Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
4A
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Building for a better
future
If you can remember back when the Internet
was in its fledgling infancy, you’ll recall it was
pretty common to reach a website only to find
an “Under Construction” sign on it. The web
master wanted you to know they were there,
but he or she also wanted you to know they
were tweaking, changing - building a better
product for the future.
And in the end ... well, it isn’t hard to figure
out what the World Wide Web has done.
We’re taking that same approach here at
the Houston Home Journal. We’ve hung out
the “Under Construction” sign (although we
haven’t gone anywhere, so please don’t go
away) while we tweak, change - build a better
product for the future.
And we’re not just saying that. We’ve taken a
long, hard look at how we conduct business and
how we can begin to tailor things to meet the
needs and wants of you the reader.
For instance, in the world of sports. It doesn’t
take a rocket scientist to figure out if football
is on Friday night, by the time results hit our
paper on Wednesday, it’s old news. Unless.
Unless we change our approach. Unless we
can find a unique and refreshing way to pack
age that information. And that is our goal and
our challenge. Along with that, it is our hope
- as our publisher has already said - to bring
you information only found here. Don’t get us
wrong, we’ll continue to dot our “i”s and cross
our “t”s in some aspects because there are still
things that need/require that sort of treatment.
But at the same time, we have the end result
in sight: A product you can pick up and enjoy
reading.
Give us a bit. We promise to get there, just
pardon the “Unde» Construction” sign in the
meantime.
Letter to the editor
Last week we held our first official School Council parent
election at the new Lake Joy Elementary. I was looking
forward to finally having a*forum in which parents/guard
ians, grandparents and other stakeholders could actively
participate in the education process of our children.
I was surprised to see the overwhelming representation
of school board employees and their spouses file into the
cafeteria to be spectators and/or participants. A Mr. Shipp
and Mr Parsons will represent parents on the Lake Joy
school council this year.
The” one-year term race between Mr. Shipp and I was
no contest, he received 33 votes to my 8. I wonder if he
will consult his wife, a teacher at Lake Joy, to get the real
low down as to how parents can be most affective in their
child’s learning process, and then share it with the rest of
us.
The second parent race was very close, and two of the
three candidates took their allotted 60 seconds to share
something about themselves. This two-year term race
resulted in another teacher’s husband being elected to the
school council.
Am I disappointed? You bet I am, but in the end I will
stand up, brush it off, and continue to be my son’s best
advocate. In the meantime, I hope every parent who
decides to take up space on any school council is ready to
respond to issues that arp sure to surface. Issues that may
include, but not limited to, a statewide sales tax and how it
is going to affect our children’s education, bus shortages,
the school calendar, and the 15-minute extended day for
elementary students.
Some council representatives may be asked what action
is being taken in our schools in response to the recently
published National Assessment of Educational Progress
study, which stated, “The NAEP scale compares where
states set minimum scores for determining whether stu
dents are proficient, under the mandates of NCLB Act.
The study found that state tests varied greatly in
See LETTER, page
HOW TO SUBMIT:
Letters should not exceed 350 words and must include
the writer’s name, address and telephone number (the
last two not printed). The newspaper reserves the right to
edit or reject letters for reasons of grammar, punctuation,
taste and brevity. We cannot guarantee that a letter will be
printed on a specific date. There are three ways to submit a
letter to the editor: E-mail it to hhj@evansnewspapers.com,
mail it to The Houston Home Journal at 1210 Washington
St., Perry, GA 31069, or drop it off at the same location
between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Brantley deserves recognition
Houston County inaugurated
a Teachers Hall of Fame last
year and, probably, will add
some names to the list this year.
Every person selected for the
Hall of Fame was a worthy recipi
ent. Unfortunately, overlooked in the
first class was a teacher from Warner
Robins who is deserving of the honor.
It is possible that the committee mak
ing the selections were unaware of her
accomplishments.
She was the principal of Thomar
Elementary School when I arrived in
Warner Robins. Miss Nola Brantley
was something special. Her influence
and imprint on the young people and
the young city of Warner Robins was
tremendous.
She has been nominated to the
Teachers Hall of Fame by four retired
teachers who are worthy of the honor
themselves. They prefer for me not
to mention their names here, because
they want the focus to be on a teach
er one of them wrote this about, “I
have known many great teachers and
principals, but Miss Brantley was the
BEST in everything in which she was
involved.” From personal experience,
I can say that the teacher who wrote
those words was one of the best I ever
have known and should be in that Hall
of Fame, too.
Miss Nola’s influence extended from
the classroom throughout the entire
Warner Robins community from 1942,
when Thomas Elementary School
opened until she retired in 1969. Her
students loved her when I came here
and it didn’t take long for me to under
stand why. She was principal from
\ ' ' i"
- u.
And one time, at pollen skating camp...
When my sister and I were young,
our mother routinely signed us up for
all kinds of summer camps and activi
ties, whether we liked it or not. Mostly
not.
