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Wk'M JR BELIEF " * Cl ITTC3f . 1 £l 1 4A ♦ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2007 Daniel F. Evans President Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President Reaching a half million? Last October, more than 431,000 people poured through the gates of the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter for the 17th annual fair. Let’s assume that 10,000 of those were from Perry. The rest - the other 421,000 - were visitors to our city. The financial and public relations impact of the fair for the City of Perry is incal culable. Assuming the skies stay dear, it’s just possible that the 18th Georgia National Fair will bring in a half million people this year. Many things combine to make the fair a suc cess. There’s the pure old-fashioned fun of it, with midway rides, funnel cakes and cotton candy. There are big-name concerts and all kinds of free musical shows, magic shows and entertain ments. There’s the Georgia Living Show, which gives artists, photographers, cooks, needle workers, gardeners and crafters a chance to compete for the state’s top prizes. There are showcases for businesses and for Georgia’s agricultural heritage, along with the FFA and 4-H competitions that were the real reason the facility got built in the first place. Executive Director Michael Froehlich and his staff work year-round to make this event one of the biggest and best in the southeast, and to appeal to all ages and interests. We thank everyone involved for their dedica tion, their attention to innumerable details, and their sheer enthusiasm. That goes for everybody from the administra tion to the Faircracker volunteers, from the crew that cleans up the fairgrounds every night after closing time, to the 4-H kids showing their prize hogs, from the midway workers to the quilt stitchers, the Young Farmers with their food booth and the Perry Kiwanis Club, which always co-hosts the big Saturday parade. It’s a great show for Georgia and it’s Perry’s pride. See you there! Letters to the editor Hopeful chambers will look to the future As a past chairman of the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce and a current member of the Perry Chamber, I am hopefpl that the business communities of Perry and Warner Robins will look to the future. The mission of the Chamber of Commerce is to serve the Business Community. That role can be many things depending on the community, but the time for the city of Perry to think only of itself as a small town has passed. The business community - to stay competitive in the world of internet competition - must network outside of their comfort zones and reach out to the rest of the world. Businesses moving into Houston County - need to be able to reach all the residents of Houston County - not just a few “town” businesses. I do not know of many counties that do NOT have a consolidated chamber that represents all the businesses of their area (outside of the Metro Atlanta). If I was moving to Houston County and wanted to set up a new business, I would rather work with a Houston County Chamber than having to track down both the Warner Robins and the Perry Chamber in order to establish and network my business within both growing communities. The time for consolidation is now ... and the communities need to think of the future - not just for the comfort of the known situ ation of today! The committee has worked hard to examine all the aspects of the issues - and recommended the consolidation -therefore; I will be supporting their decision! Linda R. Easterly, Kathleen 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 newspaper 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 “The financial and public relations impact of the fair for the City of Perry is incalculable.” Santa, sessions and seasons I write this column very early on the morning of Oct. 1. I’ve just gone out to get the daily news paper to which I subscribe, and for the first time since early spring, I wear a light jacket. It feels good in the crisp morning air. Wonderfully, it feels like fall is here, at last! Another season in Perridise. When I was young, and I mean really young, and before I started to school, the benchmark for my year was Christmas. I was early in life an ardent admirer of Santa Clause. What a great person was Mr. Claus. How long before he was coming again? It always seemed sooo long - even if it were just a few days. The necessitated wait was always rewarded in the end. Perhaps I didn’t get what in my heart I wanted, but I did get something exciting and special. Yeah, when young, my year revolved around Dec. 25. Then, it was school. When does it start? When will we “get out”? Will I get a couple of new shirts and some new pants to wear to school the first day? Who is my teacher going to be? And, as I moved up to high school, what subjects will I take? And, then to UGA. Where will I live, with whom will I room, what will my schedule be, etc.? Yes, my life then revolved around school and school cal endars. "Oh, you'll be better soon...you can't afford to be sick!" Modern Math, other timely topics Weeks fly by. Another week in the history books, with some interesting topics to discuss. H It has been almost 40 years since “progressive” educators came up with new ways to teach English and math ematics. They said they were moving us into a new era, ready for young people to become part of the computer gen eration. Instead of teaching traditional English and traditional math, they sub jected students for several years to Modern Math and Roberts English and deprived them of the kind of education they should have received. | Modern Math