Newspaper Page Text
♦ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10,2007
4A
3Sousttm JBaily
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Rezoning: a challenge
The formula is unchanging:
New students plus new school build
ings equals rezoning, which equals
public debate.
If there is ever a time that Board of
Education members and central office staff
face a challenge, it is when they must make
decisions about redrawing school zone
lines.
We understand why this can upset some
parents. A young couple purchasing a home
often look at the school in that neighborhod
as the most important single factor. Once
settled in, they know the principal and the
teachers, and
very often
they’re happy
with the
school. They
may even con
sider it the
best in the sys
tem and they
don’t want a
good situation
changed, and
many will say
so.
It’s a par
ent’s job to
protect the
child’s best
interests.
For the
school offi
cials, however,
all of the chil
dren’s inter
ests have to
be considered.
In Houston
County new schools are filling up and add
ing portable classrooms. Subdivisions are
being built constantly, bringing in new fam
ilies - many with children - without regard
to whether there are enough classrooms in
the neighborhood school to take the new
population. It seems like only yesterday, for
example, that Lake Joy Elementary School
was opened. It has had an increase of 361
students in the last three years. Feagin Mill
Middle school and Perry Middle School are
both overcrowded, which was the reason for
the mid-county location of the new Mossy
Creek Middle School which will open this
fall.
The new school will take divide up the stu
dents with its neighboring middle schools,
and may well wind up overcrowded in a few
years. That’s been the pattern in recent
years, because as fast as we are building
schools, we’re behind the curve of growth.
What we have is an ongoing race to have
enough classrooms for the students in the
county, and with each new school, we will
have a redrawing of school district lines. (It
may well be that the rezoning that comes
with the new Veterans High School will
bring out the most controversy, but that’s a
long way off.)
Public hearings are part of this process
and should be. Parents will be heard from
and should be heard from, but in the long
run, the changes will have to be made.
And, for all the debate that’s part of the
process, parents are likely to find that with
in a week or two of making the big change,
and starting out in a brand new school,
their children will be just fine. Anyone who
has been at one of Houston County’s new
schools on opening day has gotten a sense
of this.
On the good side, a new school has an air
of excitement and promise. There are smil
ing principals out front. There are teachers
in their new classrooms ready to welcome
students. There are new school colors and
new school mascots. There’ll be some old
friends and some new friends. And, when
you get right down to it, there’ll be educa
tion in progress from day one.
And that’s what it’s all about.
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marketing!Advertising
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
We understand why
this can upset some
parents. A young couple
purchasing a home
olten look at the school
in that neighborhod
as the most important
single factor. Once
settled in, they know
the principal and the
teachers, and very
often they're happy with
the school. They may
even consider it the
best in the system and
they don't want a good
situation changed, and
many will say so.
Learning to speak their language
Which of the five things below
communicate(B) most clearly
that someone loves you?
A warm hug or squeeze of your
hand
Kind words or compliments
Presents gifts large or small
Time spent in a shared experience
Favors done to serve you
OK, maybe they all sound good to you
right now. But if you could select only
one that is your favorite way to receive
the expression of love, which would
it be? It’s all about “love languages”
- which refer to the way each of us pre
fers to communicate and receive love.
Dr. Gary Chapman and several co
authors have written a series of books
that challenge readers to consider their
loved ones’ preferred method of being
shown love, then tapping into that to
deepen the relationship and sense of
closeness with that person, whether
spouse, child or good friend.
The books are not brand new
although their ideas may be new to
many. (They were written between
1995 - 2006 and cover topics such
as “The Five Love Languages,” “The
Five Love Languages of Children,” and
“The Five Languages of Apology.”)
Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell
encourage readers to think of their
spouse’s or children’s hearts as tanks
that need to be kept full for maximum
contentment and well-being. The more
you are able to speak their love lan
guage, the more secure your loved ones
feel in your love, which actually helps
them thrive in other areas of their
lives.
But not everyone is the same. In fact,
the love language we speak may be as
different as Spanish and Chinese.
Think about couples who struggle
Cars need bright drivers in rain
As I write this, it is raining. Soon
I will step outside to my car
and drive home. Many drivers
I encounter on the road would be, in
any other setting, intelligent people.
Because they are driving, though, they
will have checked their brains at the
car door.
I can spot them very easily. They will
be the ones driving in the rain with
their headlights turned off. There’s a
word for those folks.
“Idiots.” Or, if you like, “morons.”
Prefer adjectives? Try “thoughtless,”
“shortsighted” and “brain-dead.”
Although I fall into those categories
much of the day, it is never while I am
driving in the rain. I turn on my head
lights, not so that I can see better but
so others can see me. I’d rather be an
exhibitionist, not invisible.
Invisible, of course, describes driv
ers who don’t use their lights in bad
weather. When the sky darkens and
raindrops pellet the windshield, traffic
disappears.
If a vehicle is a “road” color - gray,
blue, silver, lavender, champagne
so much the worse.
