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Viewpoints
Good luck
A week ago, a large number of well-wish
ers gathered to celebrate the installation of
all newly-elected or appointed county offi
cials.
Retiring Probate Judge Frances Annis led
the way, administering the oath of office to
almost all of the new officials the excep
tion being her replacement. Newly elected
Probate Judge Janice Spires received her
oath from new Superior Court Judge Ed
Lukemire at his request. Spires had worked
with him in the District Attorney’s office for
many years.
The new leaders are now official. There
are new faces in many offices of Houston
County leadership. These new leaders have
worked hard to be elected, and they have
promises to uphold to their constituents.
Our wish and hope is that we have elected
not only qualified men and women, but that
we have elected honest people who will be
faithful stewards of their power and the pub
lic funds they hold.
We wish them well. We’re prepared to
stand behind them and give them opportuni
ty to learn their jobs during the coming
weeks. Their tasks are not easy. We encour
age all voters to be patient during the transi
tion period. We await their growth into their
new offices eagerly.
Thoughts on P.A.L.
Editor,
As I sit here and decide what presents to pur
chase for my kid’s favorite day, I can’t help but
wonder the impact our Project Agape Love (PAL)
efforts have made along the way.
We see only our side, not the other, we don’t
walk in the shoes of our brother. And so I began to
ponder ...
The drive began slowly, I began to wonder.
Could we do it this year with less personnel than
last, or would we go down trying, with a final gasp?
The volunteer who did “boxes” was new, could
she have bitten off more than she could chew? The
boxes sounded easy gather 400 or so, she did
ask. The hard part is to ensure enough each size to
handle the task. With the locations established, the
dates were set for the events, we didn’t want missed
opportunities to be “the tall pole in the tent.”
This year would be different, sure we had less
people, but there were others and so we did learn
There would be no car wash on PAL’s behalf, the
city passed an ordinance and this caused some con
cern. And a good company felt bad as they could
not match their gift of the year before. Do not be
upset, you tried and were generous and that is what
counts, no need to be sore. Things would come in
another way, we would have to look elsewhere, and
our prayers were sent out, we had to made up 300
cases of food, from somewhere.
The community responded as little people and
schools, giving and giving, more food was forth
coming than ever before, this was beyond giving.
Turn out was tremendous, food came from every
where and we began to rally. From 90 miles south
and locally too, we received frozen foods to add to
the tally.
We knew then no city ordinance would stand in
our way. The food and toys came in like never
before we must say. The fact is you filled 400 boxes
with food and filled 363 bags with toys. All this
must mean Perry cares for its own and the happi
ness of the girls and boys.
The PAL drive is neighbors hearing a call. It is
too big for an ordinance to stall. We all have needs
and something to share. We all have methods to
show we care. I know there were many thanks
given to our PAL volunteers.
But the real thanks goes to our community, yes,
a hardy round cheers. It is the support from our
community that provides our means to survive. We *
received great assistance and aid in keeping the
PAL Food Drive alive.
The PAL annual food drive is now over for the
year. We have cleaned up our mess, and stashed our
gear. It is again, up to “Loaves and Fishes” to con
tinue the work of aiding. They can use your help
too. You see, hunger in our city is not fading.
We all fell the cold and we all get hungry too, but
not all of us can tell these feelings to shoo. With the
graces flowing and a city to support us, PAL will
keep alive, and we pray for your well being, and we
again, thank you for a great food drive.
Thomas Saul, Director
Project Agape Love
Houston Times-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
John Smalley Advertising Sales
News: Emily Johnstone. Pauline Lewis, Rick Johnstone; Sports: Phil Clark; Classified
Keeping correction in the state prison formula
Correction l. The act or process
of correcting. 2. Something offered or
substituted for a mistake or fault.
That’s what my handy American
Heritage Dictionary says about correc
tion. There’s apparently a different
description of the word in Georgia
Department of Corrections
Commissioner Wayne Gamer’s dictio
nary.
Why do I believe that? Simply this
his definition of correction for the
thousands of men and women who live
in the Georgia prison system appears
to exclude the corrections part of the
concept.
