Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2006
Mansion djmmtal
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
A step toward consolidation
Vision 20/20 is moving forward toward
recommending that Warner Robins
take over fire protection from the
county north of Highway 96.
There is significant overlap in service now
being provided. City firefighters often are
on the scene in the county before county
firefighters arrive.
Fire Chief Robert Singletary of Warner
Robins is in favor of consolidation of ser
vices.
At the present time Warner Robins has
100 full time employees in its fire depart
ment, with a budget of $6.3 million.
The county gets by with 11 full time
employees
who staff eight
fire stations at
a cost of $1.4
million annu
ally.
City resi
dents pay
for their fire
protection
through prop
erty taxes.
Residents out
side the city
pay a special
tax of 1.19 mill
for fire protec
tion.
There is a
big disparity
in what city
and county
residents pay
for fire insur
ance. Warner
Robins has an
ISO rating of 6. The county’s ISO rating
is 3. Insurance premiums are based on the
ISO rating.
The subject of expanding Warner Robins
fire protection beyond the city limits has
been discussed by 20/20 for a long time. It
has now reached the point where the Middle
Georgia Regional Development Commission
has been called on to make a cost analysis.
Most Houston Countians express a desire
to see county and city services consolidated
where feasible.
Once the analysis has been received it is
possible that Vision 20/20 will recommend
that the county commissioners and Warner
Robins city officials move forward on con
solidation.
Some residents of unincorporated Houston
County fear that this is a money making
ruse on the part of the city. We cannot
conceive that the city will receive financial
benefits from taking over fire protection
outside the city.
However, there has been concern for a
long time that it is difficult for public safety
personnel to distinguish between what is
and is not in the city limits. The agreement
now in existence between the county and
city really wipes out this confusion, but it is
not an ideal situation.
It will be easy to pull this off, once a deci
sion is made. Chief Singletary is ready to
take on the additional responsibility.
It would be a significant step toward com
bining city and county services where the
public will benefit.
Letier to th e Editor
Most agree with Wood
I and many, if not all, county residents agree with
Walton Wood (in a recent letter to the editor).
We have not even paid for the recent Back-Door tax
increase (property re-evaluations) and the Vision 20/20
group is already working on a way to increase our taxes
again! I recently escaped the Perry city limit taxes by
moving above Ga Hwy 96 into unincorporated Warner
Robins. Garbage collection in the Perry city limits is
practically double the county at $19.50 per month for one
garbage can and my city taxes were roughly 70 percent
the amount of my county taxes. I could not find anywhere
that I got my moneys worth for either! 1 was
See LETTER, page >/l
The subject of
expanding Warner
Robins fire protection
beyond the city limits
has been discussed by
20/20 for a long time.
It has now reached
the point where
the Middle Georgia
Regional Development
Commission has been
called on to make a cost
analysis. Most Houston
Countians express a
desire to see county
and city services
consolidated where
feasible.
Corporations and parents should pay
A federal judge has allowed Delta
Airlines to get out from under
its retirement obligations to it
pilots. This means that responsibility
of paying the pilots’ retirement income
will rest on the shoulders of taxpay
ers.
This has happened before with
other airlines and other corporations.
They promise retirement packages to
employees, underfund the retirement,
get into financial trouble and dump
responsibility of paying their employ
ees’ retirement benefits.
Somebody got to some congressmen
to persuade them to write a law which
makes this possible.
Many corporations - big and small
- get into financial trouble and use
the generous bankruptcy laws to reor
ganize, stay in business and leave the
landscape strewn with creditors who
get a few cents on the dollar or nothing.
They pay clever lawyers who specialize
in this kind of thing handsomely, top
executives keep their generous salaries
and benefits, salaries of employees are
cut and who cares?
The people who should suffer, while
their mismanagement creates hard
ship and suffering for everyone else,
usually are rewarded and permitted to
start over free of debt.
While corporations that reorganize
this way are praised for “getting out
of bankruptcy” and providing jobs,
nobody weeps for the many creditors
who lose money and are victims of the
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May I have some catfish and hushpuppfes?
There is a report out saying that
Southerners are fatter than most
folks. The Trust for America’s
Health claims that eight of the 10
states with the porkiest people are
located in the South. Jeff Levi, the
group’s executive director, is quoted
as saying that he is stumped as to why
Southerners get fatter than the rest of
the country. He says it could involve
“socio-economic” and “cultural” fac
tors.
You need to know right off that Dr.
Levi graduated from Oberlin College
in Ohio and from Dartmouth and most
likely doesn’t know a Moon Pie from
a moonbeam. The reason that we are
fatter than everybody else is that our
food is better, and because it is better,
we eat a lot of it. Duh!
