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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.