Super Bowl/Shockley buzz
February 1, 2007 at 1:51 pm by Web Editor in News
All the little clutches of power splintered apart as soon as House Speaker Glenn Richardson dropped his gavel Tuesday, sending 156 representatives scurrying to their seats. There was a special visitor in the House chamber from Soperton, his presence dwarfing the miniature turf struggles of state politics with the suggestion of an epic contest just days away.
The mood in the chamber was reverential.
"There is something in the water and something in the soil because our much-coveted Vidalia onions are from down there," said Rep. Mark Burkhalter (pictured; left), R-Alpharetta, speaker pro tem of the House, by way of introduction.
Then he spilled it.
"When you watch the Super Bowl on Sunday it was not grass grown in Florida, it was grass grown in Georgia," he said.
The man who grew that turf grass, Phillip Jennings III (pictured; right), stepped up to the microphone to face the legislators.
"I was asked by CBS News the other day where I wanted to live," Jennings told the crowd. "I told them I wanted to continue to live in the great state of Georgia and in Soperton, Ga."
The lawmakers emptied their seats.
"I want to thank you for your continued support of the turf-grass industry in Georgia," Jennings said when the applause died down.
Not to be outdone, a day later the Georgia Senate welcomed Atlanta Falcons backup quarterback D.J. Shockley as its special guest. He didn’t say much, but standing with his parents and his siblings, taking the heaped-on praise in stride with a self-deprecating smile, the Atlanta native from Sen. Valencia Seay’s, D-Atlanta, district faced a roomful of starry-eyed supporters.
"It’s a privilege," said Shockley, triggering a wave of murmuring through the chamber.
"What a difference between him and Vick," a lawmaker said. "The guy’s obviously a class act. You’d like to see a guy like him be successful instead of some of these other jerks."
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