Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2008
EDITORIAL
Session reaches halfway point;
passes key measures
This past week represented a milestone as we
reached the halfway point of the 2008 legislative
session and the Senate has moved forward with
essential measures to protect and
improve the lives of Georgians.
We have a lot more work ahead
of us and have taken a consider
able step by passing the Senate’s
version of the FY 08 supplemen
tal budget, among other important
legislation.
The Senate voted this past
Thursday to approve a midyear
adjustment to the state budget
for the remainder of fiscal year 2008, which ends
June 30. The Senate version includes several dif
ferences from the supplemental budget approved
earlier by the House of Representatives. The
House had voted to restore $30.7 million that
Gov. Sonny Perdue had proposed to cut for
equalization grants to less affluent school sys
tems and added $65 million for school buses and
technology.
The Senate agreed with the House to allocate
$6.3 million to the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund
to continue cleanup efforts of landfills and aban
doned hazardous sites. More than S4O million
has been added to finance the development of
new reservoirs, plus s4ll million to implement
the new statewide water management plan in
both versions of the budget. Differences between
the Senate and House versions of the budget
will need to be ironed out by a conference com
mittee. Other important pieces of legislation that
passed this past week included:
• SR 722 - This resolution creates the Grady
Oversight Committee; Adopted Feb. 21 by 46 to
6
• SR 748 - This bill urges the Grady Health
System to adopt changes to its employee health
benefits plan to require its employees to utilize
the Grady Health System for primary health care,
in addition to urging Fulton County and DeKalb
County to consider similar changes to their
employee health benefits plan. The bill also urges
the Grady Health System to end its closed staff
model and open credentialing to community doc
tors to encourage other insured patients to utilize
the Grady Health System for primary health care;
Adopted Feb. 21 by 51 to 2
• SB 300 - The Transparency in Government
Act. This bill provides for the creation and main
tenance by the Dept, of Audits and Accounts of a
searchable website showing all state spending;
Passed on Feb. 21 by substitute 49 to 0
• SR 822 - This resolution creates Georgia-
North Carolina and Georgia-Tennessee Boundary
Line Commission; Adopted on Feb. 20 by 52 to 0
• SB 395 - This bill establishes the Safety Net
Clinic grant program for the care and protection
of indigent and elderly patients; Passed on Feb.
21 by 49 to 0
Call or come visit when you need me . ..
Tolieson represents the 20th Senate District and
serves as chairman of the Natural Resources and
the Environment Committee. He may be reached
at 404-656-0081 or ross.tolleson@senate.
ga.gov. He represents Bleckley, Dodge, Houston,
Johnson, Laurens, Pulaski, Telfair and Wilcox
counties.
Poms journal
Reader Information
1210 Washington St.
P.O. Box 1910
Perry, QA 31069
478-987-1823
See us online at
www.hhjnews.com
■ President - editor and publisher: Daniel F. Evans
■ Vice President: Julie Evans
■ Editor Emeritus: Foy S. Evans
■ General manager: Nicole Crofutt, 987-1823
■ Managing editor: Don Moncrief, 987-1823, Ext. 231;
donm@evansnewspapers.com
■ Staff writer (Also - Lifestyle and Food): Charlotte Perkins,
987-1823, Ext. 234; cperkins@evansnewspapers.com
■ Photographer: Gary Harmon, 987-1823, Ext. 229;
gharmon@evansnewspapers.com
■ Sports writer: Matthew Brown, 987-1823, Ext. 237;
mbrown@evansnewspapers.com
■ HHJ general e-mail: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
■ Classified Advertising: Call 478-987-1823 between the
hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. You can fax
an ad 24 hours a day to 478-988-9194.
■ Delivery by mall: Delivery by mail is available for in and out
of county. Call 987-1823 for rates.
■ POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: 1210
Washington St. Perry, GA 31069
■ The Houston Home Journal, is a periodical, mailed (ISSN
1526-7393) at Perry and is published Wednesday and
Saturday for S4O per year by Evans Newspapers Inc., 1210
Washington St., Perry, GA 31069; 478-987-1823 Fax 478-988-
1181. Not published Thanksgiving and Christmas.
■ Main office hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
■ NEWS TIPS: Call 478-987-1823 Ext. 231 or 234; Newsroom
Fax:47B-988-1181
■ Corrections: The HHJ strives for fairness and accuracy, and
will print a correction or clarification when one is in order.
■ Advertising errors and omissions: The advertiser agrees
that the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising from
errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for the space
actually occupied by that portion of the advertisement. There
shall be no liability for non-insertion of any advertisement
beyond the amount paid for such advertisement.
■ Letters to the editor: There are three ways to submit: 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 400 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.
■L 111
Ross Tolieson
Senator
Wise sayings in bad times
Are words important? Senator
Obama thinks his are. Or, he
thinks someone’s are. Perhaps
his words are plagiarized. But, aren’t
most people’s?
Have you ever heard anything that
was completely original? Truth to tell,
if you don’t know where certain words
come from, guess in order, The Holy
Bible, Shakespeare, Ben Franklin and
Mark Twain. You’ll have a good chance
of getting it right. Regardless, I think
words are very important - especially
in troubling times.
Mr. Sam Way of Hawkinsville told his
son, Bob, this: Often the best opportuni
ties come at the most inopportune times.
Given the economic times in which we
are, I find Sam’s words very wise.
An obviously very wealthy man told
me something that has stuck with me
since. I asked him, “how did you make
so much money?”, to which he replied,
Selling out too soon and not making a
big enough profit. Indeed! I know that
there are lots of people who wish they
had sold out about a year ago.
This calls to mind another saying:
Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.
Lot’s of hogs are getting slaughtered
by the stock market and the housing
crisis.
My Daddy said lots of wise and inter
esting things. One of my favorites of
his was, Differences of opinions make
poor land sell high. This reminds me of
a conversation I had with Daddy years
ago. I was a young, struggling lawyer
when I urged Daddy to buy a large
tract of land with these words: “Daddy,
we ought to buy this farm, there’s no
way it won’t go up in value”. Well, in
the first place the “we” meant Daddy
(like, “me and Pa killed a bear”). And,
secondly, the land could go down in
value and actually did. Daddy was
73**^
"...Now we're finally getting somewhere!"
What the Sandhill's going on here?
Y’all hear bout all them Sandhill
Cranes landin’ out by Highway
41? I heard there was ‘bout
a thousan’ ofem. Lil’ Bubba Junior
went up and talked to 'em and he said
that they was lookin’ for a place to
settle down permanent like the Canada
Geese and he tol’ 'em we was prolly
gon’ be havin’ impact fees, so they
decided just to eat all the grass and
head on.
Last week I ‘pologized to them
Houston Lake alligators for sayin’ we
oughta move em down to Flat Creek. I
said I was sorry ‘cause it was politically
incorrect and they was gonna bite me.
Them’s some righteous alligators out
there, always getting’ worked up ‘bout
sumpn. Plus they got sharp teeth.
Way I unnerstan’ it, when you say
sumpn politically incorrect, then ever
body hollers at you and you ‘pologize
and then you get redeemed after a
while and they ain’t sposed to bite you,
an’ I reckon it worked ‘cause I ain’t
missin’ no body parts yet.
But now it’s goin’ to their heads
cause they heard ol’ Joe Kusar done
been politically incorrect ‘bout the
whole state a Alabama. Wouldn’t you
know one of em’s Mama came from
Andalusia?
Way I heard it is that ol’ Joe was
Larry
Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgb-law.com
"My Daddy said lots of
wise and
interesting tilings. One of
my favorites of his was,
Differences of’
opinions make poor land
sell high."
much wiser than I was. Differences of
opinions make poor land sell high.
Speaking of farms, who was it that
first asked this question and supplied
the answer: Want to know how to make
a little money farming? Start off with
lots of money. If you’ve got a farm and
trying to make a living with it, you
will understand. What Daddy told me
about “we” buying that farm comes
back to my mind.
