It’s fairly difficult to embrace COVID-19 and tell it how happy we are that it came to visit. 

When we get on the other side of this, we’ll be scratching our heads, saying: “What in the name of God was that all about?” 

I personally think God is sitting this one out. I can’t imagine he’d want to harm so many people who have lost the lottery and developed an infection.

Further proof that God isn’t behind this situation is when rumors start circulating that there will be no college football this fall. Never say never. There WILL be football. Games might be played in a Walmart parking lot. 

It would devastate me not to hear Coach Ed Orgeron say “Go Tigahs!” seven or eight times.

The Lord can’t be at all happy about cancelling Easter services. But there are other facets of our new normal that can be devastating. 

What in the name of Cadbury is the Easter bunny going to do? Personally, I view the Easter bunny as non-essential. He’s been scamming parents for a long time. 

I wouldn’t feel bad if the Easter bunny joined the other poor souls and filed for unemployment. He’s had a good run and made a lot of money for candy company executives. 

Cumming has a mayor who is, inarguably, energetic. But he was more than a little scary when he released a statement stating the city planned to hire 150 special law enforcement officers to properly enforce social distancing.

Penalties would be plentiful, but uniforms for the officers would not. They’d be in plainclothes.

I couldn’t fathom Cheech, Jessie and Dawn the Hair Ladies, Jimmie Goodson and all the other people I know, writing tickets. 

There was no upside to that nonsense. This feverish situation is bad enough, we don’t need to extinguish the fire with gasoline (for which I paid $1.44 per gallon at BJ’s).

Like I said, Mr. Mayor, you are energetic and have some pretty good ideas. Swearing in up to 150 ‘special officers’ for a city of 7,000 residents is not one of those. I’m glad you backtracked, and I’m sorry for the loss of your grandfather.

And for the love of Randolph Hearst, people on social media should not blame this newspaper. 

I consider it an honor and a privilege to be associated with the Forsyth County News. It’s a staff of dedicated, hard working journalists who don’t phone it in. They strive to report the news of our community.

Since we’re evaluating whether a business is essential, you need not look any further than the publication you are reading.

We, not just a few of us, NEED newspapers. In this era of fake news and questioning the veracity of network reporters, anchormen and a craggy-faced California legislator, when is the last time you read a newspaper story and said: “That’s simply not true.”

This paper, your community newspaper, needs you. When we emerge from this, we’ll be seeking a new normal. We are a curious lot and we want to know what’s happening in our little corner of Georgia.

Sports scores, trials, events, recipes, arrests, foolishness from those in the big brick building (Oops, that was my bad), entertainment, local theater, etc. Those are just items right off the top of my noggin. Who doesn’t remember waking up on Sunday morning and eagerly reading the funnies. Never could call them the comics.

No local journalism and all that and so much more — no, make that everything — goes away.

I left journalism in 1981, but it never left me. In 2008, I came back to visit with you every other week and love it. Whether you laugh, cry or curse at what you read, you are exercising your brain.

And I practice what I preach. I personally subscribe to two print publications, the Forsyth County News and The Bakersfield Californian, the latter being from my hometown and where I worked until 1981.

Please appreciate that a free press isn’t free. Along with journalists and staff, it needs advertising and subscriptions. That’s where you come in. 

I too often hear: “Oh, I don’t get the paper. I used to.” I’ve yet to hear a reason why.

You probably saw that your newspaper will be trimming staff and editions. And that’s not something our community should be proud of.

Think about sustaining hometown journalism by purchasing a subscription. If you have a business, buy an ad. 

The paper needs you. And you need the Forsyth County News!

Mike Tasos’ column is published every other Sunday. Since churches are closed, he figured he might try his hand at preaching. Comments can be sent to miketasos@earthlink.net.