Newspaper Page Text
Viewpoints
Our
Views
Shifting taxes
Members of the Houston County
Commission have given tentative
approval to the Service Delivery
Strategy with the three incorporated
municipalities in the county.
The action comes after the state
directed all counties and cities via
House Bill 489 to participate in a
joint planning effort to reduce costs
of services to taxpayers. Approval by
all participating governments is
required.
Some real issues have been
addressed. Others have been given
token sprucing up. Some have been
somewhat ignored.
Call the services agreement any
thing. but what it really becomes is a
plan on which government entity will
raise taxes to continue these services.
Many of the services discussed are
requirements for urban communities.
The option of curtailing them is not
desirable. How they will be paid for is
the issue.
We had a classic example of that in
Houston County several years ago.
Under the guise of consolidating
recreation, Houston County got out of
the recreation business and turned
over some property and the cost of
operations to the cities of Warner
Robins and Perry.
The county avoided a tax increase
and gained some temporary savings
by getting out of the recreation busi
ness.
On the other hand, the cities got
stuck with the cost of recreation,
which is never cheap.
The ultimate result? Recreation
continues, a cost to Warner Robins
and Perry taxpayers, and fees for par
ticipation have climbed.
Shifting the tax burden from one
government to another accomplishes
little except making a .few officials
.ook “good” for holding the line. Until
our three cities and the county get
really serious about joining services
and operating them the most efficient
way, costs will simply be shifted from
one pocketbook to another.
Meanwhile, the issue of double tax
ation, so eloquently brought to the
table by Warner Robins Mayor
Donald Walker recently, remains
unresolved. City residents in almost
every county in Georgia pay twice for
some services. When this issue is
addressed and resolved, residents of
Georgia will see real change in how
government services are distributed
and financed. But only then.
Homeward bound
Hooray! I’m planning to return home to
Perry soon!
After
Pauline
Lewis
Home
Journal
Staff
almost
two years
of recu
peration
from the
results of
a fall on a
wet
kitchen
floor, I am
complet- «— —a— ■iim.mi!«u.ie=s
ing my
medical appointments this spring.
In a way, the recuperative period has
been a blessing. It has given me the
opportunity to get in touch with many
friends and relatives. I have filled three
large scrapbooks with well-wishes from
them.
Sunday School groups in our church
have been especially faithful in keeping
me on their prayer calendars, for which I
am thankful!
This newspaper, social and civic clubs,
See LEWIS, Page 5A
Houston Heme Journal
P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. • Perry. Ga. 31069
email homeJmOhom.net
(912) 987-1823 (voice) • (912) 988-1181 (fax)
Bob Tribble President
JJ Johnson Editor and General Manager
Ellen T. Green .Advertising Director
Phil Clark Sports
Joan Dorsett Lifestyles
Torey Jolley News and Classified
Alline Kent Sports
Pauline Lewis Lifestyles
Rob Mead News and Circulation
Charlotte Perkins News and Composition
Paula Zimmerman Bookkeeping
A
H
|Ss JBB
Welcome home to the old reliable HHJ name
Welcome home! Welcome
back to the historic newspaper
of Perry, the Houston Home
Journal.
Yes, after an absence of five
years, while being marketed
under the name Houston
Ttmes-Joumai the old reliable,
the Houston Home Journal is
back.
I’m proud. I’m delighted. I
hope you are too. The newspa
per you grew up with is back in
the same name again. Of
course, it’s not the same paper.
Every product evolves. This one
certainly has.
So have members of the staff.
We live in Houston County.
Many of us own homes here, all
of us buy food and gas here,
shop for Christmas presents
Thf Peanut GauepY
&
£
E
o
HOW MUCH MORE BOMBING §
ANP KILLING PO WE HAVE f
TO PO BEFORE LOSING OUR “
PEACEKEEPING STATUS? S
Way back when ... in the Home Journal
When our editor announced
to the staff a couple of weeks
ago that the name of this paper
would be changed back to The
Houston Home Journal, the
reaction was unanimously
happy. I thought Joan Dorsett
was going to bounce off the ceil
ing.
There's a lot to be said for
having a paper with a proud
name and a long history. To
check out some of that history,
1 went up to our "attic" a couple
of days ago and got the bound
volumes from 1959 and 1974.
Here are just a few of the tidbits
I found:
Forty years ago this week
Perry Super Foods was sell
ing ground beef for 49 cents a
pound and iceberg lettuce two
heads for 25 cents. Belle's had
slips on sale for $1.89, and The
Vanity Shop had a Mother’s
Day special on dark straw hats
half price.
Marie's Beauty Salon was
offering a creme cold wave (with
cut, shampoo and styling) for
$7.95. ,
On the social scene Mrs.
F.M. Houser entertained the
Writers Club of Macon in her
home in Perry, and Sam Nunn
Jr. was home for the weekend
with three other members of
the Georgia Tech golf team.
(They were all scheduled to play
in a tournament in Fort Valley)
The Perry Kiwanis Club was
promoting a greased pig chase.
They told the Home Journal
that they would tranquilize the
Our Policies
Unsigned editorials appearing in larger type on •
this page under the label Our Views reflect the posi
tion of the Houston Home Journal. Signed columns
and letters on tills page (and elsewhere in this news
paper) reflect the opinions of the writere and not nec
essarily those of this newspaper.
Signed letters to the editor are welcomed. Please
limit letters to 300 words and include addresses and
a telephone number for verification purposes. Letters
are not published without verification. Letters
should be sent to P.O. Drawer M. Perry. Ga., 31069
or brought to the newspaper office at 807 Carroll St..
Perry.
Our liability for an error will not exceed the cost
Page 4A
Wed., May S, 1999
JJ
Johnson
Home
Journal
Editor
here, and participate in com
munity activities.
