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Viewpoints
Our
Views
Get ready time
Teachers among our readership
will groan with this reminder only
two weekends separate them from
work. Students take notice too,
classes begin in just two weeks.
The summer of 1999 is very, very
short in terms of time away from the
classroom. The change is made, in
part, because the University System
of Georgia made changes in the col
lege and university calendar last
year.
Because the state-supported col
leges moved to an early semester
system (start earlier in the fall, fin
ish the semester before Christmas
break, get out earlier in the spring),
teachers in public school systems
could not conform their summer
time to taking classes. New gradu
ates who wanted to start to school
immediately ran into a similar prob
lem summer school at the college
level started before public schools
closed for the summer.
The decision to change was made,
and this is the short summer. Stu
dents will likely enjoy the Christmas
holidays, knowing their exams are
behind them. Both teachers and
students will enjoy the early release
time next spring. Likely they will
also enjoy the full week of holidays
at Thanksgiving.
The price? Teachers report to
school Aug. 9 and students return
to classes Aug. 12. Summer is over.
Thanks for Home Journal
changes and traditions
Editor-
Since I left Perry in 1955, I have been a
subscriber (somewhat irregular) to the
Journal. In June of 1998, I returned to
the readership family. I want to commend
you and your staff on publishing an inter
esting and informative, small town news
paper. 1 am pleased that you are still
faithful to the original mission statement.
In my Perry days. Mr. Cooper Etheridge
was the Editor, as well as the sports Jour
nalist. Like all 17 and 18 year old male
athletes, I read his column with much
fervor. Of course, most of his coverage
was about basketball.
There were always many photos and
substantial
detail on a
Panther
win, or loss.
(There were
few losses).
Special
kudos to
Joan
Dorsett for
her cover
age of the
social scene
and other
Letters
to the
Editor
p.o.
Drawer M
Perry. 80.
happenings. I regularly see (in her col
umn) the names of folks I grew up with.
Always brings back good memories. She
really gets around that town.
Also glad to see you restore the old
HHJ name banner. And, I do like the
slightly larger typeset. In conclusion, I
want to thank somebody for getting the
paper to me in 2-3 days. A few months
ago. it was taking about 7 days to appear
in my mailbox. Please pat someone on the
back!!
W.B. Harrison
Rome, Ga.
(EDITOITS NOTE: Thank you. Mr.
Harrison, for your Tory kind remarks
about this newspaper and our commit
ment to serve tide community. We are
proud of the tradition we inherited
from those who went before us and
light the path for us to follow.
(Please notice we’re making more
changes to make the HHJ an even bet
ter product. This la your newspaper.)
lilirOlli ffllKl 'iHIHIIf
P.O. Drawer M 4 807 Carroll St. • Perry, Ga. 31069
email homertrnOhom.net
(912) 987-1823 (voice) • (912) 988-1181 (fax)
Bob Tribble President
JJ Johnson Editor and General Manager
Ellen T. Green.... 4 . .Advertising Director
Phil Clark Sports
Joan Doraett Lifestyles
Torey Jolley News and Classified
Alllne Kent Sports
Pauline Lewis Lifestyles
Rob Mead News and Circulation
Charlotte Perkins News and Composition
Paula Zimmerman Bookkeeping
rSii
M
/
Dealing with heat and needed freon booster
The past few days have been
very, very hot. Air-conditioned
space is at a premium every
where.
My car has an air conditioner
and it works sorta. It gets
cold but only after a long drive,
and then it is cool, but not cold.
On short trips, the air condi
tioner never cools the car.
Worse, it Just starts to cools off
as I get where I have to go!
My ’B9 Mazda 626 is great
looking. It gets fabulous gas
mileage. (I don’t have a car pay
ment on it either!) The only
thing it needs is freon. I don’t
know the call letters of the
freon variety. It is just the old
type of freon.
I’ve called arotind the area
looking for places which install
freon. There are several. I am
surprised at the cost of being
cool. One place said it would be
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Community journalism ojfers rewards
Last weekend I had a brief
conversation with a young man
who said he was interested in a
career in journalism.
The first thing I said was,
“There's not any money in it."
That’s just the truth every
where in journalism, and it’s a
fair warning from old folks to
young folks. Most newspaper
people are fairly awed with
salaries made by school teach
ers and police officers and won
der at times if they chose the
right profession.
However. I could have added
something else that’s the truth
at all small town newspapers:
There's lots of fun in it, along
with the aggravations, and even
the aggravations get funny at
times.
The fun part includes being
out in the community and get
ting to know all the good, bad
and interesting things that are
going on.
In small town newspaper
work, reporters wind up cover
ing everything from Vacation
Bible Schools to homicides,
from parades to natural disas
ters.
Most of us really like to write,
and wound up in newspaper
work so that we could get paid
to do what we like to do any
way. There’s a lot of routine in
the work, but there are still
good opportunities to test our
skills and be creative.
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 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 coat
Page 4A
¥ML. July M, 1000
Torey
Jolley
Home
Journal
Staff
about S7O; however, the guy
who does the freon work does
so in-between working on cars
with real crises. That means I
have to leave my car for servic
ing.
I am a reporter. I need a car
to go places. That’s a problem
Another business said the
cost of freon, installed, would
be at least $l2O. Brrr... that
price left me in the cold.
