Newspaper Page Text
♦ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2006
4A
Mnusimt Daily .IjmmtaJ.
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Earning citizenship way to go
with illegals
Immigration remains a hot issue.
On one hand, the solution seems to
be: “Round them all up. Send them
all back.”
On the other it’s ... well, has anybody
heard another solution?
To that end, and seeing as it’s probably
going to be impossible to “round them all
up and send them all back” as there’s an
estimated 12 million undocumented immi
grants here already, what do you think of
this?
Amnesty.
“Ooh, you
said the ‘A’
word. We don’t
want to hear
the ‘A’ word.”
Neither do
we but we
offer it with a
stipulation -
and only with
a stipulation.
We help them
on their way
to citizenship.
Our take
is: “If you
want to be an
American citizen, fine. Now earn it.”
How would they earn it? For starters and
No. 1 on the list: Anyone who is able to
serve in the military is enlisted.
Wouldn’t this be a strain on taxpayers?
Hopefully not and maybe not if we’re wise
about it. The military, despite cutbacks, has
openings. They’re just not in career fields
most people would want.
Part of the “pro” debate - those in favor
of letting them stay - is they often do jobs
we don’t want to do. That said this would
be perfect for them. And it would take the
burden off of some of our soldiers. We could
even put them all in one unit as a test base,
and that in turn would alleviate the fears
of soldiers and their families that they
wouldn’t watch their backs under fire.
We would also give them training to
include speaking English. Plus, they would
be shipped off overseas. If they defected it
would cause problems, yes, but let’s just see
how able they are of getting back to the U.S.
from Iraq.
They would sign up, do four honorable
years as a minimum, and EARN their citi
zenship in the process.
Now, what to do with the rest who aren’t
able to meet military requirements (i.e. the
physical)? Well, that will take some more
work and some more thought - a well
thought out plan by those in charge ulti
mately - but there’s got to be plenty of com
munity service work out there that would
allow them to earn their citizenship.
If you think about it - we’re in way too
deep - it’s probably our last, best option.
Letter to the Editor
Amnesty not the answer
The addressing of the immigration issue is a joke! One
party proposes an idea or solution, and the other party just
screams, “That’s amnesty!” without offering anything of
value of their own. The worse part is that nobody ever
takes the Second party to task. It all stops when somebody
screams amnesty. Has anybody ever thought of what else
is out there other than amnesty? If you can’t identify the
illegal immigrants, you can’t put them on a bus to ship
them home. If you can give them something they want,
they will come to you, and the legality issues can begin
to be controlled. Screaming amnesty isn’t a solution!
I was taught that if you aren’t part of the solution, you
are part‘of the problem. Go vote!
Thomas W. Saul, Perry
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Daily Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Wouldn't this be a
strain on taxpay
ers? Hopefully not and
maybe not if we're wise
about it. The military,
despite cutbacks, has
openings. They're just
not in career fields
most people would
want.
Campaigns aside - candidates are good
The elections are still almost two
weeks away and I have learned
more than I want to know about
gubernatorial and cohgressional candi
dates ... and a lot less, too.
All the candidates have told us about
their opponents, who, if you believe the
television commercials, are a bunch of
no good so-and-so’s and unworthy of
our vote.
As a matter of fact, if you believe
what candidates are saying about each
other all of them deserve our con
tempt, or less.
So it goes in the era of television
political campaigns.
We got a much better understand
ing of the candidates before it became
possible for them to spend millions of
dollars smearing opponents from the
screen of a television set.
Of course, sometimes a little informa
tion comes across from candidates tell
ing us about their virtues, accomplish
ments and promises. But not often.
I liked it in the days when I was
growing up. Candidates had to stump
the state or their congressional dis
tricts, usually drawing a crowd with
free barbecue. You got a close up look
at the candidate and he stood up before
you and made a rousing campaign
speech.
You got a chance to see all the candi
dates in person and size them up. They
took swipes at each other. Smear cam
paigns aimed at completely destroying
opponents did not exist.
As a boy, I enjoyed those political ral
lies in Americus, either in the park in
•••V
"I just don’t like this time change.
It makes me early for work and late for lunch!"
Watching, and remembering, children
Sunday afternoons are made for
leisure.
If I had a robe, I’d wear one
on Sunday afternoons. Wearing a robe
symbolizes that you plan on doing
absolutely nothing productive, or that
you have pneumonia, or that you are
institutionalized in the drooling acad
emy. It has no other sensible uses.