When I think of correction, I turn to
the first definition listed above the
act or process of correcting. While I
don’t see correction as including bene
fits not normally available to the gen
eral public, I do see it as including
instruction and counseling to bring that
correction to reality.
For many years, Department of
Corrections inmates learned how to
make automobile license plates. The
only problem is, when the inmates left
prison, they had a skill which provided
employment with only one employer
in Georgia the Department of
Corrections.
As the years passed and the idea of
correcting behavior came into vogue,
some forward-thinking individuals
instituted new DOC policies. Among
them was the inclusion of training of
the inmates the opportunity to leam
new life skills so when the inmates left
the prison, some correction would
have been done and some preparation
for anew lifestyle would have been
given.
y|P^. tBy W~ state PRisoujl
mH j EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 1^— —| 1 — -—3 l
1 fTGOTVWR - ]^"
J —-—
Frances V. Annis extends her thanks
Editor:
On behalf of my family and myself,
I want to say “thank you” to the citi
zens of Houston County for allowing
me the privilege of serving in the
Probate Court for the past 35 years.
I will never forget the trust and con
fidence bestowed on me and will
always be grateful for it.
My wish is that God will richly
bless this county as we all work togeth
er to make Houston County a better
place to live.
Frances V. Annis
Warner Robins
(EDITOR’S NOTE: While we
know that newly-installed Probate
Judge Janice Spires will do an excel
lent job, we know many Houston
Countians will miss Judge Annis
because of her personality and her
interest in each person who came
into her court. We wish her luck in
her retirement and look forward to
working with her on community
projects in the future. Actually, the
pleasure was all ours in having her in
the courthouse for 35 years.)
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Bookkeeping: Paula L. Zimmerman.
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Page 4A
Wed., Jan. 8, 1997
Jj
Johnson
Editor
Imagine the job possibilities for
many of our prisoners. Based on data
quoted in The Macon Telegraph Jan. 4,
of the 33,797 inmates in DOC facilities
during the reporting year ending June
30, 1995, 1,081 had less than a seventh
grade education. Another 20,261 had
from the seventh through the 11th
grade while 1,463 had completed high
school.
The statistics quoted indicated that
of the 33,797 persons incarcerated,
14,899 were unemployed at the time of
their arrest.
Thus, two-thirds of the prison popu
lation had less than a hig > school edu
cation and 44.1 percent of them were
unemployed when they were arrested.
That is a figure considerably higher
than the average in Georgia. It’s also a
Figure which, to me, indicates many of
those in prison do not have sufficient
life skills to hold jobs in 1990s
America.
That’s why I don’t understand
Gamer’s recent decision to eliminate
the approximately 235 full-time teach
ing positions in the DOC. These dedi
cated individuals have been providing
an opportunity to leam to the more
than 30,000 prison inmates in Georgia.
They have worked, in small groups,
and likely, one-to-one on occasion, to
help these inmates obtain skills which
Letters to
the Editor
P.O. Drawer M
Perry, Ga. 31069
Television ratings
Editor:
The introduction of the TV Parental
Guidelines this week is good news for
families in our community and parents
with young children across the country.
The new television guidelines are
content-based and age-based, and will
allow us to communicate clear and
consistent information about the vast
amount of television programming that
is available in America’s homes.
We believe parents will find the new
television gudielines easy to under
stand and simple to use —and there
fore helpful to them because they
are similar to the movie ratings parents
Houston runes- Journal
will make for a better lifestyle on the
other side of the fence.
Gamer has decided that distance
learning such as used by Houston
County High for a Russian language
class, or by other schools and colleges
in our state to link teachers from one
part of the state with classrooms in
another part of the state, will work in
the prison system.
Of course, there will be some S2O
per hour, part-time proctors in the
rooms, I suppose to help keep order
and to provide on-site instruction as
necessary.
Try out this scenario after the
state has spent thousands of dollars
buying giant television screens and
satellite dishes to link the various pris
ons to a central instruction unit, the
prisoners are herded into a classroom
for a learning experience.
Keep in mind these are people who
have known little success in society.
More than half of them have not com
pleted high school, thus, the expecta
tion would be that while they may be
very street smart, their learning skills
such as reading and mathematical
computation may not be as strong as
they should be.
