Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008
OPINION
Childish responses to an adult idea
Challenging couples to save sex for marriage stirs up critics
Phillipia “Flip” Faust is a friend
of mine who, along with some
of her colleagues in Rockdale
County, Georgia launched an essay
contest that promised a prize of
SIO,OOO toward wedding expenses for
an engaged couple. The hitch? They
cannot be sexually active before get
ting married.
Context is important for this story.
This contest isn’t some attempt to gain
attention for their program. It is an
attempt to promote the positive amidst
a crisis related to the consequences of
premarital sex.
Today more than 70 million
Americans have a sexually transmitted
infection, including one out of every
four teenage girls. One in five pregnan
cies in our county ends in abortion,
equaling more than a million abortions
each year. And roughly 45 percent of
all pregnancies are among women who
are unmarried.
Kids born out of wedlock are more
likely to live in poverty, suffer from
physical and emotional illnesses, and
engage in negative behaviors such as
crime, drug and alcohol abuse and
suicide. In the area of Georgia where
Flip works which includes Rockdale,
Newton and Dekalb counties, the con
ditions are no different.
Unmarried cohabitation has its own
consequences. Living together before
marriage undermines a couples chanc
es for a successful marriage, not the
other way around. Couples who cohab
it are 46 percent more likely to divorce
than those who do not. I’m not saying
divorce is a certainty, but it’s certainly
more likely.
So, as Dr. Phil would ask, “How’s
that working for us?” The answer is
obvious. It’s not working well. The
numbers reflect real human suffering.
Countdown to the Big Pig Jig, Election Day
Hey, y’all,
Me an’ the boys been get
ting’ ourselves all revved up
an’ ready for our attack on the Big Pig
Jig. Las’ count we got ‘bout 30 wild
hogs cornin’, some of ‘em all the way
from Alabama, an’ we got all our local
hogs, plus about a dozen dogs an’ a
coupla cats.
Us hogs mean bidness an’ we already
got our hubcap armor suits ready. The
dogs is just cornin’ along cause they
ain’t got nuthin’ better to do, an’ the
cats is just narchrly mean. They gone
act like they got rabies an’ go flyin’
through the air.
We heard they’s gone be some kinda
swine beauty contest down there, an’
we gone’ liberate all them while we
tearin’ the place up.
We done called CNN an’ FOX an’
Krystal Riner. So far, all we know for
sure is Krystal Riner’s gone be there.
Final warnin, Danny Evans an’
Jimmy Williams an’ all ‘yall: It ain’t
too late to switch to cookin’ chickens.
Don’t matter what kind of sauce ya’ll
got. Porkicide is porkicide, an’ we’ bout
to put an end to it.
• ••
I see they’s a real politically incor
reck letter to the editor from Walton
and Becky the Woodses, cause they
dint like what I wrote last week ‘bout
they takin’ all my trash an’ my beer
from over on Gaines Drive.
Randy
Hicks
Columnist
Georgia Family Council
So, Flip and her colleagues, moved by
such suffering, decided to take action in
an effort to improve relational health
and promote smart choices in their
community.
Good for them, right? Not according
to some. In as much as the comments
reacting to a story about this contest
on the Atlanta Journal-Cohstitution’s
website are an indication of how many
people feel about this idea, you’d think
Flip was asking participants to go
without food for three months or sell
all their earthly possessions.
One reader wrote: “Come on.
Everyone knows the woman who quali
fies for this is being set up. She will be
quite disappointed when her wedding
night is less than enjoyable- painful
even. Takes YEARS for sex to be good
for women. She unfortunately will be
forever behind the power curve. Good
luck with that.”
“Power curve”? What does she think
sex and marriage are about? Perhaps
the woman who offered this sagacious
gem revealed a fundamental problem
in her own relationships - she views
sex as a tool, not as an expression of
love, affection and commitment. Her
statement reduces sex and marriage as
part and parcel of a power game.
Another person commented: “Would
you buy a car without driving it first?...
What if you get stuck with a lemon?”
So much to say, so little time. I’ll reduce
"Now that is what I call frightening!"
Porky’s
Ponderings
porky@evansnewspapers.com
They got some help from some no
count kin of mine writin’ it, and they
done sent it to me, but they done sent
a copy to Don Moncrief, too, so ain’t no
way I can keep it from getting’ out, an’
I’ll prolly wind up suin’ ‘em, an suin’
Don Moncrief an’ suin’ the Houston
Home Journal, but I gotta get money
for a lawyer first, an’ they’s two things
I gotta say sumpn ‘bout right now.
Firs’, I gotta tell ‘em that the reason
I put a “s” on the end of they name is
that they’s two of em.
‘Parently they ain’t never heard
that Woods is the plural of Wood, and
they’s always together so they is plu
ral. You don’t never see one of them
Woods without you see the other one
of ‘em Woods, so I prolly shoulda said
Woodses.
Second, I gotta say them Woodses
don’t know nuthin’ ‘bout vintage beer
years. That beer Walton poured out
was a 2006, and it done broke my heart
when I saw that pichur ‘cause I was
savin’ it for election night in case my
choice wins, or in case he loses.
my response to this: You’re not much
of a prospect for a healthy marriage if
you’re equating a potential spouse to
a car. And, while sex is a wonderfully
significant part of marriage, it is not
what should determine whether or not
you end up with a lemon. The health
and longevity of marriage is tied to
communication, selflessness and con
flict resolution, all of which can be
expressed meaningfully in and through
sexual intimacy.
