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Viewpoints Our Views Thinking about everyone While the cartoon to the right is tunny, it is also very serious. In fact, during recent months, it has proven x deadly serious. With the return of students to classes, we hope the school systems will be able to make students and faculty more aware of individual dif ferences and how to have tolerance for those who aren’t clones of the norm. Individual differences and individ ual achievement should be encour aged by our system, not discouraged to the point students are afraid to excel in any one area. T Westfield Schools 1 ' 1999-2000 Calendar i j Event date j | Pre-planning Aug. 16-18 j | Registration for 7-12 Aug. 18 | | First day of school '-Aug. 19 | | Labor Day holiday..... Sept. 6 | | Alumni Weekend Sept. 10-11 | j Fair holiday for students Oct. 11 j f GISA meeting, student holiday.... Nov. 1 j | Teacher conferences, half day.. Nov. 2-3 j I Homecoming Nov. 5 | I Thanksgiving Nov. 24-26 I I First semester exams Dec. 15-17 I I Christmas holidays Dec. 20-Jan. 2 I I Classes resume Jan. 3 I I Entrance examination Jan. 29 I I Kindergarten open house Jan. 30 I I Grandparents Day March 3 I I Teacherinservice March 17 I I Spring break April 3-7 I I Final exams May 24-26 I • Graduation' May 26 I I Post-planning May 29-31 I We love only the young Editor, Is age just a number? But is that true? I don't think so. One of the things I’ve learned about this country I really hate is that America is so youth oriented. Unless you're young and beautiful, you aren’t worth anything. It’s true. Just look at movies and television. Listen to music. You can't see or hear anything without there being someone young. Read maga zines. You’ll see and read about someone young. We dye our hair, get plastic and cos metic surgery, tummy tucks and any thing which will make us look young so we can be accepted. We're ashamed to be old. We hid our age. There once was a time when a man's worth was his wisdom and experi ence. Not anymore. Now. you’re Letters to the Editor p.o. Drawer M Perry, Ga. only worth , how young you are. In many countries, the elderly are respected for their wisdom and experience. What does America do? We put our elderly in nursing homes so we don't have to think about them. There are so many interesting and beautiful and wise people, but we don't see that. Even people in their ?0s are considered old. I will ridd that until we re all equal, we will always be*ashamed of being old. Jim Gray Jr. Perry Readers need more information Editor, I have just finished reading another news article on HB 489 and the problems that are facing all of Houston County due to the inability of the County and the cities (specifically the city of Warner Robins) to come to an agreement over double luxation. 1 have been reading these articles in the Houston Home Jour- See LETTERS, Page 5A Houston Home Journal I’.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 Dorsett Lifestyles Torey Jolley News and Classified Alline Kent Sports Pauline Lifestyles Rob Mead News and Circulation Charlotte Perkins News and Composition Paula Zimmerman Bookkeeping £ w d-l Barger: Newspapers’ future not so dim after all Publisher's Auxiliary is one of two major publications serving the newspaper industry. In the most recent issue (Aug. 9) of PA, Paul Barger, publisher of the Holbrook Ariz., Tribune- News, addressed the future of this industry. Wrote Barger: A few years ago, Ted Turner, who is given to a little over statement at times, said the death of newspapers was immi nent. As were others who have predicted the demise of news papers, he was wrong. In fact, newspapers continue to be the most valuable source of information in communities, especially the smaller ones. You might flick on the televi sion to learn the latest news ~7JVSf PetWUT GAU£RV " After summer away at sensitivity camp, im ready for v pH 3 school to g | ' i*)| j AjjH ©/jwm Building recreation parks is addictive 1 am a computer-holic. I did n’t know it was happening to me. It started simple enough actually. Several years ago, my hus band and I bought a computer. Since then we have upgraded several times My husband always said the system we had was insufficient heck, I only word processed and the rest of the family mostly played games on it. As of last December, we upgraded again to a Pentium II (wouldn't you know, shortly after we got it, Pentium 111 came out). I use my computer to write many things: stories, letters, notes, and lists, to name a few. It made writing, editing, and copying so much easier. Still my family uses it for some work, but mainly to play games. I will admit I have played a few games, mostly a solitaire game called 40 thieves. However, we are on the inter net (for years). It has made fesearch easier, but I have got ten used to (gulp) using the E mail function. OK. 1 e-mail peo ple a lot. I have a manageable-size group (high double digits) of E dresses I correspond to, some times daily. I look forward to hearing from those people daily. Many are family who are 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. Periy. 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., Aug. 18. 