I hope all uv y'all have had an enjoyable weekend. Mine's been fine, however, I don't think I'll ever be the same after reading the Associated Press story about this numskull from Sarasota who hanged a Confederate flag from a 13 foot high gallows and called it "art". The joker also desecrated the flag in a number of other ways.

This crime he calls "The Confederate Flag" is really an American Flag.

If he's offended at seeing Confederate symbols in Florida, we'll absolutely drive him stark raving mad in Alabama. We still have HEART OF DIXIE on our car tags (inside a small heart now; not 6 bold inches of type at the top of the tag like the old days but COME THE REVOLUTION, WE'LL BRING THAT BACK!) and of the 18 counties created in Alabama since the Civil War, NINE ARE NAMED FOR CONFEDERATE HEROES!
Maybe THE SHITHEAD "ARTIST"
can quit his job at the Ringling Brothers Circus College in Sarasota & get a teaching job in Auburn where their #43 car tag stands for General Robert E. Lee!

He and his academic shithead supporters http://academicshithead.blogspot.com should now understand that they have identified themselves as enemies of our country and it is my hope and prayer that they all suffer penalties for their offenses and indiscretions.

One of the ways I curbed my rage for what passes for art in Yankee dominated Tallahassee was to reread portions of one of my favorite books, SOUTHERN BY THE GRACE OF GOD, by Michael Andrew Grissom. As I read Grissom's words, I couldn't help but think of Buddy Buie's haunting lyrics for the song GEORGIA PINES.

from page 27 of SOUTHERN BY THE GRACE OF GOD:

Country music is full of sentimental allusions to home.
Working in this idiom, southern songwriters consistently write about home, often drawing upon personal recollections for their material. Country music is southern in origin and is, consequently, a natural vehicle for expressing our strong home ties.

Last night I went to sleep in Detroit city.I dreamed about those cotton fields back home. I dreamed about my mother, dear old Papa, sister and brother; I dreamed about that girl who's been waiting for so long.
I wanna go home- I wanna go home. Lord, how I wanna go home.

Truly, home is the word that strikes the responsive chord with southerners. Tennessee invited us to HOMECOMING '86, and Mississippi beckoned us to visit there because IT'S LIKE COMING HOME. Perhaps one of the reasons we reverence home so much is the fact that we southerners have had to make our stand in the literal doorways of our homes. We've had our homes violated, and we've watched as family heirlooms went up in the smoke of an invader's fire, and I think it makes a difference. A man fights a desperate battle when he stands upon his own ground. When the guns blazed in the frenzied struggle at Shiloh, General Pat Cleburne [ed. note: namesake for Cleburne County, Alabama] , from neighboring Arkansas, remarked,"The Tennesseans had more to fight for; the fight was for their homes and firesides."

Southerners have a similar attachment to their native states for much the same reason. I used to enjoy seeing the southern states cast their votes at the televised national political conventions. "THE GREAT AND SOVEREIGN state of Alabama, Heart of Dixie, is PROUD to cast its twenty-six votes for...." None of that simple stuff, "Connecticut votes for..." NO, SIR! There's state pride down here in Dixie. Anyone who doubts the fierce state pride in the South has never been here during football season. When Texas and Oklahoma do battle each year in the Cotton Bowl stadium at Dallas, it becomes more than a ball game. Like many classic rivalries across the South, state honor is at stake!

ROBERTOREG highly recommends Mr. Grissom's 572 masterpiece devoted to describing SOUTHERN PRIDE!

