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Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

Readers Respond

June 14,1994

Here are several reader responses to recent columns.
OF SKY HOOKS AND SUCH ... About real-sounding but nonexistent items that adults

have good naturedly sent kids to look for. Surveyor Ken Havird told of being sent for “striped

paint.” Maestro Joseph Wilson, a superb Spanish teacher, said he was sent to look for “buckets of
steam.”
RED’S PEPPER BOX_______ About John “Red” Davis, an extraordinary Lake City Reporter

columnist of the 1930's who chronicled much of our town’s sports and social history during that
decade and who also helped a lot of kids who were especially not well off. Fort White Public School

administrator Richard Kahlich, a High Springs graduate, called to say “Red” once saw him play high
school football and encouraged him to go to the University of Arkansas to try out for the team - and

that Red even used his own money to buy Richard a new coat and tie so he would look more
presentable at his interview.

HURST’S HOLE IN THE WALL . . . About Claude R. Hurst and his tiny popcorn and
peanut business that became a local institution. This column drew a small avalanche of responses

from many readers who were reminded how much they had enjoyed Mr. Hurst and his store. Larry
Douglass, son of former mayor George Douglass, remembered the social aspect of visiting the Hole

in the Wall — he can tell you more about that. CPA Audrey Bullard said this column was one of her
favorites. School system employee Joan Coleman, Administrative Complex “Employee of the

Year,” said the column made her mouth water all over again with the remembered smell of that
marvelous popcorn.

A SUPERHUMAN FEAT... About “Bo” Cannon, a small but strong man, who lifted a very
heavy weight off his friend’s legs at a national guard camp one summer. Earl Lord, a career national

guard employee, was an eyewitness to the incident and remembered it a little different that what I
wrote - he said he heard many different versions of the incident after my column came out. Another

eyewitness, Guy Brim, said my column was pretty much correct except for two points - the weight
was not a turret as I had said, but a heavy A-frame, or boom, and the victim was not George Catledge

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