretaries -I mean Administrative Assistants- doing all the work- I believe Pastor Newman wrote his letter himself.

Please check out Wellspring Living, and let me know about any other groups you'd like to know more about. Do something for these women and kids- and the deluded men as well who are being chained up like a beat down pit bull by this selfish mess.

And check out the new Mallard book- but by all means - get Bernard Hadley's book, as well.  

Do children pimp themselves? Renee Unterman -politician, takes a stand.

In an unsettling turn of events, some Georgia legislators  have decided to ostracize their fellow, or should I say -sister- member of the Georgia Assembly for her stand for the victims of child prostitution. I would think the sheer rarity of seeing any politician actually taking a stand for anything would be enough to silence the body, but evidently that is not the case .

Please check out this piece in today's ajc.com to get the particulars on why some Republicans are slamming Unterman, (R,Buford) as soft on crime. Unterman maintains that since in the state of Georgia a person under 16 can not legally consent to sex, it stands to reason a person under the age of 16 cannot legally consent to prostitution, and therefore should not be prosecuted and sent to jail. She and most post Dikensian child and family advocates  have seen child prostitutes as victims of coercion and urged therapy. Even from a hard law and order point of view, these young witnesses can give prosecutors information about the workings behind the scenes if they are not scared into silence by handcuffs.

Check out the comments; as usual, some are silly, but there are some that are thoughtful.

According to the commentary, there are some groups supporting Senator Unterman . While not at all directly related to child prostitution, good old  Fayette Presbyterian supports a group in Glenwood that I enjoy hearing about; you are close enough to go check them out-

Moving in the Spirit is a non profit group that teaches dance to students who otherwise might not have a chance to be involved in after school lessons.  See if you are led to support this group or research other groups that do work for children that need to know what they are worth.

An Eastern philosopher from the first century said any person that harms a child, or causes a child to be harmed, should wish to be thrown into the sea with a giant rock tied around his or her neck, rather than the fate that might be visited upon him or her by an angry god.

I hope you, and your legislator are all aware of child prostitution in our Southside. It's not a pleasant subject, at all, but there's another ancient maxim that says if we have the power to do something good, but do not, then we are at fault. You can look here on this blog for some stories on this sick mess.