Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2007
Houston
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Letters to the Editor
Bill not in best interest
Dear Houston Countians:
I would like to go on record as opposing Senate
Bill 10, “Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act." This
Act would provide publicly-funded vouchers for stu
dents with disabilities to attend eligible private schools.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guar
antees all children and youth with disabilities a free,
appropriate public education to meet their needs.
Although Senate Bill 10 appears to give parents of
students with disabilities more choices, in reality the
IDEA already provides extensive rights to these parents
that are protected in the public school system. Under
IDEA parents are full partners in developing their
child’s Individualized Education Program. They will
give up this protection in the private sector because
in general, IDEA rights do not extend to students
with disabilities who participate in voucher programs
because they cannot be enforced in private schools.
This is a crucial time for education reform in our
country. Public schools are being held to increasing
ly high standards under the federal No Child Left
Behind Act. Private schools are not held to those same
standards. They have almost complete control over
teacher qualifications, curriculum, measures of student
achievement and financial accountability. There is no
proposal for private schools to be accountable for stu
dent achievement or how they spend taxpayers’ money.
Although the sponsor of the bill, Sen. Eric Johnson, is
calling this a “scholarship,” these are publicly funded
vouchers to send students to private schools. The money
would be subtracted from public school system allot
ments and paid directly to the parents of the students.
If approved, Johnson estimates that at least 4,200
students will take advantage of this voucher proposal.
Each student would reportedly receive an average of
$9,000 per year - that means $37.8 million would
be diverted each year from Georgia’s public schools.
Proponents of the act say it gives parents the choice of how
to educate their students. Vouchers give private schools the
choice. Parents must choose from schools that have chosen
to accept their child. Private and religious schools have
exclusive admissions and the tuition may be more than
the amount of the voucher, leaving parents to foot the bill.
Funneling money from public schools will make it
more difficult to meet NCLB requirements. Vouchers
will not decrease public school special education costs.
Under IDEA, they must still provide a quality edu
cation no matter how many students are enrolled.
Also, if students are not pleased with private school
they end up at, the only option may be to re-enroll at
the public school from which funding has been taken
This bill is next up before the House of Representatives.
Rather than removing students and funding from our
public schools, we should focus on making sure that stu
dents with disabilities are receiving the best free, public
education they can. Furthermore, we should focus on
meeting the needs of all of our students and ensuring
that they reach their highest potential.
Gillis R. “Skip” Dawkins, Houston County Board of
Education, Post j, Georgia School Boards Association
President-Elect
Column void of facts?
I was reading “Many issues and events have local
impact”, by Foy Evans, and when I read what he wrote
about the Biden/Obama issue that happened recently, I
was confused.
I for one follow all news that I can find about Sen.
Barack Obama and I would like to respectfully point out
that the issue was not about the term “articulate” but
about the term “clean” that Sen. Joe Biden attributed to
Obama.
Also in all the articles that I have read, excluding this
one, Obama did not take offense. Biden even stated that
he talked to him on this matter and Obama’s response
was, “He knew what I meant by it. The idea was very
straightforward and simple. This guy is something brand
new that nobody has seen before.”
I know this is an opinion piece and I for one respect
people’s opinion, even if they do not coincide with my
own. However, I do believe when you give an opinion,
especially when it is being sent to so many homes, you
have a responsibility to get the facts right.
Billie Zahir, Byron
Powell misses the mark?
The article that you published Feb. 2, written by Billy
Powell, titled “Can non-Christians go to heaven” is the
most dangerous article that you have ever brought to
print, not to mention the most irresponsible article that
Powell has ever written. It only adds to the lie that we all
worship the same God.
For a believer to write this article only shows the dif
ference between a claimed believer and a born again
believer. The article started out with absolute truth. John
14:6 says “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
shall come unto the Father, but by me.”
Then it goes severely downhill from there.
The attitude that “Strangely, Judaism, and Islam wor
ship the same God as Christianity —each calling Him by
a different name” is what shall cause many individuals
to die separated from God, and yes, end up in hell. Yes
Christianity and Judaism worship the same God, Yahweh
(Jehovah). However the god of Islam is far from the God
of the Bible.
