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BELIEF
♦ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2007
4A
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Getting our money’s worth
Part of the experience of living in Houston
County for the last decade has been counting
the portable classrooms, voting on SPLOSTs
and seeing new schools proceed from ground-
breaking through
construction.
That’s taken a lot
of pennies paid in
sales tax. We all
know that we’re
paying an extra
one percent to
build new schools
to keep up with the
county’s popula
tion growth.
What many may
not know, if they
don’t have children
in the schools is
that good choices,
good planning and
lots of hard work
continue to go into
making sure the
new schools are
good places for
kids to learn.
Those who
haven’t been in
our new schools
should know that they are a real source of pride.
Good architectural design, and the use of tried
and-true plans, has made it possible to give the
students very attractive light-filled classroom
space without going overboard on cost. The ele
mentary schools, like the newer middle schools,
are built according to one design, but each still
has its own personality.
The new Lake Joy Elementary School and
Hilltop Elementary School have been dedicated
now, their ceremonies packed with excited stu
dents, parents and grandparents, and Mossy
Creek Middle School will be dedicated tomorrow,
but those three schools got their real start when
the 2007-2008 school term began in August and
everything was ready for the students to start
learning the first day.
A huge amount of planning and coordination
goes into starting a brand new school with teach
ers ready to teach and students ready to learn,
and we commend all those involved - not just
the principals and the teachers, but those who
made sure that the land was purchased and the
funding secured, to those who had breakfast
waiting for students on the first day of school.
What’s next? Veterans Middle School and then
Veterans High School.
That’s where those sales tax pennies are
going, and we’re getting our money’s worth.
Letters to the editor
Canada fails to honor agreement
Recently our Governor, Sonny, Perdue said on National
Public Radio that he failed to issue an emergency
declaration for our water shortage because he doesn’t like
taking such an action/decision lightly!
Waiting until there is only a three-month supply of water
in Lake Lanier to issue the emergency call to the federal
government was not good management. It was too late!
What is wrong with this picture? We are talking about a
huge crisis situation with all kinds of serious side-effects of
an economic nature, et cetera, and for our citizens.
Sonny let us down and failed to provide any sensible
planning or action to handle this predictable, looming cri
sis situation. What was he thinking of - another real estate
deal like Oaky Woods?
Frank W. Gadbois, Warner Robins
HOW TO SUBMIT:
There are three ways to submit a letter to the editor: E-mail it to
t 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
“A huge amount of
planning and
coordination goes into
starting a brand new
school with teach
ers ready to teach
and students ready
to learn, and we
commend all those
involved - not just
the principals and the
teachers, but those
who made sure that
the land was pur
chased and the
funding secured, to
those who had
breakfast waiting for
students on the first
day of school.”
Who will 'bell' these cats?
Until given to me, it was my
Grandfather Gray’s book,
and it has written in its front
these words: “Bessie and Louise Dasher,
Perry, Georgia, July 7, 1899”. These
beast-tales or folk-fables are gath
ered under the familiar name, Aesop’s
Fables, and are attributed to Aesop, a
slave at Samos, whose name has long
been connected with the Fables. We are
told that Aesop flourished around 550
8.C., and that the Fables were collected
together for the first time around 300
B.C.
And so you think, “Well and good,
Larry, but of what significance in this
modern time”? Well, let’s see. You
judge.
Belling The Cat
LONG ago, the mice held a gen
eral council to consider what mea
sures they could take to outwit their
common enemy, the Cat. Some said
this, and some said that; but at last
a young mouse got up and said he
had a proposal to make, which he
thought would meet the case.
“You will all agree,” said he,
“that our chief danger consists in
the sly and treacherous manner
in which the enemy approaches
us. Now, if we could receive some
signal of her approach, we could
easily escape from her. I vulture,
therefore, to propose that a small
bell be procured, and attached by
a ribbon round the neck of the Cat.
"Last of October... First of November... Spring forward...
Fall back... Sometimes I don't know if I'm coming or crowing!"
Voter ID law in the news again, other issues
Georgia’s voter ID law is in
the news again and the chief
of voting rights in the U.S.
Justice Department is in trouble
because of it. He said he approved
the Voter ID law that requires an
approved photo ID and members of
congress now are accusing him of der
eliction of duty.
The law, according to the Associated
Press, was likened to Jim Crow by
a federal judge, who allegedly said
that “poor voters lacking a driver’s
license were required to buy a Photo
ID card.”
We all know that statement is
untrue. Georgia’s legislature made
sure the free Photo ID cards were
made available to anyone asking for
• one and even sent a motor home
around the state to provide them.
