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Viewpoints
Good decision
Meeting at Perry City Hall March 4, mem
bers of the Houston County Commission
began the process of bringing a close to the
Houston County Correctional Institute.
Years ago, when there were fewer prisons,
fewer violent offenders, and when prisoners
didn’t require as much supervision on work
details, it made economic sense for counties
to contract with the state to house a certain
number of prisoners in return for “free”
prison labor to be used in a variety of ways.
Because of changing regulations concern
ing how prisoners may be worked, the
increasing number of violent offenders, and
the problems involved in utilizing prison
labor, fewer communities are opting to pro
vide housing facilities such as the HCCI in
return for this labor.
At the same time, faced with a deadline to
do something about the present Houston
County Jail, which is adjacent to HCCI, but
operated with a completely different staff,
Houston County Commissioners, with this
choice to close HCCI, have left a door open
to resolve the overcrowded jail problem in
the county.
The jail, a facility for holding prisoners
before trial, and after trial only until they can
enter the Department of Corrections system,
is inadequate. It is too small, doesn’t meet
current fire codes, and doesn’t meet the
needs of the community.
Converting some of the usable inmate
space at HCCI to space for county prisoners
makes sense and cents. The conversion
would be much more economical than build
ing anew facility, and the process could be
done quickly, thus meeting the deadline of
1998 as given last year by Houston Superior
Court Judge L.A. ’’Buster” McConnell Jr.
Members of the Houston County
Commission have charted a good course in
deciding to close the Houston County
Correctional Institute. The possibilities of
expanding the Houston County Jail quickly
and economically far outweigh, the advan-.
tages which “free” prison labor could pro
vide.
Free music available
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard
Academy Jazz Band will be in free concert at
the Georgia National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter McGill Building March 8 at 7:30
p.m.
The concert is being made available to the
community much due to the efforts of
Wainwright and Emily Kemp, parents of
Paul Kemp, a member of the band.
The Kemps decided they wanted to share
their community with the Coast Guard stu
dents, and share the music with the commu
nity. After some telephone calls, letters and
efforts, they managed to schedule the visit
here, and the community gets the benefits of
two proud parents who will get to see their
son perform on stage.
We’re sure the quality of music will be
very good. We’re sure that Kemp’s col
leagues will provide a very enjoyable
evening of music for those who avail them
selves of the free concert.
Will you be among those who will attend?
Make it easier
Meeting March 18, members of the
Houston County Board of Elections will con
sider a plan to add several new voting
precincts to Houston County.
The concept is good. Additional polling
places mean more convenience for voters,
shorter lines, earlier results, and maybe, just
maybe, better participation.
We commend the Board for taking this
step to make voting in this county even easi
er. As they so often do, members of this
group are taking their challenge of making
voting easy and convenient very seriously.
That’s good for all of us.
Houston runes-Journal
P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. • Perry, Ga. 31069
(912) 987-1823 • (912) 988-1181 (fax)
e mail jjedit@hom.net
Bob TVibble President
Jj Johnson Editor and General Manager
John Smalley Advertising Sales
News: Emily Johnstone, Pauline Lewis. Rick Johnstone; Sports: Phil Clark; Classified
Page 4A
Answer, please: I’m going to Perry because ...
Several years ago, when William
was much younger than he is today, he
would join his parents in a game of
“I’m going to grandma’s house and
I’m going to take ...”
The game, frequently used by par
ents to entertain young children as they
travel by car, involves each person
contributing something to the list,
sometimes with special rules. One of
the variations we played involved
added items to the list which began
with the same letter as the person’s
name. Another variation was to add
items in alphabetical order.
The worst part for me was remem
bering the items Judy and William
added so that when it came my turn,
not only could I add anew item, but I
could also meet the rules of the game
and recall their items.
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Georgians have much at stake in D. C.
The American system of govern
ment is unique in that it encourages
its citizens to take an active role in
the shaping of public policy. And one
of the most enjoyable aspects of my
job is meeting with Eighth District
residents who do just that.
