Newspaper Page Text
4A
-THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1992
Perry viewpoint
( T
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 semi weekly 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 of the Board, Park Newspapers
JAMES B. KERCE
Editor & General Manager
BRIGETTE HAMILTON TERESA HAWK
Managing Editor Advertising Manager
J
Easy abortions?
Probably the only aspect of the present abortion contro
versy 90 percent of Americans agree on is the undesirability
of abortion on demand by anyone.
This treats developing human life too lightly. Most who
believe an embryo is not yet a human being (but who may
not be sure about the alter stage of pregnancy, the fetus)
believe aborting an embryo, defined in the dictionary as an
organism, is not taking a human life.
Probably 90 percent of Americans look with disfavor on
abortions. The dividing line is between those who see them
as the lesser of two evils in some circumstances, if per
formed early enough, and those who are emotionally and
morally committed to the church theory that all conception
even the egg a few days after fertilization, is immediately a
human life.
Polls show the majority of Americans agree with the re
cent Supreme Court decision on abortion-that within cer
tain parameters women have the right of a choice. This is in
line with the field ot medical science, that early abortions
are not the taking of human life.
But the church and those who believe otherwise see their
fight as a moral crusade against murder. Thus their persis
tence and fanatical opposition, which one can understand.
But in the turmoil and chaos of national debate it’s good to
keep in mind that very tew favor abortion on demand, un
der any circumstance. On that, there’s wide agreement.
States set conditions, and this appears to be as close to a
solution as the nation can reach-until the issue is ruled on
again by a different Supreme Court-a possibility in future
years.
Religion and education
Some social conservatives are criticizing the Supreme
Court’s present five-member majority for ruling out prayer
in the public schools. That decision, last month, was
inevitable; the only surprise was that only five members
barred references to religion in official school functions.
There are approximately 90 million Protestants in the na
tion and 55 million Catholics. Conservatives among them
and the hierarchy favor the tradition of references to God
as on our currency, in swearing in ceremonies, and as used
in courts.
But not all of these 145 million Americans favor refer
ences to God in the public schools. Many, in fact, believe
religion should be left to the churches and church schools.
Os the other 100 million Americans, not members of a
church, they overwhelmingly feel children should not be
subjected to any religion in the public schools. There are,
of course, agnostics, atheists and those of other faiths, who
don’t accept biblical stories.
The key justices in ruling out the use of prayer in the
public schools were three Reagan-Bush appointees, Sandra
O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter. The ar
gument of Justice Antonin Scalia that retaining piayer in
public schools would be a “unifying mechanism” seems
weak. In fact, just the opposite is the current effect.
About half of the population which doesn’t accept tradi
tional biblical stories resents intrusion of one religious the
ory (among many in the world) into public education.
Erwin wishes papers gave
tournament more coverage
Dear Editor:
As one of the coaches of the Twins baseball team in the
Mite league of Perry, I would like to thank you for the pic
ture of one of my players you ran this summer. Also we
(our team) appreciated seeing the game summaries from
week to week and any other coverage you gave us.
However, I wish you could have covered our big tourna
ment. The Braves, Reds, Tigers and Twins played in a
double elimination tournament with the Robins Air Force
Base teams from July 9-14. The games were played in
Perry and on the base. To my knowledge none of these
games were specifically covered.
Two of the Perry teams made it to the final four (out of
Please see LETTER, page 12A
11 1 ■*"■■■»■ I.— ■ I —————
THE PIED PIPER
Citizens protest former convict’s pay
10 years ago
July 22,1982
About 100 local law enforce
ment officials and other citizens
protested the county
commissioners’ hiring of a former
convict at a higher salary than the
sheriffs deputies were paid. Ronnie
Pierce was hired at a construction
project lor a salary for $6.05 per
hour.
* * *
Earl Check, a member of U.S.
Senator Sam Nunn’s staff for eight
years, announced his retirement.
Cheek was replaced in Nunn’s Perry
ollice by David Williams, a
University of Georgia graduate.
* * *
Electrical storms in Perry caused
live house fires according to Gary
Hamlin, chief of the Perry Fire
Department. Fires were started by
lightening striking television sets
in the houses.
15 years ago
July 21, 1977
The Houston Home Journal's
sports editor, Phil Byrd, rolled his
race car to a stop after winning third
place in the media Match Race in
Warner Robins.
* * *
The City of Perry received its
permit to operate a radar gun in the
Local races important for small towns
There’s been something on my
mind for the past few weeks and 1
think it has a lot to do with all of
the politicians and candidates I’ve
been calling and hounding for
quotes, file photos and basic
information, really. I’ve always
been registered to vote, well, ever
since 1 turned 18, but I never really
placed much interest or time into
the local elections. I guess in my
mind they weren’t important in the
long run.
1 was away at school most of the
time and would send in my absentee
ballot after asking my parents what
their opinions were. After all, they
were in Plattsburgh, not me, so
shouldn’t their opinions be more
correct?
1 know, not exactly. I very well
could have read up on the candidates
myself. All it would have taken
was some big envelopes and some
effort on my parents’ part, but at
the time, a quick phone call to New
York seemed much easier.
Now that I’ve been interviewing
all of these candidates and
incumbents to profile them for my
campaign articles. I’ve caught a
somewhat disturbing glimpse into
small town politics that must have
been missing since 1988.
To interview a candidate, I would
when? I
News items from past issues
city limits to help apprehend speed
ing motorists, the unit was pur
chased for 51,500 to aid the city’s
“plague” of speeders.
* * *
Perry City Council rejected a
proposal to spend 5826 for a decal
to be placed on all city vehicles.
The decal would have had a painting
of Commodore Hazard Perry, the
city’s namesake, and the city coun
cil building in the background.
25 years ago
July 27, 1967
Councilman Richard Goodroe
was to go to the Perry City
Council for the fourth time in an
effort to pass a law cutting in half
the ad valorem taxes of persons 65
and over on their homes and
furnishings. The sought reduction
was 50 percent.
* * *
Houston County schools were
delayed in opening by one week.
Instead of August 28, schools were
to open September 5. The delay
| writer
try to gel a real general gist of
w here they stand on issues and what
their vision of a “perfect” Houston
County and State of Georgia is.
Needless to say, I was pretty
frightened at what some of them
had to say,
I would like to make it clear
right now that this is not how I feel
about all of the people with w'hom
1 spoke. Many of them were very
bright and seemed to have their
priorities in order. They knew what
their duties were going to be, and
they also could keep separate
issues, well, separate.
Others, however, were down
right scary. I’m not going to give
any specifics, but the ones who
struck me as not quite having all of
their sandwiches in their picnic
baskets arc the ones that were too
focused on single subjects, but will
extend the situations into other
areas.
“...and do you see? They do the
was caused by necessary delays in
school construction projects.
* * *
The Georgia State Association
of FFA announced that the Perry
chapter had placed First in the re
porter and treasury contest and sec
ond in the secretary contest. The
recipients were Charles Walker,
Ken Chapman and Wayne Lewis.
50 years ago
July 27, 1942
Perry received a new fire engine
and equipment that had been ordered
months earlier, but had been delayed
by war conditions. Mayor S.A.
Nunn and councilmen were to
commended for supplying this pro
tection.
* * *
Peanut growers could buy eight
penny nails for tacking strips in
peanut poles used in harvesting the
present crop. Arrangements had
been made to allot to the State of
Georgia for 500 tons for exclusive
use in harvesting peanuts.
* * *
A windstorm damaged trees and
electrical wires in Perry. The storm
lasted for three years and cut off
phone lines for several more.
Jernigan Street was blacked for a
while by a fallen tree.
same thing here with the budget and
here with taxes and here with
organization of the Fourth of July
celebrations!” The preceding is a
sample conversation with a typical
psycho candidate who began the
conversation with the subject of
school prayer. It wasn’t until I
began speaking with some of these
folks that I was “enlightened” about
the communist plotters who are
behind everything that has gone
wrong in today’s society.
