Newspaper Page Text
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♦ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2006
Maustati Hailtj
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Perry's sign of the times
Perry’s mayor and city council stirred
the pot at their meeting this week,
tackling two interesting and, possibly,
controversial issues.
They are going to outlaw knee-high adver
tising signs that many businesses and entre
preneurs stick in the ground along roads.
They should be complimented for recog
nizing the existence of this nuisance, which
detracts from the attractiveness of the city,
and that they are willing to do something
about it.
Refusing to allow any exceptions, even for
churches and city government, shows cour-
age and wis
dom. Whether
politicians
during an elec
tion can be for
bidden to put
out their signs
may be subject
for debate.
Councilman
Joe Kusar,
an outspoken
critic of these
ugly signs,
says “there’s a
lot of ways to
communicate”
without permitting them cluttering the side
of roads.
Perhaps this could be catching and Houston
County, Centerville and Warner Robins will
follow suit. There are plenty of these knee
high advertising signs in high traffic areas.
Perry city officials showed that they are
serious about enforcing this ban by appoint
ing a code enforcement officer to enforce all
the city’s codes and get rid of such unsightly
things as broken down cars.
Perry also has put itself at the forefront
in this county of incorporating impact fees
into the city’s comprehensive plan.
There is a vocal group of advocates who
have said the county, as well as the three
cities, should implement impact fees to help
offset the cost of new infrastructure that is
needed to serve new subdivisions.
On the other hand, developers are strongly
opposed to impact fees, claiming that they
would put a damper on home sales and, con
sequently, the prosperity in our county that
is fueled by the subdivisions.
By hiring a consulting firm to guide them
the Perry officials have shown that they are
serious.
Debate on this issue is sure to follow.
Letter to ire Editor
Lacking health care
Gov. Sonny Perdue is thinking of abolishing health
insurance for retired state employees or raising their
rates. Now this would not matter if like every other indus
tralized nation in the world we had a national health care
system like Senator Clinton tried to give us in the ’9os.
Americans fail to realize all the benefits of such a sys
tem. It would eliminate billions of dollars in billing and
personnel costs. We would be a healthier nation because
of annual health checks and free drugs. People would
live longer and require long term care at later ages. Our
workforce would be more productive and happier.
We already have to pay for all the poor folks who use
our expensive emergency rooms instead of seeing their
local GP
Illegal undocumented aliens receive free healthcare
at public expense so that their illegal employers can
reap higher profits. We are subsidizing developers and
refusing to implement impact fees because most don’t
understand all the unfairness associated with local gov
ernments. Ignorance is not bliss.
Frank W. Gadbois, Warner Robins
Worth Repeating
“There’s no way we’re going to have low cost health
insurance in a world of high cost medicine.”.
Willis David Gradisonjr.
U. S. Congressman (Republican, OH)
Send your Letters to the Editor to:'
The Houston Home Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marketi ng/Advertisi ng
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Refusing to allow any
exceptions, even for
churches and city
government, shows
courage and wisdom.
Whether politicians
during an election can
be forbidden to put
out their signs may be
subject for debate.
Holiday is hard on a guy's inertia
Inertia is the law of physics that
says a body at rest tends to stay at
rest and a body in motion will stay
in motion unless it is acted on by an
outside force.
It’s a wonderful word.
Thanksgiving threatened to inter
fere with my favorite type of inertia,
though. I had hoped to stay at rest,
but all around me people were moving
nearly as much as that blasted battery
operated bunny. I’m thankful I still
managed to relax amid all the activity.
You see, Thanksgiving is the one
time of year when our children and
grandchildren converge on our house,
participate in cooking and eating,
stake out a bed or sofa or floor to sleep
on, and engage in play, conversation
and general confusion. Did I mention
eating?
Despite all the people (only my son
was absent), I am usually able to take
it slow for those few days.
Any change in my physical state is
usually the pinch I feel as my pants
tighten on my belly after I’ve tried the
pecan pie, the chocolate pecan pie, the
chocolate chip pie and the sugar-free
peanut butter pie.
Such relaxing Thanksgivings are
becoming a thing of the past, however.
A year ago, our kids took up saws and
drills and helped rebuild the steps lead
ing to our back decks. This year, after
hearing that my wife and I had gotten
estimates for some home repairs, they
said: “Hey, we can do that ourselves.
It can be this year’s Thanksgiving
~,THE DAY OF INFAMY-'
12 (g> lorv- CREATORS SYNDICATEINC
Saying thanks to aH who have helped you
I lost a hero last week, and learned a
hard lesson in the process. Dr. Bill
Inman died at the age of 82. Bill
was a physician in Brunswick. To be as
prominent and as respected as he was
in the community, he had as little ego
as any doctor I’ve ever known. If you
ever saw the Marcus Welby character
on television, you saw Bill Inman,
only he was not an actor. He was the
real McCoy a kind and gentle man
with a wonderful sense of humor and
someone who treated everyone with
respect, regardless of their station. He
made my world better by being here.
