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4A 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. Send your Letters to the Editor to: 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 W &VTHOO<&H I T CPkMT UNOEReTANO iirmTTmTT' l COOKTBY, e yOVX)I ER.J I WODL9 'g/RlMCri AL U J MU v VI L r m /sbseejSl \OF THe TROOPS vAOMe. J r \ s \Sy >^e>EN<aet?S..j J — j ■ — r...-a\e S f w wiu mo f A TERRORIST Ri_OT TO &W kU-OVAJEO TO CW?RYOM t MAKING ME MAO! L VAV 1 f L\QU'C> OR Gi£U \TEMO W* v -- vi 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.