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Home Journal Photo by Ttorey Jolley
NOT FULL YET While rain brought
a new life to Big Indian Creek, the water
level was no where near the level of Jive
years ago when the creek flooded parts
of Perry.
Flood memory
The timing was too close. The day-long
rain June 28 brought back memories of
five years ago for many Houston Coun
tians.
Just five years ago, the rains began
July 4. Within hours, Houston County,
and much of central Georgia, faced some
thing new and different flood waters.
Throughout the county, homes were
damaged and destroyed, some business
es were damaged and even churches were
swept away in the flood waters.
Those were difficult days. Central
Georgians faced something new. After all,
it just didn’t flood in this part of the
world. Sure, the Ocmulgee would jump
its banks occasionally during spring
rains, but damage was limited to the
swamplands near the river.
This time, every body of water in the
area jumped banks. Houston Lake Dam
broke apart. Water surged in places it
hadn't been in 500 years. That was in
Houston County. Some communities like
Montezuma and Albany were flooded
worse than here.
Thank goodness for the rain Monday. It
was badly needed to break the year-long
drought. But thanks also that the water
did not come as rapidly, nor for as long,
as it did five years ago this week.
Rain is good, floods aren’t. We’re glad
for rain in due season.
Ini feeling lucky
I just might buy a lotto ticket this week.
Oh. sure the money would be grand, but
the reason I am thinking about buying
that ticket is that I feel lucky really
lucky. And that isn’t something I have
been feeling recently.
First, I got ill at work. I thought my
blood pressure was acting up. I take my
prescription
medicine for
that each
morning,
but I
thought 1
was experi
enc i n g
symptoms
of it any
way.
Well, my
blood pres-
Torey
Jolley
Home
Journal
Staff
sure was
up, but according to my doctor it is just
one symptom of my diabetes. I actually
told my doctor he had the wrong patient’s
chart (and with a name like mine, that is
hard to do). The doctor calmly explained
he believed I was borderline diabetic.
Testing later in the week proved it. I
have IGT (impaired glucose tolerance).
Now I am learning to eat the correct
low-fat, low salt, low calorie foods, the
correct amounts of each, and when to eat
at the correct times. Seems simple, but in
all honesty, it is not. I have to remember
to eat and when out covering meeting or
something, I often will miss my “ proper
time." This means bringing a healthy
snack to keep my glucose level "even"
See JOLLEY, Page SA
Houston Horn Journal
P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. • Perry. Ga. 31069
email homejrn@hom.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 Doraett 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
h
-if
Sounds like a broken record, broken record, bro
Likely as not I seem to be
stuck just like a broken record
on this heart business but...
One of my friends, in his mid
40s, stepped off his exercycle
Monday morning about *7:30
a.m. He didn’t walk very far
before a massive heart attack
ended his walking for all time.
Like many of us, Gary Corn
well of Peachtree City worked too
hard, ate too much, and when he
exercised, likely fnecT to make up
for the times he had missed with
a strenuous workout.
Gary was a good man. He
fathered three daughters and
had a supportive wife. His
father helped print the Home
Journal before he retired last
year.
11l miss Gary. He was a good
~TH£ PeANUT GaufrV
Oops! / forgot to riHl
SFtV W TMF _
vmmum. q Q
Bang up Fourth on the way to Perry
I don’t know about you, but I
always enjoy a good fireworks
show and I'm not going to miss
the Big Bang Boom.
When I was growing up, fire
works weren’t a matter of daz
zling lights in the sky, except
for those things we called
“Roman Candles" which would
n’t, of course, hold a candle to
the pyrotechnics we’ll see at the
Georgia National Fairgrounds
Saturday night.
Roman candles were card
board tubes about a foot long
that you lit and held at arm’s
length. When you lit the fuse,
they made a loud pop and shot
something (gunpowder?) up
into the air which exploded into
a burst of color about 10 feet
up. Or sometimes they just fiz
zled out. Quality control wasn't
that great with Roman Candles.
Mostly, what we had was
firecrackers, which were popu
lar simply for making big nois
es. Hey, life was simpler back
then! There were cheny bombs
which made a big bang and left
a smokey gunpowder smell,
and strings of little firecrackers
that you could light and throw
at your friends.
One real improvement in pre
sent time celebrations of the
Fourth is that you’ll see a lot
more flags flying now than you
ever did back then.
I remember my mother
who was from "up north"
complaining about that just
about every Fourth of July.
She loved to see flags flying and
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 this page (and elsewhere In this news
paper) reflect the opinions of the writers arid 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., Jane 30, 1099
41
Johnson
Home
Journal
Editor*
man. He was taken by a very
silent but vicious killer -- heart
disease.
I speak from experience. I
try, like many heart victims, to
ignore the problem in hopes it
will go away. Sometimes 1 resist
my walking because I’m tired or
just plain weary of exercise.
Occasionally I sneak some-
Charlotte
Perkins
Home
Journal
Staff
didn't think southerners paid
enough attention to the Fourth.
That’s all changed now,
though. We’ll have flags flying
everywhere, and if you don’t
have one, we’ve got one for you
in this issue of the paper. It'll
look great in your window.
Now, for our weekly ramble
through the old days.
40 YEARS AGO EV THE HOME
Journal:
July 4 was going to be "just
another Saturday" for down
town merchants, with many
stores staying open on the
fourth and closing on Monday,
July 6, instead.
