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t-THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1992
4A
Perry viewpoint
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
— /
Court surprise
Many legal observers and reporters were mildly sur
prised in recently when the Supreme Court upheld the right
of a woman to have an abortion, though allowing states to
regulate abortions closely.
The vive vote majority of the high court included three
appointees of presidents Reagan and Bush, members anti
abortion forces assumed would vote to reverse Roe vs.
Wade, the landmark high court ruling which granted
women the right to abortions.
These three, Justices Sandra O’Connor, Anthony
Kennedy and David Souter were joined by Harry Black
mun and John Stevens to provide a majority sustaining the
right of abortion.
Their words on the subject are such that any hope Roe
vs. Wade will soon be overturned must be conditioned on
the hope that new justices will be voting on the issue. Here
is the gist of what the three conservative justices (who
wrote the majority opinion) said:
“The woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy betore
viability is the most central principle of Roe vs. Wade. It is
a rule of law and a component of liberty we cannot re
nounce.”
These are strong words, from which the five can hardly
retreat in the future. But they should not be so surprising.
The trend all over the world has been and is to permit legal,
and often limited, abortion. The German parliament only
last month voted to give German women considerable
greater freedom in seeking abortions-making the more lib
eral former East German law applicable to all the now
united nation.
The United States is one of the few countries in which
church leaders have more recently stirred the issue into a
frenzy of zealous, fanatical, moral confrontation. It appears
the present court will not, as expected, overturn Roe vs.
Wade.
Too long, too much
Lawrence Walsh, the special prosecutor Congress named
years ago to investigate the Iran-Contra controversy and
related questions, is still at it a decade after the alleged mis
deeds occurred.
He has, still, 43 lawyers, all being paid by the taxpayers.
The investigation has cot millions. It has lasted so long, in
fact, that Walsh spends little time on it these days. He has
turned over the lead role to a younger attorney.
The former Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger,
was recently indicted, a very interesting ploy, since he had
been offered an escape by a plea bargain, which he refused.
Fortunately, Congress has created no new, independent
investigating bureaucracies, perhaps because Walsh and his
team seem to have found a lifetime career with the millions
Congress has provided them.
Shouldn’t the traditional agencies-the F. 8.1. and other
in-place federal investigative bodies-carry out the investi
gations of executive department personnel? Are we to be
lieve they wouldn’t conduct fair investigations? One can’t
accept that cynicism as justification for independent extrav
agancies-financed by a majority in Congress in the opposi
tion.
Take that
The latest survey by the nationally accepted car rating
Firm of J.D. Power finds that an American-built automobile
is now among the top three, judged by customer satisfac
tion.
That car is the General Motors Saturn, which with Lexus
and Infiniti, ranks above Acura, Mercedes-Benz and all the
others.
If more proof is needed that U.S. built automotive qual
ity is catching up with German and Japanese built cars, this
is it. Only American built Cadillac, in recent years, had
been among the top five cars in customer satisfaction.
(This year Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile ranked above
average.)
The obvious response to the latest Power report is to
consider American made cars on an equal basis with all
others. They’re very competitive and often the lowest
priced.
Perry's information source:The Houston Home Journal
'Sway''
9
“With a running mate like this, we should really be
able to pick up some chicks, huh?”
Perry P.D. nips pot plants in the bud
10 years ago
July 29, 1982
Perry police received a tip Friday
leading them to a greenhouse on
Old Field Lane where 17 six and a
half feet tall marijuana plants were
seized. Officials said the plants had
an estimated street value of $5,000
to $6,000. Police were still inves
tigating the case.
* * *
Houston County school system
received an additional $93, 532 in
federal impact aid money which was
added to the $510960 already allotcd
for the fiscal year.
* * *
Perry City Council adopted their
fiscal year budget at their regular
meeting. The general fund budget of
$2,070,301 represented a 22 percent
increase from the previous year’s
budget.
15 years ago
July 28, 1977
Houston Home Journal editor
publisher Bobby Branch presented
the Georgia Press Association
“Bicentennial Coverage” award to
former HHJ owner-editor Mrs.
John L. Hodges. The newspaper
was also honored at the awards
night by being named General Ex-
Crime does not have to be a part of us
There is something that I have on
my mind.
The man Houston County is
named after was a former mayor of
Savannah.
That’s right, John Houston was
the first mayor of Savannah in the
beginning years of the United
States. He was mayor from 1790 -
1792.
Some things are really interesting
when you least expect it.
One day this past weekend, my
girlfriend and 1 went to Savannah
just to go somewhere.
Interesting enough, we went about
the same time last year, but at least
we didn’t go to the very same
places. Anyway, I guess it’s easy to
get a real attachment to such a
unique city.
And that it is. There are so many
interesting, unique things there that
1 can go on and on for weeks just
walking around in total amazement.
But there is something else that
you can really notice and it pops up
when you least expect it.
As we were walking down the
Riverfront around the middle of the
afternoon we came upon a police
man arresting a drug dealer.
Remember L
when? I
News items from past issues
ccllcnce winner among weekly
newspapers of over 3,000 circula
tion.
* * *
Pcrryan Donnie Flow'crs was
searching for other history buffs to
form a “living history” re-enact
ment team to perform at parades,
battle re-creations and torchlight
tours.
* * *
Centerville Mayor Sherrill
Stafford was assured by county
commissioners that Centerville ad
valorem taxes could be collected on
county lax forms by Tax Commis
sioner Joyce Griffin.
25 years ago
July 27, 1967
The opening of Houston County
schools was delayed one week to
September 5 instead of August 28
due to construction of school pro
jects.