We have a commitment to the
community just as you do. We
also have a commitment to pro
vide for you the best possible
weekly newspaper about your
community. That’s why the
Home Journal has existed for
more than 129 years.
Charlotte
Perkins
Home
Journal Staff
pig actually a wild boar
before shaving it and greasing
it.
Jones Jewelers announced
that Perry High School gradua
tion invitations had arrived and
seniors should drop by to pick
theirs up. The Home Journal
was offering free classified ads
for teens seeking summer jobs.
Twenty five years ago this
week, in a letter to the editor ,
Fred Zerko complained that
Perry' policemen were under
paid, and noted that their start
ing salary was SSOO per month.
Piggly Wiggly was selling four
bottles of Heinz Ketchup for $ 1.
Winn Dixie had ground beef for
78 cents, and Moody Motor
Company was selling brand
new Ford Pintos for $2,568.
Jan Sinclair had just joined
the staff of the Cinderella
Beauty Shop. Emily
Montgomery noted in her
“Personals" column that Mrs.
Joe Gayle and Miss Martha
Cooper had attended a lun
cheon in Athens.
James McKinley who had
already served for four years on
of space occupied by the error.
We cannot be responsible for the return of pictures or
submitted materials unless a stamped, return address
envelope is included.
Our Goal
The Houston Home Journal is published proudly
for the citizens of Houston and adjoining counties tty
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 this goal through hard work, teamwork,
loyalty and a strong dedication toward printing the
truth.
Member of Georgia Press Association and
National Newspaper Association.
HL. Ww**
Houston Home Journal
I am very honored to be only
the 12th editor of this newspa
per. That’s right, just 11 per
sons have held this job before
me. Two of them held the post
for a shorter period of time. My
four-plus year tenure in this
job seems very short compared
to that of 44 years which one of
my predecessors served.
Still, I suspect our commit
ments are similar we want to
report trftthfully and reliably
the information about our com
munity. That’s the goal today,
just as it was 129 years ago
when this paper began.
You’ll notice a few other
things changed about your
newspaper today. For one
thing, the news type has been
increased in size. Many of our
the City Council, was running
unopposed for Mayor. Curtis
Fountain and Gordon
Scarborough were running for
post three on the city council.
Now, back to the present
time:
Speaking of former Mayor
McKinley here’s something
interesting in the category of
“what goes around, comes
around."
Maybe you read last week on
our front page that along with
renovating the old middle
school to serve as a new “early
learning" center, the Board of
Education is considering open
ing a road from Main Street to
the site of the school.
That’s hardly a new idea.
Mayor McKinley urged the
Board of Education to open a
road in that location way back
in the late 70s, and also sug
gested fencing in the school.
He had it all worked out for
them, with a plan for prison
labor to do the work. He even
had a plat drawn up, and all
the Board needed to do was
acquire the right-of-way, but
they didn't act on the sugges
tion. Wonder how much the
cost has increased since that
time.
The plan came up four or five
years ago when school officials
considered yet another remod
eling of the middle school. That
was before voters approved a
bond issue which made the
new middle school and other
changes possible.
long-time readers asked if it
could be increased. We listened
and acted to do that. This is the
largest, broadest typeface I've
ever used in 25 years of news
papering. I suspect it is also the
most readable.
We've also increased the size
of the type for both our classi
fied ad section and the public
notice section. Again, we're
responding to requests.
We’ve worked hard on our
photographic reproduction,
something which has grieved
me greatly. I think you can find
a measurable difference in the
past two weeks. Stay tuned, it
will get even better.
All of these things we are
See JOHNSON, Page 5A
Bob
Tribble
Home Journal
President
A tragic day for
everyone
Thirteen white doves flut
tered into the gray sky over the
heads of 70,000 mourners who
had gathered in Littleton,
Colo., in honor of the 12 stu
dents and one teacher gunned
down at Columbine High
School.
Families, friends and
strangers clung to each other
as they clutched flowers and
Bibles, weeping and wondering
why it happened.
What a tragic day! What a
tragic day, not for just those
affected in Littleton, but for
mourners across this country.
What a tragic day for America.
What a tragic day that this
type thing could occur again
most anytime or anywhere.
About as tragic is the fact that
our best minds in this country
really don't know exactly what
provokes people to become
mad men and killers, or how to
stop it. They really don’t know
who to blame; society, parents,
gun manufacturers, cults.
The two gunmen had just
completed a program for trou
bled youth this past February
after being caught breaking
into a van. A report from their
supervising officer recom
mended early release from the
program saying one gunman
was a “bright young man who
has a great deal of potential,”
and the other was “likely to
succeed in life."
For sure this officer must
feel bad about that assess
ment, but how could he have
known?
One does not have to run a
poll to know something is seri
ously wrong in our country
when an incident such as this
happens. For sure, we know
something is wrong, but we
don’t really know what to do to
see that it doesn’t happen
again.
Citizens across our land
have varying opinions on what
happened that tragic day.
Some feel more safety mea
sures should be added at our
schools, even if they become
more like prisons. Some are
saying we must hold every gun
owner legally responsible when
such incidents occur, for allow
ing weapons to fall into the
hands of our youth.
Some say the manufacture
of assault weapons, handguns.
See TRIBBLE, Page SA
"Congress shall make no law respecting an estab
lishment 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 grievances." Your right to read this news
paper is protected by the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution.
The Houston Home Journal CUSPS 000471) is
published weekly for $21.40 per year (including
sales tax) by Houston Publications Inc., 007
Carroll St.. Perry. Ga.. 31069. Periodicals Class
Postage paid-at Perry. Ga. POSTMASTER : Send
address changes to the Houston Home Journal.
P.O. Drawer M. Perry. Ga. 31069. ISSN: 1075-1874.