Anyway, robe-less, most of my
Sunday afternoons involve sitting on
my back porch, relaxing with a news
paper, watching my children play in
the backyard.
Parents today must watch their kids
play. I think it’s a law.
That wasn’t the case when I was
a youngster. During the summers, I
would leave at daybreak and my par
ents wouldn’t see me again until night
fall. My friends and I would go fishing,
or ride our bikes two miles to the near
est convenience store just to get a Mr.
Pibb and a Sugar Daddy, or we’d go
“play war” at the nearby clay pits. We
never feared anyone abducting us - it
wasn’t a concern.
My children will never know that
freedom.
We now hear so much about kid
nappings and child molestations and
such that our children are constantly
supervised - which, in retrospect of my
youthful wanderings - is probably a
good thing.
OPINION
East Americus or in downtown. More
than one candidate for governor stood
on a balcony of the storied Windsor
Hotel and shouted to the crowd assem
bled in the street below.
We did not have PA systems in those
days. A candidate who did not have a
strong voice might as well stay home.
He didn’t have a chance.
Two of my favorites on the campaign
trail were Eugene Talmadge and Ed
Rivers, fierce rivals. Talmadge cam
paigned in his trademark overalls and
red tie. Rivers wore a tuxedo as he
campaigned around the state. They
were great politicians and great show
men.
Their debates were better than any
show you might pay for.
They got votes by traveling all over the
state meeting voters and talkingto them.
Political campaigns took a turn for
the worse when politicians discovered
that they could get their messages into
homes without the burden and wear
and tear of campaigning day after day
in one town after another.
Things really got bad when consul
tants discovered that elections could
be won by smearing opponents, rather
So, I take my easy seat on the back
porch and watch. Sometimes, I’ll inter
rupt my repose to participate in a game
of baseball or “Kill The Man With The
Bali.” But more often, I rest in an
observational sloth.
We have the requisite playthings in
our backyard - old, bent-up mecha
nized Barbie jeep, a miniature slide, a
small playhouse. But the kids generally
ignore the things they are supposed
to play with in favor of more creative
amusement.
This past Sunday, my 7-year-old
daughter got a shovel and a wheel
barrow and moved dirt from one side
of the yard to the other. Then, she
grabbed some old plastic gutters and
moved them over to the comer of the
yard.
When I heard hammering, I knew I
had to investigate.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I
surveyed the makeshift construction
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
Len
Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
than touting their own worthiness for
the office.
Each election cycle brings new refine
ment to the art of character assassina
tion.
By this time in each election year
most people make the same com
ments:
‘‘None of the candidates are any
good.”
“I guess I’ll have to choose between
two evils, but I’ll still have an evil.”
“I’ll just stay home. Why can’t good
people ever run for office?”
And so it goes.
Good people do run for political
office. All the attack advertising makes
you believe otherwise.
Some good people who are elected
cannot handle the power that goes
with the job and they go bad, which
we are seeing on the national level at
this time.
Most people who will vote Nov. 7
will have formed their opinions of the
gubernatorial and congressional can
didates on the basis of the incessant
attack advertising. Unfortunately, most
of those who decide on a candidate this
way will not know anything else about
the candidates, just as they probably
do not know who the vice-president of
the United States is.
That is a weakness in our voting sys
tem. Every citizen has a right to vote.
Extreme efforts are made to persuade
them to vote, and these are the very
people who do not have a clue.
That is why we sometimes get win
ners that we do not deserve.
site next to the playhouse.
The gutters were leaned against the
playhouse, with a new dirt floor under
neath.
“I’m adding a new room to the play
house,” she answered matter-of-factly,
continuing to hammer the gutters into
the side of the playhouse without the
benefit of nails.
“Okay,” I said.
Meanwhile, my two sons were play
ing together cheerfully, laughing and
giggling as they moved throughout the
yard.
A further probe revealed their new,
fun-filled sport.
Each had a tennis ball. They stood,
facing each other, about four feet apart.
When my older son, who is 4, counted
to three, they would hurl the tennis
balls at each other’s head. Hilarity
would ensue when the ball would hit
my 2-year-old son squarely between
the eyes, knocking him on his tail.
He didn’t seem to mind, so I didn’t
either.
“What’s this game called?” I asked as
they did it again and again and again.
“Knock Their Head Off,” answered my
oldest son amidst the glee.
I wandered back to the comfort of my
lazy Sunday station.
“They don’t know what they’re miss
ing,” I said to myself. Neither did I.
And neither will their children.