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SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2008
4A
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Nicole Crofutt
General Manager
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
There is something to ushering
in the new year
When you’re young, you tend to put a lot of
emphasis on bringing in the new year - staying
up past midnight, doing the whole countdown bit
and watching the ball drop in New York City.
But, when you get older, it tends to mean less
and less - the staying up part that is.
Asking some of the “older” members of the
Houston Home Journal staff, you tend to get a
sentence that starts with: “There was a time ...”
but ends with: “... I’m just too old for that.”
Curious as to how much things had changed,
or to find out once and for all if we were miss
ing something, we - or at least the writer of this
unsigned editorial (who last stayed up to see
what would happen in the year 2000) - decided
to usher in 2008 the hard way (with coffee versus
what everybody else appeared to be drinking).
The answer: There is actually something wor
thy - and recommended - in it.
Oh sure you have to look past the drunks and
the multitude of revelers who see it as nothing but
a chance to drink ... and drink ... and drink ... and
then drink some more. Which, as long as they
have a designated driver and can do responsibly
... well, more power to them.
But, speaking on behalf of a more “sober” gen
eration, we found that actually being a physical
part of the calendar changing over from 2007 to
2008 proved to be sort of inspirational.
You see we found that if you just go to sleep
with it being “just another day” and then wake
up with it being “just another day” then it is “just
another day.”
But watching that ball drop and viewing the
majesty of it all - some would say spectacle of it
all but that’s OK, too - you realize it is a definitive
point in time.
It is a time for recharging your battery. It’s like
a footprint in the sand. You can look down on it,
see it clearly staring back at you and then say to
yourself: “I’m going to go forward. Or, “I’m going
to go right.” Or left, or even retrace your steps.
Yes, it’s really only a symbolic event but, being
a part of the adventure itself we noted truly could
be one that changes a life (lives) dramatically.
Only time will tell.
Letters to the editor
More should be like Joe Camp
RE: MISSIONary article (Dec. 30, 2007 edition): If
more people were as generous as Joe Camp and his
family, there wouldn’t be such a large shortage of human
organs for transplant operations.
Over half of the 98,000 Americans on the national trans
plant waiting list will die before they get a transplant. Most
of these deaths are needless. Americans bury or cremate
about 20,000 transplantable organs every year. Over 6,000
of our neighbors suffer and die needlessly every year as a
result.
There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ
shortage - give organs first to people who have agreed
to donate their own organs when they die. Giving organs
first to organ donors will convince more people to register
See LETTER i, page 6A
Foreclosures a bigger issue than fishing
The subprime mortage/credit crisis that has spread
world-wide is visible throughout Middle Georgia and
in your neighborhood - foreclosed homes are popping up.
These lost homes hurt the values of other homes as well
as their former owners. Banks lose up to 50 percent of
their loans in foreclosures. The effects of all this on families
See LETTER 2, page 6A.
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
Looking back, looking forward
Janus, according to Roman
mythology, was a god who had
two faces - one face looked into
the past, and the other looked into the
future. January, the first month of the
year, was named for Janus.
Like Janus, I want to reflect on 2007
•past and look towards what remains of
2008. Let’s start with 2007.
Two of the big positives for us in
2007 were our purchase of the “Fisher
Place” out on Highway 127 and my
election by legislators in the Eighth
Congressional District to the Georgia
Department of Transportation Board.
First, the purchase of our new farm.
We closed with Bruce Fisher and Diane
Fisher Findley on January 19 after
selling our old farm on Highway 26.
We had been looking for a place “out
in the county,” and in Houston County,
to build a new house, and we found it
with this tract of land. We have done
lots of work on the place since we got
it, and starting building our house in
September. We are excited about our
land and our new home. The only
negative is having to leave great neigh
bors and the home we have lived in and
loved for the past 33 years.
Then there was my GDOT Board
election. It, too, took place in January.
Had I realized when I announced
my intention to run that of the 28
legislators eligible to vote, 23 were
Republicans and 5 were Democrats, I
may not have made the race. But, my
legislative friends elected me, without
opposition, and I was touched and
humbled by this. It’s a pretty big job,
like you’re^j
Old computer calls to mind reliable diesel tractor
I began writing today’s column on
our 8-year-old computer at home.
We bought it in the opening days
of 2000, which means that, in comput
er terms, it’s about 150 years old.
You can really tell it, too. This old
Model T is roughly the size of the pio
neering ENIAC that introduced the
world to computers - a machine that
filled a room and took a dozen people
to keep it running. Well, maybe not
that large, but bulky nevertheless, and
heavy and cantankerous.
As I type, I think of James Thurber’s
character Walter Mitty, who was always
imagining himself in exciting profes
sions defined by failing technology: “A
huge, complicated machine, connected
to the operating table, with many tubes
and wires, began at this moment to go
pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. ”
I can’t tell you how many times
I’ve caught myself muttering “pocke
ta-pocketa-pocketa” while listening to
this old computer groan along with my
typing.
Yet, like a Model T, this desktop
model has lasted longer than anyone
ever thought it ever would; moreover,
it still functions, though feebly and on
constant life support.
That it works at all is a tribute to
the manufacturer and not to our care
for it. Way back on the eve of the 21st
century, we paid a pretty penny just
to have a standard computer for home
use, and it was definitely a solidly built
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Walker
Columnist BKCi< s * .
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and the transportation problems in
Georgia are challenging. Still, I am
enjoying my service, and this job helps
me to keep my “finger in the political
pie”. My friend, Bobby Rowan, says,
“the only cure for those bitten by the
political bug is embalming fluid”. I
guess he’s right!
I read several good books in 2007. My
favorites were Sam’s, Down Town, and
Robert H. Ferrell’s, Harry Truman, A
Life. These were very different books,
but both excellent. I still think of
“Beatrice” in Sam’s book - I believe
she must live in Perry! Presently, I’m
reading two books on the Civil War
- one about pivotal battles of the war
and one about the Confederate govern
ment. I’m also reading Ken Follet’s,
The Pillars of the Earth. I realize
Follet’s book has been out several
years. I’m just finding out what many
already know, and that’s this is a great
read (973 pages worth!).
There was also sadness for us in the
year past. Janice’s brother took his
own life. Adrienne’s mother, Genelle
Horne, passed away, unexpectedly, and
I lost my uncle, Cullen Talton. But, out
of this, we realized, once again, how
appliance.
Like me, however, it has slowed con
siderably and gets confused at times.
On some days, it refuses to get out of
bed, and it enjoys being babied.
Just turning the relic on reminds
me of the 1948 Farmall diesel trac
tor my father used on the farm when
I was a boy. It was a huge, faded red
machine that could do anything from
pull stumps out of the ground to tow
hay balers to operate a buzz saw and
run breakneck speeds in high gear.
Scary as it was in action, that tractor
was even more intimidating to crank
up at the beginning of the day. I could
never do it right the first time, but my
father could.
The engine would not start on diesel,
so it had a reserve tank of gasoline
for getting the pistons moving. After
climbing into the high seat, my father
would throw a lever to open the fuel
line from the gas tank. With an angry
growl and a puff of smoke, the tractor
would snort to life.
BELIEF
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
wonderful people are in times of sor
row, and how fortunate we are to live
among so many caring people.
I also lost my friend, Speaker Tom
Murphy. I was saddened by his death.
Not so much because he died, for he
had been bed-ridden for several years,
but because it was the end of an era
- a good era in Georgia’s history. And,
I was saddened because so many never
understood this complicated man
nor appreciated how much he did for
Georgia, in general, and our part of the
state, in particular.
Now it’s on to 2008 - there will be
just 360 days left in the year when this
column is published. What to expect?
Well, I’m obviously better at reminisc
ing than predicting, but here goes:
1. The economy will continue to
languish until after the presidential
election in November; consequently,
we won’t see much improvement until
2009.
2. The 2008 presidential election
will be one of the most unusual in
our country’s history. An independent
candidate will play a major role in this
election and our own Sam Nunn will be
deeply involved.
3. There will be much talk about
taxes in the 2008 session of the General
Assembly, but with few changes in the
current law. Rep. Larry O’Neal will
be a ‘voice of reason’ in these negotia
tions.
4. Major water legislation will come
out of the 2008 session - Senator
Ross Tolleson will play a key role in
See WALKER, page 6A
A minute or two latei;, after the
engine had warmed up, my father
would slam the lever cutting off the
gasoline flow while shifting a second
lever that opened the flow of diesel.
The tractor would cough, chug and
chuff, then roar into powerful action.
It was a miracle to behold each time it
sprang to fife.
Our computer was a latter-day mira
cle. It never got any plowing done, but
it performed the basics, all the while
humming “pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. ”
Thurber can rest in peace now: Old
Faithful itself rests in pieces in a corner,
reposed in well-earned retirement.
I am finishing this column on a new
computer, one that doesn’t beg me to
stop typing for a while so it can catch
up, nor ask me whether I really want
it to maneuver itself onto that fancy
new and Hsky superhighway called the
Internet.
This new computer, though certainly
not fancy nor high end, is a joy to
work on, and it cost just a fraction of
its ancestor’s price eight years ago.
Instead of the perfectly serviceable
Windows 98, it uses Vista - about
which, I understand, the jury is still
out deliberating.
Nevertheless, it seems to be a worthy
successor to our first computer.
Eight years from now, I’ll let you
know.
Reach Glynn Moore at glynn.
moore@morris.com.