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The Summeruille News
The Official Legal Organ of Chattooga County Georgia
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Best Editorial Page In Georgia - 1993
RR P RTR AVe s
Thursday, January 27, 1994
@ &
Our Opinion
Mosley Will Be Missed
Chattooga County lost a good, strong
and decent leader when Benjamin ‘“B. J.”
Mosley died recently.
He was a pillar of his community and
church. His words of wisdom still echo
through the decades in the ears of the hun
dreds, perhaps thousands, of the young
people he taught.
Mr. Mosley came along when it wasn’t
easy for a black person to obtain a quali
ty education. Due in great part to his
mother, a teacher herself, he perservered
and obtained a college degree.
There’s not much doubt that with his
talents, Mr. Mosley could have taught at
a university or made good sums of money
in the business world. But he returned
Keep Prayer At Meetings
The Summerville mayor and City
Council restored prayer to its rightful
place at the beginning of its meetings.
Concerned about a perceived threat to
take the city to court on the issue, city of
ficials this past year opted to quietly drop
the opening prayer.
As one councilman noted prior to its
most recent meeting, the city has ex
perienced nothing but major problems
since it dropped the practice. Whether that
is the cause may be debatable, but it is
worth noting.
There is no reason why any public body
in Chattooga County should be coerced in
to dropping the practice of opening
meetings with prayer. No one’s rights are
God Or Man?
Nature is always unpredictable.
A few years ago, pseudo-science was
claiming that we were heading into a new
“ice age”’ because of mankind’s activities.
More recently, some of the same liberal
eco-extremist individuals and organiza
tions have been screaming hysterically
that we are instead headed for “‘global war
ming.”
It seems they can’t make up their
minds. We suspect the change in perspec
tive has more to do with their fund-raising
letters and use of governmental power
than reality.
A person’s belief in these areas usual
ly depends on his world view.
Religious Liberty
¢ ... The First Amendment was in
tended to guarantee the free exercise of
religion and the free outworking of
religious faith — within the broad Judeo-
Christian ethical framework that its
authors and ratifiers and the people of the
United States looked to as their moral
standard.
“The First Amendment was not in
tended to de-Christianize our Constitution
or our federal, state or local governments,
home to teach other young people, first
blacks and then children of all races. He
taught more than academics. He imparted
wisdom, realism, respect for hard work,
and the need for decency, honesty and
integrity.
Mr. Mosley was active in a variety of
civic matters although he never sought to
draw attention to himself. He wasn’t in it
for the publicity. He was involved because
of the good he could do. And good he did.
He will be sorely missed by his family,
his church family, his friends and former
colleagues, and most of all, by the children
he taught through the years.
We extend our condolences to his
family.
being violated by praying.
Running scared is not the answer; the
community must not allow the mislabel
ed American Civil Liberties Union and a
handful of publicity-hungry radicals to
take us over, inch by inch.
We’re proud that the mayor and coun
cil stood back up for tradition and the
right to pray. :
The award for strength, however, must
go to the Chattooga County Board of
Education and Superintendent Frank
Stewart. They refused to even consider
buckling under to blatant pressure to end
prayer.
We’re proud of each board member and
the superintendent.
If he believes that God will eventually
destroy the earth and not man, he general
ly is less susceptible to the “Chicken Lit
tle” theories of environmentalism.
On the other hand, if he doesn’t believe
that God alone will destroy the earth, he
is usually convinced that man alone can ac
complish that task. Some seem to believe
that God will use man to destroy the earth.
If that be the case, then it can’t be avoid
ed, now can it?
So there’s little reason to become so
upset at swings in weather trends from
decade to decade, or even from century to
century.
either by neutrality or secularism.”
“Consequently, there aren’t any Con
stitutional grounds for the continued at
tempted suppression by radical activist
organizations or federal judges of either
Christian religious liberty or the Judeo-
Christian ethics which have been the foun
dation of our Constitution and laws.”