And speaking of home, the Bama Queen sent a superb historical video done by a Dothan cat & posted on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpKWHsvCL1I

Probably the best thing that's happened this weekend is the email I received from the daughter of the late Larry Chiz. Chiz was the original guitarist in Eddie Hinton's first band, The Spooks. Larry's daughter, Liz Chiz, found me while googling her father's name.http://robertoreg.blogspot.com/2004_08_08_archive.html
Check out her email to me:

Subject :
.....Larry Chiz

Wow!
I have found your blogs (two of many, I see) and thus your email all because I ordered a “Bandcestors” cd from cdbaby. I got a response from a Fred Styles asking if I was Larry Chiz’s daughter; and that sent me on this mission. I am the 39 year old daughter of Larry Chiz from Shaw, Mississippi. I live in Venice, CA (I noticed from a posting you have another friend here). I simply googled my dad’s name and Eddie Hinton’s name and The Spooks all together and found YOU, and what you wrote about my Dad. I had always heard he was a great player but never heard it put the way you put it, and I certainly never heard him play. I did grow up hearing the name Eddie Hinton………A LOT. http://www.myspace.com/eddiehintonzane

Wow!!
I am in shock and awe and deeply saddened all at once. My Dad passed away in July of 2006, at the age of 62. Lung cancer. He didn’t smoke. He raised me and my brother Scott after he and my mom (Muffin Luks Chiz) divorced in 1976. I, myself, went to, and somehow managed to graduate from, University of Alabama from 1985-1989. I moved here in ’89 to work in film and that is what I do now.
I have also written Fred, so you may be hearing from him, if you are in touch with him. This is all very weird and it’s very late and I must get some sleep, but I hope to hear back from you and from Fred.
Wow!!!
Liz Chiz

Venice, CA
Obviously, I would love and appreciate greatly, any pictures or any anything you might have that relates to my Dad. Any recordings???

Muchas go out to Ole Capn Dean for getting us up to speed on Scott Boyer's situation:
http://www.myspace.com/scottboyerbenefit



courtesy of
http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=1110

Note on the Gettysburg Address

by H.L. Mencken

"The Gettysburg speech was at once the shortest and the most famous oration in American history...the highest emotion reduced to a few poetical phrases. Lincoln himself never even remotely approached it. It is genuinely stupendous. "

“But let us not forget that it is poetry, not logic; beauty, not sense. Think of the argument in it. Put it into the cold words of everyday. The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination— ‘that government of the people, by the people, for the people,’ should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue.

“The Union soldiers in that battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves."

"What was the practical effect of the battle of Gettysburg? What else than the destruction of the old sovereignty of the States, i.e., of the people of the States? The Confederates went into battle free; they came out with their freedom subject to the supervision and veto of the rest of the country—and for nearly twenty years that veto was so effective that they enjoyed scarcely more liberty, in the political sense, than so many convicts in the penitentiary.” — Journalist H.L. Mencken, From “Five Men at Random,” “Prejudices: Third Series,” 1922, pp. 171-76: First printed, in part, in the “Smart Set,” May, 1920, p. 141

Hi Robert,

My name is Shelia Williamson. I was surfing the net and typed my cousin's name in - Bill J. Moody - and your blog came up!! I was excited to see him! I haven't seen him in probably 30 years or so. His mom and my dad were brothers and sisters. As a child my family left Fort Payne, Alabama and moved to Odessa, Texas. I now live in Galveston!

Just wanted to say, I'm glad I saw him!!

Take care,

SHELIA

Left to right: Jimmy Dean, Buddy Buie, Bill J. Moody, Wilbur Walton Jr.

DUH...uh...HHHHuhhh,,....////7&!

Robert Dupree wrote:
Roberto,
There’s one man that could POSSIBLY get the guys together.


BILL J. MOODY

He’s down in Dothan working for Rock102.5…………………..Bobby


" A couple of members of the flower people stopped by to visit Bill Moody [photo shows Bill Moody with Ray & Phyllis Hall]. Ray and Phyllis live near Eclectic, Alabama and really dig the Big Bam. The Big Bam dug them, too."
HAPPENINGS IN BIG BAM COUNTRY, December '67


Bill J. Moody,WBAM DJ


Bill J. Moody in 2007
image courtesy of Dothan Magazine http://dothanmagazine.com/current.php

L. said~
looks like your man, McBush sucked big black ____ tonight.

According to L.~
so fucking what if Obama rioted. DIDN'T YOU? WTF are you on about? I think all it boils down to is one thing. You are a racist @$#%^#&$(%^(*$&@%!#

L. then said~
i suggest you quit your kvetching and get your head around the fact that Obama will be your next President. The times they are a changing, Bob. Get used to it. It's a GOOD thing.

