Newspaper Page Text
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♦ SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2007
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Foy S. Evans
Vice President Editor Emeritus
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Where is Perry heading?
At Tuesday’s Perry City Council meet
ing, several citizens spoke out about
a proposed annexation and develop
ment on the Nunn farm property along U.S.
341.
Although it’s natural enough for peo
ple with spacious country homes to wish
they could
keep things
rural, most of
weren’t object
ing to the
idea of devel
opment and
growth. They
were worried
instead of
having those
400 acres
rezoned as
Planned Unit
Development,
which essen
tially means
that the devel
oper has some
green space
requirements,
but more flex
ibility in terms
of the lot size,
kinds of hous
ing, and even
commercial
development.
There’s a lot
to be said for
PUDs, especially in terms of providing ame
nities for residents, and conserving greens
pace. '
However, homeowners in rural areas have
something very valuable to protect in terms
of peace, quiet and country living, and we
wonder at times if the Perry area is moving
too rapidly from rural to urban.
We invite your opinion on these ques
tions.
Would you like to see Perry hold the line
on annexations?
Would you like to see the population stay
the same?
Are you satisfied with the trend toward
PUDs or would you rather see the tradi
tional forms of rezoning?
Has your own lifestyle been impacted by
the county’s growth, and - if so - has it been
for good or bad?
Do you feel that citizens get a good response
when they speak at public meetings on
these subjects?
Your opinion matters to us and we believe
it also matters very much to your elected
officials. Please let us know what you
think.
We would also like to hear the opinions
of others in the county about the personal
impact of rapid growth, and to hear from
realtors and developers on the same sub
jects.
At long last
There’s good news for Perry. We’re
making progress on the long-awaited
traffic signal for Macon Road and
Perimeter Road. The signals are actually
there, but not ready for use, and we can
expect to wait several weeks before the light
is in full operation.
Everybody’s hoping that the lights will be
ready by the time school starts.
In the meantime, if you use those roads
frequently, be aware that change is coming.
There’ll be a flashing red light for seven
days, by law, before the full red, green and
yellow light system is in effect.
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Daily Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Although it’s natural
enough for people with
spacious country homes
to wish they could keep
things rural, most of
weren't objecting to
the idea of development
and growth. They were
worried instead of
having those 400 acres
rezoned as Planned
Unit Development, which
essentially means that
the developer has
some green space
requirements, but
more flexibility in
terms of the lot size,
kinds of housing, mid
even commercial
development.
Time fop healing to begin in Macon
Cities have personalities. You fall
in love with some. You cannot
stand others. I held my first full
time job in Macon, at the age of 19,
and it always has been a special place
to me.
The city and its people captured my
heart and it has been a special city for
me ever since.
Around 1940 Macon was a small,
bustling city where it seemed that
almost everyone knew everyone else.
The people I met when I came into
the community wrapped themselves
around me and made me a part of their
lives.
There was plenty to do. Mercer
University had a football team that
competed with the likes of Georgia and
Alabama and Tennessee. The Macon
Peaches were dear to the heart of
the community and was the proving
ground for players heading higher up,
all the way to the major leagues.
Lanier High School was a power
house in all sports and claimed state
championships in football and basket
ball regularly.
Little Theater was big in the com
munity.
Friendships blossomed, and years
later, when I returned to the area, they
continued to grow.
You just had a good feeling about liv
ing in Macon and being part of it.
Perhaps days like those can emerge
from the city that has lost its luster, a
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Kite have a problem with the American Dream
My fellow Americans, we have a
problem. We spend billions of
dollars on homeland security,
but our government can’t even track
and deport convicted criminal aliens.
These are not the well-meaning “new
comers” who just want to “pursue
economic opportunities” by “doing the
jobs no one else will do.” These are
foreign-born thugs, sex offenders, mur
derers and repeat drunk drivers who
are destroying the American Dream.
If our immigration and entrance sys
tem cannot effectively monitor, detain
and kick out convicted criminal aliens
including illegal border-crossers, ille
gal visa overstayers, fugitive deportees,
and green card holders who have com
mitted serious crimes and aggravated
felonies - what good is it?
The terrible kidnapping and murder
of 12-year-old Zina Linnik in Tacoma,
Wash., on July 4th is a typical example
of the criminal alien revolving door.
Terapon Adhahn, Linnik’s suspected
kidnapper and killer who allegedly
snatched her from the backyard of her
home, is a permanent legal resident
from Thailand. He was convicted of
incest in 1990. Adhahn had sexually
attacked his 16-year-old relative and
pleaded down from a second-degree
rape. Two years later, he was con
victed of intimidation with a dangerous
weapon. Section 1227(a)(2)(C), Title 8,
of the U.S. code dealing with immigra
tion states: “Any alien who at any time
after admission is convicted under any
law of. . . using, owning, possessing, or
carrying... any weapon, part, or acces
sory which is a firearm or destructive
device ... in violation of any law is
deportable.”
