Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2007
Daily; djoarttal
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Care packages for troops
The Hearts To Heroes shipments of
care packages to U.S. troops in the
Middle East are sent monthly. A big
shipment, and volunteers are needed to
help with packing. Many items are needed
by the troops, including personal comfort
and care items and packaged snacks.
To find out how to help, contact Kevin.
Ducret@robins.af.mil or call 222-3544.
Another
shipment
will go out in
March. Items
needed in
addition to
the above are:
deodorants,
shampoo and
conditioner,
pillow cases,
feminine
hygiene prod
ucts, tooth
paste and
tooth brushes,
dental floss,
bath soap, q
tips, hand/
body lotion,
baby wipes,
flush a b 1 e
wipes, wet
wipes, Lysol
and Clorox
wipes, dispos
able razors,
hand sanitiz
er, cornstarch
based powder,
sun tan lotion
(no oils),
combs and
brushes, packs
of crackers,
chewing gum,
cards, enve
lopes, pens,
decks of cards,
poker sets,
hand-held
games, micro
wave popcorn,
small battery
book lights,
Little Debbie
snacks, pack
ages of nuts,
shoe insole
pads, packages potato chips, cotton tube
socks, coffees, hot sauce, any kind of hard
candy. These are not expensive items - just
hard to obtain if you happen to be on the
battlefront. Maybe your club or church
group can help.
Letter to toe editor
Seeing differently
Last Tuesday evening I attended the called Board meet
ing, and I would like to share my thoughts regarding key
leadership positions in our school system.
“In establishing School Councils in 2000, the General
Assembly recognized the need to involve parents and the
community in the management and operation of local
schools. One such mandated area of involvement was
the selection of the school principal, recognizing that
studies of effective schools find that it is the leadership
of the schools that makes a critical difference in student
achievement. The original law, requiring school councils
to make recommendations in the case of a vacancy in
the position of school principal, the recommendation of a
school principal from a list of qualified applicants submit
ted by the local board of education and the local school
superintendent to the council, was too vague.
So, in 2004, amendments incorporated into HB 1190,
requiring local boards of education to adopt “written
policies that clearly define the role of the school council
in the principal selection process.” (2004 Georgia School
Council Handbook, p. 5.27) This guidebook even has
Guidelines for Interviewing Principals, which states,
“Any inquiry that would indicate race, color, religion, sex,
national origin, handicap, age or ancestry is unlawful.” '
Therefore, it seems to me, if the board hires individu
als based on any of these characteristics, it would be just
as unlawful, right? Perhaps, there would be a sense of
fairness in our school communities if current principals
allowed each School Council to operate in the “Spirit of
the Law,” in which it was intended, rather than simply
checking off the Compliance box.
It would also be fair if we had access to the written
policy defining the Council’s role in the process. Then
again, life is not fair, is it?
Kathy Brown, Warner Robins
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Ma rketi ng/Advertisi ng
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Another
shipment will go
out in March. Items
needed in addition
to the above are:
deodorants, shampoo
and conditioner, pillow
cases, feminine hygiene
products, tooth paste
and tooth brushes,
dental floss, bath soap,
q-tips, hand/body lotion,
baby wipes, flushable
wipes, wet wipes,
Lysol and Clorox wipes,
disposable razors,
hand sanitizer,
cornstarch-based
powder, sun tan lotion
(no oilsj, combs and
brushes, packs of
crackers, chewing
gum, cards, envelopes,
pens, decks of cards,
poker sets, hand-held
games, microwave
popcorn, small battery
book lights, Little Debbie
snacks, packages of
nuts, shoe insole pads,
packages potato chips,
cotton tube socks,
coffees, hot sauce, any
kind of hard candy.
In contrast to those from New Orleans ...
Florida victims take tornado head on
Tornadoes ripped across Florida a
few days ago, leaving 20 people
dead and billions of dollars in
devastation.
I was impressed the next day to
see the victims, friends, strangers and
prisoners working hard to clean up the
damage.
Even those who lost family members
were upbeat. They faced the tragedy
with courage and dignity. They took it
upon themselves to clean up and start
over in the old fashioned American
tradition.
As I saw this I thought about the con
trast between the victims in Florida and
those in New Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina struck.
The victims in New Orleans looked
to the federal government, not within
themselves. Tens of thousands of them
are still living off government checks
in housing provided by the government
and are waiting for the government to
provide them money and housing when
they return to New Orleans.
The contrast speaks for itself.
■ ■ ■
All of a sudden the word “articulate”
has been cited as an example of racism
and bigotry.
It all started when presidential candi
date Sen. Joseph Biden used the word,
along with others, to brag on an oppo
nent Sen. Barak Hussein Obama
while talking about his entry into
the campaign.
