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Viewpoints Houston Times-Journal P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll Street • Perry, Ga. 31069 Phone: (912) 987-1823 Member Georgia Press Association-National Newspaper Association .... *X_. pi-. pliraal/ytflißmwiiit f — ] --- - ‘ Your right to road this newspaper is protected by the First Amendment ol the United States Constitution. Our Goal The Houston Times-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 Jim Kerce Editor and General Manager Eddie Byrd Advertising Director News: Jimmy Simpson, Pauline Lewis Sports: Veto Roley Composition: Melanie Bullington Classified Advertising: Melanie Bullington Bookkeeping: Judy Morrow 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 (DSPS 000471) is published semi-weekly for SIB.OO per year by Houston Publications, Inc., 807 Carroll Street, Perry, Ga. 31069. Second Ciass Postage paid at Perry, Ga.,POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Houston Times-Journal, P.O. Drawer M.PerryGa. 31069. ISSN :1075-1874 Your Opinion Resident cooperation needed Dear Editor: The recent heavy rains have created a problem that was really unexpected. Some residential yard trimmings were deposited in the street by the curb. Rain washed the debris into the storm drains. You can imagine what happened. What did not go down the opening became a dam and created more flooding on the street. What did get into the system stopped up the drain down stream. Worst case, of course, is when the stoppage occurs midway in the pipes. Clearing such conditions is often a major operation. So please, when placing yard trimmings on curbside for collection, keep the material away from storm drains. Don’t put waste in the street. The problem is more critical where curb and gutters are installed with underground storm drains available. But even in the open ditch situations, and there are plenty of them in Perry, try to avoid stopping up the flow of storm water runoff. Resident cooperation will be very helpful and everyone will benefit. In these busy days our hard working Public Works people need all the help they can get. Thanks much. Bill Chamblis Voters do have a valid choice Dear Editor: Dear Ms. Ogletree, I read, with a great deal of interest, your response in the “Houston Times-Joumal”, STREET TALK; therefore, 1 would like to introduce myself to you and try to change your mind. 1 am Billy Hunter. I am a Christian, a husband for thirty-two and a half years and a father for 30 years. I have owned a small business, Houston Mattress Factory, for the past eleven years. We manufacture all types of mattresses and the business has been in Houston County since 1951. We are proud of our business and like to mention to everyone that we make all of the mattresses that go into the Wanderlodge, the super-luxurious motorhome, manufactured by the Blue Bird Plant in Peach County. We also have contracts with local nursing homes and hospitals as well as hotels and motels. But as important to our business as these contracts are, we also take personal pride in the local residents of Houston County who have made it possible for our business to be here for 43 years. 1 also work for the Houston County Board of Education, Transportation Department, as the Route Supervisor for the school busses. So you see, Ms. Ogletree, I’m just an ordinary citizen who pays lots of taxes just like other ordinary citizen. The only thing that makes me a little different is that I want to be your County Commissioner because, being an ordinary citizen provides me with the knowledge of what needs to be corrected in Houston County. Being a small business owner provides me with the knowledge of what it costs small businesses to stay in business in this county. Being an employee of the Houston County Board of Education provides me with knowledge of many areas of our county that needs improvement and expansion. I am not an apathetic person. I want to help correct what is wrong and make things better for everyone. 1 do not belong to a big company nor to big money backers. I do have many friends and for this 1 am very thankful. They, as well as my family, encourage me to try to help make a difference. I sure would like to convince you to back a candidate for this important job. I would rather be that candidate because I feel that I am the most qualified. Please do not feel the way you do. You registered to vote so please try to find some good in one of us and exercise this right. If you need to talk to a candidate, please call me. My home number is 987-3766. Warmest regards, Billy Hunter ut 0 K/elcotKea ty** 4.etten& *7* ~76e SdMn. s4ddn,c&i Flood control was one reason for Flint Dams On October 1, 1973 then Gov. Jimmy Carter turned down the Flint River dams project that would have placed three dams along the Flint River between Manchester- Thomaston area and Americus, and two other river projects below Albany. The dams had been