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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6. 1979
—Page of Opinion
Merchants Need Help
Houston County merchants need
your help. They need you to help
them watch for those persons who
never heard of the phrase, “Thou
shalt not steal". These are the kind
of people who are costing you, me
and the merchants more money
every day.
Last year in Georgia shoplifters
accounted for a loss of $250 million
for merchants, a loss which is
passed on to the consumer. It has
been estimated that most stores
could cut prices by as much as five
percent without the losses incurred
through shoplifting.
Too many people consider
Ain’t Very Cheery
As we enter the holiday season
with thoughts of sugar plums, spice
cakes and Christmas bills filling
our heads, we give pause to note
the state of the economy. It ain’t
very cheery.
The cost of living jumped in
September to 14 percent while
buying power of the average
worker fell .7 percent. Interest
rales are as high as 15% percent.
But knowing that it is more
blessed to give than receive, guess
who is not coming out on the short
end of the stick? You guessed it,
dear old Uncle Sam.
While your cost of living from
Back To Atlanta
Georgia’s older citizens met
earlier this month at the Capitol in
Atlanta for the Silver Haired
Legislature. The senior citizens
passed nine mock bills, mostly
dealing with taxes and income.
One bill would eliminate sales
tax on prescription drugs and also
exempt sales and use taxes.
Another sought elimination of
school tax on property of the
elderly and the handicapped.
The elder statesmen also came
Who Are Poor Folks?
We note this week that the
Secretary of Health and Welfare
has gone honest with the public.
Patricia Harris says there are 25
million “poor” people in America.
Now let’s look at what’s being
done for them. Well, first of all the
Health and Welfare people have
some 213,000 federal (taxpayer’s)
employees to look after the needs of
those 25 million. And with our
various spending programs to
subsidize all these poor folks
running at about S6OO billion each
year, what happens to all that
money?
Why do we even need such a
Where's Good News?
The Rev. Norman Vincent Peale
used the forum provided by a Boy
Scout award to his radio program
recently to issue a familiar -
sounding appeal for more of the
“good news.” The apostle of
positive thinking urged the media
to write stories that would help
Americans “feel better about
ourselves."
As an organization that prints an
assorted variety of news, the
Patent-Trader has developed a
certain resistance to this
viewpoint. To begin with, we
suspect that most readers, Dr.
Peale apparently included, don’t
realize how much good news does
sneak into the media. Often, it
comes under the heading of
“human interest," and it may be
heartwarming, tear-jerking or
laugh-provoking. In any case, it is
set apart sharply from the “Two
dead in freak three-car accident"
variety.
As for the considerable
representation of the not-so-good in
our,and every other newspapers’
news columns, we don’t see this
coming to an early end. This
assessment is based on our un
derstanding of what is news.
As we see it, news represents,
very roughly, departure from the
shoplifting a "petty’’ crime. The
fact is, shoplifting is the largest
monetary crime in the nation with
losses estimated to be in excess of
$8 billion annually. And, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
estimates that shoplifting is rising
on an average of 20 percent each
year.
Something has got to be done . If
we all help shopowners keep a
watchful eye, maybe we can deter
our peers who don’t care how much
we might eventually have to pay
for the goods they get free.
Remember, when it comes to
shoplifting, the consumer pays.
1971-1977 was rising 45.4 percent,
government tax collections were
swelling 59.4 percent. Income taxes
rose more than 70.6 percent.
Translated to numbers, the
government taxation went from 382
billion in 1971 to $657 billion last
year.
With things headed this way
more and more everyday, we
might all have to get use to a
permanent Christmas state of
mind. It’s obvious we will all be
asked to give more and more with
increasingly less and less
proportionate income. Oh well,
“Jingle bills, jingle bills”.
down on criminals, passing
legislation which would prohibit
granting of pardons in situations
where death sentences are com
muted to life imprisonment and
prohibit pardons and paroles for
those convicted of armed robbery.
Most of the senior citizens must
have had a good time in Atlanta.
One of the last bills which passed
both houses provided for annual
sessions of the Silver Haired
Legislature.
national department? Heck, we
could just take that S6OO billion,
divide it by the 25 million poor and
give them all about $24,000 a year.
