Hot sauce of death sparks column

"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over." - Hunter S. Thompson

When it comes to hot food, the 1999 Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans will always stand out in my memory.
On the spur of the moment, two friends and I decided to drive from Monroeville, Ala. to New Orleans after work on a Friday night. We left Monroeville about 10 p.m. and arrived in the French Quarter in the wee hours of the morning.
Because of the on-going music festival, the streets were crowded and the nightlife on Bourbon Street showed no sign of slowing.
For the next few terrible hours, we dipped in and out of many "establishments," and we finally went to a store that is forever burned into my memory: The International Hot Sauce Outlet.
We walked inside, and it was packed from wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with bottles of hot sauce from around the world. It was something to see, especially for someone like myself, who enjoys eating spicy, hot food. We browsed around the store and as we were about to leave, I made the critical mistake of asking the clerk a fateful question.
"What's the hottest thing you've got in here?"
I guess they got that question a lot. The man, who looked like a native of India or Pakistan, sort of rolled his eyes, stepped aside and pointed over his shoulder. I will never forget what I saw in the following moments.
In a special, locked glass case on a shelf behind the counter, sat a small, black, wooden coffin, which was tipped up on one end, so you could see the bottle of hot sauce inside. The bottle's contents looked fire engine red and the label pictured a skeleton with its arms folded across its bony chest: Salsa de la Muerto, the Sauce of the Dead.
Earlier, I'd seen more than a few customers sampling other sauces throughout the store. They'd dip a wooden toothpick in the sauce and taste it from the toothpick.
"Can I sample the hot one," I asked foolishly.
He gave me a sideways glance. "Are you sure you want to do that," he replied. His Indian accent was very faint. "It is made from the merciless peppers of Apu Pichoo, grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum."
"Yeah, I'm sure," I said. "I might want to buy some."
From under the counter, he pulled out a clipboard and made me sign a release form that absolved him from any legal liabilities from what was about to ensue. That should have been my first warning that something bad was about to happen.
The clerk then stowed away the clipboard, and removed a pair of latex surgical gloves and protective goggles from beneath the counter. He snapped the gloves on and pulled the goggles down over his eyes. That should have been my next clue.
"You sure about this," he asked. A crowd was beginning to gather. It was the moment of truth. From here, there would be no turning back.
"You bet," I said in the calmest voice I could muster.
"Ok, it's your funeral," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
He set a white paper plate on the counter, then unlocked the glass case that contained the tiny casket. Next, he removed the bottle from the casket, gave me one final look, then popped the top. You could have heard a pin drop in the store.
He then held the neck of the bottle down and raked just a small drop onto the plate. Looking at that blob of sauce, it didn't seem so bad. My opinion would soon change.
The clerk gave me a clean toothpick, and a hush fell over the room. I dipped the smallest bit of sauce onto the toothpick and placed it in my mouth.
Suddenly and with seemingly no warning, fire spread through my mouth in waves. My crippled mouth suddenly felt like it was full of boiling sulfuric acid. The part of my tongue that actually touched the toothpick felt as if it were being cored away by that evil drop of sauce.
I began to sputter. Tears began to roll out of my eyes. Rivulets of sweat ran down my face. My forehead literally felt like it was burning, as if the juices from the sauce had traveled through my esophagus and were burning through the skin of my forehead.
As if in slow motion, the toothpick tumbled to the floor, and I struggled to grip the edge of the counter as I was infused by a blinding seizure of pain. It flowed through me like a river of molten asphalt, a red-hot shock wave of flame.
I think it actually took me a few seconds to realize that I was still alive. Instead of trying to ease my pain, my friends, the clerk and the members of the crowd around me just laughed and pointed. Good times.

AM radio reminds me of sports memories

I admit it. I enjoy listening to the radio – sports talk radio to be exact.
While I think it’s nice and those who have it make me green with envy, I’m much too cheap to spring for anything fancy like XM or Sirius satellite radio.
That’s why, if you’d been able to peer into my office on Monday night, you would have seen me hunched over my Sony radio, slowly moving the tuner along the AM dial, slowly feeling for a sports talk radio station.
During the day, you can forget finding much of anything on the AM dial, but at night, you can pick up signals from all over the country.
But Lee, this is a sports column. Where are you going with this?
The short answer is that all of this reminds me of when I was a kid, way back in the days when I was a shaky-voiced eighth-grader enthralled with professional baseball.
During those days, my team was the San Francisco Giants and my favorite players included Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell. You may remember those teams from the early 1990s, teams that included the "earthquake" World Series team that faced cross-bay American League rivals, the Oakland A’s, in some classic games.
When I was coming along, my family didn’t have cable or satellite. We got three TV channels, that is, just the major networks. No ESPN, no TBS, not even WGN out of Chicago. To keep up with sports, it was either catch the nightly news, pick up a Mobile Press-Register on the way to school or listen to the radio.
I can remember lots of nights, lying in bed with my then-fancy Sony alarm clock radio on my chest. The cord would run off one side of the bed to the plug in the wall and the only light in the dark room would be the devil red glow of the numbers on the clock’s display.
With a little practice, I became pretty good at slowly moving the radio’s tuner along the AM dial, and there in my bedroom, in a house in the woods outside of Frisco City, Ala., I could pick up signals from radio stations hundreds of miles away.
On a good night, I could pick up Rangers games in Texas, White Sox and Cubs games in Chicago and Braves games in Atlanta. Often, I would hear the ends of baseball games that would end too late to make it into the paper the next morning. And at other times, I’d fall asleep with the clock radio on my chest, waking up hours later to the sound of faint static.
Today, I’m still guilty of roaming the AM dial at night, more often than not while I’m driving in my truck. The habit gets on my wife’s nerves worse than any of my other unusual behaviors. She can’t stand it when I drive along, gripping the wheel with one hand and using the other hand to move the digital AM dial of the truck radio tick by tick with the tuner. "Just find a station and leave it there," she’ll say.
In the end, I guess there are worse habits to have, although I’ve never been able to convince her of that.