Southerners can cook rings around
anybody north of the Mason-Dixon
Line, and west of New Orleans. Our
family matriarch, Aunt Callie, could
fry a bucket of mud and have every
body begging for seconds. Cack, as we
called her, never saw a recipe book in
her She just turned the stove up as
high as it would go, threw lard and salt
in the skillet and cooked the bejeezus
out of whatever hit the pan, including
fried chicken, country-fried steak, fried
okra, fried green tomatoes and fried
apple pies. And when we cleaned our
plates, we had homemade chocolate
cake and lots of sweet tea to wash it
down. I guarantee Dr. Levi didn’t eat
like that at Oberlin or at Dartmouth.
He probably had broccoli, asparagus
and English peas and then finished off
his meal with a tangerine. Good thing
OPINION
process.
As they say, only in America.
Opportunity flourishes for those who
hire the right lawyers who specialize in
this sort of thing.
Just feel proud that some of your tax
dollars are paying for the retirement of
thousands of workers whose employers
were permitted to pass the responsibil
ity over to you and me.
■ ■■
J
A video clip of a coach at a youth
football game charging onto the field
and knocking down a player is call
ing attention to a problem that exists
almost everywhere.
A fight erupted on the field with
parents and players from both team
participating.
That is not what youth sports pro
grams are supposed to be about.
We have had incidents in Houston
County where parents have verbally
abused players for opposing teams and
there have been some incidents of
adults getting overheating and getting
he never met Cack. No way he would
be fretting over how fat Southerners
are. He’d be too busy eating her but
tered cornbread to care.
In case you haven’t already gone
to the refrigerator for some butter
milk, you might be interested to know
that Georgia ranks 12th among fat
states not anything to brag about,
particularly since we lag Mississippi
and Alabama, two states that we see
in our rearview mirror on about any
measurement you care to make. The
real embarrassment is that people in
Michigan are bigger lard bottoms than
we are.
What in the world could people in
Michigan be eating that is more fat
tening than peach cobbler? Maybe they
deep-fry their cranberries.
Among several recommendations
from the Washington pointy-heads in
the fight on fat is for businesses to
offer their workers “nutrition counsel
ing.” It makes me wonder if anybody
at the Trust for America’s Health has
ever held a real job in the real world.
(“Folks, we are getting our brains beat
out by the competition. Our costs are
up and our profits are down, but let’s
take a minute and talk about cucum-
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
Dick
Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
into tussling matches.
These adult* exhibitions of childish
activities should not be condoned and
participants should be barred for the
rest of the year from attending games.
Better yet, something Claude Lewis,
the outstanding recreation director
who made Warner Robins’ program
one of the best anywhere, and I talked
about years ago.
We agreed that it might not be an
idea to bar parents from attending
their children’s games.
Many parents live their fantasies
through their children.
They often abuse their own chil
dren when they do not perform up
to expectations. They get into heated
arguments and, sometimes, physical
contact with other parents over what
goes on on the field.
It doesn’t make sense. But it hap
pens too often.
The recreation programs are for the
children, not the parents. Let the par
ents drop the children off before the
game and pick them up after the game.
I imagine that there are many boys
and girls who would be thrilled if this
happened and they did not have to
face the ire and criticism of demanding
parents.
The father who incited the riot early
this week will face criminal charges, as
he should.
But that is not what should be expect
ed as a result of a football game. And it
really is just a game. Nothing else.
bers.”)
And, of course, the Trust for America’s
Health, like any of the innumerable
special-interest groups that exist in
Washington, thinks government needs
to get more involved. Government
involvement can justify their existence
and make them a “player” inside the
Beltway. The more laws they can get
passed, the more influence they have.
And the more meddling in our personal
lives we have to endure. The last thing
we need is a government nanny telling
us what to eat. What business is it of
government what I eat and whether
I fry it or consume it raw? If these
people get their way, we might have to
get some bureaucrat’s approval before
we can scarf down our catfish and
hushpuppies.
If our government can’t keep illegal
immigrants from coming and going
across our borders, how are they going
to keep some kid from eating a double
cheeseburger with fries and a shake?
If Momma and Daddy don’t want their
child looking like a walrus, can’t they
just utter the “no” word?
I have a wonderful solution to this
problem. I think exercise is the answer.
Therefore, I would suggest that Dr.
Levi and his colleagues at the Trust
for America’s Health take a hike. As
for me, I am going to exercise, too. I
plan to exercise my right to continue
to enjoy down-home Southern cooking.
Pass the biscuits and gravy, please.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or
Web site: www.dickyarbrough.com.