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♦ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2006 4A Houston flatly OPINION Daniel F. Evans President Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President Group Marketing Don Moncrief Managing Editor Grant approval a tough decision The Warner Robins mayor and coun cil have an interesting decision to make. The Department of Homeland Security is offering to give a $1 mil lion-plus grant to the fire department. This should be a no-brainer. Or should it be? Strings are attached. Maybe the strings could be dealt with if it did not commit the city to a substantial increase in salaries and other expenses down the road. This grant, like most of this kind that come from state and federal gov ernments, cre ates positions in, usually, police and fire departments. It is hard to tell the federal agency mak ing the offer that you do not want it. Actually, you do want it but sometimes you cannot afford it. Take the present offer from Homeland Security. It will help create 10 new positions in the Warner Robins Fire Department. Fire Chief Robert Singletary says that this will make it possible to run an extra engine “if we want.” Down the road federal money will decrease. The grant will pay up to 90 percent of sala ries and benefits for the first year. It will go down to 80 percent the second year. Then 50 percent the third year and 30 percent the fourth year. Then the city will pay everything. The grant will have created 10 positions that it would be hard to eliminate. The question the mayor and city council must answer is: “Do we need these 10 addi tional firefighters and will it make economic sense to accept this offer?” Sometimes cities and counties will need additional firefighters or law enforcement officers and do not believe they can afford them at the present time. A grant can get them started and by the time grant money runs out the city or county can afford to pick up the full tab. A need could have been filled with the federal government provid ing seed money. Something that only a few citizens realize when they hear about federal grants for fire departments and law enforcement is that, for elected officials a decision on whether to accept the grants, will depend on what it will cost down the road. Nothing, apparently, is free and especially in instances like this. Only the Warner Robins mayor and coun cil are in a position to say if the offer from Homeland Security is good for the city. Letter to the Edttor Miscarriage of justice In the recent conviction of the "favorite" teen babysit ter, according to the laws of our government we're sup posed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt. However, this is not the case in Houston County. I must say I am perplexed over the outcome of this recent case. As a 50-year resident, I have never wit nessed a more blatant case of injuries in my life. I don't know which was worse, the way the case was handled by our overzealous and arrogant young Asstistant District Attorney Jason Ashford or his lackadaisical investigator Sgt. Keel Broom. In either case, both of these men obviously are out to make a name for themselves because neither of them were remotely interested in the truth. I have to say the thing that grieves me most about the antics used in secur ing this conviction, is the fact that it comes at such a high price; the life and future of a beautiful young girl. This young girl's life has been destroyed because an 8-year-old boy threatened his babysitter because his father was See LETTER, page HA Audrey Evans Vice President Marketing!Advertising Foy S. Evans Editor Emeritus This grant, like most of this kind that come from state and federal governments, creates positions in, usually, police and Are departments. It is hard to tell the federal agency making the offer that you do not want it. Actually, you do want it but sometimes you can not afford it. The world is a strange measuring 'stick 1 Students returned to school last Monday after the Thanksgiving holidays. For some reason I awoke that morning with the tune of a song I had not heard for many years running around in my head and it would not go away. Here are the words that go with the tune: “School days, school days, dear old Golden Rule days, “Reading and writing and ‘rithme tic, “Taught to the tune of a hickoiy stick” These opening words of the song tell the story of school days when 1 was growing up. And the reference to the “hickory stick” was not a lot of hyperbole. School teachers used the hickory stick, or a substitute, when it was deserved and parents did not revolt and demand that teachers be fired for doing so. My father told me on the first day of my first year in school: “If you get into trouble at school and get a whipping you can look forward to one a lot worse when you get home.” It was that simple. Discipline really was no problem in schools in those days so long ago. Teachers did not devote their time to keeping some sort of order in class rooms, because there was no disorder. And parents did not want to sue teachers and school officials if their beloved sons or daughters were disci plined if they deserved it. I guess that tune came back to me as a reminder of how much things have changed in the many years that have gone by. The days of corporal punishment WWCMATOHaOTCIMTC iC More conversation with Sanders Two significant developments came out of Carl Sanders’ race for governor in 1970 against Jimmy Carter. First, unlike Carter, Sanders refused to compromise his principles in order to get elected. Second, once the election was over, the former governor decided to leave the political arena and devote himself to building his law prac tice. Today, Troutman-Sanders, which he serves as chairman emeritus, is one of the 100 largest law firms in the United States, with over 650 attorneys. Carl Sanders has done well. At our lunch, Gov. Sanders was reluctant to get into the details of his defeat by Carter, saying simply, “The thought