Terry Garlock's blog

Remembering veteran life-savers

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:27:24 -0500

Each year when Veterans Day comes again to honor those who served their country, my mind often drifts to those who served in the life-saving business, the medics, helicopter crews, doctors and nurses who make a memorable difference in the lives of so many.

Eat well, support troops at Mimi’s in PTC

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:21:19 -0500

“Morning, Vern!” is heard over and over at Mimi’s Restaurant on Ga. Highway 54 in Peachtree City, as regulars roll in one at a time with the day just starting and chat with Suzy, Stephanie, Mimi and Vern when he takes a moment to turn away from the grill. But something more important than eggs and burgers is being cooked up at Mimi’s in November.

Character matters

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:45:25 -0400

Who do you call when life throws you a curve? We are fortunate if we have a couple, maybe a few, people in our life who are so solid we know we could count on them in a crisis or to watch our back. Just a few. Earning that trust takes some time, and it takes a lot of character.

All winners, no losers in girls softball

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:40:45 -0400

If you think only boys step on a ball diamond with a steely glint in their eye prepared for fierce but friendly battle, while girls try to look pretty and smell nice, then you haven’t been to a middle school fast-pitch softball game lately.

If we are at war, all of us are at war

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:00:06 -0400

I’m no expert on Afghanistan, but I’ll give you something to ponder as you watch the news unfold.

Last week’s big story was the confidential report from President Obama’s appointed commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, candidly warning of possible failure in Afghanistan if we don’t switch now from a counter-terrorism strategy to a counter-insurgency strategy, and that substantially more troops are needed immediately to carry out that new strategy.

Message to teens: View news with skepticism

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:02:23 -0400

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, recently paid the ultimate price in Afghanistan.

Associated Press photographer Julie Jacobson, embedded with Bernard’s unit, was with them when they were ambushed by Taliban forces and Bernard was mortally wounded by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.

40th anniversary: Woodstock and I

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:52:29 -0400

If you were at Woodstock 40 years ago, you might remember the music, peace and love from that monumental event as if it were yesterday.

4th of July is about more than fireworks, parades

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:50:54 -0400

“You are 10 times the writer I am!” John Adams declared to his friend from Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, on June 11, 1776. Adams was persuading Jefferson to draft the 2nd Continental Congress’ statement of independence, and Jefferson tried to pass the job back to Adams before he reluctantly agreed.

Thoughts of the 4th: I feel America slipping away

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:30:42 -0400

This 4th of July will be my 60th. With each passing year, it seems, I grow more troubled at how little the average American knows, or seems to care, about the birth of our country celebrated on that holiday.

Thanks to special people at Kedron Elementary

Tue, 26 May 2009 16:50:34 -0400

How do you say thank you to someone for taking fine care of the thing most dear to you? Here is the only way I know.

Most of you parents learned earlier in life than I did that having a child changes you in ways you could not predict. Your priorities get turned on their head, your life becomes a bargaining chip you would trade in a heartbeat if required to protect your little one, and if they get really sick, you wish there was some way to take on their sickness to make them well again. My 7-year-old Kristen became sick last summer and still has seizures now and then.

Americans are disconnected from their own military

Tue, 19 May 2009 15:50:33 -0400

Every semester I am a guest lecturer for two hours at Newnan High School on the myths and truths of the Vietnam War. It almost seems Samuel Clemmons was looking to the future Vietnam War when he said in the 1800s, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Nightmare medicine: The feds come between you and your doctor

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:03:39 -0400

At dinner time on the last Friday in March, I parked next to an ambulance on the courthouse square in Newnan with my 7-year-old daughter, Kristen, in the back seat. This would be her first trip to Golden’s Cafeteria, soon to be a favorite since she loves pick-your-food restaurants that give a kid the power to choose.

The other side of a conversation about race

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:36:21 -0400

As the hyperventilating over Barack Obama’s election subsides, along with disbelief this could happen in America, maybe a white conservative man like me can finally say a few things.

Obama the socialist, and what that means

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:33:59 -0400

Maybe I’m a dinosaur. Not because I turned 60 in August, but because I believe in our system of capitalism and I have not forgotten the utter failure of socialism and communism wherever it has been tried.

Bubblehead America

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:36:52 -0400

The terrorists watching last week’s financial market turmoil might conclude that if they are sufficiently patient, we will destroy ourselves without their help.