Lunch Bunch survey, etc.

I have mentioned this before. I belong to a group of Houston County residents that meets periodically at lunchtime, eats, discusses and adjourns. I call it the Houston County Lunch Bunch, but I'm not sure that anyone else calls it this. We hadn't met for a few months until about two weeks ago, and at this meeting the "members" responded to a survey I had prepared. I would like to share with you the results, and some of my comments, but I caution you that by the time you read this, it will have been 15 days since the answers were given, and at least as to the "political questions" that's a long time.

Question 1. "If Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the nominees of their respective parties, who will win the general election?" Answers to this question: Trump 55 percent and Clinton 45 percent. Comment: Given that this is a conservative, older male crowd, Clinton's percentage surprised me. However, see the next question and answers.

Question 2. "Who will you vote for?" Trump 64 percent, Clinton 0 percent, Undecided 9 percent, and write-in 27 percent. Comment: Have political events of the last couple of weeks changed minds? I doubt it. I imagine it remains about the same.

The next question is something about a subject all of our members really understand and that's Georgia college football. The question is how many games will UGA and Georgia Tech win this season, and the answer is based on an average of all responses: Georgia 9 and Georgia Tech 7. Interestingly, one person thought Georgia would win 5 games and another thought Georgia would win 11. Also, one member voted that Georgia Tech would win 4.

Apparently our crowd is even less optimistic about the Braves than they are about the Jackets and the Dawgs. The question was where Atlanta's team (that used to be America's team) would finish in the division and here were the results: top third, one; middle third, six; and, bottom third, five.

We were not as optimistic about the economy as I thought we would be. Five thought it was improving; three voted about the same; and, three said regressing.

Robins Air Force Base did better than the economy. The question was: "How do you feel about Robins AFB as compared to 18 months ago?" 73 percent voted improving or about the same and 27 percent said worse.

Driverless cars came in for a vote. The question: "Do you believe driverless cars will be the norm within the next 10 years?" One voted yes, three voted no, but seven said there would be some, but not the norm.

Question 8: "Do you feel there will be a major terroristic event in this country within the next 12 months?" Sadly, eight said yes and only three voted no.

Question 9: "Is global warming real?" Seven thought it was and three said no. But, in a companion question, assuming it is real, was there anything man can do about it, five said yes to the question, and six said no.

We had a lively discussion about what was meant by a "terroristic event," and the point was well-taken that my question needed to be better put.

Someone posed the question "Who would Clinton pick as her vice president and who would Trump pick?" Obviously, there were no persuasive answers.

Then, we closed on this wise saying by one of our members: "If Trump and Clinton are the nominees, it will be worse than folks rushing home to watch television and to find out who shot J.R." And, by the way, I think this sage comment will give you some idea as to the average age of our bunch. What percentage of Americans younger than 40 have a clue as to who J.R. was?

And on another note: Today, April 10, 2016, Frank and Susie Giles, family and friends, will be celebrating Frank and Susie's 65th wedding anniversary. Janice and I will be there. Frank and Susie are two of Dooly County's finest and most popular citizens. Janice and I have been honored to call them friends for many, many years and no one helped me more to get started in my law practice, more than 50 years ago, than Frank Giles.

Larry Walker is a practicing attorney in Perry. He served 32 years in the Georgia General Assembly and presently serves on the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. Email: lwalker@whgmlaw.com.

This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 7:59 PM with the headline "Lunch Bunch survey, etc. ."