New "Ghost Hunter" book might not be what you expect

"Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death" by Deborah Blum is the most interesting book that I’ve read in a long time.
In this 370-page book, published by Penguin Press earlier this year, Blum details the effort by James and a number of other turn-of-the-century scientists who tried to find proof of life after death.
James (1842-1910) was one of the most brilliant American scientists to ever live. He wrote influential books on what was then the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism and the philosophy of pragmatism. He was also the brother of novelist Henry James, the author of "Daisy Miller" and "Portrait of a Lady."
William James interacted with a wide array of writers and scholars throughout his life, including his godfather Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greeley, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Charles Sanders Peirce, Josiah Royce, George Santayana, Ernst Mach, John Dewey, Helen Keller, Mark Twain, James Frazer, Henri Bergson, H. G. Wells, G. K. Chesterton, Sigmund Freud, Gertrude Stein and Carl Jung.
Much of Blum’s book deals with how James and his colleagues traveled Europe and America investigating psychic mediums and other supernatural occurrences. As you would expect, these scientists exposed the vast majority of the so-called psychics they encountered as nothing more than scam artists and tricksters.
However, in their search, than ran across two female mediums that were far from ordinary, Leonora Piper and Eusapia Palladino. Piper, an American, and Palladino, an Italian, both displayed fortune-telling powers that James and some of the world’s best scientists could not explain, even after years of studying the two women. Piper was known for her apparent ability to channel the spirits of the dead. Palladino was known for her ability to cause objects, including heavy tables and chairs, to move without touching them.
Around this same time, James and his colleagues founded the American Society for Psychical Research and the British Society for Psychical Research. These groups worked on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to have the study of supernatural phenomena accepted as a mainstream science. As you might imagine, their efforts were met with more than a little resistance from traditional scientists who viewed the study of the occult as a waste of time and energy.
Interestingly, the American Society for Psychical Research still exists today with offices located on West 73rd Street in New York City. The organization even publishes a quarterly scientific journal that provides scholarly reports, research findings and book reviews on the topic of psychical research.
In the end, I really enjoyed the book. It provided an interesting and unusual look into the work of some of the past century’s brightest scholars and their efforts to find proof of life after death. Blum, a confessed skeptic, who does not believe in ghosts or anything of the sort, did an excellent job of presenting the material in a way that the average reader will enjoy. In the end, on a scale of 1 to 10, I give the book a 8.0.

How 'bout them Saints?

How ‘bout them Saints?
I hate to jinx them, but I’ve never been more excited about the Saints that I am this week. Growing up in Southwest Alabama, it was natural for me to be a Saints fan. Before the Tennessee Titans came along, it was either the Saints or the Atlanta Falcons.
Why be a Saints fan? Maybe it was the desire to pull for the underdog week after week and year after year? Maybe it was their proximity to my hometown? Or maybe it was their black uniforms? Who knows?
Whatever the reason, the Saints, for better or for worse, have always been my team when it came to the NFL.
With that said, this season has been the season that me and every other Saints fan out there has been waiting on. This season, the Saints posted a 10-6 regular season record and won the NFC South. After a first round bye, the Saints edged by the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-24, Saturday night in the divisional playoff round at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that there were more than a few moments Saturday night that I thought the Saints were going to lapse into their old ways and give the game away. The game never seemed to be truly in hand until the final seconds ticked off the clock. As it turns out, the difference in this year’s team and teams of the past is that the teams of yesteryear seemed to always find a way to lose. Not so this year thanks to new blood provided by Coach Sean Payton, quarterback Drew Brees, offensive tackle Jammal Brown, and rookies, Marques Colton and Reggie Bush.
It should go without saying that I was pulling for the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday, in the NFC’s other divisional playoff game, the Seahawks faced the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago. Because of New Orleans’ win on Saturday, the winner of the Seattle-Chicago game would play the Saints in the NFC Championship Game this coming Sunday.
Chicago entered Sunday’s game as the No. 1 seed in the NFC, so if Seattle could get the win, the Saints would have the home-field advantage in the NFC Championship Game. As things turned out, the Bears beat the Seahawks, 27-24, on a field goal in overtime.
As things stand today, New Orleans will face the Bears Sunday at 2 p.m. in Chicago. Win or lose, this game will be an historic game for the Saints. In the team’s 40-year history, the game will mark their first-ever appearance in the NFC Championship Game. If they win, the Saints will move on to their first-ever appearance, dare I say it, in the Super Bowl.
At the risk of putting the jinx on our beloved Saints, I’ll say that I like their chances against the Bears. They haven’t played each other this season, so the Bears will only have a week to prepare for New Orleans’ offensive arsenal.
In the end, I like N.O.’s chances against the Bears, and my prediction on a final score is New Orleans 30, Chicago 27.

Peacock sympathizes with woman and her late dog

Within the pages of this week’s edition of The Wayne County News, readers will find a story that’s a little out of the ordinary, a story about Melissa Bowen, a woman who loved her pet dog, Rocke, so much that she decided to have him freeze-dried.
While having a pet freeze-dried is uncommon, I can totally sympathize with Mrs. Bowen.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a "dog person." When I was growing up, my dad loved to quail hunt. Needless to say, my dad had more than a few hunting dogs, and to me and my brothers and sister, they were family pets.
Over the years, my family had more than few dogs, aside from those that could retrieve a downed bird. In fact, from early on, up until the time I left home, I can’t remember us never having at least one pet dog.
For a few years, while I was away at school and moving from place to place, I didn’t own a dog. However, that all changed when I got married. Early in my marriage, I had to take off with the Alabama Army National Guard and spent a year in Iraq and Kuwait. During that time, my wife, Crystal, received a Pug named Winston for her birthday. The idea was that he’d be a dog that would keep her company in my absence.
After returning home from overseas, I became more attached to Winston than even my wife, although I think that for a long time, he resented my presence. After all, up until I came home, he’d been the leader of the pack, so to speak.
A few months later, I got the bright idea that it would probably be a good idea to buy another dog to keep Winston company during the day, while my wife and I were at work. As luck would have it, Winston’s mother had just birthed another litter, so we bought one of his younger brothers and brought him home. This little fellow’s name was Wilson.
Unfortunately, when Winston was about 18 months old, he died suddenly from a rare genetic disorder called Pug Dog Encephalitis. It’s so rare that our hometown vet had never seen a case of it before.
Without his big brother around, Wilson continued on, although the vet warned us that since the two dogs came from the same mother, there was a chance that Wilson would also have the same disease.
According to what I could read about the disease, most Pugs are stricken by it before then reach two years of age. When Wilson lived beyond his second birthday, I figured that we were out of the woods. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
I think that I’d been in Waynesboro about a week, when Wilson died suddenly, sometime around Oct. 1 of last year. Now, I’m a grown man, and I like to think that I’ve been around the block a time or two, but I’m not ashamed to admit that Wilson’s death really got me down. In fact, I still think about him from time to time.
In the end, I can totally sympathize with someone like Melissa Bowen, who loved her pet dog so much that she’d take to freeze-drying him to preserve his memory. It’s a rare thing to have your heart touched by a dog, and we should all be so lucky.

