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Viewpoints
Team at work
Almost before the ink was dry on the
announcement from Northrop Grumman con
cerning the possible closure of the local plant,
Team Houston was swinging into action.
Team Houston is the alliance of elected
and civic officials who work for the common
good of county residents. The team emerged
during the two Base Closure and
Realignment Committee reviews of Robins
Air Force Base during 1993 and 1995.
Since then, the team has continued to work
for the good of the community. In various
ways, they have affected decisions concern
ing the relocation or expansion of several
industries, and they have worked hard to pre
sent a united front to visitors. •
fiHBUR Me
Northrop Grumman case. Among the efforts
already advanced are offers to help with the
marketing of the existing missile plant in
Perry to a company which can use it, and
attempting to find a Houston County location
for the airframe construction now taking
place in Perry.
The Northrop plant is important to
Houston County in many ways, far more
ways than just adding to the tax base (to
which it does make a very important contri
bution.)
While retaining the 450 jobs for local
workers anywhere in middle Georgia is
important, keeping them in Houston County
is top priority. People tend to spend more of
their money where they get their paychecks,
so local businesses and the local sales tax will
take a hit should those payroll checks be
cashed in Macon instead of Houston County.
It is very early in the effort to preserve jobs
and to market the plant. As one member of
Team Houston said, “We have been handed a
giant lemon, but we intend to make lemonade
out of it.” We hope Team Houston is very
successful in making a batch of sweet lemon
ade out of this situation.
Northrop has been a valued member of the
community for almost 10 years. The loss
which that company would make in the area
would be difficult to fill. Not only have many
area workers found employment at the
Georgia Production Center at Thompson
Road, but the company has been a welcome
corporate citizen.
We hope Team Houston is suctessful in
efforts to keep Northrop Grumman in the
county. Northrop is good for Houston
County.
Disappointing move
The search for a director of the Perry
Convention and Visitors Bureau will begin
sooii. disappointed that this
lengthy period of time. We' believe
Westbrook made an effort to do the job, and
we’re sorry he didn’t work out. We wish him
well in finding anew job.
As for the CVB members, we wish them
well in finding the right director this time.
Perhaps the fourth time is the charm, and the
director’s merry-go-round will quit spinning.
s
Vwj Jw : I
Bob Hendrix
Second
Faye R. Tripp
First Direcor
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. Kick Johnstone; Sports: Phil Clark, Classified
!
Bill Westbrook
Most Recent
Top state school priority is student code approval
The current session of the Georgia
Legislature holds many promises for
improving the education of Georgia’s
students. The Department of Education
will address an agenda which will
focus on classroom safety, academic
basics, fiscal and academic account
ability, local control and reduced
bureaucracy.
Georgia’s first education objective
should be to give teachers the chance
to take back their classrooms.
For three years, public surveys have
shown that safe and orderly classrooms
are parents’ number one priority. That
is why the Department of Education, in
conjunction with the Attorney General
and interested legislators, will intro
duce during the 1997 Georgia General
Assembly session a statewide Student
Code of Conduct for implementation
by local school systems.
The seven key provisions of the
Student Code are:
1 Respect authority, such as
teachers, administrators, bus drivers
and other school employees, and obey
(nm m ww\
THIS PAULA jms Tftm- ) 1
to ' /
IgJi a 'A I
Strong support for prison schools
Editor:
Since Dec. 6, 1996, when J. Wayne
Garner, Commissioner, Georgia
Department of Corrections, summarily
terminated the employment of 235
teachers, technical instructors and
supervisors, there have been many arti
cles, editorials and letters to the editor
regarding this matter.
Nearly all of the ones I have read,
with the exception of those coming
from the Governor’s Office and the
Department of Corrections spokesman,
have been in support of the role of qual
ity education within the correctional
system.
I applaud the media and individuals
who have taken this positive view of
the necessity of educating this group of
individuals who have “fallen through
the cracks’’ of our public educational
system. •
I am a correctional educator who has
a personal stake in the outcome of this
shortsighted approach to dealing with
the budgetary problems of the
Department of Corrections. I am also a
taxpayer of the State of Georgia. I am
concerned about the future costs to the
State and to me as a taxpayer.