But Adhahn was not deported. In
fact, as Lorie Dankers, spokeswom
an for Immigration and Customs
Enforcement in Seattle, admitted: “He
escaped our attention.”
Just like illegal alien gangster
Mwenda Murithi, who was arrested 27
times without deportation before being
OPINION
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net IHk.. *
city from which thousands of families
have fled in search of a better place to
live in recent years.
Houston County has been a major
beneficiary of Macon’s decline. So have
Jones and Monroe counties. While
Macon has lost population, these
neighboring counties have flourished
and grown.
Among civic leaders and just ordi
nary citizens that I know in Macon
there has been a sense of resignation
that Macon had seen its best days
and there was little hope that it could
recover.
I have hurt for them. Many of them
are offspring of the Maconites I knew
and shared wonderful experiences with.
A few of my generation are around and
what they have seen has saddened
them.
They enjoyed the glory days and
have suffered through embarrassment
and despair as they have watched their
leaders drag their community down.
The outcome of the Macon city elec
tion this week brings hope. Maconites—
arrested in the shooting death of 13-
year-old innocent bystander Schanna
Gayden last month in Illinois.
Just like illegal alien thug Ezeiquiel
Lopez, who built up a six-year rap
sheet without deportation before being
arrested in the murder of Deputy Frank
Fabiano two months ago in Wisconsin.
Just like illegal alien Juan Leonardo
Quintero, who had been previously
deported after committing crimes from
indecency with a child to driving while
intoxicated, but who traipsed back into
the U.S. last fall and was arrested after
allegedly shooting Houston police offi
cer Rodney Johnson four times in the
head during a routine traffic stop.
And the list goes on and on and on.
It is not “anti-immigrant radicals”
who are fed up with the failure to kick
out and keep out criminal aliens. Zina
Linnik’s uncle, Anatoly Kalchik, points
out that his family was a family of legal
immigrants who all obeyed the laws.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer report
ed: “Zina’s uncle was angry that the
suspect had not been deported after
being convicted in a sex crime. ‘We are
all immigrants, but we come legally,’
Kalchik said of his family. He added
that the adults all cleared a criminal
background check. ‘lf someone is a sex
offender, or any kind of offender, he
has no business being in America,’ he
said.”
Federal auditors and immigration
officers have tried to blow the whis
tle on this recurring problem for the
past 10 years. But the Department of
Homeland Security inspector general
Michelle
Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
white and black, between whom wedges
have been created showed that they
are tired of the kind of government
that has set them back so far during
the last seven years.
Blacks and whites joined forces to
give overwhelming endorsement to a
mayoral candidate who promised heal
ing and a new era of cooperation and
progress.
This sounds like the Macon that
meant so much to me in the past,
the place I came to first when I was
released from the U.S. Navy after World
War 11, even though my hometown was
Americus. •
During the past several years I have
joked about the decline of Macon and
Bibb County, but in my heart I was sad
to see what was happening.
When you care for a place, as I have
for Macon more than 65 years, it hurts
to see it lose its luster.
It was a wonderful place to live.
The Macon I first lived in lives in my
memory and in my heart. I am rejoic
ing now at the prospect of seeing it
regain its personality that made it a
very special city.
If this happens, the flow of people
from Macon to Houston County prob
ably will slow down, but that wouldn’t
be bad. It will be wonderful to have a
sister city to the north worthy of our
respect, admiration and, even, affec
tion.
Let the healing begin.
reported last year that of an estimated
650,000 foreign-born inmates in prison
and jails this year, half will be remov
able aliens who won’t be removed
because the detention and deportation
office “does not have the resources to
identify, detain and remove” them.
And that’s just a best guess.
Despite federal mandates, coopera
tive agreements and endless political
promises, there still is no working
nationwide system in place with basic
information about incarcerated crimi
nal aliens.
Don’t we have enough homegrown
criminals without the added public
safety menace of known, convicted
criminal aliens being released from
prisons and jails to disappear and com
mit more crimes?
Rep. David Price, a North Carolina
Democrat, is sponsoring legislation to
require monthly prison and jail checks
by DHS to track incarcerated illegal
aliens, increase spending on criminal
alien deportations, and expand a pro
gram known as 287(g) to encourage
more local and state officials to cooper
ate with the feds to help identify and
deport criminal aliens in their home
towns.
Why aren’t we doing all this already?
How many more innocent lives will be
taken or ruined before we do?
After the defeat of the Bush-Kennedy
amnesty bill last month, I received tons
of e-mail from readers asking: “What
can I do?” Answer: Don’t wait for
Washington. Sign up to help pressure
our government to rid this country
of convicted criminal aliens at www.
deportthemnow. com.
For Zina. For Schanna. For Deputy
Fabiano. For Officer Johnson. For our
safety, sovereignty and the protection
of the American Dream for those who
deserve it.
Michelle Malkin is author of
“Unhinged: Exposing Liberals
Gone Wild." Her e-mail address is
malkinblog@grnail.com.