Newspaper Page Text
A -THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL. WEDNESDAY MAY 31. 1989
If m The Houston Home a
I Journal
[7 ' ~——
The Houston Home Journal
OFFICIAL ORGAN, CITY OF PERRY AND HOUSTON
COUNTY, GEORGIA, SINCE 1870
PUBLISHED EACH WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY MORNING
807 CARROLL ST„ P.O. DRAWER M, PERRY, GA. 31069
TELEPHONE: (912) 987-1823
The Houston Home Journal (USPS 252-780) is published biweekly for $lB per year by the
Houston Home Journal, Inc., 807 Carroll St., Perry, Ga. 31069. Second Class Postage paid
at Perry, Ga. POSTMASTER: Send address change to The Houston Home Journal, P.O.
Drawer M, Perry, Ga. 31069,
ROY H. PARK, President & Chairman ol the Board, Park Newsptpere
JAMES B, KERCE
Editor & General Manager
DAVID VON ALMEN RALPH MORRIS
(Advertising Manager Managing Editor I
I Opinion .
Water, sewer rate hikes needed
Any rapidly-growing city must sooner or later face the
price of progress. Upgrading and expanding services
such as water, sewer, grabage collection, roads and fire
and police protection provided to citizens costs money.
But, it has to be spent to keep pace with progress.
Perry is no exception.
We ARE growing. City Hall IS meeting new demands
placed on services. And, those demands DO cost money.
Money city officials do not have.
Perry officials have done a commendable job over the
last few years in expanding services to meet needs of new
industry and citizens. Also, the mayor, council and city
manager have made every effort to control costs and
avoid tax increases.
However, Perry has reached the point where our
current city budget can no longer absorb additional costs
of providing upgraded services to existing residents and
an expected influx of new citizens.
Despite the fact Perry has "held the line" on budgeted
water and sewer rate increases, recently expanded service
to the Agricenter, PPG and Northrop has placed unusual
demands on the city. Plus, Perry is constantly upgrading
older water and sewer lines.
These factors have put our city into a position of
having to raise rates to meet growth.
"We managed to get by without it, but we won't be
able to next year," City Manager Marion Hay said at a
recent budget hearing for the city's fiscal year 1990.
At present, the city isn't sure what the rate hike might
be. Present monthly rates are $5.09 minimum and $12.61
maximum.
Naturally, like most citizens, we do not look forward
to paying more for services. But, like most, we
understand the need to do so.
A small hike in utility rates, we believe, is well worth
the return the city will see shortly in terms of growth and
new tax income.
Commission shirking responsibility
Houston County is shirking its duty to the Perry-Fort
Valley Airport by refusing to pay its share of operating
that vital facility.
Last year Houston's County Commission failed to join
Perry, Fort Valley and Peach County in putting up cash to
help operate the airport. Last week, they again refused to
match the $8,850 pledged by other governments.
However, the county did offer some "in kind"
maintenance and construction work to the authority which
governs the facility.
This "token" support isn't enough.
Any resident of Houston County has access to the
airport. Plus the facility is a major draw to new industry
which could bring additional tax money into Houston's
coffers.
In other words, every citizen of Houston County—
present and future—stands to benefit from the facility.
So, why isn't the commission paying its share to help
operate the airport? The reason cannot really be a lack of
funds. In a budget as large as Houston County's, $8,850
is probably a drop in the bucket.
Surely, the commission can find this small sum of
money to help assure future growth.
Assure Agricenter start-up date
The State of Georgia is unhappy with a series of delays
which has plagued construction of the Agricenter in
Perry, but is not commenting on any action it may take to
speed up the project.
"We wanted them (the contractors) to work faster and
do better quality work," a state spokesman said last week
about the oft-delayed project.
The site's general contractor, Carlson Corporation,
originally said the project would be ready for shows by
late July or August. That completion date has been moved
back —moved again—and now may wind up being late in
1989.
We see no solid reason to allow these delays to con
tinue. They are embarrassing to Agricenter workers who
have booked—then had to cancel—shows. The delays
also can tarnish the public's opinion toward a community
trying hard to project a progressive image to the state and
nation.