I admit I just haven’t gotten
Charlotte
Perkins
Home
Journal
Staff
Naturally, as with any job,
there are also times that our
patience gets tested and we
have to remember to find the
humor in human nature.
I’ve worked at six other
papers in a long newspaper
career, and I promise you that
in every community there are
two or three people who see the
arrival of the weekly newspaper
as an opportunity to seek out
typographical errors.
They actually call us up to
point out obvious typographic
and computer glitches that
we've already groaned over.
These are usually English
majors and they will tell you so,
apparently oblivious to the fact
that most reporters were Eng
lish majors top, but frequently
have to write stories at a speed
faster than a speeding bullet
and deal with cantankerous
computers, too.
Then there are the people
who suggest to us that we real
ty need to write stories about
of space occupied by the error.
We cannot be rcsponafcte far the return of pictures or
submitted materials unless a stamped, return address
envelope is inducted.
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
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 Nation
al Newspaper Association
•j
1
■
Houston Home Journal
used to the humidity with the
heat. It feels like I am being
steamed alive (now I know how
lobsters, clams, and crabs feel
pass the melted butter,
please).
I am not the only one feeling
the heat. It seems everyone is
talking about it. The National
Weather Bureau issued catego
ty 5 heat warnings. My flowers
begged for cool water every day.
Athena, my chow, refused to go
outside (unless she has to “go"),
opting to stay in the house and
in front of the fan.
What I And amazing is the
number of golfers on the course
in the heat. My husband, who
loves playing golf (and his old
Toyota has a great working air
conditioner), is determined to
play a few holes today. I am
concerned the heat will be too
much. He only thinks of being
subjects we’ve already had
three or four stories about on
the front page
There are the publicity
hounds who don’t read any
thing in the paper that’s not
about them. Those are the
same ones who look totally
blank and bewildered in any
conversation if you venture any
comments which don’t have
strictly to do with them.
Every reporter knows what I
mean by this. You’re in what
appears to be a friendly conver
sation with someone, and you
chance to mention something
about yourself, your job. your
family, whatever. The true pub
licity hound will look momentar
ily astonished to learn that you
are a real person, not just a
means to an end, and will go
right back to his/her monologue.
Back to the good parts,
though. In newspaper work,
you meet a lot of fascinating
people and you learn more
about them by listening with
the care it takes to put a story
together. You nearly always
have co-workers who are fun to
be with and can share your
aggravations.
And finally, for some of us,
it’s what’s natural for us to do
and we just love the whole
package good and bad.
That’s when it’s the best choice
whether you want to make any
money or not.
on the green. He has promised
to take plenty of water along, as
well as sunscreen and a hat.
My son works outside. He is
a telephone technician in
Macon. He says his van has “air
conditioning" as long as he
rolls the windows down and
does 50 miles an hour. He
drinks plenty of water and tries
to stay cool, but it is hard.
Michael said category 5 is
cooler than the inside of his
van. He can hardly wait to the
end of each day so he can enjoy
the cool of his car air condition
er (on high).
And that is all I want to
enjoy: my car air conditioner on
high. I know the law was made
to save the ozone. I want to save
the ozone. Honest. I do. But can
I recycle and plant flowers
instead of going without freon?
Bab
Tribble
Home
Journal
President
Dogs are man’s
best friend
Many years ago Boots Bird
song of Woodland wrote a
humor column for area news
papers. He had a good follow
ing of readers and many folks
couldn’t wait each week to get
their newspaper to see what
Boots had to say.
In the beginning. Boots
wrote under the title “The
Friendly Mule Man."
Later he changed his column
head to “The Friendly Dog
Maiy," If you, eyer, stopped by
hi? home, back then you would
know the title was very fitting.
He owned and traded mules for
years until they were replaced
with tractors.
Then he got into the dog
business. Anyone in need of a
good dog could usually find
what they wanted if they visit
ed Boots.
Where Boots got all his
humorous sayings. I don’t
know. Some were probably
original, some were probably
“stolen,” but they all made
good reading.
In one of his columns, he
told about asking his neighbor
why he was cutting his dog’s
tail off. The neighbor replied,
“My mother-in-law is coming
tomoiTow and I don’t want any
thing around here looking
happy."
If Boots was alive he would
readily agree that dogs are
man’s (children’s) best friends.
Let me tell you about two
instances involving dogs, chil
dren and snakes which hap
pened recently, and were
reported in our newspapers.
Cindy Mosley, a dog lover
herself, tells the following story
in the Fayette Daily News. The
headline said, “Dixie’s a dar
ling.” A Fayetteville family cred
its their pit bulldog with saving
their children's lives.
“She’s our hero alright," the
mother said. "So many people
talk about the bad things that
happen with pit bulls. I’m here
to tell you, if it hadn’t been for
this pit bull, I don’t know what
would have happened to my
children."
The story goes that the chil
dren heard the dogs barking in
the back yard and went out to
see what was going on. When
they opened the door they saw
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 (U3PS 000471) Is
published weekly for $21.40 per year (including
sales tax) by Houston Publications lac.. 807 Car
roD St.. Perry. Ga.. 31069. Periodicals Class
Postage paid at Perry. Ga. POOTMdnnt : Bead
address changes to the Houston Hone Journal.
P.O. Drawer M. Party, Ga. 31060. ISSN; 1078-1874.
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