— Rep. Larry McDonald
“We Hold These Truths”’
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A Vlewpmnt .| Commentary
b | L By Tommy Toles, Editor By Buddy Roberis
A N N
Read Jim’s Column
ELSEWHERE on this page is a guest
column by my friend, Jim Wooten. He is
editor of the editorial pages of The Atlan
ta Journal.
He and I go back to the late 1960 s and
early 1970 s when he was a writer for The
Journal and I was at a weekly newspaper
in his area near Atlanta.
%* * *
THROUGH the years, Jim has had a
successful career in journalism. At one
time, he headed the Atlanta bureau of
U.S. News & World report.
As head of the more conservative Jour
nal’s editorial pages, he has a significant
amount of influence on which issues are
debated in the Atlanta area and statewide.
ook b
HIS GUEST COLUMN this week,
which was first published in The Journal,
expresses very eloquently some of the
same concerns I have had in recent years.
He was able to meld these common
thoughts into an articulate, concise col
umn that summarizes the cause of many
of society’s problems and dangers.
One of his key paragraphs, I believe, is
the following:
e
“PEOPLE CAN'T function in any
society unless rules of behavior are com
Guest _Column
Re-create Families
NEWS CAN BE too much sometimes.
It overwhelms. It frightens. Momentarily,
the senses overload, producing numbness.
It was such a week.
The assault on Olympic hopeful Nan
cy Kerrigan. Who among us could even
frame a discussion that would have such
a plot as its consequences?
* * *
OR THE Bobbitts. How sick we all are
of the Bobbitts, of their use as proxies in
political debates of gender roles or
differences.
Closer to home, the incomprehensibles,
too.
Carjackings terrify. To be killed in your
own neighborhood by a kid out for a joy
ride in a junk automobile is the ultimate
debasement of life.
* * *
NOT FOR anything the kid needs. Or
anything that much matters. Your life, in
this equation, has the equivalent value of
a moment’s pleasure.
Carjackings shatter everybody’s illu
sions of security.
You can move to safe neighborhoods.
You can become streetwise. But
everybody, sometimes is vulnerable.
* * *
PEOPLE CAN'T function in any socie
ty unless rules of behavior are commonly
understood, agreed to and enforced. The
compact for survival is agreeing to behave
in a way that poses no threat to those
around us.
On carjackings, the Legislature and
Congress will act. Congress will make car
jacking a death-penalty offense. The
Legislature will put people away forever.
But that’s not the solution, really, as wor
monly understood, agreed to and enforc
ed. The compact for survival is agreeing
to behave in a way that poses no threat to
those around us.”
Another paragraph of wisdom from
Jim’s piece:
“...It is in rediscovering and sanc
tioning values that serve the common
good — honesty, respect, decency, fair
play.”
: * * *
JIM IS worried that we may have in
deed lost the good part of a generation. If
that’s the case, he writes, we should build
enough prisons to lock away those in our
midst who refuse to accept common rules
of decency and behavior.
Jim’s column is one of the best articles
I have read on what is wrong with our
communities, our society, and our nation.
It also offers common sense solutions on
how to regain what we once had as a
people.
* * *
I COMMEND it to you this week. If
you agree, share your views with our local
legislators and elected officials. If the good
people don’t stand up, those who don’t
share a respect for decency, honesty and
integrity will win. If that happens, we all
lose.
thwhile as long prison sentences may be.
At some point, society has to arrest the
deterioration of social values and morality.
* * *
IT HAS TO rediscover its own values,
and, having done so, establish a rigorous
ly enforced code of conduct.
The discussion gets short shrift public
ly. We’re not comfortable talking about
values, ours or society’s. Spirituality is
trivialized. Family is defined according to
the political agenda. Family values are
sneeringly reduced to political causes. The
result is to confuse, to weaken, to
misdirect and finally, to invite a cynicism
about faith and morality.