When you google
CASTRO OBAMA
ya git 5,060,00o hits

Barack Obama: There Will Be Bamboozling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuB_W8o_UsU

By Ricky Adams
Ledger Correspondent
Published: May 29, 2008

Great Gertie, what's going on here? What's happened to these lovely children?

Those who subscribe to the notion of never throwing away clothes because they'll eventually come back in style can now rejoice and go to digging in dusty boxes for those plaid shorts that once fit them like Italian-made gloves.

Plaid shorts are everywhere.

Vibrant-colored plaids were the rage in May 1968 when our bunch was experiencing graduation from Enterprise High School.

Such casual clothes, oft then called "resort wear," were high on our list of favorite graduation gifts. A Munsingwear shirt, with the penguin on the left chest, made an awesome gift and the solid-colored ones sometimes matched some of the rectangles in the shorts someone else gave us.

Those pique shirts were much cooler than their Ban-Lon predecessors but would shrink so there was really no use in ever saving them; no way we'd be the same size 20 years down the road.
We were so cool in our senior year; we could've worn our trenchcoats to graduation as easily as we wore those blue gowns, and looked for all the world like heroes of the day, James Bond and the other "Double-Naught Spy," Jethro Bodine, with the leering smile of Derek Flint thrown in for good measure.

Be that as it may, some EHS grads 40 Mays ago wore Bass Weejuns, a pair of graduation-gift socks, a button-down Oxford shirt, an alligator belt, some britches, a streak-edd tie, a splash of English Leather, British Sterling, Canoe, Hai Karate, and/or Jade East, our caps and gowns, and our feelings on our shoulders during our commencement exercises.

It rained all afternoon May 27, 1968, but as you'd expect, the rain ceased to be shortly after the decision to hold graduation in the auditorium was made. Skies were completely clear before dark.
Too late.

All afternoon, we'd groused about it, rode around listening to Bill J. Moody cutely play Lou Christie's "Rhapsody in the Rain" and "Lightning Strikes" and "Cap and Gown" by Marty Robbins believing our lives would be forever ruined if we didn't hear the Wildcat Marching Band play "March Pontifical" and "War March of the Priests" as those of us in the band had done every spring since 1964.

Only a couple of other EHS classes, if memory serves, were washed out of an R.L. Bates Memorial Stadium graduation. One class in the mid-1990s may still be regretting the fact their event wasn't forced inside.

Then-EHS Principal David Earl Carter put the decision of trying to fit graduation of 300+ into a brief window of calm amidst truly dark clouds to a class vote.

Spirits, as well as caps and gowns were drenched when the skies broke open early in the ceremony. Then-assistant principal Charlie Abernathy's loafers drowned in the deluge and one fellow's camera overflowed, but that year's class marched on and became one of the 54 classes of EHS diploma-toting alumni.

As it turned out, our rainout didn't ruin our lives. We're having our 40th reunion in June; the 2008 class can celebrate their 40th in 2048, and if they'll invite us, we'll sing "Cap and Gown" at their bash, and wear plaid shorts over what by then should be some fine-looking 98-year-old legs.

Our class has always had an eye for style.

JOHNNY & JUNE
BY Heidi Newfield

Oh there's something 'bout a man in black,
Makes me want to buy a cadillac,
Throw the top back,
And roll down to Jackson town,
I wanna be there on the stage with you,
You and I could be the next rage to,
Hear the crowd roar,
Make 'em one more,
I'll kick the footlights out,

I wanna love like Johnny and June,
Rings of fire burnin' with you,
I wanna walk the line,
Walk the line,
'Till the end of time,
I wanna love,
Love ya that much,
Cash it all in,
Give it all up,
When you're gone,
I wanna go too,
Like Johnny and June,

I wanna hold you baby right or wrong,
Build a world around a country song,
Pray a sweet prayer,
Follow you there,
Down in history,

I wanna love like Johnny and June,
Rings of fire burnin' with you,
I wanna walk the line,
Walk the line,
'Till the end of time,
I wanna love,
Love ya that much,
Cash it all in,
Give it all up,
When you're gone,
I wanna go too,
Like Johnny and June,