* * *
Construction on the $1 million
Pcrry-Houston County Hospital
| Warnockj
» Staff writer [
I suppose you can expect it, but it
seems that it never happens just out
of the blue.
We figured the man was loitering
around the area, or just made a rob
bery, and someone had called the
police. The policeman arrived and
ran towards the bushes with his pis
tol between his hands ready to be
used.
And here I am, walking no more
than 20 feet from the arrest, hoping
nothing is going to explode.
To say the least, crime is some
thing that I guess will always be
here with us, in our streets.
It isn’t that society has to live
with a constant threat of violence
but the way we live in society,
with everyone together, we can ex
pect crime to happen.
So it isn’t a perfect world. But
Journal
began with occupancy scheduled for
January 1969.
* * *
Councilman Richard Goodroc
continued his efforts to convince
the council to pass a law cutting in
half the ad valorem taxes of persons
65 and over on the homes and fur
nishings.
50 years ago
July 30, 1942
Upon request from the Tire Ra
tioning Division of the Office of
Price Administration, the Depart
ment of Public Safety agreed to
caution all vehicles traveling state
highways to restrict their speed to
40 miles per hour. The Georgia
State Patrol was to begin enforcing
the new speed limit immediately.
* * *
Ellis Arnall, candidate for gover
nor of Georgia, was in Perry Tues
day greeting local friends.
* * *
W.C. Talton gave notice that ef
fective August 1, all sales were to
be paid in cash. Talton said the can
cellation of charge accounts was due
to the government’s needs of so
many men it had become impossi
ble to get sufficient help to con
tinue as a credit establishment.
with the opportunity we have we
should change the slump in respect
lor the law.
Crime is a part of our lives
whether we like or not. It is some
thing that we are going to have to
take final control of.
The answer, 1 believe, is not in
making quick fixes and just putting
a band-aid on a brain tumor.
We are going to have to make a
community effort to educate the
children and the youth and offer as
sistance to today’s potential crimi
nals.
I’m not advocating this kind of
education in the schools. The
schools are designed to teach lan
guages, science, music and mathe
matics. Community care should be
provided by civic clubs and gov
ernment volunteers, teaching what
it’s all about in being a good citi
zen.
If we don’t see our community
leaders teaching our youth and chil
dren citizenship, then our commu
nity has no value.
We have to be perfectly willing to
talk to and provide a helping hand
to the less fortunate people in our
Please see WARNOCK, page 9A
f Lawson
Staff writer
Sharing the
Olympics with
the world
Maybe you're tired of them al
ready, but I lovp the Olympics. I'm
into just about every event, with
the possible exceptions of bike rac
ing and sailing.
It’s really not about America be
ing number one, though I cheer as
hard as anyone for our team. It's
the stories that come out during the
Olympics.
Without trying to sound too
much like a quiche eating Califor
nian, it's the drama and the tragedy
and the triumph on such a grand
scale that I really enjoy.
Sometimes it comes from the
pre-packaged TV set-up, like,
"Inga is 11 years old and she has
been away from home training to
be a champion since she was six
months old." Although they are
meant to be so, despite myself and
my basic resentment toward at
tempts at mass manipulation, I al
most always find myself moved by
the stories of sacrifice and struggle.
There are other times when the
sheer drama of the event is gener
ated simply by the greatness of the
athletes. I remember in 1988
watching wrestler Kenny Monday
beat the Soviet champion on a take
down with like one second left.
Occasionally the Olympics are a
peaceful way to flex national mus
cles and restore injured pride. For
example, who wouldn't want to
watch the current men's basketball
team beat Libya 700 to 5? Or who
is likely to forget the 1980 U.S.
hockey team beating the great Rus
sians?
Just a brief note on the Dream
Team. People whine about the
level of competition not being up
to the standard of the great talent
the Americans possess. That
somehow it's unfair to bring the
best athletes in their sport to the
Olympics. I seriously wonder
where those people come from.
Nobody complains about Carl
Lewis being nearly twice as fast as
a sprinter from Ireland, or the
former East German shot putters
blowing the doors off of Singapore,
so why basketball? The Olympics
are about the best athletes in the
world competing against each other.
How many other countries brought
players who were less than their
best to compete in basketball?
None.
That is getting away from the
point I was trying to make. The
Olympic stories last way beyond
the events themselves. Already, the
first day Kim Zmeskal, who had
worked for nearly all of her life to
get ready for the moment, FALLS
off the balance beam in her first
event. I sit and I imagine how she
feels, how her parents must feel.
All that work....
Or Pablo Morales, best butterfly
swimmer in the world in 1984,
swims an average race, loses the
gold. In 1988 he doesn't make the
team even though he's the world
record holder. He retires after all
that disappointment, promises his
dying mother he'll do it for her,
comes back for another shot and
then despite all the pressure, all the
nerves, the crushing fear of one fi
nal failure he actually goes and
wins. That's what I love about the
Olympics-people rising above the
fray and touching greatness.
The commercialization and the
hype, the constant attempts at
packaging events like a music
video, all that stuff is admittedly
distracting. But watching Magic
Johnson run down the court, fake
three guys to their knees and then
presto, the ball is in Michael Jor
dan's hands for a dunk. To have the
chance to see Magic smile like that
makes all the shrill ads just back
ground noise.
I like the obscure events-judo,
team handball, synchronized
swimming (well sorta), people who
have spent that much lime devoted
to an endeavor that most people are
unaware even exists deserve a little
respect as they play out the culmi
nation of all their dreams.
During the Olympics, I cry
pretty easily. If they show a parent
in the stands cheering or sharing the
disappointment of a great effort un
rewarded I lose it. When Greg
Louganis, with stitches in his head
and far too many expectations fly-