Mr. Powell states that he “cannot bring myself to
believe “that his two Jewish friends were sent to hell.”
By that statement he himself is guilty of idolatry since
he cannot bring himself to believe that God would send
someone to hell that didn’t accept Jesus.
He has created a God to suit himself, as many do today.
But God is a just God, and no one can break his law or
See LETTER, page $A
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marketing!Advertising
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
A 'mixed bag' of things on Friday
Having no coherent and sustain
able ideas on any one particular
subject, it will be, this week, a
monologue of scattered thoughts and
events - or, as they say about bird seed
at the pet shop, a “mixed-bag”. Here
goes.
■ ■■
My new friend, Ed Buehler, gave
me a little book, “Tips From The Old
Country Folk,” compiled by Elizabeth
Drury. Now I know where some of the
things I heard Daddy say, all his life,
came from. An example:
“When the wind is in the east,
Then the fishes do bite the least;
When the wind is in the west,
Then The fishes do bite the best;
When the wind is in the north,
Then the fishes do come forth;
When the wind is in the south,
It blows the bait into the fish’s
mouth. ”
Lots of truth to this old country tip!
■ ■ ■
I’ve been thinking about changing
my name and my religion. Perhaps
to an American Indian’s. Then, per
haps I could get a casino in Atlanta.
Regardless, you can still call me Larry.
Just kidding! I guess I should remem
ber what my Grandfather Gray used to
say: “There is no place in the world for
sarcasm”.
■ ■ ■
On a more serious note, let me report
that I just finished Dav'd McCullough's
1977 book, “ The Path Between The
Seas”. I highly commend it to you.
It reminded me of one of my all-time
favorites, “Rising Tide” by John M.
Barry. In fact, it (McCullough’s book) is
now one of mv “all-time favorites”. It’s
$ 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE. INC
Effort to cut school calendar gets an 'F'
Before this session of the
Legislature began, State School
Superintendent Kathy Cox told
me she hoped legislators would work
with her and her staff to get the
department’s views on proposed leg
islation affecting public education in
Georgia. That seems fair. Lawmakers
know to talk with the Department of
Transportation and the Department of
Natural Resources, for example, before
introducing legislation that impacts
either department, but that has not
been the case with public education in
Georgia. Cox, a former Republican leg
islator herself, wants to change that.
Obviously, Reps. Ron Stephens (R-
Garden City) and Charles Martin (R-
Alpharetta) didn’t get the message.
They have introduced HR 262, a piece
of totally unnecessary legislation that
would allow local school boards to cut
the school calendar from 180 days to
170. Their reasoning? According to
Stephens, “Year-round schools kill eco
nomic development.” (Since when did
180 days become a year? I need to look
at my calendar more often.)
Please remember also that this is
the same Ron Stephens who sponsored
the infamous HR 218 in the last ses
sion, a measure that was intended to
take economic development negotia
tions involving our tax dollars behind
closed doors. That effort blew up like a
cheap balloon. I didn’t think anything
could trump that hideously bad idea,
but I underestimated Rep. Stephens’
creative abilities.
Not only does having our kids in
school for 180 days “kill” economic
development, co-sponsor Rep. Martin
adds helpfully that the current sum
mer break “doesn’t give a lot of time
OPINION
long, but it is interesting. Get it. I’ll
bet that Janie at the Perry Bookstore
can get it for you. Read it. You will be
glad you did.
■ ■■
Janice and I were in North Carolina
last week at David and Deborah’s beau
tiful place in Hayesville. We were there
with Mother, Lynda, Bob and Charlie
to celebrate Mother’s forthcoming
birthday (February 10). It was the first
time that Mother and her four children
had slept under the same roof for over
40 years! We had a great time and are
very proud of our sharp, spunky, alert,
positive, bright, soon-to-be 87 year old
Mother.
■ ■■
Writing of North Carolina, let me
say how impressed I was with North
Georgia. Has any region of our country
made more progress in the past 30 or
40 years?