process I went through in every campaign I ever ran was to focus my energy on talking about educa tion and things that were needed in my district or in the state. I always assumed that if I worked hard enough, my opponent would not be able to beat me using race, but Jimmy Carter effec tively used the issue to drive a wedge between the races.” The dirty tricks he endured included a picture widely circulated in South Georgia showing Sanders, a part owner of the Atlanta Hawks professional bas ketball team at the time, celebrating a victory with his arms around Joe Caldwell, a black player. Carter and his apologists have long denied any culpability, but veteran political columnist Bill Shipp told me he saw Bill Pope, Carter’s press secretary, hand out leaflets with the photograph at a Ku Klux Klan rally. Dot Wood, a good friend and former vice president OPINION are gone, perhaps for good reason. It worked when I was young. It could not work today. The last Houston County teacher I remember administering punishment with his “board of education” was Joe Musselwhite. He was assistant prin cipal of Warner Robins High School and later principal of Warner Robins Junior High. He probably was one of the most admired, respected and loved people ever to teach in the local school system. Many base employees and leaders in the business and professional commu nity today look back and enjoy telling of their experiences with Joe’s “board of education”, which he administered appropriately and wisely. School days, school days ... it’s done differently today. ■ ■■ In Chicago a group that was includ ing a Nativity scene in “holiday” deco rations has been ordered to leave it out because it “offends” some religious groups. How stupid. Why can’t people of all faiths practice their religions in their own way without someone being “offended”? Mind your own business and there is no problem at all. of Gerald Rafshoon Advertising, which handled Carter’s media, confirms the story and said she saw boxes of the leaflets in the office. Mysterious leaf lets also criticized Sanders for attend ing the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr. Carter made a point to say that he did not attend. (Aside: Remember Carter’s sanctimonious performance at Coretta Scott King’s funeral?) Carter, by the way, got only 5 percent of the black vote in the campaign. During the campaign, Carter also criticized Sanders for his support of then-President Lyndon Johnson. “I did support LBJ,” Sanders says, “because he had given Lockheed one of the larg est orders ever for C-5 airplanes and a lot of money for rural development in Georgia, and I wasn’t going to turn my back on him after what he had done for the people of Georgia.” Author Jim Cooke in his biography of Carl Sanders says that Sanders underestimated Jimmy Carter and thought people would see through Carter’s facade of portraying himself as a George Wallace-styled redneck. He refused his staffs recommendations to fight back until it was too late, and Jimmy Carter was elected governor. Of ... Foy Evans Columnist toyevansl9@cox net 3 y Dick Yarbrough Columnist yarb24oo@bellsouth.net HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL ■ ■■ I was fascinated by the action of a Republican student club at Boston University that announced they were creating a $250 scholarship for white students only. It caused quite a stir and, naturally, accusations of racism. The students said they did it purely to call attention to the absurdity of race based scholarships of any kind and to stir up discussions. I doubt that there was any intelli gent discussion of the issue at Boston College, but it did accomplish its goal of putting a spotlight on an abominable practice of using race as a basis for awarding scholarships. Of course, you only have to look at the federal government to see how important race is in hiring and promo tions, though those in charge will swear it does not happen ... wink, wink. ■ ■■ There’s talk in Atlanta that the Republicans in the legislature, with encouragement from Gov. Sonny Perdue, would like to influence Georgia Supreme Court decisions by adding two more conservative justices to the court. It’s called “packing the court”. This was tried many years ago with the United States Supreme Court. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s attempt to make the court more lib eral failed, primarily as a result of a fight led by Georgia’s Senator Walter F. George. It will be interesting to see if an effort to “pack the court” in Georgia gets wings and if it is successful. course, once elected, Carter changed his tune, severely disappointing the arch-segregationists who has support ed him. If you want to judge Jimmy Carter’s gubernatorial campaign for yourself, be prepared to wait. It seems that the papers from that campaign reside at the Carter Center and have not yet been “processed.” Call me naive, but I don’t think he and his apologists are anxious for you to see them. I can understand why. His image is bad enough. Why make it worse? Carter’s hypocrisy evidently knows no bounds. After a dinner for former governors at the Governor’s Mansion, Carter told the news media that he owed so much to Carl Sanders for mak ing Georgia such a progressive state and how much that image helped him in his presidential campaign. Pondering that comment, Sanders just shakes his head and smiles. I asked Carl Sanders how he would like to be remembered by future gen erations. He thought for a moment and said, “I would like to be remembered for playing the game of politics fair and square, for having made a contribution to my state and for leaving Georgia better than I found it.” I couldn’t have said it better. His leadership pulled Georgia through one of the most dif ficult periods in our history, and he left the state much better than he found it. Most importantly, he did it with integ rity. The man is a class act. You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or Web site: www.dickyarbrough.com.