1999 Jj Johnson Home Journal Editor about the Yugoslavian crisis or some disaster in a distant place, but if you want to know what's going on in the state or the nation, you need to read a newspaper. People who want to stay informed on what is going on in their community usually find their hometown newspaper is Torey Jolley Nome Journal Staff spread from Minnesota to Houston, Texas. In fact, my nephew will be heading to Korea in January with his army unit. We plan to keep in touch through the internet. Last Friday, my internet ser vice provider went down (or something). We were off line for days (service was restored late Tuesday afternoon). During this time. I didn't email anyone. Somewhere in cyberspace was a huge pile of mail waiting for me to down load. During the outage, I was on the telephone several times try ing to get the service fixed. Changing providers was not an option for us we like the ser vice we receive from our local supplier. Alltel. We have estab lished email addresses. I hate sending out change of address forms as is and all my current mail would be lost. While my e-service was of space occupied by the error, We cannot be responsible lor the return oi pictures or submitted materials unless a stamp<*d. return address envelope is included. Our Goal The Houston Home Journal is published proudly lor 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. "fil down, I watched my family playing a game called Roller coaster Tycoon. 1 normally do not have an inclination to play such games. Yet, this one was compelling. The rules of the game mean you get an area of land on which to build an amusement park. I can thank my son for bringing the game home. During the course of the game, you put in the rides, the concession, the restrooms, hire the employees, and so on. Peo ple come and you either grow or get shut down. I have gotten hooked on the game. Everyone in the house plays the game. It is not easy by any means. It starts off easy but ends up very difficult. Mv park is nice. It is doing good too, except for the time the roller coaster collapsed from lack of maintenance and "killed" 16 people. My son has a nice park (mine is better). My husband has sev eral parks. My daughter in new Jo the game like me but is quite hooked. We all have nice parks, but to be honest, my five-year old grandson has the most impressive park of all. It is real ly beautiful. It makes money bv the truckloads, wins awards, and has not received one com See PARKS, page 5A K f Houston Horn Journal the place for current and com plete information. The newspaper not only tries to cover what is happening today, but its staff tries look ahead to let readers know what these events and changes could mean to them tomorrow. If there were no community newspaper, where would you find out about what is happen ing in your city government, how the schools may be chang ing in the coming months, or what the county supervisors are doing to meet various pub lic needs? This kind of coverage is only a part of the information a newspaper provides its readers on a regular basis. However, no newspaper can know every issue or topic that may need to be covered. That is why the Tribune-News has offered the Holbrook City Coun cil space in the newspaper every Friday to discuss any topic the mayor, other council members or the city manager believe citizens should be aware of. Some of the issues may be current ones, others may deal with issues that will affect our way of life in the days ahead. This space is being provided at no charge to the city as a pub lic service, and we hope the first article wall be available later this month. A recent study by the Nation- See JOHNSON, Page 5A Bob Tribble Home Journal President Intent of casino legislation absurd The story is told of a man who was sitting on his porch one day when his friend came by for a visit. There was a big dog lying on the porch and the visitor asked. f “Will your dog bite?" The man replied. "No. my dog won’t bite." After hearing that, the visitor stepped up on the porch and the dog took a big hunk out of his leg. He jumped up and down, hollering and holding his leg. “I thought you said your dog wouldn’t bite,” the visitor yelled. To that, the man replied. “That ain’t my dog." I tell you that story to make a simple point. The American public has been bitten by a clog which legislators did not think would bite. Read on. A decade ago. legislation was passed in the U S. Congress which opened the door to casi no gambling on Indian reserva tions. The law was intended to strengthen tribal government, encourage tribal economic development, and increase tribal self-sufficiency. This was the intent of the legislation. Whether or not life for Indians is any better and whether or not casino revenues are having an impact on health, education, housing or other measurements of well being among the tribes is not known for sure at this point in time. In a series of articles done by the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, the newspaper found some rough edges concerning free dom restricting governmental practices, worries about hefty campaign contributions, influ ential lobbying forces and fears for over dependence on gam bling revenues. Overall, the Pioneer Press reported tribal gambling was a growing success in human terms. The purpose of this column is not to attempt to address the rights or wrongs of casino gam bling, or the lottery for that matter. I will leave that moral discussion up for each of you. The purpose of this column is to point out what I see as a gross injustice to the American public and the fact the possible See CASINOS, 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 (USPS 000471) is published weekly for $21.40 per year (Including sales tax) by Houston Publications Inc., 807 Car roll 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. ..