We visited Clark and Lois at their
wonderful new home in Young Harris
and shopped at the outlet mall in
Dawsonville. We visited and shopped
in Blairsville and Hiawassee. What a
vibrant part of our state!
I kept remembering those people
in the 50s and 60s selling bedspreads
on the sides of the roads, and how
that commerce begat the largest carpet
industry in the world, and how that
carpet industry begat so much wealth
for families to do things, given the
constraints in our life.” Aha! Do you
think that maybe this bill has nothing
to do with improving public education
in Georgia and making us more com
petitive with other states? Perhaps it is
about not complicating parents’ sum
mer vacation plans.
(Parents: Wait until your urchins join
the real world and ask the boss for the
summer off because of the constraints
on their life and how it will improve
economic development. I can’t wait to
see the look on their little faces when
they get their answer.)
I am going to make a wild guess here
and say that neither Stephens nor
Martin discussed their proposed legis
lation with Kathy Cox, or more impor
tantly, with the poor public school
teachers who are besieged with feder
ally mandated programs, the demands
of a state-required curriculum, local
educational initiatives, bored students
and apathetic parents more interested
in a suntan than a well-educated child.
I have two high school science teach
ers in my family who would have been
happy to weigh in on the proposed leg
islation, although I doubt the legisla
tors would have liked their answers.
It makes me uneasy to think about
local school boards having the author-
m* %
Larry
Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgb-law.com
«* **
id*
y.
Dick
Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
and prosperity.
Zell Miller’s efforts didn’t hurt,
either!
■ ■■
Have you been to the new Longhorn’s
in Perry? If not, you should go. Very
good. Just like all Longhorn’s. They
always ask - the waiter or waitress, that
is - “have you ever been to Longhorn’s
before”? My answer: “Not over 200
times”. Probably not that many, but
not too far off. I loved the original res
taurant on Peachtree Street in Atlanta,
which is now closed. Lot’s of Sunday
nights on returning to Atlanta for the
legislature, we would meet there. I
miss it - and my dinner companions.
They (the food and the people) were
good!
■ ■■
Get the February 2007 edition of
“The Progressive Farmer” magazine
and see the full two-page ad for Kubota
tractors after page 21. That’s our farm,
SoHo (South Houston), in the back
ground. I showed the ad around the
office and all that the women wanted
to know was: “Who is that guy leaning
against the tractor”? By the way, girls,
Kubota will send you a free copy of the
ad if you will go to www.lifeisgrand.
com.
If you get the poster, and after you
look at the guy, please notice our farm
in the background.
■ ■ ■
Like Kubota says, for most of us, “life
is grand”. We have much for which we
can be thankful. And, I am. Thanks be
to God for letting me live in this place
and at this time and with so many of
you who enrich our lives so much on a
daily basis.
ity to slice the current school calendar
from 180 to 170 days, particularly when
I hear about one school board member
who opposed changing the start date
in his system’s school year because
“Teachers just want another day off.”
(Teachers are contracted to spend 190
days a year on the job, including 180 in
the classroom regardless of when the
school year begins and ends a fact
obviously lost on Mr. Dumbo.)
How do we enhance public education
by allowing Mr. Dumbo and those
of his ilk to arbitrarily reduce the
number of days available to present a
mind-numbing amount of information
to a generation of students who will be
forced to compete in a high-tech and
highly competitive international econ
omy? You don’t make public education
better by making it easier.
Maybe Reps. Stephens and Martin
have too much free time on their hands.
Perhaps they should spend the next
180 days in a Georgia classroom, trying
to teach smart kids, disinterested kids,
kids with special needs all in the
same classroom at the same time. Not
to mention dealing with drugs, disci
pline, dress codes and enough red tape
to hang a horse. They should also be
prepared to be underpaid, overworked
and unappreciated.
I’m not sure what precipitated this
cockamamie idea of cutting the school
calendar, .but it could not have come
from anyone intent on improving the
quality of public education in Georgia.
HR 262 deserves a big fat “F”.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or
Web site: www.dickyarbrough.com.