Some drivers see the problem but
don’t like to commit to the remedy.
They might turn on their parking
lights only. That’s a start, but in bad
weather, parking lights can’t be seen
very far.
Some vehicles have daytime running
lights, which are front lights that go
on any time the engine is running.
OPINION
"My W-2 depresses me twice... about how little
I earn and how much I have to pay taxes on!"
Ramdy
Hicks
Columnist
Georgia Family Council
perpetually in their relationship - and
we all have struggles. But for some
couples it’s harder because they speak
a different love language from their
spouse, and they don’t even realize
that’s a big part of the problem.
Say a husband’s primary love lan
guage is physical touch, and his wife’s
is acts of service. The husband seeks
affection and “cuddle time” to show
his wife he loves her, while she shows
her love by taking care of details for
him, like picking up his dry cleaning or
preparing his favorite meal. But when
they speak their own love language to
their spouse, the message often goes
unheard or unappreciated.
The disconnect here is like a husband
speaking Spanish to his wife, who only
speaks Chinese. She speaks Chinese
back to him, but he only understands
Spanish, so the message is lost. What
the couple needs to do is identify each
other’s love language - the things I
do that make my wife feel truly loved
- and learn to speak it well to fill up
their emotional tank. So, while the
husband is wrapping his arms around
his wife for a hug, she’s thinking, “I
wish he’d help me clean up this kitch
en. He doesn’t appreciate me and all
he wants is our physical relationship.”
At the same time, he feels spurned by
her and thinks, “Why is she always
cleaning up? I wish she’d stop fuss-
Glynn
Moore
Columnist
Morris News Service
Those vehicles are more noticeable,
but not from the back; their taillights
don’t come on with the DRLs. If you
approach one of them from behind in a
pouring rain, you might not see it until
you have hit it.
Many vehicles equipped with day
time running lights are large American
sport utility vehicles, which often are
painted those road colors I cited above.
From behind, they are invisible 2- or
3-ton monsters.
There are laws, of course, governing
headlights. Such laws usually say we
must turn them on between dusk and
dawn, or something to that effect, and
at any other time of reduced visibility.
That means during rain, snow, sleet,
fog, smoke, solar eclipses, tunnels and
swarms of locusts.
A popular memory-jogger is that if
our wipers are on, then our headlights
should be on. What do you know, a law
that actually makes sense! If people
would only obey it.
Driving in the rain isn’t a new horror
for me. Twenty years ago, when I was
living in a neighboring state, I noticed
H liir SHI
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
ing about the house and take time to
show me the physical affection I desire
- maybe she’s not even attracted to
me anymore!” Each member of this
couple is trying to show love in a way
they understand it but is lost on the
other person.
For some, particularly men, the work
of understanding your spouse, then
investing time and energy speaking
their love language is daunting.
Consider the husband who says to
his wife: “I told you on the day I mar
ried you that I loved you. I’ll let you
know if I change my mind.”
First, I pity the wife. Second, the
type of person who would make this
comment may believe that regular
expressions of love are not important,
or that once expressed, the thoughts
conveyed stand indefinitely. Not so,
say Chapman and Campbell. Each of
us needs to have our tanks filled up
frequently.
Chapman and Campbell tell the story
of a boy named Ben whose behav
ior had become almost antisocial. He
had begun to visit his teacher’s desk
after class instruction, saying he didn’t
understand the lesson - sometimes up
to eight times a day. When the teacher
visited the lunchroom to sit with her
students, Ben would push other chil
dren out of the way so he could be near
her.
To keep the story short, I’ll cut to
the chase. After discussion with the
parents, Dr. Chapman discovered that
both parents had become busier, with
the mom increasing her work schedule
from part to full time. They had each
given up chunks of time and activities
they previously had done with Ben.
It became clear that the boy’s “love
See HICKS, page 6A
that headlights weren’t required in the
rain. The next time our state senator
dropped by the office, I asked him to
fix that.
“You write the law, and I’ll introduce
it,” he said.
I wrote to Georgia and Florida and
got copies of their lights-in-the-rain
laws. I took the best of both, wrote a
clear, precise paragraph that addressed
the issue, then submitted it to the
senator.
He gave me his handshake and went
back to the capital. I moved back to
Georgia shortly after that, secure in the
knowledge that I was leaving behind a
state with safe roads around the next
bend.
Well, several bends. From what I’ve
been able to glean, it took six years
for that law to take effect. I don’t even
think the law that was adopted is the
one I drafted, but it has the same pur
pose. (Did I expect legislative speed?
Well, no, but neither did I expect years
- and traffic deaths - to pile up. Silly
me.)
Laws don’t do any good, though, if
people are too lazy or inconsiderate to
obey them. If you don’t care to be legal
for any personal reasons, then I’m ask
ing you to do it for me.
I have a wife, children and friends
on these roads, and I don’t want them
to get hurt by flattening your invisible
vehicle. Do us a favor, then, and switch
on your headlights in the rain. Thanks
in advance.