Killing Dreams on the Ogeechee

WSGA, the radio power of the Coastal Empire, hosted the River Raff contest on the Ogeechee River. In those days AM radio ruled, Jerry Rogers was king of the world, and Love's Seafood was a shack. If Jerry told us to do something on the radio between rock-and-roll songs we stopped what we were doing and did it. He instructed us to build the most creative raft to win the grand prize of ... whatever it was. My best friend in High School was a genius named Gene Prevatt. He told me what Jerry Rogers had told us to do so we naturally skipped school, went to the junk yard and found the rusted out body of a Volkswagen Beetle, which we promptly stole. Somehow we found large blocks of Styrofoam and laid the car on top tying it all together with rope. By this time, Robert Mixon wanted to join us so we told him to bring the beer. He did ... but also brought a lot of other people ... mostly girls wearing bikinis. We couldn't say "No." Throwing the car and the girls into the back of my Dad's pick up truck we made our way about 16 miles down Highway 17 to the Ogeechee River. Lots of kids were there before us with their rafts. Jerry Rogers stood there with his flowing long hair looking as cool as The Beatles and instructed us to line the floats up for the competition. We grabbed the Volkswagen on Styrofoam and put it in the water. Robert grabbed the beer and all of the girls in bikinis got in the back seat. I sat in the front passenger seat and, of course, Gene drove. We promptly sank. The girls in bikinis bailed. Robert saved the beer. Laughing, I jumped ship though Gene just sat their wearing sunglasses looking cool with water up to his shoulders in a sunken bug. I have fond memories of the Ogeechee River. When I wrote Running with the Dolphins & other Tybee Tales I learned all about the Yuchi Indians who inhabited this area way before General Oglethorpe discovered Savannah. They'd set up tents on the Savannah River and the Ogeechee living of the fish, the fowl and the game of the woods on banks of the rivers. The places were ... and are ... a beauty that heaven struggles to match. Now dead fish float in the Ogeechee ... poisoned by the King America Finishing Plant which regularly discharges waste water into the river. The result is floating fish. Georgia is a pro-business state so the Plant continues to dump chemical infested water into the River while politicians watch. The Savannah City Council passed a resolution condemning the practice which is like raising a flag when you can't get anything else up. The Governor seems most impotent as he's caught between keeping a Chicago based company in Georgia while protecting his citizens at the same time. In the meantime ... fish float. Childhood memories are prevented from giving way to the experiences of new generations. Dreams die on the Ogeechee River. And God cries at what we do to the gift of creation.