Officials with the Georgia State Financing and Invest
ment Commission, who oversee state construction, need
to immediately consider actions to assure further delays
do not occur.
PERRY. GEORGIA S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS. CALL 987-1823
#&#*»><•
LJ
Jr_ ‘ : ' v r- VC <U'F
llil F
“When You Read About That Rob Lowe Fellow At
The Democratic Convention, All Os A Sudden You
Realize How Dukakis Got The Nomination...”
Tobacco companies touting health
food: It seems a might paradoxical
Nutrition seems always to be in
the news these days. Every time
you look up, there are new statis
tics to tell you what to eat and what
not to eat.
The public seems to have an in
satiable appetite for these statistics,
and advertisers have been quick to
jump on the bandwagon.
The latest kick is oat bran. There
must be more than a dozen new
products featuring oat bran on gro
cery store shelves since studies
showed that oat bran can lower
serum cholesterol.
Eating oat bran has become one
of the fastest growing fads in the
country. I call it a fad, since I be
lieve it will fade out as rapidly as
the Hula Hoop once people realize
how much good it is really doing.
It has now started to come out
that it would take at least five
bowls a day of most of the new oat
bran cereals to match the dosages
used to achieve cholesterol reduc-
The widow-woman' and the 'tooth
dentist'. . . choose words carefully
One of the best things that ever
happened to me was Thelma
Daniels. She wasn't a heart-throb,
or even good-looking. She was an
English teacher, and challenged
students to learn. I imagined her to
be ancient, but she is still alive. So
much for the time concepts of
teenagers.
She was our home room teacher
(we had them even back then!) in
the mountains of Eastern Kentucky,
and every school day she required us
to answer the roll with a new word
and definition. Imagine that shov
ing, anxious crowd of students
pushing toward the dictionary in the
library every morning before the
bell rang. It was a "Kentucky Won
der!"
My Dad was another tremendous
influence with words. He used high
sounding language all the time, and
I just supposed that I was expected
to do the same. What a shock when
I learned, from him, that he never
finished elementary school. The
man was a master with words, and
knew what they meant. Once he
came down south to visit his young
preacher son; I did my best to im
press him in a sermon. Afterwards,
he asked me about a word 1 had
used. 1 proudly gave him the mean
ing of the word. He allowed that I
Perry viewpoint ~]
Local editorials and columns on events in Perry & S. Houston J
mr
Olin Hubert
HHJ Staff Writer
i
lions. Even if someone were to
consume such quantities, along
with eliminating most of his fat
intake, the expected reduction would
be no more than three or four
percent.
This is just one example of how
people will jump to conclusions
based on the scantest statistical
evidence.
Fiber has been big for several
JL
The Rev.
Carter Berkeley
Pastor, Perry United
Methodist Church
— J'
might look it up. Surprised, I
looked. Embarrassed, 1 tipped my
hat to Dad! I had badly mispro
nounced the word.
That was the day I learned that
words arc used, not to impress, but
to communicate!
That same year I also learned
about "irregardless." That's a fa
vorite preacher word. We love to
thunder about how "irregardless of
what we think," certain things will
happen. One day, Mrs. Jot Flanders
asked me about it. She was well
into her 80s, and she wondered
about a word 1 used. Feeling smug
years now. One commercial advised
eating a certain cereal because "the
American Cancer Society says
some studies suggest that a low-fat,
high-fiber diet may help to reduce
the risk of certain kinds of cancer."
With that commercial, the com
pany broke its long-standing policy
against claiming specific health
benefits for its products, yet its
claim contains no hard facts what
soever, just a jumble of equivocal
language that would make any bu
reaucrat proud.
"Some" studies "suggest" that
such a diet "may help" reduce the
risk. Does this also mean that such
a diet may not help reduce the risk?
How much would the risk be re
duced? Would it be .001 percent?
What types of cancer would be
prevented? Would they be common
or extremely rare types, and would
they be types that both men and
women are susceptible to?
Continued on Back Page
about my learning, I assured her I
would be glad to help her. "Well,
then, what," she asked innocently,
"does 'irregardless' mean?"
