The Star-Mercury-Vindicator is a community newspaper that connects you to all the stories of Meriwether County. We’re part of The Georgia Trust for Local News.
Well, it’s that time of year again, as much as I hate to admit it, I will soon be another year older. Don’t ask my age because it really doesn’t matter and I’m not sure I remember any way. It’s been a lot of years since my mother brought me into this world and that is the one thing I do know and assure I can feel.
Each day brings a new surprise. As a kid I loved surprises because usually it meant you were going to get something good. Now, I’m surprised every day when I wake and feel a new pain somewhere in my body. After a little while, you just get used to it and go on about your business.
About the only good thing I know about growing old is that all my dark secrets are safe with my friends. That’s because not one of them can remember those secrets.
When I am driving around in my car, I like to listen to satellite radio. My preferences shift from the great radio shows of the past to the best music ever, that from the 1970s.
Your mileage may vary on that “best music” comment but it’s my column so I can say it’s the best music.
I started working in radio in 1976, spinning the hits at WLAG-AM in LaGrange and later at WTRP-AM, where I’ve remained in one billet or another since. Later this year, in fact, I will celebrate 50 years in broadcasting. Those early years were probably the best … and, on reflection, the music was the best and the worst.
Listening to the hits of the 1970s takes me back, back to high school (I graduated in 1975) and, as mentioned, my first years in radio. There are very, very few songs from that time period that I don’t like to listen to, and one of them was at one time a real favorite.
The Meriwether County Board of Education recognized an outstanding staff member and several students during their meeting on April 14.
Tomeka Woody was recognized with the School Business Administrator certificate from the Southeastern Association of School Business Officials. The award is one of the organization’s highest honors, awarded to individuals who demonstrate exceptional leadership at the national, regional or state level. Woody is one of only two people in Georgia to ever receive the award.
Manchester opened their monthly city council meeting by addressing the audit report for the fiscal year 2025. Council member Delisha Hodo wished to correct her prior inquiry, noting that the request was from herself and not the entire city council. She also stated that her intentions for the inquiry were not to come off “heavy-handed.” The report stated that the main two findings from the F.Y. 2025 Audit were in regards to bookkeeping not being maintained as well as it should be and that the same individuals recording funds were doing so without oversight by another person. These issues have been present and remain unresolved for the last two fiscal year findings.
Talbot County Sheriff’s Deputies are investigating the discovery of a body inside a parked car at the Dollar General store in Box Springs.
According to reports, Deputies were notified Saturday morning around 10:21 of the person inside the car at the store. They located the vehicle after a neighboring jurisdiction gave a BOLO, or Be On the Lookout, one hour earlier.
In 1975, the British science fiction series Space: 1999 aired and introduced audiences to a number of planets including Psychon, Betha, Delta, and Terra Nova.
Lasting just two seasons, Space: 1999 was based on a premise the Moon had been used for stockpiling nuclear waste. Also located on the Moon, was Moonbase Alpha research center housed in the crater Plato. Some type of magnetic radiation causes the nuclear waste to go critical which blasts the Moon out of Earth orbit and into deep space, through worm holes and other astrological phenomena.
Along their travels, the crew of Moonbase Alpha discover other civilizations which was good as without the Moon, the Earth is rendered uninhabitable with life as we know it going extinct.
Of the planets highlighted in Space: 1999, none are real or based on real planets.
• Apr. 27. In 1978, construction is underway on a second cooling tower at the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia. The tower had reached a height of 166 feet when about 10 am, concrete poured the previous day began to collapse. Concrete, wooden forms, and metal scaffolding began collapsing to the ground inside the tower. Falling to their deaths were 51 construction workers.