Peacock remembers brush with Taylor

I’m no Auburn fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I watched AU’s 17-14 Cotton Bowl win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers with more than a little interest.
I was especially interested in the game because it was the final game for Auburn wide receiver Courtney Taylor. Although I’m just 30 years old, watching Taylor play his final game really made me feel old.
Even though he probably doesn’t remember it, I may be the only reporter that Taylor "got into it" with off the field.
Rewind with me back to the 2001 football season. In those days, I was a reporter for The Monroe Journal newspaper in Monroeville, Ala. We had six high schools in our coverage area there, and one of those schools was Frisco City High School. FCHS finished the regular season with a 7-3 record and earned a spot in the Class 1A state playoffs.
In the opening round, FCHS found themselves having to play Carrollton High School, located in Pickens County, Ala., near Tuscaloosa. My girlfriend at the time, who eventually became my wife, and I made the three-hour trip to Carrollton, where I had to cover the game. One of the weird things about Carrollton is that they share a very nice football stadium with the local private school. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it was unusual because the stadium was a weird mix of two different sets of school colors and mascots.
Courtney Taylor, who went on to play receiver at Auburn, was a senior on the 2001 Carrollton football team and played quarterback and cornerback. As a quarterback, he collected 1,200 all-purpose yards passing and running and threw for 10 touchdowns. As a defensive back, he made 76 tackles and six interceptions
Taylor and the Carrollton Indians ran all over Frisco City that night, beating the Whippets, 45-14. Taylor was obviously the most talented player on the field that night, and the reason that he and that game have stuck in my mind is that he accidentally flattened me on the sidelines during the sweep play late in the second quarter.
Now, when you’re a sideline reporter, especially one who has to take photographs, there is a fine art to avoiding players as a play carries them off the field at full speed and into whoever happens to be standing on the sideline. My strategy has always been to remain in place, even if the players look larger than life through the lens of my camera. That technique normally works, after all, the players are already moving and stand a better chance of avoiding you than you do of avoiding them.
Knock wood, but to date, the collision between me and Courtney Taylor is the only such collision that I’ve suffered in my sideline career. Thankfully, it wasn’t serious, although my pants might have gotten a little dirty.
In the end, Carrollton and Taylor finished the 2001 season with a 10-2 overall record. They went down in flames the following week, losing on the road in the second round of the playoffs to Autaugville, 21-12.
I’m sure that Taylor remembers fondly his high school days at Carrollton, but I’ve often wondered, in the years since, if he remembers the night that he accidentally ran over an out-of-town sideline reporter. Maybe and maybe not, but it’s a small brush with fame that I’ll never forget.

Wayne County has changed much since Jan. 1932

It’s the first Thursday of the month, so let’s take a trip down memory lane and review all of interesting things that took place in Wayne County 75 years ago, way back in January 1932.
From the Jan. 14, 1932 edition of The News:
Readers learned that during the Jan. 4, 1932 meeting of Wayne County’s board of supervisors, the board elected John L. Sullivan, who represented District One, as their president.
In news about the Buckatunna community, readers saw that "President W.C. Bennett of State Teachers College at Hattiesburg was here Monday."
According to one advertisement, moviegoers would be able to see "An American Tragedy" Jan. 14-16, 1932 at the Princess Theatre. For cartoon lovers in the audience, the sixth episode of "Danger Island" was also playing at the Princess.
Under the headline, "Mrs. L.S. Pitts Suffers Broken Leg," readers saw that Mrs. L.S. Pitts Sr. had "the misfortune of stepping through a weak plank on the doorsteps of their home Sunday morning and breaking her leg near the ankle."
In an end-of-year accounting of the books at the First National Bank of Waynesboro, readers learned that the bank had $645,086.59 in resources.
Readers also learned that they could make the short trip to Mobile, Ala. to see the historic frigate, the U.S.S. Constitution, also known as "Old Ironsides." The warship was to remain in Mobile until Jan. 18, and a number of Waynesboro citizens made the trip to view the Constitution, including "Prof. Craft," Billie Hunt and Styron West.
From the Jan. 21, 1932 edition of The News:
In this week’s paper, readers learned that the Choctaw band of Mississippi College would perform at the high school auditorium on the night of Jan. 30. Waynesboro was well represented in the band with Harvey Hurt Jr. at fist solo cornet, Frank Ellis Jr. on first bass and Benjamin Hand on the baritone.
Beneath the headline "Fire Destroys Two Waynesboro Homes," readers learned that on "Monday afternoon about 3:30, the home of E.H. Bond was discovered on fire and before the fire department could get water to the blaze, it had gained such headway that the one stream of water couldn’t check it, and the house was completely destroyed. A portion of the furnishings were saved.
"An alarm was turned in from the home of J.P. Williams while the fire department was fighting the fire at the Bond home, sparks causing the roof of this place to catch and this house was also destroyed. The fire on the roof of the home of Chas. Trigg, which also caught from sparks from the Bond home, was extinguished with little damage."
Under the headline, "County Teachers to Meet Saturday," readers saw that "the teachers and carriers of Wayne County are asked to meet at Waynesboro on Sat., Jan. 23 at 10 a.m. to vote on whether the schools are to be continued or closed at the end of the fourth month."
In that same edition of the paper, in news about the Buckatunna community, readers learned that "a number of Buckatunna people attend the 58th wedding anniversary celebration Sunday of Mr. and Mrs. George E. Patrick at their home near here.
"Lawrence Martin has gone to Millry, Ala. to attend school.
"The young people enjoyed an o’possum hunt Monday night given by Miss Mamie Dail and Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Dail."
One advertisement read, "Cash For Chickens, all kinds, Kerney Williams, see me at Busby Service Station, North Side."
Another advertisement told readers that they could buy a new Chevrolet Six car at Cooley Motor Co. for $475. The Chevrolet Six would reach speeds of up to 65 to 70 miles per hour and could go from zero to 35 in 6.7 seconds. The vehicle also boasted a 60-horse power motor.
From the Jan. 28, 1932 edition of The News:
Under the headline "Ship Radishes," readers saw that "a car load of radishes, made up of co-operative shippers, was being loaded Tuesday and Wednesday. The radishes are of fine quality and will go to the St. Louis market."
Beneath the headline "Old Newspaper Gives Interesting News," readers of The News learned that "an old gazette, The Monticello Gazette, has found its way to The News office through the kind interest of a friend and gives much interesting news of the times of long ago."
The paper, which was dated Dec. 3, 1831 and printed in Monticello, Miss., contained more than a few interesting items.
"The message of Gov. Brandon occupied only 2-1/2 columns of hand pica, and he reported to the legislature that the state ‘has a surplus of $39,900.30.’ What a difference 100 years can make in the finances of a great state. Poll tax, according to his message, at that time was $4.00."
(Unfortunately, the Jan. 7, 1932 edition of The News has apparently been lost to history. There is no record of it among the library’s extensive microfilm collection.)
Well, I guess that’s all that space will allow for this month. Next month, I plan to look at the events of February 1932 in Wayne County. Until then, if you get the urge to research the county’s past yourself, take advantage of the Waynesboro - Wayne County Library’s excellent selection of old newspapers on micro-film and other resources in its genealogy room. The library’s friendly and courteous staff will be more than happy to get you started.

