Viewpoints
Good luck
As the time of spring graduation cere
monies rapidly approaches, we join the long
list of people who are offering congratula
tions to our 1996 graduates at every level.
We hope that those who have completed
their studies at whatever level, from nursery
school to post-graduate, have availed them
selves of the opportunities they had to learn
more about the world about them, and to
increase their knowledge in preparation for
new jobs and new challenges.
As these young people, especially those
emerging from high school, enter the “adult”
world, we wish them the best of luck in
whatever they pursue, be it further educa
tion, military service or entry into the job
market.
They enter a world in transition. Many
companies have had to downsize their oper
ations. Others have had to redefine their
entry-level jobs because of increased tech
nology. More and more jobs require at least
some training, making additional schooling,
whether at college or technical school, an
excellent choice.
Whatever their choices, we wish them
luck. We hope they choose to become func
tioning members of society, not those who
just hang on and wait for others to support.
We hope they choose to be law-abiding citi
zens, not those who require incarceration to
function. We hope they choose to become
productive members of a society which
needs a fresh infusion of ideas and sugges
tions.
To seniors graduating from high schools
in Houston County, we extend our wishes of
good luck. To graduates of other institutions,
especially those of higher learning, we offer
our congratulations on this success.
We look forward to recording your contin
ued success in the years to come.
An excellent idea
An announcement by the Houston County
Hospital Authority and members of the lead
ership at Robins Air Force Base to make
more efficient use of Houston Medical
Center for Robins residents is good news.
The base hospital is not as large as the
public hospital, nor does it offer the wide
ranging services which are available at
Houston Medical Center.
By allowing military personnel and their
doctors to be served at HMC, Air Force lead
ers and hospital authority members are
increasing the use of HMC while providing
additional services to Robins residents.
The better the utilization of the larger of
the two hospitals in Houston County, the bet
ter it is for taxpayers, for their investment in
these facilities and in support of military
families. •
We think working together to serve the
needs of the civilian and the military popula
tion makes sense.
Move benefits community
Within a few weeks, the Perry Area
Chamber of Commerce will occupy offices
at the Perry Welcome Center. They are mov
ing to that six-year-old facility at the invita
tion of the Perry Area Convention and
Visitors Bureau.
The move is good for both organizations.
They have different missions and different
sources of major funding, but they have
many “in common” services which are
offered to the public. The two bodies have
shown they can work together to promote
Perry and bring new dollars and faces to this
area.
We applaud the move. The Chamber ben
efits from a much more attractive surround
ing while the C&VB gets some financial
help in paying for and operating their attrac
tive building.
The bottom line is good news for taxpay
ers and chamber supporters. Go for it.
Houston Ames-Journal
P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. • Perry, Ga. 31069
(912) 987-1823 • (912) 988-1181 (fax)
e mail jjedit@hom.net
Bob Tribble President
Jj Johnson Editor and General Manager
Sherri Wengler Advertising Manager
News: Emily Johnstone. Pauline Lewis, Rick Johnstone; Sports: Phil Clark;
Classified and Composition: John Adams; Circulation and Photography; Eric
Zellars; Bookkeeping: Jeannette Fullington
Which has changed the law or the enforcement?
Have I missed something? Has the
law been changed about slower traffic
keeping to the right?
As I was growing up, I learned from
the South Carolina (and later
Tennessee and Georgia) drivers’
license handbooks that slower traffic
was to keep right when travelling
along multiple-lane roads.
This law applied equally to city
streets, suburban parkways and multi
lane interstates. The right lane was
reserved for the slowest traffic, while
the center lane was for those who were
traveling faster.
Now, we have many three or more
lane highways in each direction.’
Apparently the slower traffic keep
right signs have been taken down to
allow more speed limit signs (we
wouldn’t want to miss a revenue-
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Mayor explains spraying schedule
Editor:
In order to help our citizens plan
their early evening outdoor activities,
such as walking, I will appreciate your
printing the following mosquito spray
ing schedule:
Mondays Starting in the Tucker
area at approximately 6:30 p.m., all
areas east of Ball Street and East of
Macon Road will be sprayed until 9:00
p.m.
Tuesdays Starting at Perimeter
Road at approximately 6:30 p.m , all
areas west of Ball Street and west of
Macon Road will be sprayed as will the
area out the Marshallville Road and
into Holly Hills. The scheduled spray
ing will end around 8:30 p.m. each
Tuesday.
On days when there is a late after
noon rain, the schedule for that day
will be moved to the next day. If the
mosquito problem increases, some
additional spraying will be done in
trouble spots on Wednesdays. It is dif
ficult to determine in advance where
the trouble spots will be and the city is
unable to give citizens a schedule in
advance for whatever spraying will be
done on Wednesdays.
The product that the city uses to
spray mosquitoes is carefully con
trolled and is safe for use around peo
ple.
Mayor Jim Worrall
City of Perry
End of American Dream
Editor:
In the land of the free, what could:
kill the American dream, destroy the
“Pursuit of Happiness” for you and
your children, unleash “Big Brother”
government control, end freedom to
live and work without government
intrusion? The legislation H.R. 1617
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Our Goal
The Houston Tunts-Jouma / is published proudly for the citizens of Houston
Page 4A
Wed., May 29,1996
Jj
Johnson
Editor
enhancing opportunity) and no one in
Georgia is enforcing that old keep right
law any longer.
During a recent trip to Atlanta with
a friend, we listened on his Citizens
Band radio to several truck drivers
comment about the problem of slower
drivers taking over the center lane. The
drivers agreed this was a problem
which was worse in Georgia than other
states.