Like Johnny and June,
More than life itself,
No-one else,
This here is promise,
They don't make love like that anymore,
Is that too much to be askin' for,

I wanna love like Johnny and June,
Rings of fire burnin' with you,
I wanna walk the line,
Walk the line,
'Till the end of time,
I wanna love,
Love ya that much,
Cash it all in,
Give it all up,
When you're gone,
I wanna go too,
Like Johnny and June,

Like Johnny and June,
And when we're gone,
There'll be no tears to cry,
Only memories of our lives,
They'll remember, remember,
A love like that.

www.myspace.com/playgroundrecordingstudio

Playground Friends,

In our continuing efforts to assemble the complete Playground story we have found some missing pieces of Southern Soul history that we have posted on our MySpace player. Simply click the link above. A couple of notes

Johnny Dynamite, Bill Bagby, Len Wade, John Hamilton and Unknown. These are just a few of the Playground artists from tapes that we have restored recently. A few of these are posted on our MySpace player. Most all are backed by the underrated PRS rhythm section. Recording dates on the new songs range from 1965-1971. "When You're Down" sung by an unknown artist (at least to us) only known as Cagle, backed by the PRS section, evidenced by the cool transitions and the screaming wah guitar of John Rainey Adkins is most definitely deep raw southern soul.. Sounding more like Eddie Hinton than Otis Redding, this track captures what is missing in most recordings of today which is the spirit of the moment of creation. This is evident due to the interaction between the guitar and the vocal. It's a missing moment of southern music history captured in time. "King of Dance" was obviously recorded in Nashville pre-Playground with the Nashville "A" team, skillfully playing out of their comfort zone with Boots Randolph on sax.. We'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Comments are welcome...enjoy!

the PRS team

Check out the Bear page.
http://www.myspace.com/paulbearbryant

I got the layout on (it looks great!) & the song playing on the player. I can add 9 more songs if you wish., but I think just having that one playing is great.

Later,
Q

http://www.myspace.com/fiddledeedeeme

R~

I'll be glad to help...since I obviously have NO LIFE, other than this computer! R. wants me to help him set up a music page for his new band, too. =)

Do we have permission to use the R. G.'s music?

I have that verbal (through you) permission from Buddy to use The C. stuff.
And since J. R. daughter is my partner on his page, we're pretty covered on that one.


I really don't know how Myspace would find out if you have permission or not, but I did get them to remove a false personal profile on T. G. for T. C. (D.'s sis), when they found it. T. is T.'s sis-in-law, widow of D. D.
She does have a music profile up, though, I guess done by a fan, that T. didn't know about either since she is blind...but we left that one up. So, I guess it's a matter of someone reporting it. I don't know...I'm not a real computer programmer...I just play one on Myspace!!!!!

Myspace changed it's music player...that's probably why "Bear" left your pages. You need a myspace music player on your pages...which I can do if I have your passwords. (you can change them after I finish, if you are worried about me HACKING your pages!) Right now myspace only lets you put 6 songs on the player, but I understand they will be expanding that in the future. I have added "Bear" to my private myspace playlist, so I can get it from there to your pages after I install the player. VOILA!! Also, if I may say, you need backgrounds on your pages. I have a really cool Bear football background that would be good for the "Bear" page. I can always take it off if you don't like it. Now...as for YOUR personal page...I'll have to find a picture of a HORNED TOAD to use for your background!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-)

My health has been not good since May & I have just downed another Demerol, so if I don't reply tonight, it's cause I'm in LaLaLand...my favorite place to be!

Is Buddy still in the hospital? I called a couple of weeks ago...he was snoozing, but I spoke with Gloria...she said he was making progress.

Out, maybe literally!

