Page 33

20503TB

A Commitment to Limited Government A Vow to Enforce Fiscal Discipline A Promise to Listen A Willingness to Learn An Independent Voice I am John Branigin and I am running for City Council in this November’s election. As a retired executive, I have extensive experience in strategic planning, critical decision making and financial management. I firmly believe that the best decisions are reached through compromise and consensus. If elected, I pledge to listen to ALL residents, property owners and business owners; to let YOUR input form my opinions; to put YOUR interests first and to work to restore”common sense” to OUR City government. Below are just a few of your Tybee friends and neighbors who support my candidacy: Chuck Bargeron Jack & Nancy Boylston John Bremer Sunni Brown Jay Burke Alan & Jackie Burn Don Doyle Micheal & Sarah Elliott Bruce & Jane Freyermuth Tom & Lucy Groover Spec Hosti Frank Kelly Hugh & Jill Mahany Jim & Lee Ann Marsh Larry & Bonnie Nesbitt Judy O’Neill Jenny Orr Jimmy & Claire Price “Little Mary” Shepherd Nancy Solomon Philip Spivey Tommy Thompson Kim Trammell Daniel Turberville Gordon Varnadoe Steve Williams To see a full list of my supporters or learn more about me, visit my website at Branigin4Tybee.org Paid Political Advertisement TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | SEPT 2017 31 By Woody Hemphill Welcome back, sports fans! It’s now official … after an offseason awaiting football season - like island residents awaiting an evacuation order - training camp is underway in preparation for the upcoming NFL football season. If I live to be a hundred, I will never understand how a league that prides itself on ‘parity’ continues to pat itself on the back for the dynastic nature of the Patriots, despite continuous efforts to limit #12 and coach. Rumors abound that this season the officials will tie one arm behind Brady’s back … perhaps the league will charge corporate sponsorship advertising fees during the other team’s practices since they are certain to be taped? (Okay, that last sentence was for humor, not journalistic integrity, because if you are reading the Beachcomber to keep up-to-date on your sporting news, well then that’s just sad – but I’d like to invite you to be in my fantasy league …) All non-sports fan readers have probably already surmised this is the season for the obligatory and insufferable office know-it-all co-workers. We all know the type who for 13 weeks annually shelve their default persona - one deep breath away from drooling down the front of their shirt, yet capable of droning on for hours regarding their fantasy football rosters, content to live in the moment comprised of hours of research & strategy development each week over three months for bragging rights. For those of you keeping score at home, these are also the same people who make the same as, or more than you, despite not being able to recite their company’s mission statement from whence their livelihoods are derived, and their league dues paid… Now don’t get me wrong, I am one of these guys, too. Each year, as the final autumnal season rolls onto the calendar, I promise myself that I will not become that guy. Like most resolutions that aren’t reinforced with another habit, practice, etc., this season consists of a consummate struggle to not annoy those around me – and those who know me can attest that I usually fail – miserably. I suspect that this is probably why people feel compelled to win their league at all costs? The prize money is the consolation prize for societal alienation, and the inter-personal ostracizing of our own creation. It may be of little significance at this juncture, but fantasy football has been a microcosm of a much larger issue for many of my generation. The issue is quite simple, yet made exponentially more difficult. Ironically, a game comprised of extraneous variables for enjoyment eventually culminates in a Holy Grail-like search for online meaning comprised of lines of code & twenty-something millennial athletes whose peers we spend the remainder of our year trying to understand. Yet, I digress. As I mentioned a few months back, few things in life remind a man of his lot in life, his station in life, and even his own mortality, if you will, than witnessing folk half your age accomplishing amazing feats of skill, strength, or ‘otherworldly accomplishment.’ This has been the case of late as the sports world has been treated to a season of retirement, reserved for only its upper echelon of marketable stars, like Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and soon enough another largely ineffective, diva quarterback from near the town of Pittsburgh. In other words, if you have a daughter preparing to go away to college, this may be the best time to contact the folks at the Chamber of Commerce in Milledgeville to see if Big Ben sold his house there after the last incident. Few things in life are scarier than the thought of Big Ben with more free time on his hands… With ‘that said’ I’m wringing my hands of all responsibilities (at least until next month), and delving back into the miasma of mediocrity. Until next month, play nice, and may all your teams win!


20503TB
To see the actual publication please follow the link above