Dear Editor:
I just finished reading the article that Bishop Goings wrote on Tuesday, December 8, 2015. I was brought up in Dillon and lived in what we called the Jacksonville Community. I moved to the north with my family when I was twelve years old. Reading his article about the Center and what it meant to us really took me back to those simple days when living was a lot easier. I well-remember playing basketball and swinging on the swings at the Center. I will never forget Coach Paul J. Glen or Ms. Mary Blue, who not only controlled the concessions, but helped to maintain order among the young people. The Criterion Club was a vital part of my history and upbringing.
Thank you, Bishop Goings, for taking me down memory lane. You are certainly a gifted writer, who knows how to hold people’s attention by your clever orchestration of words, characters and situations. I have become a fan of yours, and look forward to what you are going to write about next. The Dillon Herald struck pay day when it gave you a column.
Ms. Editor, please keep printing his articles so that he may continue to enlighten and amuse us with his ability to put in words what so many of us have experienced and reminisce over.
Bishop Goings, you are truly an echo and voice to so many of us who grew up in Dillon and perhaps have forgotten our roots. Thank you for reminding us of where we came from and of a place and time when living was much easier in spite of the hardships we faced due to racism, poverty, and few opportunities to rise. Sir, you are an asset and hero!
Sincerely,
Corey Bethea
457 Marcus Garvey Blvd.
Brooklyn, NY 11216