Someday, maybe Fred will win the fight.
Then that cat will stay out for the night.
When you’re with the Flintstones, Have a yabba dabba doo time, A dabba doo time, We’ll have a gay old time!The
Flintstones theme song was written by Hoyt Curtin, Joseph Barbera, and William Hanna
This one may go over like a lead zeppelin, but here goes.
I do most of my work in Greene and Morgan counties, but I am actually a resident of Putnam County.
You may not give a schist, but I am stuck between a rock and a hard place when I consider the pros and cons of the quarry proposed by Putnam County Stone (It almost feels like we are related).
According to what I’ve read in The Eatonton Messenger, the quarry will create more than 80 good-paying jobs and deliver more than $300,000 in annual tax revenue for the county.
However, opponents claim it poses an unacceptable risk to the regional water supply, not to mention the blasting, truck traffic, and the quarry’s pernicious effect on the area’s rural character, whatever that means.
But after learning that the chairman of the Putnam County Development Authority is Walt Rocker III, I have concluded that the quarry is part of Putnam County’s destiny. Also, the chairman of the Putnam County Board of Commissioners is a man named Bill Sharp. Now you can’t have a Sharp knife without a Stone.
According to a story written by Ian Tocher in the July 2 issue of the EM,
Putnam County Stone is currently “trying to persuade a deeply skeptical community that the quarry it proposes is not the quarry they fear.”
Well, I say we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Not many people know this, but quarries were the primary economic engines of Stone Age communities.
Take the town of Bedrock.
Before the arrival of the Slate Rock and Gravel company, Bedrock was a sleepy little town where bored executives went to hunt deer and fish for bass, crappie, and catfish. Bedrock didn’t even have a Rocdonald’s.
The quarry proposed by Slate Rock and Gravel faced fierce opposition, just like the one in Putnam County.
As always, media outlets joined in the controversy.
Abbadabba Broadcasting Company (ABC) ran hit pieces disguised as news stories to muster public opinion against it.
The Daily Granite ran editorials opposing the measure, their positions etched in stone.
But the Cobblestone County Board of Commissioners approved the zoning changes requested by the Slate Rock and Gravel company anyway, and the quarry came to Bedrock. Some say members of the BOC were all fans of professional wrestling and enjoyed watching angry locals show their posteriors as much as they liked watching “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
Growth was rapid after that.
Soon, Bedrock had its own professional stoneball team called the Feldspars, coached by Knute Rockne.
A few years later, Fred and Wilma Flintstone and Barney and Betty Rubble moved to the boomtown of Bedrock. Fred and Barney joined the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes that had just been founded by Mayor May Knot.
Pebbles and Bam-Bam were soon born at Bedrock’s Rockapedic Hospital.
The Flintstones often vacationed in Sand-and-Stony-O.
Golf courses sprang up everywhere around Bedrock, including Pebble Beach, named after Fred’s daughter. Arnold Palmrock loved that course.
Suddenly, celebrity sightings became commonplace.
It wasn’t unusual to see Cary Granite or Stony Curtis at the Iron Fe Cafe for lunch (see what I did there).
Mick Jagged and the Rolling Boulders played impromptu shows at the Silver Moon Rock Saloon on Saturday Nights. A group of English boys named John, Paul, George, and Ringo also played there as the Quarrymen.
The Boulder City Giants of MLB moved to Bedrock’s Candlestone Park after a socialist was elected mayor there, and locals got to see pitcher Sandy Stoneaxe and slagger Mickey Mantlepiece.
Cassius “Red” Clay defeated Floyd Patterstone and Sonny Liston at Candlestone.
So, have an open mind, Putnam. The future is not set.
If Greene County ever gets a Walmarble, Eatonton will soon be forgotten, especially after Taylor Shale and Travis Kaolin marry in Siloam, which refers to a rock-cut spring in Jerusalem.
(John 9:7)
Selah.