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M A Prize Winning Georgia Newspaper Celebrating 100 Years of Service” The Houston Home Journal BOBBY BRANCH President-Editor-Publisher MAXINE THOMPSON Assistant Editor WOFFORD SINYARD Production Manager Published Every Thursdey By THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, INC. C. OGDEN PERSONS, Vice. Pre*. LEWIS M. MEEKS, sec.-Treas. Entered At Perry, Georgia Post Office 31069 As Second Class Mail Matter L. C. Walker Will Retire We think one of the most dedicated and hard working men who ever served the public anywhere is Mr. L. C. Walker, chairman of the Houston County Board of Education for the past 20 years. Mr. Walker announced his retirement from the board this week and although we hate to see man of his caliber retire from the board, we understand his rea-, sons and we appreciate the long years of his time he has given to public education in this county and the State of Georgia. L. C. (Cohen) Walker is one of those rare men that we just don’t have enough of in this world. He is the* kind of man who shows his dedication to his family, his church, his community and his coun Get Rid Os Junk Cars There are still too many junk ears in some residential areas of Perry to suit us. We think people should bike enough pride in their community and themselves to arrange to have junk cars and other types of junk hauled away. The City, under a new ordinance adop ted recently, is authorized to haul off junk cars from property inside the city limits. We think Perry is one of tin* cleanest County’s Unity Will Be Tested The long, hot summer of politics has I*'gun in Houston County. The County Democratic Executive Committee met Monday and set rules and qualifications for candidates and some liave already qualified for posts open this year. We think the races to watch in Hous ton County this summer will lx* the runn ing for the two posts on the County Com mission. The posts up for re-election are those now held by Stewart Bloodworth of Perry and H. C. Talton Jr. of Bonaire. This year’s election will mark the first in recent history in which candidates run ning for county jobs will lie elected by the county voters at large. In the past, there has been a dividing line in the county for such posts (The Mossy Creek Line) which was abolished by an act of the Georgia General Assembly (his ses Houston Has Drug Problem It seems to us that drugs are fast be coming a real threat to Houston County. ,In recent weeks and months, there have been numerous arrests in the county on drug charges. Those arrested have been mostly teenagers, many lx low 1G years of age. Fortunately Perry lias not been hit by hard drugs and marijuana as bully as Warner Robins and Macon. Just this week 9 teenagers wen.' arrested at a mobile home in Warner Robins and charged with possession of marijuana. No Work Is Demeaning We read in a news story recently where a prominent U.S. Senator hud criticized President Nixon’s welfare proposal which would require able-bodied persons to work if work could be found for them to do. The Senator blasted the President saying that such a proposal might cause a recipient of welfare to have to do work that would be “demeaning” to him. We never figured any kind of work to be “demeaning” to a person who needs a job and is able to work. We feel like work is work and a job & a job. Surely we can understand that a person may hot like work and might get tired of working but we don’t buy the fact that a person shouldn’t have to work because he feels like certain jobs are “demeaning.” It seems to us that a man may be “lazy” and he might confuse laziness with “demeaning”. We read in the Statesboro, Ga., news try through deeds ana not just talk. We think every citizen of Houston County owes Mr. Walker a debt of grati tude for the years of unselfish service and dedication he has given while ser ving on the Board of Education. He will Ik* sorely missed from the board but we know that he will always do all that is humanely possible to lend his support to public education. L.C. Walker is a man who has given much and asked nothing in return. Such men are rare and we think he deserves to retire from the board. . . . Thank you, Mr. Walker, for the years of service jou have given us all. - - - B. B. and finest small cities anywhere and we don’t like to see a few “junk yards” in the community spoil the looks of the rest of the town. Let’s get rid of the junk and have a clean-up. Those who have old cars and other junk on their property know who we mean. We urge those people to call Harry Griggs at City Hall and get his help in cleaning up tlx* junk. Let’s get with it. - - - B. B. sion. It is no secret, of course, that voters in Warner Robins and that area of the county carry more votes than does Perry and the lower end of the county. The Mossy Creek Line was abolished so that the county would be more unified. Some leaders thought it would be better to have the county voting to get lx r for candidates than having this southern and northern end of the counties voting against each other. We hope tlx* county can become more unified. Certainly the Cities of Perry and Warner Robins have worked more closely together in the past few months than ever before and this has been a good sign. Rut election time is coming . . . And we shall wait and watch for the unity to take place. - - - B. B. The drug problem is a very real and dangerous problem all over tlx United States and now it is rapidly moving into Houston County. We must