recommended by the Corps of Engineers in the late 1950’s mainly for hydro-electric power, as water resources and for flood control. They were approved by Congress in March of 1962. When then Gov. Carter axed the projects he said that benefits from the 170 million dollar projects such as recreation, flood control and power generating would be marginal. It would be interesting to know today, after the Great Flood of 1994 that devastated homes, businesses and crop lands along the Flint, as well as claiming 32 lives, if Mr. Carter has any second thoughts concerning his actions over 20 years ago. In November of 1972, Gov. Carter sent letters to landowners along the Flint saying that the section of the river from Senoia to south of Americus had been selected by the state to preserve as part of a State Scenic Rivers system. Opinion at the time was that the Governor had been persuaded by Houston County gets ‘light’ damage in comparison to others It has been said often that Hous ton County should count itself lucky from the amount of damage received in the storm. I know that many people in Houston County were not as fortu nate as the great majority, that some areas of the county, and of Perry, did flood, that there was loss of property in the county. There were over 400 homes that received property damage. In all 35 roads and bridges in the county were damaged. The morning of the flood found South Perry separated from North Perry, and South Houston County separated from North Hous ton County. Perry was, for all pur poses, cut off from the rest of the world for Wednesday, and most of Thursday. The weekend found only a few roads open to and from Perry. But, all in all, compared to many of our neighbors, Houston County got off lightly in the flood. Houston County received light damage. Macon County, for in STREETTALK The football season is upon us with high school teams hitting the practice field Mon day, Aug. 1. This week we asked coaches and trainers from Perry High School and Westfield if they were ready for the season to start. Hr I JS.X- I x jyQaHfli Ronnie Jones, Head coach, Westfield “I can't wait. This is the time of year I wait for. I'm excited to get started again.” mk. m IKM ’i' Jr : Chip McCarty, Head trainer, West field and PHS "I'm not just excited about football coming back, I'm excited about the school year coming back. I deal everyday with high school kids, and I miss the kids.” Houston Times-Joumal environmentalists, some fishermen and a handful of landowners along the river to turn down the massive Federal Project. He had received a petition with 1,170 names from valley area fishermen, mostly from Muscogee County, and from a group of 1,070 Ga. Tech students encouraging him to keep the Flint as a free flowing river. There is no telling how many people from the counties along the Flint that would have been affected by the dams signed petitions in favor of the projects. Locally, those in favor of the dams ian as much as 90 percent at the outset may be a low of 75 percent after all the controversy erupted. Local and state elected officials were behind the projects almost 100 percent, and put up a good fight to preserve them. The Georgia Department of Community Development, which is now the Georgia Department of Industry and Trade, endorsed the projects; Col. Louis Truman, head of the agency, pointed out the need for more surface water in the area south of Atlanta. The Georgia Municipal Association, the Chatt-Flint Agency, and even the Governor’s majority floor leader, George Busbee of Albany, supported the dams. Local governments signed stance, received heavy damage. So, I will say it again, this county was lucky. So many times in a paper you will find negative comments about governing officials. Government of ficials, especially elected officials, rarely get noticed when things go right. After all, that is the way things are supposed to work. How ever, when things go wrong, gov ernment officials are often on center stage, and often that performance is received by less than a happy crowd. However, the recent flood showed our government officials at their best. V , The Good Morning, Breakfast meeting Wednesday had city and county officials talking about the cooperation between the two groups. And, there was good cooperation between the city and the county. Both groups did not argue over ter ritory, but went out and did what ■Ly? mL ' \ v John Stephens, Head coach, PHS “I always look forward to it. The season is always the best part of the year. The off-season is a killer." B^fß mr Jp Bob Jones, Assistant, PHS "I'm excited about getting back into football. I want to see what we can accom plish, see what the next challenge is going to be." Saturday, July 30,1904 M Houston Times-Journal Page 4A Resolutions supporting the projects, and the Meriwether County Planning Committee, of which Attorney David Turner was president at the time, fought long and hard for the dams to be constructed, as