Newspaper Page Text
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2006
Houston Bailor immutl
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Justice on the border
The majority of you probably saw
the story of border patrol agents
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alono
Compean on the news last week, but just
in case, it is reported as follows.
The two of them were pursuing Osbaldo
Aldrete-Davila, a Mexican citizen, on
Feb. 17, 2005, in the small Texas town
of Fabens, about 40 miles southeast of El
Paso. He had been spotted in a van, a van
which apparently drew Compean’s inter
est based on it, the driver’s, or both’s
suspicious nature. Anyway he began to
follow it - later joined by Ramos - and
Aldrete-Davila began trying to elude
them. He
eventual
ly gave up,
jumped out
and the pur
suit began.
When
Ram o g
caught up
with the
chase there
had already
been a scuf
fle that left
Compean
lying on
the ground,
banged up
and bloodied.
Then, while
in pursuit,
Ramos, all
tlhe while
Reportedly yelling for him to stop, said
the suspect turned - he believed with
gun in hand, He shot. At the time he
thought he missed, but apparently he hit
Aldrete-Davila in the back. That, how
ever, did not slow him down.
The van was later found to have 800
pounds of marijuana in it.
And the kicker in case you haven’t
heard: These two agents are both facing
up to 20 years in federal prison for their
actions.
Why?
Because, according to the U.S. attorney
who successfully prosecuted the agents
(a Texas jury found them guilty and they
are set to be sentenced Aug. 22), the man
they were chasing didn’t actually have a
gun, shooting him in the back violated
his “civil rights,” (officials later even
tracked him down solely for the purpose
of giving him immunity so he could tes
tify against the agents) the agents didn’t
know for a fact that he was a drug smug
gler, and they broke Border Patrol rules
about discharging their weapons and
preserving a crime scene (Ramos picked
up his casings).
Even more broadly, Assistant U.S.
Attorney Debra Kanof said, Ramos and
Compean had no business chasing some
one in the first place.
“It is a violation of Border Patrol reg
ulations to go after someone who is
fleeing,” she said. “The Border Patrol
pursuit policy prohibits the pursuit of
someone.”
My, my shouldn’t they - Kanof, the
jurors and the rest - be proud? They
helped ensure our judicial system worked
the way it was intended while at the same
time ending the careers of two border
patrolmen - each of which was decorated
and had been responsible, according to
reports, for stopping at least 100 drug
smugglers.
And Aldrete-Davila? Well, he got to con
tinue to provide drugs to today’s youth.
Perhaps it is true. Justice is blind.
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The Houston Home Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
My, my shouldn't they
- Kanof, the jurors and
the rest - be proud?
They helped ensure our
judicial system worked
the way it was intended
while at the same time
ending the careers ol
two border patrolmen
- each of which was
decorated and had been
responsible, according
to reports, lor stop
ping at least 100 drug
smugglers.
The latest word on water
A s Chairman of the Senate Natural
Z\ Resources and Environment
JL AUommittee, I have spent a major
ity of the interim period studying two
very important resources to the future
of our State water and alternative
fuels.
Over the summer, I have attended
meetings across the state studying
these two issues and I would like to
take this opportunity to update you
on the state s current water situation.
Next week, I will discuss some of our
findings as we look at the use of alter
native fuels.
Water management issues in Georgia
have become increasingly important
over the last five years, driven by the
worst drought in Georgia history from
1998-2002, and further heightened by
the current drought declaration.
Decisions on how to best allocate
water during times of drought have
resulted in water wars currently being
fought with Alabama and Florida, and
may result in water wars between dif
ferent regions within the state.
A statewide water planning effort is
under way to develop a policy frame
work that will be used to determine
water allocations among the regions
within the state. The Environmental
Protection Division will be present
ing the draft of the Statewide Water
Management Plan to the Water Council
one year from now.
EPD recently released a draft pro
posed policy framework for manag
ing water quantity in Georgia, which
emphasizes conservation and reuse to
manage water in a way that ensures
sufficient amounts remain for all users.
