Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2006
Moustmx iDaUg
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Monerief
Managing Editor
City thinking ambitious
Warner Robins city officials are think
ing big and they let members of the
Houston County legislative delega
tion know it when they met last week.
The officials have big plans and it will cost
big bucks to implement them. They want
the state to come on board and provide
some of the money.
While it is possible that the state will come
across with some of the money that the city
officials are asking for, it is worthwhile to
note that Rep. Willie Talton told them, “I’ll
fertilize that seed.”
In other words, he and other members of
the delegation
will ask for
much of what
the city offi
cials want, but
it is unlikely to
be forthcom
ing anytime
soon.
Councilman
Dean Cowart
is still cam
paigning for
his pet project,
a sports com
plex. It would
cost $4.5 mil
lion. The
city already
has spent
$200,000 for
plans. Cowart
points out, as
he has in the past, that the people have
been promised this sports complex for sev
eral years and, in his opinion, it is time to
move on it.
The big item that the city officials jointly
consider important is a public/private part
nership for a conference center-hotel at a
cost of S2O million. It’s an ambitious idea,
but the city officials contend that it would
bring money into the community.
Among other items the city officials talked
to the legislators about were a $6 million
law enforcement center, $1 million for a
public safety station on Highway 96 and $1
million for a new animal shelter.
The city officials surely don’t expect the
state to meet all their wants, but it does not
hurt to ask.
What the city will be able to do on its own
depends on city income during the next
year.
As Warner Robins grows the demands
grow, too. Meeting the demands is a chal
lenge that only money can help, but money
is not always readily available.
Clearly, the Warner Robins officials are
looking toward a new SPLOST as the source
of revenue to deal with these demands, but
they hope that the state will come through
with a few million dollars, too.
To say the least, what they have on their
agenda is ambitious, with some skepticism
on the part of many citizens when there is
talk about the city entering into any public/
private venture.
One thing to remember: If Mayor Donald
Walker wants it and gets behind it, it usu
ally happens.
Letter to toe Editor
Watson a wonderful man
Thanks for the great and true information concerning
Mr. "Boss" Watson you wrote in the Dec. 5 Houston Daily
Journal. Many people did not realize what a caring and
wise person he was, including me for a long time.
I can claim heritage dating back to the beginning of
Warner Robins. My father had a farm located on an
unnamed dirt road, which later was named Watson Road
before it became Russell Parkway. We walked from our
house that was located then where the service station
is now on Moody Road to ride the school bus to Bonaire
School (elementary and high combined) from which I
graduated. Only Centerville and Bonaire had schools
- none in Wellston (Warner Robins) at that time.
Money was really hard to come by at that time. As
See LETTER, page
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marketing!Advertising
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Councilman Dean
Cowart is still
campaigning for his pet
project, a sports com
plex. it would cost $4.5
million. The city already
has spent $200,000 for
plans. Cowart points
out, as he has in the
past, that the people
have been promised
this sports complex for
several years and, in
his opinion, it is time to
move on it.
Paving the way for football champions
Warner Robins High School won
its first Georgia football cham
pionship 30 years ago in 1976.
Today Northside High, having fought
its way through a perfect season, reigns
as state champions.
If my memory is not deserting me,
I believe that the 1976 Demons also
were crowned national champions in a
mythical poll.
Warner Robins was much smaller
in 1976 than it is today. The impact of
winning a state championship rever
berated throughout the community.
It was culmination of a remarkable
turnaround in the football fortunes of
this city. For many years winning one
game in a season was a remarkable
achievement for players such as Buster
McConnell, Mike Long, Sonny Perdue
and a litany of other brave, enthusi
astic young men who, clearly, played
the game just for the fun of it without
much glory.
Last week’s state championship
game was played in McConnell-Talbert
Stadium, and I dare say that not many
of the spectators at the game had any
idea who McConnell and Talbert were.
They were school board members
who had their hearts in support of
the Warner Robins football program.
Dr. Billy Talbert was a former football
coach. It hurt him to see his favorite
team run over season after season, so
/ // D EA5t"" '~ .
Gingrich on Iraq: Forget the 'establishment'
Newt Gingrich this week spoke
boldly on Iraq, which is the
same way he spoke on just
about everything when he was U.S.
speaker of the House in the 19905.
Gingrich, Dec. 12, said the American
“establishment” has retreated into a
burrow from which it peeps at the Iraq
war, sees its own shadow and then dis
appears again.
Gingrich was hazy about naming
names in this ill-defined “establish
ment,” but he made it plain that it
reminds him of key, hesitant political
actors in the years leading up to World
War 11.
“They want to believe Chamberlain
is right, Churchill is wrong, and that
Hitler doesn’t exist,” he said, compar
ing efforts to appease Nazi Germany
to current efforts to embrace the Iraq
Study Group’s findings as a vehicle by
which to leave that troubled country.
Gingrich pointed to recent public
statements made by Iran’s president,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in which he
alluded to a world without the United
States and openly cheered the prospect
of the end of Israel.
