Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2006
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Audrey Evans
Vice President Vice President
Group Marketing Marketing!Advertising
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Eagles go for elusive state
football championship
Today is the day.
Today is the day we find out if
Northside will finally get its state
championship in football.
We hope they do and believe everyone
- Demons and Bears and Panthers and
Hornets alike - in the county should feel
the same (and they probably do).
Why? Because the Eagles have earned
this, and not just because of their wins and
the sweat and hard work they put into get
ting to this point.
Those count
big but the
Eagles also
have tears
and scars.
Big tears. Big
scars. They
really cut the
deepest begin
ning with
1999.
That year
Northside played in the Georgia Dome. Not
just played but led Lowndes 28-7 at the
half.
One of our reporters - formerly with The
Daily Sun when it existed - remembers it
like this: “Northside had been so dominat
ing up to that point that we were (in the
press box) doing ‘actual’ planning for cham
pionship game coverage.”
What happened next turns the Eagle lock
er room into a cry-fest. The Vikings mount
a jaw-dropping rally and win 31-28.
The Eagles avenge that loss in 2000 beat
ing the Vikings 28-3.
That’s little consolation, however, as it
comes in the first round. More tears, more
scars come in round two as Northside is
upset by East Coweta.
Then comes 2001.
The Georgia Dome doesn’t stand in their
way this time. They beat Collins Hill 17-7.
They secure a title date against Parkview,
and even better, it’s at home.
What follows is a crude rendition of the
song “That’s the night that the lights went
out in Georgia.” Only this one’s for real.
Northside is trailing 12-7 but with just
minutes left to play has driven nearly the
length of the field. The only thing that
stands between it and a championship is
about 20 yards. Momentum is clearly in its
corner.
Then McConnell-Talbert’s lights go off.
The first play from scrimmage once they’re
restored: The Eagles fumble. More tears.
More scars.
And so it goes. In 2002 the Eagles finish
10-3 - one game away from the Dome.
In 2003 they lose in the second round to
Newnan. In 2004 it’s to Statesboro in round
two.
Then comes 2005.
Northside makes it to the Dome, wins and
plays Statesboro again, this time for the
championship.
The game is tied with just minutes left to
play. The Eagles fumble. The other Eagles
kick a field goal and win. Tears and scars
and tears and scars, Northside has them.
Warner Robins has its state title - more
than one of them to be exact. We firmly
believe Houston County and Perry and
Westfield (which knows a bit about tears
and scars itself) will one day get its.
Today, however, we hope is the day the
Eagles get theirs.
Worth Repeating
“Better by far you should forget and smile Than that
you should remember and be sad.”
Christina Rosetti, British poet (1830-1874)
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Daily Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Those count big but
the Eagles also have
tears and scars. Big
tears. Big scars. They
really cut the deepest
beginning with 1999.
Ralph, Florence and Earl Herman
I’ve said, many times, that my moth
er and father, along with long-time
Houston Superior Court Clerk,
Tommie Hunt (he was clerk for 40
years), attended more funerals than
anyone I ever knew. And, they did.
And, I’ve said that Daddy’s funeral had
the largest attendance of any to which
I ever went.
Now, I will have to add Ralph
Dorsett’s funeral, What a crowd! Ralph
died Nov. 30 and his funeral was at
Perry’s First Baptist Church.
The seats for the congregation were
completely full as was the balcony sec
tion and the choir loft.
Add to that the people sitting in
chairs and those standing in the back,
and it was quite a crowd! So full that
Gov. Sonny Perdue was seated in the
balcony.
Ralph was obviously very popular.
We (and especially Larry Walker) can
learn a great deal from Ralph’s life. He
always had time to talk and visit, seem
ingly never to get in a hurry. I never
heard him speak ill of anyone. He was
polite and kind (reminded me of his
mother, Maggie Ruth). The best way to
put it: he was a nice guy.
I’d bet Ralph is in heaven, today,
hitching up his pants on both sides, as
he was want to do, and talking with a
fellow-farmer about the ‘peanut pro
gram’ and some Navy pilot about their
shared experiences. And, he won’t be
in a hurry. I guess in Heaven, you don’t
have to be.
Beware of Illegal aliens seeking hazmat
What’s the harm in allowing
illegal aliens to have driver’s
licenses? After all, they’re
just all here innocently doing the jobs
Americans won’t do, right? And since
they’re already here, we might as well
let them drive legally, right? We’ll all be
safer, right?
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Driver’s licenses are tickets into the
American mainstream. They allow
residents to establish an identity and
foothold into their communities. They
help you open bank accounts, enter
secure facilities, board planes - and
drive tractor-trailers carrying hazard
ous materials.
But there aren’t any illegal aliens
out there who would use fraudulently
obtained driver’s licenses to threaten
Americans, right? That’s just xenopho
bic scare-mongering, right?
Wrong again.
Last week, law enforcement officials
arrested an illegal alien enrolled at a
Smithfield, R. 1., tractor-trailer train
ing school who was trying to obtain
a commercial driver’s license and
permit to haul hazardous materials.
Not many people paid attention. You
should. Illegal alien Mohammed Yusef
Mullawala, 28, of Jamaica, N.Y., had
obtained driver’s licenses from New
York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
He was reportedly in a hurry to get a
commercial driver’s license and a per
mit to haul hazardous cargo.
