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♦ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2007
6A
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Letters to the editor
McDowell garners praise
Election turnout during an "off” year may have been
lower than anticipated, but I would like to say thank
you to everyone who exercised their sanctioned power to
vote.
Rarely in a fast pace society such as ours do we get an
opportunity to “relive" an event, but on Tuesday a portion of
voters in Warner Robins will be given another opportunity
to construct a governing body for Warner Robins that could;
enhance the quality of life, take on a laissez faire approach
to dealing with our international community, or simply main
tain the status quo.
Regardless the demographics of the voters in this very
important race many of us will be looking on, and trusting
you to vote for a city councilman who will respond to the
needs, concerns, ideas, or suggestions of the diverse com
munity in which we all live. It is feasible to believe that few
of us have the time to keep up with every issue that directly
or indirectly affects our lives.
Therefore, it may be the responsibility of the citizenry
in Houston County to share amongst ourselves who has
been taking care of business on our behalf, Councilman
Doug McDowell. Doug McDowell was the driving force that
resulted in the installation of sidewalks for the Northside
Middle School children who walk to school or ride bikes.
Doug McDowell also played a key role in collaborating
with the county to install sidewalks on the North side of
Feagin Mill to ensure the safety of every student in the
school’s mandated walk-zone.
Doug McDowell is genuinely constituent friendly and he
consciously makes an effort to listen to the concerns of
citizens regardless where they live. Thank you Mr. Doug
McDowell for taking action to enhance the quality of life for
all of us, you make a difference.
- Kathy Brown, Warner Robins
Patriotic versus poisonous
It really distressed me to read about the thousands
of people buying, buying, buying on the day after
Thanksgiving. All of you out there fighting and spending
money - you probably don’t really have to buy products
that could poison your families. We don’t have a clue as to
what is being done to our toys, clothing, et cetera.
How many actually looked for goods made in the U.S. or
stopped and wondered how they were affecting the lives
of Americans by purchasing inferior, though expensive,
items from Communist or Islamic countries - in fact, from
any country in the world whose citizens constantly express
their disdain and dislike for our country? Why should we
prop up the economies of people who despise us and our
way of life?
Won’t any of us rjiake sacrifices to maintain our way of
life? Are our manufacturers and retailers so greedy, and
our citizens so naive and ambivalent about our freedoms
that they are willing to “sell out” their country to our foreign
enemies? Is no one willing to explain to their children that
.they might have a few less popular items because it would
be unpatriotic to buy this poisonous junk?
Why have so many Americans bought into the propagan
da that foreign goods are superior to American products?
See LETTERi, page 9C
Religion, alcohol sales
Qeligion in general is a relic of millennia past when,
1 ! mysticism, the occult, magic, evil spirits and the
supernatural were the principle influencing factors in
people’s lives.
Today, Christians and others cloister themselves against
reality and, largely still live in the world of the ancients.
They see the stars as just points of light in the firmament.
They are blind to the great scientific discoveries of our
time and sometimes justify their ignorance by saying great
things were wrought by God. Rational thinking by a reli
gious person is impossible because irrational religious fog
See LETTER. 2, page 9C
Less digital, more fuel economy
I s it not too late to try to catch up with Japan? They have
Ibeen broadcasting digital since the 1980 and the U.S. is
so far behind in technology we cannot make cars that get
more then 35 MPG, where they have had vehicles since
the 1996 that get over 150 MPG, but the U.S. had banned.
So why are we worried about digital TV? How many people
on a fixed income are we going to turn off their only source
of programming just so we can try to catch up? Who cares
See LETTER }, page 9C
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
BELIEF
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Driving, Oprah and other notes
A look at some interesting sub
jects from my side of the com
puter keyboard:
■ I have joked about the day when I
would have to give up the keys to my
car. My wife said I would go down kick
ing and screaming. But for the past
week the better part of wisdom told me
(due to some recent health problems)
that I should not get behind the wheel
of my car and, as hard as it has been, I
have not tried to drive.
In my opinion, it would be one of
the most devastating things that could
happen to me if I drive when I am
incapable of doing so and caused an
accident and injured someone else.
So until it is clear that I can be a safe
driver 1 will sit it out, regardless of how
difficult it is.
■ I read that airlines want to charge
overweight people more for tickets than
passengers whose weight is considered
within acceptable boundaries. T’ o rea
soning is that weight determines how
much valuable fuel is consumed. What
do you think?
From a personal standpoint I do wish
there was some way to keep obese pas
sengers from spreading out and into
my space. One of my worst nightmares
was flying several hours seated between
two people whose excess pounds practi
cally engulfed me.
■ If you believe that the Democratic
-J (Cr TT-H /
1 1 -i" ■ __ __
Divorce often doesn't bring the expected happiness
I’m fairly confident that the fol
lowing conversation takes place
every day somewhere in Georgia:
“I’m just not happy anymore. I used
to be. I mean, I was excited to be mar
ried to her, excited about the pros
pect of having and raising children
together ... even growing old together.
But now it’s too hard. We argue over so
many things and we don’t even enjoy
being together. I just want to be happy
again.”
