It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question
March 21 — It’s Cathy from Rough Draft with my weekly newsletter on Tucker. Well, if December is the month of giving, then March seems to be the month of taking, and not in a good way.
🗳 This week’s newsletter discusses two “takeaways” – the apparent abduction of a beloved family goat named Clementine, and the defacing of dozens of cemetery tombstones at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.
On the flip side, there are ways that you can give back to the community, including a “growing need” and the opportunity to support local arts. Also the return of a beloved Tucker institution.
Aren’t things tense enough? Do we have to steal someone’s joy and others’ dignity?
Cathy
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Q: Why can’t anyone rest in peace?
A: There is no answer to this one.
💀 Vandals, sometime between 7 p.m. on March 13 and 1 p.m. on March 14 defaced at least 35 gravestones at the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Cemetery on Chamblee-Tucker Road. The messages on the gravestones included racist epitaphs, as well as profanity. One message scrawled on several surfaces said, “Crazy to be dead.”
“It’s a despicable act to dishonor the deceased,” said congregant Tina Graves, who is spearheading an effort to clean up the graffiti. “The act itself is horrible, but what was written on them is worse.”
A group from the church is trying to find a quick fix, but it’s expensive and they have to contact the relatives of the deceased to get permission, which hasn’t been easy.
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Q: Who got their goat?
A: Nobody knows.
🐐Sometime between the night of March 15 and the morning of March 16, a 60-pound Nigerian dwarf goat named Clementine disappeared from Tucker’s Thomas Family Farm.
Bill and Megan Thomas, whose eight-acre farm on Idlewood Road includes chickens, dogs, goats and sheep, has long been a destination for animal lovers. The couple has always welcomed visitors to the farm for a friendly encounter with their two- and four-legged pets. But that may all change soon with the disappearance of Clementine, a goat they literally birthed themselves three years ago when the mother was undergoing labor difficulties.
“We are absolutely heartbroken over this,” Megan said. “It’s so sad, but we feel like we are now going to have to make it so the goats are no longer accessible. We are scared these people are going to pick them off one by one.”
The couple, who believe Clementine became someone’s dinner, is still hoping that someone saw something, and that she will be returned to the herd. Her best friend, Goose the sheep, is distraught.
💔The story about her abduction is here.
🕺 Grab your gogo boots! Spruill’s Artistic Affair 2025 is taking it back to 1975 with auctions, live music, and a best dressed contest. Be part of this milestone celebration on March 29. Get your tickets now! SPONSOR MESSAGE
Q: How does NETWorks’ garden grow?
A: With your help.
👩🏼🌾 A few weeks ago I wrote about NETWork’s newest initiative, Growings, which is a fully operational indoor farm that will grow premium vegetables that will be distributed at its food pantry.
At the time I talked to organizers, they weren’t quite ready to start lining up volunteers, but now they are.
Weekly tasks would include planting new seeds, transferring seedlings into the grow areas, harvesting produce, packaging and distributing the produce, and then some occasional cleaning and pest control.
🥒 You can sign up here, and P.S., when you go, don’t wear what my mom used to call “church clothes,” unless the dress code at your place of worship is closed-toed boots and stuff that can get dirty and wet.
Q: Where can you ‘consider yourself part of the furniture?’
A: At Main Street Theatre’s classic musical “Oliver.”
🔀 The Tony and Olivier Award-winning show, one of the few musicals to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, is coming to Main Street Theatre for eight performances starting on April 18.
Directed by Candace Lambert, the play takes the audience back to the streets of Victorian England as Oliver, a malnourished orphan in a workhouse, becomes the neglected apprentice of an undertaker.
It’s important to support local arts, and the fact that Main Street Theatre has been around for 10 years, shows that Tucker does.
Q: What’s going on in Tucker?
A: So much.
🥣 As a run-up to ArtTucker, The Corner Cup on Main Street will be the site of a pottery demonstration by Tucker artist John Gresens on Saturday, March 22 from noon to 2 p.m.
The “Spring into Action” workday is this Sunday, March 23 at Johns Homestead Park.
🌶 Don’t forget about the Tucker Chili Cook-off next Saturday. March 29.
🍏 Sherry’s Produce is open for the season. And there was a Junior sighting yesterday.
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