The past week saw numerous
groups from Georgia travel to
Washington to help educate and
inform lawmakers on legislation that
will come before the 105th Congress,
one group visiting in the past week
and having a significant impact on
my House colleagues was a contin
gent of Georgia’s top peanut produc
ers.
The purpose of the producers’ trip
to Congress was to help educate
members of Congress on the benefits
of the federal peanut program.. I was
proud to host a successful forum in
the Capitol that brought Georgia’s
peanut producers together with the
state’s congressional delegation and
the chairman of the House subcom
mittee with jurisdiction over the
peanut program.
In recent years, the federal peanut
program has found itself under attack
in Congress. In working together
with Georgia’s peanut farmers, we
realized a number of members
remain uninformed about the pro
gram’s benefits.
Because of this, I thought it would
help to have Georgia peanut farmers
come to Washington to personally
explain the importance of the peanut
program.
Asa result of the meeting and pre
sentation by the peanut producers, I
am confident that my Georgia col
leagues will now help educate other
members of Congress on the value of
the peanut program.
The success of the forum also
illustrates how much of an impact
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Bookkeeping: Paula L. Zimmerman.
Our Policies
Unsigned editorials appearing in larger type on this page under the label of Our Views
reflect the position of the Houston Ttmes-Joumal. Signed columns and letters on this page
(and elsewhere in this newspaper) reflect the opinions of the writers and not necessarily
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Wed., March 5,1997
Jj
Johnson
Editor
Thus, our game sometimes sounded
like this:
“My name is William and I’m going
to grandma’s house. I’m going to take
some watermelon.”
“My name is Judy and I’m going to
grandma’s house. I’m going to take
some watermelon and some jelly.”
“My name is Jj and I’m going go
grandma’s house. I’m going to take
some watermelon, some jelly and
some juice.”
The game continued until we
Saxby
Chambliss
R-Ga., Bth House
District
individual citizens can have in our
democratic government.
In other news, the House National
Security Committee held a hearing
on proposed changes to defense poli
cy. During the hearing, I had a
chance to question Dr. John White,
deputy secretary of Defense on the
60/40 rule.
The current 60/40 rule requires at
least 60 percent of military repair
work be performed by the military.
The Clinton administration wants to
change this and allow the
Department of Defense to farm out
additional repair and maintenance
work.
The impact of the 60/40 rule on
Georgia’s economy is significant. In
our district, the Air Logistics Center
at Robins Air Force Base is one of
the three remaining air force mainte
nance depots and would be greatly
affected by 60/40 changes.
I pointed out to Dr. White that not
only would Robins Air Force Base be
harmed by weakening existing
depots, but wholesale privatization
plans could seriously impair
America’s military readiness. And I
am not about to let that occur.
My colleagues on the House
Depot Caucus and I are committed to
maintaining the current 60/40 law. In
fact, we are currently working to
arrange a meeting with Defense
Secretary William Cohen to explain
the importance of the law to our
nation’s security.
Houston Times-Journal
exhausted our items for grandma or
until another vehicle caused me to lose
concentration.
Along with about 25 members of
the Perry community, I played a varia
tion of that game last Wednesday when
the group spent almost three hours try
ing to answer the question “I’m going
to Perry because ...”
The session, hosted by members of
the Perry Area Convention and Visitors
Bureau, and the discussion, directed by
Houston County Industrial Developer
Tim Martin, was around the topic of
tourism in the area and what could be
done to increase traffic, revenue, and
amenities for visitors.
The group members gathered in
tables of five and collected four or five
ideas per person to share with the
group.
It was also a busy week of hear
ings for the House Agriculture
Committee. The Forestry Resource
Conservation Subcommittee held
hearings on the Agriculture
Department’s final regulation on the
Conservation Reserve Program.
Under the CRP, the government
pays farmers for taking environmen
tally sensitive land out of production
and planting grass or trees on it.
The USDA’s final rule on the CRP
bears close watching by Georgia’s
tobacco and peanut farmers, whose
eligibility rules have changed.