was the most con voluted and ridiculous way to solve problems that ever has been devised. Because my son was trying to learn this new kind of math I. along with several other parents, attended night classes at his school. I never understood what they were trying to do and I knew that the old fashioned way of adding two and two made more sense than the way they did in Modern Math. ■ Now, so many years later, United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has revealed that Modern Math set him back, as it did every student subjected to it. He said that he had a hard time when he had to study alge bra without having been taught basic arithmetic. H I never have understood why the educators, who sit on their pedestals and set curricula that local school sys tems must use, believe that every few years they must screw things up with Larry Walker Columnist lwalker@whgb-law.com And then I was out of school and into my law practice, but it wasn’t long (seven years) before I was elected to the state legislature. Then it became the second Monday in January through March and April, and in the latter years, even into May. The legislature defined my calendar. And our lives, the Larry Walker’s families’ lives, to an extent, revolved around the legislature. It was always nine months, or less, before we would be “back in session,” and I would be there for three our four months, and we planned accordingly. Ask Sen. Ross Tolleson about this. I’ll bet he and Sally do the same thing. So, I went from the myth of Santa Claus to the myth of the great impor tance of what I was doing in Atlanta. And, I went from 2 or 3 years old to 62 years old with a secure lynchpin around which my calendar revolved. And, then it was over. And, there was nothing to define my calendar. Or was there? Foy Evans Columnist foyevansl9@cox.net cockamamie ideas that never seem to work. Why not stick to tried and true methods of teaching basics, such as reading and writing and arithmetic? In the end, they go back to them., until someone comes up with another bright idea. | These people ask for, and receive, more money to “improve education” while sometimes screwing things up for an entire generation of young people. ■ Recently, I talked with a mother whose son attended elementary school while they were teaching these two discredited courses. She told me, “I saw what was happening and I taught my son regular arithmetic, including the multiplication tables, and real English, including (horror of horrors) phonics. He is nearly 50 years old and still tells me how glad he is that I did that.” | How about the woman who killed her four children and claims it was because her father abused her? It’s always someone else’s fault. | Hillary wants to give each child $5,000 when it is born If this comes to pass those women with a house full of children living off the government will Ps* ;IS MBrL~\ ifM 4*r- JM j 11111' U? • I 1 pi I ( 11 HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL It’s the seasons. The wonderful sea sons that we have here in God’s part of this beautiful world. And, we’re just getting to one of my favorite seasons - fall or autumn. Apd it’s quail hunting, the Georgia National Fair, football, big-open fire places with roaring fires, pull -over sweaters, the magnificent colors of the fall leaves, and football on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. Yes, it’s one of my favorite seasons. It’s right up there with winter, spring and summer. And, it reminds me of how fortunate we are to live in middle- Georgia with it four seasons each year. Don’t you folks in Houston Springs agree? So, I like all the seasons. Still, fall is special, because I know that with fall’s coming, it won’t be so long before Santa Claus comes. And, after that, shortly after that, just a few days, the legislature will con vene in Atlanta. But, I forget. It’s no longer Santa and Sessions that define my calendar - it’s Seasons - the won derful seasons that God has given us. My calendar is now defined as God intended, and thank God for it. FOOTNOTE: My inspiration for this column came from one of my favorites, Barbara Langston. “Always positive Barbara” told me at church last night that I should write a column on fall. Well, Barbara, here it is - such as it is. be encouraged to go to work produc ing more children. The men in their lives apparently believe they do their duty when they get a woman preg nant. Forget about responsibility for the results of their carnal activities. | I don’t buy all the alarm over glob al warming. The earth’s temperature has increased 1 degree centigrade since 1900. This trend may continue. But many reliable scientists point to the fact that the earth has gone through cycles of cold and hot for millions of years. The present hysteria seems to be overkill. | And what effect will it have on global warming if Americans give up their present way of life to reduce car bon emissions? The effect would be minimal. For the United States to agree to regulations that will harm our econ omy and way of life without other coun tries - especially China, which produces more pollution than the United States - also doing the same thing would be economic suicide. . ■ Who will be the real beneficiaries if the state of Georgia adopts a sales tax to do away with property taxes? Before getting on the bandwagon, it would be wise to think this through. Will you really be a winner? | Can you remember when any one using the word “ain’t” was con sidered to be uneducated, ignorant or a dumb southerner? Now the word is used regularly on radio, television and in ordinary conversation by the most educated. Surely, the rest of the nation is catching up with us.