One of the national pastimes is complaining about the U.S. Postal Service. I'll have to admit that the post office in general nationwide has many problems and is notorious for its lack of service. It also causes many problems for weekly newspapers that depend on the postal service for circulation of their papers. . . . But this is not true of the Washington-Wilkes Post Office! The staff at the post office here is very efficient and very helpful in every way. How about this: Robin Burdette called a Washington-Wilkes lady on Sunday morning, Christmas Eve, to inform her that she had a package at the Post Office and offering to arrange pick-up of the package if needed. That's small town consideration! The postmaster and all the staff have been very helpful in helping The News-Reporter staff set up and comply with new postal regulations. We thank them all.

Henry and Shay Harris have sold their original Petal Pushers (across the street from Tena's Gift and Jewelry) to Louise and Pete Grimaud who will be opening the store as Miss Fancy Plants on Monday, January 8. We're all invited to "Come see." . . . Henry and Shay are still owners of Petal Pushers Christmas and Petal Pushers Too and also invite us to "Come see."

Downtown Washington is losing a familiar business attraction. It's Fashion, in its choice and prominent place on the southeast corner of The Square, closed its doors on December 30. The store has been on that corner for many years and has served the public well.

Norris Ware reports that after a dry December start we had 1.55 inches of rain on December 22 and 1.65 inches on Christmas Day. New

Year's Eve added .7 of an inch, bringing the total for December to 3.85. Norris recorded 41.95 for the year which he says is about six inches short of normal. . . . Norris also has a hummingbird which he thinks didn't leave when the rest of the hummers left. She has been at his feeder regularly and when we had that freeze the first week in December, Norris brought the feeder inside, warmed it up, and put it out again. The hummingbird came immediately to get a drink, so he brings it in every night and puts it back out during the daytime.

Patricia and Billy Bailey on Liberty Street like rocks and like searching for special ones. They have quite a collection of interesting and special ones used in various settings in their back yard.

Kelmetrus (Meme) Wylie, stellar running back for the Washington Wilkes Tiger football team, has been named Northeast Georgia Player of the Year by the Athens Banner-Herald. Meme led the Tigers in the region championship game against Fannin County with a 98-yard touchdown run, the longest run in Washington-Wilkes football history. He also has other outstanding statistics to his credit.

Ben LeGette, Washington- Wilkes' gourmet chef, is getting in full swing with his gourmet meals business. Ben wanted to live "in the country" and wanted to use his culinary talents, too, so he now has a house in the country in the Tignall area and is ready for marketing his delicious creations. He has a state of the art commercial kitchen where he prepares his meals, freezes them with a special vacuum seal for freshness, and delivers or ships them all over the Southeast. He doesn't have a restaurant where you go, sit down, and order what you want. He takes orders over the phone or internet, or by face-to-face contact, then prepares what the customer orders. The meals can be warmed and served in half an hour - ready for a special dinner party, family meal, parties, or whatever the customer desires. His menu will be available soon. . . . Other LeGette children are also in the news. Daughter Casie is in her third year of graduate school in Michigan where she will soon be DOCTOR LeGette and an English professor. . . . Melissa is working on her second book, with publication of her first book expected soon. . . . Sandy and Charles are the proud parents.

Vivian Walker recently purchased the old News-Reporterbuilding down the street from Tena's Jewelry and Gifts and The Fountain. She is having the front painted. The color is (subdued) purple.

Jennifer Nicole Hunter has an interesting and prosperous business which she operates as j.Nic Designs on the internet. Jennifer is the wife of Dan Hunter, number two son of Gail and David Hunter of Washington Wilkes. Jennifer has an art degree from the University of Georgia and uses her artistic ability to create beautiful jewelry. She started designing her own jewelry pieces as a high school student in the 1980s. She always had a steady stream of "customers" in her classmates who could hardly wait to see her next design. She has had orders from all over the United States, including California and Alaska, but oddly enough, only two orders from Georgia. Jennifer and Dan live on Wolfskin Road in Oglethorpe County where they have a five-acre mini-farm with lots and lots of animals. Dan is a Clarke County School Principal. You can see some of her designs on her website.

There has been a lot of "flap" about the Georgia Department of Transportation's decision to leave 500 small towns and communities off the next state road map. The two removed in Wilkes County are Aonia and Sandtown. The Atlanta and Athens newspapers have had interesting stories about several commuand nities which are omitted and there has been a request for legislation to have them reinstated. It will be interesting to see what this upcoming legislative session does or does not do.

It took quite a while for the city workers and Wayne Callaway to take down the old oak tree on The Square. They started Wednesday morning, continued through the day and through Thursday. Friday morning, all the limbs were gone and a good-sized portion of the trunk was still standing. They had to be extra careful about where limbs fell so as not to damage the area.

The forsythia is already blooming in Liz Reynolds' yard at the corner of Liberty St. and South Alexander Ave. It usually is an early bird in January but it has been blooming for a couple of weeks now. . . . Check out the beautiful holly bushes on the east side of the courthouse and around the back of the old jail. It's beautiful and loaded with berries and the Cardinals are having a feast.

A distress call went out from the hosts of an annual neighborhood Christmas Day breakfast when they found that they were out of grits - of all things! A neighbor solved the problem by "borrowing" some from his church kitchen. Then the hosts discovered that they were also out of paper towels for draining all the bacon that was to be cooked. A call to a sister solved that problem when she went by her place of business and swiped a roll from the storage room.

No weekly newspaper anywhere could have a more dedicated and faithful group of community correspondents than The News-Reporter. During the mixed-up schedules we had during the holidays, they met every deadline we asked them to without any complaining, even bringing news in on New Year's Day. This was a plus which we had not expected. Thank you to Samille Sherrer, Bonnie Boatwright, Nobie Keener, Carolyn Gammon, Priscilla Maxwell, Joan Drinkard, and Sherry Newsome.