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BELIEF «. C W% I Trt R B A 1 4A ♦ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2007 Daniel F. Evans , President Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Foy S. Evans Vice President Editor Emeritus Don Moncrief Managing Editor Avoid: ‘Oh deer!’ The sight of deer crossing and/or standing along the side of the road as the mornings have begun to turn cold has prompted several thoughts from us. One, we’re thankful for hunters. Regardless of how you feel about gun control, hunters do provide a service in keeping the deer popula- tion down. Without them out there legally - and we obviously can’t express that word enough - thinning down the popula tion, early morn ing and/or late evening travel to work would be a lot more danger ous/hazardous. Two, in recent years, hunters - through the Hunters for the Hungry - have been providing another great service in helping to feed those less fortunate and in need. Each year they set a new record for meat provided so we know the word is out there and they are com mitted to lending a hand. We do have to caution/reminder for a small handful of hunters in our own community - we hope it is a very minute amount - to remember to be good stewards of the community. Please dis pose of carcasses legally/appropriately. We’ve heard one complaint of deer carcasses being disposed of near public trails. That, as is obvi ous, is just wrong. And also to travelers: If you have the mis fortune of inadvertently striking a deer, report it. We’ve seen at least two “hit-and-run” deer reports come across the weekly police blotter. That, too, is obviously not a good thing. And finally, a few common sense tips. One, on your travels to and fro in the early morning See DEER, page pi Letters to the editor Canada fails to honor agreement With increased chatter around the downturn in hous ing starts, I’ve noticed that people are starting to make a connection to its ultimate impact on Georgia’s lumber industry. But with that being said, an oftentimes overlooked factor having a detrimental impact on our mill communities is Canada’s refusal to honor its commitments under the U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement signed a year ago. The potential benefits of the SLA, and the harm caused' by Canadian violations of the agreement, are not widely known by the general public and should be brought to light. The agreement is a compromise agreement signed last October in an effort to help level the playing field against subsidized and dumped Canadian softwood lumber imports. In order for this compromise agreement to work, it is essen tial that all parties honor their commitments. Unfortunately, Canada has not honored the terms or the spirit of this Agreement, and our lumber and forestry dependent See LETTERi, page 6A National Guard needed elsewhere The horrific wildfires in California could have been put out more quickly if so many of our National Guard troops and their equipment were not in Iraq involved in a civil war that we cannot win militarily. We could shore up Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid plus our nations’ highways, roads, schools and infra structure with the money we are spending in Iraq. We have allocated S4O billion to rebuild Iraq only to See LETTERi, page 6A HOW TO SUBMIT: Thera 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. "TWo, in recent years, hunters-through the Hunters for the Hungry-have been providing another great service in helping to feed those less fortunate and in need.” Now water has us over a barrel Oil is now selling for more than S9O a barrel. Economies throughout the world must have oil or they will come to a halt. Water is becoming a commodity of such value and importance in North Georgia that the lives of millions of people may be at stake soon. What will a barrel of water be worth if the drought continues and North Georgia runs out of water? What are millions of lives worth? The situation in North Georgia is more than serious. Lakes from which Atlanta and the rest of North Georgia receive their water are drying up. The amount of rain that is needed to allevi ate the situation is not in sight. What is going to be done? Many individuals are digging wells for their personal use. But the people inhabiting Atlanta’s concrete jungle and suburbs do not have this luxury. Either they receive water from the lakes and reser voirs or they must flee from the area to find water to drink. We are lucky here in Middle Georgia. We do not depend on lakes for our water. There is an aquifer under us that has plenty of water for us to tap into to meet our needs. Supposedly, there is enough water in the aquifer that the prospect of South Georgia running out of water is not even a mat ter of concern. "...I guess Christmas does come a little earlier every year!" Power over the innocent A school board misleads, endangers children The stupidity is absolutely stag gering! I’m referring to the recent action by the school board in Portland, Maine that approved a policy that permits girls as young as 11 to get the contraceptive pill from a school health clinic without their parent’s permis sion. When I heard about this, I was astonished and thought to myself, how can adults be this ignorant? There is a reason we don’t let 12- year-olds drive, or 15-year-olds vote, or 10-year-olds marry. Why? Because we as a society have concluded that some responsibilities are so consequen tial that they require higher levels of maturity than others. We recognize that children and teenagers have not developed enough physically or men tally to assume those