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.-THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1992
4A
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, Pr*»ld#nt & Chairman of lha Board, Park Newspaper*
JAMES B. KERCE
Editor & General Manager
BRIGETTE HAMILTON TERESA HAWK
Managing Editor Advertising Manager
Bush: Fatal Complacency
Much has been written about the causes of President
Bush's defeat Nov. 3 and there were various contributing
causes. But the two which were fatal were (1) compla
cency and overconfidence in 1992, and (2) the recession.
Bush's first chief of staff, John Sununu, was a factor.
Bush compromised on taxes. He was out of the main
stream with his abortion posture, he counted too much on
the Christian far-right, and he failed to push realistic health
care reform.
The reason for this was complacency and over-confi
dence following Bush's vigorous leadership in the suc
cessful Persian Gulf war. With an approval rating near 90
percent in 1991, neither Bush nor those around him saw
much chance he would be rejected the next year by voters.
Understandable.
Bush would almost surely have been re-elected had not
the economy dipped steadily downward in 1991 and 1992.
The fall of 1992 was the very last moment when an ac
tive, concerned and politieally-wise Bush could have re
tained the confidence of the American people with massive
emergency proposals to Congress to "fix" the economy
and create jobs.
Since 1991 was not an election year, Democratic leaders
in Congress wouldn't have dared reject such proposals; if
they had, they--not Bush--would have been guilty of
complacency and misjudging the recession's depth.
There were some who warned Bush then he must
quickly act. But over-confidence of 1991 lingered. Bush
chose to claim the economy was recovering--and he and
many of his advisors believed recovery was very likely by
the fall of 1992. Some believed recovery was starting.
Instead of appealing to the American people then to stay
the course, as Ronald Reagan did, while demanding new,
emergency relief legislation from Congress, Bush waited
thinking and hoping things would get better. In the first
part of 1992, it appeared the economy might be moving
into an uptum-but recovery faltered, and with that turn of
events, Bush was doomed.
Bush was, also, not the best campaigner in the begin
ning. He was vague. His proposals were not as specific
and promising as those of Governor Bill Clinton. He and
some of his aides underestimated Clinton's campaigning
ability, the merit and appeal in Clinton's serious, detailed
proposals.
The net result of this complacency, and the recession, is
that the Republican Party lost an opportunity to score ma
jor gains in Congress, with which the voters were thor
oughly disgusted.
Mr. Bush could have won had it not been for the world
wide recession. He probably could have won had he gone
on the offensive vigorously with economic recovery pro
posals in 1991.
Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson (who quit
to avoid certain defeat) and George Bush have all failed to
win a second term in 28 years. It's not a task to be faced
with complacency or confidence, especially in a recession.
Perot Vaudeville: 1996?
The 1992 meteor-like zooms of Ross Perot, fueled by
sixty million Perot dollars, was certainly good vaudeville.
Like the French town from which this word (meaning
variety show) stems, famous for singing and songs, Perot
is now rightly famous for his 1992 singing of songs.
Like a good variety show, the Perot vaudeville featured
laughs, appeals to the flag, patriotism, sacrifice, surprises
and com. It was a good show; because neither of the other
two presidential candidates was acceptable to many, Perot
won 10 percent of the popular vote.
That's not likely to happen again. Few Americans have
the ego, money and drive to mount a private elect-me
president campaign which has absolutely no chance of
succeeding.
Perot obviously enjoyed his fling and the publicity but
will he dish out another S6O,(XX),(XX) in 1996?
It's good vaudeville—and free. And much of the singing
is a needed assessment of where politicians have taken us
in recent decades, thus helpful.
Voice your opinion
on local issues—
write a letter to the editor!
cwp ){my
Four vear old killed in one car accident
10 years ago
Nov. 18, 1982
A one car accident just outside
Perry claimed the life of a four year
old Indiana boy Tuesday morning.
Georgia State Patrol radio operator
Scott Andrews said the boy was
traveling with his father and a
woman when the man fell asleep at
the wheel and the care ran off the
road and overturned. The three
victims were taken to Pcrry-
Houston County Hospital where
the child was pronounced dead.
* * *
Rev. Jesse Benjamin "J. 8." Smith
died Nov. 12 in Perry Hospital after
an illness of several weeks. A
Methodist minister for 56 years,
Smith was associate pastor of the
Perry United Methodist Church for
17 years and its pastor for six years.
