THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - VOL. 83

THE ATTACK OF THE MAD MUSKRAT - S. A. Bailey was aroused one night when he heard a strange noise out in his backyard.  He thought that one of his pigs had gotten out of the pen and was being attacked by his dogs.  As he left the house, Bailey noticed two of his dogs fighting a brownish animal, which was getting the best of the two animals.  Bailey picked up a stick to help his dogs.  The animal charged and attacked Bailey.  Bailey wrestled with the creature, which sunk his long tusks into his right leg and wrapped his long flat tail around the other leg.  Bailey managed to escape the grip of the muskrat and with the aid of his son, succeeded in killing the animal.  Bailey brought the animal into town to show it off.  Afterward, the head of the five-pound muskrat was sent to the State Health Department to determine the presence of rabies.  Dublin Courier Herald, April 3, 1940.  

RIDING ALONG AND MAKING HISTORY - To celebrate the opening of the completely paved U.S. Highway 80 from Atlanta to Savannah a motorcade of over two hundred cars traveled along the highway between the two Georgia cities.  The celebrants stopped for a barbeque in Stubbs Park.  Dublin Courier Herald, November 15, 1935.

TOP NEWSPAPER MEN - In 1975, W.H. Champion, editor of the “Dublin Courier Herald,” was elected President of the Georgia Press Association.  He was the second Dublin editor named to the position.  The first was Hal M. Stanley in 1907.  The third would be Dubose Porter.  Dublin Courier Herald, June 30, 1975.

WE HAD OTHER THINGS TO DO - Poplar Springs Baptist Church did not hold a monthly conference during the month of November 1864.  The minute book recites that no meeting was held “on account of the excitement occasioned by the passing through the county of Sherman’s Army.” Courier Herald, Dec. 14, 1943.

BILLIARD LEGEND - Willie Mosconi, 15-time world champion billiard player, put on an exhibition in Dublin at Rudy’s Rack and Cue on March 6, 1971.  Mosconi held the world record for running 526 balls off the table without missing a shot.  Dublin Courier Herald, March 2, 1971.

GET YOUR WATERMELONS HERE! - In the mid-1930s, one out of every five watermelons produced in Georgia were grown in Laurens County.  Dublin Courier Herald, November 15, 1935.

DUBLIN BEAUTY - Sophia Benchina served at the United States Naval Hospital and Veteran’s Hospital in Dublin for thirty years.  During this time, Miss Benchina served in countless civic, social, and church organizations.   Miss Benchina is considered by many as Dublin’s first beauty queen.  She finished as first runner-up in the 1938 Miss Georgia Pageant.  Dublin Courier Herald, August 5, 1975. 

             A HOME FOR ALL - The first Laurens County Housing Authority completed its organization on December 28, 1940.  W.D. Parkerson, Jr. was elected chairman of the organization.  Rubert Hogan and O.D. Cullen were named as secretary-treasurer and vice-chairman, respectively.  W. H. White was the attorney for the committee.  The first funds expended were expected to come from a grant from the Federal Housing Authority to repair homes in Dublin and Laurens County which had become unfit for human habitation.  Dublin Courier Herald, Dec. 28, 1940.

MYSTICAL ALIGNMENT - During the week of February 23rd, 1940, Laurens Countians were treated to a celestial show.  The event that happens only once in a lifetime was the arrangement of the planets in the western evening sky.  The planets Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Uranus were equidistantly aligned much like a necklace of glowing jewels.  Dublin Courier Herald, Feb. 17, 1940. 

THE ROAD TO SOPERTON - The Soperton Road was paved from Dublin to the Treutlen County line in May of 1940.  The cost for the 12-mile route was approximately one hundred and seventy thousand dollars.  Courier Herald, May 1, 1940.