"Why, it means ..." I began,
and paused. For the first time 1
considered the word. "Well," I fi
nally admitted, "I guess the correct
word is 'regardless.'" She smiled,
and I had learned another lesson:
Know how valid a word is before
using it.
But, thanks to Mrs. Flanders,
just imagine how smug I feel when
1 hear another preacher with his
"irregardless!"
The "widow-woman" and the
"tooth dentist," of course, are just
examples of what not to say. Ever
hear of a widow who wasn't a
woman? Or a dentist who didn't
work with teeth? Yet we have heard
both expressions countless times,
when just "widow" or "dentist" will
do nicely.
With some words, however,
there is no confusion. The expres
sion of the greatest truth in human
history is this: "God so loved the
world that he gave his only begot
ten son, that whosoever believclh
in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life" (John 3:16). Those
words are clear. And believable. Use
the right word: Believe!
■ f" '
A .
Jim Kerce
HHJ Editor
Kids, The Plan'
very important
to daily routine
Ok, kids, wc talked last week
about all the goodies teens and pre
teens need to survive those years
between nine and 16. •
Remember?
Sure you do. By now you’ve
collected every bottle, jar, can, bar
and lube of shampoo, conditioner,
soap, "zit" medicine, finger nail
polish and remover, hair clips,
combs, brushes, band aids and bub
ble bath you can find.
They should be placed on every
available square inch of space
around the rim of your tub and
shower. Plus have plenty to cover
all counters. Got 'em there? Excel
lent.
Now your room. Arc there
enough paper, pencils, pens, small
change, stereo cassettes, sheet
music, shoes, socks, guitar, amp,
ghetto busier and clothes to
completely cover every flat surface
in the closet, on the floor and desk
lop? Very good.
And lastly, I know you've been
secretly practicing that MOST IM
PORTANT gesture that shows total
distain for ANY request made by a
parent. Remember?
Flip you head rapidly to one side
while rolling eyes heavenward and
looking pained. End the gesture
with a sharply exhaled "uhm," or a
pitiful "aw-w-w-w-w." (This should
IMMEDIATELY be followed by a
quick "bul-I-just-gotta," or
"wailaminute."
Now, you "gotta have" THE
PLAN! A fool-proof way to avoid
doing anything around the house
you don't want to do.
Sure, 1 know school willl be out
in a couple of days, but since you
spend more months in school than
not, we ll develop a plan for after
classes and weekends. Then you'll
have all summer to perfect The
Plan. Plus most of these lips can
be used during this three-month
holiday.
Now, next fall, here's a schedule
designed as a sure-fire avenue to
doing only those things you want.
* ♦ *
After school is your time
First, it is important to under
stand the hours before parents get
home from work is YOUR TIME.
A period to do anything you want
without getting fussed at.
Right after school, you're hun
gry. Quick as you arrive home,
immediately grab a big glass of
milk or juice, two, three or more
Little Debbie Cakes, cookies,
doughnuts, cheese and crackers or
whatever snack is in the rcfrigalor
or cabinet. (If you can arrange to
get home before a brothcr/sislcr, try
to eat ALL the snacks, even if you
have to feed some to the family pet.
Your thoughtfulness will be appre
ciated by brolhcr/sistcr.)
Gel your snack assortment to
gether and flip on the TV. There arc
some great soap operas and cartoons
on in the afternoon. More than one
TV in the house? Turn 'em all on—
to different channels. Also playing
the radio at lhe t same them adds a
new dimension to watching and
listening pleasure.
Finished with your snack? Leave
wrappers on the counter, in your
room or whcrccvcr. Pul your par
tially-finished milk or juice glass
on the kitchen counter next to
bowls of half-finished breakfast ce
real, which by now arc growing in
teresting cultures.
Now, settle down to some seri
ous TV watching, playing with the
family pet, or both. (Never mind
that mom/dad asked you to clean up
the kitchen and do homework after
school.)
Soon as your parents arrive
home from work and complain
about the mess you've made then
ask about homework—swing into
Continued on Page 5A