* * ★
Tucker Elementary Principal Gene
Henderson was named Georgia
Clean and Beautiful's Man of the
Year for 1982 because of his work
with Tucker's Clean Campus
Program and his efforts to instill in
young people's minds the impor
tance of taking care of their envi
ronment. Henderson traveled to
Atlanta Nov. 19 to receive his
award from Governor George
Busbcc at the sixth annual
Governor's Annual Community
Betterment Awards Banquet at the
Atlanta Hilton.
15 years ago
Nov. 17, 1977
Perry City Council approved set
ting up an agreement with W.G.
Mullins that may result in
Woodlawn Drive being paved from
the water plant on U.S. 341 to
The losers win and the winners lose
Shame on all of us.
Two years ago Louis and Ruth
Moseley died horrible, painful,
senseless deaths in Macon, Georgia.
Louis was 74, Ruth was 72.
They were massacred by an ani
mal named Rufus Bernard King.
In the last 39 minutes of their
lives, this couple experienced the
terror and panic and pain that most
people can't even imagine. They
suffered a violent but not a quick
death. Rufus King stabbed Louis
and Ruth countless times. He beat
these old people. He slashed their
throats. He broke their bones. He
left them in agony to bleed to
death. Now, he grins for the camera
like a monster from hell.
Last week King was sentenced to
30 years in jail and will be eligible
for parole when he is 55 years old.
How can this possibly be? How
do we explain this kind of justice to
our young people? How do we fix
the terrible mess in our court sys
tem?
Remember L
when? I
News items from past issues
Valley Drive. The motion passed
by the one vote margin with the
two dissenters, Jerome Bloodworlh
and Barbara Calhoun, said they
feared setting the precedent of using
tax funds, even if temporarily, to
pave roads for developers.
* * *
Houston Home Journal Publisher
Bobby Branch posted a S2OO reward
to anyone providing information
leading tot he arrest and conviction
for burglarizing several Home
Journal racks recently.
* * *
The Houston Lung Association's
annual Walkathon was a success
last Saturday as about 150 young
sters marched for donations to the
Lung Society.
25 years ago
Nov. 16, 1967
The disagreement between three
county officers and the Houston
County Commissioners appeared to
be headed for a decision of an ap
peals board. Sheriff Albert Hudson,
Tax Commissioner Joyce B. Griffin
and Ordinary C.K. Watson Jr.,
whose budget requests were rejected
by the county commission last
week, said they had asked
Commissioner Chairman to con
vene the appeals board to decide the
matter.
* * *
Houston County Commissioners
borrowed $105,000 from a local
Guest |
column I
Rufus King will sleep on clean
sheets tonight. With a belly full of
food. Lord, he knows how screwed
up the system is. He is the product
of the system. You and I are re
sponsible for the system because
we tolerate the incompetence and ar
rogance of the process that permit
ted this horrific miscarriage of jus
tice where criminals have more pro
tection than their victims.
Imagine that Louis and Ruth
migh' have been your Mom and
Dad. Just imagine.
I'm angry. I’m scared. I'm just
like most of the people who read
this. I'll be upset for a couple of
days and then everything will return
to normal. I'm embarrased to admit
5
e
bank for operations during 196/. c
Despite the $206,500 from auto r
taxes and the $15,000 from flood 1
damage reimbursements, the com- s
mission had to borrow the money r
since they already had $214,000 *
committed when they took office
Jan. 1, 1967. 1
*# * t
Perry High School's FFA recently s
began construction of an additional a
greenhouse and horticulture facili-
lies. The FFA took full responsi-
bility for the construction work of n
the 30x50 pipe framed structure
covered with fiberglass. The green
house was scheduled to be com- j
pletcd and in operation by
Christmas.
50 years ago
Nov. 19, 1942 ;
Two political announcements
were put in writing. One was from ,
C.C. Chapman, who announced his ,
candidacy for sheriff, and the other ]
was a call for election made by |
John L. Hughes, Ordinary, for the •
fulfillment of the unexpired term of
C.C. Pierce, who resigned as ;
Sheriff of Houston County. ,
* * •
i
S.L. Norwood, chairman of the (
War Price and Rations Board of .