be aware of tlx problem and do all we can to educate youngsters on the dangers of marijuana and other drugs. We hope people will face tlx drug problem in Houston County with a reali stic approach and do all that is possible to battle illegal drugs. -- - B. B. paper a few quotes recently on work and they seem to sum up our feelings about people who an 1 able to work and don’t. Carlyle wrote, “Work is alone noble.” There is a passage in the Bible that reads, “This we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” J.G. Holland, associated editor of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, wrote in an 1849 editorial, “Man’s record upon this wild world is the record of work, and of work alone.” And Lowell wrote, “No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him. There is always work, and tools to work with; for those who will; and blessed are the homey hands of toil.” We just don’t think work is demeaning ... No kind of work. - - - B. B. ■ ..Jv.l: iX; . - " .> ¥: ■ ' '.->V ' , - ' */}' S ■. ■ “You’d Better Be A Beautiful Swan By Election ...” cM axins JuT^ Worth Repeating Hp|P^ - - ** • Hanging on the wall of one of those small examining rooms in the converted dwelling that served my doctor in anoth er town as his offices, was a motto-type placque proclaiming: “All Things Come To Him Who Waiteth - Provided He Worketh Like ... - While He Waiteth!" That sounds a lot like the story of my life, for most of the time I’ve spent not working has been spent waiting for something or somebody. With three teen-agers in the house, I spent a lot of time waiting for my turn to use the one bathroom, the hair curlers and dryer, and my own car. At least I thought it was my own car - sometimes I got so confused in all that confusion that 1 wasn’t so sure anymore. Even worse was the schedule I had to follow several years ago. At that time Wayne worked after school at a grocery store and Dennis worked at a drive-in ice cream and hamburger stand, about a mile and a half apart. 1 still get dizzy remembering the circles I ran in then each day - deliver the boys at high school and L\dia at junior high, then to work for me. Dash out and pick them all up after school, deliver Lydia home and the boys to their separate work places, back to work, then home to cook supper, pick up Wayne, back home to eat supper; later pick up Dennis, who ate supper at work. Usually I'd stagger off to bed mumb lingsomething 1 saw on another placque in many homes, “God Bless Our Mort gaged Home!" Probably the wall motto most vividly remembered by anyone who was knee high to a grasshopper during the depres sion years was one to be found in just TO THE ILETTERSJhhtqb | Editor, Home Journal: Is it any wonder why peo ple get into politics? When the State Patrol Riot Squad was in Perry they stayed at Stanley Smith’s motel the majority of the time. What a paradox!!! Carlton C. (Rubber) Pierce (Editor’s Note: Corporal Smith, who wrote the fol lowing letter, is the son of Mr and Mrs. Gene Smith of Perry. His father is a Perry City Councilman. Corporal Smith graduated from Perry High School in 1968 and at tended West Georgia Col lege before entering the Ma ring Corps last August.) Dear Editor, I am a Marine in Viet Nam. One man, but my feel ings are shared by all fight about every store, at least in our small town. It read, “Cosh Today - Credit Tomorrow.” Now, that sounded like a pretty good deal to a small girl, like all you had to do to buy anything on credit was to wait until the next day. It took a lot of explaining by my mother to con vey the fact to me that when tomorrow arrives, it immediately becomes today, and that you’re right back where you started from as far as that sign was con cerned. That was downright discourag ing, as it was intended to be. At the cashier’s stand in a depart ment store there is probably still a sign designed to take the wind out of the sails of some people - “Blessed Are They That Go Around In Circles, For They Shall Be Called Big Wheels.” These signs, like others that sim ply read “SMILE” or “THINK” are for public display. There are a few other quotations that 1 have never seen in placque form, but would like to see. This quotation by Billiot Paul should lx? placed near every young woman’s mirror: “Patience Makes A Woman Beautiful In Middle Age.” It would re mind her that the patience must be prac ticed now, while she is young, before lines of discontent, cynicism, and impa tience are firmly etched into her face. When tempted toward a path that might bring wealth through dishonesty, a Psalm to look at might be a guide - “I Had Rather Be a Doorkeeper in the House of My God, than to Dwell in the Tents of Wickedness.” And I firmly believe that Somerset Maugham knew what he was talking about when he said, “It is a funny thing about Life. If you refuse to accept anything but the Best, you often get it.” ing men over here. We don’t get many papers over here, but we do hear radios. We hear about the protest dem onstrations, riots, closing of colleges and the tearing down of our country. If these people would just realize that if they would back us, we could end this war and come home. But as it is they’re creating more prob lems and just extending it. We want to come home, but not until our job is com pleted. Our job is freedom, so when someone asks, “have you done anything to end the war in Viet Nam,” the an swer will be yes, I was there, I fought, what have you done? Does that sign back your country? Is it a weapon in its defense, or is it some