Because he’s just so passionate about
the job, right? Yeah.
A joint investigation was initiated by
investigators from the Rhode Island
State Fusion Center, the Federal Bureau
of Investigation Joint Terrorism Task
Force in Rhode Island, New York & New
Jersey, and the Bureau of Immigration
and Customs Enforcement after driv
er’s school officials became concerned
OPINION
I heard last weekend from my high
school English teacher, Florence C.
Harrison, about my Dec. 8 article
wherein I “graded” our national insti
tutions. She had kind things to say,
and I was deeply appreciative. Her
call served to remind me, once again,
of what outstanding teachers I had
during my time in the Perry public
schools.
As far as I can remember, I have
seven still living: Herb St. John, Molly
Moss, Jim Worrall, Henry Casey, Jeanne
Bledsoe, E. H. Cheek, and Florence
Harrison. I hope I haven’t missed any
one. I’m deeply appreciative to all of
them and want to thank them for all
they did for me. I wish I had appreci
ated them more while I was their stu
dent. Thanks to all and may God bless
each one of you.
■ ■■
1 hope he doesn’t mind my telling
you, but I want you to know that Mr.
Cheek, Earl Herman Cheek, will turn
about his suspicious behavior. “His
behavior was consistent with terrorist
type activity,” Maj. Steve O’Donnell of
the Rhode Island state police told the
press. “He showed no interest in learn
ing the fine art of driving a tractor
trailer. He had no interest in learning
how to back up.” Sort of like learning
how to steer a plane, but not take off
or land.
As in several other cases since 9/11, it
was alert private citizens who notified
the Department of Homeland Security
of Mullawala’s suspicious behav
ior. (They will no doubt be labeled
Islamophobes and bigots by the usual
grievance-mongering mob.)
And once again, it was enforcement
of immigration laws that played a criti
cal role in detaining him. Like some of
the 9/11 hijackers and several al Qaeda
operatives identified in the United
States over the past decade, Mullawala
was here on a temporary student visa
that he had overstayed.
Must I remind you that the 9/11
hijackers obtained some 364 separate
pieces of identification, including driv
er’s licenses, in order to conduct their
murderous business? Hijackers Hani
Hanjour and Khalid Almihdhar con
spired with illegal alien day laborers at
a Falls Church, Va., 7-Eleven to obtain
government-issued photo IDs. Three
other hijackers obtained IDs at an
Arlington, Va., DMV
Terrorist truck bombs have killed
||
Larry
Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgb-law.com
■ jgijjMjgk p
jH
Michelle
Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
90 years old Dec. 28. It’s hard for me
to believe. He came here in the 19505,
and I thought he was an old man then!
That is, until he put “John Henry” on
my rear-end (all of his students will
understand this!).
Mr. Cheek has touched many lives
in positive ways, but, to my mind, his
greatest contribution was with “little
country boys” that no one else showed
much interest in and his helping them
to accomplish something positive and
making them proud and confident.
Many of these students went on to
make great citizens. This was in no
small part due to Mr. Cheek’s encour
agement and caring and involvement.
Thanks to Mr. Cheek. I even forgive
you for introducing me to John Henry.
■ ■■
Mrs. Harrison, I wish I could take
your senior English class, again. As
good as it was then, it would be bet
ter now. You fueled my love of read
ing. For what writing ability I have,
you are largely responsible. You were
great. I was average. I would be better,
today. And you would be the wonderful
teacher you were.
But, we can’t go back, can we? If we
could, Ralph would probably be show
ing steers for Mr. Cheek, and I would
be reciting a Robert Frost poem for
you. But, the moving finger writes and
having writ, moves on. And that’s the
way life is.
hundreds of Americans in Beirut, at
the Khobar Towers, and Iraq. For the
operatives behind the wheel, a license
to drive is a license to kill. Over the
past two years, the FBI has put law
enforcement officials on high alert for
U.S.-based operatives connected to al
Qaeda who may be in possession of
commercial driver’s licenses and may
be planning to use truck bombs.
In Boston, suspected al Qaeda agent
and illegal alien Nabil al-Marabh
obtained a license permitting him to
drive semi-trucks containing hazard
ous materials, including explosives and
caustic materials.
In Minneapolis, suspected al Qaeda
operative Mohamad Elzahabi, who
obtained a green card through a fake
marriage, was able to obtain a commer
cial driver’s license to drive a school
bus and to haul hazardous materials
- despite FBI knowledge that Elzahabi
had been tied to terrorism.
Earlier this year, more than 200
Somalian and Bosnian immigrants
illegally obtained Missouri commercial
driver’s licenses or certifications to
handle hazardous materials through a
West Plains truck-driving school that
had a contract with the state, accord
ing to federal prosecutors. In just a
few short weeks, Democrats led by
Nancy Pelosi - a staunch opponent of
strengthened ID laws and strict immi
gration enforcement - will reassume
power in Washington. An open borders
friendly White House has expressed
willingness to deal with them. So we
know who supports illegal alien work
ers and potential terrorist drivers wait
ing for amnesty. But who will stand up
for us?
Michelle Malkin is author of
“Unhinged: Exposing Liberals
Gone Wild.” Her e-mail address
iswritemalkin@gmail.com