In order to protect our commodity
crop farmers from being unfairly sin
gled out for enrollment in the CRP, I
support making technical corrections
to the 1996 farm bill. Doing this will
correct the problem and not open
either the federal tobacco or peanut
programs to attack.
In other agriculture news, USDA
Secretary Dan Glickman also testi
fied before Congress. In response to
questioning from Southeastern law
makers regarding the wheat fungus
known as karnal bunt, Glickman said
the issue warranted further investiga
tion.
I have been actively involved in
discussions with Glickman, my con
gressional colleagues, and southeast
ern wheat farmers on this issue. We
will not let this issue rest until karnal
bunt is deregulated, and that the
USDA recognizes karnal bunt for
what it is —a minor disease.
As always, if you have any con
cerns regarding the above or any
other important matter, please call
my office, toll-free, at 1-800-234-
4208.
(Saxby Chambliss, a resident of
Moultrie, represents the Eighth
District in Washington.)
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.
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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 Inc., 807 Carroll Street, Perry, Ga., 31069. Periodicals Class
Postage paid at Perry, Ga. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Houston
Times-Joumal, P.O. Drawer M, Perry, Ga. 31069. ISSN: 1075-1874.
Among the most frequently men
tioned items were determining the
assets of the community in terms of
tourism interest, and then determining
the commitment of the businesses and
the government agencies to supporting
tourism.
Also frequently mentioned were
further development of the downtown
area with more speciality shops and a
theme which would attract visitors,
and hospitality training for all front
line employees.
The evening was a good one. The
fellowship was great, and the ideas
which floated around the room were
priceless to members of the
Convention and Visitors Bureau. I look
forward to seeing the final tally of
results in a few days and sharing more
with our readers.
From
Where I Sit
Bob Tribble
President
Balancing our lives
A newspaper friend of mine once
wrote an inspiring column he called
the Five F’s For Better Living, or
something akin to that. There were
five words that began with the letter F
that if kept in the proper order and per
spective would make for a better life.
The order and words were Faith,
Family, Friends, Fun and Finances.
In this quarter’s Baptist Sunday
School literature, Karen Greene, a free
lance writer, wife and mom who lives
in Tabor City, N.C., has written an
excellent article entitled “Go For
Balance in Your Life.” Many of her
thoughts fit pretty closely the Five F’s
my friend wrote about several years
ago. Let me share some of Karen’s
thoughts with you.
Karen lines her thoughts up in this
manner: Work, Moments of Rest,
Exercise, Social Time, Family Time,
Serve the Lord and Time with God.
Despite all. .the.;, technological
advances of our age, we still only have
24 hours in a day, Karen writes. We do
many important things, but we must
learn to say no to some new ventures,
and be careful what we say yes to in
order to have a balance in our lives.
Writing about work, she notes that
work takes up the greater portion of
our day. If we make a good living
working in an area that is really satis
fying, then we should consider our
selves fortunate. But, even if we don’t
enjoy our work that much we should
still strive to do our best. Work hard
but don’t let your work consume your
time. Life is more than work.
Moments of rest Most of us feel
guilty when we sit down to just rest
and have a cup of coffee, Karen
writes. There is always something we
think we should be doing. But, relax,
do something different, look for a
change of pace. Find a hobby, read a
book, sit on the steps and stare at the
clouds.
And most importantly, don’t feel
guilty when you do. Relaxing unclogs
your mind and reduces harmful stress.
Exercise To many of us, exercise
seems more like work than rest, Karen
says, but exercise provides us with
positive benefits. It replenishes our
supply of energy and reduces stress.
Change your mind set about exercise
and get moving. You will notice a dif
ference in the way you feel.
Social time Karen says that
adults need time of their own to spend,
not as mother, father, wife, husband,
son or daughter, but as the person they
are. Have some friends over, go to a
movie, eat out, have fun, laugh and
enjoy yourself.
Family time No work is impor
tant enough to justify ignoring your
family, Karen writes. Your family
should be a top priority. Express your
love by what you do for and with your
family. Be there and be a good exam
ple.
Serve the Lord Jesus means for
us to get out and make a difference in
(See TRIBBLE, Page SA)
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