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i ♦ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20,2006 4A 3Ruush.ni OPINION Daniel F. Evans Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans Managing Editor Editor Emeritus It's for their good This is a true story that happened less than six months ago. One of our reporters was making a normal pur chase - actually in the X number of items fast lane - at a major department store (an enormously large chain in fact, but who they are is really only one part in this par ticular equation) when the computer kicked out an error. It was your standard run of the mill - i.e. item didn’t scan the first time and then showed up twice (something we’ve grown quite accustomed to). The problem came in sorting it all out. You see the person running the register, at that point, couldn’t rely on the computer to do the math. And the math turned out to be subtracting 37 cents from a dollar. The cashier couldn’t do it. Not in her head. Not on a piece of paper. In fact, the cashier had to call a manager - a good three-minute wait - to do the math. The cashier could not do subtraction stu dents in the second grade are learning. There’s been some press lately about how students in Bibb County were being pro moted to the next grade despite the fact they didn’t pass the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. The question was raised: Should they have been? Was this cashier just a high school drop out, maybe? Not if you read the require ments for employment from the company’s website. It doesn’t specifically say a high school diploma is required but it reads that way. In fact, according to the website, you had to be in your junior or senior year at a four-year college just to be an intern. Did she then fall through the cracks or was she indeed one promoted when she shouldn’t have been? It’s unknown, but one thing is true. If she was, on the sheer embarrassment factor alone, nobody did her any favors by doing so. Letters to the Editor Marshall proven winner After hearing Mac Collins speak in person I have yet to get over his negativism! Surely Calder Clay must be one of his campaign workers. While berat ing the misnamed “death tax” he neglects to tell us what abolishing this wonderful source of billions of taxes would do to our already growing deficit. The Estate Tax affects only one in 200 estates and the exemptions for a married couple are $4 million and $2 million for single taxpayers. It’s abolition would be the cause of drastic reductions in federal and state programs that are paid for by Uncle Sam. Most of these huge inheritances have never been taxed. Our poorest citizens would be seriously harmed by pro gram cuts caused by the end of this fair. Collins is a negativist whose platform would be harmful to our nation and further divide us. Jim Marshall is a proven winner who cares for all of us! Jim’s constituency service is excellent. Frank W. Gadbois. Warner Robins Pilots judgement This information could well be placed in the trivia cat egory. However, if it’s known and utilized in that “once in a life time” opportune moment, I don’t think it would be considered too trivial . I’m assuming that it’s true about what the experts expect happened when the small plane crashed into the high-rise building recently while attempting to execute a 180 degree turn within the confines of a corridor too small to accommodate the maneuver. It calls to mind a most important fact that the pilot never learned, or forgot, or else he simply ran out of air speed, altitude and expertise at the same time. There were other ways the pilot could have safely rem edied the situation other than the turn he attempted. But, since the turn was his decision, and he was then confronted with the frightening realization that it couldn’t be successfully completed, he obviously increased his See LETTERS, page *4 The problem came in sorting it all out. You see the person running the register, at that point, couldn't rely on the computer to do the math. Thank'em when you see'em The Fair: By the time you read this, the 17th Annual Georgia National Fair will be history. It’s hard for me to believe that we’ve had 17 fairs, and it’s almost impos sible for me to fathom how well it’s all gone. Well over 400,000 in attendance this year! Much credit should go to the Ag Authority Board, led by Gene Sutherland and Foster Rhodes, and the staff with Michael Froehlich and Randy Moore in charge. And then, there is my friend, Jerry Horton, not only the Ag Center’s longest tenured employee, but one of its best. We are all quick to criticize our governments. This is a great example of something that the government has done cor rectly. Thank those responsible when you see them. ■ Music: Last week, according to iTunes Music Store, the artists with the top five tunes were The Fray, Weird A 1 Yankovic, Akon, Snow Patrol, and Hinder. Ever heard of any of them? I’ve only heard of Weird A 1 Yankovic but know absolutely nothing about him - didn’t even know he was a singer or player or whatever. I just thought he was weird. Hardly anyone who reads this column knows these artists. People who read newspapers don’t listen to Akon and Snow Patrol. Whatever hap pened to groups like the Supremes and the Commodores and singers like Frank Sinatra and Barr ’ White? N AMERICA, WE ALWAV6 BEEMTO&E.., CMIGHT SURPRISE ! WHEW SCHOOL “sHooTIUCiS OCCUR,K/E ASK,,, COULDTHISI A *O6OE NATION TESTS A NOCEAR BOMB. AND WE ARE ASKING r^owcoixom) f \JJA9P£N? jJ Athletic tail still wags the academic Dawg at UGA Terrific. I spend all my waking hours defending the academic integrity of my beloved alma mater, the University of Georgia the oldest state-chartered university in the nation, located in Athens, the Classic City of the South and now this: The NCAA has issued its yearly report on how many athletes earned their degree within six years of enrolling. Our men’s basketball team ranks second-to-last among 318 Division I men’s basketball teams with a measly 9 percent graduation rate. The UGA football team was dead last in the Southeastern Conference with a 41 percent graduation rate. There are a lot of “yeah, huts” in those statistics regarding the years covered by