Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

K'j V j m I HKn ak f- b/ V I Hn k. \ \ jwj hL J jH Hk BU Ibi Bk. B&. J Jffl Kj Bt OK? wraj we* JwL,*. ♦ 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 11 tjfii ilylr Ifffll, tig Jm ipji JSBB|y ■s&s yi|| mm 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