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The Houston Home Journal
"Georgia’s Number One Weekly Newspaper"
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THE rJr PAGE
BOBBY BRANCH
PRESIDENT - EDITOR - PUBLISHER
PHIL BYRD Production Director
JOEL FERGUSON News Editor
JANICE COLWELL Office Manager
JANET McELMURRAY Advertising
DONNA BRYAN Computer Operator
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL THURS., MAR 30, 1971,
Disappointing News
The announcement of the closing
of the Perry Hospital emergency
room is disappointing news. It is
almost to the day, nine years, since
the Perry Hospital opened with a
full-service emergency room
facility staffed by local physicians
on call at all times. All that ends on
April 7, 1978.
While this decision, by the local
physicians and the Hospital
Authority, is a blow to our out
standing medical facilities in this
community, there must be several
matters considered:
The Perry E.R. has become
mostly an out-patient clinic for
persons who have taken gross
advantage of the E.R. privileges.
Only about 10 percent of the E.R.
work here is considered “real”
emergencies, the rest is considered
non-emergencies. The E.R. here is
losing around SI,OOO a week.
The Perry physicians who
provide the on-call service for the
E.R. have stated they can no longer
staff the E.R. because they are
unable to take care of patients
other than their own. They say they
simply cannot and will not continue
to handle emergencies other than
their own patients.
The Hospital Authority was of
fered an alternative by the Perry
Prudent Decision
The Houston County Board of
Education made a very prudent
decision when they rejected a
request for prisoners to speak to
students at Northside High School
on court and correctional
procedures.
Maybe what the instructor and
students had in mind was to gain
information on the consequences of
committing crimes, and such a
session would probably be alright.
Our high school youngsters these
days are very bright, and they are
bombarded with all kinds of in
formation they must digest in order
to make good grades and to cope
Lester Needs Help
Former Governor Lester
Maddox is down on his luck at this
time, both physically and finan
cially. As you know, he suffered a
severe heart attack recently and is
recuperating. He also owes more
than SBO,OOO on his last Guber
natorial campaign. This, along
with vast amount of health bills,
has Gov. Maddox in a very critical
situation.
We disagreed with many of the
things Maddox did while he was
Governor of this state, but in all
fairness, he served Georgia
honestly and in the best way he
knew how. Many good ac
complishments came about when
Maddox was Governor and the
people of this state certainly owe
him something for services he
rendered this state.
We believe most Georgians have
a heart, regardless of political
philosophy. We kSow we do. That is
PAGE 4-A
physicians. They said they would
staff the E.R. Monday thru
Thursday if the Authority would
hire outside physicians to staff the
E.R. on the weekends, similar to
the set-up at the Warner Robins
Hospital. The Authority figured
that would cost $66,000 a year plus
the SI,OOO a week loss and that it
just couldn’t be done.
The final decision was then made
by the physicians not to staff the
E.R. at all under the cir
cumstances and the Authority had
no choice but to close down the
E.R. here altogether for on-call
service.
We deeply regret the
downgrading of our emergency
room. While we understand the
countless problems involved with
the operation of the E.R., we
believe the closing down of the
facility is a step-down in our out
standing hospital.
The problem has no simple
solution. Let us look carefully in the
days ahead at this stiuation and at
the same time let’s do not any of
us make rash statements of
judgements. It is something the
entire community must look at
with a concerned feeling.
—B.B.
with the world in which they live.
The reason we agree with the
school board’s decision is because
of the subject matter mentioned in
the request. When it comes to the
subject of court procedures, it
would probably be better for a
judge or seasoned attorney to
speak to the group.
We believe board member Hugh
Brazell hit the nail on the head
when he said, “It would be alright
if they (the prisoners) talked about
what caused them to be where they
are, but to have them speak on
court procedures is beyond me.”
J.F.
why we are endorsing the work
being done by the “Get Well Lester
Maddox Committee.” The com
mittee is comprised of Senators
Herman Talmadge, Sam Nunn,
Gov. George Busbee, Lt. Gov. Zell
Miller and House Speaker Tom
Murphy.
The committee has mailed out
thousands of letters asking for
contributions of any size to help
Maddox get back on his feet
physically and financially. If you
did not receive a letter and you
want to help the former Governor,
send your contribution to: “Get
Well Lester Maddox Committee”,
Box 8143, Station F, Atlanta, Ga.
30306. Never let it be said that
Georgians did not take care of one
of their former Governors in a time
of great need. Georgians are known
for having kind hearts and we feel
this will be the case with Lester
Maddox.
—B.B.
I
Welcome Back, Culver...
HHJ NEWS EDITOR
Coimty Series T
By Joel Ferguson
Does Mayor James McKinley
want to move on to the Georgia
Senate when he finishes his current
term as Perry’s chief executive?
Maybe so.
Political circuits in Perry,
Warner Robins, Fort Valley and
Byron are buzzing this week about
a letter McKinley submitted last
week to Wilton Walton, editor of
The Leader-Tribune, Fort Valley’s
weekly newspaper.
McKinley’s letter concerns some
remarks reportedly made by Fort
Valley Mayor Paul Reehling about
the mayor of Perry’s salary.
A statement in McKinley’s letter
appears to imply that he might be
willing to challenge Ed Barker of
Warner Robins for his seat in the
Georgia Senate when elections are
held in November.
The remarks about the Perry
mayor’s salary apparently were
made during a squabble going on in
Fort Valley between Mayor
Reehling and editor Walton.