I’m not sure if it was an effort to
broaden our horizons or simply get us
out of the house. Probably a little bit
of both.
We had soccer camps, swimming
lessons, basketball camps, ceramics
classes, an ill-fated attempt to enlist
me in the chorus for “Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and
one summer, roller skating camp.
I’m guessing I was about eight years
old - all skin and bones and joints, prob
ably weighing in at about 50 pounds
after a hearty trip to Burger Chef.
From my recollection, roller skating
camp consisted of: 1. Parents dropping
off kids at 8 a.m. at roller skating rink;
2. kids putting on skates and skating
around; and 3. Parents picking up kids
that afternoon.
There were adults around to super
vise - sure - but I don’t remember any
actual roller skating instruction. We
were basically left to ourselves to learn
or practice or try to play pinball with
wheels attached to our feet.
I had never roller skated at the
Foy KEjLjir
Evans Jj ' ■; f?
Columnist life*-' hjp
foyevansl9@cox.net
"Miss Nola Brantley was
something special. Her
influence and imprint on
the young people and the
young city of Warner
Robins was tremendous."
1943 until she retired.
The library in Warner Robins bears
the name “Nola Brantley Memorial
Library.” When the city opened its first
library it was logical to name it for her.
When the county took over the library
the name followed th# library to the
fine facility on Watson Blvd„ located,
incidentally, next door to the school
where she was principal for 26 years.
The four retired teachers who rec
ommended Miss Nola to the Houston
County Teachers Hall of Fame enu
merated in detail her life and her many
accomplishments. It will be logical for
her to be inducted into the Houston
County Teachers Hall of Fame. She
deserves it.
■■■
President Bush says he wants to bail
g. p
Len * %
Robbins #
Columnist k ~ ’M}'
airpub@planttel.net P
point of my involuntary registration
for roller skating camp. My younger
sister had never roller skated before
either. She put on her skates and just
started rolling around like she had
been doing it all her life. I reasoned
she was too young to realize how pain
ful pain was. Having already broken a
couple of bones by that age, I was much
more cautious.
I put on my skates and starting flail
ing around, trying to make my way to
the rink. Once there, I would hug the
rail, inching around the oval while the
other kids, including my sister, whizzed
by. I did that for about two weeks.
One day,. I was clutching the rail,
moving about an inch a minute, my
skates, which weighed more than me,
dangling below - my usual routine
- when I noticed this man standing on
the side, next to the snack bar, watch
Y)ne tot re ca/i ///(// e a
c/i//r/ <'//( e
out hundreds of thousands of hom
eowners who overbought and now face
foreclosures. Is it a good idea? Does it
send the wrong message? Does it tell
the American people to spend beyond
their means without suffering he con
sequences because the government will
come to their rescue? Does it send a
message that there is nothing wrong
with fiscal irresponsibility? Is this a
dangerous road to go down? Tell me.
■■■
Isn’t it interesting that keypads at
bank drive-ins are in Braille? You have
to wonder about blind people driving.
I remember being in Nashville one
time when they were bragging that
Ronnie Millsap drove an automobile.
He’s blind and this sounded like the
ultimate in irresponsibility.
■■■
Here’ s something interesting that
was pointed out in the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution. One in five Americans
cannot find the United States on a
map, but 20 million Mexicans can.
■■■
The federal government has spent
sll2 billion on rebuilding New Orleans
so far and the results are deplorable:
Critics of President Bush say this is “too
little, too late.” Rep. Tom Tancredo, a
candidate for president, has the right
idea. “Enough is enough,” he says.
New Orleans is below sea level. It
would make a good lake. They should
have bulldozed the place down after
Hurricane Katrina and turned it into
a great big lake. Now it is a cesspool of
corruption and crime and a black hole
that gobbles up taxpayer dollars with
little to show for it.
ing me. He was smoking a cigarette,
wearing a yellow Doobie Brothers con
cert shirt, probably about 25 years old
or so.
In front of where he was standing
was an opening where the rail stopped.
That was the entrance for skaters into
the rink. It was about three feet wide.
As I came to this opening, I stopped,
held on to the rail, then lunged for the
rail on the other side of the entrance,
my roller skates slipping and sliding
beneath me. I somehow managed to
gather my balance and was slowly on
my way when the mail next to the
snack bar yelled to me.
“Hey, kid, wait a second,” he said.
I hung on to the bar, thinking, okay,
I’m about to be kidnapped. And I can’t
even run away.
“Hey, kid, why aren’t you skating
like the rest of ‘em?”
“Uh, ah, well, mister, see, I can’t
skate,” I said.
He took a drag, then pointed across
the three-foot rink entrance I had just
barely transversed.
“Listen, kid, if you can cross that,
you can cross that,” he said as he
directed his cigarette in the direction
of the opposite side of the rink.
See ROBBINS, page $A
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL