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♦ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2007 6A Daniel F. Evans President Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President Say what you want... and apparently Williams can... There was an interesting news story to hit the airwaves the first week of December. Many, or most, of you probably saw it, but in case you didn’t, here are the details reported among at least several news gather ing agencies - one of them being the Savannah Daily News, which as you’ll read had a “personal” stake in it. Celebrity talk-show host Montel Williams was in Savannah reportedly promoting Partnership for Prescription Assistance’s “Help is Here Express,” when a student-intern reporter asked Williams: “Do you think pharmaceutical companies would be discouraged from research and development if their profits were restricted?” Williams reportedly got angry over the question and was said to respond: “I’m trying to figure out exactly why you are here and what the interview is about.” He then reportedly reminded her of why he was there and terminated the interview. Following that, the intern, along with two col leagues, went into the Westin Hotel - Williams was also at the same hotel, although reports don’t say if he was staying there or was there as part of the promotion. He was in the lobby, however, reportedly noticed her and went up and pointed his finger in that direction and said: “Don’t look at me like that. Do you know who I am? I’m a big star, and I can look you up, find where you live and blow you up.” He reportedly later issued an apology and offered the intern an invitation to his television program. End of the story right? Yes, apparently it is and that’s what we don’t understand. Why is it the end of the story? How can Williams make a threat of that magni tude - “blow you up” - issue an apology - report edly through a staff member no less - and that be it, so easy when others - time being a testament - not being nearly so lucky. Where was/is the national outcry? Why were there no repercussions? Or, if there were we’ve found no record of them. Remember Don Imus? And for the record, this editorial IS NOT about vindicating Don Imus. He is a bottom feeder. He got exactly what he deserved, or maybe not enough as he’s appar ently making his comeback broadcasting some where else. But Imus made some racist and sexist com ments and there were those who would not rest until he was fired. Further, the media were on him like paparazzi, aided by the aforementioned “those who would not rest” giving them plenty of quotable fodder. They, or anyone else from the looks of it, don’t appear to care that Williams made a statement, See SAY,page ?A Letters to the editor Train money better spent elsewhere I can’t believe that the City of Warner Robins is going to spend $50,000 to “rehabilitate the Elberta Train Depot for use as a transportation museum ...” with funds from a state/federal grant. Why not use this money to improve our local animal shelter, which has a terrible reputation? Or, improving our sidewalks near our county schools. Can’t our mayor and council be a little more creative? Centerville needs more sidewalks so folks don’t have to walk on the roads but where they can more clearly see the abandoned cars in residents' backyards. Mayor Bubba Edwards rides his bicycle to city hall along Gunn Road and should be able to see his local wrecks rusting away! I told him so but to no avail. - Frank W. Gadbois, Warner Robins 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 ; For many HOPE lost, other notes Only two weeks to Christmas. No shopping done. What’s the rush? ■ I have written in the past how much I am impressed by the remark able achievements of modern medicine. Once again, I have benefitted from one of these medical miracles. About two months ago I woke up one morning blind in my left eye. I had a detached retina. A skillful retina specialist in Macon performed surgery on the eye. “If we’re lucky you will see from this eye soon,” he told me. “Not as good as before, but pretty good.” This morning I am looking out the window of my office, using my left eye, and feel very fortunate. ■ I see automobiles driving by and stopping at the intersection which has four-way stop signs. A young woman just went by riding a bicycle. She ignored the stop signs and, without looking in either direction, she rode through the intersection without slow ing down. I always am amazed when I see this. I wonder why bicyclists believe it is safe for them to ignore stop signs or traffic lights while cars and trucks obey them. Do they believe that they are immor tal? ■ Believe it or not, while Mexico thumbs its nose and interferes in our government the United States gives $1.4 billion dollars a year to that coun try. What do we get for our money other than disrespect and criticism of our policies? Seems to me that we Top, tell me again about the good old days when you used to get Christmas cards." The lottery hits the jackpot When state government plays huckster It looks like it’s going to be a very Merry Christmas at the office of the Georgia Lottery this year. According to reports, a whopping $3 million in bonuses will be disbursed among the 260 lottery employees, including a check for $236,500 to lot tery president and CEO Margaret