responsibilities. These limits are about harnessing power. Driving, voting, and marriage are wonderful things in and of them selves. They bestow power on an indi vidual because there is responsibil ity involved. And if they are misused, there can be negative and even deadly consequences. There is some power that children are not ready to handle and some power that responsible adults shouldn’t ask children to handle. The Portland school board has essen tially handed the car keys to 12-year olds, waving from the door while tell ing them to drive safely. But in this case we’re talking about sex - and children. Everything we know about sex shows us that it is powerful. Sex can create human life through procreation and take human life through the trans- Foy Evans Columnist yU ' s ' foyeyansl9@cox.net Of course, that could change if there is an influx of millions from other areas coming here for water. Macon’s mayor offered to pipe some of the water from Middle Georgia to the Atlanta airport, not a good idea, and it was turned down by Atlanta’s mayor. She is sitting on a powder keg up there. And her city and its residents are at the mercy of the elements and lakes that are drying up. Assuming they run out of water in two months (the length of time experts say it will take for the water supply in the lakes to be used) what will happen? Will there be a massive exodus from Atlanta and the rest of North Georgia to Middle and South Georgia. How can the facilities in the south accommodate s many people? Emergency meetings are being held. Talk abounds. The time to anticipate the present dilemma went by unnoticed in past years and now the piper will be paid. Unregulated growth through Randy Hicks Columnist v'C " / Georgia Family Council » mission of disease. Sex can enhance intimacy and love within a marriage, and destroy a home if used to betray that commitment. Sex outside of mar riage has power too. It can result in unplanned pregnancy, abortion, sexu ally transmitted disease, and emotional scars. Sex is more than just a physical act; it is a complex emotional bond. Sex has meaning and power. This is why the way we approach the subject with children is so consequential. We should be putting up guardrails, not taking them down by throwing the pill at 11-year-olds. The right approach is to do whatever possible to help kids develop healthy, life-affirming habits, not simply attempt to minimize the consequences of bad decisions. To me the concept of handing an 11-year-old girl the pill is almost incon ceivable. Today, my 10-year-old daugh ter’s world is occupied with reading children’s books, playing jump-rope and horses outside with her friends, Webkinz, Barbie and Hannah Montana. We have enough trouble getting her to keep up with her retainer. Does anyone really expect a little girl to remember to take a prescription contraceptive drug every single day, especially if her HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL out the area has been permitted or encouraged while ignoring the fact that people must have water to drink and for many other purposes. Like most things where the government is concerned, forethought is a commodity hard to find. Now the time for finger pointing has arrived while time runs out. Is this a disaster waiting to happen? It is something to think about. When a hurricane struck the Georgia coast a few years ago the comparatively small number of refugees from the coast choked Middle Georgia. Should author ities in Middle Georgia begin making plans today “just in case”? This could be called “chicken little” talk. But the water crisis in North Georgia is real. Gov. Sonny Perdue has called on President Bush to override Corps of Engineers rules pertaining to the use of water in those lakes. Any change in regulations governing who gets the water and how much is a stop-gap measure. Even presidential intervention will be so much sound a fury signifying nothing unless there is enough rain within the next few weeks to begin filling up those lakes. Just something for all of us to be thinking about. Water in North Georgia could be as precious and expensive as oil - and much more precious-under the worst case scenario. parents aren’t even aware that she’s taking it? Imagine finding out that your sixth grader is pregnant because she thought it was safe to have sex because of the pill she got at the school health clinic. Imagine finding out that your daugh ter was lured by a sexual predator who assured her the pill she could get at school would keep her from getting into trouble. Speaking of power, the Portland school board has abused theirs. Approving a policy that lets children get a prescrip tion contraceptive in secret (and all that accompanies that scenario) comes at the expense of the children they are supposed to be protecting. Putting children at risk and giving them a false sense of security, these adults have failed these children. I’m sure the small group of people who made this decision believe what they have done is sophisticated and progressive. In reality, it is barbaric and cynical. Over the centuries, soci eties have learned to channel male and female sexuality in healthier, safer and more meaningful directions. We learned that, though human beings are certainly flawed, we are capable of making good decisions about our bod ies and our futures. This policy runs counter to all of that. This policy is a social regression. It takes us back to a time when we lacked the religious, social and scien tific knowledge we possess today that tells us sex should at the very least be delayed, and at the very best be reserved for marriage. See HICKS, page 6A