Who do they belong to?

Their very presence is a total mystery and leave nothing but questions.
Who do they belong to? What are they doing here? When will their rightful owner come forward? Where did they even come from and why are they even here to begin with?
Before I go into the meat of this column, let me give you a little back story.
Rewind with me back to a night a few months ago when I found myself digging around in a seldom used back room at The News office. On that particular night, I was looking for a map of Waynesboro, but instead I stumbled upon two unexpected items. I pulled them from their dusty corner and wiped them off with a damp paper towel for a better look.
After a brief inspection, I was left more than a few questions. Chief among them were "What in the world are two, old football trophies doing in a back office at The News?"
"Well," I told myself, "maybe one day, I’ll write a sports column about them to find out."
As chance would have it, today is that day.
Before we go any farther with this, let it be said that the purpose of this column is to describe the two trophies in hopes that they can be returned to their rightful places. I’ll describe them here in a moment, and I have a sneaking suspicion that these trophies belong in the trophy cases of maybe one or more of our local schools.
I suspect that the reason they’re at The News is that they were used for some sort of story in the past and, for whatever reason, they never made it back into the hands of their rightful owners.
The first trophy is less than two feet tall with a plastic base. It features two brass eagles, a brass globe and a brass football player forever frozen in the act of punting. The plate on the front of the trophy reads "Southeast Region Football" with the years "1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949" printed below. The trophy was assembled by Dodge Trophy Co. of Chicago, Ill.
The second trophy is much taller, nearly three feet in height. It has a plastic base and is topped by a globe and a brass, Greek-style athlete hoisting a crown of laurel. The trophy also features what should have been four smaller football players. Two of the players are in the act of passing and another is in the act of punting. Only the fourth player’s left foot remains mounted to the trophy, the rest of him having been broken off some time in the trophy’s murky past.
The plate on the front of this trophy reads "Champions, Southeast Region, 1947." This trophy was also assembled by Dodge Trophy Co.
I would like to return these trophies to their rightful places, so if anyone out there in the reading audience knows anything about them, please get in touch with me at 601-735-4341. To reach me by mail, write The Wayne County News, ATTN: Lee Peacock, P.O. Box 509, Waynesboro, MS 39367. You can also reach me by e-mail at news@thewaynecountynews.com or leepeacock2002@hotmail.com.

Repton once like NYC?

It’s the first Thursday of the month, so you know what that means. It’s time to take a trip down memory lane and review all of interesting things that took place in Monroe County 100 years ago, way back in September 1906.
From the Sept. 6, 1906 edition of The Journal:
Monroe Journal Editor, Q. Salter, wrote that "Mr. A.F. Howington, one of Excel’s enterprising merchants, was in to see us Monday. Cotton is beginning to be marketed in this town and trade is improving."
Under the headline "School Notice," readers learned that "The Monroe Male and Female Institute will begin session at 8:30 o’clock Mon., Sept. 10. Opening exercises will embrace addresses by several prominent speakers of the town and county. The friends and patrons of the school are earnestly requested to be present. Parents will confer a favor on the undersigned by requiring pupils to be in their seats on this the first day of school. Give us the pleasure of your presence on the above mentioned occasion and let us get acquainted. L.K. Benson, Principal."
In news about the Repton community, under the headline "Masonic Conference Convened at This Place, Aug. 27," readers saw "Repton is on a boom and could you have seen its thronged streets for the past few days, you would have pronounced Repton "New York," in infancy. The Masonic Conference convened at this place last Wednesday with a large attendance. Several Monroevilleites were seen on our streets during the conference."
From the Sept. 13, 1906 edition of The Journal:
Salter wrote that school opened at the Monroe Institute the previous Monday. "Forty-two pupils matriculated the first day, and the number is increasing steadily."
Readers also learned that "Hon. Oscar O. Bayles of Monroe was nominated State Senator by acclamation by the convention for the 21st District held at Brewton. The fact that Mr. Bayles had no opposition in his own county is highly complimentary to him personally, while the absence of opposition elsewhere speaks well for the harmonious relations existing between the counties composing this senatorial district."
In news about the Snider and Jones Mill communities, written by "Happy Jack," readers learned that "Jones Mill [now Frisco City] is growing to be such a popular little burg that it’s hard work to keep up with the visitors as they are constantly coming and going."
In a rare news item from the Goodway community, written by "Cyclone," readers read that "a very enjoyable entertainment was given at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lambert on the night of Sept. 1. Ice cream and cake was served which made the night still more pleasant. We had some most excellent music rendered us by Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Booker and Mr. J. Garrett, on the violin, organ and banjo."
From the Sept. 20, 1906 edition of The Journal:
Salter wrote that the "Rev. C.H. Motley went to Manistee the first of the week where he is superintending the erection of a new Methodist church."
Salter also reported that "a new Masonic Lodge was organized at Excel on Thursday of last week, known as Excel Lodge No. 655, making nine lodges actively at work in the county. The following are the officers of the new lodge: G.W. Salter Sr., H.R. White, R.L. Casey, J.F. Kelly, Riley Kelly, E. Parvin, J.C. Griffin, L.B. Cohron and William Williams. The new lodge begins with 10 charter members and the prospects for growth and development are promising."
There wasn’t much local news in this edition of The Journal, prompting Salter to give his faithful readers an explanation: "The heavy demand for advertising by local merchants for several weeks has forced us to infringe somewhat on the space usually devoted to reading matter. We must ‘make hay while the sun shines’ or have no forage. In our ‘picnic’ continues beyond reasonable length we shall enlarge the paper."
From the Sept. 27, 1906 edition of The Journal:
Salter reported that "the Tax Collector and Assessor will start out on their annual round for the assessment and collection of taxes next Monday."
Salter also reported that "our quiet village was startled by the alarm of fire about 10 o’clock on Monday night. Some chance passer discovered smoke issuing from the apartments occupied by Mr. J.F. Hassell in the old City Hotel and gave the alarm. A number of persons hurried to the scene and succeeded in putting the fire out before very much damage was done."
Salter also reported that "another killing occurred at Peterman, this county Saturday night last. Ed Dean shot and killed Will Neville. Saturday was payday at Peterman and the citizens desiring to prevent disorder, secured the presence of two officers. There was some shooting and disorder in the early part of the night, but the officers succeeded in suppressing it. The crowd dispersed and the deputies returned home. The killed occurred at a late hour and nothing definite is learned concerning it. Dean came to town and gave himself up to the sheriff and was released on bond."
Well, I guess that’s all that space will allow for this month. Next month, I plan to take a look at the events of September 1906 in Monroe County. Until then, if you get the urge to research the county’s past yourself, take advantage of the Monroe County Library’s excellent selection of old newspapers on micro-film and other resources in its second-floor Genealogy and Alabama rooms. The library’s friendly and courteous staff will be more than happy to get you started.