New rates were announced
by General Telephone Compa
ny. The cost for a one-party res
idential phone was $4.25 a
month. You could save by hav
ing a party line, of course.
A bunch of Perry Girl Scouts
headed off to Camp Martha
Johnston. Among the campers
were Mariann Coley. Cheryl
Crutchfield, Ethel Duggan,
Rachel Henson, Bonnie King,
Ellen Terry, Gale Weems, Jean
Norman, Karen Leach, Beth
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 by
Houston Publications Inc., Perry. Ga. Our goal Is to
produflfPrquality. f«tifltaijl?T‘Wttlmunfty-orfented 1
newspapers that you. bur 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 Nation
al Newspaper Association.
a
■ffi
ML ■ J
Houston Home Journal
thing I shouldn’t eat, too. I
preach to myself.
Please, take care of yourself.
If you’re already a bit tubby like
I am, consult your doctor and
begin some type of plan which
may prevent heart attack. Have
your cholesterol checked. Pay
attention to getting enough
rest.
With a little bit of luck and
some very good habits, you
might beat heart disease.
•••
The realignment of various
regions in the Georgia High
School Association has been
receiving plenty of ink in recent
days.
Realignment is an every
other-year event for GHSA
member schools. The associa
Talton, Ann Hunt, Deborah
Gayle and Hulda Wood.
Sam Nunn Jr. left to begin
six months service in the U.S.
Coast Guard in New Jersey,
and Richard B. Ray was elected
president of the Georgia Pest
Control Association at the
annual conference of that orga
nization held at the General
Oglethorpe Hotel in Savannah.
Plans were under way to
build a new s,ooosquare foot
post office in downtown Perry.
25 YEARS AGO IN THE HOME
Journal:
Jo Skelly was named “cook of ,
the week" for her famous peach
pie.
Brad Bledsoe, a journalism
student at the University of
Georgia, was working as a sum
mer intern for Senator Herman
Talmadge.
Martha Atkinson as installed
as president of the Potpourri
Club in ceremonies held in the
gardens of the Quality Court
Motel.
The Stembridge family had a
big reunion at the Ochlahatch
ee Club House.
Jones Jewelers was holding
an ear piercing clinic, and Pig
gly Wiggly had Boston Butt on
sale for 49 cents a pound.
A letter in Spanish arrived
from Brazil praising George C.
Nunn and Son’s rain gauges
and asking for donations of
more rain gauges as a matter of
international goodwill. Nobody
knew how one of Nunn's rain
gauges got all the way to Brazil.
tion attempts to keep schools of
similar size in regions in the
thought similar student body
sizes should produce similar
opportunities to excel.
Perry will change some of the
opponents they will play for the
two years beginning in the fall
of 2 (XX). The changes do not
affect the 1999 football sched
ule, which is the same as 1998
except for reversed home loca
tions.
If the tentative alignment
holds through a final approval
in October, Perry will be the
most westernmost of a group of
schools stretching to Augusta.
Two of the members of that new
region, Bleckley County and
See JOHNSON, Page 5A
Bob
Tribble
Home
Journal
President
A job for the
community
Last week in this column I
discussed our mission state
ment (goal) and several other
aspects of publishing commu
nity newspapers. Please allow
me to continue that line of
thought today in an effort to
help you, our readers, better
understand what it is that we
are all about.
In 1732, Benjamin Franklin
was closing out an edition of
his newspaper, the Pennsylva
nia Gazette, when a friend
came by and told him that
while he was op g recent fsip,,to
(he mountains, b e bad seen
Irtdians building fires on high
hills, and then with a blanket,
they would send messages in
smoke to Indians on the other
side of the valley.
“What were they telling each
other?" Franklin asked.
“They were telling each other
the news with smoke signals,”
the friend replied.
“Smoke signals to send
news," Publisher Franklin
exclaimed. "This is going to
mean the end of newspapers!"
Fifteen or more years ago at
the Press Institute in Athens, a
high ranking official from
Turner Broadcasting Co. told a
group of editors that within 10
years, there would be few com
munity newspapers still in
existence.
“Cable TV is going to put you
out of business,” he boasted.
I tell you these stories to
make a point. Since the incep
tion of newspapers many,
many years ago, numerous
other forms of media have
emerged, supposedly to replace
newspapers.
There was radio, television,
the cable and now the internet.
Certainly, all of these media
have their niche to fill in our
society today, but rest assured,
none of them will ever replace
newspapers. That is, they will
not replace quality, community
oriented newspapers dedicated
toward printing the truth in an
unbiased manner.
When God first created the
world and made the beautiful
lakes, the lakes were like mir
rors. They reflected the birds
as they flew over them, the
nearby trees and mountains,
and so on. The Home Journal
you are holding in your hands
today is like those lakes. This
See TRIBBLE, Page 5A
“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 fUSPS 000471) to
pnUUbed weekly for s2l.4ouper year (including
sales tax) by Houston Publications Inc.,
roll St., Perry. Qa., 31009. Periodicals Clasa
Postage paid at Perry, Ga. POOTMASTIR ; Send
adrtireae changes to the Houston Home Journal,
P.O. Drawer M, Perry. Ga. 31069. UMUV: 1075-1874.
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