Newspaper Page Text
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♦ TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2007
Mansion Bailg HJourtmi
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Foy S. Evans
Vice President Editor Emeritus
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
National Night Out is
great idea
I’d like to comment on crime here in Warner Robins
and anywhere else in Georgia. Target host the National
Night Out, which is a great awareness program. Who we
need to make aware are the parents. Of course there are
parents out there that have no clue what their children
are doing day to day, but it sure would be nice if they
could be aware and take the time to notice when they
bring home a brand new item that the parent definitely
knows they did not purchase. My child brought home a
T-shirt he borrowed from a friend and I immediately rec
ognized it was not his. This was just a T-shirt. The next
time it might be a bike or some other more expensive
item. If as parents we do not pay attention to what our
children own, this could be the reason crime is growing
so easily in this area. I guess some parents think, “ Well
at least I didn’t have to pay for it”. Dateline had a story
the other night about I-Pod theft and there were parents
that thought Dateline set their child up to steal the I-
Pod left on the table. This told me this parent has not
taught their child good morals and that it’s okay to take
an item that doesn’t belong to them as long as they don’t
get caught.
Pam Yuill, Bonaire
We need true animal
control in WR
As a citizen of Warner Robins, I am extremely concerned
about what is happening in our local animal facility.
First, animals are now only given four days before
disposal. So if you go on vacation and your pet should
somehow get out and is picked up, it stands a good chance
of being dead before you return. (Note: many owners of
inside-only pets do not always put tags on them.) Animal
control might run the rabies tag and they might check
for micro chipping but according to interim director Capt.
Parks (Warner Robins Police Department), they are ani
mal control, not a placement service. And if you call to
inquire about a missing pet, you will be told to come look
for yourself. A perfect example was a well-kept, beauti
ful full breed Georgia Bulldog, no tag but an expensive
Georgia collar and obviously someone's pet, which was
picked up recently. Several animal rescue groups called
animal control and expressed an interest in taking the
dog and finding it placement, however, all were refused
and the dog was killed, denied a second chance. Why was
a perfectly adoptable dog killed when there were avenues
for adoption? Why?
Second, the hours of operation have changed several
times in recent months making it increasingly less acces
sible to the public - hours of operation are 10-4, Monday
through Friday, closed weekends. People work and chil
dren are in school, how do animals stand any chance
for adoption or recovery. Third, why build a new facility
when animals have no hope for a second chance now?
The new design is beautiful but animals will be even less
accessible to the public than they are now. Why bother.
Seems to me the shelter sign should be changed to just
animal control because shelter implies comfort and hope
and there is none here. It is a three-night, four-day stay
on death row, at the end of which they are shoved into a
gas chamber and gassed to death (a method by the way
banned by state law as being inhumane and prohibted for
use) and then disposed of in the landfill. To further add
to the discomfort, the outside pens have been reduced in
size making them too small for the doghouses so those
have now been removed. Bet that’s fun in the winter with
only a concrete pad to lie on. The kill rate has always
been high, but at this rate it will be virtully 100 percent.
Maybe law enforcement should stick to law enforce
ment and someone with creditable animal control back
ground should be hired. Maybe then these animals will
again have a second chance, unlike that beautiful Georgia
Bulldog.
S. Kathryn Wynn, Concern Citizen
Worth repeating
“When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress,
an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed
proper for our justification. This was the object of the
Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new prin
ciples, or new arguments, never before thought of, not
merely to say things which had never been said before;
but to place before mankind the common sense of the
subject; in terms so plain and firm as to command their
assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand
we were compelled to take, neither aiming at originality of
principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular
and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression
of the American mind, and to givq, to that expression the
proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826
3rd President of the United States
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'Classic' measures, other notes
Let’s see what interesting topics
for comment came up during the
past week:
■ Tacoma, Wash., has begun an inno
vative program to keep young criminals
and drug dealers from congregating at
city bus stops. Loud speakers are being
installed at bus stops and classical
music is being played. The thugs are
out of there in a hurry.
■ Georgia’s voter ID law is going to
be enforced, after all. The contentious
law has been ruled constitutional.
Karen Handel, Georgia’s secretary of
state, says that the law will be enforced
in future elections. Claims that the law
is racist is racist, in itself, because the
state will provide picture IDs abso
lutely free. Anyone too lazy or sorry
to go to the trouble of getting one does
not deserve to vote anyway. Too many
people who have no idea what they are
voting on already vote.
■ I am not impressed when I make
a telephone call and a recorded voice
tells me, “Your call is important to us”,
and then I am left waiting and waiting
and waiting. Last week I was trying to
reach my cable company in Centerville
about something I thought was impor
tant and finally hung up after waiting
an hour and 15 minutes. I just got the
idea my call really was not important
to anyone.
■ Remember when you were told
that you were taking your life into your
own hands when you drank coffee?
_ yTBi Jr
1
One sheriff shows hew to deal with immigration
While politicians have hacked
and sloughed their way
through the issue of illegal
immigration, one sheriff in Atlanta has
taken matters into his own hands by
doing what the law already allows law
enforcement to do begin deportation
proceedings against illegal aliens who
are charged with crimes.
Cobb County is a large, upscale and
well-run county just north of the city
limits of Atlanta. Once known for a
more radical conservative tone, the
county is now thought of as a moder
ate-to-conservative area more interest
ed in promoting economic growth and
the arts than promoting political agen
das. I say that because the actions of
the county’s sheriff, Neil Warren, and
his chief deputy, Lynda Coker, reflect
not some Maricopa County brand of
“hang em high” justice, but rather a
businesslike approach to dealing with
the isSue of illegal immigrants.