Iran, of course, has for years now
duped the international community
as it tried to prevent them from devel
oping nuclear weapons. Iran is also
believed to be supplying weapons to
insurgents in Iraq.
“The recommendation [the study
group] made to President Bush is, let’s
talk to [the Iranian leadership],” said
Gingrich. “Why? What possible conver
sation could we have?”
Gingrich and others are coming to
see the emergence of aggressive, defi
ant regimes, coupled with an ungov
ernable spread of terrorism, as dual
threats that make for a holistic threat
against world peace and stability.
Gingrich believes President George
OPINION
he decided to do something about it.
Joe Sumrall had an outstand
ing, championship football program
in Thomasville. Talbert approached
Sumrall about taking over as coach
in Warner Robins and he personally
guaranteed the money needed to pro
vide financial supplements for Sumrall
and two assistants Frank Orgell
and Robert Davis. Later other Demons
boosters helped share this expense
with Talbert.
Joe Sumrall turned the program
around. The Demons began to win.
Sumrall retired. Orgell took over the
program. He advanced to college coach
ing. Then Robert Davis elevated the
Denlons program to the championship
level.
Conrad Nix has an enviable record
as coach for the Northside Eagles.
His teams have come close to a state
title before. This time his team was a
steamroller.
The 1976 Demons also are memo
rable for some of the players on that
W. Bush must use his likely upcom
ing address on Iraq’s future to link
America’s effort there to a wider con
text of dealing with these interrelated
threats as they grow more serious each
day. How would Gingrich act now? He
says he would pitch a sort of hybrid
of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and
Harry Truman’s Marshall Plan. It
would provide economic resources in
Iraq to create jobs and rebuild infra
structure. Gingrich proposes giving
“every able-bodied person” a job to do
and a wage to receive. Money and per
sonal security, he says, bring stability.
For all the talk of religious strife, Iraqis
want food to eat and safety on their
streets as much as anyone.
Gingrich says the region should then
be flooded with goods that would first
be given to and later, ultimately, bought
by Iraqis, with money from their new
paychecks.
This perspective is a historical one.
No surprise there. Gingrich has a vast
knowledge of history. Part of that his
tory is the disdain many conserva
tives had - or still have - for FDR’s
New Deal, with its many public-works
programs designed less to accomplish
public tasks than to put money in peo
ple’s pockets. But Gingrich believes a
similar plan in Iraq would be a critical
adjunct to purely military efforts.
Gingrich became a critic of the han
dling of the war in 2003, when his basic
message was that act one of the mili-
mm
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox net
■I. jm
Matt
Towery
Columnist
Morris News Service
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
team, two of whom had stellar college
careers.
James Brooks was a standout at
Auburn and became one of the best
running backs in the National Football
League.
Simmons was an All-American nose
guard at Florida State University in
his junior year. He considered turning
pro since he was projected to be a first
round draft pick if he did. Instead, he
decided to play his senior year for FSU.
It turned out to be a costly decision.
Ron was injured during his senior
year with FSU, an injury that cost him
the big bucks that would have come
with being a first round draft pick in
the NFL. He tried out with the Falcons
and eventually played a while in the
Canadian Football League. His foot
ball career cut short, Ron eventually
became a professional wrestler.
Football fans scoff at players entering
the NFL draft after their junior year,
but what happened to Rob Simmons is
an excellent example why a player who
can go in an early round of the draft
should forget about his senior year at
college and take the money. There is
too great a risk involved by staying
that extra year because college football
fans want you to.
It is one thing to play for glory. It is
another thing to pass up a sure thing
for the rah-rah of the college scene.
tary venture, the invasion of Iraq, had
gone swimmingly, but that act two had
never been written, much less staged.
This Sunday, the former speaker will
return to the same television venue
where he voiced those concerns three
years ago, NBC’s “Meet The Press.”
He’ll likely revisit those previous com
ments with host Tim Russert.
Nobody’s saying Gingrich’s ideas are
flawless. Certainly not me, and not
even him. Yet it’s becoming abundant
ly clear that President Bush intends
to stay in Iraq for a while. Further, he
may authorize a significant number of
additional troops to go there.
If so, the Gingrich Plan could become
not only possible, but unavoidable.
After all, the fiercest criticism of Bush
among endless criticism has been the
lack of “a plan.” Gingrich offers one
- beyond just bombs and bullets.
If Bush’s promised change of direc
tion isolates Iraq as the only world
danger, and if he offers only more of
the same in fighting that conflict, then
Gingrich believes America might as
well pull out its troops and quit.
If it comes to that, he says, our
nation’s weakened “establishment”
will have lost its resolve to address the
bigger, uglier picture. That would be
the one that could threaten our very
existence in the years to come.
Matt Towery served as the chairman
of former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s
political organization from 1992 until
Gingrich left Congress. He is a for
mer Georgia state representative, the
author of several books and currently
heads the polling and political infor
mation firm Insider Advantage. To
find out more about Matthew Towery
and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit
the Creators Syndicate website at www.
creators.com.