Q
http://www.myspace.com/fiddledeedeeme

I,
I love the colorful clothes she wears
And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair
I hear the sound of a gentle word
On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air

Im pickin up good vibrations
Shes giving me excitations
Im pickin up good vibrations
(oom bop bop good vibrations)
Shes giving me excitations
(oom bop bop excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(oom bop bop)
Shes giving me excitations
(oom bop bop excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(oom bop bop)
Shes giving me excitations
(oom bop bop excitations)

Close my eyes
Shes somehow closer now
Softly smile, I know she must be kind
When I look in her eyes
She goes with me to a blossom world

Im pickin up good vibrations
Shes giving me excitations
Im pickin up good vibrations
(oom bop bop good vibrations)
Shes giving me excitations
(oom bop bop excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(oom bop bop)
Shes giving me excitations
(oom bop bop excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(oom bop bop)
Shes giving me excitations
(oom bop bop excitations)

(ahhhhhhh)
(ah my my what elation)
I dont know where but she sends me there
(ah my my what a sensation)
(ah my my what elations)
(ah my my what)

Gotta keep those lovin good vibrations
A happenin with her
Gotta keep those lovin good vibrations
A happenin with her
Gotta keep those lovin good vibrations
A happenin

Ahhhhhhhh
Good good good good vibrations
(oom bop bop)
(Im pickin up good vibrations)
Shes giving me excitations
(oom bop bop)
(excitations)
Good good good good vibrations
(oom bop bop)
Shes na na...

Na na na na na
Na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na
Do do do do do
Do do do
Do do do do do
Do do do



image courtesy of http://www.myspace.com/nashvillepussy
AIN'T NOTHING BETTER THAN NASHVILLE PUSSY nashvillepussy.com

S~

Great stuff!
Super!

Random notes on your St. Andrews article...

What up wid not mentioning PAPPY'S?
Don't you ever go in there and eat her rouladen? She's a card!

S.(Sam, Scott, Shea & Steve's Daddy) was the last G. to own the Mound house. His Daddy was known as E. He's on the cornerstone of Dothan High. Maybe his name was E. S. G.

K.'s husband, D. has a wonderful collection of artifacts he's found at low tide in Little Dothan. Lots of pipe stems so there's a possibility they were making pipes on the mound. K's maiden name is P. Of course, her brother is named D. P.
That's H. 'nuff said.

I'd love to know more about Dr. M's place.
I have some stuff on him.
Mother said he was never in a hurry. He prayed with all his patients and he only liked to prescribe four things:

#1 LAXATIVE

#2 aspirin

#3 placebo

#4 morphine when you were on your last leg

best,
r


Andy Kim

Rock Me Gently


Ain't it good
Ain't it right
That you are with me here tonight
The music playing
Our bodies swayin' in time
In time, in time, in time

Touching you so warm and tender
Lord, I feel such a sweet surrender
Beautiful is the dream that makes you mine

Mmm
Rock me gently
Rock me slowly
Take it easy
Don't you know
That I have never been loved like this before

Baby, baby
Rock me gently
Rock me slowly
Take it easy
Don't you know
That I have never been loved like this before

Oh my darling
Oh my baby
You got the moves that drive me crazy
And on your face I see a trace of love
Of love, of love, of love
Come hold me close
Don't let me go
I need you, honey
I love you so
You were made for me by the stars above

Oh, rock me gently
Rock me slowly
Take it easy
Don't you know
That I have never been loved like this before

And baby, baby
Rock me gently
Rock me slowly
Take it easy
Don't you know
That I have never been loved like this before

Rock me gently
Rock me slowly
Take it easy
Don't you know
That I have never been loved like this before

Ain't it good
Ain't it right
That you are with me here tonight

Rock me gently
Rock me slowly
Take it easy
Don't you know
That I have never been loved like this before

Baby, baby
Rock me gently
Rock me slowly
Take it easy
Don't you know
That I have never been loved like this before

NoBama Banner

Posted by YMedad at 2:23 PM

Comedian Jackie Mason Reads Obama the Riot Act over Fannie Mae!

Posted on September 30, 2008 by nobamablog

H/T: HillaryClintonForum.net

Filed under: NObama | Tagged: Hypocrisy, Incompetence, Video, Dishonesty, Election Issues: Economy

Hey y'all~

Bobby Dupree is feeding me a steady diet of vintage RG audio files so we need to link all dis to WILBUR!

