I have a mild allergy to coconut. It’s nothing serious. Iwon’t go into anaphylactic shock, but I will break out in a rashand itch all over. The first time I remember eating coconut, Iwas in first grade. My oldest brother’s girlfriend had the samebirthday as me. For our birthdays, she made us a coconut cake.Within fifteen minutes of eating my slice, I broke out. Sincethen, every time I eat coconut the same thing happens.

In recent years coconut oil has become a common ingredi-ent. I no longer eat certain brands of potato chips or gummycandy because of the use of coconut oil. I have become cau-tious in what I eat. I always read ingredient list on new foods;I double check the ingredients on the granola bars I eat. I knowI’m not going to die from eating coconut, but if I can avoidthe reaction, I do.

Friday night, my husband and I went to a new restaurant.On the appetizer list was coconut rolled fried shrimp. BecauseI wanted to enjoy a nice dinner with my husband, I made surenothing else on their menu contained coconut. I also made surethe shrimp wasn’t fried in the same grease as any other foods.I was overly cautious, but I avoided a potential breakout.

As the weekend came to an end, we had a Sunday NightSing, followed by dinner. The dessert table was filled with var-ious goodies, one of which being an Italian cream cheese cake.Knowing that coconut is one of the main ingredients, I settledfor a piece of pound cake. After eating half of my slice, I no-ticed it tasted off. My husband confirmed, it tasted like co-conut. I went back to the dessert table. The cake was storebought, so I read the ingredient list on package. No coconut,and the cake was labeled cream cheese pound cake.

After contemplating for a few moments, I decided I wasbeing overly cautious and ate the majority of my cake. Withinten minutes, I knew I made a mistake. I was itching. I talkedto a few other people and they all said the cake was definitelycoconut. I guess it just got labeled wrong in the store. Luckilymy sister was on hand with medicine. The reaction wasstopped in its tracks, but once the medicine wore off, the itch-ing resumed. And of course, the medicine made me drowsy.

I would say I’ve learned a lesson in all this, but I haven’t.It didn’t matter how cautious I was, I was still slapped with agiant dose of irony.

WHAT soup?The misheard lyric game is

a popular contest among radiostations. 

The station will say thelyrics of a song, but say themwrong. The winner correctlyguesses what the actual lyricsare. Some of my favorite ex-amples are:

Ain’t on woman like theone-eyed gott.

Excuse me while I kiss thisfly.

See that girl, watch herscream, kicking the dancingqueen.

I left my brains down inAfrica.

I like big butts in a can oflimes.

The algebra has a devil fora sidekick, eeeee!

That last one, by Queen, ismore accurate than the originallyric. Caroline will agree withme, despite her mom being oneof the school system’s mostcelebrated teachers and a mathteacher.

Anyway for the “misheard”hall of fame, we have anotherentry. Here’s the background.Amanda came out to help theMusic Boosters at the conces-sion stand during the footballgame. She doesn’t have chil-dren in the band or even en-rolled in school. She alsobrought a cake and a giantcrock pot of homemade soup.

James was in the back of thestand putting orders together.That didn’t stop him fromyelling that we had “37-layerchocolate cake” for sale. I can’ttell you how many layers thecake had. That meant countingthe layers. Counting involvesmath. As Freddie Mercury re-minds us, “the algebra has thedevil for a sidekick.”

But the best part of the nightwas the message sent up toWill in the announcer box. TheMusic Boosters asked him to

tell the crowd what the Boost-ers were selling. A slice of “PiR squared to the tangent of thehypotenuse cake” was sentalong as a bribe. A handwrittenlist of food was included.

Among other things, thenote stated “Homemade bacontater soup, while it lasts.” Tateris shorthand for potato.

You need to know I scoreda constant C- minus in pen-manship throughout school. 30years of being a journalistmeans my handwriting is nowless legible than a doctor’s. Ioften take notes, read themlater and no idea what I wrotedown.

This is not surprising. Ioften write news and this col-umn and no one has any ideawhat I’my talking about.

In the press box, Willlooked down at the list. Henailed the chocolate cake line.He got to the soup line. Heread it off.

His wife Keri, in the stands,was immediately mortified.The rest of the stands fell silentfor an instant. Conversationerupted as the spectators triedto figure out what kind of soupwas being sold. A few minuteslater, people were lined up atthe concession stand askingabout Amanda’s mysterious-ingredient soup.

The soup was a near sell-out. The only reason it didn’tsell out is because I kept threat-ening people when theywanted to buy some. I wantedsome leftovers to come homewith me. Got some too. Thesoup was amazingly good. Ifyou missed it, neener, neener.

So what kind of soup werewe dishing out according toWill?

He announced the Boosterswere selling, “Bacon Tatasoup! While it lasts!”

Let us be “your newspaper”National Newspaper Week will be observed next week and

this column will be about things the free press should do inorder to serve the communities our weekly newspapers arepublished in.

After more than fifty-five years in the newspaper businessI have learned that there are three guaranteed ways to avoidcriticism. First, you can say nothing. Second, you can do noth-ing. And third, you can be nothing.