At least that way, with these folks
spending that money, our economy
would benefit, jobs would be
created, and who knows, we might
even be able to reduce this one
budget item enough to pay fewer
folks to be poor.
But with the average worker
earning less than $24,000 annually,
you never can tell. More of us
might want to get a job being poor.
More and more it makes us won
der, “What do they do with all that
money?"
ordinary. (Hence the name.) Try
as we might, we could not stir
reader interest in a report that
15,000 customers of the local power
company enjoyed uninterrupted
service yesterday. News is when a
storm topples tree branches onto
power lines, and 600 of those
customers lose their power.
There are exceptions to this rule,
as to most others. If Conrail’s on
time performance suddenly
escalated from dismal to splendid
or even so-so that would be
news, all right, and news right up
Dr. Peale’s alley.
We intend to go on printing good
news, not only where we find it, but
also where we hear a rumor that it
may be lurking. As to making
Americans “feel better about
ourselves" though, we aren’t sure
that’s a worthy enterprise for a
newspaper.
We all should feel about our
selves as we are entitled to feel,
based on the degree to which our
conduct has met the criteria posed
by conscience, law and the rights of
others. This newspaper is not about
to fuzz over (hat stern analysis with
any rosy clouds of reflected glory.
Let’s look at the good, the bad and
the in-between, and then think
positively about where the balance
lies.
THE AYATOU AH...
HAT^
County y?ines CTf
BY JOEL FERGUSON
Facts About Pedestrian Safety
Maurice 0. Myers, amiable
service director for the AAA-
Georgia Motor Club, was in town
last Thursday to present a
Pedestrian Safety Citation to the
local police department for their
part in maintaining an un
blemished pedestrian safety record
in Perry last year.
Myers said the citation was
earned by the police officers
because not one single pedestrian
death was recorded here in 1978.
While we were at city hall to take
a photo of the presentation, Myers
started to talking about the AAA
Motor Club’s campaign to reduce
pedestrian deaths. He mentioned,
for instance, that the first recorded
traffic fatality in the United States
occurred in 1899 in New York City,
and that the victim was a
pedestrian.
The organization is certainly to
be commended for their goal in
reducing pedestrian deaths, and
especially for focusing attention on
the safety of children. Myers
pointed out that 93 percent of all
children injured enroute to and
from school were struck at
locations where no type of special
school crossing protection such as
safety patrols, adult guards, or
police officers were in use.
The pedestrian safety expert said
pre-school children from two to six
years of age are estimated to be
involved in from 18 to 25 percent of
all pedestrian accidents -- yet this
age group represents only about 6
percent of the total population. He
added that more than two out of
three pre-school pedestrian ac
cident victims are male.
Another startling fact disclosed
by Myers is that it is estimated that
more than 300 children are killed
playing in their own driveways
each year.
According to Myers, pedestrians
below the age of 15 and those over
64 account for 45 percent of all
pedestrian fatalities. He said 22
percent of all pedestrians killed are
under 15, and approximately 44
percent of all pedestrians injured
are under 15. Older adults, the
other hand, account for nearly one
Got A Gripe? Write The Editor
fourth of all pedestrians killed, and
7 percent of all pedestrians injured.
Since 1937, when the AAA was
developing the Pedestrian Safety
Inventory Program, pedestrian
fatalities have dropped from 15,500
to 8,800 in 1978. This represents a
reduction of 43 percent. During this
same period, motor vehicle
registration increased 419 percent,
motor vehicle travel jumped 461
percent, and non-pedestrian
fatalities have increased 79 percent
(24,143 to 43,100).
During the discussion, Myers
also quoted the following additional
statistics concerning pedestrian
safety:
+ In the first year of the AAA
Pedestrian Safety Inventory, 107
cities submitted reports. This year
a record 2,751 cities submitted
reports.
+ It is estimated that the
economic loss resulting from
pedestrian accidents is over S2OO
million annually.
+ Os the adult pedestrians killed
in accidents nearly one fourth had
been drinking.
