Newspaper Page Text
♦ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2006
4A
Houston Hailtj
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Intersection cameras right
idea for Warer Robins
The city of Warner Robins is taking
the idea of installing cameras at some
intersection where there are traffic
lights seriously.
This has been an on and off topic of dis
cussion for a long time. Months and maybe
years.
It is the kind of decision the city officials
do not want to make hurriedly or without
adequate investigation.
Apparently they believe that the time is
ripe to have a serious presentation from
people who install and maintain these cam-
eras, so the
process seems
to be moving
forward. The
police depart
ment is on
record favor
ing using cam
eras at the
most danger
ous intersec
tions.
The cameras
are working in
other cities.
Law enforcement officers point to use of
the cameras as a public safety tool. If motor
ists know there are cameras at intersections
they are unlikely to drive through them
when the traffic light is amber or red.
Critics say that they are good for noth
ing other than to raise revenue, which they
clearly will. Anyone who drives in Warner
Robins will see several incidents of motor
ists running red lights every trip they take,
which can result in citations and fines.
There have been accidents as a result of
motorists running red lights. There have
been an untold number of near-accidents.
Cities that are using the cameras, which
photograph tags of automobiles that run
red lights, say they are working both ways—
making intersections safer and generating
revenue.
Actually, the revenue stream tapers off
after motorists learn that the cameras actu
ally work. They are more careful. Only
flagrant violators of the law are likely to
ignore the presence of the cameras.
Warner Robins still is a long way from
installing cameras at some intersections,
but closer than ever before.
In our opinion, it is a good thing and, in
a city where traffic becomes heavier with
every passing day, making the busiest inter
sections safer is a good thing.
Letter to the Editor
Delegation outstanding
Houston County’s legislative delegation has gained the
reputation as the most effective legislative “team” in the
Georgia General Assembly.
Many critical issues will be facing the Houston County
community in the immediate future and it is impera
tive that we continue to have strong leadership in the
Georgia House and Senate to protect the interests of our
citizens.
We need to keep representatives Larry O’Neal, Willie
Talton, and Johnny Floyd in the Georgia House of
Representatives.
These men, along with Sen. Ross Tolleson, have worked
well with our three communities and our county govern
ment as we strive to protect the quality of life for all of
Houston County. We need to add Tony Sellier to that
team in the upcoming election. He is an outstanding busi
nessman and a person concerned about the future of the
Houston County area. He will make an excellent member
of this legislative team.
As someone who is very concerned about the direction
our county will take in the coming years, I would encour
age all Houston County citizens to consider voting for
each of these men. We need their effective leadership in
state government to assist us on the local level in provid
ing adequate services for all of our citizens.
Jim Worrall, Mayor, City of Perry
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Daily Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Actually, the revenue
stream tapers off alter
motorists learn that the
cameras actually work.
They are more careful.
Only flagrant violators
of the law are likely to
ignore the presence of
the cameras.
Interesting odds and ends
Some subjects may not deserve a
whole column, but are interesting
enough to earn some comments.
II A new study says that use of
cqII phones could lead to infertility
in men. There are plenty of boys and
young men who should be provided cell
phones and encouraged to use them.
With 56 percent of babies born out of
wedlock in Georgia, anything to curb
this outrage is good. A lot of grandpar
ents who wind up raising the children
would be pleased, too.
■ A 27-year-old Atlanta woman
received a $1,500 check (known as
Income Tax Credit, but actually a form
of welfare). A neighbor robbed her. She
is distressed because “this is the first
time I ever filed an income tax return
and look what happened.” She can go
back to freeloading and not having any
income to report.
■ In Velasco, Texas, school children
waved the American flag and recited
the Mexican pledge of allegiance under
supervision of teachers and adminis
trators. A harbinger of things to come
all over the United States?
■ According to a recent study, 44
percent of students at the University
of Georgia are “heavy drinkers.” The
school’s president wants to change the
university’s culture of alcoholic con
sumption. Defiant students contend
it is an important part of college life.
Where are the parents?
■ Doesn’t the United States
Constitution guarantee us freedom of
speech? Well, it works this way nowa-
fTOMMY, AMERICANS I F 1
L hwe a pigwt to me, \ r ( & H 1 J T P I
f YOTIH6 Ifr ft ft! r 3QUNNY, DO ’faoW, l OONT KNOW! y
kj r—f, / HAVEAW<aHT TO /Tjjrr-f- *\ ’
\( I SOOoA V • all SET MAPPED OR ft \ \
\\ \MARyJ VITA9RI\MIB6B? U « \
rftri *‘V A l l 'fXAr-t" f 1 v L (WAKJT Tol?Al , S>£ KIP6?’I
0 QbP&bM vg • Co CREATORS SYNDICATE. INC P 'X
Blabbermouth media, blabbermouth Dems
Two short weeks to Election Day.
As one of those post-9/11 secu
rity moms, it all comes down to a
simple question for me: Who will keep
this country - and my children - safer
from harm?
I have many heated differences with
the Bush administration over its refus
al to fully enforce immigration laws;
soft-headed pandering to jihadist lob
bying groups; profligate spending on
illusory transportation security; failure
to confront the spread of sharia law;
and kowtowing to Saudi princes eager
to send over more young students to
learn aviation in our universities.
For all the White House’s faults,
however, there is no doubt in my mind
that Republicans as a group are better
informed, better equipped and better
able to lead this country in a time of
war than the Democrats. The don
key party is led by thumb-sucking
demagogues in prominent positions
who equate Bush with Hitler and Jim
Crow, call him a liar in front of high
school students and the world, fanta
size about impeachment and fetishize
the human rights of terrorists who
want to kill me.
Put simply: There are no grown-ups
in the Democrat Party.
Maybe this is what a premature
ly giddy Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
meant when she told the Los Angeles
Times this week: “The gavel of the
speaker of the House is in the hands of
special interests, and now it will be in
the hands of America’s children.”
Yep. Put the gavel in the hands of
Pelosi and the Democrats, and you will
put the gavel in the hands of children.
Couldn’t put it better myself.
Another clarifying moment that
underscores the fundamental difference
between Republicans and Democrats
on matters of national security, seri
ousness and secrecy took place on June
OPINIOW
days: Say something that a minority
considers insensitive and you can wind
up losing your job and free speech goes
into the garbage can.
If you want to exercise your right to
free speech be sure that you are politi
cally correct and the targets of any
insensitive comments are white males.
■ Nine percent of basketball players
at the University of Georgia actually
graduate. Did someone say that they
were “student athletes”?
■ I’m not interested in getting
involved in anyone’s political cam
paign, but I’m insulted if I am expected
to believe those television ads accusing
a candidate of wanting to adopt a 23
percent sales tax while conveniently
ignoring the fact that proponents of
the Fair Tax intend to do away with the
IRS, all income taxes, as well as Social
Security taxes. The truth would not
make an effective attack ad, would it?
■ The chief of police in Roswell,
Georgia, sends a list of illegal immi
grants in his jail every day to federal
immigration officials. They ignore it.
Reminds me of something that hap-
CIVICS (3RAIU-TEASER
29, 2006.
That was the day the U.S. House of
Representatives voted to condemn the
decision by several newspapers - led
by the newspaper of wreckage, The
New York Times - to publish details
of the Bush administration’s classified
program to track terrorist financing.
Known as SWIFT, the program had led
to the capture of a key Bali bombing
suspect and identification of a convict
ed al Qaeda helper based in New York
City, as well as helping investigators
probing domestic terrorist cells and
suspected Islamic charities fronting
for jihad.
Under specious claims by anonymous
accusers that the program’s legality
and oversight were in doubt, the Times
splashed details of the program all over
its front pages. Democrats dutifully
piled on to condemn the White House
for its “illegal” “abuses of power.”
But House Republicans refused to
roll over for the blabbermouth media
and the blabbermouth Democrats.
They put Washington on record with
a vote on a nonbinding resolution stat
ing the obvious - that news organiza
tions may have “placed the lives of
Americans in danger” by disclosing
SWIFT and that Congress “expects the
cooperation of all news media organi
zations” in keeping classified programs
secret.
The resolution passed 227-183, with
only 17 Democrats joining nearly all
House Republicans in condemning the
Say • JB %
WKm «•»
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
*Hr
Michelle
Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
pened in Marshallville several years
ago. The vice-president of the local
bank noticed that several women
received and cashed as many as three
welfare checks under different names.
She reported this to the feds several
times and she said nothing ever was
done about it.
■ Somebody’s always picking on us
folks who have added more pounds
than we should.
Now we have been told that auto
mobiles are getting less gas mileage
because we are fat. Another incentive
to lose weight? I doubt it.
■ When I consider my girth I tell
myself I have gained only a pound a
year since I got out of the Navy after
World War 11. That was a long time ago
and many, many pounds.
■ The first touch of winter came and
went, but wasn’t the crisp air a delight
after such a long spell of heat and
more heat? It seems we never really
have a spring or fall season anymore.
Winter gives way to summer almost
overnight and summer hangs on until
frigid weather sweeps down from the
north.
■ Driving a school bus must be one
of the most stressful jobs. Think about
the responsibility of assuring the safe
delivery of students to school and back
home in and out of traffic. Not to men
tion that many students are unruly
and present a discipline problem for
the drivers. And nobody cuts them any
slack if anything, however minor, goes
wrong.
leak-dependent news media and sup
porting the surveillance program.
“This measure attempts to intimidate
the press and strengthen the hands of
this despotic administration,” railed
New York Democrat Rep. Maurice
Hinchey. “It is a campaign document,”
pouted Rep. Pelosi in attacking the
resolution. Republicans “have adopt
ed a shoot-the-messenger strategy by
attacking the newspaper that revealed
the existence of the secret bank sur
veillance program rather than answer
ing the disturbing questions that those
reports raise about possible violations
of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. pri
vacy laws,” wheedled Rep. Edward J.
Markey, D-Mass.
Why do I remind you of this vote
and the Dems’ kindergarten reaction?
Because the Times’ own ombudsman
admitted this week that the story
should never have run. Public editor
Byron Calame ‘fessed up: “I don’t
think the article should have been
published. ... I haven’t found any evi
dence in the intervening months that
the surveillance program was illegal.
. . . The lack of appropriate oversight
- to catch any abuses in the absence
of media attention - was a key reason
I originally supported publication. I
think, however, that I gave it too much
weight.”
Not a single one of the Democrats
who lambasted Bush and Republicans
for protesting the reckless story has
stepped forward to apologize to the
president and the American people or
acknowledge the harm caused to coun
terterrorism efforts.
Do you need to know any more to
judge which party will keep this coun
try safer? I don’t.
Michelle Malkin is author of
“Unhinged: Exposing Liberals
Gone Wild.” Her e-mail address is
writemalkin@gmail.com.