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4A THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28. 1989 ■ The Houston Home ■ I Journal ( a] 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, Praaldenl & Chairman of tha Board, Park Nawapapara JAMES B. KERCE Editor & General Manager RALPH MORRIS Managing Editor V .. . J Opinion Historical district is necessary We applaud the efforts of a group of Perry home owners who want to establish an historical district in the older part of town. In the future, some of the homes within the district will have tremendous historical significance. For now, the historical district would include homes on Beckham Circle and Evergreen, Washington, Main and Gilmer Streets. Included in this area would be the home where Sen. Sam Nunn was born on Beckham Circle and the boyhood home of Army Gen. Courtney Hodges on Evergreen. Establishment of the historical district would mean houses within it could not be tom down or altered, without approval from the planning and zoning com mission and the city council. The homeowners in the district have signed a peti tion to be presented to the planning commission for approval. We urge the commission and the council to act without delay in approving the historical district. Fee hikes will maintain quality Effective July 1, the city will increase water, sewer and garbage rates. The reason: It costs the city more to provide these necessary services to homeowners. For residential water users, the minimum fee will be $6.40 for up to 3,000 gallons. The next 3,000 gallons will be charged at the rate of $1.55 per 1,000 gallons. Over 6,000 gallons will cost $1.60 per 1,000 gallons. The new sewer rates will be based on a $5.40 mini mum or $1 per 1,000 gallons of water. The maximum sewer charge will be sl3 for residential use. Garbage pickup fees will rise from $6.75 to $8.50. However, elderly and handicapped residents who have applied for exemption from garbage pickup fees also will be exempt from the July 1 increase. Perry provides excellent utility services to its resi dents. We support these fee increases because we want that excellence to continue. The fee increases are fair. As we said before, the city would not seek these fee hikes if they were not absolutely necessary to maintain these vital services to us. First leg of expansion completed Construction on the Perry Hospital's $1.7 million expansion is continuing on schedule. This past Friday, BCB Inc., the general contractor for the expansion, held a "topping off ceremony and party to celebrate the completion of the concrete portion of the work. The remaining work should go pretty quickly, now that the structural work is done. The expansion work should be finished by year's end. The $1.7 million expansion will significantly in crease the hospital's emergency room and intensive care unit. What will the expansion mean to us? The hospital will be able to provide better medical attention to local patients. And it will be in a better position to recruit more doctors and specialists to our town. ff Voice your opinion! Write a letter to the Editor... The Houston Home Journal values your opinion, and will gladly publish your "Letter to the Editor." We encourage letters pertaining to issues faced by Perry and South Houston County residents. To submit a letter, either bring it by our offices at 807 Carroll St., (across from the courthouse), or mail to P.O. Drawer M, Perry, Ga. 31069 PERRY. GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS. CALL ~ | HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN ? GEORGE BUSH, FORMALLY A PROMINENT PUBLIC OFFICIAL, IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN MISPLACED SOMEWHERE AMONG IMPORTANT AND INSIGNIFICANT NEWS EVENTS. HE WAS LAST NOTICED, WE THINK, SOMETIME DURING THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. IF YOU SHOULD SIGHT HIM PLEASE CONTACT YOUR NEAREST NEWS ORGANIZATION. Homeless caught in vicious cycle There is no happier sight than a man who has just landed a job. Proudly, he leaves the interview ready for a fresh start. The next day, this particular man starts work and tries his best hop ing to be able to put a deposit on a small apartment so he can slop liv ing in his car. Although he is a hard-worker and a skillful employee, his supervisor starts to get upset about his new worker still wearing his interview clothes and looking dirtier everyday. He comes to work exhausted every morning after being ordered by the police the night before to move on every few hours when they find him sleeping in his old car. By the end of the week, he loses his job. He is one of the uncountable homeless people in Perry faced with this vicious cycle of not being able to hold a job because he has nowhere to live, but he has nowhere to live because he can't hold a job. They are uncountable, according to The Salvation Army of Houston County, because the homeless don't slay in Perry long, because there are no resources here for them. They catch rides up Interstate 75 to Ma- July 4,1940: A time for rededication (Editor's Note: The fol lowing column was written by Theresa D. Hodges. At the time the column ap peared in The Home Journal on July 4, 1940, she was the librarian of the Petersburg Public Library in Peters burg, Va. She was the sister of the late HHJ Publisher John Hodges. She wrote this guest column at his request.) By THERESA D. HODGES The Fourth of July has been celebrated by Americans in a great variety of moods. In times of national crisis and distress, such as the War Between the States, Spanish War, and the World War, our people have been too tense, too distracted to give much thought to the day. In times of peace and prosperity, it has meant a noisy holiday, with flags, uniforms, parades, picnics, and perhaps some oratory to remind us of Lexington and Valley Forge. But, never in the 164 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence should the mood of celebration be more significant than today. In this time of anxious uncer Perry viewpoint 1 Local editorials and columns on events in Perry & S. Houston J Meiissa'craddock HHJ Staff Writer - -4 con or Atlanta or other cities equipped with soup kitchens and homeless shelters where they can cat, shower and sleep until they get on their feet. It's easy for us people with homes, families, food and jobs to not think about what life would be like if we didn't have all of those things. But, I