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Viewpoints Our Opinions It is good to see the bald eagle make a comeback The bald eagle is back! In 1782, the Continental Congress met and named the eagle as the na tional lard. At that time, an estimated 250,000 bald eagles flew the skies As the nation grew, the population of the eagle declined. By 1964, the bald eagle was near extinction, with only 500 breeding pairs of eagles lo cated in the nation. And, because of development, pesticides and other dan gers, the population was declining fast. However, in recent years, the bald eagle has come under strict federal protection. As a result, the eagle population in the United States has shown significant improvement The 1993 census counted over 12,000 ea gles and just under 3,800 breeding pairs. The eagle is no longer considered an endangered species, having been upgraded to threatened. However, the bald eagle is still not entirely out of danger, and various groups are still working to bring the eagle back up to historic standanis. But, even with a long distance to go before the eagle is completely back, it is good to see ,on this Fourth of July week, the eagle making such a strong comeback. . By the way, there are 17 eagles that make their home in Georgia, and 950 eagles in the Southeast. Deadlines For Submitting News Articles and Photographs 5 pm Monday for Wednesday Edition 5 pm Thursday For Saturday Edition '76e 0 7(*ne4rfounH*l 7VeUo4H€A 'tyuci *detten& *7o- Sdit&i- rfcLcOtete' To: Editor Houston Times-Journal P.O. Drawer M Perry, Ga. 31069 Houston Times-Journa l P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll Street • Perry, Ga. 31069 Phone: (912) 987-1823 Member Georgia Press Association-National Newspaper Association bivtJßL rruuSoet rua> o/v oa-^*4< t&AAAafi, an, \furn, t~- >. g/uL to> tX«*>Q ev-n«<i/K^ Your right to road this is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Our Goal The Houston Tlmes-Journal is published proudly for the citizens of Houston and adjoining counties by Houston Publications Inc., Perry Ga. Our goal is to produce quality, profitable, community-oriented newspapers that you, our readers, are proud of. We will reach that goal through hard work, teamwork, loyalty, and a strong dedication towards printing the truth. Bob Tribble Daniel F. Evans Julie B. Evans Mitch Tribble President Vice-President Treasurer Secretary Our Staff Brigette Loudermilk Editor and General Manager Eddie Byrd Advertising Director Newt: Brenda Thompson, Pauline Lewis Sports:\le to Roley Advertising Jimmy Simpson Composition: Stacey Shy Classified Advertising: Melanie Bullington Bookkeeping: Judy Hubert Circulation: Donnie Forehand Our Policies •Signed Letters to the editor welcomed. Please limit to 300 words and include address and phone number. •Liability for an error will not exceed the cost of space occupied by the error. •We cannot be responsible for return of pictures or material unless stamped return addressed envelope is included. The Houston Times-Journal (USPS 000471) is published semi-weekly for SIB.OO per year by Houston Publications, Inc., 807 Carroll Street, Perry, Ga. 31069. Second Class Postage paid at Perry, Ga.,POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Houston Times-Journal, P.O. Drawer M.PerryGa. 31069. ISSN:IO7S-1874 Recycling This Paper A Small Gift To The Earth Court ruling has given criminals encouragement HOW Would you like to be a law enforcement officer? The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that a law enforcement officer involved in a chase can be sued if the person he is chasing has an accident Imagine that A patrolman sees a criminal rushing from a store, the robber jumps into an automobile and races off. What should the policeman do? Give chase? Not give chase? What do we expect him to do? Warner Robins’ police chief Dan Hart said it this way: “That court ruling says that all a criminal has to do is get to his car and he is safe” And so it seems. I talked with a Houston County deputy about this. He said, “I don’t own much and I don’t intend to jeopardize that by getting into a chase that could result in me being sued.” In other words, a smart law enforcement officer will say, “No way” to a chase. I know that I wouldn’t get involved in a chase in view of that court ruling. And I would question of the intelligence of an officer who would jeopardize all he has to get involved in a chase. So a court ruling has taken a big bite out of law enforcement and given criminals encouragement to commit their crimes and race for the nearest automobile. • * * -TUB- rsAMVT GALLESI Y | /'come QUICK rN —7 L 8 1 ( HE’S O.D.'D J tffr\ ( ) H \ ON o.d. J JjijTfr -<' /] /0) / \ v-/ \\ I f\ J\ \ \\ / )V\ “z COVERAGE 5 'jS&a&Y \ ) \ W \— — 7 continues HHHrH Y~( T"\ I HI J»?