did then State Representative Claude A. Bray, Jr. and former Congressman Jack Flynt. Most area newspapers, including both the Manchester Star-Mercury and Meriwether Vindicator endorsed the projects, but as you would guess, the Atlanta Journal- Constitution was opposed. Money was approved and had been spent for preliminary work and surveys, and money was in the 1973 Federal Budget to begin work on the dams. Sprewell Bluff Dam was to be constructed first at a site on the river between Meriwether and Upson Counties. The 180 foot dam would provide a lake covering 16,800 acres and would cost $63,200,000. Next to be built was the Lazar Creek Dam between Talbot and Upson Counties. This dam was to be 142 feet high, encompass 9,900 acres and would cost $40,400,000. And then the Auchumpkee Creek Dam was to be built between Taylor and Crawford Counties. Two other river projects on the Flint below Albany were to had to be done to get highways open again. During the worst of the flooding on Wednesday, all six of the corri dors between Warner Robins and Perry were closed at some point of the day. That was to be expected, and there was really nothing the county or the city could do about it. However, on Thursday, county and city crews went to work, and opened two of the corridors up to the public, allowing traffic from Warner Robins to Perry. Most of the delays in getting the corridors open were due to waiting on ap proval from the state DOT. The county's work is also shown in the amount of money the county received from GEMA, when they made their first disbursement. The county received a check for $511,000, which was more than any other county in the state, in cluding Bibb County, where Macon is located, and Macon County, where Montezuma is located. Ricky Lane, Assistant, Westfield "I'm very excited about it— excited about this year. I hope we live up to eooDec tations.” [+ r n|j llliii, ||lt \ i Billy Sellers, Head softball coach, Westfield "I’m happy with the sea sons, softball and football, starting. Summer’s been fun; but, I’m ready to get back to school. I’m looking forward to the challenges.” rQrz i Tribble I follow. Never before in the history of our nation had a Governor ever turned down such a massive Federal Project in which no state money would be required. But, Gov. Carter did and it drew national attention and most likely helped him in his campaign for the Presidency, which he began just over a year later. “The benefits from the dam such as recreation, flood control, and power generating would be marginal,” Carter said. Certainly, no one has hindsight but our Governor had little foresight when he made the above statement in October of 1973 and turned back the 170 million dollar Federal Project that very well would have saved many, many times the project cost in losses that have just occurred due to the Great Flood of 94, not to mention the lives that were lost. BVeto I Roley I Staff Writer I Both of these counties received more damage than Houston County, but each received less ini tial money than Houston County. The key, said Sherrill Stafford, Houston County Commission Chairman, was that Houston County workers got out and assessed the damage without wait ing for federal and state assessors to go to work. "It’s a tribute to all the workers in the county who jumped on the problems from the very beginning," said Stafford of the initial checks. "They got the reports in early." No, the county did not get off scot free in the flood. But, we did not do that badly. fey Jimmy Goodbye, Sat.! Hello, Wed.! It is with mixed emotions that I write this column bidding farewell to this newspaper’s last Saturday publication. For many, many years, the Houston Home Journal distributed a Saturday morning paper. The Houston Times-Joumal then followed course after the community’s previous two newspapers merged. Most anticipated, at least to high school kids, were the Friday night football results. Just to see your name in print always did seem to put a smile on your face... And to the fans, those faithful parents who brave the cold and rain while watching your son or daughter on the field or sidelines, we’ll still give you many articles with which to show your peers. One of our main emphasis here is to upgrade what we feel to be your community lifeline by providing more local coverage. Instead of a two-day time frame to gather news for each edition, we will now have a six-day period. This will allow for many more in depth articles and a variety of other items you would like to see... The coverage will, no doubt, continue. The Friday night press run, won’t... Despite the change, we hope your loyalty remains. We challenge you to assist us in providing what we hope to be the best local newspaper in any community, north or south, east or west. While we try to remain abreast of everything going on, there is bound to be that one event that we don’t know about. All you have to do is pick up the phone...