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♦ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2007 4A Daniel F. Evans President Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President TV experience sours Got milk? Apparently you’re going to need it if you’re an actor planning on cursing in a big screen movie modified for TV play. Take one we saw this past weekend. The plot revolved around one man killing another’s best friend. When they finally met for the final showdown, amidst a laun dry list of heat ed lines, one of them calls the other a “milk man.” That’s right. A “milkman.” How scary is that? No, it didn’t take a whole lot of imagination to know the word the man used was a far cry from your local dairy bottler. In fact, the word of choice was used simply because it blended well in the voiceover. The word actually used - it didn’t take much effort to read the person’s lips, either, which is another issue in itself - had something very bad to do with someone’s mother. Bad, very bad indeed, but what really got our goat runs a lot deeper than that. The voiceover was just one problem among many. Another is the puzzling fact Hollywood seems to feel the only way we can be entertained is if their movies have curse words in them to start with. And more important than that - the very heart of this editorial - is the fact they believe it’s OK not to voiceover use of the Lord’s name in vain. In this one particular movie referenced, it was plainly spoken four times. It really doesn’t matter how you feel about God or religion here. If the ultimate goal is preventing our children from being subjected to inappropri ate words we don’t want them to use later on in life then why aren’t “GD” references at the top of the list for removal? If you can call a villain a milkman because he killed your friend - tacky as it is - why can’t you just call him a “goober dunker” in later referenc es? That is at least something that really “does a body g00d”... Letters to the editor Team Houston Coalition message First and foremost, we thank the Warner Robins and Perry membership for participating in an exercise that has united our chambers like never before. You have given us the opportunity to consider a vision for the future of business in Houston County. While this vision embraces the never easy course of change, the status quo can make for an uninspiring path to irrelevancy. Our community’s future success lies in the collective strength of our already established assets via the hard work of those that came before us. Now is the time to bring those assets together to achieve the competitive advantage needed for long-term eco nomic success. All the right blocks have been laid in place. A united business front would cement the foundation on which to build our future and carry out a vision for Houston County that will stand up to the challenges of the 21st Century. Together we can ensure a Houston County that provides the best education, the best business environment, the best infrastructure, the best Air Force Base, and the best economy; a Houston County that speaks with one voice, where the youth and leaders of tomorrow will find a permanent home to raise their children; and thanks to the long term investments made by this community and the people who lead it, a Houston County strong enough to overcome and prosper no matter what hurdle put before us. We are a small young committee, but we have big hearts and this is a big idea. Our businesses, by working hard together, can make good things happen for all the right reasons. It has been a privilege serving our respective chambers and all of Houston County, but there isn't one of us that wouldn’t step aside tomorrow in order to see this through. We gladly accept all of the responsibility, ask for none of the credit, and would do all over again if called upon. So, thank you again and please cast your vote, not against the past, but for our future. Team Houston Coalition Committee HOW TO SUBMIT: There are three ways to submit a letter to the editor: E mail it to hhj@evansnewspapers.com, mail it to 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. Letters should not exceed 350 words and must include the writer’s name, address and telephone number (the last two not printed). The newspa per reserves the right to edit or reject letters for reasons of grammar, punctuation, taste and brevity. Foy S. Evans Editor Emeritus Don Moncrief Managing Editor "And more important than that is the fact they believe its OK not to voiceover use of the Lord's name In vain." BELIEF mm mm m mm ■ ml ■ Wan shapes RAFB, city Some friends who have lived here for many decades were com menting on the fact that the population of this area has grown so much in recent years that most people have no idea about how Robins AFB came to be located here or the city of Warner Robins came into existence. The base, which opened 66 years ago, reflected President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s belief that the United States would become involved in World War 11, while most of us had no idea how close we were to involvement. Roosevelt already had begun a pro gram to give this country a large pool of airplane pilots. For several years any young man who wanted to be a pilot could receive training and get his license free, with the federal govern ment footing the bill. I learned to fly on this program in Macon during the spring and summer of 1941. When the U.S. went to war there was a valuable pool of trained pilots for the Army Air Corps to fine tune for its own pur poses. Roosevelt knew there would be a need for a supply depot for the Army Air Corps in the Southeast. Rep. Carl Vinson from Milledgeville was one of the most powerful members of the U.S. Congress as chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee. His influ ence assured that the new material base would be located in Georgia. "Newt must be crazy. Who'd want