The unforgivable thing is that I never
told him. Shame on me. I am not going
to let that happen again. And don’t
you, either.
There are a lot of people still around
to whom you and I owe a great deal for
the impact they have had on our lives.
Maybe it is a teacher. Or a neighbor.
Or a relative. A friend. Your minister.
A co-worker or a classmate. Don’t wait
until they are gone to suddenly remem
ber what they did for you and how you
wish you had told them while they
were still alive. Call them up. Write
them a note. Go see them. Sure, it may
take a few minutes out of your busy
schedule, but you wouldn’t be where
you are without their help.
I’ll start it off by thanking my broth
er, Bob. It is appropriate since he is cel
ebrating a birthday this week. I won’t
divulge his age except to say that he
OPINION
REMEMBER.,.
Glynn
Moore
Columnist
Morris News Service
project.”
I was doubtful. Do-it-yourself is a
foreign language to me. I figure that
professionals perform home repairs for
a reason: They know what they’re
doing.
I, on the other hand, wasn’t even
clear what soffits and fascias were,
didn’t know where half my tools were
in the disaster I call a garage, and
envisioned our entire family becoming
crippled by falls, nails and blades.
Did our homeowners’ insurance
cover such madness? Wasn’t inertia
better than injury? Let’s just hire the
job out, I suggested.
I was outvoted.
Now that it’s all over, we still have
our limbs and fingers intact, the house
looks much better, and I can tell a soffit
from a fascia.
Not that I did much of the actual
work, you understand. I was there
the entire time, but most of my con
tributions to the repairs were along
the lines of “I’m not sure” and “that
sounds about right” and “I’ll go look
for that.”
While the neighbors were holed
Dick
Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
is nine years older than me, and I am
older than dirt.
I will always be grateful to him for
many things, including that his hand
writing was identical to our mother’s.
When I got in trouble at school and
had to bring a note home this was
in the days before students discovered
they could sue teachers for trying to
enforce discipline I would beg him
to sign the note instead of having to
show it to my parents. He would do so
only after a lecture and a promise that
I would not misbehave in class again
a vow that I gladly made and which
lasted until the next misdeed and the
next appeal for a v signature. This is
probably the only dishonest thing he
ever did, and I am sure God has for
given him for helping his little brother
out of some hellish situations.
That he even speaks to me today is
a miracle of biblical proportions. He
once caught me in the backseat of his
car while en route with his date to a
drive-in movie (I just wanted to see if
he was really the Mr. Goody Two-Shoes
...THE OTHER DAY OF INFAMY/
ifi
m
1 x -
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
up in their houses remembering the
Mayflower, most of the 15 people at our
house were creating a racket with table
saw, circular saw, chain saw, hammer,
paint roller, caulking gun and anything
else they could operate under the influ
ence of turkey.
Our children led the fight as we
washed dirt and mold off the house,
scraped away paint that had seen bet
ter days and popped open cans of
primer, paint and wood stain.
I climbed a ladder to rise above the
work, but instead found myself cutting
back trees near the house with a chain
saw, all the while wondering where
inertia had gone horribly wrong.
The grandchildren washed windows,
raked leaves in the yard and dragged
away the gigantic limbs I had cut down
to a pile for burning.
Every few hours, we would go indoors
to make another dent in the supply of
Thanksgiving leftovers.
By midday Saturday, every board
was in place and every molecule of
paint dry.
As JoAn looked at our new old house,
we realized that we had perfected the
art of child-rearing:
Start with good kids. Send them out
into the world to learn more than we
know. Invite them home for a big meal
that will give them excess energy and
guilt.
Then, just sit back and enjoy a heap
ing helping of inertia.
our parents thought he was), and later
I stowed away in the trunk of the car
as he and his buddies were preparing
to head to Florida. In neither case was
he real happy. Go figure.
Bob has been a major influence in my
life. He set a high bar in the business
world president of a publishing
company in Chicago which spurred
me to work hard in my own career. But
he is more than a successful business
man. He is a good man. Today, he is
the chaplain at Grown Ministries, a
financial counseling firm headquarted
in Gainesville. He just keeps setting
the bar higher.
I love and admire my brother very
much, but I have never told him
because I have been too busy straining
at gnats. But no more. Now he knows
what he means to me. Sadly it took the
death of Bill Inman to remind me to
tell him.
Now, it is your turn. There is some
body who has made a big difference
in your life, and you need to let that
person know. And, for goodness sakes,
don’t wait. Life is short. Besides, what
a great gift to give during this special
time of year. You don’t have to wrap it
or pay for it on the installment plan,
and it doesn’t need batteries. You can’t
beat that with a stick.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at
yarb24oo(a>bellsouth.net, P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or Web
site: www.dickyarbrough.com.