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♦ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2006 4A iftcmstint ©atlg Jlounml OPINION Daniel F. Evans Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President Don Moncrief Managing Editor Hooray for these students Let’s hear a big cheer for educational achievement. Nine students from Georgia have been named to compete for the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist of the Year.” Three of the nine are from Houston County’s public schools. They are Mark Ellgass (Huntington Middle School), Rahul Joshee (Warner Robins Middle School) and Jason Lloyd (Bonaire Middle School). We get excited when throngs turn out for foot ball games. There’s no hoopla to excite the masses about academic achievement, but accom plishments of these young men deserve high praise and recogni tion. After all, ath letic achievements are temporary, academic achievements can lead to bigger and better things. We congratulate these three students and take pride in pointing out that they are products of Houston County’s public school system. Charges are just politics Republicans are asking for a probe of Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor’s ties to lease arrange ment under which his family has received lease payments from the state. Democrats are questioning the propriety of a law passed by the legislature which made it possible for Gov. Sonny Perdue to save more than SIOO,OOO in state income taxes. These are signs that the campaign for gov ernor of Georgia is in full swing. We can look for more of the same in the months leading up to the general election in November. Will these charges get traction? We do not believe that they will. While voters seem to thrive on assault pol itics there is reason to doubt that personal attacks bring votes to the polling booth. These ads may persuade some people not to vote or vote against a candidate, but not for one. Both targets of the attacks are opponents who have proven themselves strong vote getters in the past. When it is time to vote we believe that the candidates will be judged on their past per formances and the kind of leadership (con servative or liberal) that can be expected of the winner. Worth Repeating “I want you all to understand that we are at war and we will stay as war until this is done. Nothing else matters. Everything is available for the pursuit of this war. Any barriers in your way, they’re gone. Any money you need, you have it. This is our only agenda.” George W. Bush 43rd President of the United States HOW TO SUBMIT LETTERS We encourage readers to submit letters to the editor. Letters should not exceed 350 words and must include the writer's name, address and telephone number. All letters printed in The Home Journal will appear with the writer’s name and hometown - we do not publish anonymous letters. The news paper reserves the right to edit or reject letters for reasons of grammar, punctuation, taste and brevity. Letter writers are asked to submit no more than one letter per person per week. We cannot guarantee that a letter will be printed on a specific date. The Home Journal prefers that letters be typed. Letters to the editor are published in the order they are received as space permits. A Journal employee will call to verify the author of each letter. There are three ways to submit a letter to the editor: E-mail it to hhj@evansnewspapers.com, mail it to The Houston Home Journal at P.O. Box 1910, Perry, GA 31069, or drop it off at 1210 Washington St. in Perry - between 8 a m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Foy S. Evans Editor Emeritus We get excited when throngs turn out for football games. There's no hoopla to excite the masses about academic achievement, but accomplishments of these young men deserve high praise and recognition. Pluto Is still there, so are gas prices How about all the excitement and controversy because some astrologers decided that Pluto is not a planet. So what? It still is out there, the same size and in the same orbit it always has had. Planet or no planet, life will go on as usual. ■ ■■ Gasoline prices have been coming down. Isn’t it interesting to note that people are getting excited over $2.50 a gallon gasoline, when only a few months ago they thought the sky was falling in when the price climbed that high? Having seen $3 gasoline we now welcome $2.50 and might even be thinking about going out and buying a new gas guzzler. Forget about the long term implications of high priced gaso line, which never will sell at bargain prices again. ■ ■■ It’s a good thing Sonny Perdue doesn’t need the help or support of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper to get reelected governor of Georgia. He’s their favorite pinata so far in this elec tion year. ■ ■■ I’m a solid booster of this country’s space program. But I just can’t keep from wondering why they wind up with so many little problems just before lift off time, despite the amount of money they have to spend. What they are accomplishing is fabu lous. It takes special people to perfect 'o House Bill 218 allows too much secrecy Most observers feel that House Bill 218, that was defeated in the 2005 session of the General Assembly, will raise its ugly head again when the House meets in January. Some say that Governor Sonny Perdue is in favor of the legislation and is com mitted to its passage. Let me tell you what House Bill 218 is all about. Very simply put it will allow local and state industrial develop ment authority officials to make deals behind closed doors with industries and businesses expressing interest in locating in the state. Under the bill they would not be required to give any information to you the taxpayer until