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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 ~Th£ Pewur GauspY ALL yociß patient! j 1 \/ RIGHTS ARE LISTED — 1 / THIS TOE —7, / A A J i ~ I\\ m\ J (I f / iSMs /mu| nii'iYi if r - t ~ - - - ftf fi \ J I / i \ r , 1 i-k\ l iff ji (I ''l/llr ©Mjm 99 raytoonsOhoin.r et 1111 I 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. ''xjEcSjp