Newspaper Page Text
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2006
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
An unusual approach
A school district in Texas, taking note of
the killings at some schools, is trying
to prepare students for such a crisis.
Students - boys and girls - are being
told not to sit on their hands if a gunman
invades their classroom.
Fight back, they are told.
Not everyone agrees with this advice.
A major in the British Army reserve is
teaching students at the suburban Fort
Worth school. He says that hiding under a
desk waiting for rescue is not a recipe for
success.
Considering the fact that most gunmen who
have invaded
schools shot
students and/
or faculty
without giving
them a chance,
the British
major is try
ing to instill
a fight-back
attitude in the
students and
faculty.
It is in direct contrast to the advice nor
mally given to students. Critics of this kind
of self-defense say that it could result in
someone being killed.
The record on school invasions by gunmen
- some students themselves, some from the
outside - indicates that students are at risk
of being shot from the moment the school
is invaded.
Why not be prepared to Fight back as
a group? Someone could get hurt. But a
swarm of students could overpower the
gunman and, perhaps, save lives.
Students are being advised by the major to
pick up anything available and throw at the
gunman and make as much noise as pos
sible and “take him down.”
Most important of all, he advises, is not to
comply with the gunman’s orders.
Is it a good idea?
We’ll leave it to others to determine if this
radical approach is right or wrong. It cer
tainly calls for a change that is contrary to
current thinking.
Will other school districts in Texas or
elsewhere follow the lead of the Fort Worth
school district?
It will be interesting to learn whether
this advice to “Fight back” is embraced else
where.
Letters to the Editor
Military Day needed
Something I hadn’t thought of before was pointed
out to me by the wife of my grandson, a captain in the
U. S. Army, and who has recently returned from Iraq.
It’s very nice that there is a Military Day at the Georgia
National Fair each year, (at which time the military mem
ber enters free), but why aren’t military members and
their families given a discount every day? They certainly
serve every day.
I am a senior citizen, who enjoys a $1 discount each
time I attend. I would much rather that dollar be passed
on to our military members each year. I wonder how
many other senior citizens feel the same way.
Thank you from a proud grandmother,
Carmen Lyons, Perry
Missing the boat
Did your editors not miss one in that letter when they
let pass, “After all, humans as all other mammals, have
the ‘genetic drive’ to ’appropriate.’” In this usage don’t
we mean procreate? Of course, later on he mentions
Democrats so there is a possibility appropriate is apt
since they love to appropriate-your income, your savings,
your property, et cetera.
John Boyd, Warner Robins
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Daily Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
It Is In direct contrast
to the advice normally
given to students.
Critics of this kind ol
self-defense say that it
could result in someone
being killed.
County growth shows no end
Houston County’s building boom
continues. It may have slowed
down a bit with spec houses
and older houses moving more slowly.
But, overall, the rising interest rates
have not dulled the enthusiasm of
people looking for new homes.
Subdivisions galore dot the country
side. Plans for more are on the drawing
boards. Clearly developers are of the
opinion that the frenetic buying binge
that has been going on the past few
years has not peaked.
There are skeptics who point to the
past when building booms peaked, the
bubble burst and builders and finan
cial institutions took a bath. They are
predicting that the end of the present
overwhelming demand for new homes
is nearing its end.
I seriously doubt it.
In my opinion, the years ahead look
more promising for the housing mar
ket than the last few years. Our county,
which has grown in population dra
matically since the year 2000, could be
in for a surge of major proportions.
This is the kind of news that the
board of education and the elected
officials responsible for new schools
and infrastructure might fear, because
of the financial strain it could put on
them.
More houses mean more children.
More children - already putting a
strain on the school system - mean
more schools.
More homes and more subdivisions
create traffic problems and the demand
for large sums of money to provide
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Rethinking the climb up the corporate ladder
Sometime last year, the New York
Times featured a front-page story
that said many women at elite
colleges were setting a course for moth
erhood. The news was met with some i
collective hand wringing among the
older generation of feminists, many of
whom have argued that self-realiza
tion for women can only come in the
market place.
In fact, one aging feminist, retired
professor Linda Hirshman, recently
garnered some national attention by
stating that highly educated women
who chose to stay at home to raise chil
dren are harming society. She went so
far as to say that “...measured against
time-tested [utilitarian] strategies,
the expensively educated upper-class
moms will be leading lesser lives.”
In response to Hirshman, Jennifer
Roback Morse (a highly educated
mom in her own right and a fellow
of the Hoover Institution at Stanford
University) asked these questions: “We
educated, competent women do have a
choice. Will I place my intellect at the
service of an employer and my ego? Or
will I place my intellect and energy at
the service of my family and my com
munity?”
In recent years, technology and new
business practices have added even
more choices, making it possible for
some moms - and dads - to work from
home in order to be more available
for their families. But still there is no
getting away from the difficult task of
setting priorities. Even stay-at-home
moms have to fight the pressure to be
involved in “one more volunteer proj
ect” that takes them away from their
families because they “are not work
ing,” after all. It’s fairly obvious that
the so-called “mommy wars” are not
likely to end anytime soon. Frankly,
that is probably a good thing. A healthy
tension on such matters may prove to
be constructive because it pushes us to
deal with deeper questions related to
meaning and relationships.
But let’s turn our attention to
fathers, like me. We need to be asking
ourselves a number of questions about
our commitment to work and family.
We too must wrestle with ways to keep
family first, not career, and fight the
sometimes subtle impulse to sacrifice
family for career.