Games were good

Last week's slate of football games for our local teams proved to be more than a little interesting, especially J.U. Blacksher's win over McKenzie, Frisco City’s win over Excel and Monroe County High School’s win over J.F. Shields.
Blacksher’s 18-14 win over McKenzie on Friday night was Blacksher’s 23rd win over the Tigers since the end of World War II, leaving the Bulldogs with a 23-21 edge in the long-running series. Friday night’s 4-point game was also the closest Blacksher-McKenzie game since 1989, when McKenzie beat Blacksher 16-14 at Uriah.
Frisco City’s 12-6 win over Excel last Thursday was Frisco’s 30th win over the Panthers since the end of WWII, leaving the Whippets with a 30-28 lead in the series.
Close games between these two school’s are nothing new. In fact, last Thursday’s game was 21st game between the two schools since WWII to be decided by a touchdown or less. Frisco’s win last Thursday was also the school’s first win over Excel since 2001, snapping a four-game losing streak against the Panthers.
Frisco is also currently riding an eight-game regular season winning streak, a string of regular season wins that began with a 46-0 win over Fruitdale on Sept. 16, 2005. The school record at Frisco is 14 regular season wins, a streak of wins that began on Oct. 26, 1991 and ended on Sept. 3, 1993.
MCHS’s 26-0 win over Shields on Friday was MCHS’s fifth straight win over the Panthers. The win also left MCHS with a 22-4 edge in the series, which began in 1973. Friday night’s game was also MCHS’s ninth all-time shutout of the Panthers, who also failed to score on MCHS last season.
With that said, let's take a look at this week's slate of games for our local teams:
Blacksher at Shields: Fans shouldn’t be fooled by the score from Friday’s MCHS-Shields game. Although Shields lost 26-0, they were seriously undermanned against Class 4A Monroe County High School. Shields has size and speed, and if they can control their turnovers, I look for them to get by Blacksher this week. Shields 7, Blacksher 6.
Monroe Academy at Clarke Prep: Clarke Prep enters this game ranked No. 5 in the state among AISA schools. Although they’ve suffered a loss this season, the Gators are scoring 19.0 points per game. Look for Clarke Prep to rebound from last week’s loss to Faith Academy this week unless MA’s defense rises to the occasion. Clarke 19, MA 7.
MCHS at Jackson: MCHS may have whipped Class 1A Shields on Friday, but they’ll be dealing with a different animal this week when they travel to Jackson. Jackson took it on the nose last week, 41-6, from an outstanding Leroy team, so they’ll be out for blood this week against MCHS. I suspect Jackson will get the win in this one unless MCHS’s offense steps it up a notch. Jackson 14, MCHS 7.
Excel at Southern Choctaw: The brutal reality is that in six all-time meetings between these two schools in football, Excel has never beaten Southern Choctaw. Things don’t look any better for the Panthers this season as Southern Choctaw enters this week’s game ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 2A. Look for Southern Choctaw to get the win unless Excel can play its best defensive game of the season. Southern Choctaw 28, Excel 6.
McIntosh at Frisco City: Frisco’s biggest win of the season last year came against McIntosh, when the Whippets embarrassed the Demons, 61-6. McIntosh enters this week’s game licking its wounds from a 40-18 loss last week to a lackluster Washington County team. I don’t know if Frisco will score 61 points this week, but I’ll be very surprised if they don’t get the win. Frisco City 14, McIntosh 0.
Vanderbilt at Alabama: The most exciting thing about this game will be the fact that it’ll be on regular TV and not pay-per-view. Unless the wheels just absolutely fall off, Alabama should hand Vandy its second loss of the season. Alabama 32, Vandy 16.
Auburn at Miss. State: Anyone who saw South Carolina whip MSU, 15-0, last Thursday knows that it’s going to be a very long season for the Bulldogs. Auburn should cruise to a win in this one unless the earth opens up and swallows Auburn’s first-string defense. Auburn 45, MSU 25.

Top 10 books writer has read so far in 2006

The year is over half way over, so this week I figured that I’d give you, the reading audience, a run-down of my 10 favorite books from the first half of 2006.
1. "The Last Coach: A Life of Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant" by Allen Barra: I think you will be hard-pressed to find a more detailed biography of former University of Alabama football coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant. This rich, full-scale 600-page biography captures "the best coach there ever was" in his full glory.
2. "Cell" by Stephen King: In these pages you'll find King's fresh take on two old favorites - the zombie and the end of the world. This time around, ordinary people are turned into zombies thanks to a pulse sent out over cell phones, an event that brings about the end of civilization as we know it.
3. "Reporter: Covering Civil Rights... and Wrongs in Dixie" by Alvin Benn: Benn has covered major events in the South, particularly Alabama, for decades. During his time as a reporter, he has chronicled some of the most extraordinary moments in modern history, including the Civil Rights Movement in the South.
4. "Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee" by Charles J. Shields: Drawing on 600 interviews and much new information, "Mockingbird" is the first-ever biography of Harper Lee. Highly entertaining, filled with humor and heart, this is an evocative portrait of a writer and the place and people whom she made immortal.
5. "Game of Shadows" by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams: This book offers the complete inside story of Barry Bonds and the shocking steroid scandal that turned the sports world upside down. Shocking, revelatory and page-turning, this book casts light into the shadows of American sports to reveal the dark truths at the heart of the game today.
6. "Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson: The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history - the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. "Manhunt" is a fully documented work, a gripping hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters.
7. "Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers" by Michael Connelly: Before he became a novelist, Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the reader past the police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims and the killers.
8. "Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans" by Winston Groom: From the author of best-selling works of history and fiction, a fast-paced, enthralling retelling of one of the greatest battles fought on the North American continent, and of the two men who, against all expectations and odds, joined forces to repel the British invasion of New Orleans in December 1814.
9. "Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate" by Angus Konstam: Blackbeard was the most feared pirate of his day - a man who terrorized the Caribbean, who dared to blockade Charleston, S.C., and who became, as a result, the most famous pirate of all. Drawing on historical and archaeological findings, Konstam has produced the definitive biography of Blackbeard.
10. "Electric Beach" by Joe Hilley: Fifty-something attorney Mike Connolly's whole way of life is threatened when he agrees to represent Harry Braxton. As Connolly follows a string of clues in this nasty murder case, he's led to a phony tanning salon where he's drawn deeper and deeper into the dark underworld of prostitution.