“Well, you deserve to be happy. I hate
to say this and hope you’ll forgive me
for doing so but ... perhaps it’s time to
start over.”
“Are you talking about divorce? I
can’t do that. The kids!”
“Sure, it will be hard at first, but
they’ll be fine in the long haul. Kids
are resilient. And besides, their hap
piness will return after awhile; but if
you don’t get out you might never be
happy.”
(With sense of resignation) “Maybe
you’re right. Plus, if this thing deterio
rates much further, our home environ
ment will be even worse. How damag
ing will that be for the kids? Living
with unhappy parents will really hurt
them.”
“Right!”
“Ya know, I must admit that I’ve
thought about this...but I never wanted
to, well, say it out loud. I’ve got to give
this some more thought. I just want to
be happy again...and I don’t think that
can happen in this marriage.”
Now, I know words on paper can’t
necessarily communicate the depth of
despair and frustration expressed in
a conversation like this. But there’s
a pretty good chance the sentiment
“One t o/c e can make a difference
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
congress has not done anything this
year, think again. It has not passed
any of the bills they should, but they
have passed a S9B billion tax increase
for this year and $2 trillion in tax
increases for the next 10 years. That is
with a Republican president. Imagine
what we can look forward to if we elect
a Democratic president next year.
■ I said I wanted one of those ham
burgers the restaurants like Burger
King, Hardees, McDonalds and others
show on TV I mentioned this to Danny
and he told me he does better than that
in his restaurant - LETA’S. I tried one
with a thick slice of onion and he was
right.
■ Months ago I predicted that the
incomparable Oprah would swing her
unmatched influence behind Barack
Obama and that he had a chance to
defeat Hillary and win the Democratic
nomination for president. This theory
will be tested in the next few weeks.
Randy
Hicks
Columnist
Georgia Family Council
expressed in those words are at least
vaguely - if not vividly - familiar to
you.
Two sincere people - one being hon
est about his pain, the other genuinely
trying to help.
The problem is that the conversa
tion is laced with faulty presupposi
tions that rob people of hope, poison
the attitudes and tones that shape
relationships, and ultimately serve as
self-fulfilling prophecies.
Faulty presupposition: The mar
riage will never get better.
The truth: Even terribly unhappy
marriages can turn into happy ones.
The National Survey of Marriage
and Families reported 77 percent of
marriages rated “not good” at some
point are rated “good” or “very good”
five years later. A strong commitment
to marriage as an institution, and a
powerful reluctance to divorce, do not
merely keep unhappily married people
locked in misery together; they help
couples form happier bonds. Staying
together tends to strengthen the bond.
This doesn’t mean that problems van
ish entirely; instead that couples devel
op the skills to deal with them.
Why did these marriages survive
where other marriages did not?
Spouses’ stories of how their marriages
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Oprah has revealed that she plans to
campaign in person for Obama in lowa,
New Hampshire and South Carolina
soon. I expect millions of women (and
some men) to go to the polls and fol
low Oprah like lemmings. Her ability
to turn an unknown book into a best
seller has been proven. Now we will
learn if her magic can be as effective in
the political arena.
And speaking of Oprah, many people
have wondered how some of the recipi
ents of gifts during her show in Macon
can afford to pay gift taxes on them.
The IRS values each gift at retail price
for tax purposes.
Oprah has announced that she will
pay the taxes for them. Good. But the
IRS will want to collect a gift tax on
the taxes she pays, so the people who
received gifts during the show still will
have to pay something.
■ Now that Warner Robins has decid
ed not to permit the sale of alcohol on
Sundays (at least for the present) can
we expect to see more restaurants in
Centerville? Good question.
Before any of the franchise restau
rants make such a drastic move we can
expect a push to overturn action taken
by the Warner Robins City Council last
week. Has anyone come up with an
estimate of the number of people who
would fail to eat out on Sundays if they
could not get an alcoholic drink?
got happier fell into three broad head
ings: the marital endurance ethic, the
marital work ethic, and the personal
happiness ethic.
ill In the marital endurance ethic, the
most common story couples reported to
researchers, marriages got happier not
because partners resolved problems,
but because they stubbornly outlasted
problems related to finances, employ
ment, depression, parenting, even infi
delity.
■ In the marital work ethic, spouses
told stories of actively working to solve
problems, change behavior, or improve
communication. When the problem
was solved, the marriage got happier.
■ Finally, in the personal happiness
ethic, marriage problems did not seem
to change that much. Instead married
people in these accounts told stories
of finding alternative ways to improve
their own happiness and build a good
and happy life despite a mediocre mar
riage.
Faulty presupposition: I’m
unhappy in marriage. If I can get free
of the marriage, I’ll be happier.
The Truth: Divorce doesn’t foster
greater happiness.
Call it the “divorce assumption.”
Most people assume that a person
stuck in a bad marriage has two choic
es: stay married and miserable or get a
divorce and become happier.
A study conducted by a team of
leading family scholars headed by
University of Chicago sociologist Linda
Waite found no evidence that unhap
pily married adults who divorced were
typically any happier than unhappily
married people who stayed married.
See HICKS, page 9C