8-16-2010
Do you remember The Nancy Hanks?” The Nancy Hanks was an intrastate passenger train owned by the Central of Georgia
Railroad that used to run between Atlanta and Savannah with a stop in Macon. It was named for a race horse which had been
named for Abraham Lincoln’s mother. The train left Savannah at seven o’clock each morning for the six hour run
to Atlanta and made the return trip at six o’clock each night.
The “Nancy” had four passenger cars and a grill for lunch. Until the 1960’s it was segregated. It was
the last passenger train to integrate because the owners felt that they were immune from federal law because the train was
intrastate. It never crossed the state line and thus only had to comply with Georgia law..
The Nancy Hanks had two lives. The first train, pulled by a steam engine, ran for only two years shortly after the end
of the War Between the States. The second train, which was officially called “The Nancy Hanks II” made her first
trip on July 17, 1947. The train's cars were painted blue and grey and, like the first Nancy, each bore a likeness
of the famous horse on the side.
The last trip made by the train was on April 30 1971, the day before the national rail service, AMTRAC started service.
Due to the speed and comfort of bus and air transportation, AMTRAC has never earned a profit, being subsidized annually by
the American tax payers. AMTRAC has never offered a Atlanta to Savannah route.
So, why should we remember the “Nancy Hanks?” That is because our political leaders are ignoring her. You see,
the politicians are spending millions of dollars to study and plan new rail passenger services between Georgia cities. Never
mind that the best estimates show that such services will never break even and the tax payers will have to bail them out every
year they operate. Look at Atlanta’s current rail service, MARTA. It cost all Georgians millions of dollars to operate
even though only a small part of our population ever rides it.
Oh, I have read all the arguments in favor of building these lines. They probably would reduce the number of cars on the
freeways around Atlanta. They might even reduce the level of air pollution. But I do not believe that the benefit they would
bring the people of Atlanta is worth what it will cost all Georgians in new taxes.
If the planners can find a way for these proposed rail passenger services to pay for themselves, then I say “build
them!” But if a major portion of the state’s people will have to pay for a service they will never use, then I
have to object.
A NOT SO DANGEROUS STORM - Frank Gillispie - July 22, 2010
Hurricane season is upon us, and we hear all the warning messages telling us what to do in case of a storm. People in Northeast
Georgia do not pay those warnings much attention. By the time a tropical storm comes this far inland, and collides with our
North Georgia hills and mountains, most of the wind is gone. We do, from time to time, get a heavy rain that causes some flooding.
But in general, we give the storms less thought and preparation than our more southern neighbors.
I have had only one encounter with such a storm, and I was on a troop ship in the middle of the ocean at the time.
In August of 1962, I received orders to end my deployment to Germany as a member of the United States Army. I packed my
personal items in a wooden box to be shipped back home, helped train my replacement and caught a train north to Bremerhaven.
There I boarded the USNS General Alexander M. Patch for the ride home. There were nearly five thousand Army men on
board along with a crew of a thousand or more. It was a big ship.
The Patch was 17,100 gross tons, length 609ft x beam 75.5ft, two funnels, two masts, twin screw, with an average speed
19 knots. It had two funnels, two mast and numerous cranes and hoists. It was launched in 1944 and served as a U.S. Army transport
during the last months of World War II, and then brought thousands of American soldiers home after the war ended. It continued
in this role in the Atlantic moving men and equipment between New York South Hampton in England and Bremerhaven Germany until
1967 when it was transferred to the navy’s reserve fleet, then later sold for scrap.
On September 12 1962,Tropical Storm Celia evolved from a depression in the central Atlantic and started moving north through
the center of the ocean. At one point she reached 70 mph, just below hurricane status. On Sept. 19, she was in the North Atlantic
with 45mph winds. The USNS Patch with myself onboard, arrived at the same place at the same time.
Now as I said, the Patch was a large ship and was fully loaded. Waves from a 45 mph wind storm would normally be no threat
to a ship that large, except for one little problem. The waves were hitting the ship broadside. The Captain took mercy on
us landlubbers and turned the ship into the waves so that it pitched up and down, rather than roll from side to side. So we
bounced up and down, somewhat like a large cork for most of the day and the following night.
There were still some problems, of course. At supper, I would stab a fork at my food each time the plate slid by. I bruised
my toes and head on the support chains by sliding up and down in the bunk. My morning shower was interesting because the water
tanks were on opposite ends of the ship and we got scalded by hot water when the ship pitched down, and frozen by cold water
when it pitched up. But the part of the ride I remember most is trying to sit on the commode and having it come up to meet
me!
I am those of you who served in the Navy will laugh at this story. My brother Howard, a navy veteran had no sympathy for
me at all. But I was ARMY. My training involved keeping my combat booted feet firmly planted on the ground! I suppose I can
take pride in the fact that I never became see sick.
That was my one great voyage. Sense then I have only experienced rides in bass boats on Lakes Hartwell and Russell, and
I am satisfied with that.
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Frank Gillispie – Thursday, June 24, 2010
DO YOU REMEMBER when a coke cost five cents? I was a “pre teen” at the time. Coke
announced that the price of a bottle was going from a nickel to six cents and everybody was in an uproar about it!
All soft drinks came in reusable bottles, and the major companies had plants in most towns or
regions. Coke, Pepsi and RC each had facilities in Athens. Each Coke plant had customized bottles with the name of the town
molded into the bottom. Over time, the bottles became mixed with each plant having bottles returned from other plants. Soon,
people started betting on who had the most distant bottle.
Of course, all prices were far lower than today. A hot dog cost a nickel. A ticket to the children's
Saturday morning at the movies was fifteen cents. Thus a quarter dollar got you a ticket to a morning of movies, a hot dog
and a coke.
The program always consisted of a block of cartoons, two western staring Roy Rogers, Gene Autry,
Red Rider and Little Beaver, or other popular cowboys and Indians. And always, between the features, one of those cliff hanger
serials where the hero was left facing a potentially deadly crisis and we had to come back next Saturday to see how he escaped.
My father worked as a mechanic at the old University Chevrolet Company just west of down town
Athens. He worked a half day on Saturdays. So he would take us along with him to town and drop us off at the Strand Movie
Theater. We would walk the few blocks back to his job site after the movies were over for a ride back home.
As the oldest of three brothers, I was given the responsibility of making sure we stayed together
and no one wandered off. I was charged with taking care crossing the streets, following all the safety signs and obeying the
rules. Because we were a rural family, a trip to town was viewed as a somewhat dangerous adventure and we were always aware
of that. The danger was more in our imaginations than real. There were no street gangs or such. Our greatest danger was in
getting lost or being careless.
Things have changed a lot in the past sixty years. Those nickel cokes are now a dollar fifty.
You cannot buy a fast food meal, even hot dogs or hamburgers for less than three dollars. The nineteen cent a gallon gasoline
is now closer to three dollars. And there are areas in most towns now where it is not safe for unescorted children, or even
adults, to walk safely. And it looks to me like these changes will only continue to worsen.
How will your children describe today's society to their grand kids sixty years from now? Will
government regulators have outlawed all soft drinks and fast foods? Will our national borders be ignored and the streets be
abandoned to anarchy? Will all people be dependent on government for every aspect of their lives?
I think it may be that the older of us are lucky we will not be around to experience that!