to be their own boss when they could have 250 million people telling them what to do?" The overextended family It hasn't always been like this - has it? Rewind the clock to 1950. Most middle class families were maintained on a single income. Back then, men could sub stantially provide for their families, and oftentimes did so without a college degree. Divorce rates were lower. Out of-wedlock pregnancy was infrequent. Fathers did not spend three hours a day in the car, fighting traffic. Communities were more self-sustain ing entities then, successfully provid ing the “work-life balance” ideal that baffles modern society. Although there were commitments such as church, sports, school and other common fam ily involvements, life on the whole seemed to be quite manageable and most families did not seem to live with the stress levels common today. Fast forward to 2007. Many families struggle to survive on a single income because the cost of liv ing is too high. Both parents feel forced to work full time jobs, and often have to commute outside of their communi ty - sometimes very far outside - to get to work. Families wake up incredibly early in the morning to get their day started on time. Children are dropped off at school as much as an hour early so the parents can make it to work. The cycle picks up again when par ents leave their jobs for the day, begin their commute home and race against Foy Evans Columnist foyevansl9@cox.net Rep. Vinson represented the 6th congressional district. He already had brought so much “pork” to his district that he made sure that the new base would be located in Rep. Tic Forrester’s 3rd congressional district. However, it was located in the northeast comer of Houston County, just across the Echeconnee Creek from Bibb County. Political and business leaders in Macon foresaw the value of having the base nearby and raised the money to purchase land at Wellston and then donated the land to the Army. There was a sawmill owned by Albert Hudson. Fred Carter, with whom I worked at the Macon Telegraph, owned several hundred acres. C.B. (Boss) Watson was a large property owner in the area. I’m sure there were others who sold their home places to make room for the new base. The base was named for Brig. Gen. Augustine Warner Robins, a pio neer in materiel management, who died before the base opened. Fortunately, the base was in operation when the Randy Hicks Columnist Georgia Family Council other parents who are trying to get their kids from school to the various extracurricular activities such as soc cer, ballet, piano, and the like. Then it’s home to prepare dinner, do the dishes, help the kids with homework, bathe the kids, get them to bed and catch up on everything else that needs to be done, such as laundry, bill paying and preparing for the following day. This routine is a typical one for many married couples, especially couples with kids. Is there any time left for the marriage? Not often. Additionally, in these types of rou tines, many parents feel guilty about the amount of time they have to work and often try to make it up to their children through money and gifts. And this only adds to the financial pressure many couples feel - the most common cause of stress in marriage. And it’s no secret what happens when the patterns of “busy-ness,” financial “One voice can ma/e a (////('/ e//(e f|:;. ',■& . Jp-;- S HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL U.S. was attacked by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941. There was no housing in the area for the thousands of workers attracted to the base, where personnel totaled something like 25,000 during its peak years. The government constructed apartment complexes on each side of • Watson Blvd. They were built of brick blocks and had concrete floors. With just one row of brick blocks between each apartment, residents could hear what went on next door. While these apartments (nearly a thousand of them) served their pur pose during the war, religious lead ers objected to them after the war and wanted the government to tear them down. Rev. Vernon Brown, pas tor of Second Baptist Church, coined the phrase, “You can’t grow a family through a concrete floor.” In 1953 a tornado destroyed most of the apart ments south of Watson Blvd. During the war a Macon real estate firm built more than a thousand frame houses to rent to base workers, but there were less than 50 privately owned homes in the entire area. Because of the economy created by the base’s payroll a little commu nity of businesses popped up along First Street (mostly bars) and a few others scattered along Watson Blvd. and on Commercial Circle, where the See EVANS, page stress and disconnectedness become the norm. Spouses begin to feel ignored and unappreciated. Alienation, resent ment and emotional fatigue occur. As time goes on in this cycle of overexten sion, marriages begin to crack, break or fall apart altogether. I’ve written before about the need for couples to prioritize their lives in a way that leaves time for each other. Today, I’ll say it this way: Your mar riage will leave a lasting impression on your kids. By living out your priori ties, you’re telling your children - and your spouse - what’s important to you. Ralph Waldo Emerson is said to have coined the statement, “What you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say.” If we say family is important and our marriage is our top relational priority, we need to back it up, or others will know we’re not being honest - perhaps even with ourselves. So, wl/at will it take to prove that we mean what we say? I’d suggest saying less and show ing more. In an era that sees so many families overextended, I think there are two lists of things to do to demon strate how important our family is to us. The first is perhaps the easiest, or at least it’s the most intuitive, the most “commonsensical. ” ■ Make time for each other. See HICKS, page p 4