Like they like to say in Auburn ~ hangin' like a wasptiz nest
and drippin' like a buttered bisquit...

Well, that's just what HAPPENED
Sunday afternoon and it scared me so bad it queered the deal!

Came up with another "TOP 10 THANGS SHE CAN SAY THAT WILL CUT YOUR NUTS OUT":

#11~ "I came more times last weekend than I did 35 years living with you!"

The character of Granny in the movie SKIPTRACERS captured my imagination.

Because of my Daddy Earl, I've been working with the brain damaged my whole life so Granny's injury from the meteorite captured my imagination.

Like Daddy always said, "They're good people,Bob,
but they ALWAYS require constant adult supervision!"





Subject: Tornado Advice
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:33:21 +0000

Tornado Advice

The national weather service issued a statement today saying the safest
place to be during a tornado is Auburn, AL, because touchdowns are so

rare there....

the above courtesy of BAMA QUEEN

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=198156299




image courtesy of http://dhstigers68.com/3/feeds.htm
CHARMIN' SHARMAN has turned her bad self into one HELL of a writer!
(however, she showl needs to go down to the P.C. Liberry and check out them R.L. Polk City Directories & them Sanborn Fire Maps)

article by Sharman Burson Ramsey courtesy of http://www.southern-style.com/St%20Andrews.htm

Destination St. Andrews The Real Old Florida

St. Andrews, an historic coastal village that is the oldest part of Panama City, Florida, is only 90 minutes south of Dothan, Alabama, has long been a destination spot for residents of Dothan, Birmingham and Atlanta. They discovered the allure of this beautiful spot long ago and early on traveled here by train that had Panama City as its primary destination. One of St. Andrews most colorful residents, Bill (taught scuba diving and brought students to St. Andrews) and Elsa Tanton (banker), retired to their cottage on the St. Andrews Marina from Birmingham. Bill blows his conch daily at sunset.

Everyone is excited about the newly rebuilt Shrimp Boat. Many of us enjoyed riding in our boats across the bay to tie up in this Marina to eat at the old Shrimp Boat years ago. St. Andrews hit upon hard times and the Shrimp Boat was eventually torn down. Then Loren Smith promised his father Logue Smith that he would rebuild. (BTW Logue Smith's brother, J. L. Smith, developed Lakewood Subdivision in Dothan and lived in Dothan, Alabama, until he died just recently.)

The area rejoiced with the news of the resurrection of the Shrimp Boat. Finally, the weekend of October 18th, 2008, the Shrimp Boat is scheduled to open. Located across the street from Hunts Oyster Bar and next door to Uncle Ernie's, the Shrimp Boat will join the Pantheon of the Panhandle's favorite independently owned restaurants. In the Shrimp Boat there will be a Fish Market, Oyster Bar, Gift Shop and Snack Bar (or so we've heard). Smith hopes to start Sunday Brunch soon.

One can also dock in front of Uncle Ernie's and enjoy a wonderful meal with daily specials. Shawn and Ben are excellent hosts and the food is always good. The Martini Bar on their upper deck is a great place to enjoy the sunset.

Uncle Ernie's and Harbour Village Condominiums have a magnificent view of St. Andrews Marina that boasts many charter boats and a boat launching site.

Through the arch and beyond the fountain and pool area of Harbour Village lies a panoramic view of St. Andrews Bay from Buena Vista Point with its white sandy beach. This point was aptly named. Buena Vista Point has long been recognized as the most beautiful spot in the Panhandle. You can park your car upon arrival at Harbour Village and not have to crank it up again until you are ready to leave town. A grocery store is up Beck Avenue (great prices, especially for wines) along with a Mexican bakery (for a different taste). With the marina at hand and the best locally owned restaurants (there are no chains in downtown St. Andrews) one could ask for within walking distance, why go elsewhere?

Asphalt does not dominate the view in any direction. Indeed, a professionally designed garden with fountain, paths and gazebo even lies above the garage at Harbour Village.

Locals introduced us to the Captain's Table. The owners of the Captain's Table used to take their own boats out and catch their own catch for the daily menu. It remains a favorite with locals. There is always a line waiting outside the Captain's Table and Hunts Oyster Bar on Beck avenue in downtown St. Andrews.

The Two Sisters is a great little gift shop, with wonderful wines. The St. Andrews Coffee Shop offers fantastic desserts on Thursday and Friday evenings, Tea and scones are served Thursday and Friday afternoons, and Breakfast and Lunch daily (Monday through Saturday) until 2 p.m. And, Coastal Bank has remodeled the old bank of St. Andrews and is once again a working downtown bank. Across from the Marina is a wonderful shop named Fiddlestix owned by Judy Davis whose husband, Ray, is a former Dothan, Alabama resident.

Across the street from the newly renovated Printing Company building which serves also as the Visitors Center, you can rent a canoe at the Canoe shop. Stop in the Visitor's Center and say hello to Nancy Wengel the director of St. Andrews Downtown Group. She may be out planting flowers or pulling weeds. No one has worked harder to bring St. Andrews back than she has. Tell her Sharman says "hi".

St. Andrews in Panama City, Florida is the REAL "old Florida." Other new developments attempt to sell their developments as designed like "old Florida" are merely trying to recreate what already exists in Downtown St. Andrews and downtown Panama City. Anchored by the area's most elegant condominium on the most beautiful point in the area with its own professionally designed garden atop a garage, Harbour Village is the jewel of the area. It is a residential condominium with the security of a stable population. Here at the corner of Beck Avenue and 10th Street, one of the areas best restaurants, The Granite Cafe is pictured with Harbour village and Oaks by the Sea Park in the distance.

This view is directed down 10th street to the bay with the Granite Cafe to your right and Harbour Village to your left.

Ever wonder where "Little Dothan" (as the area was once referred to) in St. Andrews was? This is 17th Street, located West of downtown St. Andrews on the Bay behind Schlotzkys. Dothan attorney Ed Price, dentist John Flowers, and TV personality (and DHS former cheerleader) Kathy Parrish Swigler all of Dothan have homes in this area. At the foot of Mound Avenue, early Dothan resident Sam Gellerstedt owned a home he later sold to Judge Larry Smith and his wife Lyn. A wee bit east Dr. Paul Flowers brought his brood of seven children to enjoy the water of the Bay in a big old Florida home on Front Beach road. It wasn't impressive like the homes of so many who now vacation in Bay County, but looked like a great place for children to romp. Sadly, it has recently been torn down. Buck (and Sam) and Drury (and Peggy) Flowers also once owned homes in this area. Furthermore, John Keyton tells me, "Little Dothan also included the following families: Frank Newton (Sara Carroll), the Johnstons, Keytons, Porters, Flowers (Az), McKinneys, Couches, Solomons, Moodys, and Espys." Sounds like all of Dothan came South for the summer.

Porter Thrower, formerly of Dothan, now lives in St. Andrews and owns the Eastern Star building in Downtown St. Andrews with plans to turn it into an art gallery. His own art is on display at Uncle Ernie's. Around the corner from the Easter Star building is the historic church in St. Andrews that still holds services.

This Park playground at the Civic Center offers a delightful play area for children with a magnificent view across from Oaks by the Bay Park with a view of the Bay in the distance for their parents.

Beach Drive connects St. Andrews to downtown Panama City...a healthy walk, a nice bike ride, a short trip by car. It is one of the most beautiful drives in America with ancient oaks and stately homes. It is well worth the trip.

I find more and more that Panama City and Panama City Beach can legitimately be recognized as LA (Lower Alabama). I constantly bump into friends from Dothan. If they aren't from Dothan, they are related to folks from Dothan, and surely they have at least ridden through Dothan. Panama City is peopled with some of the finest, friendliest folks in the world. There is no better place to ride your bike, walk your dog, go for a drink, and go out for dinner or just coffee and dessert than the REAL OLD FLORIDA...ST. ANDREWS. It has everything.

It will take you several visits to taste the best of the Panhandle.

BTW: The lovely model on this page is Miss Lily Clare Butterworth who happens to be our granddaughter.