Excel-Frisco county's biggest prep rivalry

The first full week of the high school football season is upon us, and local fans will get the chance to watch two great in-county rivalry games this week.
Excel will travel to Frisco City for their annual meeting with the Whippets tonight (Thursday), and J.F. Shields will travel to Monroeville to face Monroe County High School tomorrow (Friday) night. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Frisco City v. Excel, also known as "The Battle of Big Escambia Creek," is arguably the county’s biggest high school football rivalry game year-in and year-out. In most cases, when these two schools butt heads there is no clear-cut favorite, and this year is no different. This year’s Frisco City–Excel game will be the 58th meeting between the two schools in football since the end of World War II, and Frisco City leads the series, 29-28.
Monroe County v. J.F. Shields is also a big rivalry game, but not nearly as old as the Frisco City-Excel series. The two schools first played each other in football in 1973, and MCHS leads the series 21-4.
Without further ado, here’s how I think this week’s slate of games will turn out. Before I go out on a limb and give my picks for this week and the rest of the season, everyone should know that I wish nothing but the best for our local teams this season and hope that they get a victory each week. With that said, here's my take on this week's slate of games.
Excel at Frisco City: Frisco City hasn’t beaten Excel since 2001, but I look for that streak to come to an end tonight. No team in the county this season is as athletic, experienced or as hungry as Frisco City. Look for Frisco City head coach Troy Quinn get his first-ever win over Excel, putting him just four games away from breaking the single wins record for coaches at Frisco City. Frisco City 21, Excel 14.
Shields at MCHS: Word around the campfire is that new Shields head coach, Will Randolph, is full of surprises, and he might have his Class 1A Panthers ready to deliver a knockout punch to the Class 4A Tigers. On the other side of the coin, MCHS had better win this game, because their schedule won’t get any easier. My pick? MCHS 7, Shields 6.
Morgan Academy at Monroe Academy: Morgan entered the season ranked No. 1 in the state among AISA schools and whipped a tough Macon-East team, 10-8, in the season-opener last week. MA hasn’t beat Morgan since 2002, and I don’t look for that to change this week unless the Vols can keep Morgan out of the end zone. Morgan 28, MA 7.
McKenzie at Blacksher: In the last meeting between these two schools, Blacksher whipped McKenzie, 33-0. That was three years ago, way back in 2003, and much has changed for the better in the football program at Blacksher since those days. Look for Blacksher head coach Greg Shehan to lead the Bulldogs to another shutout win over McKenzie on the way to the best season at Blacksher in recent memory. Blacksher 14, McKenzie 0.

'Blackbeard' biography one of the best this year

"Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate" by Angus Konstam is one of the coolest books that I’ve read this year.
Published in June, this 336-page book details the pirate career of Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard the Pirate.
Blackbeard was the most feared pirate of his day, a rouge who terrorized the Caribbean and the islands of the Spanish Main. One of the most colorful cutthroats from the Golden Age of Piracy, he became the most famous pirate of them all when he dared to blockade Charleston, S.C.
As notorious as his savage career was, much of Blackbeard’s life has been cloaked in mystery. Despite the mystery surrounding his life, Konstam, drawing on the latest historical and archaeological findings, has written the definitive biography of Blackbeard. Beginning with his pirate apprenticeship in the Caribbean under the pirate captain, Benjamin Hornigold, to his gory death in a sea battle near his base at Ocracoke Island, N.., the book reveals how Blackbeard assembled the most powerful pirate fleet of his day.
Drawing on vivid descriptions of Blackbeard’s attacks from his rare surviving victims, Konstam, a pirate expert, presents dramatic accounts of the pirate’s very effective tactics as well as his reputation for cruelty. Konstam also examines the life and business of piracy, explains the lure of the trade and reveals how contraband played an important part in the establishment of colonial America’s fragile community.
One of the more interesting portions of the book deals with the discovery of Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Originally named Concord, the ship was captured by Hornigold, who turned it over to Blackbeard and made him captain. A 300-ton frigate with 40 cannons, Blackbeard ran the ship aground over a year later, while attempting to enter Beaufort Inlet, N.C. Another of Blackbeard's ships, Adventure, was lost trying to free her.
In 1996, Intersall, Inc., a private research and recovery company, discovered the remains of a vessel which they believe to be the Queen Anne's Revenge. Many cannons and more than 16,000 artifacts have been recovered from the wreckage, however none of them appear to be of French origin (as would be expected from a French slave ship), but are mainly English. This therefore raises doubts about the identification of the vessel as the Queen Anne's Revenge. Recovery of artifacts from the site continues in the current 2006 field season, under the supervision of Project Director Mark Wilde-Ramsing of the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch.
Tales of Blackbeard and his exploits have entertained readers ever since his death. In real life, however, a run-in with this fearsome pirate was no laughing mater. After reading "Blackbeard," you’ll count yourself lucky to have avoided experiencing the Golden Age of Piracy for yourself.
In the end, I really enjoyed the book. I suspect that
anyone in the reading audience with an interest in
pirates, sea-faring history and high adventure will get a
big kick out of it too. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give the
book an 8.5.

Join the ESPN contest

Do you think you've got what it takes to match wits with arguably the best football minds in Monroe County? Have you always wanted to go head to head with local college football fans and put your pigskin knowledge to the test over an entire season? If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, then I encourage you to sign up for ESPN.com's College Pick 'Em Contest.
A group of my friends and I have played this free contest for the past six seasons, and it's been a whole lot of fun each year. There are always a few upsets, controversies and surprises. It will definitely make your college football season a lot more interesting and fun.
Here's how the contest works: Each week during the coming college football season, you'll pick the winners of 10 games for the upcoming college football weekend. Your correct picks will be added up after the weekend's games to give you your total for the week. Whoever gets the most right, wins.
To sign up for the game, go online and visit the contest website at http://games.espn.go.com/cpickem/frontpage. Once there, sign in with your ESPN.com member name. If you don't have an ESPN.com account, take about two minutes to sign up for one. It's absolutely free, as is the contest, and it takes about two minutes. It's easy, especially for those of you who are internet savvy enough to find the contest site online.
Once you've got your account and have signed in to the contest, create your own contest entry. Click on "Create Entry," and follow the simple instructions.
Once you've created an entry, you can join our local group of football fans, allowing you to compete against other contestants from Monroe County. There is where the real fun comes in.
I've set up a group that all of you can join, so we'll all be able to compete against each other in the contest. Go ahead and click on "Create of Join a Group." That'll take you to another page, where you'll be able to join our local group. The name of our group is called "Monroe County Pickers." Enter that in the appropriate space (without the quotation marks and period).
Our group is a private group, so you'll have to have a password to join. Our password is "monroe." Just type it in without the quotation marks and the period. In the end, if you have any trouble signing up, getting started or if you have any other questions, just e-mail me.
Now you're all set. You've created your entry and joined our group. Now make your picks, sit back, enjoy Saturday's games and see how you fared against other football fans from Monroe County.
Don't worry if you don't do so well in the first week. The contest lasts 14 weeks, so you'll have plenty of time to catch up. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint.
In the end, if you have any trouble signing up, getting started or if you have any other questions, just e-mail me at leepeacock2002@hotmail.com. If you are interested in participating, don't wait too long. The contest kicks off Saturday, Sept. 2, at 8 a.m., and you don't want to miss any of the action.
As I said before, a group of my friends and I have been playing for about six years, and if you try it, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Also, feel free to tell your friends about the game and encourage them to sign up. The more the merrier.
With that said, here's how I see tomorrow (Friday) night’s game between Monroe Academy and Wilcox Academy.
Monroe Academy v. Wilcox: In what will be the 21st all-time meeting between these two schools, I think Wilcox has the advantage. Last year, Wilcox stunned MA, 20-19, in the season opener on their way to a 6-4 record. Wilcox also enjoys the return of 12 starters from last year’s squad, compared to the six returning starters at MA. Although MA enjoys the home field advantage in this one, I think Wilcox will pull it out in the end. Wilcox 21, MA 14.