However, this is just further proof
the lawmakers from other parts of
the country like to accuse Georgia
and other southern states of efforts
to curb voting by blacks when it does
not exist.
The infamous Voting Rights Act,
which puts Georgia and several other
states in “second citizen” category, is
a vicious hammer that will exist for
another quarter century.
Keep your eyes on the news regu
larly and it is obvious that many other
parts of the country practice racism
more flagrantly and more often than
occurs in the south.
This is conveniently overlooked
by jmVitiwi jt^jwwinrtrean*
Larry
Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgb-law.com
By this means we should always
know when she was about, and
could easily retire while she was in
the neighborhood. ”
This proposal met with general
applause, until an old mouse got up
and said: “That is all very well, but
who is to bell the Cat?” The mice
looked at one another and nobody
spoke.
Then the old mouse said: “It
is easy to propose impossible
remedies. ”
B The war in Iraq drags on. Most
Americans support our troops, but a
dwindling number support the war.
What is the objective? How do we bring
an end to the conflict? When will it
end? How do we get out with victory?
How do we get out with honor? What
is going to happen with Iran and in
Afghanistan? Who is going to bell that
cat?
| Population increases and water
supplies dwindle. Environmentalists
resist the building of reservoirs. Water
is rationed. Parts of the country com-
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
media.
We are saddled with quotas. Don’t let
anyone tell you otherwise. In schools.
In federal jobs. Anywhere the federal
government can call the shots. But the
quotas go in only one direction.
Look what is happening in Georgia:
Public schools must meet a quota,
even if it calls for busing black stu
dents many miles from home. But
look what the state of Georgia has
done in an area that has gone unno
ticed and unreported.
Blacks make up 50 percent of state
of Georgia’s merit system employees.
Yet blacks constitute only 28.7 percent
of Georgia’s population. What hap
pened to quotas?
It’s easier for politicians from other
parts of the country and the main
stream media to target alleged (often
untrue) examples of racial inequality
than tell the truth and point out what
really is happening.
■■■
News Item: Congress is going to
a shorter work week. They’ll arrive
in Washington sometime Monday
md ulT 11 Jjjfill|iillf < WgiftllllilT T 7lfil' imc i
Hi |bß
I- fiH
BB *
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
pletely run out of water. Who will get
what is available - the farmer, the con
sumer, business, those on whose land
the water is? Who is going to bell that
cat?
H Oil prices are at an historic all
time high. Gasoline for automobiles
is in the $3 a gallon range. Ethanol
becomes more popular. It takes four
gallons of water to produce the com
to make one gallon of Ethanol. Com
prices as feed for livestock escalate.
Store prices for com products increase.
Water is scarce. Who is going to bell
that cat?
■ The economy teeters. The Federal
Reserve, United States Congress and
the President fiddle. Bankruptcy
increases. Home builders and material
suppliers go broke. We live in a world
economy, and what is done in China,
Japan, and Europe affects us. We have
limited control. Who is going to bell
that cat?
H Healthcare costs escalate. Many
can’t afford to pay. New diseases like
staph infections and superbugs pose
new problems. There is talk of pan
demics and death. People are bombard
ed with conflicting information. Who is
going to bell that cat?
For every complex problem, there is
simple solution, and it’s wrong! Or, to
put it apother way, it is easy to pro
pose impossible remedies. Or, in more
simple terms, and as Aesop might have
said it: Who is going to bell these cats?
Thursday. Unfortunately, we are not
lucky enough for them to stay at home
all the time.
■■■
Quote: “One reason we are hav
ing those forest fires in California
is global warming.”—Sen. Harry
Reid. Unbelievable. I thought it was
President George W. Bush’s fault.
■■■
News Item: The father of a 23 year
old boy who graduated from Georgia
Tech is looking for someone to blame.
The son celebrated his graduation
with a party at a strip club and ran up
a tab of $53,0.00.
I’m sure that Georgia grads can have
a field day with that information.
■■■
A couple of years ago when I moved
to Centerville I went by city hall and
asked for my property tax notice,
which had not arrived in the mail. I
was informed that I did not owe city
taxes because of my age.
Several years ago I received the
same gift from the city of Warner
Robins when I reached 65. Warner
Robins changed its policy and seniors
are given a tax deduction, but not 100
percent.
Mayor “Bubba” Edwards believes
that Centerville can no longer afford
to exempt its growing senior popu
lation entirely from property taxes.
Centerville residents will vote on the
issue next Tuesday and it will be
interesting to see if they will vote
themselves a tax increase.