The Army Corps of Engineers built
Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee
River, creating Lake Lanier, in 1956,
after the United States Congress
authorized the Corps to study alterna
tives to meet anticipated water supply
needs in Atlanta.
The authorized purpose of the lake
was to provide flood control, hydro
power and navigation.
In 1988, after a 16-year water supply
study, the Corps recommended real
locating water stored in Lake Lanier
from power generation to the munici
pal water supply. As Atlanta s popula
tion increased, the Corps began issuing
interim contracts to municipal water
supply providers without any evalua
tionTmdet the National Environmental
Policy m.
In response to this recommendation,
Alabama sued the Corps in 1990 in
the Alabama Federal District Court,
claiming that reallocating the water
would favor Georgia s interests and
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Fun, health never tasted this delicious
Who knew getting messy came
with that many antioxidants?
Or lived in a better neigh
borhood than oat bran and maple wal
nut Tofutti?
Consider the pomegranate: difficult
to eat, guaranteed to stain, available
only a couple months out of the year
and harder to juice than a pumpkin on
Valentine’s Day.
But very healthy ... so they tell me.
Pomegranates apparently have more
antioxidants than other fruit, so many
that the little red seeds are now a hit
with the health and nutrition crowd.
Merchandisers at Pom Wonderful have
also made a concerted effort to sell the
benefits of its juice to Hollywood hip
sters. Newsweek confirmed as much
with a piece on pomegranates this
week.
If you’re keeping score at home, anti
oxidants are rust-coating for cells, not
in the spray-on sense but rather as a
defense against free radicals that cause
“oxidative damage,” a well-traveled
off-ramp to disease.
This is good news, I suppose, but
with apologies to Sheryl Crow, really,
all I wanted to do was have some fun.
Healthy and hip were never part of the
equation.
Instead, now Pm swilling pomegran
ate juice, which is way more expensive
than unleaded premium (but better
for you) and waiting impatiently for
OPINION
Tolleson K*| II
State Senator
R-Perry fl
that the Corps had violated NEPA by
ignoring the environmental impacts of
reallocating on the downstream
states.
Alabama also claimed that the Corps
breached its duty to operate Lake
Lanier and other federal reservoirs for
the benefit of all downstream users in
the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint
basin. Florida then sought to inter
vene on the side of Alabama, while
Georgia moved to intervene on the side
of the Corps. Thus began the water
wars between the three states.
On June 27,1 convened a joint emer
gency briefing of the Senate and House
Natural Resources Committees on the
current water issues. Three days later,
Gov. Sonny Perdue announced that the
state had reached a short-term agree
ment with Alabama and Florida, allow
ing the Corps to release water from the
reservoirs at a baseline of 5,000 cubic
feet per second.
The agreement requires the creation
of an environmental storage pool of
less than five percent of the total con
servation storage available in the basin
reservoirs, to be used for the protection
of Florida endangered species. The
remaining conservation storage would
be preserved for Georgia s water needs,
including water supply and recreation
use.
The agreement was set to expire
on July 24 and Florida asked an
Alabama Federal District Court Judge
to temporarily give it more water from
the Chattahoochee River to protect
Florida s endangered mussels.
The judge denied this request on
July 26, because it was not feasible,
considering drought conditions and
existing reservoir levels. The ruling
will govern until Sept. 5, when the
Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to
publish its biological opinion.
Perdue asked Alabama Gov. Bob Riley
and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to meet to
discuss the water issues.
They were set to meet Monday in
Columbus.
Recognizing that all regions of the
state need a reliable water supply, the
Legislature enacted the Comprehensive
Statewide Water Management Planning
Act in 2004. The first draft of the pro-
George j|f
Columnist jt
Morris News Service [ ~ j£..
September when the more affordable
fruit is back in season.
