Ponderings by Dan Ponder

We met walking up the ramp to the gymnasium at Girard Junior High School.  We were both beginning the seventh  grade, the first year of junior high in those days. I had come from Cottonwood Elementary in the county school system and knew almost no one.  She had attended Highlands Elementary in the Dothan City…

The sports medicine clinic was widely known and on the cutting edge of the medical field as it related to athletes.  On a single day in 1968, the doctor performed nine surgeries.  Eight of those were college athletes suffering from torn ACLs mostly, but also going under the knife for other sports related injuries. The…

The paper ballots were drastically different.  One was white, large, and full of print.  The other was blue, the size of a small note pad, and had just a few options.  It was my first election after moving to Southwest Georgia.  My new bride was working at the polls, trying to meet people in her…

The most difficult thing about writing a weekly column is timing.  That is especially true these days when there seems to be a crisis or two every week.  This week there is an impeachment trial coming yet again.  My deadlines are before the trial has started and my column will be read after it is…

Our daughter, Catherine, gave her mother and me an unusual gift this past Christmas.  It is called Story Worth.  Each week, Mary Lou and I get a question selected by Catherine in our email inbox.  We are supposed to write the answer, attach a picture if we like, and send it back to an embedded…

The cork went down almost instantly.  It did not bob up and down, it was totally under water.  I grabbed the reel on the end of the dock and fought the fish as hard as I could.  The water level was a bit down that year at Compass Lake and I was by myself, so…

My brother and I spent last week cleaning out our warehouses at the industrial park which we have sold.  There was over 4,000 square feet of “stuff” to go through.  We had put it off as long as we could saving the best (or worst) for last. For three days Ernest and I braved chilly…

These words are from the last paragraph of my column last week.  “I am tired of waiting for the election to be over, so I will just hope that today is the final finish line, no matter what the results.   Only when there are no more races left to run can we begin to…

As I write this column, it is Tuesday, January 5, 2021.  This is my first column of the new year, and I wish it would be the last column of the election of 2020.  The citizens of the state of Georgia are finally headed to the voting booths, although over three million Georgians have already…

This is my 11th year end article since I began writing weekly newspaper columns.  I have not gone back and read the past columns, but as I sit here with a blank slate, I cannot help but believe this is the most challenging year yet to summarize. The obvious approach might be to just review…