My friend and I agreed. Several
times he had to slow down to wait for
Letters to
the Editor
P.O. Drawer M
Perry, Ga. 31069
(the Consolidated and Reformed
Education, Employment and
Rehabilitation Systems Act) known as
CAREERS and its companion bill
5143 could end life in America as we
know it.
Close examination of both docu
ments reveals that this American
forced labor bill mandates:
•Government data collection on all
individuals.
•Government evaluation and treat
ment centers.
•Government residential work/train
ing centers.
•Government hiring quotas and con
trols.
Mark Tucker, president of the
National Center on Education and the
Economy, wrote a letter to Hillary
Clinton which confirms plans have
existed for years to turn our schools
into “human resource development”
facilities to prepare children for
employment suitable to and monitored
by the government. The plan is uncon
stitutional. The plan is National
Socialism.
Human capital or resource is a new
label for all children who are being
shaped to match the supposed needs of
the global economy; the trained work
force product of global/national
schooling.
The U.S. Department of Labor, in
the SCANS report, tells schools in
America to reinvent education (K-12)
Houston Times-Journal
an opportunity to pass slowly moving
traffic in the center lane.
Now, it seems, passing on the right
must be the approved method. That,
when I was growing up, was frowned
upon by the authorities.
Guess I’d better drive out to the
Georgia State Patrol post (in the right
lane, understand, since I was trained
slower traffic to the right) and get a
new drivers’ manual. Perhaps the law
has changed.
Or has the way it is enforced
changed?
•••
Graduation issues always bring to
my mind the various graduations I par
ticipated in back during the dark ages
of American civilization. Seems like it
has been 31 years since my high school
graduating class walked across the
around one universal recognized stan
dards Certificate of Mastery. If you
don’t have a Certificate of Initial
Mastery, you can’t work.
My children are not commodities,
they are precious gifts from God. My
children are not servants of the state. If
this legislation becomes law, our chil
dren will not be educated to pursue
their dreams and develop their talents,
they will be trained for the workforce.
The concepts in H.R. 1617/S 143 are
already in place in Floyd County
schools. According to an experimental
program adopted by Floyd County in
1944 called the Next Generation
School Project, career guidance and
awareness would be incorporated in
grades K-12. This plan moves away
from “academically intensive curricu
lum” to one that is integrated with
vocational training, producing students
for the labor market. The “School to
Work program limits the knowledge of
a student to what can be used for a spe
cific job or career path.
Georgia has plunged into the
“School to Work” program before the
federal bill passes. Linda Schrenko
signed the State Youth Workforce
Development Plan on March 18, 1996.
Mrs Schrenko visited Germany to
observe its education apprenticeships
for Georgia. This cheap labor govern
ment imposed apprenticeship program
is not to be confused with our tradi
tional concept of apprenticeship. The
latter benefits the whole community,
the former benefits the government.
As responsible citizens, we must
urge our congressmen to repeal every
law that implements Goals 2000 and
vote NO on the final version of H.R.
1617/5143. We must express our con
cerns to our educators.
Bonnie Copeland
Ir ,1
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stage. It’s almost impossible to believe
time has passed that quickly.
Seems like just the other day, my
wife’s class was discussing plans for
their 25th reunion. At the rate those
plans got completed (I don t remember
a reunion, but I’m getting forgetful in
my old age) they’d better start plan
ning for the 50th year.
•••
As we do from time to time, last
week we accidentally promoted one
city employee and fired another.
For years I’ve lived in dread fear of
doing this one their names are just
too similar.
Bill Hafley is not the head of the
D.A.R.E. program for the city. Bill
Hathcock is. Unfortunately, last week
we promoted the city clean-up batter to
the top job at D.A.R.E. Our apologies.
From
Where I Sit
Bob Tribble
President
Not many people
vote themselves
out of a job
For several years Congress has
talked of term limits. Most polls
conducted recently show that 70
percent or more of American voters
support them. Yet, the Congress
always comes up short in votes to
put the issue to further test.
The most recent measure regard
ing term limits would have limited
senators to two six-year terms and
House members to six two-year
terms. In addition, three fourths of
the state legislatures would have to
approve them.
Term limit proposals was part of
the Republicans Contract With
America, yet the G.0.P.-controlled
House rejected it last year by a
227-204 vote, well shy of the two
thirds majority needed. ; ~- j.**
Those who push for term limits
say that by shortening the time of
politicians in office, we will
lengthen their perspective. They
say that those who serve briefly
will give greater weight to the
long-term needs of the nation.
Those who oppose term limits
say we would be disqualifying
many seasoned, knowledgeable and
experienced public servants by lim
iting their time in office. They go
on to say that the voters should be
the ones to hand out the pink slips.
Frankly, I have mixed feelings
on this one. It is easy to see where
experience, knowledge and so forth
is a definite plus for one serving on
Capitol Hill. Sometimes it takes
more than a term to learn the ropes
around Washington and position
yourself to get anything accom
plished.
On the other hand it is hard
sometimes to defeat an incumbent
on any level; national, state, or
local. He has his machine behind
him. And yes, sometimes politi
cians can stay too long in any
office. Just like sometimes a
preacher can stay too long at a
church.
But, in all probability the people
who should decide just how long a
politician should stay in office are
those voters back home. Works that
way in a church. The people who
decide when a preacher’s effective
ness is over are members of his
congregation.
We can argue and discuss term
limits for the next 10 years, just as
has been done in the past, and that’s
all right, no harm will be done.
Bottom line though is if it ever
passes Congress by that two-thirds
majority, those presently in office
will have to be excluded from the
new law. Not many people will ever
vote themselves out of a job.
(Bob Tribble is president of
Houston Publications Inc.)