Especially in Houston County.
It is because of these very
conversations that I have decided to
become more involved with the
local elections in Plattsburgh, N.Y.
I wanted to know if there were
some people like this running for
any offices containing any power
over my hometown. I didn’t want
to make the mistake of voting for
them just because 1 didn’t take the
time to investigate. Fortunately
I’ve come to realize that my parents
were giving me sensible advice all
of these years, but now I feel a
little more responsible about my
vole.
What it boils down to is that
these people can and will make a
difference in our lives if they get
the chance. It is up to us to make
Please see ROWDEN, page 12A
■ The Houston Home §
Journal
Survey really
gets to the
heart of men
Everybody knows men have
what can charitably described as a
unique thought process.
The jokes abound about leading
men by their stomach, or their
hormones, or their wallets.
"Simple creatures really," seems to
be a common attitude. Even from
other guys. If you're bored one
night and looking for an evening's
entertainment, ask a man to give a
general species description of what
he thinks other men are like.
1 admit I've done it. I've said
things like, "A lot of guys are just
like that," to explain some particu
larly loathsome act on the part of
another man. Generally there is an
ulterior motive working in those
conversations, like, "It's really too
bad you've been through so much.
I would never treat you that way."
All done in a spirit of compassion
of course.
Anyway, a friend was telling me
about a survey of men taken by
Glamour magazine. The survey re
sults tire a mix of the funny, the sad
and the dishonest. I thought it
might be intresting to take a closer
look at some of the questions and
take another stab at trying to figure
out what makes these guys tick.
On the question of who would
you rather marry, Kim Basinger or
Katie Couric? Nearly 70 percent of
the men replied, “Kim.”
I think that response requires a
little analysis. What they're asking
is would you rather have a
stunning, sexy wife, or a cute,
bubbly woman who looks fresh
first thing in the morning.
I would bet that most of the men
surveyed have either never been
married or were adrift on some fan
tasy that didn’t allow for things like
laundry, colds, “Honey, what time’s
dinner?” in-laws, beer bellies, long
drives with small children, or any
of the other million and a half
stupid things guys do to their
wives.
Do you think Kim would wait
around while you, “Get back in
shape?” Would she understand if it
took you three months to work up
the courage to ask your boss for a
raise? I don’t think so. Marriage
takes place in more than one room
of the house, and I think on this
question most of the guys forgot
that. Give me cute, funny and un
derstanding over stunning and pouty
any day.
On the question, “Who do you
consider more of a soul-mate Bart
Simpson or Ted Koppel? Bart won
out 63 percent to 36 percent.
I’m curious, who exactly would
watch Ted Koppel grilling some
confused diplomat and think,
“Yeah, the guy with the funny hair
cut is somebody I can really relate
to.” Koppel is somebody I would
want defending me against an IRS
audit but I wouldn’t look forward to
his lecture on fiscal responsibility
once he had cleared me.
Psychology buffs would point
out that the male identification with
Bart Simpson is an acknowledge
ment of the naughty little boy
lurking in each adult male.
Maybe so, but I think it’s an ac
knowledgement that it's a lot more
fun to thrash and say whatever
comes to mind then it is to hang
out with politicians all day in the
faint hope of getting a straight an
swer.
Another interesting response was
to the question, "If you could only
be one, would you rather be a good
father, husband, or wealthy."
Father won with 38 percent, fol
lowed by wealthy 35 percent, and
then good husband 28 percent.
It's really exciting to think there
arc a solid percentage of guys out
there who think being rich is better
than having a good marriage. Lock
up your daughters.
I do think it Is cool that there is
recognition of the importance of fa
therhood. But, I'd like to see a
follow-up question like this, How
many of you are keeping up with
your child support payments?
When asked, "Who understands
you better your wife or your
mother?" Mom won by a narrow
margin, 52 percent to 48 percent.
Personally, since both my wife
and my mother read my column,
Please see LAWSON, page 12A