thing for you to hide be hind, because you don’t have what it takes to make this country. We’ll follow our country’s flag into battle right or wrong, because she deals in freedom. If it cost lives- and pain to obtain this freedom then this is what she’ll get. So don’t tell us about free dom or the price. We were there. We fought for it in a foreign country and we will fight to keep it in our own country. L/Cpl. Stephen E. Smith Ist Battalion, Ist Marines Viet Nam Editor: Home Journal, We wish to take this means to express our gratitude to the very nice librarians at our Per ry Library. We have known many and have found few as accommodating as ours. Perry is a growing commun ity and as a library is a neces sary part of the culture of a city or town it only follows we should have a proper building in which to display the ever increasing number of books. In most families there is at least one member who derives bene fit and pleasure from the use of our library. Here’s hoping we soon have an adequate site which will al so enhance our city. MR. AND MRS. V. B. ODELL Branch WP I ! Newsmen Don’t Have Blues The editor of The Daily Sun (Warner Robins) wrote in one of his columns this week on the sub ject of Monday morning blues. He wrote that news papermen don’t have the so-called Monday blues and he’s right. Nearly everyone I know dreads Monday morn ings. They say it’s the worst day of the week be cause it’s always difficult to get everything going on Monday morning. It’s not that way in the news paper, whether daily or weekly, because in th : s business things have to get started right on sche dule and newspaper people just don’t have time to get Monday morning blues. I remember the first newspaper I edited fresh from school and not much smarter than I am now. I started off on the weekly paper in a South Georgia town as advertising manager and assistant editor and only after struggling there for two months found myself as the editor, advertising manager, janitor, typesetter, photographer, reporter, soc.ety editor and anything else that came up around the paper. My fast rise in the newspaper came all on a Monday morning. I came to the office and found that the editor, who had been there for several years and had about three ulcers, had decided over the weekend that he would leave. Everything was turned over to me and this other guy, who was supposed to be a linotype operator but had mastered drinking bad liquor better than setting type. That was on a Monday morning and I haven’t had Monday morning blues since .... Just no time to have blues around a profession that is demand ing, ulcerating, frustrating, nerve-wracking .... But the most rewarding. Raindrops Keep Falling The cool, May rain was falling heavily Monday afternoon and this guy was walking briskly down Highway 41 south here, paying little attention to the dropping water. He was maybe 40 and his hair wasn’t long and he didn’t have a beard. He carried a one-suiter samsonite in one hand and the other hand was stuffed in the pocket of clean but wet pair of per ma-press pants. A red wind-breaker kept some of the rain off his back as he moved along at an un wavering pace. “Want a lift to the Interstate.” “Yeah,” he answered, “I’d appreciate that if you don’t mind ” Where you headed,” I asked as we moved along the highway toward the south interchange. I tell you the truth, bud, I don’t know where I’m going. It doesn’t really matter so long as I find a place that’s peaceful and people don’t give a damn whether you’ve got a dollar or not,” he said in a determined tone of voice. That sounds like Hippie philosophy,” I said. “No, I’m no Hippie. I think all those people who let the.r hair grow real long and get dirty and wear dirty clothes and call themselves Hippies are a bunch of creeps that are just too sorry to do any thing else but wallow around in their stinking squalor. That’s what a Hippie is and I’m not one of them, bud,” he said. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket inside the windbreaker as we approached the interchange and stopped. He took a long pull on the cigarett and said that he was in business in Cleveland, Ohio, for a long number of years and that he recently sold everything he had and took off hitchhiking across the country. His bank in Cleveland, had made arrangements with a bank in Tampa, Fla., to set up his account and he said he had just enough money on him to get to Tampa. “Why didn’t you buy a car for the trip or catch a bus or something like that.” “I didn’t want to do that. I’ve always wanted to hitch-hike my way across this country because I think that’s the only real way you can see anything or meet any people,” he answered. He said his business had been insurance and that his wife had died a year ago and that he just wanted to pick up and leave pollution, business and the rat-race behind. “Why did you pick Tampa?” “My wife and I took a vacation to Florida sever al years ago and we came across this little place not too far from Tampa that appealed to me as being the greatest place in the world to get away from it all . . . . And that’s where I’m going, he said. . The rain slacked off and the guy climbed ou of the car. He shook hands and told me to send him a copy of one of our newsppaers if I wrote anyt mg about our conversation .1 headed the car bac' toward the office and turned on the The song, “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head was playing .... I got back to the office and started working on the paper ... No raindrops in e office.