the deal was done, even though public lands and funds could be involved. As expected, most industrial develop ment authorities across the state favor the legislation and say it is something needed to make our state competitive when courting new industries and jobs. This is not true because there is a law already on the books that allows a cer tain amount of secrecy, but not total secrecy as HB 218 would allow until the deal is done. Over the past several years Georgia has attracted far more industry than most states in the southeast under present laws. Our state has much to offer industrial prospects in addition to economic incentives. We have an interstate system of roads second to none, two deepwater ports, fine col leges and universities, a good climate, good workers, outstanding tourism and much more. We do not have to make deals with industrial prospects in total secrecy from the public to continue to OPINION those rendezvous and trips to planets far, far away. But the little things seem to be dog ging the people doing the nuts and bolts work on the ground. I’m looking forward to a new genera tion of space capsules that will get men into space more efficiently. I just hope that critics of the space program are not successful in taking this money to spend on some social program. ■ ■■ According to government guidelines 41 percent of students in the Houston County school system are “economi cally distressed” and qualify for free lunch. How in the world can this be in one of the most affluent counties in Georgia? ■ ■■ Some Georgia legislators have come up with another way to transfer money from productive citizens to the non productive. It would emulate the feder al welfare program erroneously called “earned income credit”. The earned income credit pays out "I'm just glad we don't have any drug problems in this neighborhood!" grow from the industrial standpoint. As already stated, House Bill 218 would allow state and local develop ment planners to keep secret almost every detail concerning any offers to industrial prospects until the contract is signed and the ink dry. Information concerning the kind of industry, the location involved, the tax breaks, or the inducements made would not become public. In other words, it will be too late for the public to protest should they wish to, and this would not be good. Those in favor of the secrecy that HB 218 offers have been unable to pres ent any creditable evidence that any premature disclosure of information has ever hindered the state’s efforts to attract new industry. The governor backed off in 2005 after an outcry from the public and newspapers across the state. He should have learned from the past and back away now from his present stance on HB 218. Without a doubt the public has the right to see what tax concessions for roads, infrastructure, traffic, waste disposal, locations or other tax funded benefits are being offered to the indus trial prospect before the deal is signed Foy Evans Columnist loyevansl9@cox.nel ' A. iL Bob Tribble Columnist Trib Publications HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL money to people who do not pay income taxes and, like so many other things in our dysfunctional society, pretends it is earned. It should be labeled what it is - a form of welfare. As for Georgia, we can hope sensible legislators never let this kind of thing get started. ■ ■■ A new survey shows that 77 per cent of Canadians blame the United States for the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York ... And anoth er so-called friendly nation - France - rejects President Bush’s call for a “war on terror”. France’s president says talking would be more effective. That’s what Neville Chamberlain said - and did - when Hitler began showing his colors. ■ ■■ According to the Georgia Department of Education, here is a breakdown of the racial makeup of schools in Houston County: Asians 2 percent. Blacks 34 percent. Hispanics 3 per cent. Multi-racial 2 percent. White 59 percent. Thirteen percent of students in our school system have disabilities. ■ ■■ Correction: My typing fingers got ahead of my brain when I erroneously wrote last week on how many days stu dents in Georgia must attend classes. The correct number of days is 180 each year. and sealed. After all in most cases it is their money that will fund the project. As already stated the states present Open Records Act provides exemptions so developers can negotiate with the prospect in private. But the law also gives the public the right to know the details of the deal before it is finalized by local and state governments. Under the present law, if developers wish to keep the identity of an indus trial prospect secret, which sometimes is understandable, all they need to do is not identify the prospect by name until the parties feel the proper time to name the prospect has come. All special concession from local and state governments can be made public to the taxpayer without naming the prospect until the proper time. Over the years Republicans have traditionally seemed to favor open government more than the average Democrat. Hopefully our Republican governor will change his position on HB 218. It would be better to lose an industry or two rather than to give away hard earned taxpayers dollars under the cover of darkness. We in the media certainly want our local and state industrial developers to be successful. When good industries and businesses are brought into our communities everyone wins. House Bill 218 provides too much secrecy that is not good for the taxpay ers, and is a bill that is not necessary since ample laws concerning econom ic development are already in place. Hopefully HB 218 will not raise its ugly head again in January.