New North Georgia Alumni Website

Dear Fellow North Georgia Alums,

I am happy to announce that our beloved North Georgia's alumni website is back and better than ever. Please click here to see it.

You may have just heard about my blogsite from the most recent Alumni Bulletin you received in the mail. If so, and if this your first time to visit, then thanks and please do so often.

And now, here's what's happening right now in our lives...

MS Walk In Marietta

This past weekend in downtown Marietta, Georgia, my wife Mary and I participated in the MS Walk to help raise funds and find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Her friend and former co-worker Laura suffers from a rare form of MS that is slowly but surely robbing her of strength as the days and months go by.

I am thankful that I have gotten to know Laura and her husband Tony and I cherish the friendship we all share. It is for that reason (among others) that I would like to see MS cured within our lifetime.

For more information on MS and how you can help, please visit www.nmss.org.

Hammin' It Up Again

For nearly 19 years, I have held an Amateur (Ham) Radio Service license (callsign KC4AZO).

Last Friday at Ham Radio Outlet in Doraville, I bought a 2m (VHF) handie-talkie and started dabbling on the airwaves again. I'm even exploring the possibility of volunteering with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service as a way to help my community in times of disaster.

Years ago, I did some HF (shortwave) work and earned awards for contacting hams in each of the 50 states, plus hams on every continent (including Antarctica). I still have my old HF rig in the basement and I've even contemplated taking it up to my in-laws' farm in Chattooga County and setting up a "shack" there. Like anything else, it's the matter of finding the time to do it.

Several celebrities are also "hams". Please click here to see for yourself.

If you would like to learn more about the Amateur Radio Service, visit the American Radio Relay League's website at www.arrl.org.

Toastmasters

Mary and I are both enjoying a much-needed break from Toastmasters state-level leadership positions, Mary having been our statewide club extension chairperson and me being the Immediate Past Georgia District Governor.

Right now, we are active in our local chapter near our house, where Mary is the Vice President of Education and I am the Secretary/Treasurer.

If you'd like to learn more about Toastmasters and how it can help you just as it did me, then please visit their website at www.toastmasters.org.

Lions Club

Since 2001, I've been a member of the world's largest service organization, Lions International.

In 1917, a Chicago-area businessman named Melvin Jones, along with several colleagues, formed an organization dedicated to helping those in need.

Eventually, after Helen Keller's address to their 1925 convention in Ohio, Lions decided to change their charitable focus on helping the blind.

Right now, I am serving my fellow Lions as Assistant Secretary of our local chapter.

If you wish to learn more about Lions, then please visit their website at www.lionsclubs.org.

BTW, if it weren't for a fellow Toastmaster, I would likely have not joined. :)

Again, regardless of whether this is your first visit, or one of many to my blogsite, thank you very much for visiting and please do so often.

While you're at it, please feel free to e-mail me at louie at louiewilliamsjr dot com.

73 DE KC4AZO! :)

P.S. Depending on our schedule, Mary and I may "pop in" during Parents-Alumni Weekend.

Shawn Mullins and Cynthia McKinney

First of all, we here at LouieWilliamsJr.com congratulate fellow North Georgia alum Shawn Mullins on the release of both his new album "9th Ward Pickin Parlor" and the updated website.

Tonight, I took the opportunity to check it out, plus preview his new tunes, and boy, does he "keep it real", y'all!!! :)

Here's a picture of Shawn and me taken at the NGC Alumni House during Parents-Alumni Weekend 2001...

Shawn, if you read this blog, please know that your music is appreciated and we all look forward to seeing even more. Thanks for "keepin' it real".

Finally, I just got to get this off my chest...

Cynthia McKinney, the biggest whiner in Congress, is yet again showing her arrogant, whiney, and "they hate me because I'm black" self.

What makes Ms. McKinney think that she can assault a law officer who is simply trying to protect the people in the Capitol (including herself) from those who wish to harm them? As long as there are politicians like her who feel that they are above the law, nothing, absolutely nothing, will ever truly get accomplished in this nation.

I would like to thank Ms. McKinney for one thing, however... the opportunity to vote against her when I lived in her congressional district... and I'm dang proud of the fact that I did so!!!

Now, I am not a racist individual and I truly believe that we all are brothers and sisters in His eyes, but it steams me to no end when self-serving people like Ms. McKinney waste our tax dollars spending more time whining and moaning than actually working for the American people.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest, thanks for reading, and please do so often.