Newspaper Page Text
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♦ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2007
Moustmi djnarttal
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
It CAN happen here
Suppose a tornado hit your home?
If it happened in the middle of the
night, would your family even wake up
in time to get to shelter?
Do you have a severe weather radio that
would sound an alarm to wake you up?
Have you discussed tornado safety with
your children? Do you know the safest
location in your home? Do you?
Would your family have a supply of drink
ing water?
Could you cope without electrical power?
Would your insurance cover the damage?
These are easy questions to brush off, and
even easier
issues to pro
crastinate on,
because it’s
just in human
nature not to
believe aston
ishing things
can happen.
Well, torna
dos CAN hap
pen here.
Ask anybody
who lived in
Warner Robins
in 1953, when
a tornado
touched down
on South
Pleasant Hill
Road and
South Davis
Drive and tore across Warner Robins Air
Force Base, leaving 18 dead and hundreds
injured, in addition to causing massive
property damage.
Suppose heavy storms caused wind dam
age to trees, took down power lines or
caused flash flooding in your neighborhood
or on the highways you regularly travel.
Do you know the basic safety rule regard
ing flooded highways?
Have you told your teen-agers never to
drive through flood waters and that “Turn
around. Don’t drown.” is the rule to remem
ber.
We’re about to begin Severe Weather
Awareness Week in Georgia, and while
many might regard this as “just another
week,” it’s a good time to take stock of
your home preparedness and to make sure
that you’ve done the simple things that will
make a big difference if a disaster hits.
Example: For SSO to S6O, you can buy a
NOAA Public Alert Weather Radio, which
can be set with your area code to wake up
the whole family in case there’s a tornado
alert. Check it out at any electronics store.
Example: It couldn’t be easier to stock up
on bottled water, both the big jugs for wash
ing, and the individual ones for drinking.
Example: A couple of battery operated
lanterns, plus individual flashlights could
make a lot of difference in a nighttime
disaster.
Example: Every family should have two
first aid kits - one in the house and one in a
car trunk or some other safe location.
Example: If you have older family mem
bers of disabled family members living
alone, or neighbors who would have diffi
culty in a disaster, let them know that you’ll
be checking on them in case of a calamity.
Example: Take the time now to make sure
that your home and property insurance
really does cover severe weather damage.
So, it probably won’t happen at all, but
don’t kid yourself.
It CAN.
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Home Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marked ng/Advertisi ng
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
We're about to begin
Severe Weather
Awareness Week in
Georgia, and while many
might regard this as
"just another week,"
it's a good time to take
stock of your home
preparedness and to
make sure that you've
done the simple things
that will make a big
difference if a disaster
hits.
School superintendents should stay appointed
Some members of the Georgia
Legislature have come up with
the idea of electing school super
intendents again.
The idea begfln taking traction when
one legislator, who is unhappy with
the school board’s domination of his
county’s school system, wants to clip
their wings.
You can come up with arguments for
and against having the school super
intendent independent of the board of
education, but I believe that the pres
ent system we have in Houston County
is more beneficial for harmony and
good results.
We used to have school superinten
dents who were elected. We were lucky
that friction did not develop between
them and school boards they worked
with. The kind of harmonious relation
ships our elected superintendents had
with school boards were the exception,
rather than the rule.
When a superintendent is elected he
has equal power with the school board
and if they disagree the results can be
detrimental to the goal of providing
education for children.
The state now requires that superin
tendents be appointed by school boards.
They work for the school boards. If the
superintendent and the board cannot
get along harmoniously a change can
be made. That happened in Houston
County three years ago.
For the past three years members of
the board of education and the super
intendent in Houston County have
worked harmoniously. You can tell it
when you walk into the central office.
And you find happy schools through
out the county.
In my opinion, the Legislature would
\ A Te>^ CJ
Thinking outside the doughnut box
While the world’s smarty-pants
pundits consider the light
weight subjects of the day,
like the war in Iraq, global warming,
and who’s the father of Anna Nicole
Smith’s baby (my money’s on former
NBA player Shawn Kemp) -1 have big
ger fish to fry.
Or rather, bigger doughnuts to eat.
This, from an Associated Press story:
A North Carolina molecular scientist
has created caffeinated doughnuts.
I know - you’re probably thinking
what I’m thinking: Why didn’t I think
of that?