So, we have a classroom with a
giant television, a group of people who
don’t have a track record at learning,
and a proctor attempting to keep order.
Somehow this picture doesn’t seem to
generate much enthusiasm for success.
What’s wrong is that a television
instructor, no matter how effective he
or she might be, is not in the classroom
with the inmates, is not able to stand
beside the desk of the inmate and pro
vide one-on-one instruction necessary
have known and trusted for almost 30
years.
The television community modified
these ratings to make special note of
the need expressed by children’s
experts and others for categories
regarding children’s programming. For
the first time ever, parents will be able
to have advance information which
helps them decided whether cartoons
and other children’s programs are suit
able for their youngsters.
No ratings system can be perfect or
win universal support in a nation of
260 million diverse individuals. But at
a time when so many parents are being
squeezed between the time demands of
work and family, we are confident the
new guidelines will be a helpful tool
that will give parents a better opportu
nity to make considered decisions
about their children’s viewing. We
think that’s a step in the right direction,
and we hope that our viewers in mid
dle Georgia will agree.
Debbie R. Hart
WPGATV
Perry
Vi
OUr Goal
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ing counties by Houston Publications Inc., Perry, Ga. Our goal is to produce quality, prof
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for challenged students.
Make no mistake, persons who are
in prison are there to be punished for
their wrongs against society. They
need to work, they need to pay restitu
tion, they need to leam that what they
did is wrong.
At the same time, if there is going to
be some correction in the equation,
there needs to be an educational expe
rience, counseling, access to
Alcoholics Anonymous, and other pro
grams which can encourage correction.
If the premise is simply to ware
house these people for six months to
five years, then Gamer’s direction is
OK for the short term. But if there is to
be some correction, then distance
learning is not form of instruction
which the vast majority of these
inmates need.
Inmates do not need a luxurious
home. They don’t have to have access
to premium cable selections, to movies
and other forms of entertainment. They
don’t have to have the best of living
conditions although clean and sani
tary is important. They need to be
served food which has been prepared
in clean kitchens and kept hot enough
or cold enough not to cause spoilage.
They need adequate exercise. They
need to work. They need access to ade
quate health care so as to not endanger
themselves or their fellow inmates.
They also need correction. Distance
learning classrooms are not the way to
provide that. I hope legislators and the
general public will bring pressure on
Garner to reconsider his decision. Let’s
keep some form of correction in the
Department of Corrections.
Joseph J.
Frank
Commander
American Legion
Flag proponents to
Congress: ‘Were back!’
One of the world’s greatest geopo
litical triumphs since World War II
culminated with a few determined
swings of a hammer.
Every blow against the “iron cur
tain” chiseled a path for democracy.
When the barrier was pierced, the
light of freedom shined through. And
the path was paved for millions of
East Germans and West Germans to
come together as one people one
democratic nation that would uni
formly quench its thirst for represen
tative government.
The unification of Germany was
facilitated by a Cold War U.S. foreign
policy undergirded by the doctrine of
“peace through strength.” In the con
text of that achievement, perhaps you
can understand why The American
Legion supports a constitutional
amendment to protect the American
flag from intentional physical dese
cration. Our strength is in our num
bers as well as in the saliency and
moral sensibility of our position.
Ratification of a flag-protection
amendment is the light that must shine
through this debate as a symbol that
the will of the people cannot be
denied. Flag protection is a goal worth
striving for, no matter how long it
takes to achieve. Just like freedom.
The men and women of The
American Legion believe we should
stand by the flag, not on it. So, we’re
back. Proponents of a flag-protection
amendment return to Capitol Hill to
persuade members of the 105th
Congress to respect the will of the
people as they would regard the free
dom which “Old Glory” symbolizes.
We want to work with members of the
105th Congress on a range of public
policy matters. Restoring the flag to
the position it once occupied is one of
them.
Take into account that 48 states had
laws against flag desecration prior to
1989 when the Supreme Court ruled
that those laws were unconstitutional.
Consider also that 49 states have
passed memorializing resolutions
(See FLAG, Page SA)
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