was given that chal lenge by Capt. Larry Hambrick, the head of The Salvation Army here. One day when I was talking to him about the homeless problem in Perry, he told me to pul on my oldest clothes, cut my fingernails, dirty myself up some and walk around near 1-75. He said I should tainty and imminent dangers, we Americans should take this Inde pendence Day as a time for re-dedi cating ourselves to national unity, to a finer patriotism that means not inertia but effort, not indulgence but sacrifice. Our forefathers not only declared for this country the doctrine of equality of man and the rights of each to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but they fought for that principle for seven long years. That priceless heritage we have en joyed for 164 years. It has devel oped a great nation of free people and a great government, still re sponsive to the will of its con stituents. So today, as we survey the world, torn by war in which a country, itself already enslaved by a power-mad dictator, seeks to en slave all other free people, we must guard our own freedom with jealous care. * Practically, to guard our freedom does not mean war. But it does mean full preparation for defense, with a great army and a great navy. If such defense calls for universal service, not only in arms, but in industry and allied services, then we should freely support it. go up to people, ask them for something to eat and see what would happen. I was frightened just thinking about being out on the street, alone, with no money and no place to go. And that was exactly what he wanted me to be. "You're scared just thinking about it, even when you know that you have a warm bed to go home to after it's all over," he said. "Now just think how scary it really is for people who don't have anywhere to go.” But he went further. He asked me to imagine having to buy all of my groceries at a convenience store because it was the only place close enough to gel to without a car. Just think of having to carry your clothes on your back to a laundromat and washing them in industrial machines that will wear them out faster than a home ma chine would, he said. If you can't walk somewhere, think of the ex pense of calling a cab to go every where you had to. It gets worse if you have chil dren, and can't work because you can't afford child care. Most of us never think of these Continued on Page 5A To support it may mean great self-denial, not only in taxes, but in relinquishing prejudices, old ideas. But we should remember that na tional strength comes from self-de nial. Full defense, prepared not only for attack from across the seas, but from insidious disguised attack from neighboring countries and even from within our own country, is the only way of preserving our selves against war in a world largely dominated by a force that knows no fear except a stronger armed force. Whether we are isolationists or interventionists is not the question. All of our great men from Wash ington, Webster to Wilson, as well as all thinkers of today, acknowl edge our great debt to Europe in science, law, letters. We know that our free institutions had their root in England. We should resolve then to make a recompense to them. Let us at all costs save the United Stales as a free people, not only for ourselves, but as a beacon light from which those desperate nations whose light has gone out may some day rekindle the flame that will restore freedom to them. ♦ A » Jim Kerce ; HHJ Editor JJ : July 1989: It is a time to celebrate July ushers in the second half of 1989. The month was named for Julius 1 Caesar (it was formerly Quintilis); it was the month in which the Ro man ruler was bom. For Americans, July is espe cially historic. Our independence is celebrated on the Fourth. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought during the first three days of July in 1863. Three of our presidents were born in July -- John Quincy Adams, Calvin Coolidgc and Gerald Ford. The first admiral in the U.S. Navy, David G. Farragul, was bom on July 5, 1801. The Republican Party was founded on July 6, 1854, at Jack son, Mich, One largely forgotten, though relatively recent day, is July 10. On that day in 1942, the Allies invaded Europe for the first time in World War 11. Gen. Eisenhower directed an amphibious invasion of Sicily. July, the first full month of summer, is a month of vacations, holidays, swimming, boating and outdoor pleasures - and too many highway accidents. But, more important, it is a time of celebration -a time to celebrate our freedom. *** |' •, \ Steps down On July 1, 1897, the president of Washington and Lee University resigned after leading that educa tional institution for more than 20 years. Sixteen years later, in 1913, he died in Virginia. He had lost his rightful family inheritance, Arlington, which was only a few miles distant from him when he lay on his death bed. He had graduated first in his class at West Point, in 1854, and thus much was expected of him in , military circles. But he never quite , lived up to those high expectations. He made his name in education, and his name is still a revered name 1 at Washington and Lee. He made his way through life under the handicap of having the most famous name in the nation, which no one, perhaps, could quite live up to. Who was he? His name was George Washing ton Lee - all family names. He was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee. *** J_ast campaign Many historians selected July 3, 1863, as the turning point of the Civil War, when Union victory be come almost a certainty. On this date. General Lee was defeated by Gen. George Meade at Gettysburg. This was also the day Vicksburg surrendered to Gen. U. S. Grant, thus cutting the Confederacy in two. Some historians argue that over emphasis on the battles in Virginia hides the fact that the war was largely won in the west. Grant had attempted to take Vicksburg in 1862, but desperate and daring cavalry actions by Nathan Bedford Forrest and Gen. Earl Van Dorn had checked his at tack. In 1863, he began a scige of that city after two frontal attacks in May had been defeated with heavy union losses. The Confederates couldn't break Grant's seige and by July 3, the 20,000 troops of Gen. John Pem berton holed up in that city were starving, as was the civilian popu-; lation. Pemberton was forced to surren- • der. This was ominous news for the- Continued on Page 5A