|T]Tr|epp|)iP Mother Nature has thrown a wrench in my day What a day!!! I'm beginning to think holidays aren't worth it, because you suffer the next day at work. And, of course, the weather didn't help. I can't even think right now, because we’re all trying to put together a newspaper in one day and get home as fast as possible. (Brenda said "Write that. People will appreciate hearing the truth.'') I came in early because I knew I might not make it to work if I waited too late to get on the road this morning. By 9:30 a.m. everyone was here, safe and sound, thank goodness. Still, all day we listened to reports over the radio about closed roads, broken dams, rising creeks, rivers and lakes. We have one employee here who lives in Fort Valley. A graveyard Voice Your Opinion ... Write a Letter to the Editor! All opinions published are not necessarily those of this newspaper, therefore all letters must be signed. Houston Times-Journal Page 4A DRUGS AND WELFARE: Bashing people on welfare sometimes seems unfair. After all, there are some people on welfare who can’t help it and should be given all the help they need. Now comes a study by the Center on Addition and Substance Abuse at Columbia University with this information: Overall more than one million of the 4.2 million women on welfare have drug or alcohol problems. Mothers receiving welfare are three times more likely to abuse drugs or be addicted to alcohol or drugs than mothers not receiving welfare. Is there some sort of message here? * * * ARE YOU one of the people complaining about postal service? Even the Postmaster General isn’t happy. He reorganized the postal service when he took office two years ago. He hoped to achieve 95 percent on-time one-day mail delivery. Latest quarterly mail service statistics show the figure has dropped to 82 percent. And the postal deficit is expected to reach 52.1 billion this year despite steadily escalating postal rates... The federal government deregulated the airline industry and telephone industry, to name a couple, so why not deregulate mail delivery? * * * SOCIAL Security was the topic of two interesting and conflicting stories during the past week. First, there flooded and caskets were floating around behind Bluebird. Where I live, on Leisure Lake Road, the lake is in our parking lot now. Fortunately, we live above the dam that busted so at least we don't have to evacuate our home. A friend of mine who lives on Hatcher Road doesn’t have running water. My husband took off in a small fishing boat with his brother today (down Brantley Road in Centerville) to videotape the damage caused in that area. All day long, Brenda, Judy and I listened to reports of roads closed between Perry and Warner Robins. Even though I can stay at home, at this point I don’t know if I can get there!! Still, the news doesn't stop because of Mother Nature--and today she was the big news. - Wednesday, July 6.1994" H0u5t0n Times-Journal there was a strong argument that something must be done to prevent the system from collapsing around the year 2005. Suggestions included raising the age when people become eligible, imposing the tax on Social Security benefits to apply to almost all except the poorest recipients, drastically reducing cost of living increases. A very convincing argument and it was easy to buy... Then a long comes an article about people on Supplemental Social Security. These are not people who have paid into the system and earned Social Security benefits. They are people who supposedly are unable to work and, because Social Security was an easy place to find money, congress decided to pay them from this fund... The arucle I read mentioned that a very large number of the recipients of SSI are drug addicts, alcoholics, illegal aliens, etc. It turns out that Social Security is being used as another welfare program being paid for by working people who have the silly notion that what is being withheld from their pay each payday is going into a trust fund for them in their old age... The Clinton Administration, it turns out, is even opposed to checking up to see if people who are receiving SSI benefits because of inability to work are still disabled. Some Congressmen believe a review of those receiving benefits as disabled could save billions... But nobody is going to 1 hope you are all safe and made it through this disaster in one piece. I think I'll just walk across the street and stay at the New Perry tonight. Look on the bright side--at least you’ll get to see something on television besides OJ. * * * Speaking of the New Perry Hotel, be sure to read the history of this popular landmark. Bobbe Nelson, once again, has done an outstanding job in writing of the hotel's evolution and memories of Nannette Green. A 50th anniversary celebration will be held July 16 and will feature a display of memorabilia from the hotel and well as a tour of the summer gardens and a performance by The Ambassadors of he Wings of Harmony, a Sweet Adelines Chapter. When 1 first started working in fj3 Foy | IjO*"" I do anything about using Social Security money as a welfare program for those drug addicts, alcoholics, illegal aliens, etc. * * * NEEDED? I believe something like 2io new laws went into effect in the state of Georgia July 1. It’s hard tc imagine we need so many new laws. How many thousand laws do we already have on the books in Georgia? Wouldn’t it be sensible to have a few laws we all understand and approve of instead of piling hundreds of new laws on top of the thousands we already have every year? Almost every law, whether we like it or not, in some way takes away from all of us some of our freedom. Yet in a civilized society we need laws (rules) by which to live together...but there is such a thing as overkill... The same holds true on all levels of government. * * * ANDREW TOBIAS says that inflation makes it possible for you to live in a more expensive neighborhood without moving... How true? ~ar rjßrigette| w wLouderfhilkl pt m Editor Perry, my grandparents asked me if I'd eaten at the New Perry Hotel yet. Since I do attend club meetings during the week, I’ve eaten there many times. And, it's amazing how many people I see there that I know who don't live in Perry. The hotel is certainly a well known landmark and I wish the Green’s another 50 years of continued success. * * * Well, I guess I'll go now-my brain is too waterlogged to think anymore.