W>
Designing the perfect remote control
Watching “60 Minutes” the
other night got me to think
ing: Would anyone arrest me
if I strangled Andy Rooney?
Considering the circumstances, I
doubt that’s even a crime.
Another segment on the program
also caught my attention. It was about
technology, and how complicated it is
for normal people to set up a computer,
or a DVD player, or even operate a
remote control. They interviewed one
man who had to hire someone to hook
up his high-definition television. He
said “someone complained that ‘you’d
need an engineering degree from MIT
to work this **** thing.’ Well, I have
an engineering degree from MIT. And I
couldn’t work it.”
So, it’s not just me.
As I watched the program, I looked
down at my remote control, nestled
snugly in my right hand. I counted 50
buttons. I use 23 - seriously. I have no
idea what the PBC button is for, or the
R/L button, or the NTSC/PAL button,
or the angle button. I obviously have
no use for the P-Scan button, or the
Step button, or the 3D button, or the
CM/ZERO button either. I never use
them, and don’t need them.
These gadgets, the segment offered,
are designed by nerds (my words, not
theirs) who know what an A-B but
ton is for, and probably have a use for
OPINION
Barak, other black leaders and just
plain race baiters who never cease
accusing anyone they dislike, imme
diately accused Biden of being con
descending toward Barak, who has a
black father and white mother. They
latched onto the word “articulate” to
turn what was intended as a compli
ment into an insult. How ridiculous.
Almost all my life I have tried to be
articulate. I will continue to do so. It
is a worthy goal. It is a shame that an
attempt is being made to turn “articu
late” into something it is not.
I imagine that our President would
like to be called “articulate”, don’t
you?
■ ■■
You gotta give the Swedes credit
for being ahead of the curve. A Swiss
gymnasium has begun holding “naked
Sundays”, which should be something
to observe. The human body, even with
rippling muscles, leaves something to
be desired. Maybe exercise isn’t what
it is all about up there near the North
Pole.
it. But boneheads like me don’t. So,
if any remote control designers are
in my audience, and aren’t offended
that I called them a remote control
designer, or nerds, I will enlighten you
on what normal folks like me want on
our remote control. For the sake of
this exercise, I will pretend this remote
control is also for DVD or VCR usage.
That said, a simpleton’s remote control
should include the following, and only
the following:
■ A power button.
To avoid confusion, you may want
to call it the ON/OFF button, in big
letters.
■ Two volume buttons.
And I want those suckers BIG! On
my remote control, the volume buttons
are these little tiny + and - buttons
located amidst a slew of superfluous
buttons. Make them huge - about an
inch round - and title them “VOLUME
UP” and “VOLUME DOWN.”
■ Channel up and down buttons.
■HHk <*» HHH
Foy
Evans
Columnist
(oyevansl9@cox.net
Len
Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Did you ever hear of so many “holy
cities” as they have in Iraq? Almost
every time a city is mentioned in that
country it seems to be “holy” and
must be protected from devastation ...
unless the devastation is done hy one of
the terrorist organizations. Some day I
am going to find out what changes a
normal city into a holy one.
■ ■■
Florida, like Georgia and many other
states, went to electronic voting follow
ing the presidential election of 2000.
Now, because of criticism of electronic
voting, Florida is going back to paper
ballots that will be counted by scan
ning machines. That is what Georgia
had before spending more than SSO
million on electronic voting machines.
I liked the way we voted then. It was
easy and did not seem inviting to voter
fraud. Maybe the old machines we used
to have are in storage somewhere and
can be recycled if the demand for paper
ballots and machine screening return.
Of course, we all know they aren’t.
■ ■■
I wonder if I am one of only a few
people who never have watched so
called prime-time television (between
8 and 11 p.m.). From what I hear it
isn’t worth watching, so I just go to bed
early and get up early.
Again, these need to be rather large,
and titled like the volume buttons.
■ For the DVD or VCR, we’ll need
a play button, a stop button, a fast
forward button, a rewind button, and
a pause button. And I’ll need two
directional buttons (smaller) for that
darned DVD.
■ Channel buttons - 1 through 9,
plus a 0.
■ Every remote control has a dif
ferent name for it, but one feature I
use is what I’ll call the “back” button.
It allows me to switch back and forth
between two channels at the click of
one button.
That’s it.
We don’t need a language button, we
don’t need a timer, don’t need a subti
tle button. Folks that need those things
can buy “specialty” remote controls.
These remotes should be for mass con
sumption morons like meself.
One more thing: On the appliance
that comes with the remote control,
whether it be a TV DVD or VCR player,
include a remote control locator but
ton. When the button is pressed, a
cacophonic siren sound will emanate
from the remote control so I can find
it.
And nerds, if you could produce this
“remote control for knuckleheads,” I
promise not to strangle Andy Rooney
- unless you want me to.