According to Department figures, it
currently costs approximately SIB,OOO
per year to keep a person in prison. The
department contends that the average
teacher makes $52,000 in salary and
benefits. Using these figures, if each
teacher, throughout his or her career,
has a positive impact on only three
inmates, that teacher has saved the state
his or her entire career salary.
I know there are manjwritizens of the
state who think that this “get tough on
inmates” approach is what we need to
keep criminals off the street. There is,
Ads: Mark C. Felly; Composition: Chad Lewis; Circulation and Photography: Eric Zellars;
Bookkeeping: Paula L. Zimmerman.
Our Policies
Unsigned editorials appearing in larger type on this page under the label of Our Views
rellect the position of the Houston Times Journal. Signed columns and letters on this page
(and elsewhere in this newspaper) reflect the opinions ol the writers and not necessarily
those of this newspaper.
Signed letters to the editor are welcomed Please limit letters to 300 yords and include
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out verification. Letters should be sent to P.O. Drawer M . Perry. Oa 31069, or brought to
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PAGE 4A
Wed., Jan. 22, 1997
Linda
Schrenko
State School
Superintendent
school rules.
2 Attend school daily.
3 Attempt to progress in your
education, not just take up space in
school and distract others.
4 Respect school property.
5 Dress and groom “to meet fair
standards of safety, health and com
mon standards of decency.”
6 Avoid use of obscene language.
7 Express ideas in a manner that
will not demean or slander others.
The Student Code of Conduct will
also offer protection for teachers
against unwarranted civil lawsuits
which can inhibit their ability to main
tain classroom order. The Department
of Education will continue to support
different levels of Alternative Schools
Letters to
the Editor
P.O. Drawer M
Perry, Ga. 31069
however, no evidence that a person
who is placed in prison as punishment
for a criminal act and is offered no
counseling and educational services
returned to society a better person.
There is evidence which indicates
the recidivism rate is reduced for indi
viduals who attain higher levels of
education while in prison. Put in sim
pler words, a person who receives an
education while in prison is more like
ly not to return to prison but rather to
become a contributing member of
society.
If we are to reduce the rate of
return to prison by former inmates, it
is imperative that we offer education
al and counseling services to these
inmates while they are incarcerated. If
a person comes to prison with a mini
mal education, is locked away for sev
eral years and released with a bus
ticket, $25 cash and a suit of khaki
clothes, what are his or her chances of
finding productive employment?
Not only has he not improved his
education, now he is an illiterate con
victed felon. Who is going to hire
him? What are his chances of becom
ing a productive citizen?
We must remember that a person is
placed in prison as punishment for his
crime, not for punishment. We can
“get tough” on prisoners without
denying them the opportunity to
Houston runes-Journal
for unruly and otherwise troubled stu
dents.
Academic achievement is the pri
mary focus of Georgia’s schools. In
pursuit of this, the Department of
Education is introducing eight pilot
Reading First schools to ensure read
ing proficiency for all students no later
than great three. We are involved in a
statewide revision of the complete
Quality Core Curriculum the state’s
content competency standards for
the first time since the mid-1980s.
Academic improvement is a futile
pursuit without accountability measur
ers that gauge process. That is why the
Department of Education publishes
annually the Georgia Public Education
Report Card.
Another step toward increased
accountability is improving our meth
ods of testing. The Department of
Education has contracted the North
Carolina Research Alliance to review
Georgia’s SAT program, and one of
their recommendations is that Georgia
administer the Preliminary SAT to
improve their chances of becoming
productive, taxpaying citizens when
they are released.
We can “get tough” on prisoners
without denying them basic human
rights. We can “get tough” on prison
ers without subjecting them to emo
tional and physical abuse.
The loss of civil rights and freedom
are the punishment a person receives
for committing a crime, it is not the
role of society to further punish that
person through physical and emotional
abuse, loss of their humanity or loss of
opportunity to improve their chances
of successfully merging into society
upon their release.
Finally, I think that we, as citizens and
taxpayers, need to start insisting that our
elected and appointed officials become
statement, not politicians. No longer
should these individuals watch the latest
polls to determine what the popular atti
tude of the day happens to be.
If their primary goal is to get re
elected or reappointed to an office,
then our civilization has not place to
go. It is imperative these people begin
to take a longer view of where we need
to go as a society and lead us in that
direction.