According to the story, Dr. Robert
Bohannon, who also owns a coffee shop
in Durham, N.C., has developed a way
to add caffeine to baked goods. He says
the amount of caffeine can vary, but he
can easily put 100 milligrams of caf
feine - equal to a five-ounce cup of cof
fee - into his yummy treats. He is cur
rently shopping his creations, which
he is marketing as “Buzz Donuts” and
“Buzzed Bagels,” to some of the big
doughnut honchos, whom I assume are
indeed big doughnut honchos.
And while most folks see this inno
vation as I do - as perhaps the great
est scientific breakthrough since the
creation of light beer - there’s always
OPINION
make a big mistake if it returned to
election of school superintendents.
What we have is working. Why
change?
■ ■■
I have been reading that Gov. Sonny
Perdue’s critics are accusing him of
“cutting spending” on Medicaid. They
are accusing him of undermining this
healthcare program.
What is the truth? Perdue’s proposed
budget includes a 5.6 percent increase
in spending for Medicaid. When did an
increase become a “cut”?
Only in government do you hear
such talk. And that is because bureau
crats and activists consider it a “cut”
when they do not receive what they
ask for, which usually is more than any
sensible person should give them.
You encounter this on most levels of
government. Department heads on the
local level usually ask for more than
they really need and usually receive
what they need after the governing
bodies prune the fat out.
Considering the fact that most gov
erning bodies are expected to be frugal
and eliminate wasteful spending the
people who prepare preliminary bud
gets usually give them something to
chew on.
some pointy-headed skeptic providing
our buzzkill.
“I see nothing positive in this,” Barry
Popkin, a University of North Carolina
nutrition scientist, is quoted as saying
in the story. “It’s like getting a candy
bar and putting Vitamin C in it, saying
you’re getting your Vitamin C from
this candy bar.”
Another great idea!
I’m not much of a doughnut eater
myself. My policy is that I only eat
free doughnuts. But I appreciate Dr.
Bohannon’s “outside-the-doughnut
box” thinking. While finding cures for
diseases and stuff is indeed worth
while, we also need scientists in the lab
working on projects like this: Putting
healthy nutritional elements - like
Vitamin C and caffeine - in things that
taste good. The makers of Doritos did
■MHb.
Foy
Evans
Columnist
loyevansl9@cox.net
Len
Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
■ ■■
With income tax time on the horizon,
here is something to think about as
you struggle to pay your share.
FEMA has paid $1 billion in New
Orleans for homes that do not exist,
according to the Associated Press.
Think that’s wasteful? How about
the sl2 billion that disappeared in Iraq
after our government shipped tons of
paper money there for distribution?
No one has been accountable for what
happened to this money.
No wonder the IRS has to squeeze as
much as possible out of the incomes of
ordinary Americans.
■ ■■
Was imbedding reporters with the
troops in Afghanistan and Iraq one of
the dumbest decisions our government
has made in recent times? I’d say the
answer is yes.
■ ■ ■
I saw on the Internet that The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution is asking
readers to vote their opinion on who is
the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby.
Sounds like a dumb poll to me. How
in the world could readers of the AJC
have any knowledge on the subject, at
all?
This poll is indicative of most polls,
where people who know absolutely
nothing about the subject are asked to
give their opinions. Then the polls are
passed on to a gullible public as having
some validity.
Be careful what they tell you.
this years ago when they put two per
cent of the recommended dietary allow
ance of Riboflavin in their product.
Others should follow suit. For
instance, we could put thiamine
(Vitamin B-l) in ham, or calcium in ice
cream, or Vitamin D in Jolly Ranchers,
or saturated fat in Twinkles, or coat
pickles with lots and lots of arsenic.
And if this guy can put caffeine in
doughnuts, why not put it in other food
items? I’d like a little jolt of caffeine
in my hot dog, for instance. And my
hamburger. And my pork chop. And my
steak. And, basically, in all the meats
that constitute my diet of meats and
meats.
“Some people get their caffeine buzz
from soda, chocolate, and other sources
besides coffee,” says the hero of our
story, Dr. Bohannon. “The Buzz Donut
and Buzzed Bagel lets them get the caf
feine buzz by simply eating a delicious
pastry item.”
And who doesn’t need a little more
caffeine, a little more pep, a little more
sunshine, in their day? Probably not
Robin Williams. And Carrot Top too,
but that’s about it.
I think I’ll stay up late tonight drink
ing sodas and coffee. I have a Nobel
Prize nomination to fill out.