It All Started With

Each Summer, I choose a theme for Summer reading. Last year, it was True Crime, Memphis Style. The year before, Judy Blume books I knew by heart. This year, my interest turned to True Crime, Georgia Style. This year, I actually have a sub-theme: Stuff I Remember Hearing About Either From Old People, Or On The News.

I just finished "Murder In The Peach State", by Bruce L. Jordan. A wonderful book, and who knew a cop could write?? Jordan is/was the Chief Investigator with the Fayette County Sheriff's Department. Fayette County is two counties north of Troup County, which is where I grew up. But my connection to Fayette ran a little deeper. I dated a sheriff's deputy from the same department, briefly, while I was in college. He was in my college English class. He turned out to be a dud, but we would spend hours after class (a night class) sipping coffee at the IHOP, discussing his job. Jay gave me the goods on the news stories. And thus began my lifelong affection for cops. I liked getting the inside scoop. I still do; therefore, while I am done dating cops, I still like to keep a few close to me so as to always be informed. This proved invaluable during the Mary Winkler trials. I have no idea whatever happened to Jay, but I would be willing to bet he and Jordan were at least acquainted. Jordan's book triggered my nostalgia for times past in my fair state of Georgia.

This nostalgia led me to purchase more true crime books. I am all set to learn the scoop on Sarah Tokars, The Columbus Stocking Strangler, The Redbone Murders, the Murder in Coweta County, The Alday Family Murders, and more about little Mary Phagan. To supplement my blood lust, I began an internet search for particular cases that I remember: Fred Wilkerson and the well (the boy who sat in front of me in sixth grade's mother killed Wilkerson and buried him in a well, where he laid for nearly two decades), Kyle Clinkscales (my best friend---the aforementioned crackhead--and I rode our bikes back and forth by the pond that allegedly housed the drum that housed the college student's remains for years...I was in Memphis when they closed the case some 25 years later, the well-to-do husband and wife who murdered her elderly mother for her money (Mattula? Something like that), and other cases who's news reports kept me up at night. Looking back, I realized that I grew up in a mean place. I have drawn the conclusion that one rural country murder equals about 20 inner city simple killings. When country folks do it, they do it up right. And, weirdly enough, they tend to do it in the Summer time. That oppressive Georgia heat only adding to the gross out factor when the deed is actually discovered.

Even as a child and youth, I watched the news. Partly because my mom did, but I grew to love it. My imagination was vivid and without constraint; however, when this was combined with my half ass attention span, I sometimes got the details wrong. For example, I was not around when The Alday Family Murders occurred, but I was during the appeals process of the murderers. I was a teenager before I realized that Alday was the name of the family who was slaughtered, not in reference to a 6am to 6pm killing spree (all day). Turns out, Little Mary Phagan was bludgeoned, not stabbed with pencils. I was also relieved to learn that Andy Griffith was not involved in a dust up in rural Coweta County, he's not a cold blooded killer but he played one on tv...Thank God! As an adult, I have learned to listen carefully so as not to embarrass myself when spouting off odd facts about things.

There is little to be found on the more obscure cases that I mentioned; but the journey led me down a new path...place nostalgia. I stumbled upon (not using the acutal search engine, just on my own) a site that posts pictures from a time gone by era in Columbus, Georgia. http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/georgia/index.html Troup County was nestled exactly halfway between Atlanta and Columbus. I tend to devote most of my nostalgia to Atlanta, the Oz of my youth. I was strictly forbidden to travel there by my parents, which means I took off there every chance I got. However, I spent just as much time in Columbus (the safe alternative). This site mostly has things about places that were long gone before I set foot on the red clay; however, there are nuggets. The liberty bell pool at FDR state park. That water was from a natural spring and COLDER than ice. It was a vacation bible school staple. The big cow that stood guard outside the Kinnett Dairy, which signaled that we had finally arrived to the usual destination of Peachtree Mall, was there as well. I sounded far older than my 36 (8 more days) years when I said to myself, "I'd forgotten all about that!" Just the names of the roads sparked fond memories: Gentian Blvd, Victory Drive, Macon Rd, Cross Country Plaza, Buena Vista Rd, and Wynnton Rd. The local ABC affiliate, WTVM, had a promotion during my childhood that involved calling out the name of smaller towns around Columbus to say thanks for watching, basically a shout out to your 'hood. It used to thrill me to no end (I was easily impressed) when LaGrange would make it on the air. This also served as a geography lesson for me. I shared a cabin at 4-H camp (a whole 'nuther nostalgic post) with a girl from Americus and I was able to draw a whole five minutes of conversation out of the fact that we were in the same viewing area for WTVM Channel 9. Funny, making friends is much harder these days! All of these memories came rushing back as I sat at my computer, delaying my present day life in favor of revisiting my old life.

I emailed my best friend (not the crackhead...the one I actually still want to keep in touch with) who was my partner in crime during many of these forays into the "Safe City" and suggested that we make up our own site. Only this site would be a "Do You Remember" from more recent times, the 80's and 90's. It would be a great place for Ex-Georgians like myself to visit to recall the unique trademarks they grew up with. People could submit their own memories and pics. We could expand it to include the entire area of western Georgia that became our playground. Bordered to the north by Bremen, the south by Fort Benning, the east by the Flint River, and the west by the Chattahoochee River. This large area includes all the significant little places that provoked a scandal, a belly laugh, a car malfunction, an ass whooping, or housed a residence. This site would likely only be enjoyed by my friend and I. I can see the glaze of indifference form over the eyes of people when I begin to slip into the nostalgia of my Georgia upbringing, if you didn't live it...it isn't important. But what enjoyment it would be! We'd make a great team as she still lives there and I have a catalogue of memories. She loves photography, I love to blog.

Watch for the link. Until then, here is a preview of some of the topics we will cover: Jilly's (Jilly's...Jilly's is the place for ribs), The Georgia Public Broadcast sign off (Georgia...Gaaaawgia), 4-H, Wolfman and Donna, WCGQ vs Kiss FM, The Warm Springs Hotel, and The Callaway Educational Association. My Dorothy Parker stream of consciousness ends there...for now.