Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2007
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Letters to the editor
Soccer policy questionable
I am writing a letter to this editor on behalf of my daugh
ter and some other gals who play soccer in the Warner
Robins area. And while it’s not my style to complain out
loud, in public, I think this particular situation merits some
outside attention.
Two weeks ago, my husband and I watched our 11-year
old daughter’s CGSA Academy soccer trainer scream out
another team coach. It was an unprovoked meltdown that
culminated with these words - “Take your girls and go back
to reel” Nice, huh? So this trainer lady insults a team coach
AND MY KID. (And every other recreational athlete who
aspires to play at the select level!) Hmmm. What to do?
Her dad and I decided to end the season early and walk
from a situation that was only going to get worse because
of in-house CGSA soccer politics. I mean - come on. We
love the game.
We HATE to quit something mid-season. Our kid lives for
the sport. (She’s been playing since she was 4.) But it just
made us gag to think about letting her return to the field to
play for someone who had exhibited such a lack of char
acter. Someone who had made it very clear how much she
did NOT value her fellow coaches, their input/experience,
and, well - our kid.
Turns out, another CGSA rec team would love to have
our daughter finish the season with them. They have a cou
ple games left and have been playing with a half-full roster.
They could really use some more players. So we asked
the CGSA Academy people for our daughter’s player card
so that she could slide on over to the rec team. (The state
of Georgia requires proof of a player’s birth date - hence a
player card with a picture, the birthday, etc.) Not a big deal
- or so we thought.
(I) got an e-mail from the director of the CGSA Select pro
gram this morning telling me that I had to write up a request
to transfer, send it to him to sign, he would collect the player
card, send it to the Georgia Youth Soccer Association, and
we could ASK to be registered somewhere else. There are
nine days left to the season. Who’s he kidding?
We’re not asking to transfer from the CGSA club to
another club. We’re asking to be allowed to finish the sea
son in-house among our fellow CGSA teams. The player
card only proves what most of the other parents on the
sideline already know - that our daughter was born in
August of 1996, and qualifies for the Ul2 age group. Why
is this complicated? The kid’s 11!
And she’d like to play some ball.
Lisa Fickau, Bonaire
Libraries don’t serve customers’ needs
Our county libraries were closed this past Saturday,
Sunday and Monday. On Saturday they were to be
closed for carpet cleaning but they are always closed on
Sundays and holidays. Why are patrons of our libraries
denied the use of their facilities on holidays and Sundays?
This doesn’t happen elsewhere - especially in larger cit
ies.
Why spend $5.2 million SPLOST dollars on our county
libraries when the management can only come up with
new ideas for closing them? Training staff and now carpet
cleaning. What about being more creative in scheduling
and trying to be open more evenings and Sundays when
working folks need to use them. Holidays are the ideal time
for families to use them! But not in Houston County!
Frank IK Gadbois, Warner Robins
‘Be it resolved’ hits mark
Your “Be it Resolved” editorial was very good and,
sadly, true.
My youngest children were fortunate to attend Perry
Elementary School when Patsy Hutto was principal. Parents
and local senior veterans were invited to the school’s won
derful Veterans’ Day programs. Although we live in a county
with a great number of active and retired military and other
veterans, Veterans’ Day is the only federal holiday that is
not a school holiday.
In addition to the plan to name a future school “Veterans’
High School” perhaps our BOE could increase the aware
ness of Veterans’ Day by recognizing this holiday as do
our banks and federal, state, county, and city agencies. I’m
sure there is a less important school day off that could be
swapped.
Another thought would be to change the name of a major
road in Perry as “Veterans” rather than the short, undevel
oped section of West Perry Parkway designated by a small
sign but not on any maps I have found.
Bob Bemis, Perry
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
Congress faces its own dilemma
What’s next? Happy Easter! The railway drum beat continues
Sometimes birds come home to
roost in a very unpleasant way.
Congress is facing a dilemma
that can cost members votes and it is of
their own making.
In 1969 congress adopted the
Alternative Minimum Tax, which was
designed to make sure that approxi
mately 24,000 of the wealthiest taxpay
ers who used loopholes not to pay any
income taxes would not get away with
it. Inflation has changed the economic
landscape and the AMT, which has
affected more and more taxes each year,
now threatens approximately 21 million
when they file their 2007 income tax
returns.
So an attempt to corner the wealthi
est taxpayers Is hitting the middle class
and members of congress are frightened
that there will be a backlash unless they
exempt more people.
The answer in the beginning would
have been to write good tax laws and
not attempt a backdoor approach to
taxation.
