Protesters and a free lunch

On Labor Day, if you wore a shirt with the logo of a college team, Chick-fil-A would give you a free sandwich.

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Sweet deal. And as my dear sister says: If it's free, it's for me.

So our family, the middle daughter wearing a Valdosta State T-shirt, the rest of us in University of Georgia gear, joined the hordes descending on the Mullins Crossing Chick-fil-A for lunch.

In spite of the crowd, the always polite and efficient staff got our orders handled quickly and correctly, and soon we were sitting at a comfortable outdoor table enjoying our meal.

I dare say we were much happier than the handful of terribly out-of-place folks just down the street, holding pro-Obama-health-care signs and milling around in the parking lot outside the empty office of U.S. Rep. Paul Broun.

Columbia County was even privileged to receive a visit from Lowell Greenbaum, chairman of Richmond County's Democratic Party and one of the protesters.

A television station covering the protest (the participants didn't notify the paper0 quoted Greenbaum as saying, "We're not out here scaring anybody; we want health care for everyone in the country."

Never mind that everyone in this country, illegal aliens included, has access to health care right now. The current argument isn't about access to health care, but how we'll pay for it. And I'm quite sure no one was 'scared' by the protesters, as it didn't appear motorists on busy Washington Road were paying much attention to them at all.

Though the staff was off for Labor Day, Broun's office filed this response:

"Much like the large Stop Obama-Care rally (Sept. 3) and the tea-parties earlier this year, both of which Congressman Broun supported and participated in, the gathering today is democracy in action. Seeing people involved in the political process - regardless of the viewpoint - is always welcomed.

"Congressman Broun is simply continuing to sound the alarm that he has been ringing since elected: America is on a slippery slope of putting government in control of our lives at the expense of our constitutionally protected freedoms."

They didn't ask me, but I would have added: "And if you put down your signs and put on a college T-shirt, they'll give you a free sandwich at Chick-Fil-A. This one isn't being paid for by the taxpayers, but it's the thing you guys seem to like most: A free lunch."

I'll have mine with a side of fries and sweet tea; hold the whine.

Evans photo found

That Stop Obama Care rally in Augusta, led by Columbia County's Billy Jackson, drew thousands, while the brief Labor Day protest in Columbia County led by Richmond County Democrats was generously reported with about 30 participants.

I suppose that tells you which side has more fire in the belly.

Speaking of fires, Jackson is working on another project with his father, state Sen. Bill Jackson: a monument to depict the original Evans School that burned in 1954.

The aim is to erect the marker alongside the arch and pillars from the old school that are now preserved behind the library in Evans.

The Jacksons were looking for an old photo of the original school, preferably one in which the arch and columns also appeared. Mission accomplished, thanks to the Rev. Dan White of North Columbia Church in Appling.

His mother-in-law, Ramona Baston Smith, had a photo taken from then-dirt Washington Road in 1945. She appears as a young girl in the picture with three others.

Billy says the photo will work perfectly. They're now having the monument made.

By the way: This isn't the county's first historical marker from Sen. Jackson. He also erected the monument to former school superintendent John Pierce Blanchard that stands at the old board of education building in Appling.

(Barry L. Paschal is publisher of The Columbia County News-Times. E-mail barry.paschal@newstimesonline.com.)