In essence, Warren’s team is doing the
one thing that every law enforcemept
agency in America could and should be
doing, taking advantage of the existing
laws and programs that could have an
immediate impact on illegal immigra
tion throughout America.
Cobb County sheriffs deputies have
been trained by federal immigration
officials as to what to look for and
how to examine documents in order to
determine whether someone arrested
and placed in their custody is a legal
resident. There may well be other
law enforcement organizations in the
nation that have availed themselves of
such training and are also determin
ing the status of those in their system.
The difference is that Sheriff Warren is
taking the opportunity that federal law
also provides. He and his department
have started to initiate, on their own,
deportation proceedings once a deter
mination is made that an individual in
their custody is in the United States
illegally.
In the four weeks since the Georgia
county began its new program, removal
OPINION
Lately I have been reading that coffee
has antioxidants that will help with
my cholesterol and help prevent heart
disease. Now comes more good news:
A new study says that coffee can help
fight cancer. Good news comes to those
who wait.
■ Something I read recently remind
ed me of something Winston Churchill,
the great British prime minister dur
ing World War 11, said: “The best argu
ment against a Democracy is a five
minute conversation with the average
voter.”
■ Why should the troubles of Falcons
quarterback Michael Vick become a
matter of race? He has been charged
with crimes. The case should not - and
cannot - be tried by public opinion. He
has been accused of being involved in
a dog fighting operation. Whether he
is guilty or innocent should be settled
in a court of law and people trying to
involve race should shut up. Let the
legal process work.
■ Is somebody out to lunch? President
proceedings have commenced against
42 individuals who either committed
crimes or were pending trial for a
lesser offense.
Those who commit serious felonies
are held for trial first, with the issue of
deportation to be dealt with after their
case is concluded.
It’s important to note that the coun
ty works with federal officials and
that federal immigration officials must
review the case before it goes before a
judge. In other words, this is not fly by
night justice. It is, truly, businesslike.
Some in the Hispanic community
have argued that this strict enforce
ment has created a “chilling effect” in
their community, saying that it causes
those who might be here illegally to
avoid reporting crimes or testifying at
trials. That’s nonsense. The program
that the Cobb sheriff’s office has devel
oped doesn’t run status checks on wit
nesses or victims.
Every poll I’ve examined shows that,
while some Americans might support
some system of allowing illegal immi
grants to earn their way into the coun
try, a huge majority of Americans are
adamant that current laws, at the very
least, be enforced. Warren’s critics will
find themselves with few Americans,
Democrat or Republican, who oppose
his program.
Sheriff Warren is not alone in deal
ing with the illegal immigration cri
sis. According to the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, jailers throughout the
nation have identified some 20,000
illegal immigrants using cooperative
agreements with federal enforcement
Foy
Evans
Columnist
loyevansl9@cox.net
life. mgn*** W
m-w JK
Matt
Toweiy
Columnist
Morris News Service
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Bush is sending some of this country’s
most sophisticated war weapons to
Muslim nations that have been - and
still are - supporting terrorist Muslims
who are killing American troops. He is
sending cash, too, to these countries
that are charging us about SBO a barrel
for oil and financing the enemy. Crazy,
crazy, crazy.
■ Collapse of the bridge in
Minneapolis is giving members of
Congress an opportunity to do what
they do best, which is pompously hold
hearings, criticize others and demand
action for the sake of action. With
only 14 percent of the country giving
members of Congress an approval rat
ing they would do well to keep their
mouths shut and go about the business
of doing the jobs for which they were
elected. That seems to be too much to
expect of them.
■ Criticizing the Iraqi political lead
ers for not coming together to form a
government is a popular pastime in
this country. Heck, the Democrats and
Republicans in the U.S. cannot agree
on anything and act as if speaking well
of one another is a crime. When people
don’t want to get along they won’t and
the outlook for reconciliation in Iraq is
bleak.. .just, as it is in our own country.
■ When did it become necessary for
people to inject “you know” several
times into every sentence they speak?
Did it happen overnight, or just gradu
ally slip up on us?
officials. How many actually initiated
deportation procedures is unknown.
Regardless, that number is just a drop
in the bucket.
The fact is that most sheriff and
police departments in America have
not gone to the trouble of obtaining
federal training, much less have they
taken the additional step of initiat
ing deportation proceedings against
those who are illegally in the country
- which in and of itself is breaking the
law - and then violate the law while
illegally here.
One reason we don’t see a nation
wide run on such tight enforcement
is, big shock, Washington hasn’t pro
vided enough funding to educate every
local law enforcement agency, nor has
money been appropriated to handle the
deluge of deportations that would occur
should every sheriff or police chief
decide to follow the lead of Warren and
others who have implemented such
aggressive programs.
Perhaps if Congress wanted to
get back into the good graces of the
American people with respect to this
entire immigration issue, it could start
by embracing the efforts of those like
Sheriff Warren and join with the Bush
administration in at least funding this
effort to send “illegal illegals” back
home. I know if I were running for re
election to the Senate or for president,
I’d want my picture taken with Sheriff
Neil Warren of Georgia. At least he’s
doing something about an issue that
Americans want addressed.
Matt Towery served as the chairman
of former Speaker Newt Gingrich's
political organization from 1992 until
Gingrich left Congress. He is a former
Georgia state representative, the author
of several hooks and currently heads the
polling and political information firm
Insider Advantage. To find out more
about Matthew Towery and read fea
tures by other Creators Syndicate writ
ers and cartoonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate website at www.creators.com