One problem is that we men, like
our female counterparts, can do a
remarkable job of rationalizing behav
ior and decisions that might actually
OPINION
roads and other infrastructure.
Not all good news - a boom in
the housing market - is necessarily
good news to those who have a hard
time finding money to keep up with
demands.
We have asked each other for years,
“Where are all the people coming
from?”
They’re coming from all over, I guess.
Certainly Houston County has acquired
a reputation for having outstanding
public schools and a low crime rate.
Word gets around.
If this alone is reason to expect con
tinuation of the explosion in popula
tion, then the time could be near for
the bubble to burst, or at least spring
a leak.
I can look ahead and see where
there is possibility for unprecedented
growth in population in the next few
years, and so far the cause has been
overlooked.
A recent news release revealed that
within the next five or six years approx
imately 12,000 employees at Robins
AFB will be eligible for retirement.
Most of them now live in Houston
County. Some will return to ancestral
be destructive. Like a politician who
“spins” information and words to suit
his political ambitions, we spin our
working decisions in a way that sounds
reasonable and even noble. This may
manifest itself in our leaving most of
the parenting duties to our wives while
appeasing the conscience by claiming
the irreplaceable role of breadwinner.
“You take care of the kids; I’ll bring in
the money.”
We can make longer hours and work
aholic tendencies sound remarkably
heroic.
“I’m doing this for you and the kids.”
This is often true. But quite often it’s
something entirely different, having
more to do with the accumulation of
stuff (or toys, if you will) than provid
ing what’s really needed for the family.
Sadly, the extra cars, boats and four
wheelers, if not managed within family
priorities, may only serve to keep the
family busy, not connected.
“I just want you and the kids to have
the best.” Again, when tied to putting
away money for education and mak
ing sure the kids have clothes, this is
noble. But we must ask ourselves if
our efforts in the workplace are tied
to feeding our family or feeding our
ego. Status - often derived from job
titles, the size of a home, the model of
a car or the brand of clothing - can be
a subtle motivator that leaves us with
lots of cool stuff...and a lot of strained
relationships. The competitive nature
of most men can drive them to climb
the corporate ladder, discontented with
each rung they reach because the suc
cess doesn’t bring fulfillment.
“How can you say that I’m not car
ing about the family? I’m working all
these hours so we can live in this nice
house and do fun things.” That sounds
nice, but there’s plenty of evidence that
it’s not the “stuff” that a wife wants or
needs. In fact, as has been reported
previously, University of Virginia soci
ologists Bradford Wilcox and Steven
Nock released the results of a study
earlier this year that revealed what
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Foy
Evans
Columnist
loyevansl9@cox net
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Randy
Hicks
Columnist
Georgia Family Council
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
places they call “home”. Some will
retire to the mountains, the beach or a
lake. But most, having lived here most
of their working lives, will stay here
in retirement. We already have a large
retirement community - military and
civilian - and it should grow dramati
cally when all those workers retire.
Who will replace them? A younger
work force, surely And, in my opinion,
most of them will want to live close
to their work, which translates into
Houston County
Thousands of new hires at the Base
will need housing and should create a
demand never seen here before.
The table is set for expansion all over
Houston County during the coming
decade. The challenge, in my opinion,
will be meeting the demand for new
housing. There can be no doubt that
thousands of families, becoming part
of the work force at the Base, will be in
the market for homes.
Looking at the future for our county
from this perspective, we can see an
economic boom. And we can see chal
lenges of a magnitude never encoun
tered before.
Our governments in the county have
recently been preparing a document
for the state on projected growth. If the
eligibility for retirement of so many
Base employees over such a short peri
od of time has not been taken into
consideration it might be wise to take
another look at projections.
The changes we have seen during the
past decade could be dwarfed by what
lies ahead.
women really want.
What do they want? Wilcox and Nock
reported that the most important deter
minant of women’s marital happiness
is the emotional engagement of their
husbands. It’s not about even division
of housework and career-related work;
it’s about affection, understanding and
quality time.
Engaged husbands are what wives
want. Engaged fathers are what chil
dren want and need. I’ve said this on
more than one other occasion in this
column - research reveals that chil
dren with uninvolved fathers are much
more likely to experience emotional
and social harms than children with
involved fathers.
So, let me state this simply: working
ridiculous hours to make ends meet is
sometimes required and may be, under
certain circumstances, the right thing
to do. But when it’s done for the sim
ple reason of attaining more stuff and
a gaining a promotion for promotion’s
sake, we may actually be undermining
the health of the very family for whom
we claim to be working.
The size of paycheck is not a mea
sure of a father’s worth or perfor
mance. It should not become too great
of a source of pride or of failure. But
that’s not to say that having a steady
job with steady pay is unimportant.
Study after study has revealed that,
generally speaking, a wife places a high
value on security and that her sense of
security is derived, in no small part, on
financial stability.
In this age of telecommuting, flex
work time, job sharing and other inno
vative work environments, families
have more choices than ever before to
craft an environment that allows for
family togetherness. Families may find
alternative ways to make ends meet
and to save for the future that provides
for the balance I’ve described. It may
or may not involve the wife working
or the husband declining the next pro
motion. But it most certainly should
involve asking the question about what
kind of family they want to have - and
what tough decisions will enable that
outcome.
Georgia Family Council is a non-prof
it organization that works to strength
en and defend the family in Georgia
by impacting communities, shaping
laws and influencing culture. For more
information, go to www.georgiafam
ily.org, (770) 242-0001, gregg@gafam.
org.