Mike Ditka said this: Success isn’t
permanent, and failure isn’t fatal. I
hope Ditka’s words make you feel bet
ter. They don’t do too much for me, but
folks react differently, and perhaps his
words will help some overly optimistic
souls.
Try these: To get back on your feet,
miss two car payments. That’s by a
unknown wit, but this one’s from
Porky's
Ponderings
porky@evansnewspapers.com
sittin’ in City Council when it come
up that they was gonna do some more
laws ‘bout signs.
I can believe that ‘cause like I tol’
y’all before, they’s always goin’ on
‘bout signs, and this time, the way I
heard it, they dint want none a them
signs that’s on wheels with the lights
on em, like people might ‘axhuly see
‘em from the street.
Well, anyway, ol’ Joe said sumpn ‘bout
them signs “screamin’ Alabama.”
So the alligators are after him now,
sayin’ he done insulted their Alabama
kinfolks actin’ like Perry’s too fine
and dandy for signs like they got in
Alabama.
Could be he’ll ‘pologize and be
redeemed and they can go back to
layin’ in the mud lookin’ for frogs to
eat.
But if he don’t, all I can say is they
"One voice can make a difference"
v
A
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Ernest Haskins: Save a little money
each month and at the end of the
year, you’ll be surprised at how lit
tle you have. And Elisabeth Marbury
said this: The richer your friends, the
more they will cost you. Think about
Ms. Marbury’s words. And think
about this, something I’ve told clients
through the years: Be careful of going
into business with partners that have
lots more money than you have or lots
less money than you have. Actually,
Katherine Whitehorn said it better:
The rule is not to talk about money with
people who have much more or much
less than you.
I didn’t start out for this to be a col
umn about money, but it seems to have
ended up this way. But, it is a pervasive
subject. T
ake the Presidential debates or what
they talk mostly about in Washington
and Atlanta.
This is my lead-in to two great
quotes. The first is a simplified tax
form suggested by Stanton Delaplane:
How much money did you make last
year? Mail it in. The second, which
kinda’ relates to the first is by Will
Rogers: The income tax has made liars
out of more Americans than golf.
Then, there are the words in I
Timothy, Chapter 6, Verse 10: For the
love of money is the root of all evil:
which some coveted after, they have
erred from the faith, and pierced them
selves through with many sorrows.
Or, as Daddy used to simply say:
Money won’t make you happy. And to
which I once replied: “Daddy, I notice
that people who say this always seem
to be those with plenty of it”. Still, as I
get older, and hopefully wiser, I believe
that Timothy and Daddy are probably
right. In fact, given the sources, I know
they are.
might oughta drop the whole thing.
They way I see it, if it comes to a show
down, they ain’t gonna be any “See you
later, alligator.” It’s gon’ be more like
straight to the taxidermist.
Changin’ the subject afore I get in
trouble with either the alligators or
ol’ Joe, here’s how it’s goin’ out at the
spec buildin’.
Aunt Porky Lou has got a mushroom
patch over to one side. Mushrooms’ll
grow good in the dark. I got a flash
light and tol’ her some of them things
she got growin’ is toadstools but she
says toadstools are pretty good if you
put enough ketchup on ‘em . Anyways
when she gets a good crop she’s gon’
set up a stand and sell ‘em off the side
of the road.
Plus a half dozens of the Oaky Woods
bears done got here an’ let me tell you,
them bears got a high opinion of they
selves. Half the time they snorin’, half
the time they complainin’ ‘bout Pepo’s
ain’t got no fresh blackberries, and the
other half they talkin’ ‘bout how they
ain’t got no river bank down here and
who they gon’ sue.
Plus they wrote EDIBADIHC on the
wall, which ol’ Morgan prolly won’t
like, so if anybody with a pick up
truck wants to haul ‘em over to Macon
County, we’d be glad to see ‘em gone.