Reading the morning polls and
attempting to satisfy short term inter
ests does not better our society. This
only leads to doing what is expedient
at the moment and shows little concern
for the social and financial conse
quences resulting.
Thank you for this opportunity to
express some of my thoughts and feel
ing about the current issues involved in
this matter
David L Ince
Perry.
V."'
Our Goal
The Houston Ttmes-Joumal is published proudly for the citizens of Houston and adjoin
ing counties by Houston Publications Inc., Perry, Ga. Our goal is to produce quality, prof
itable, community-oriented newspapers that you, our readers, are proud of. We will reach this
goal through hard work, teamwork, loyalty and a strong dedication toward printing the truth.
Member of Georgia Press Association and National Newspaper Association.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of griev
ances.” Your right to read this newspaper is protected by the First Amendment to the United
States Constitution.
The Houston Times-Journal (USPS 000471) is published weekly for $21.00 per year
by Houston Publications lnc„ 807 Carroll Street, Perry, Ga„ 31069. Periodicals Class
Postage paid at Perry, Ga. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Houston
Times-Journal, P.O. Drawer M, Perry, Ga. 31069. ISSN: 1075-1874.
every rising high school junior in the
state. This would provide test-taking
practice and career guidance for stu
dents.
All policies and priorities of the
Department of Education are formulat
ed with the aim of giving decision
making control of schools back to local
communities. The best way to do this
is to restructure Georgia’s charter
schools regulations and allow local
communities to remake their schools to
reflect local needs and goals.
Currently, Georgia has a charter
schools law which requires extensive
paperwork before a school can be
approved for charter status. An amend
ed charter law could provide the flexi
bility local systems need to make chap
ter schools work at the optimum level.
My goal for Georgia’s schools con
tinues to be that all children receive an
education which allows them to devel
op their abilities to their fullest poten
tial an education worthy of the 21st
(See SCHRENKO, Page 5)
From
Where I Sit
Bob Tribble
President
Focus on future
The year 1996 is gone now. The
things that we have accomplished, or
failed to accomplish, whether right,
wrong, good, bad or indifferent, will
soon be settled in the year that was
and there is absolutely nothing we can
do to change it.
Whether we like it or not, one sec
ond after midnight December 31,
1996 was gone forever and 1997 came
to stay. The simple truth is this, we
can’t take our successes or failures of
1996 into 1997. The year 1997 is writ
ing its own history, and whether we
are a success or failure depends on
what we do in 1997, not what we did
in 1996.
Life is built on what we do today
and tomorrow, not What we have
accomplished in the past. No man can
be a success tomorrow who is trying
to drag yesterday with him.
The story is told of a pastor who
went to visit one of his church mem
bers at his office one day. The pastor
told the church member, who we will
call Tom, “I had a dream about me
and you last night.”
Tom said. “Yeah? Tell me about it
preacher.”
The preacher said, “Tom, I
dreamed me and you both died last
night.”
To which Tom replied, “Whoa
preacher! I don’t want to hear any
more of a dream like that!”
“Wait a minute Tom, we went to
Heaven!” the preacher said.
“Oh well, in that case you can fin
ish,” Tom said.
The preacher continued, “When we
got to Heaven we saw the most beau
tiful light way off on the horizon. We
started walking toward the light, and
the closer we got the more beautiful it
became and we knew it must be the
Pearly Gates that the light was coming
from. We knew we had made it!
“In our excitement we began to run
towards that light, but Tom, my ole
heart just couldn’t make it and I began
to give our of breath. I just couldn’t
run any further, so I told you to run on
ahead and when you got there tell St.
Peter I’m on my way and I’ll be there
just as soon as I can get there.
“But Tom you wouldn’t hear of
that! You said we started toward that
light together and we were going to
finish together even if you had to tote
me. So, I got on your back piggy style
and off towards the Pearly Gates you
ran!
“When we arrived at the Pearly
Gates sure enough there stood St.
Peter, and I told him my name was
pastor so and so from so and so
church, and that I had been serving the
Lord for a long time and I was ready
to come home now. Well, Tom, old St.
Peter looked in the Book of Life and
(See TRIBBLE, Page 5)
P