Twenty-five years ago they told me
to eat oat bran. The theory was that
it would defend my body against a
lipid protein known as cholesterol from
attaching itself to my arteries, where it
would put up curtains, order cable and,
eventually, grow fat enough to narrow
or block the entire operation.
Tofu was also on the acceptable list,
prompting me to find a faux ice cream
made with the stuff called Tofutti, a
cold confection with which I found
necessary to complement my muffins
every night for a lost year. (Actually, it
was a gain, about 15 pounds.)
Hundreds of muffins and the extra
weight later, my blood was about the
same. Fun, oat bran and Tofutti proved
mutually exclusive, too.
So imagine my excitement when I
heard that in addition to having a
fun quotient, pomegranates, which I
already loved, had a healthy risumi,
too.
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
posed Statewide Water Management
Plan will be completed in July 2007,
and will be presented to the General
Assembly during the 2008 Legislative
Session. If the General Assembly
does not ratify the Plan, the Water
Council may propose alternative plans
up until the 20th day of the Legislative
Session.
The Water Council may also sub
sequently amend the Plan by under
taking the same development process,
and obtaining final approval by the
General Assembly. In lieu of ratifica
tion, the General Assembly may enact
a statutory comprehensive plan during
the Session in which the Water Council
has proposed the draft Plan.
The draft Plan is to focus on a policy
framework that will change state law,
regulations and programs regarding
water management issues.
Another piece of this puzzle is water
quality. Even if we had an abundance
of water, if the quality is bad it is of no
use to us. Aug. 8,1 held a joint meeting
of the Senate Natural Resources and
Agriculture Committees to look into
the concept of water quality trading.
Water quality trading is a market-based
approach to protecting water qual
ity. It allows water pollution sources
to achieve water quality targets at a
lower cost than could be attained under
a traditional regulatory approach. For
example, a municipal wastewater plant
can choose to pay farmers to remove
pollutants from agricultural run-off in
lieu of making capital improvements
to remove pollutants at the treatment
plant. The result is an overall reduc
tion of pollutants in our watersheds.
While we are just beginning to look
at this concept and it will likely be
several years before we consider water
quality trading, this is an example of
how we must begin to think outside of
the box in order to improve our water
quality.
It is important that all Georgians
know our state s current water issues,
including how dry weather condi
tions affect us and our ever-increasing
demands on our water supply. I want
you to know that the state Senate will
only push for a water plan that will
ensure a clean, constant water supply
to our State for future generations of
Georgians to use and enjoy.
Sen. Ross Tolleson is chairman of the
Senate Natural Resources Committee.
He represents the 20th Senate District
which includes Bleckley, Dodge,
Houston, Johnson, Laurens, Pulaski,
Telfair and Wilcox counties. He may
be reached at 404-656.0081 or ross.
tolleson@senate.ga.gov.
Of course, in order for the fruit to be
fun, you need to have a child involved.
I had my first pomegranate when I
was about 8. My dad sat me down at
the kitchen table and sliced open what
looked like an old apple. Inside was
the goofiest looking piece of fruit I had
ever seen, but then, I was only 8.
Thirty minutes later, the scarlet
stain of pomegranate juice covered
my hands, face, clothes, and to my
mother’s chagrin, a good portion of
the kitchen table. My father could only
grin despite protests from mom, who
eventually came around, too.
Sweet and messy - a kid’s dream
fruit. If you have never had the plea
sure, the pomegranates we get here
have a crimson leathery skin. Inside
are hundreds of matching seeds packed
just so in yellowish sacs. You eat the
seeds (or just their juicy flesh) and
throw away the sacs.
This part is very important because
the seeds are sweet and refreshing; the
sacs are about as bitter as a sore loser
with a long story.
There are some tricks to removing
the seeds, but you’ll figure it out.
Then you’re ready, as I was a couple
years ago when I sat my son down at
the kitchen table ...
You know the rest of the story.
I’m holding out no hope that the
pomegranate and its pricey juice will
make me any healthier.