By John A. Winters, The Shopper Publisher
When ranking presidents, most would list Abraham Lincoln right up there among the most influential and important.
He is known for many things: the War of Northern Aggression (aka Civil War for the northerners in these parts), slavery, the Gettysburg address. It is the latter that highlighted him as a man of powerful words and proclamations. Everyone has their favorite Lincoln quote and will recite it at the drop of the proverbial hat.
Mine is the one he gave not long after the battle of Gettysburg. It was during a discussion with a group of senators regarding the age-old question of, “what is truth?”

“Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet,” Lincoln was quoted as saying. That remains true today.
Case in point, recently I was having lunch with the SONS of Thunder at one of The Paper’s joints. Burgers, buffalo wings, a Philly cheesesteak and plenty of fries.
“Check this out,” Eldest said and turned his not so smart phone toward me. Seems a rather well-known Hollywood celeb has decided to move to Newnan. And no, it wasn’t anyone associated with The Walking Dead.
Now I’ve been in journalism for more than 30 years. One crusty old journalism professor used to hammer a particular saying into us – “if your mother tells you she loves you, check it out.”
Now, said professor had nothing against mothers. I’m sure he probably had one himself, but he was a mean old cuss so who knows. His point, however, was just because someone says something doesn’t make it true. Check the facts to make sure they are “factual.”
But we will say that said actor is, how do they say it, “very, very easy on the eyes,” according to any woman with a pulse. I’m not going to go all into it here, but if you head over to the News and Zen column on Page 14, you will get the lowdown.
And like those ginsu knives, “but wait, there’s more.”
Speaking of the Internet, we’ve been doing some “Internetting” ourselves. The Shopper and The Paper each have brand spanking new website designs.
The Paper’s website (www.thecowetapaper.com) has just about everything you’ll find in the print edition. The site is broken out by sections: the news; the food; the calendars; the trends; the interviews; and the photos. There’s also an e-edition.
The Shopper’s website (www.thecowetashopper.com) is broken out into three main categories: news, advertisers and media.
And like the names suggest, the news column highlights what’s going on in our county. The advertising section focuses on all those great businesses and industries here in Coweta. They are the reason The Shopper exists and we wanted to give them their own highlighted area to introduce them to our readers and therefore, more potential customers.
The third section is new. It’s going to include videos and photo galleries of our local businesses and events. Each week we will try and add a couple of items to this section. It’s just another way we can highlight our advertisers, as well as showcase all the great things going on in our county.
There’s always more to come, so stay tuned.
Until next time.
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John A. Winters is the president of Winters Media & Publishing, Inc.