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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.