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Viewpoints □ur Views I 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. jK