the rankings. The num bers go back to the late ‘9os, and the current athletes are doing better in today’s environment, but the fact that it even happened should embarrass anybody who loves the University of Georgia. But alas, a large number of Bulldog supporters don’t really give a damn. The majority of people who show up at Sanford Stadium dressed in red and black each Saturday and woof ing their heads off didn’t even go to Georgia. Why should they care if any of the so-called scholar-athletes graduate or can even read or write? They just want to win, baby, win. Perhaps that is why über-Athletic Director Michael Adams, who also doubles as president of the university, decried the results but said he intend ed to keep admitting athletes who oth erwise wouldn’t qualify to attend the University of Georgia, because “We still have to compete in the [Southeastern OPINION ■ Water: I went to a meeting, last week, that had to do with Houston County’s water. Contamination and quantity were both discussed. Fortunately, for Houston Countians, we apparently have a good supply and the water sources are largely contained within the county (resulting in fewer chances of contamination). Still, with our tremendous population growth, water will be an increasingly complex and controversial issue with which our local government officials will have to deal. Air quality, water quantity and quality, growth, garbage, traffic, taxa tion, annexation, zoning, etc., etc. Why don’t you consider running for city council or county commissioner? ■ Children: Two groups of people are very good at telling those with children how to “raise” them, to wit: young marrieds without children and old folks who have already had and raised theirs. I fall into the latter category, so here goes. Turn off the television, limit the computer use, and restrict the cell-phone to certain situa- Conference].” Somehow, I am not com forted by his statement. I suspect the faculty isn’t either. I had thought we were in business to provide our stu dents a superior education so they could compete in the real world, not the SEC. Recall that Adams’ brand of logic led him to bring his good buddy from his Pepperdine days, Jim Harrick, to coach the men’s basketball team. We all know what a rousing success that was, particularly since we got Harrick’s son and noted educator Jim Jr. in the bar gain. Young Harrick will go down in the 3Rs Hall of Fame for his famous exam that included a question on how many points does a three-point shot account for in a game. (On second thought, given the basketball team’s graduation rate, I must presume that some of the players missed the answer.) In his enthusiasm to deflect blame from this mess that happened on his watch, Adams and his palace guard took a predictable shot at arch-nem esis Vince Dooley, insinuating that when Dooley was athletic director “the philosophy was ‘athletic eligibility,’ not graduation. That philosophy has changed.” Now, Adams says he misspoke and that he was wrong also in saying that f.” ii Larry Walker Columnist lwalker@whgb-lawcom WHEN THE TWIN TOWERS FELL, WE ASKED rY~\ ( MOWCOOLDTHft \ WHEN THE I2MMAM ESmiSUES ISLAMIC, LAW IN THE UNITED STATES, WE MIGHT HEAR KATIE COURIC ASK.,. r -\ It 52006 CREATORS SYNDICATE. INC [ liftT _ ■» x Dick Yarbrough Columnist yarb24oo@bellsouth.net HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL tions. Put 'em out in the yard playing ball and climbing trees.- If they are old enough, make 'em work. Summer jobs are great teachers. How long has it been since a young person knocked on your door asking to cut your grass or rake your lawn or weed your flower bed? If one did come to your house, your first inclination might be to call the police. How sad. ■ Television: Speaking of televi sion, I’m sick of the national media and the hypocrisy of their coverage. Take the ‘Mark Foley matter’ and how it is totally out of control: The media wants to report how bad it is and yet, to me, it seems that they love it. Each report contains more lurid information. Each network tries to out-do the other. I believe that most informed Americans understand what happened. I’m not sure we need all the graphic details. It’s like the networks first tell you how graphic it is, that certain aspects can not be reported, and they try to keep you watching by teasing you with more and more dirt. By the way, now refer to children above and the part that has to do with television. ■ Fall: Let’s end on positive notes. The weather is great, our part of God s world is beautiful, and most of us have plenty to eat and a warm place to sleep. It’s time to get out in the woods and fields and look for arrowheads - which, I intend to do in the next few days. How lucky I am. the academic counseling program had been moved out of the athletic depart ment to the provost’s office, Dang, being über-athletic director isn’t as easy as it looks. The sad fact is that the athletic tail still wags the academic Dawg in Georgia. The governor got his shorts in a wad over a negative headline in the Atlanta Newspapers following the Bulldogs’ loss to Tennessee, but hasn’t said much about the abysmal gradua tion rates. The Board of Regents is a politi cal joke, and they won’t do squat. Newspapers across the state have been harrumphing over the situation in Athens on their editorial pages, but many of these same papers have devoted more column inches to who will start at quarterback on Saturday than to UGA’s impressive academic achievements. They know that is what the majority of readers are most inter ested in. To those of us who care deeply about seeing the University of Georgia continue to prosper where it counts most the classroom it is a los ing battle. So, the hell with it. If we are going to continue to d,umb down UGA, at least get enough unqualified “schol ar athletes” enrolled so we can beat Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt all in the same year. Then the effort will not have been in vain. If you agree, I’ll get our über-athletic director working on that immediately. You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb24oo(wbellsouth.net P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or Web site: www.dickyarbrough.com.