DeFrancisco. If you add that bonus to her $286,000 annual salary, she is pull ing in almost four times what Georgia’s highest ranking public official Gov. Sonny Perdue will make this year. There are many reasons the news doesn’t sit well with me. There’s some thingunsettling about the lottery, these bonuses and the role state government plays in all of this. Government makes policies that are in many ways intended to point us toward what is good - things for which we should aim. Take for example laws that encourage civil behavior among citizens or promote quality education for kids. These point us toward actions and activity that make life better and benefit society. The laws say “this is good.” The problem with the lottery is that it puts our state government, which is constitutionally charged with preserv ing the well-being of Georgians, in the peculiar role of actively enticing us to “One voice can make a c/if/ere/u e Foy Evans Columnist foyevansl9@cox.net "’Should failing to vote be a crime?' Not in my opinion." should get some leverage in return for that kind of money. Too bad we have leaders in our gov ernment who are afraid to act in the best interest of the American people. ■ Here are some recently released statistics from the federal government which are scary. In Georgia 35 percent of children live in single parent homes. 39 percent of births in Georgia in 2004 were to unmarried women. Almost 70 percent of black children were born out of wedlock. Almost 50 percent of Hispanic children were born out of wedlock. 25 percent of white children were born out of wedlock. What happened to the great, family oriented country that my generation left at the end of World War II? What has happened makes my generation ashamed and disappointed ■ Almost 20,000 students will fail to receive HOPE scholarships under Randy Hicks Columnist Georgia Family Council spend our money foolishly in order for the state to profit from our losses. Put another way, it’s playing the huckster. And there is no worse example of this than how it affects the poor. A few years ago the Atlanta-Journal Constitution found that the areas where the lottery is played the most also benefit the least from the HOPE Scholarship, which is funded by the lottery. In fact, the 20 zip codes with the highest number of lottery players all had household incomes below the median income statewide. In the 20 zip codes with the most HOPE recipients, household incomes were 72 percent higher than those poorer zip codes. The higher income areas received two-and a-half times as many scholarships. The poor in Georgia are spending money that disproportionately benefits higher income families (whose children would probably go to college without HL H HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL the new guidelines that will require a 3.0 grade, instead of “B”. There is suspicion that some grade inflation is going on all over the state to help some students receive a HOPE scholarship. Critics of the new guideline claim that these students “lost” scholarships, when in reality they just failed to earn one. There is a difference. ■ Economists predict that S2B bil lion in gift cards will be issued this Christmas. It would be interesting to learn how much of this will wind up being a windfall for businesses. Some people who receive gift cards never use them. And some businesses actually discount cards as they grow older, while others put a deadline on when they can be used, even though the purchaser put cash money up front for them. A lousy practice that should be illegal. ■ AARP Bulletin asks, “Should fail ing to vote be a crime?” Not in my opinion. Too many people who should not vote are permitted to do so. People that radio commentator Neal Boortz describes as “dumb, lazy and unin formed” should not be permitted to make decisions on our governments. Government is too important to be decided by people who have no idea what goes on and only are interested in what government can do for them. It has been pointed out that a coun try is on the way to destruction when more people look to the government for income than actually pay the bill through taxation. That tipping point is near. access to HOPE). Somehow that sheds a different light on the hundreds of millions of dollars the lottery brought in for education last year. Does such redistribution of wealth sound like something the state of Georgia should be doing? This is one reason why the enormous bonus checks handed out to lottery employees bothers me. It’s bad enough that the poor are not benefiting as much from the lottery. It’s even worse to find out that money from ticket sales is being used to make lottery executives richer. To borrow from some lawmakers’ reaction, it’s “insane” and “absolutely absurd.” Lottery president Margaret DeFrancisco defended the bonuses say ing they aren’t unlike compensation handed out by other corporations as incentive to keep employees motivated to increase profits. It’s true the lottery must work hard to keep sales up, espe cially because of “jackpot fatigue” that sets in over time as players desire high and higher jackpots. Doing so requires more aggressive advertising and novel games to maintain sales. But the lottery is not comparable to other corporate entities. It is a monop oly created by the General Assembly. See HICKS, page 148