Thomson residents go with the Flo to become whine-free

Mike Carrington never stood a chance.

After all, there was a beehivehairdo with a tea pitcher and microphone mingling through the crowd at the Thomson-McDuffie County Chamber of Commerce's 31st Annual Banquet on Thursday night.

Flo, according to her name-tag, said she was just trying to keep a job to earn enough money to stay in Thomson.

Then she really got down to business.

"It's not about making a dollar, it's about making a difference," she said.

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Maybe Flo wasn't just serving up tea. Actually, Ellen Raulerson of Albany, Ga., was there on a more important mission: W.O.W. - Wiping Out Whining.

"You ain't never going to change anything if you whine," Flo said.

She encouraged the county to be a "a whine-free community," going as far as putting it on the signs that welcome folks to the county.

"Do you know how many homes you would sell here?" she asked.

She even named longtime resident John Richards as the county's "whining wiper-outter," presenting him with a blinking light he could flash at people whenever they started whining.

"Does it work on wives and children?" he asked with a laugh.

Instead of being whiners, people should be complainers, she said. Those are the people that see a problem, come up with solutions and take those solutions to people who can make a change. Whiners just whine.

On the same evening Flo was spreading her message to the chamber folks at Belle Meade County Club, there were some McDuffie Countians who were testing it at Thomson City Hall. And they'd never even heard of Flo.

Instead, they were fighting to take the alcohol license from the T&W Cafe Lounge. Flo certainly would call these people "complainers." They took their concerns and made them public - something taxpayers andactivist groups do often.

But these folks took it a step further: they went to McDuffie County commissioners, demanded something be done and pushed success. That's something Flo - and all McDuffie Countians, even those who mistakenly considered T&W a safe place for entertainment - should be proud of.

Changes such as removing a deadly nightspot show that many in McDuffie County already understand Flo's message. But there are those that do not and would rather just complain and gloss over problems.

Those people need to watch out for John Richards. He got a flashing light, a fancy title and a mission from a beehived waitress.