'Bungling Angel' an interesting new work

Gordon Gerick’s book, "The Bungling Angel," is one of the most interesting books that I’ve read this year.
Published in May, the 200-page book is about Mary Hatfield, a recently widowed and retired IRS agent, who moves to Shell Cove to be close to her sister Martha Robinson. Ki, an angel on her first assignment from the big man upstairs, is sent to Earth to guide Mary’s spirit into the afterlife. In a mix-up of angelic proportions, Ki accidentally losses some of her angel powers, transferring them to Mary. Mary, now endowed with a portion of Ki’s powers, must help this "bungling" angel carry out her missions on Earth and to help her regain her lost powers.
Readers will enjoy the story for all of its twists and turns and will find it interesting because it comes from the pen of Gordon Gerick, a former postman and real estate agent in Monroeville. Many of you will remember Gerick, who now lives in Canton, Ga., as the husband of Linda Harris Gerick, a native of Beatrice and a former X-ray technician at Monroe County Hospital.
Gerick’s tale of Ki and her bungled adventures has already garnered more than a little attention. In 2005, portions of "The Bungling Angel" were re-written into short story form and won honorable mention honors in the humor category at the Alabama Writers Conclave. The Conclave was organized in 1923 and is the oldest continuing writers’ organization in the country. Members include writers like Gerick, aspiring authors and supporters of the arts.
I found Gerick’s tale memorable for its main premise – the loss of Ki’s angel powers and her quest to regain them – as well as for other ideas in the book. Late in the book, Ki offers readers a novel explanation of what’s happening when they experience deja vu. We’ve all experienced deja vu before. It’s the feeling that a person has been in a place or had a specific experience before, although it is actually a new experience. According to Ki, deja vu experiences are road markers in your life, markers that let you know that you’re on the right track and that you’re doing what God wants you to do. On the surface, it’s an interesting theory.
Friends and fans of Gerick will also be pleased to know that he has already completed his second novel, "A Silent Adoption," due for public release in early 2007.
"It’s a novel that was originally written for my two adopted grandchildren as a gift from their Papa, when they were old enough that their dad thought they should read it," Gerick said. "Several things have happened that made me change my mind about having it published. Mainly from people who have been through the [adoption] process, have told me the book really covers a lot of the emotions that they went through. It covers about a 20-year span and runs a parallel timeline between the birth mother and the couple who adopt their daughter."
In the end, I enjoyed "The Bungling Angel," and it’s a welcome addition to my collection of books by other local authors. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give the book a 7.5.

Writer stumped! Please respond ASAP!

Sometimes you just hit a wall. This is especially true when you’re doing research. In almost all cases, when you hit a wall, it’s OK to ask for a little help. That’s the purpose of this sports column. Your friendly neighborhood sportswriter, Lee Peacock, needs a helping hand from his reading audience.
Before we get into the meat of this thing, let me give you a little background. About three years ago, I began researching and collecting the results of every football game played by the six high schools in Monroe County. I set out to collect the final score of each game (who won, against what opponent, etc.), the location of each game and who was the head football coach at each school. As far as I know this had never been done before, and as you might imagine, it took a lot of time.
That project is largely finished with the exception of 10 games that were played by J.F. Shields (more on that later). This summer, starting back in June, I set out to gather the results of all games played by Excel, Frisco City, J.U. Blacksher and Monroe County High School between the end of World War II in 1945 and 1965.
Below you’ll find a school-by-school breakdown of my progress. I hope that former players, coaches and alumni from each school will read this column, paying particular attention to the information that I’m missing, in hopes that you’ll get in touch with me, so that I can fill in some of these gaps. I especially want to hear from people with old newspaper clippings and old yearbooks. Without further ado, lets start with MCHS.
Monroe County High School: In previous editions of The Journal, MCHS was the best-covered team in the county. I managed to find the results of every game played by MCHS between 1965 and 1946. However, I was unable to find the complete results of the 1945 season. I know that MCHS had a team because Evergreen beat MCHS, 26-0, in Evergreen on Nov. 1, 1945. I’m also trying to find out who the head coach was in 1945.
Excel High School: The only score that I’m missing from Excel is the result of a game between Excel and Repton, played on Nov. 17, 1955 in Excel. After WWII, Excel rejuvenated its football program in 1947 with a three-game schedule. Excel, under Coach Bob Smith, lost to Blacksher, 41-0, at Uriah that year and the Panthers were scheduled to play Repton and McCullough later that year. I’m missing the results of the Repton and McCullough games, and feel that there is a strong chance that they were never played.
Frisco City High School: I managed to find every score from FCHS from 1965 to 1947. However, I only found the results of two games from 1946 and the results of only one game from 1945. I also don’t know the name of FCHS’s head coach in 1945 and 1946.
J.U. Blacksher: I’m missing a number of games from Blacksher from 1965 to 1945: Blacksher at Lyeffion on Nov. 6, 1964; Blacksher at Walnut Hill on Nov. 26, 1957; Blacksher at Walnut Hill on Sept. 30, 1955; Blacksher v. Lyeffion on Oct. 21, 1955; Blacksher at Beatrice on Nov. 18, 1955; and Blacksher v. McCullough on Nov. 21, 1947.
I’m also trying to find out the location of a game between Blacksher and Repton, played on Sept. 26, 1947. I know the result of that game, but not the location.
It is my understanding that the 1946 season at Blacksher was the first post-WWII season at the school. I know the result of only one game from that year and that was the result of Blacksher’s homecoming game against Hayneville.
J.F. Shields: The former Monroe County Training School at Beatrice began playing football under the name J.F. Shields High School in 1972. I’m missing the results of 10 games played by Shields from 1972 to the present: Shields at Luverne on Oct. 23, 1998; Shields at Southern Normal on Oct. 30, 1998; Shields v. Southside-Selma on Oct. 3, 1997; Shields v. Keith on Oct. 17, 1997; Shields v. Linden on Oct. 24, 1997; Shields at Autaugaville on Oct. 31, 1997; Shields v. Wilcox-Central on Nov. 7, 1997; Shields at Marengo County on Oct. 24, 1974; Shields at McIntosh Union on Oct. 5, 1973; and Shields at G.P. Austin on Sept. 22, 1972.
In the end, I really appreciate any help that members of the reading audience might be able to offer in trying to fill in the gaps in my research. Many of you will also be interested to know that when I finish this phase of the project, I plan to dive even further back into the past to gather the results of games played by our local schools from 1945 to origins of each of their football programs. If anyone out there has any information about that period of time, get in touch with me.
Contact Lee Peacock at e-mail at leepeacock2002@hotmail.com or by mail at The Monroe Journal, ATTN: Lee Peacock, P.O. Box 826, Monroeville, AL 36461. Peacock can also be reached by phone at The Journal at 251-575-3282.