* * *
EQUALLY DESTRUCTIVE, perhaps,
is the quickness with which any deviant
behavior is attributed to past or present
victimization, thereby relieving any in
dividual of accountability for its conse
quence. To do so is to risk being labeled
intolerant. In this society, offering judg
ment of another’s behavior is a cardinal
sin.
The solution to carjackings, to Bob
bitts and plots against sports competitors,
is in its least part, in the jailhouse.
s ' N
IT IS IN re-creating families, in adop
ting public policies that reward, support
and encourage them. It is in rediscovering
and sanctioning values that serve the com
mon good — honesty, respect, decency,
fair play.
Across the dinner table, in the schools,
on the streets, adults have to accept the
responsibility of adulthood to transmit a
core set of socially essential values to their
see GUEST COLUMN, page 5-A
o
Beer, Wine, And Tuna
I WAS FORTUNATE enough last week to happen
across a copy of Congressional Quarterly’s Washington
Information Directory for 1987-88. I bought it even
though it was outdated, since it could still be a handy
reference to have around the office.
The book is filled with information about the federal
government, including Congress and private s_peclal
interest groups headquartered in and around Washington.
It breaks down each government department, explains it,
and identifies the non-government agencies affiliated with.
it.
Neat stuff, if you get off on government.
It is the non-government agencies that are the subject
for today. Many listed in the book were familiar, others
were not. And some were rather entertaining. Following
is a sampling of the agencies and an explanation of their
purposes, preceded by their federal department
affiliations.
* * *
THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR:
The Tuna Research Foundation. (Who’d have thought?)
Provides information and conducts research on the tuna
industry. Membership includes major U.S. tuna
processors. '
THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE: :
The Beer Institute. (Where there’'s always something
brewing). Monitors legislation and regulations affecting
the brewing industry. Membership includes domestic
brewers and their suppliers. ‘
THE OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT:
Coalition for Women’s Appointments. (It makes sure
they get there on time). A coalition of women’s organiza
tions that aims to increase the number of women in policy
making positions in federal and state government. It
monitors each agency and provides names of qualified
women for high and mid-level appointments.
* * *
THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION:
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
(As opposed to unresponsive philanthropy). A coalition
that seeks to make philanthropy more accessable to all
charities, especially to minority, women’s and social
change groups. It conducts research and monitors
legislation.
THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES: <
The American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in
Obstetrics. (If you can pronounce it, you can be a member).
Actually, it’s made up of supporters of the Lamaze method
of childbirth: parents, doctors, childbirth teachers, etc. It
trains and certifies Lamaze childbirth teachers and pro
vides referral services for parents seeking professionals
who support the Lamaze method.
THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING
AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: '
The Foundation of the Wall and Ceiling Industry.
(What about floors?) Supports educational and research
activities of the industry, including student research
stipends. Conducts training courses on asbestos abate
ment and sponsors seminars. ;
* * *
THE STATE DEPARTMENT: B
The Association for the Advancement Qf Policy,
Research, and Development in the Third World. (Bet it’s
hard to fit all that on a business card). Serves as a forum
for the exchange of scientific and technological informa
tion to aid Third World countries. It conducts research,
and sponsors workshops and an annual conference on in
ternational development,
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION:
The International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike
Association. Membership includes public and private
operators of toll facilities and associate industries. It con
ducts research and compiles statistics.
* * *
TO CONCLUDE, a sampling of Congressional
Caucuses: ¥, 2
The Congressional Alcohol Fuels Cau " Congru-’
sional Caucus on Competitiveness. The Fc‘r‘;:ndT::f Ireland.
The Congressional Footwar Caucus. The Congressional
Mushroom Caucus. The Tennessee Valley Authority
Caucus. s
I'm not sure why footwar and mushrooms need a
caucus. I'm also not sure about the Senate Wine Caucus.
g'“t, then again, Ted Kennedy has to have something to
o.