+ More than one half of all
pedestrian traffic fatalities occur
during hours of darkness, although
pedestrian and vehicle traffic is
significantly less at night.
+ The majority of pedestrians
killed in traffic violated a traffic
law or committed an obviously
unsafe act.
+ Pedestrian fatalities account
for 17 percent of all highway
fatalities and 5 percent of all traffic
injuries.
+ The total number of pedestrian
deaths during 1978 was 8,800. This
represents a slight increase over
the 1977 figure. Nearly 70 percent of
all pedestrian deaths occur in
urban areas, while only about
thirty-six percent of all motor
vehicle deaths occur in urban
areas.
+ Since 1928, when national
statistics first became available,
nearly one half million pedestrians
have died in traffic accidents.
+ The pedestrian death toll
exceeds combined air, marine and
rail transport deaths by three
times.
OUT ON A ImF
BRANCH ***
s ■
Whatever Happened
To Those Old-Timey
Christmases?. . . . Inflation!
Remember when the Christmas Holiday
season was uncomplicated? Sure you do. That
was back in the days when inflation was what
folks thought happened to make a balloon float.
Those days SIOO would create a Christmas
morning to meet the wildest fantasies of the kids.
It is not an original question with me, writers
and others have been asking it for years ... What
happened to Christmas?
Perhaps the most glaring example of in
flation’s cruel slap at Christmas is the Christmas
tree. It has become a tradition in our family for
us all to load up in The Home Journal van and go
looking for a suitable tree three weeks before
Christmas. We plan to do just that this Friday
night. But in recent years, the price of trees
seems to soar even more dramatically than a
box of tide or a T-bone steak at the grocery store.
If you’re looking for a big tree, you can expect
to pay SSO to SIOO at the farmer’s market in
Macon. For $25, you get about what you can cut
from your own backyard. It’s a sad state of
affairs.
Those of you who still have youngsters in the
toy stage have been shocked when you looked at
the price tags on this year’s offering of computer
games, electronic racing sets, electronic robots,
electronic spaceships and electronic everything.
Whatever happened to the simple, really fun
toys? They don’t make them anymore.
Everything contains a battery. I think it is a
great conspiracy on the part of Ray-a-vac and
the Radio Shack. And when you pick up one of
these computer games, which fits snugly in the
palm of your hand,the price tag of $35.99 stares
you in the face causing you to drop the game on
the floor and then slyly placing it back on the
shelf in the hope that it is not damaged or that the
sales-clerk didn’t see what had happened.
Know what else inflation has hit for the
season? Decorations and lights for the tree. And
how about the rates Georgia Power Co. is
charging you to light up this Christmas.
If this sounds like an anti-Christmas column.it
is not. Christmas is my favorite time of the year.
It is a time for the family and friends to renew
their relationships and to enjoy each other. It is a
time of peace and happiness and a time to look
forward to a better World and a better way of
life. Most importantly, it is the time of year to
celebrate the birth of Christ and inflation plays
absolutely no role in that significant occasion.
In the meantime, I am going to kick inflation
under the rug and pull out the plastic cards. Let’s
get those games and that tree and all the other
things that brings a bright glow into the house at
this time of the year. We can all begin once again
to worry about inflation and the Christmas
bills in January. Right now, let’s enjoy the
season but at the same time let’s remember
what it really is all about.
the Houston Home Journoi
OFFICIAL ORGAN CITY OF PERRY
AND HOUSTON COUNTY, GEORGIA, SINCE 1870
1010 CARROLL ST., P.O. DRAWER M, PERRY, GA 3106?
PHONE (?U) 987-1823 OR NIGHTS (912) 987-1690
BOBBY BRANCH PHILBYRD
Editor Publisher General Manager
TONYBLAKLEY JOEL FPBrncmu
Advertising Mgr, News Editor
. TERRY WOOD
iJjLv Features, Photographer
JUNE VOGT
W Bookkeeper, Proofing
TpCjtym/- DONNA DENNARD
Jif' mV' ' Composition, Circulation
FRANK RUSSO
A i>.uDiri lliitilujiiun EMiLY MONTGOMERY
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