Newspaper Page Text
OPINION
THURSDAY, JUNE 14 - 20, 2018 • Page 7
Beaming with pride
For the 11th time in 12 years, The
Champion has been recognized as
a first-place winner in the General
Excellence category in Georgia Press
Associations annual Better Newspaper
Contest held June 7 at the Jekyll Island
Club. I couldn’t be prouder of our
product and staff.
Competing against every weekly
newspaper in the state, The Champion
placed third in the category of
Newspaper Website thanks to the
efforts of webmaster Donna Seay
and our team of reporters. Editorial
cartoonist Fitzroy James took first -
and second-place in the statewide
category of editorial cartoons for his
insightful, albeit at times sarcastic,
cartoons that appear weekly on The
Champions editorial page.
Our newspaper and staff were
also recognized with a third-place
award in the special issues category
for our annual guide to DeKalb that is
produced in conjunction with DeKalb
Chamber of Commerce.
Former managing editor Gale
John Hewitt
johnh@dekalbchamp.com
Horton Gay received a first-place
award for The Champions lifestyle
section and a first place in serious
column writing. Former news editor
and current business editor Kathy
Mitchell was recognized for her
religious writing with a first-place
award as well as her contributions to
the team-effort category of headline
writing.
Graphic designers Kemesha
Wadley and Travis Hudgons were
honored for their contributions
that led to a second-place award
for page one and a first-place for
overall layout and design of the entire
newspaper. Our graphics team was
also recognized with a third-place
for best use of graphics. Additionally,
Hudgons received a second-place
award in the news photo category.
Local news editor Horace
Holloman was recognized for his
contributions in the headline writing
category and individually with a first-
place in enterprise story writing as
well as a third-place in both breaking
news writing and online news project.
Sports editor Carla Parker was
recognized with a third-place award
for her coverage of sports in DeKalb
County. Former education editor
and local news reporter Scott Belzer
received a first-place award in the spot
news photo category and a second-
place in education writing.
I was recognized with a second-
place award for editorial writing
and a second-place for serious
column writing. However, the pride
I receive from hearing the names of
our staff being called and our little
Decatur-based newspaper receiving
the coveted first-place in general
excellence award far exceeds any
individual recognition bestowed.
Being in the twilight years of
my lengthy career in printing and
publishing, it does my heart good to
see the younger staff members being
recognized for their efforts and gives
me a great deal of pride when I reflect
on the many grammar and writing
lessons I’ve attempted to share with
them over the years. Perhaps in some
small way, I’ve made them better
writers and hope they will eventually
appreciate all those red and green edit
marks that never fail to appear on
their proof pages.
We have an excellent team at The
Champion, a team I’m proud of and
happy to be a part of. Each week,
we collectively do our best to bring
our readers well-written and well-
designed pages that inform them of
the news and events that shape the
lives of those who live, work and play
in DeKalb County.
“Not just ignorant... irresponsible.”
reaction by Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau on sudden and
significant tariffs for import into the
United States on Canadian aluminum,
steel and other commodities, citing
national security concerns.
Among the many often-discussed
flaws and foibles of the presidency of
Richard M. Nixon was his longtime
practice of maintaining a White House
enemies list. Nixon had risen from
humble circumstances, and always
felt both a need for being liked, and a
desire to do battle and settle old scores
with his political opponents-critics
and adversaries alike.
It boggles the mind to consider the
hours and challenges of maintaining
such a list in today’s White House. This
is of course in part due to Mr. Trump’s
penchant for treating most everyone at
some point as if they are the enemy.
The president is currently focused
on delivering a meeting/summit
between the two Koreas in which he
will also serve the role as mediator/
peace broker and lead negotiator for
securing a non-proliferation treaty
with North Korean President Kim
Jong Un. So as flattery is also part of
Mr. Trump’s charm offensive, he is now
saying nice things about the Korean
dictator and his emissaries. Trump
dismissed Kim as Little Rocket Man
while threatening to extinguish life in
his country as recently as a few months
Enemies list
‘One Man's
Opinion 9
Bill Crane
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
ago.
Part of the true greatness of
America has been the strength
and depth of our relationship and
commitments to our allies. Though the
French may not always treat us well
as visitors, and they tend to disdain
our fashion sense and politics, older
citizens of France well remember and
celebrate Americans helping to liberate
their nation from rule by Hitler’s
Germany. Our special relationship
with the United Kingdom goes back
to our nation’s founding, and our men
and women in uniform stand shoulder
to shoulder even today in the trenches
in many troubled places around the
globe.
To our north—our largest trade
partner and neighbor—Canada stands
with much of the European Union and
our other longtime allies attempting to
understand how to communicate with
and build relations with this president.
Trump seems to believe that our
allies will either lump it and take it,
or that the response to sudden tariff
hikes will not cause great pain to other
segments of our own economy.
Though I hope to be proven wrong
on this, it looks like more challenging
days are soon ahead for many American
farmers, as well as exporters of more
popular branded products such as
Harley Davidson motorcycles and
Kentucky bourbon.
Trump’s combination of charm and
bullying may end up bringing some type
of reunification, as well as an official
end to the Korean War to the Korean
Peninsula. And the president should be
commended and recognized for that if it
happens.
But the Trump White House is also
already softening its primary negotiating
position, as it relates to the definition
of complete nuclear disarmament on
the Korean peninsula. For Kim Jong Un
it means no more new warheads and
dismantling of bomb testing facilities
and programs. It does not mean
surrendering or disarming all existing
warheads, nor the surrender of other
conventional mid-range weapons aimed
at neighboring Japan, nor giving up
technologies decades in the making to
enrich uranium and plutonium or to
run nuclear power plants.
The Trump White House is
considering an approach which
clearly did not work for the Clinton
administration during the 1990s—
negotiating with Kim Jong Un’s
grandfather—to take sanctions down
first, while North Korea dismantles and
disarms later.
Hopefully these public perceptions
are in fact incorrect, and though Trump
is not going to Singapore to drain a
swamp, he will return carrying the drain
plug on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions
and arms race, in exchange for them
rejoining the world economy.
But to maintain those stiffer
sanctions against North Korea, or
renegotiate a tougher weapons deal
with Iran, or even to sit down amicably
to renegotiate non-unilateral trade
agreements, we need to have strong and
lasting allies and be communicating
from a position of trust and respect.
Perhaps starting with his own
political party, and sometime critics
of this president such as John McCain
or Mitt Romney, Trump can be the
bigger man and focus on common
interests and acknowledge efforts and
achievements, rather than on previous
political slights.
I’m not betting on that mind
you. Though I have always tended to be
a glass half full kind of guy, but there has
to be hope.
Bill Crane also serves as a political
analyst and commentator for Channel 2 s
Action News, WSB-AM News/Talk 750
and now 95.5 PM, as well as a columnist
for The Champion, DeKalb Free Press and
Georgia Trend. Crane is a DeKalb native
and business owner, living in Scottdale. You
can reach him or comment on a column at
bill.csicrane@gmail.com.