I have heard more and more taxpay
ers complain as the AMT caught them.
This year the number to be affected is
so great that you can be sure that some
thing will be done. But will the answer
be another long term disaster?
As the end of the year approaches
you are hearing frantic members of
congress giving more and more atten-
"Whew! I never knew a heating bill
could make me sweat so much!"
Choice in education could mean
a chance to build a better future
The discussion over school
choice reminds me of the oft
stated definition of insanity:
doing the same thing over and over
again, and expecting different results.
For decades now, student achieve
ment has declined steadily. And for
decades, we’ve attempted to address
the issue by spending more money and
reducing class size. And yet, the test
scores continue their descent.
I want to be clear. We need strong
public schools and we ought to be doing
everything we can to have the best
public school system in the country.
However, the reality is that there were
thousands of kids in Georgia this week
who went to routinely poor- and under
performing schools
These are kids whose current lack
of access to a quality education will
hinder their future access to profes
sional achievement and economic suc
cess. Many of these kids come from
families locked in cycles of poverty that
are likely to continue without access to
better educational options.
On Nov. 6 in Utah, citizens voted on
a referendum that would have allowed
every student access to money (the
amount depending on income) that
could be used toward tuition at a
school of their choice. Unfortunately,
the referendum failed, which means
thousands of disadvantaged children
have now been denied increased edu-
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Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
“The answer in the
beginning would have
been to write good tax
laws and not attempt a
backdoor approach to
taxation.”
tion to the AMT oecause, while sticking
it to the rich is very popular, the middle
class has enough votes to make it a
dangerous game. But not all members
of congress like the remedy being pro
posed. The IRS has given congress a
deadline needed to collect taxes on time
next year.
Members of congress created this
dilemma while being vindictive toward
high income taxpayers. They may pay
a high price at the polling booth when
Randy
Hicks
Columnist
Georgia Family Council
cational options because the voucher
program, which was passed earlier this
year by the Utah legislature and signed
into law, will not be implemented.
I am sad for these students in Utah,
and their parents who struggle to give
their kids a chance at a good educa
tion. What’s a parent to do? If you
can’t afford private school or a house
in a good school district, your kids are
stuck attending the school designated
by the district - no matter how that
school performs or how it meets your
child’s needs.
We all know education is important.
That’s why we mandate it, fund it,
and so often try to reform it. In fact,
even though the Utah referendum was
lost, there are still more than 140,000
students across the country currently
being served by school choice pro
grams. I’ll say more about Georgia’s
recent legislative success in this area
in a moment.
Even in Utah, children with special
needs can still use the money the state
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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
their birds come home to roost.
■■■
I heard the first Christmas greeting
on TV last week. What a wonderful
idea! Maybe next week someone will
wish us Happy Easter.
■■■
Have you noticed the trend in televi
sion advertising to use actors who look
like President Bush and his wife Laura
to sell their products? Intelligent view
ers will recognize what this is, but a
large segment of the audience probably
believes that our president and his
wife are endorsing the products being
advertised. It’s sneaky. And disgust
ing.
■■■
The drum beat to spend money on
rail lines instead of highways goes
on. No doubt about it, travel by train
is more economical in congested
areas, such as the corridor between
Baltimore, Washington, New York and
Boston on the East Coast. Using rail
in an attempt to alleviate traffic in
sparsely populated Georgia, between
Macon and Atlanta for example, could
be a boondoggle.
An interesting problem with relying
too heavily on rail as a substitute for
highways is that if rail workers strike,
which they can and sometimes do,
everything comes to a halt. Highways
don’t strike.
spends on their education to attend
any school that best meets their needs.
But a majority wasn’t willing to give
that same option to parents of all chil
dren.
Even though the defeat is troubling,
the battle for increased educational
options has taken a significant step
forward in recent weeks and months.
In this case, it is striking that so many
Utah voters wanted to proceed with
one of the most dramatic changes in
education over the last several decades
- especially considering that the teach
ers’ unions poured so much money
and political capital into campaigns to
defeat the measure.
Georgia experienced its own seis
mic shift in education this year when
the General Assembly approved the
Special Needs Scholarship Program
in May. This law allows the parents of
children with special needs to use state
funds for their child’s education at any
school they choose —public or private.
Now, a family that has been locked into
a public school that is not equipped to
meet the unique challenges of their
child has the option (emphasis on the
word option) to find a better school.
The response to this new program
has been heartening. Despite the
brief period of time to get the pro
gram up and running for the current
school year, more than 900 students
See HICKS, page 6A