Those of you who have been a reader of our newspapersand this column during those years know that we do not sub-scribe to the above. We believe that if there are things youneed to know we should tell you and often times we are criti-cized for that. But, it is our job and you expect that from “yournewspaper.”

My wife of fifty-nine years would tell you that I am oftenwrong but never in doubt. Right or wrong I have no doubt thatit is our job to keep you informed about your governments,your schools, your community and many other areas of hap-penings that you need to know about. Should we no longer dothat we would not be worthy of you calling us “your newspa-per.”

The mission statement in our newspapers says: “Our goalis to produce a quality, profitable, community oriented news-paper that you our readers are proud of. We will reach thatgoal through hard work, teamwork, loyalty and a strong ded-ication towards printing the truth.” By reaching our goal wewill be worthy of you calling us “your newspaper.”

Strong newspapers build strong communities and newspa-pers that take a stand for what is good for their communitiesand take a firm stand against what is bad for their communitiescertainly help to build strong communities. You can rest as-sured that no other media cares more about you communitythan “your newspaper.”

“Your newspaper” reports history on a weekly basis in yourcommunity. Not only do we print the big news that happensbut the small news as well. Things like community columns,births, honor rolls, engagements, weddings, anniversaries andothers news at no cost. We center our efforts on local newsthat you cannot get anywhere else because we feel this is what

you want in “your newspaper.”“Your newspaper” will never forget that we are the

guardians of the First Amendment which protects the rightsof those with whom we disagree as well as those with whomwe agree.

Our editorial pages are a place for locally written editorials,letters to the editor, personal columns and occasional editorialcartoons. It is a place for you and us to sometimes vent ourfrustrations and where everyone’s opinions are welcomed.

Matthew Arnold once wrote, “America is the chosen homeof newspapers.” Thomas Wolfe once said, “Americans lovetheir newspapers.” Benjamin Franklin said, “I had rather livein a country with no government and a free press than to livein a country with a government but no free press.”

Yes, America is still the chosen home of newspapers, mostfolks do love “their newspapers” and there is no doubt but thata strong free press is vital to our communities and to our nationas well.

Over the years we have faced some trying times for printingwhat we believe the people had a right to know. We have beensued, threatened with suits, cussed at and some of us have hadour lives threatened. But we have survived those attacks andthey have never stopped us from printing the truth and whatthe people have the right to know.

We want you to let us continue to be “your newspaper” inthe years to come and you need to know that your communitynewspaper will be there for you in the future bringing younews about your community that no other media will providefor you.

Page 4-A – Adel News Tribune – September 30, 2015

Adel News TribuneTHE ADEL NEWS TRIBUNE

established 1888, COOK COUNTYTRIBUNE established 1978, COMBINED JULY 6, 1983. SPARKS EAGLE established 1912. Incorporated 1981

131 South Hutchinson Ave.P.O. Box 1500 • Adel, Georgia 31620

Telephone: 229-896-2233 Fax: 229-896-7237

THE STAFFAdvertising Manager: Payj Tucker

Office Manager: Jessica BellAccount Manager: Lisa PalmerGraphic Design: Brandi Sellars

Legals/Composition: Kayla HoltonProduction: A.J. Adkins, Henry Futch

Editorial Cartoonist: George ʻWoodyʼ WoodAdel News Tribune ISSNO746-0176 is published every Wednesday

by Cook Publishing Co., Inc. 131 South Hutchinson Ave., Adel, Ga. 31620

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Post Office Box 1500, Adel, Georgia 31620ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including sales tax):

Inside Cook County $24.00Senior Citizens (Cook County residents only) $20.00

In Georgia $32.00 Out of State $40.00

OUR POLICIES:•Signed letters to the editor welcomed. Please limit to 300 words or lessand include address and daytime telephone number, for verification pur-poses.•Liability for any error will not exceed the cost of space occupied bythe original effort.•We cannot be responsible for the return of pictures or materials unlessaccompanied by a stamped, return addressed envelope is included.

OUR GOAL: Adel News Tribune is created proudly for the citizensof Cook and adjoining counties by Adel News Tribune in Adel, Georgia.Our goal is to produce a quality, profitable, community-oriented news-paper of which our readers may be proud. We will reach that goalthrough hard work, teamwork, loyalty, and a strong dedication towardprinting the truth.

Robert E. TribblePresident

Charles ShiverGeneral Manager

Opinion

FROM WHERE

I SIT

BY ROBERT E. TRIBBLE

EDITOR'S NOTE - Opinions expressed in letters to the editorand columns do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the news-paper staff. We do, however, support freedom of speech asprovided in the First Amendment of the United States Consti-tution. We welcome written responses that are not libelous toany letter or column.

The Irony of Coconut

That’s WhatShe SaidBy Payj Tucker

Baker’sDozen

By Ben Baker

LETTERS TO THE EDITORPlease submit letters to:

Editor • Adel News TribuneP.O. Box 1500

Adel, GA 31620

Letters must be signed and phone number provided.(Phone numbers will not be published.)