In other words, if you end up with a
“lemon” of a spouse or marriage, it’s
likely tied to the relational skills that
shape the conditions of both our mar
riage and our sex lives, not vice versa.
Intimacy is often a barometer of how
the relationship is doing.
It’s funny how people who view
humans as little more than the sum
of their impulses come out of the
woodwork to criticize people with a
lofty - and deeply resonating - view of
humanity. We are wired for relation
ship not just sex. We desire to know
and to be known.
Surveys tell us that married couples
are more satisfied with sex on both a
physical and emotional level than peo
ple who are single or cohabiting. But
this isn’t because they were “test driv
ing” lovers and throwing out the “lem
ons.” Researchers have found that it is
the committed, long-term relationship
that marriage provides that enhances
sex and increases satisfaction.
Marital love is a key ingredient. In
their book “The Case for Marriage”
Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher say
it well: “Emotional commitment to a
partner makes satisfying him or her
important in and of itself. Demanding
a loving relationship before having
sex, using sex to express love, and
See HICKS, page $A
The boys felt so sorry for me losin’
that beer I done saved so long that
they went out an’ bought me some
White Lightnin’ but I ain’t hidin’ it on
no Gaines Drive, so they ain’t no rea
son for them Woodses to go over there
lookin’ or getting’ Charlotte Perkins
out there with her camera, an case
they dint notice, it wasn’t no Charlotte
Perkins what took them pichurs any
way. It was Gary Harmon.
• ••
By the nex’ time I write this colyum,
they’s sure gone be some news.
We gone have the battlegroun’ report
on what happened at the Big Pig Jig
an’ we gone’ know who’s gone’ be pre
sydint.
I ain’t gon’ endorse nobody, which
ain’t cause I ain’t got no favrit, but
‘cause I got a coward-streak when it
comes to politics. Bout half the folks
gone’ be mad no matter which way
it goes, so I don’t want the mad ones
thinkin’ I tipped the balance, an’ then
blamin’ me for the nex’ four years if
things don’t go good.
All the same, I’m gon’ get drunk on
White Lightnin’ if the one I like wins,
an’ if he don’t win, I’m gon’ get drunk
on White Lightnin’, but either way, I’m
gon’ wake up in the momin’ an’ look
out at the world an’ sing “God Bless
America.”
An’ I hope all y’all will, too.
"One voice can make a difference"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hill big on character and
accomplishments
There is hardly any endeavor more important to the
well-being of our community than the education of our
children. Because education is of paramount importance
to our economic, cultural and social needs it is incumbent
upon us, the voters, to make sure only the most experi
enced, dedicated and positive citizens, without personal
agendas are elected to the Board of Education.
I have found Dr. Toby Hill to be such a person.
Having served for more than 30 years as a teacher, prin
cipal and superintendent and as a member of the Board
of Education, he possesses an unsurpassed knowledge of
the Houston County School System. He has worked tire
lessly in making it one of the best in the state.
In addition, he has been instrumental in achieving board
stability, cohesiveness and productivity - an outstanding
board that serves the best interests of all citizens.
It has been said that the welfare of our students should
be the prime consideration in electing members of the
board of education. This is Dr. Hill’s primary concern and it
is his motive for serving on the Board of Education. In addi
tion, he will continue to serve with integrity, compassion,
objectivity and visioin.
For these reasons, I urge you to vote for Dr. Toby Hill and
allow him to continue his superb performance as a member
of the Houston County Board of Education.
- Dan Callahan, M.D., Centerville
Porky gets a trip out to the
‘Wood”shed
Porky: you over-stuffed “streak-o-lean" you - what be
makin’ yo’ fat self think we be owin’ you a beer? First
off, it won’t be no perfectly good bottle of beer; we wish
yo' onkish self coulda been dar’ when we pored dat beer
outta dat dar’ bottle, swine-belly; it be smellin’ horrible and
fit only for “hoggish” ‘sumption. Like it smell liken unto a pig
stye, but den yo’ lop eared self be a hogg, ain’t dat right,
you ham?
You sho’ nuff betta be watchin’ yo’ self and yo’ hoggish
buddies, lice bag; you keep on messin’ 'roun, we gon’ tell
dem River Keeper folks down yonder in Darien to put yo’
shenanigans up on dat website whut dey maintain on dat
space dey call de “Hall of Shame", rat nex’ to dem of boys
and girls whut pollutes our rivers and streams! You and yo’
“hoggies” can get a preview at www.altamahariverkeeper.
org .
Please don’t make us do this, Porky - we would much
rather just keep the street clean.
Sum o’ us folks be thinkin’ we know yo’ real identity
See LETTER, page 6A
Praise for Obama’s exemption plan
for senior citizens
As a retired teacher, I really like Obama’s idea of
exempting senior citizens with income under $50,000
from federal income tax.
That would surely help me toward handling the drug
costs that I have left over after Medicare Part D.
Also, since the state of Georgia wants to eliminate the
1.5 percent twice-yearly Gost Of Living Allowance that we
retired teachers receive and our insurance is going up 7.5
percent if we stick with the UHC plan, we retirees need a
financial break.
See LETTER 2, page 6A
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t
JCtfugittftt Pome Dmmtal
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