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Governor signs bill at picnic
26th annual appreciation cookout draws crowd
Eddie Funderburk Wayne Terrell  Cadillac Rice
Eddie Funderburk and Wayne Terrell help prepare Cadillac rice for Thursdays 26th annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Cookout near Glennville. - photo by Photo by Randy C. Murray

Gov. Nathan Deal changed the normal schedule of events at the 26th annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Cookout near Glennville on Thursday evening by signing legislation recently passed by the General Assembly.
“(One of these pieces of legislation) is a bill to allow those who have retired honorably from the Department of Pardons and Paroles and the Department of Corrections to keep their sidearm,” said Deal, adding that a law-enforcement barbecue was a good place to sign the bill. “We do this for other law-enforcement agencies, and it’s appropriate that we do it for them. Now let me ask the members of the General Assembly who are here to join me.”
Deal sat at a table on a sheltered stage and was joined by six state legislators, including state Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler. The other two pieces of legislation pertained to agriculture.
The legislators, Deal, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Attorney General Sam Owen, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., and Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., a dozen county sheriffs, county commissioners and city council members were among the scores of elected leaders who took part in this year’s cookout. They were far outnumbered, however, by the crowd of law-enforcement officers and other first responders.
Georgia Department of Corrections board member Wayne Dasher, who hosted the event, said he and the late Long County Sheriff Cecil Nobles started the cookout in 1987 to show their appreciation for local law enforcement. The event now is supported by nearly 100 gold and silver sponsors.
“Whether it’s Newtown, Conn.; Boston, Mass.; or West, Texas, the first responders are always local responders — usually local law enforcement,” said Barrow as he thanked Dasher for his friendship and members of law enforcement for keeping Americans safe.
Barrow and Kingston arrived a little late, having voted in Congress earlier that day before flying home to Augusta and Savannah, respectively.
“It’s always good to get out of Washington,” Kingston told guests, then thanked local law enforcement for protecting the public. “I am glad to see the Senate did one thing right this week by protecting the Second Amendment, (which gives us the) right to protect ourselves.”
Brig. Gen. John Hort, 3rd Infantry Division deputy commanding general-rear, also spoke. He talked about the relationship Fort Stewart has with local law enforcement and, as a joke, challenged Deal to an arm-wrestling match.
Jill Trower, Neil DeLoach and Allison Sikes performed country music as attendees dined. Wayne County Commissioner and chef Jerry “Shag” Wright shared his recipes for Cadillac rice and Brunswick stew, which he cooked in enormous caldrons.
“Cadillac rice starts with 45 gallons of water, 40 pounds of rice, 40 pounds of de-boned chicken, 20 pounds of cubed mushrooms, 20 pounds of Vidalia onions and one gallon of Texas Pete,” said Wright, who also shared a recipe for Brunswick stew before asking Long County Sheriff Craig Nobles to join him for a photo in front of his trailer-sized smoker, which was filled with smoked chicken.
Nobles talked about recent burglaries in Long County, noting his office had caught a suspect who allegedly had been stealing refrigerators and heat pumps from vacant homes. He also talked about the wildfire of 2010.
“We took out a lot of people on bed sheets,” he said, explaining the urgency to get the elderly and infirm out of the path of the fire. “I’m glad it turned out well. Nobody got really hurt even though one of our firemen broke his leg.”
Nobles invited the public to support a fundraiser called “Fishin’ for a Cure” at Beards Bluff Campground on the Altamaha River on April 27. Proceeds will benefit three local children who have cancer, he said.
Bulloch County Sheriff Lynn Anderson touched on the similarities between law enforcement and the military, saying sons tend to follow in their fathers’ footsteps. He noted that Nobles and Liberty County Sheriff Steve Sikes both are sons of former sheriffs, and Anderson said his own son is a deputy.

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Book review: Author digs into mining's complicated past and present in 'River of Lost Souls'
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Jonathan Thompson will speak about his book "River of Lost Souls" at the King's English Bookshop on Tuesday, April 3 at 7 p.m. - photo by Amanda Olson
"RIVER OF LOST SOULS: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Spill," by Jonathan Thompson, Torrey House Press, 275 pages (nf)

Plenty has been written about the very small world of a mining town and the very broad reach of a beleaguered industry. From Loretta Lynns iconic song "Coal Miners Daughter," to the 2010 nail-biting coverage of 33 trapped Chilean miners, to the hit Broadway musicals "Paint Your Wagon" and "Billy Elliot," mining is a global story, and its one of heartbreak, hard work and hard times.

Jonathan Thompsons "River of Lost Souls" examines the many facets of risk involved in taking resources from below the earths surface. An environmental journalist, Thompson has reported on southwest Colorado for over 20 years. This book is special, however, because the Four Corners area of Colorado is his current and ancestral home. Thompson is writing about minings ecological, social, financial and political impact on his land, his landscape, his water, his people. That makes "River of Lost Souls" more than a regular reporting job.

Thompson begins with the Gold King Mine wastewater disaster of 2015, which the EPA caused while attempting to drain water near the mines entrance. The spill sent 3 million gallons of waste and tailings into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River and part of the San Juan River watershed which drains into the Colorado, affecting the Utah, Colorado and New Mexico parts of that watershed as well as the Navajo Nation.

From there, Thompson jumps into far stretches of time to 1765, when a Spanish explorer named the Animas River; to 10,000 years earlier, when Paleo-Indians roamed the rivers valley; to the meridian of time, when the ancestors of the Zuni, Hopi and Rio Grande Pueblo people inhabited the land for 500 years; to the mid-1800s and the Swedes who came to Silverton, Colorado, to mine.

Its a grand scope, but telling any story of landscape is telling a very grand story.

It also makes a complex story difficult to follow. Thompsons time warps are important, but they are jarring. His time jumps need clear dates, and Thompson doesnt always make them available. A map would also be useful. Thompsons writing is good, but his sentences can be dense and require readers to do their own mining for the riches the writing embeds. The work is worthwhile, however, as there are many moving parts in any story about mines land, culture, policy, history, money, inevitable disaster and Thompson works to examine all of them.

"River of Lost Souls" is a thoughtful read, but not a quick one. Because Thompsons writings come from 20 years of his newspaper reports, the overall feeling can be disjointed and sparse, which is distracting if one is expecting to follow a tenable thread. This is not a typical narrative with a cast of characters and a traditional story arc. Readers should approach this text as the investigation it is: puzzle pieces of a larger-than-life story that is eons old. If you are the kind of reader who wants it laid out cleanly, this is not that book. But, to Thompsons point, nothing is clean about mining that has never been the case.

Thompsons best writing is in his descriptions of people and places. His telling of how he came to Silverton is familiar and engaging. If readers approach the book with care and attention, they will be rewarded with savoring these descriptive passages when they happen.
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