Groom's "Patriotic Fire" doesn't disappoint

I’ll admit it. Up until a week ago, I really didn’t know much about the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans or about how these events effected the course of American History. That all changed when I got the chance to read Winston Groom’s new book, "Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans."
Many of you will remember Groom as the author of "Forrest Gump," a book that was made into an award-winning motion picture starring Tom Hanks. In "Patriotic Fire," Groom, who lives in Point Clear, tries his hand at non-fiction, and he doesn’t disappoint. In fact, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a more readable, engaging book on the Battle of New Orleans.
The 292-page book, published in May by Knopf Publishing Group, tells the story of how Jackson, then a cantankerous backwoods general, and the French pirate, Jean Laffite, team up against long odds to defend New Orleans against a well-trained British force twice its size. Jackson’s force was a ragtag group of backwoodsmen, Louisiana Creoles, refugees, pirates, Indians and free blacks. Under Jackson’s leadership, however, they managed to defend New Orleans against a large, disciplined, experience and professional British army that had already whipped Napoleon on European battlefields.
I especially enjoyed the book because in Groom’s capable hands the tale of the Battle of New Orleans takes on a life of its own. Groom’s narrative will make you smell the gunpowder, hear the roar of cannons and imagine what it was like for Jackson’s force to stand up to 10,000 Brits slogging their way toward them through the marshes outside of New Orleans.
On the other hand, I was slightly disappointed that the book didn’t talked more about Jean Laffite. My first interest in Laffite was piqued a few year’s back when I visited Jean Laffite’s Blacksmith Shop on Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Now a piano bar, Jean Laffite’s Blacksmith Shop was supposedly Laffite’s in-town headquarters in the early 1800s. It’s one of the oldest structures in the city and escaped major damage from Hurricane Katrina.
In his treatment of Laffite, I suspect that Groom did the best he could, given the sparse information available on the mysterious pirate. I did expect more about Laffite since his name was in the book’s subtitle. The book seemed to be about 75 percent Andrew Jackson, 20 percent Battle of New Orleans and five percent Jean Laffite.
With that said, why would anyone from Monroe County be interested in reading "Patriotic Fire"? Readers in Monroe County will enjoy the book because Groom goes to great lengths to detail the days that led up to the War of 1812, including pages of discussion on William "Red Eagle" Weatherford and the Massacre at Fort Mims. Groom does a good job of describing Weatherford’s role in the Creek Indian Wars, Jackson’s response to the carnage at Fort Mims and how it all effected Jackson’s military and political careers. (After the Battle of New Orleans, Jackson would go on to become the seventh President of the United States.)
In the end, I really enjoyed "Patriotic Fire," and I recommend it to anyone in the reading audience with an interest in the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson or Jean Laffite. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give the book an 8.5.

Coming season could be a landmark year for local football

The upcoming 2006 football season, set to start in a matter of weeks, looks to be a landmark season for more than a few reasons. What follows is a school-by-school breakdown of some of the historic moments that our local coaches and teams will (or could) pass this season.
Frisco City: Frisco City head coach Troy Quinn needs just five wins this season to become the school’s winningest modern era (post-1966) head football coach. Since 1966, no head coach at Frisco has won more than 25 total games. Entering this season, Quinn is 21-13 overall at Frisco. Two former Frisco coaches currently share the modern era single wins record at the school – Vance McCrory and Rodney Dollar. They both won 25 games each during their time at the school.
Excel: Andy Lambert enters the 2006 season as Excel’s ninth modern era head football coach. Historically, head coaches at Excel last an average of five seasons. Football coaches at Excel have posted an average record of 5-6 in their first year as head coach at the school. Excel’s season-opener against Frisco City on Aug. 31 in Frisco City will be the 40th meeting between the two schools since 1966.
J.F. Shields: Will Randolph enters this season as the ninth all-time head football coach at J.F. Shields. Football coaches at Shields have posted an average record of 4-6 in their first year as head coach at the school. The Sept. 15 game between Shields and Marengo County in Beatrice will be the 160th game played on Shields’ home field, "The Pit." The Sept. 22 game between Shields and Coffeeville in Coffeeville will be the 190th road game in the school’s history.
J.U. Blacksher: If second-year head coach Greg Shehan can lead Blacksher back to the state playoffs this season, it will be the first time that the Bulldogs have made the playoffs in back to back years since the early 1990s, when former head coach Skip Bell took the school to the playoffs four straight seasons, 1990-1993. In the modern era, football coaches at Blacksher have posted an average record of 6-5 in their second year as head coach at the school.
Monroe Academy: Mitchell Turberville enters this season as the 15th head coach in the history of Monroe Academy’s football program. Historically, the average head coach at MA lasts 2.6 seasons. Football coaches at MA have posted an average record of 7-4 in their first year as head coach at the school. MA’s season-opener on Aug. 25 against Wilcox Academy will be the 410th football game in the school’s history. That game will also be MA’s 208th home football game. MA’s trip to Clarke Prep on Sept. 8 will be MA’s 203rd all-time road game.
Monroe County High School: MCHS’s Oct. 13 game against Southside-Selma will be the 180th game played at Tiger Stadium in Monroeville. This number includes all regular season and playoff games played on the field, but not spring games or jamborees. MCHS began playing at Tiger Stadium in 1974. The 2006 season will also be Randy Watson’s second season as head coach at the school. In the modern era, football coaches at MCHS have posted an average record of 5-5 in their second year as head coach at the school.