As a result of an editorial Walton
published on March 16, entitled,
“We Pay Our Mayor Too Much,”
Reehling took to the airwaves of his
radio station WFPM in Fort Valley
to say that Walton’s political
opinions should be considered in
light of the fact that “he is my
advertising competitor.”
At some point during Reehling’s
broadcast, it was reported to
McKinley that Reehling made a
remark about the mayor of Perry’s
salary.
“A public statement was made
recently to the effect that I receive
an annual salary of $6,000, and that
I do not serve as Perry’s municipal
judge,” McKinley stated in his
letter to editor Walton.
“The statement is correct but I
feel it should be expounded upon,”
McKinley continued. “Perry’s City
Charter provides that the mayor
and council may appoint a
municipal judge.
“Since 1966, Perry’s elected
officials have felt, and I concur
wholeheartedly, that it is desirable
to have a separation of the
executive and judicial branches,”
the mayor added. “Therefore, we
retained a local attorney to serve
Got A Gripe?
Write The Editor!
Letters Are Always Welcomed
as our judge whose current
salary is $2,400 annually or S2OO per
month.”
McKinley stated that he thought
an attorney at law was better
qualified to carry out court
procedures.
“Were I as mayor to serve in the
capacity of mayor and judge and
both salaries were combined then,
of course, my salary would total
$8,400 annually,” the mayor wrote.
Walton had pointed out in his
editorial that Reehling made an
annual salary of $10,200 from his
position as mayor and from serving
as a member of the city utilities
commission.
McKinley went on to explain in
his letter to the editor that during
the 12 month period from March 1,
1977, to Feb. 28, 1978, Perry’s in
come from cases handled in
municipal court amounted to
$118,690, and that he had received
no complaints from local or out-of
town persons.
“We are well pleased with the
separation of the judicial and
executive branch and I think you
will find it to be a common practice
in most cities,” McKinley stated.
“To say the very least it takes the
practice of politics out of the
courtroom.”
But the most intriguing part of
McKinley’s letter, and the part that
has political tongues wagging,
appeared in the last paragraph.
“As a former citizen of Fort
Valley whose birth place was
Byron, I would treasure the
privilege to serve the citizens of
Fort Valley and Peach County for
less than the $6,000 I receive as
Perry’s Mayor as I consider public
service a higher calling than
financial gain.
The current salary of a state
senator is $7,200 per year.
When asked to comment on the
possibility of challenging Barker
for Georgia Senate District 18,
which includes Houston County,
Peach County and a portion of
Macon County, McKinley would not
elaborate.
“I plan to complete my current
term as mayor of Perry,”
McKinley said.
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OUT ON A
BRANCH
V
What’s Private?
What’s Public?
To Newspaper
A local politician recently challenged me to
“sit in this chair and see how tough the job is.” I
told him he ought to try sitting in the editor’s
chair and see just how tough my job is. Anyway,
nobody in the world made either of us take these
jobs and we aren’t going to be able to generate a
whole lot of sympathy by pointing out to the
public the scores of headaches, heartaches,
decisions and problems which come with the
position of public trust we both hold. Both of us
sit right here in these chairs because that is
exactly where we want to be and we wouldn’t
have it any other way.
That first paragraph leads me into telling you
something one of my sons once said to me. I
wrote something or other in this column about
something he had done that I thought was
noteworthy and interesting to my readers. When
I got home after getting the paper out, I read the
piece to the boy, and he responded by saying,
“Golly, daddy, I thought that was private. I’m
gonna’ be embarrassed at school.”
Newspapers are public institutions, and people
live private lives, and there’s a rub there that
has always bugged me. What’s public? What’s
private? Where does a newspaper draw the line?
What I am really talking about here is the
Perry Municipal Court. I made a policy change
in this newspaper a long time ago to do away
with the publishing of everything that went
through the Municipal Court each month. The
traffic fines, the DUI charges, the garbage dump
violations, the speeding tickets, the disorderly
conduct charges... the whole bit. I did away with
this coverage because I honestly felt most of the
things that go through Municipal Court are
private matters that do not have any real
bearing on the general public.
Most of the City Court cases are minor stuff,
and with the exception of only a few, the of
fenders are first time violators who deeply
regret their wrongdoing or just didn’t violate the
law intentionally.
In view of the cases that come up in City Court,
just how many cases would you say the in
dividual’s right to privacy overrules the public’s
right to know?
To me, it seems the public’s right is strongest
when an elected official or candidate is involved.
Whether or not the conduct reflects on the per
son’s fitness for office is a matter for the voter to
decide and judge, not the local newspaper.
In my opinion, a public official forfeits quite a
bit of personal privacy when he or she accepts
the job. The same is true of private citizens who
exercise a role in forming public policy. (For
example, local newspaper editors, reporters,
columnists).
This is my philosophy and I feel a great burden
to do what is in the best interest of all the people
The Home Journal serves in this community. In
all honesty, I must confess that my true feelings
are that if someone I know is arrested, I cringe if
it’s reported in print. If I don’t know any of the
people arrested in a case, I feel the public good
will somehow be served by full publicity.
The evidence of these feelings suggests I may
be right both times. Publication of names may
injure the people involved. It may also deter
others from committing similar offenses.
I am reminded as I write this column of
something a journalist of whose name I have
long since forgotten, once said: “The thorn is the
cushion of the editor’s chair.” How true. I feel
the thorn right now but I know that I can live with
the pain. Thank you, readers, for bearing with
me through something I strongly feel must be
stated for obvious reasons.
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