Houston County, stated the many <
violations of the excise tax on ci
garettes were undoubtedly due to in- |
correct interpretation of the regula- ,
tion on the part of the county's re
tail merchants and not deliberate vi- ,
olations of the law. The tax added (
1/2 cent to the price smokers must ]
pay for cigarettes.
* * *
Georgia was given first place in (
pecan production for the year with a ]
yield of 28,068,000 pounds, the ,
largest in the state's history. ,
this bit it's true. The system is
broke all to hell and I can’t fix it.
The losers win and the winners
lose. That can't be right. But it’s
damn sure the truth.
If a rabid dog had crashed into
Louis and Ruth's house that day and
had slashed them with its fangs and
bitten them and broke their bones
and watched while they bled to
death, we know exactly what would
have happened. The mad, rabid dog
would have been killed on the spot
Rufus King is a mad, rabid dog.
We are going to feed him and care
for him for 30 years and then we
will set him free.
By then Louis and Ruth will
have been dead for 32 years and no
body will remember. But violent
death like this must not be forgot
ten. Ever.
Let's find away to reform the
court system.
Let's find away to put Rufus
King to sleep like any other rabid
Please see GUEST, page 8A
I The Houston Home f
Journal
jf\Brigette L
S'i>Hamilton|
Managing
It's the season
for thanks and
also for giving
With the holiday season rapidly
approaching (is it only a week away
until Thanksgiving already?), ev
eryone's minds are surely turning to
family gatherings, good food and
good fun.
This is great. One thing I love
about being American is our tradi
, tions; one thing I love about being
a Georgian is the holiday spirit that
I seems to subtly take over around
Thanksgiving and lasts throughout
the New Year.
One thing I hate about the holiday
season is shopping. Os course I al
ways wait until the last possible
moment to begin and the crowds are
absolutely horrendous.
But, discussing the ups and downs
for me during the holiday season is
not why I am writing this.
Not everyone can take time like I
can to look back over the year and
say how lucky their family has
been. Not everyone can brave the
crowds at malls and spend too much
money on gifts for their children
and other family members. Not ev
eryone can eat so much food in one
month that they gain at least 10
pounds and swear they'll never eat
again.
These are the people I'd like ev
eryone to focus their attention on.
I'm not saying we should kick our
selves around for being lucky
enough to over indulge and enjoy
ourselves a little (or a lot) too
much during this special time of
the year. I'm saying that we should
set aside some time for the people
not as fortunate as some of us may
be.
After all, isn't that what the under
lying theme of the holidays should
be? I know that everyone on the
streets seems to smile a little wider
and speak more often during the
holiday season. We should think of
the the happiness of others just as
much as we do our own.
There have been several good or
ganizations and programs in the
county that have tried to make
Thanksgiving and Christmas a
happy occasion for everyone.
There arc food drives being held
and I encourage everyone to go out
and buy at least $5 worth of food to
donate to one of the various groups.
This may not seem like a lot of
money compared to the money
most families spend on one meal,
but it will mean a lot to a family
that cannot afford a hot
Thanksgiving dinner.
Also, Christmas has always been
a special time for children. No adult
gets excited about Santa Claus ex
cept when they see their children's
eyes glowing with happiness and
anticipation and excitement when
St. Nick's name is mentioned.
Imagine being a parent and having
to tell your child Santa Claus is not
coming to their house this year.
Imagine the look on the child's face
and the hurt in that child's eyes be
cause you had to break your child's
heart.
Fortunately, there are also several
groups organized to make sure this
doesn't happen. Go out and spend at
least $5 buying a toy for a needy
child. If everyone did, no child
would be unhappy Christmas day.
I know we are in tough economic
times, but Christmas is the season
for giving and $5 is not a fortune.
Most of us could spend $5 a week
for just such causes and never miss
the money.
It always seem that those who
have the most just get more and
those who never have anything get
less. It is a sad truth and sad way
for a child to have to learn about
the cruelties of life.
Another idea I'd like to propose is
think of others all year long, not
just during the holidays.
When you are wondering where
you are going to make room for all
you child's new toys and clothes
and your own gifts after the
Christmas festivities are over, go
on a cleaning spree and donate all
the old clothes, toys and other is
don't really use anymore to
Goodwill or other such organiza
tions and agencies.
For more information on the pro
grams in our area that provides
Thanksgiving and Christmas din
ners and food and gifts for needy
families call the Perry Area
Chamber of Commerce at 987-
1234,